January 25th, 2005

Some Progress and an Important Note

GM Azuth & I have been working hard on the shard since we decided to begin working on the project again. We have finished implementing the world to properly use the RunUO server package. GM Azuth has all the regions in and they appear to be working fine. We are still testing the different regions but it looks good so far. We have also connected all the dungeons, caves, and special areas so that the surface world now properly connects to the underworld of Sosaria. Back when we last worked on U3O we had a 95% finished map. During the year+ of the project being dormant, GM Azuth & I knew one day we would return to work, and the project would eventually go live, so during that year or more of down time GM Azuth enhanced the map and added more areas, and other goodies to the overall design. I can't go into details as it will spoil some of the surprises players will find in Sosaria. Never the less, the World of Sosaria is much more detailed and overall size of the surface is greater than anytime in the past.

Finally, we are now beginning the next and most important and time consuming phase that we have left for shard development. We are now in the process of going over all the items, monsters, spells, etc... and making sure they fit in with the shard we are building. After this we begin populating the towns with citizens, guards and vendors. After that we begin setting up the various spawn areas on the overland where the denizens of Sosaria will come to life and lurk about ready to pounce on any unsuspecting player or citizen of Sosaria. After the overland spawner phase we then have to setup the loot and creature spawners for the dungeons and other subeterranean areas. Once the spawn phase of the surface and underworld is complete we will be in the home stretch with most of the difficult work behind us.

On another matter, I have received a few emails asking about the monthly fee requirements to play on our server. As most UO emulator users and players know, there is NO monthly fees to play on UO emulated servers. Access to our server will ALWAYS remain free. Even if we wished to charge a little something each month like EQ, OSI UO (Official), and DAoC do, we couldn't as it would be illegal as per the liscencing agreement when you host an emulated UO server, so to those of you who are not too familiar with the UO emulation community, there can NEVER be a forced monthly fee to play on our server as that would make us illegal and both the UO emulated server authors and EA itself could come after us with their lawyers. :) Hope that puts to rest any questions or fears that visitors might have regarding monthly subscription fees. The answer is simply NEVER will U3O enforce a monthly fee for access.

~ GM Draugr ~

January 15th, 2005

From the Depths of Hell, We have Returned!

Well, well after over a year of silence the land began to feel slight rumblings beneath its soil. The animals of the countryside could be seen acting scared and running in packs as if fleeing from some unknown lurking horror. The citizens of the Soznet.net domain had no clue what awaited them below. THEN! on a cold dry day on the 15th of January 2005, the land shook horribly, buildings fell, towns and castles shifted and in the center of the domain a giant gash opened up and after the dust and smoke had cleared there stood a site not seen in many many moons. There was the RETURN.... The return of U3O: Ultima III On-Line!

So, to those of you who are first time visitors or visitors of old, we welcome you back to the Ultima III Online website. Gm Draugr & Gm Azuth are back and progress on the U3O server is moving along quite steadily. Please feel free to look around or join our forums to converse with the GMs and other members who anxiously wait the day when the land of Sosaria as it was in Ultima III Exodus, returns to the fans and players of the Ultima Universe!

That is all for now. We will update the site and news section as more information becomes available.

~ GM Draugr ~