Which is better for building a shard with. RunUO or Pol? And why?

And Is there any tutorials for step by step instruction?

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish

1: OSI Clone shard -> RunUO
2: Ready to go shard without any coding -> RunUO ( because Pol is still lacking a fully functional distro, the current is working quite good, but should have an installer and such to make it easier for people new to Pol )
3: Totally customized Pol/RunUO ( different code/script languages ), which one is better for you ?

There are alot of threads here on the forums about RunUO<->Pol discussions, please read those, there are quite well explained the pros and cons.

Tomi replied:

1: OSI Clone shard -> RunUO
2: Ready to go shard without any coding -> RunUO ( because Pol is still lacking a fully functional distro, the current is working quite good, but should have an installer and such to make it easier for people new to Pol )

Tomi is right. Although he doesn't need me to validate his reply. : )

The current POL "Distro" is lacking in many ways. I have had trouble getting it to compile from the SVN source let alone an easy installer for newbies. For "political" reasons, I have to say, no offense intended toward Edwards or the POL developers. Things are the way they are and that is that. Since you, Zaksmeer, are asking for a second opinion and I was the one who replied to your initial post. I assume you want to hear from others rather than me, so I will refrain from saying anything more except that by asking your question here, on the POL forums, you are likely to get opinions that are biased in favour of POL.

I've read your first post and Yukiko's reply. Trying not to be biased and with all respect to POL devs, I'd say if you have experience or want to learn C# go for RunUO. If you start from scratch and have some programming experience - POL might be easier. If you start from scratch and do not have any programming experience then it does not matter - you will have to learn something new either way.

RunUO also has custom properties.

You can run it on Linux via SunUO.

Correct me if I am wrong, but my impression was that RunUO shards run faster, smoother. It obviously depends on how the shard is maintained so it is difficult to compare, but that was my general feeling, not sure if correct.

Both RunUO and POL depend on scripts, so theoretically with both you have the freedom of scripting whatever you want for your shard. The only pain of RunUO is that C# may have a steeper learning curve as Yukiko already mentioned, but in the end the more you script the better you become at it, be it C# or eScript. Assuming you won't give up, of course ;)

Both forums give good support and seems to have people with endless patience. And believe me on that one - I often asked for help on "both sides" ;)


Seriously, hail for all the hard work people here put in creating POL, however, my impression of RunUO is that it is being developed with a clear goal (a copy of OSI) and for people using it. When it comes to POL, though, it feels as if the focus is developing itself, more like a programming challenge on it's own. But, that's only my impression and don't use it as an argument to go for RunUO. The best would be "try both", but that's rubbish - it's what one or the other offers when you are "fluent" in either eScript or C#. So, you're stuck with flipping a coin :P

I actually have to write an "extension" of my previous post. I'm working on a shard now and I'm starting to see the differences more. RunUO seems great if you want a copy of OSI and not much more than that (modify/build on OSI-like scripts). POL, on the other hand is great if you love to tinker around and for the ideas I have in mind POL seems best - a bit difficult to start with, but unbelievably flexible and clear if you keep it clean.