Shadowcove FAQ

Have a question about getting into Shadowcove, our rules, staff, or how we run the shard? Read on!

You may also want to check out the Shadowcove home, Why Us? and Shadowcove Features pages for more information.

Is This a 'Fly By Night' Shard?

No; Absolutely not. We've been here since late 2001, and we intend to stay as long as we have players interested. We have committed ourselves to financially supporting the shard (and we have the resources to do so), and we have maintained ownership, administration and programming all to one person.

Many shards generally fail because the owner(s) cannot financially support it, or because too many people get mixed up in it; one person cobbles together an old computer to be the server... someone else hosts it on their cable modem, and yet another person is the admin/scripter. Eventually, personalities clash, and the group breaks up, leaving the shard in the lurch. None of that will happen here, and we plan to stay around as long as players are interested in playing here!

Elsewhere in this F.A.Q., you can find information on our software, hardware and network setup, which should help convince you we are serious about sticking around!

Can I Be a Counselor/Seer/GM?

We take great care in who we select for staff positions here, for Shadowcove. Staff have the ability to affect the game in many ways, positively, and negatively. Beyond that, joining the staff can sometimes actually reduce ones enjoyment of the game. We have strict rules for staff players, in order to protect the integrity of the game.

Almost without exception, we do not accept players for staff positions when those players actively seek such a position. Asking us if you can be staff is a sure way to be sure you never get the chance. We believe that a staff member must be someone who cares for the community here, and who wishes to contribute to it. This is simply not possible, for example, for a new player. Yet 90% of our 'requests' to become staff come from brand-new players. Every single one of those was turned down with the following advice. Every single one of those players ignored the advice, and hasn't been seen here since.

The advice is this: If you truly want to contribute to this community, you can do it as a normal player. In fact, that's how we choose our staff; by seeing who is showing exemplary desire to add to the enjoyment of other players. By running their own events, hunts and quests, players can show us what they are really made of.

Will Playing Here 'Break' My Regular UO?

No; it will not. We have taken great care to be certain that if you play here, you will never interfere with your ability to play on OSI's official UO shards, nor anywhere else. Not too many other emulators take that much care. See The Dangers of Emulators for more information.

Will EA Ban Me From UO For Playing Here?

No, they will not. OSI/EA has been aware of Emulator shards for a long time now. OSI/EA employees have been known to lurk and post on the web sites of Emulator software developers. While certainly, they do not outright condone the playing of Emulators (and technically, it *IS* against the Ultima Online Terms of Service), the truth of the situation is more complicated than that.

Representatives of OSI have stated that they don't have any broad concerns with emulators, in general. Certainly, if you are paying OSI your $12.95/mo to play their game, and you are in good standing with them, they are not going to tell you they do not want your money any longer.

We have seen instances where OSI probably did have some trouble with specific situations, however. In all these cases, though, the problem was with the people running the emulator; not with the players. Problems such as people trying to post advertisements for their Emulator on UO's official site, or the well-known UO fansites (such as Stratics or Vault). Or extremely large, U.S. shards that go out of their way to make a big 'stink' about how much 'better' they are than OSI. One OSI representative recently put it like this: They don't care about emulators, unless they lose sales because of them.

This is, however, a fairly complex issue. We are careful that we do -not- illegally distribute OSI's copyrighted software. We encourage players to get the software by the officially sanctioned means; at a store, buy it online, or download it from an authorized download source. Barring all of that, we offer the service of downloading it on your behalf (and we do not charge for this service - not even to offset our costs). We are careful that your ability to play on the official servers is not broken. And we maintain - because we believe it - that in many ways, Ultima Online is still the best MMORPG out there. The burden here is on us; OSI would never ban paying, good-standing customers.

What is the Playstyle Here?

Shadowcove could probably best be described as a friendly, PvM (player-vs-monster) shard that supports role playing. We encourage cooperative play, and staff-run quests and events are geared toward that. Various systems in game introduce some mild 'competitive' elements, but in a comparative sense, rather than direct player-vs-player interaction. For instance, rather than guild stones, we have town stones, with elected leaders who can decorate and stock their town with vendors and services. We like to run contests in-game that challenge individuals or teams. There are no 'war' systems built in, and we do not encourage long-term competition between players, but we support and permit things such as consensual PvP and role-played, friendly rivalries.

What's the PK/PvP Policy Here?

We do not support non-consensual player-killing on Shadowcove. Doing so is grounds for immediate banning. As noted elsewhere, though, we would be glad to recommend a long list of Shards and other games (many free) where player-vs-player combat of all kinds is accepted and encouraged. A good many shards of excellent quality have appeared over the last year or so which are meant to bring back the 'glory days' of old, Pre-UO:R UO. We, however, are not one of them.

Our policy on PvP is that it must be consensual. Players may spar or duel, provided both players have explicit or implicit understanding, by whatever means. When staff receives complaints about player-killing, we will always assume that no such agreement existed. Unless some misunderstanding is involved, non-consensual player-killing will likely result in banning.

What If I Want To PK/PvP/Steal?

There are lots of well-established shards you can play on if this is the style of play you prefer. Our first recommendation would be Metropolis, a shard using RunUO to provide game play similar to pre-UO:R days, including PKing, stealing, and more open PvP. If that's not exactly to your liking, there are many 'Top UO Sites' lists on the Internet where you can find plenty of listings, to find what you want. Our favorite is Games Site 200 UO

Do You Have Standards for Character Names?

Yes; we do. So, what is an acceptable name? While you can potentially draw from a variety of sources in conceiving a name for your character, we do expect you put some thought into naming your character and give the character a name that is appropriate to someone who is, in a virtual sense, living on this shard.

Some names or nicknames are simply inappropriate. For examples, names with rotating caps (MaStErKiLlEr), offensive names, and names that are clearly out of context (Viagra). Of course, names that attempt to mis-represent the identity of the character are also unacceptable (attempting to name yourself to appear as staff, for example).

Names do not always need literally to be a "name"; We understand that for some situations, a more esoteric naming scheme might be used by a player. However, such cases are likely to come under great scrutiny. Provided such names are obviously in the spirit of roleplaying, there will likely be no trouble. "Herder of Nature" might be acceptable. "Slayer of Newbies"? No way.

When in doubt, of course, a real, literal name is always a good choice. Sources abound on the Internet to find names, plain or legendary. Here are three sites to start with:

Do You 'Enforce' Roleplaying?

Sort of, yes. Players should understand that in order for us to "support roleplaying", we must also enforce that no players should disrupt ongoing roleplay by speaking OOC in 'mixed company'. If you are alone, in private, with friends, it may be OK to speak OOC (although we prefer the use of the .msg system or the UOAM chat for such chatting). In the presence of other players, though, we ask that players refrain from OOC language; all that really means is; don't say anything that a character in a fantasy novel world would not say (don't talk about 'lag', skill point values, 'servers', etc)

What Will You Ban People For?

We are serious about one thing here on Shadowcove; Our player base. We say it ad-naseum, but that's because we believe it: Our players are our best asset. In order for that to be true, however, we must carefully watch what happens in game.

By many standards, we are very strict about what players can and can not do. You can read our rules of play to find out more. Many players will find those rules to be stifling and unreasonable. We know of a handful of excellent free games, including other UO Emulators, that would be perfect for players who want something other than what we offer here. We would be happy to direct players to them, should Shadowcove not work out.

Is Unattended Macroing Allowed?

No. Players found to be unresponsive in game for longer than the 'time out' period will be immediately banned from the game.

Are Third-Party Programs Allowed?

Aside from UO Auto Map, no. Convenience features are added to the game in the form of 'dot-commands', and other things, to extend the benefit many third-party programs would provide, but to all players; not just those willing to risk installing a third party program. Therefore, in the interests of fairness, the use of third party programs is not permitted.

How Do I Join?

Look at the top-left of the web site, on the menu. You will see a link named "Join Us". Use that link to fill out an application to join. Please be certain to carefully fill it out!

Why Do You Require Applications?

Player Realms is a private gaming service, for the benefit and enjoyment of it's members. We are not a gaming company, and we're not doing this to try to get publicity so someone will give us a job in 'the industry'. Our intention is to provide our friends, their friends, and other like-minded people with a nice 'safe' place to come and play an online game.

Toward that end, we carefully consider all new players, and we keep a close eye on happenings in-game. Our number-one priority is to maintain a pleasant atmosphere for all our players - not to become a 'large' game. So, we ask for some information from prospective players who do not have a friend referring them. Not much; just a general idea of what convinced you to apply, and what you like in games, as well as where you heard about us. This all helps us to determine if the game and you will be a good 'fit' for each other.

How Do I Login?

There are two places you log in; On the web site, and on the game itself. To log on to the web site, you must first create an account, and receive the verification e-mail response. You may then use the boxes at the top of the web site. From there, you can access all of the site's features.

The second place you log in is on the game itself. For that, you must have Ultima Online and Shadowcove.NET both installed, and then execute Shadowcove.NET. You will eventually see the login screen. You will use the same credentials to log into the game as you do for the web site.

My Account Does Not Exist!?

First, be sure you have actually created the account via the 'Join Us' link, toward the top of the menu. Once we receive your application, you will get an e-mail if it is approved. This e-mail will contain a link you must click to verify your account. Next, be sure you have visited your account access page and activated your Shadowcove game account. Finally, make sure you are running "Shadowcove.NET" to log onto the game, and not a shortcut that says, "Ultima Online". Although you need Ultima Online installed to play Shadowcove, you must actually use the "Shadowcove.NET link to play here; The "Ultima Online" links are for playing on the official UO servers.

Can I Use My UO-3D Client?

Unfortunately, no. We have previously supported the 3D client, but we have found that it limits our ability to customize the game, and presents its own problems on top of that. Due to these issues, we have decided not to continue support of the 3D client.

What Kind of Software Do You Use?

We use many different pieces of software to run Shadowcove/Player Realms. For each task, we carefully considered what would provide the most reliable and scalable solution, for the best value. We use Microsoft Windows Server and Debian/GNU Linux for our server operating systems; Microsoft Internet Information Services and Apache for web services; Microsoft SQL Server and MySQL for database services; and POL (Penultima Online) for the actual game server program itself. We also use a small handful of custom programs of our own design for performing various daily maintenance procedures.

What Kind of Hardware Do You Use?

We have the benefit of being able to build our own systems, in order to save money while acquiring equipment perfectly matched to our purposes. In every case, we carefully consider the components required to economically build a system that will nevertheless perform the task required of it, with plenty of 'oomph' to spare. By building our own systems, we save money on things that are not terribly important to servers at all (such as CD-Rom speed, video cards, floppy disk drives, sound card) while being able to divert those funds to things that are very important (redundant, fast arrays of disks, ample CPU speed, and plenty of high-speed memory)

Also, we do not force systems to perform more tasks than they should. The game server is completely dedicated to the game itself, and does not run any other related, or unrelated service. This web site, for example, is hosted on an entirely different server. Firewall and other security-related services are also, likewise, performed by a separate system. The Web and Game servers communicate with each other behind-the-scenes to display information and make functionality available from the web site, that affects in-game systems. This offloads all non-critical game-related processing off of the game server, leaving it lean and mean!

The game server itself is currently running on a dedicated Intel Pentium 4 CPU at 2.0 GHZ, with 1.5Gig of DDR memory. Typical CPU loads during peak times are under 10%, and memory usage is quite a bit less than 30% with a fully-spawned world. the disk sub-system is simple (Multiple IDE drives) because disk usage is minimal while the server is actually running; CPU and Memory speed are most important.

What Kind of Hosting Do You Have?

We use connections provided by two different Internet Service Providers in order to keep Shadowcove up-and-running. For each, we searched long and hard for a solution which would cost us a reasonable amount of money, yet provide top-notch service. In all three cases, we own and maintain the equipment ourselves, but rely on these companies to keep our systems online.

For hosting of our web, game and database servers, we chose Labyrinth Solutions, a Morgantown, WV-based commercial/residential ISP. Labyrinth is a solid, growing company with an expert technical staff that have always been there for us when we needed them. Thanks, 'Rev'!

To access the servers required to run Shadowcove, as well as provide connectivity for the test shards and chat server, we also needed a reliable, fast connection at our location. That is provided by SBC's business DSL service. For a very reasonable fee, we have high-speed access to what we need in order to keep things going smoothly!

Where Did You Get Your Custom Map?

The map that we started from was used on a Role Play shard that closed down long ago. From there, we spent over a year working on it to make it our own; creating new land masses, adding dungeons, rebuilding all the cities and clearing out all decorative items to permit our players to make their own, unique mark on the world.

Can You Help Me Start My Own Shard?

We have had requests for assistance with setting up someone's own shard (from very basic, to more advanced questions), and even people asking if we can send them scripts or programs we use. Generally speaking, the answer is "no". The reason we, and many other quality emulator admins our there, have our own shard is to provide something unique; something that reflects our own feelings, thoughts and ideas about what is good in an online game. Oftentimes, what these requests really amount to is, "Can you help me get the exact same thing you have?"

However, we are active on the official PolServer.com web site, as are other helpful POL users. There are also other excellent UO emulator programs out there, some of which are much easier to learn than POL. POL has been called the 'grandaddy of emulators'. If so, it's a crotchety old codger that's got plenty of life in it, but isn't terribly kind to the youngsters. Many of the incredible capabilities of POL come at the cost of a relatively difficult learning curve, when compared to products like Sphere or RunUO.

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