This repack uses the old UOGamers: Rebirth core as its base. This project is designed to update Rebirth to support .NET Framework 4.0, as well as a number of newer core modifications to allow users to connect with the latest client versions.


You'll also find a plethora of custom content added (easily removable if desired) - more details on that later.


====================
This Archive
====================

This is an official, authorized release of the UOGamers: Rebirth scripts and core source code as well as a complete (minus accounts) world save from September 20, 2005. This is everything you need to play UOGamers: Rebirth as it was in September 2005 or to use the code to create your own shard with a similar rule set.


Countless hours of programming, testing, world building, and playing time went into the content of this file.


This package is no longer available on RunUO!



====================
Background
====================

UOGamers: Rebirth was a free UO shard run by the official UOGamers/RunUO team from 2004 - 2006. The original idea behind Rebirth was to be as accurate as possible to Ultima Online as it existed in late 1997 and early 1998 (as it was less than a year after it came out). That was the era that most of us (at the time in 2003/2004, anyway) first fell in love with Ultima Online.


Like most shards, it eventually fell from popularity and many of the Staff lost interest. In an attempt to get more players, UOGamers: Rebirth eventually closed and was replaced by UOGamers: Divinity which had an "updated" (to Pre-UOR) rule set, but which ultimately was less authentic.



====================
Support
====================

This code is not officially supported by RunUO, UOGamers, or any member of their team. Use of this content does not provide warranty or guaranteed support. This project is a hobby, and will be updated at our leisure. We also make no promises that content will function identical to any specific era, or that it is "bug free". We do promise to do our best.

Toying with this code is probably not for the novice. If you look at it and feel yourself itching to ask a question (and can't figure out the answer from the code itself or from the ReadMe) then stop! You're in over your head! You are free to submit bugs and issues to our tracker, but we will not provide support for minor questions that advanced developers would normally have the answer for.



====================
License
====================

The RunUO source code and most of the scripts fall under the standard RunUO software license (see www.runuo.com for more information). This also applies to the data. All code belonging to solely to "Zippy" is hereby released into the public domain free for use in any way without any restrictions.

Any content with Novitius Designs stamp is copyrighted and expressly belongs to Novitius Designs. Most content (unless explicitly stated otherwise) falls under the GNU GPL License agreement.

Ultima Online belongs to Electronic Arts, Inc. They may have intellectual property rights to portions of this package; please consult a licensed legal adviser if you're legitimately concerned.

If you use any of this content on your own server, you should let it be known where the code originally came from.



====================
The Code
====================

Scripts Rebirth used the RunUO 1.0.1 core originally. This package contains an updated version of the scripts with only the changes required for the scripts to run on a modern (2.1+/SVN) core which supports modern (7.0+) clients. Other small changes were made to facilitate ease of use, but no changes/updates/bugfixes were made to the core rule set. Any updates committed by Novitius Designs will be notated. "Private" scripts such as the UOGamers Event/Tournament system have also been removed.

Most of the standard UO scripts in existence in 2004/2005 are included in the package even though they aren't authentic. Just ignore them if you don't want to see them.

Core The scripts require a few small changes to the RunUO core to work properly. The core RunUO.exe included in this package has been built with these changes, but the source was not included. The only changes required to the RunUO core can be found in "Rebirth-Core-svn728.diff".

The most interesting core changes were made to the packet code. These changes convert any message sent by any script into ASCII english text. This is because for the target era/ruleset Unicode font and localization did not exist in Ultima Online. Rather than modify all scripts that send messages, this code converts the Unicode into ascii before sending the packets.



====================
The World
====================

This world save was originally created on UOGamers: Rebirth on September 20, 2005 at 12:22pm.

All saved data has been removed, but we will offer a small save package in a separate repo for users interested in the data. The accounts have been removed to protect anyone still using those emails/usernames/passwords, however all items and characters remain exactly as they were. The houses have been set "ageless" so that they won't decay as soon as the world has finished loading, so that they can be freely explored.

All original player characters are still in the file, but since there are no accounts they cannot be easily logged in to. The following are instructions on how to manually link a player character to a new account:

- Log in as an administrator and execute the following command:
  [global interface where playermobile name = "The Character I am looking for"
- This will search for all players by that name. Use the interface window to bring the characters to your location. (Do NOT go to their location!)
- Once you have located the proper player, execute the command [get serial and target the player. Write down the number that is given to you. If the number you are given begins with "0x", type the entire number into google followed by "to decimal" and use the result google gives you instead. For example, if [get serial gave you "0x1234" you would search google for "0x1234 to decimal" which would yield the result "4660" which is the number you should use for the rest of these instructions.
- Shut down the server and open the Saves/Accounts/Accounts.xml file.
- Find the account you are looking for. If it does not have a "" block, add an empty one. If you don't know how, look at other accounts or start the server back up and log into the account and create a new character, save the world, then shut the server down again.
- Add a "" entry like the one below, substitute the number you wrote down in step #3/#3A for the XXX in the following line: XXX
- Save the file and start the world again.



====================
The Rule Set
====================

This is a brief and incomplete listing of the major features of the Pre-T2A ruleset. This is not a complete list!

== Notoriety System ==
Pre-T2A, Ultima Online had a "notoriety" system in which everyone was either good, or evil. This is similar to modern UO's concept of "Karma", but "Karma" and "Fame" were lumped together. One could turn "Red" ("Murderer" in modern UO) relatively easily, including by killing too many "Blue" NPCs. Once could easily become "Perma-Grey" from stealing or other unsavory acts.


== Spell System ==
There is no longer any type of comprehensive list of all of the changes to magic that happened over the years. The magic system in Rebirth is as authentic as they were able to make it from memory and some other references.


== Bounty System ==
Just like that which originally existed in early 1998, a bounty system in-which the Dread Lord's head must be removed from his corpse and given to an NPC guard for a reward which was originally funded by the Read's victims. "Bounty Boards" can be set up in town to see the names and bounties for each person. When a player is murdered, they are allowed to contribute gold from their bank toward the bounty.


== Guild System ==
Using the old-style "gump" windows.


== Chaos/Order System ==
Precursor to Factions. A guild may declare themselves "Chaos" or "Order". Members may then go to the Lords' Castles and request a virtue shield from the castle guard. While wearing the shield, players may fight any players of the opposite virtue even while in town (even if the guilds have not declared war).


== Skill Atrophy ==
Before T2A there were no skill locks. When nearing the skill cap, skills could accidentally drop as others were gained. It became increasingly difficult to achieve "7x", the last 1 or 2 points taking extremely long to gain (while having to repeatedly "ping-pong" between skills).


== Weapon Modifiers ==
Original weapon modifiers including spell-casting weapons.

== Item Names ==
All items have proper single-click names and NO context-menus. This includes weapons (ex: "You See: an indestructible halberd of vanquishing and mage's bane with 10 charges")

== Talking while hidden ==
This one was difficult because it was originally somewhat of a client bug that was fixed about 13 years ago. But a workaround was eventually found, and you can speak while hidden. When you do, your words will appear at your feet and anyone in the area can see them and know where you are, but you will not be unhidden. Keep in mind this is back before party talk, so if you wanted to hide and wait for some blues but also talk to your friends... you get the idea.

== Communication Crystals ==
For long distance chat, you can buy communication crystals and link them together. Power them with gems, and they can be used to send messages a long way. They are also great for house security, since you could leave one in your house and if anyone talked inside, you'd know.

== Speaking of Houses ==
No lock downs, no secures. Nothing in houses (except corpses) decays. If you lose your key, whoever finds it effectively owns your house at that point. Also if someone sneaks inside, they can just start grabbing stuff since it is locked down.

== Player Vendors ==
Can be used to semi-securely store house keys

== Crafting ==
Original UO crafting (which is what you'll find in these scripts) was very sparse. There were no special items or special resource gathering bonuses. Crafting was very basic.

== Colored Armor ==
NPCs sell colored armor, ranging from deep black to rose colored. There was no special Ore to mine, so the only way to get non-silver armor is to buy from NPCs. They sell random colors, so getting a complete set can be a bit of a challenge.

== Duping ==
The one thing that wasn't added was server crashes and gold duping.

== Skill Gain ==
This formula is entirely RunUO's creation. It is fairly hard, and it works on a more official UO-like "curve" where making the most difficult thing you can is not always the best way to gain skill (instead, make the thing that you can succeed at ~60% of the time...)

Skill Gain rate is also partially impacted by how much that skill is being used globally compared to other skills. So odd, rare skills are easier to gain. (Source: internet archive)

Does food effect skill gain rate or success chance? You'd have to look in the code to see.

== Christmas Presents ==
The original UO Christmas presents from 1997 are all there. Does coal do anything? You'd have to look in the code to find out as well.

== Purple Llama Vortex ==
Yep, that's included.

== Resurrect Now Option ("Fred vs. Bob" Wars) ==
Back in the early days there was an option to resurrect instantly after you died, at the cost of some stats and skills. While you'd of course never do this with a valuable character, sometimes it was fun to make a new char and just mess around with newbie skills and equipment.

Back on the official servers, when one went down (happened a lot back then) people from that server would pick a different and make a char named "Fred" or "Bob" and all meet up at a random place and have huge fights, or grief the regular players of that shard until their came back up. It was great fun; usually hilarious.

== Horses (and your old friend, Lag) ==
In 1997/1998, most people were on 28.8 or 33.6 modems. ADSL was just starting to get popular. Also hardware was not nearly as powerful as it is now, and so "Lag" (server <-> client latency) was a serious issue. Normal ping times were in the 200-400ms range.

For that reason, running full speed on a horse did not give most people a serious advantage over running on foot. Also there were no ethereal mounts, and so horse riding was somewhat rare. In order to demotivate people from using horses on Rebirth, "fake lag" feature was implemented that causes horses to lag when they make turns. They can run fast speed (for the most part) when going straight for long distances, but in combat they are generally more trouble than they are worth.



====================
The Sources
====================

The implementation of this rule set was driven by several sources, the foremost being the development team's memory and the memory of Rebirth's players.

Additionally, in 2005 there was a website which had the Origin "publish notes" for every patch ever made to Ultima Online. Some of these provided very helpful explanations of how certain systems worked. Unfortunately, that site has been lost to time and the link is no longer available.

The "Wayback Machine" provided useful access to ancient discussion forum posts, which supplemented memory and patch logs on occasion. These posts, though, were often just rumors and guesses from players of the time, only slightly more reliable than our own memories.



====================
UODemo
====================

An oft-forgotten application included on the original "Ultima Online: The Second Age" (T2A) CD-Rom was a program called "UODemo" which allowed limited single player UO without an internet connection. The CD contained a working version of the Ultima Online official server. The UO emulator community was able to figure out the compression/encryption on the UODemo data files. This data included loot tables, equipment and NPC statistics, and much much more.

This data is the "primary source" for most of the numbers in the Rebirth Scripts (spells, damage, weapons, combat formulas, skill formulas, etc).

We do not have any of the UODemo files or related tools/programs, so please do not ask. They may still be lurking out on the internet somewhere, or they may be lost to time now as well. Anyone with an original T2A disc, a little programming skill, and a lot of free time might be able to recreate some of the tools if they can't be found. T2A discs can still be found for sale with a little bit of digging.