Very old PT maps

[Vormav]

I was hoping for old kPT client because they always had more, this ricarten as you said is not "artists impression" on this SS:

you can see that this is part of this "impression" so map existed


Actually a lot of things that some priv servers have coming from old files like maps, weapons, monster, npc's. I sow few times SS from priv server that had some maps or part of map(?) that look exactly like in SS from kPT dungeon (from uPT? It was long time ago so I can be wrong and I never looked deep inside priv servers).

NPC you see on SS was old "Event Girl" later it become SoD 1 Entrance Lady.
Monsters like those "skeletons", I am sure I sow them on some priv server too.

Too bad that kPT don't have archive :/
Old .ini .ase .max files could uncover some PT mystery.

 

[Exellsior]

Pre aor maps,monsters,itens and effects can be used easily into our current clients,just need to add the right effects to work the monsters,what I was trying to do,is use this HP,STM,MP bars in the screen,that in the pre aor was at the top of the screen, unlike today,but the pre aor clients are packed,I can´t see codes.
Bob,EPT probably never used these different maps that are in the pictures, it was probably something that only the KPT used for a short while and then stopped using, upgrading to our new Ricarten, would be very useful if somebody had an installer with these old KPT maps, are actually very different and awesome maps...

 

[bobsobol]

Yes... the HUD is the thing that impresses me most.

I remember running along the upper levels of Ruinen as one of Vormavs SS shows, and it's only the "map" reproduced my Babol that is artists impression... something from a web page perhaps? But not a "screen shot", which would suggest it was taken from within the game.

Where are these images coming from Vormav?

@Exellsior: I don't know of much in the way of packing that would prevent you from seeing the code... with a decent debugger you can see everything. Whether you can reconstruct an unpacked executable from it, depends on your skill and patience... whether you can re-construct the exact same file as it was before compression, is questionable, but if it runs, and you can trace the code, do you really care?

 

[Vormav]

@bobsobol
Images are from old kPT announcements.

On kPT they have more in posts like:

Do you see that shield in inventory, in bottom-left corner (look a bit like Metal shield (lv 22) with different skin)? Its shield that is in Laxe Lore and this SS is from kPT year 2003...

 

[Exellsior]

@Bob,I was looking the codes,I was trying to open executables in other ancient pre aor clients that was really packed,I took the client 166 and he is the one who I can got access to the codes, now I think it worked, at least to take advantage of some things, I can also set up a server file fully pre aor using this game and building a specific server for it, oh come back to pre aor age, but many not be interested in that because there is still alot of itens event and premium that was not in this version yet... you think are worth make this?

 

[bobsobol]

This is kinda where I stopped being interested in PT... post AOR, but pre UF. I would miss Pillia and Morions... I would not miss Personal Shops, Exp per kill, not per hit, Party level difference, Clans, Bless, SoD (of any kind), Tier 3 Babel intro sequence... etc.

What I do find difficult, is that this client is very definitely written to run on Windows 98, it's really pretty fuzzy on Vista x64. XD

If you have old KPT clients, please share them. I'd love to unpack them for our investigation. ^_^ I know it will be more of a challenge than rPT or UPT or such... but I'm not interested in those clients... old official ones, are a different story.

--- EDIT ---
BTW, if Sandurr and co. are reading this, that's not an insult to your servers, or clients. They just don't share the official lineage, and if you wanted me poking around in your clients code, you wouldn't have... well, I'm not even going to share what you did to secure your code... I know (at least some of it) and IMHO it's the right thing, better than just packing, but I won't share. What you did is yours... it is Unique, and that's the way it should stay.

--- EDIT2 ---
Now I'm going to get a flood of requests on hacking Sandurr code.
@All: !!! NO !!!
I've seen the lock, (at least the first one) understood how to crack it, and decided not to. What lives in that box should stay there. It's neat, artful, simple and yet sly and that suggests there will be more such things beyond. It is enough that I have seen it in it's glass case, I don't need to touch it, or break it. It's fine as it is.

If I even shared that first lock it would become standard across private servers, and that's not the point... the point is that you should have the brains to come up with such a solution yourselves, and each solution should be different.

If all locks are the same, then the same key will open every lock. tt1:

 

[Exellsior]

Well,good, it's a delicate subject, everyone has their opinion, but in mine, pre aor always be better than existing ones,we can have all today,pre aor was always better,was something incredible in the time,the relationship between the players in an online world was totally new for the time, not to mention that without some frills of today, was far more difficult and fun to play,priston is losing quality, and yes, we will study it.

 

[Vormav]

My motivation is pure curiosity. What might interest me is uPT connection to official kPT because I would love to see kPT client version 1.0 or 0.9 beta or 1.1
The reason why bars (hp, mp, stm) where removed from top-left corner... might be because PT is more 'potting' game than for example PT2. Its easy to die and best place to see your skills and bars is bottom-center. In most of games I play (not MMO only) hp bars are on bottom and I am really used to this layout (like many players, so this might be a reason).
Anyway older kPT versions might be a little `Holly Grail` of PT

 

[bobsobol]

They do become hard to get hold of. I agree on that point. The layout, I'm not so sure about. Most RPGs have shifted this stuff to the top of the screen, because it's where you see it... like the health bars in Street Fighter, your eye was constantly on who was loosing health faster. Either that, or the latest trend is to use bars over characters (players and monsters) heads Command & Conquer style, or to use HUD "reticules", around the centre of the player, which is where the combat is and where your eye should be focused.

That's too much for PT because, unlike many newer CRPGs you don't have to spot the monsters power attacks and respond with some specific defensive stance to survive it. Def and Abs are static in PT, and an attack is an attack... either you survive or you don't, there's nothing you can do during combat to improve that, except Pot like a Mo'fo. XD

When PT was created, I'm fairly sure the layout was inspired by the wine glasses of health and manna in Diablo (original Diablo) while the rest of the UI design was very much like Ultima or Elder Scrolls games.

Original Diablo UI

Ultima 8 UI

Reasonably Standard WoW UI

Modern HUD Reticules​

One of the most interesting points about the WoW UI, is how different it can be, even for two people playing together on the same server with the same revision client. If PT had a secure enough interface (no cheating) then there is no reason why you can't allow players to choose the layout they want.

As it stands, the 2D overlay UI seems to be the greatest slow down of the game... I thought it was just text, but it's not. If I press F11 to remove all the UI overlay, the game runs much more at the sort of frame rate I would expect... so something is done wrong in that UI code. Causing some form of contention which degrades performance considerably, in the area you would least expect to be problematic.