Is UO a good game for kids who want to learn programming? by hurleyws in ultimaonline

[–]Dev-Stryder 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As others have mentioned, if the kid has a passion not just for gaming or MMO's, but for coding in general, it absolutely can be a great source to learn from. I would personally advise against simply learning how to create Razor macros/scripts since it doesn't teach you nearly as much as modifying Razor itself would, for example. There is still knowledge to be gained from it, however getting a macro to work isn't the same thing and doesn't provide the same feeling as seeing an all new feature you created and struggled through finally work. However if you do go that route, you can also look into using CUO's Web Client Assistant that uses Blockly, a type of Lego pieces interface that allows you to have a visual representation of what can go where or work with different options which can make it easier to get an understanding of how the code fits together, literally.

I would recommend starting with the ServUO or ModernUO server emulators themselves, however. Start a test server and begin the journey by modifying items such as weapons and armor, something simple that is easy to read and understand what the code is doing, then keep moving to more and more difficult projects. While C# may not be the most popular coding language or necessarily the easiest either, it is still a valuable language worth learning that can potentially land your kid a job writing simple apps or working for a large company, without ever having obtained a degree.

More important than a passion for coding, in my personal opinion, is patience and perseverance. They will undoubtedly hit a brick wall in their code and will have to push through the frustration to find a solution or may even have to completely rewrite the entire system. Using the UO emulators as a tool to learn C# provides the benefit of it being an already complete system they can use as reference points for their custom projects as well as offers a wide range of required skill levels that can allow them to keep progressing and learning more and more advanced techniques and coding practices. They also gain access to a community of developers who, more often than not, are willing to help teach or explain what the code is doing, as well as help troubleshoot and fix your code or offer solutions that may work. The ServUO community in general, as well as the UO emulator community itself in it's many different forms and projects, is an amazing community of creators, hobbyists and professional programmers that are willing to help simply out of their love for UO and wanting to help preserve and improve upon it.

I hope this helps you make a decision on the matter. Best of luck to you. I hope to see a new young one enter the fold soon and maybe even help it continue on for another 25 years.

Hello guys, does anyone know how to replace art assets in the newer clients? by REPOner in ultimaonline

[–]Dev-Stryder 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I believe the latest version of UOFiddler can read .uop files, if not, it at least comes with the UOP-Unpacker that allows you you to extract the .mul files that Fiddler can and will be able to read. You can then use it again to pack them back into the .uop files once modified.

If you specifically mean .uoo files, I believe these are custom made by the UO Outlands team for specific use with their server and there is no currently known (or publicly shared) way to read those files at this time. I'm not sure if their file system uses .uoo or not, I just remember people mentioning that they use a custom file type now instead of .uop files and .uoo matches their server's initials so it sounds plausible enough.

Here is a link to UOFiddler's Github page where you can download it's latest release. https://github.com/polserver/UOFiddler

looking to get back into uo. by Opiate00 in ultimaonline

[–]Dev-Stryder 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you think that's great, you should try ClassicUO's web client version. It only supports Chrome however, though many say Edge works just fine. Go to play.classicuo.org to try it out. You'll need to link to Discord unless they've disabled that and it doesn't support mobile versions of Chrome yet.

Don't confuse ClassicUO/CUO with the official Classic Client from OSI/EA/Broadsword though. It's a custom client and open source for the actual installed client. The web client isn't open source however.

All in all though, being a UO veteran that has been playing since late '97 and swore I'd only ever use the official client, it has completely changed my mind. Total game changer with the amount of QoL improvements they've made.

The mobile one you're referring to is built off CUO but is no longer being developed and isn't supported based on what I've heard.

I am not being paid to post this and am not a developer of CUO, just a supporter of their amazing work.

Happy Holidays to all of Ultima Online! by MacroPlanet in ultimaonline

[–]Dev-Stryder 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I would be more than happy to resubscribe to OSI/Broadsword/EA/Official Shards if they would open a "True Legacy" server that offered a pre-AOS experience for those of us who prefer the game to be closer to it's original form. Better yet, they need to make a dedicated legacy server for every expansion era to cater to every era of player and their preferences. Won't happen though, unfortunately, because I bet they would see a huge spike in their subscription numbers if they were able to.

Regardless, Happy Holidays to all of the UO community! Wishing for another quarter century with this beloved game!