Wrote this a long time ago... Luckily I saved it. Hopefully it will help.
One of the biggest draw backs to sallos has always been making the switch. By and large its the same old game, but there are many subtle differences in the interface and commands that make changing over daunting enough for many to give up (Including me. Four times.)
With this guide I hope to ease the transition by addressing some of the most common issues, and giving some tips to get you as ready to roll as you were with Razor... if not more.
First off, what is sallos and why should you use it?
Technically, Sallos is the launch platform for a variety of online games, the most notable of which (and the only one anyone gives a damn about to be frank) is the Kirros client for UO. More often sallos is used to refer to the kirros client directly.
Unlike Razor, Sallos replaces the standard client entirely rather then simply running in conjunction with, and this is its biggest strength. Rather then sitting in between the client and server being forced to act as a middle man, Sallos works directly with the server providing less steps for things to be lost along the way, and allowing the program more extensive control over what you are seeing. This means commands are not only more reliable, but quicker as well.
-Basic interface
Once logged in, the basic interface should be at least somewhat familiar... The difference are small once you get used to them and eventually you will likely not even notice them.
THE SHIFT BUTTON IS USED FOR EVERYTHING
One of the biggest, and perhaps best changes is the shift button. Most mouse actions (aside from running) will require you to hold shift as well to prevent accidental use. This includes closing/dragging health bars, dragging the game window, opening pop up gumps such as character menus (leave house, info) vendor menus (buy, sell, ect) and pet menus (you get the point). When in doubt, use shift.
PLAYER STATUS BARS
Along with right clicking not closing status bars, they will remain up through deaths too (yours and theirs). This is perhaps what sallos is most know for. Pulling bars has also been simplified slightly as well, rather then having to click directly on a player to drag his bar off you can click anywhere on screen and the bar will be pulled of the first creature you pass your mouse over. The one big drawback is that you can no longer drag status bars from a players name, so for players who are blocked from view you must use their paperdoll to open their stats.
CONTAINER GUMPS
Similar to status bars, containers will remain open as well. A recent exception to this is snooped backpacks, the last update adjusted them to close when the player off screens. While containers staying open can be nice in some situations, this one is mostly a pain. The gump stays on screen, but the container is not technically "open". Trying to drop items into the gump will not work you need to re-open the container
SPELLBOOKS
Spellbooks do not show anything but the spell list, regs require can be found by mousing over the spell name and spell icons can be had by simply dragging the name of the spell. While it is not shown, the black space directly surrounding the game window is gridded, and spell icon will snap into place for a neater look.Spells can be moved again or closed by holding shift.
MAP
The map in sallos referred to as "overview" this can make it hard to find if you don't know what your looking for.
The sallos map can be adjusted by dragging on the edges, however only up to a certain size. The map will automatically show the positions of party members (this can take a minute when first joining parties), and can be set to follow them by holding control, and clicking on their status bar, your position will then be labeled "You". Focus can be put back on yourself by control clicking your status bar (if your status bar has been closed, you will need to re-open it. The small one in the bottom right of the game window will not work for this)
PARTY
Sallos likes to party, and will do so when ever possible. If you are the leader of a party, sallos will automatically try to add any onscreen guildmates. If invited to a party by a guildmate, sallos will automatically join. There is also no party gump, so remember /add, /remove, /quit
-OPTIONS, SETTINGS, AND GAME FILE LOCATIONS.
Easily the worst part of sallos, the options menu and settings in side seem to be done just well enough to be functional.
. Music off
Sallos has a variety of commands that are typed in. These commands all start with a period, followed by a space. You will notice the first section of the options menu is audio... and also that these don't do anything. Many people have reported errors when the music is left on, so to be on the safe side use this command to turn the music off.
CRIMINALS AND MURDERS
Along with the usual criminal query sallos also has a feature for reds to prevent you from crossing guard lines. This feature can be temporarily turned off by holding down ctrl+shift while crossing the line. Alternatively, since entering a guard zone as a murderer has no real consequence on hybrid, this feature can be turned off in the options menu by turning "Siege Rule set" to on. Criminal query is referred to as "Notoriety Query", turn it off to allow criminal actions with having to verify.
DISPLAY SETTINGS
For the most part these settings are rather straight forward. Terrain Quality and Anti-aliasing (AA) have the largest effect on performance, so when trying to get the game to run smooth start here. Terrain quality, as shown determines the number of polygons used to shape bumps in the ground. In rare instances on rough terrain (such as T2A) higher settings can actually cause corpses to not be visible. This is usually not a problem and corpses can be opened with all names.
SETTING UP MACROS
Easy once you get the hang of it, setting up macros is perhaps one of the best example of Sallos' unfinished nature. The program will not automatically overwrite previous macros if you assign multiples to the same key, and choosing a key that already has a macro assigned to any combination of it (ctrl/shift/alt + key) will not let you add another macro.
To set up a new macro, start by showing the "keyboard", and checking the button combination for a pre-existing macro. If one exists, delete it. Then start a blank macro by clicking any white key. Click the text box that shows what key the macro is being assigned to, then press the key you really want to assign the macro to. Click to toggle alt, ctrl or shift then assign your actions.
GAME FILES
All of Sallos' settings and macros are contained in two files, Macros in Macro.xml and all other settings in Configuation.xml
Both of these are in hidden folders, so in my computer you need to go to folder options and make sure that hidden folders are shown.
In Vista and Windows 7 start in "C:\Users\YOUR_NAME", and for Xp start ub "C:\Documents and Settings\YOUR_NAME"
Then go AppData->Local->Sallos->Ultima Online
Various settings can only be changed by editing these files (use notepad to open), or they can be backed up when switching computers or reformating.
CHANGING RESOLUTION
Like razor, the resolution can be changed however it is not an option anywhere, so the game files must be edited. Any time you are editing files manually its not a bad idea to make a copy as backup before doing anything.
Open the Configuration.xml file with notepad.
The file will start:
Code:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<config>
<profiles>
<profile name="Default">
<preferences>
<renderSettings terrain-quality="2" smoothing-mode="2" smooth-characters="true" animated-characters="true" item-shadows="true" character-shadows="true" />
<sound volume="10000" mute="false" />
<music volume="10000" mute="true" />
<speechHues regular="68" yell="96" emote="96" whisper="96" />
<notoHues innocent="89" ally="63" attackable="1303" criminal="946" enemy="144" murderer="34" vendor="53" />
<options flags="1886" notoQuery="0" houseLevel="1" />
<scavenger options="15" />
<screenLayout game-x="0" game-y="0" game-width="800" game-height="600" screen-x="642" screen-y="30" screen-width="640" screen-height="480" maximized="true" full-width="1024" full-height="768" fullscreen="false">
The last line
<screenLayout game-x="0" game-y="0" game-width="800" game-height="600" screen-x="642" screen-y="30" screen-width="640" screen-height="480" maximized="true" full-width="1024" full-height="768" fullscreen="false">
Gives resolutions. Default is 800X600. Change
Code:
game-width="800" game-height="600"
To what ever you desire.
CHANGING SOUND LEVELS
Sallos is rather loud, and has no built in sound adjustment. Again we can go to the the config file and edit it to make the changes we want.
At the start of the config file, in the same bit of code posted above look for
Code:
<sound volume="10000" mute="false" />
edit the 10000 to a lesser number. You will have to experiment as this is not something I have done, alternatively windows vista and 7 users can lower the volume in windows, by click the speaker icon in the system tray (bottom right of the monitor) and choosing "Mixer", then lowering the slider for sallos.
SALLOS RESTOCK AGENT
With the last patch a restock agent was added, however surprisingly it is not completely finished. The command for it is ". restock" (note the space)
The first time it is used the restock container source is recorded and you will not be asked for it again.
Any changes that DO need to be made to the restock agent have to be done in the game files by editing configuration.xml
This file has sections for each character you use, they are just below the runebook section of the file towards the end.
Look for these tags:
Code:
<player name="Vick" serial="XXXXXX" profile="Default">
Find the name of the player you want to edit the restock agent for.
To reset the restock container delete the entire restock code for that character
Code:
<restock reagent-count="30" heal-potion-count="8" cure-potion-count="8" refresh-potion-count="3" strength-potion-count="0" agility-potion-count="0" explosion-potion-count="0">
<item serial="1084947586" itemID="3705" />
<item serial="1077940832" itemID="3651" />
</restock>
Notice, just like forum tags it starts with <restock> and ends with </restock> this section is what needs to be deleted. It will be re-wrote when you restock next.
To change the amount of regs, change
To the number of regs you want. Currently only regs are re-stocked so ignore the potion part. Default is 100.
-GAME PLAY
TARGETING
While razor has a handful of targeting options ranging from targeting by notoriety, to ignoring NPC's The options in sallos are much more limited.
It boils down to the main two, Acquire target and Find Target. Both will target the closest player based on your notoriety. Blues target reds and grays, Reds target blues and Grays.
The difference between the two is subtle. Target acquire is similar to Razors target options. It will actually target an opponent. Target find does not actually target, instead it sets the person as your last target. So Acquire is used to actually drop a spell, while find will only set a last target with out actually targeting the person with the spell.
HOW DO I TURN OF MY HOTKEYS SO I CAN TYPE?
You don't. Perhaps one of the biggest ommissions, your hot keys are ALWAYS active. There is however a setting in the options menu called "Key Passthrough" that when switched on will at least allow you to type. The macro for any key you press wil still be triggered, but the letter will show up and any spells you happen to cast can be cancled later.
The best solution is just to not use plain letters, and to assign everything to a key + ctrl, shift, or alt.
Yet another alternative (while not a very good one) is to simply hold down shift while you type. As long as no macros are assigned to letter + shift you will be able to type fine, although it is awkward. You can avoid "yelling" by turning caps on, then typing with shift for lower case letters.
SALLOS WAS RUNNING FINE, BUT NOW I AM LAGGING LIKE CRAZY.
Yet another example of the fact that sallos could use some polishing. The program unfortunately contains a "memory leak". What this means is that while sallos is open it will slowly start to use more and more memory. The program uses just over 100mb on start, but I have seen this get as high as 1 gig before. The only real fix is to close the program and re-open. As much of a pain as this it, it should not be needed often. Depending on your computer's memory and other programs your running it may never use enough for you to really notice. Some have also reported minimizing the window briefly helps. You can also feel free to close the sign in screen, its does not need to stay open and it can use quite a bit of resources as well.
BUYING FROM IN TOWN VENDORS
Sallos simply wasn't meant for this and it doesn't seem to be anyone's priority to fix. Prices, icons and names will rarely match up. Generally this can be worked around by ignoring everything but the image, the price it quotes will be off and is not necessarily what you will be charged.
SALLOS AND THIEVING.
While most consider Sallos a PVP client it works equally well for thiefs.
The two main advantages here are autostealth and the remove command.
When a player stealths, sallos will prevent them from running or walking into other characters (this excludes hidden ones). It will also freeze you after 10 steps until it can use the stealth skill again.
You can also remove any item or character from your screen with the ". remove" command. The effect is local only (nothing really changes, just what is shown on your screen. This is perfect for removing items from a players pack when they are trying to cover up something valuable.
CLIENT COMMANDS
Many actions in sallos are executed by typed commands (or by a macro that says the command).
These commands start with a period, followed by a space then the command.
A near complete list can be found here:
http://www.sallos.net/games/ultima/commands.php
It is a bit outdated, so not every command will still work (house levels for instance, adding scavengers has never worked for me either)
-THE FILES, AND OTHER GUIDES
Sallos:
http://www.sallos.net/download/
Make sure to have the .net framework, as well as DirectX.
Unfortunately I am no real help on any technical problems you may have with the install, Pick quick download if you only want UO, and complete if you want all the games... and in case of any error double check you have the two requirements, then download the other (quick instead of complete, or vice versa)
PlayUO Guide from cache
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dc9wzmvd_4dk2vrbdb
This is a cached version of a very old and out of date guide.
It explains many features, and is not a bad place to look even if some parts of it no longer apply.
