FishinPro wrote:You do not know for a fact that this demo is exact to the era mid 1998.
Actually we do. See the
wiki page for dating the demo. The demo core and the scripts are all dated from 1998, and includes all of the core server changes and script changes from the 4/13/98 update. The demo even includes the script functions for the reputation system launched with the next patch, but it does not include other changes such as the guild warfare changes. This allows us to date the demo between 4/18/98 and 6/11/98.
FishinPro wrote:Actual PLAYERS from that ERA are citing different information than the demo. REAL people that actually PLAYED the game during that time frame are saying this is not how it was and NO ONE is refuting this information on these posts, which range for 1.5 YEARS, which would leave any person with half a brain cell to believe that this information is correct. People do make mistakes, yes, but we arent talking 5-10 minutes off here and this many people cant be wrong. 20 minutes and 50 minutes is a large differential and if you search for 50 minutes on the forums all you find is the post that clearly states that in 1997 50 minutes WAS the timer...
The 'demo' was not the actual game and since clear evidence is here to suggest that the demo is actually wrong then we can conclude that the demo shouldnt be used to determine anything. It should only help support information and if real information conflicts with the demo then you use the real information and not the demo.
The best that this can show is that there is a discrepancy between the demo and other sources for restock times. This does not invalidate the demo as a source of information (ironically enough, the information supports the fact that restock values are done in +9 increments and that they reset if not bought out - a piece of information that comes directly from the demo), and it is absolutely insane to suggest that the demo is an unreliable source. The demo has proven to be an extremely reliable source for countless pieces of information. You are free to go and look back at other mechanics to see this fact.
To contend with this discrepancy, we should investigate how the demo handles respawns in the code, not throw the demo out as a source. It may be as reasonable as the fact that this is a stand-alone server and that the server core handles things differently when there are no other sub-servers around. The fact that we don't know why the discrepancy exists yet is important in trying to explain the demo's position, and jumping to the conclusion that it is wrong on one this subject and therefore wrong when it is at odds with any other source at any time is foolish. Players can be wrong too (see
teleporting into house as an example), and unless we have a significant amount of information that is at odds, there is no good reason to believe that there is some discrepancy.
To give you a good example of how player information can be used to show that the demo isn't correct for the era we can look at the magic trap spell which works very differently on the demo from how it works on UOSA. On the demo, it cannot be used on pouches, and the use of the spell automatically makes you a criminal. There is no patch note to show that a change occurred, yet there are countless newsgroup posts that show that the spell can be safely used, and that it can be used on pouches. This does not suddenly make the demo an unreliable source, allowing us to ignore everything that is contained in the demo. What it tells us is that some sort of undocumented change was done to the spell, and the large amount of information citing these new functions confirms that what the demo shows us is incorrect.
Finally, as it stands, the information that has been provided in this thread, and
other information from other newsgroup posts suggests that the restock period is closer to 15 to 30 minutes. When Derrick has the opportunity, he can look over this thread, and will probably make a change to the restock time on vendors, due to the volume of information.