Other old shard owners... like me?

[Dian]

I have been using RunUO since the very first Beta. Had a shard using POL 94 before the release of RunUO beta 1. Like many many others, over the ~12 years, we have closed and reopened I think 3 times before the final shut down sometime around 06-07. There may be a few around still that might remember me.. though I really never posted a whole lot over the 11 years here..

Anyways, over the last year I have been rebuilding our old server to a more recent version of RunUO. At first, it was just for our own occasional entertainment (wife and I) however, the thought of it being public again and being populated and enjoyed by others still echo's in the head.

I just couldnt do that again solo, and most the people I knew and worked with are gone or have less than zero interest in the whole deal.

So, how many others out there are in this kind of situation?

I had the idea of somehow throwing this out to see what happens. Maybe there are a few others like me, experienced with shard development, but been years and just dont have anyone to work with these days.

I have a very well developed server with a custom map that has several years of development. Several towns and dungeons, and plenty of room to grow. Its not gody, but it is a very nice full map. I am actually the same Dian from Ryandor.com... Anyway, I had set to custom map replacing Tram leaving a Felucca Britania world map still to use. (or vise versa) I usually stuck to close OSI/EA game mechanics, and generally never went too far 'out of the box' but still having a lot of new and customized stuff.

So if you are aimlessly scripting stuff for really no purpose other than filling a void and want to consider gathering a group to possibly launching a great shard let me know. Id consider even handing the keys over to the right group and just help out, or play as character. Who knows?

I'll throw a few images up later of the world map and few spots for example.

 

[Dian]

Heres a shot of the map I have made over many years..

 

[milva]

Very nice map, so do you still need to build the towns and such?

 

[Dian]

Thanks Milva and, nope! We ran our shard for several years with this map, from its early stages to what I have now.(02-07)

There are several towns.. 11 actually. Ranging from major Britain style, magical city on secluded island, large town in the icelands, to secluded small community somewhat like Yew. A few forts also, and other random landmark type of things.

Dungeons too (plenty), are mostly all completely done with exception of a couple that are laid out, just never really got to developing. Still keeping the Brit map and dungeons for one facet makes a great combination. And still room to add on to the dungeon area, if need be later.

A lot of the land has great potential to further develop though, like forts and random camps etc through out the forests for example. I mean, its at the point where it just needs that in game development to grow. It is just too overwhelming for me to do alone realistically, but Id love to really see it come back to life and get enjoyed.. and came the idea that maybe there were a few other old shard owners lurking around here somewhat aimlessly, yet determined to be a part of putting together and running a good custom map shard without the work of creating a map!


maybe you'll laugh at me

I will see about posting some other images of in game areas tomorrow.

 

[Dian]

Actually, if there is anyone slightly interested in working with me on this, send me a message and I will send you my changelog.txt that has the bulk of my changes this last ~year since I have been rebuilding/updating my old shard to a more current RunUO.

That would give anyone serious or interested a good feel for how the shard is set up.

 

[Dian]

Here are a few images I have from when the shard was live. Later I will take a few more shots of some town and other areas from in game.
a couple examples of the t-map/cartography working with the custom map, an example of how my coastal transitions are like, and a couple areas taken from InsideUO map view.The last image is my Jail Island, Destitute. Setup with courtroom, jail cell's both above and below ground, and an area for a work camp (meant to create a rock quarry for the inmates) And these are not really even close to any 'highlights' really.

I thought I had more detailed in game shots, but must be on another hard drive somewhere.

 

[YewGuards]

I would be interested, I'm looking to spend funds on a shard, market it and beta test it. My requirements are it doesn't have malas, trammel, and is relatively close to Renaissance timeline.

 

[Hellable]

Interested in a collaberation, our server has 11 months of development done, and have a team of 17 staff currently, from all over the world.

We are 100% donation free, and have many gold drains, and a very balanced out pvp system, old school crafting, we will have Galleon ships, all based in Publish 15.

 

[Dian]

Sorry guys, for not responding right away. My main PC is acting up (video locking up).

I dont think I have really explained well what I am here offering. I am not interested in any way, to section out my work to other shard owners.

What I am after or looking for, is potentially a few experienced people that are not involved with another shard at the moment. Some folks that may have ran a shard of their own before or helped run a shard in the past, that is not currently doing anything specifically right now. Maybe someone that is thinking of building a shard, but uncertain about starting a new, etc. I am looking for experienced people, however I can work with some folks that show the right amount of appreciation and intentions.

My end game vision is, having some folks help run this shard I have built. I want to ultimately be able to mainly just play on the shard as a player with the wife. We spent years creating this map and even more time evolving the distro RunUO to work with the custom map. We really launched the shard very prematurely. (somewhere around RunUO Beta 10 or so) The years to follow, I had scripted with some help, a lot of systems that RunUO had not done, only to revert later on removing my version with the Distro as they were added. Tons of time wasted in that alone.

I am offering this for a limited time, in hopes to find a few people as mentioned, that actually appreciate the map for what it is, and see the potential that it has to offer, and ready to expand and further develop the world from where I left off.

THIS IS NOT A NEW CONCEPT.
Again, I have years of development not only with the map, but the RunUO scripts to go with it. Regions, world spawn, towns and vendors setup, Go locations, moongates, world teleporters etc!.. I have always had to take plug and play scripts and modify them to work with my map. The hard work has been done here. Really, the shard is at a state right now that is ideal to begin setup for Live Game Play, more so than when it was actually live.

I am not offering my map files to anyone that has interest in using them (even though it would be next to impossible to prevent anyone from doing so once released one way or another), and I am not giving my permissions to allow anyone to do so, as far as that go's. As much as I can prevent it.

Bottom line here is, I am looking for some folks to somewhat take over the shard with minimal oversight from me. I will still be here to code stuff, update things, build areas as the world evolves and so forth.

Make no mistake! This is not just a decent map that needs a shard developed to it! That has been done! There is still plenty to do, but all in all, this whole project could be launched live with little effort. I am willing to change some stuff as to the overall game style if it makes sence.

Overview to follow in my next reply.

Thanks for the interest so far though.

 

[Dian]

Originally Dragons Heart Realm (01-03)
Changed to Ancient Legends (03-current)

As it is right now, I have my custom may (The Heartlands) replacing Felucca, still leaving Tram/Brit, Illsh, Malas, Tokuno. (No SA)
ALL MAPS ARE FELUCCA RULE SET
This could be changed to replacing Brit/Tram with The Heartlands map, leaving Brit/Fel instead (for faction sake) fairly easy.

Even with a Tram version of Britania, it was always meant to be used as a felucca game style. PvP was never my biggest game style, although I never liked having a safe Trammel style world.

I have most everything up to High Seas installed and running (that is NOT including High Seas, but UP TO), that is ML system, Imbuing etc. I had always kept my shard around the PRE PUBLISH 16 game erra, until I played on OSI a couple years back, and learned to appreciate the newer additions.

I have yet to setup Factions really, but if the Felucca/Brit map was to be used instead, it would be very easy to enable factions to their respective areas, and even allow faction play on all maps.

Player housing is either placed housing or by town house setup. There are enough towns to consider allowing several full towns to be set up as player towns.

I have my current shard running with just the wife and I on it with our characters, but if/when I find a group to work with, a public version will be done with whatever modifications needed to suit our joined ideas prior to launching. I am willing to change things around, to be clear

Hope that helps clear things up a little bit, however vague. Please do not hesitate to ask more questions!

 

[Dian]

There is really too much for me to remember and list here, as far as what work I have done.

Another little piece I did was to tamed bonded pets. Once your pet bonds, you have 5 maximum reserrections. When a player resurrects the pet for the 5th time, the pet remains bonded throughout that last life, however, if that pet dies for that last time, the bond breaks and the pet dies leaving the corpse behind.

Just another little thing of the many things I have done.

 

[Dian]

I have been intending to follow up with some more pictures of the map from in game, but I have slowly lost my main PC this week. So I am forced to rebuild it and re-install everything.. unfortunately, it is of course the machine I do all of my development on, so visual studios and everything else will need be all reinstalled. Just hoping I can pull the data from the original HD to not loose too much.

So bare with me, anyone that is waiting to see more detailed images of the map.. I will get some posted asap.

 

[Dian]

Finally have my developer system back up and running, all freshly installed and running smooth again. So I am going to run around some areas this afternoon and round up some screen shots.

I would really like to hear from people that have looked over the thread here, and good or bad, post some of your thoughts? Weather you are interested in joining or not, I would appreciate some insight.

Thanks!

 

[Dian]

Gathered up some screen shots. I have to say it is tough to stop! I only meant to take around 10, but ended up with 25..
I included the larger map viewer as well to give a better idea of the area and its surroundings. I will be happy to take a few more of a particular area if wanted. For the most part, this is as little as I can manage to give a better idea how 'developed' my years of work on this map has become.
Heres a couple shots of first, the town Anderida. This is on its own island.

 

[Dian]

Another fairly large town, Camela. This is also on its own island, and has been used as a starting city.
The last one is the Cemetary Catacombs, down the path from town.

 

[Dian]

Next, trying to keep things at just a shot or two to an area.. we have my city in the arctic, Cressida. Followed by the little village of Crogan. And finally a tight nit pirate like community area of Dunver in the desert.

 

[Dian]

Okay, moving along, next is the magical city of Meddryn. Another very secluded island created by ancient wizard clan, followed up with a shot of the small village of Weir.

 

[Dian]

Moving on to some spawn areas, within the vast deserts are a fairly large group of pyramids, followed by a couple forts/lairs in the swamp, and finally the last couple are of a huge ancient ruined city in the mountain of Paladur.

 

[Dian]

Just a few dungeon shots, since i am trying hard to not spend all day on this
We have a lower level of the dungeon Kalmana, followed with my first creation, Lost Souls

 

[Dian]

And, to finish up for now.. what shard is complete without a jail?? This is my jail island, Destitute. It is reachable by ship in game, however its complete with a heavy guarded entrance. Inside there is a courthouse with evidence room and holding rooms, as well as a secluded building with upper and lower jail cells. And, has a nice little area outside the jail building that is reserved for a rock quarry when I have time to create some sort of system to make it happen