Excelsior

Hey everyone! So I am excited to say I'm looking at getting back into UO again but since I last played freely things have changed and I'm not sure some of the steps. (Google gives many conflicting things and just are vague). So, I had a few questions. And the dumber you can treat this the better because I will be trying to help my friend back home get on and play, she has never played UO but I wanted to try this shard for some qualities I thought looked good for her. (the more basic this is, then I can just show her the page and she can follow instructions)

Okay, so I downloaded the UO Client. I am currently starting over attempting this, letting it patch and stuff all the way. I had downloaded ML and tried to patch but didn't work (I think because had already changed the login part). So I figured I would install both, patch both, then change the log in and I guess install the patches in the UO Classic game folder? Is that the right idea so far or no? lol

Before when I played freely, there was uogateway, then connectuo, but both of those do not work anymore apparently. Is there any new program out there I need? or changing the login info on that file means I can just use the regular UO client?

If I get any other questions about it I will let you know

Thanks in advance for any help!

You will need to download the prepatched client from here: http://uoex.net/startup (requires a torrent or DC++ client, or something that can handle magnet links)
Also, install the hue files as mentioned here: http://www.uoex.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=6758 (install to either UO dir or Razor dir. Or both, to be sure. )
That should about cover the installation of the client itself. There is also a wiki http://uoex.net/wiki/Main_Page that can explain some of the basics and changes vs OSI. Since you are a returning player I should stress that some (most?) of your OSI experience might be wrong, due to the custom changes on Excelsior. Just because something used to work on OSI, doesn't mean it'll work here. Be prepared to adapt.
Oh, and welcome. Please enjoy your stay here.