Technical Treasure Map Questions and Requests

I have been reading through the discussions on the forums, the UO Wiki and some of the other guide sites regarding some information on treasure maps.  I would like to seek a little clarification and request that if we get solid answers that this information be added to the Wiki.

1. First, can we define when the check is made for "digging" the chest?  It is said both luck and modified cartography skill affect the type of chest and loot quality.  I put on my luck/cartography items to dig up the chest and swap to a combat suit for fighting guardians.  When during the digging process am I safe to swap to my combat suit? Is the check made at the moment my cursor targets the ground and the digging process begins?  In this case I could be in my combat suit when the guardians pop.  Or is the check made when the chest appears?  In this case I would need to let the chest appear before swapping suits.  With the delay on actions that comes with the new suit swapping, timing matters.

2. Can the glasses be enhanced post imbuing for the additional luck bonus with golden ingots.  Its been a while, but it seems like some tinkered items / artifacts don't get the same bonus as blacksmith items.

Merus said:

When during the digging process am I safe to swap to my combat suit? Is the check made at the moment my cursor targets the ground and the digging process begins?  In this case I could be in my combat suit when the guardians pop.

Unless they changed it, yes. Thats how it always worked. The chest and contents are generated when you first hit the spot. Then the chest is already there, just below ground (z-axis). Before the changes you were always safe to swap suits mid digging. Of course, nobody can tell for sure they didnt change it *shrougs*

Couldnt answer you earlier though, as Mariah gave me a 30 day ban over what she considers rule breaks 🙂

The check is made when the chest is created.
The chest doesnt exist until it at its guardian shows, since you can now and always could just move to stop the chest to actually appear.
Now you can also stop when it first show if you dont like the colour just move and redig to have a new change to get a gold one

Two answers and they are different... one is at the moment you did, the other is at the moment the guardians pop...

@Kyronix Can you provide a clear answer when the luck, cartography, and party count check is made?

The luck is pulled from the player who digs up the chest at the time the chest is created, which is when they begin the digging process successfully.  The same applies to cartography.  The quality of the chest is based on the quality as a function of the digger's Cartography skill the first time the chest is successfully dug up.  If you decide to force the chest to be redug (i.e. move) the quality will never be better than the first pull, but can be worse if your cartography skill is lower than the first successful attempt.

Kyronix said:

The luck is pulled from the player who digs up the chest at the time the chest is created, which is when they begin the digging process successfully.  The same applies to cartography.  The quality of the chest is based on the quality as a function of the digger's Cartography skill the first time the chest is successfully dug up.  If you decide to force the chest to be redug (i.e. move) the quality will never be better than the first pull, but can be worse if your cartography skill is lower than the first successful attempt.

@Kyronix @Mariah

So for the first successful dig attempt all 3 are checked at the moment digging commences.
Subsequent digging attempts will recheck both, but the chest quality can not exceed that of the first successful dig attempt. Could this information be added to the Wiki regarding treasure maps.

I will add that information.