Using newer uo client with older uop files...

[Darklady73]

I just wonder if it is possible to use newer uo.exe with older files? Like client 7.0.83.27 with older uop files? Is using an older client like 7.0.20.0 possible with the newer uop files? I want to add my own mounts/deco, etc but I don't want to stay stuck with 7.0.8.0 if it is possible. Any advice would be useful.

 

[DragnMaw]

Not exactly. I am not an expert at this (I never intend to modify client files) but I've heard people have a tool somewhere, that can be used to convert the uop to muls to be used by newer clients, but theres a laundry list of other problems that happens when attempting to do this. If you look on the forums you can find many threads like this one.

 

[golfin]

First I will say the information: you don't need UO.exe for Free Shards. You use Client.exe. And this application solves the just mentioned mul and uop files. In general, I do not recommend you to load new client old files. I'll say it like a layman - I'm not a programmer. The old files are different from those used by the new client. For example, Tiledata for 7.0.20 or the map files are different from those used by the new client. You can try and test it. But you have to be prepared for frequent emulator crashes and client freezes. But to prevent this, you can remove your work from the old files and insert them into the new ones. Instructions here at ServUO can be found. How to work with art, gumps, map and so on.

 

[Darklady73]

Thanks for the input. I have been converting my older stuff over to a newer version, not the newest one. I have noticed the differences while using winmerge. I just don't want to lose my animations and custom mounts most of all. I do a lot of reading in these forums and it has helped me over the years learn a lot with coding.

 

[Voxpire]

The major file format change that causes the most headaches;
7.0.9 expanded TileData by 4 bytes per entry, changing TileFlags from 32 to 64-bit (uint to ulong)

Also later, when the format changed from mul to uop, it added multicollection.uop and tileart.uop.
These files respectively became the multi.mul and tiledata.mul extensions (not outright replacing them).

The uop file format has not changed since it was first introduced, so all uop files are technically backward compatible with any client that supports the uop format itself. The things you'll miss out on are usually hard-coded features, such as item slots defined for sitting animations (chairs, benches, etc), buff icons (the client retains an internal list of id's associated with their gump id's)... and of course, any clent.exe feature introduced after the version you're using.