Questions from a Noob

[Astr234]

Shorah all!

So, I had this idea for an Age, and rather than beg others to do it for me, I thought I would simply learn how to write Ages and do it myself. Turns out there's little about that that's "simple".

I asked about this on the Cyan forum, and they recommended I use GoW tutorials (they also recommended GoM tutorials), which, frankly, are still going over my head.

The truth is, I'm just too new in the world of 3D gaming design or programming to really grasp most of this. Nevertheless, I'd rather not give up, and hope there are some people out there who would be willing to help a wannabe writer out!

I suppose the best place to start is to ask anybody to be able to explain the following terms. And please assume, of course, you are explaining these terms to somebody who tried to look at the wiki, and still felt a little lost:

What is a "shard"?

What is the "CyanWorlds.com engine"?

What's "MOSS" ?

What, ultimately, is the difference between Blender and 3DS Max?

If these Fan Ages are not accessible in Myst Online Uru Live, then how exactly are groups accessing them?

With these new open source servers provided by Cyan, what has changed now in the world of Age creation?

More questions as they become pertinent, I suppose.

Chevh Shehm!

[dendwaler]

This answer is my opinion, and concerns only, the main differences between 3dMax and Blender.


Blender: open source , no costs.
3dmax: expensive.

Blender: Confusing when you start to learn it , steep learning curve.
3dMax: User friendly when you start.

Blender: Once you reach the status of "intermediate" everything falls in place and seems logical ordened, it becomes easyer and easyer.
You get the feeling you will once "master" it.

3dMax: once you become "intermediate" new chellanges seems to be more difficult to grasp and it gives you the feeling you will never "master " it.

Blender: once you are used to it, it has a quick production flow.
3Dmax: once you are used to it , you get RSI.

Blender: you can use the latest most up to date version.
3DMax: you can only use the version Cyan used, with the advantage of already available customized plugins.
You have lucjk when you are able to get legally the right version for a reasonable price.

Blender: open source, lots of help on many forums for no costs.
lots of support, continued support of GOW for future plugins/developments .

3dMax: sorry ,I don't know, i already made my choise.

[Luna]

Shorah

whooah you got /lots/ of questions, but I'll try to answer them to the best of my knowledge.

What is a "shard"?

A shard is game-server. I have heard them called just "servers' for other games, but we call them shards =) you can connect to them with a client. For example Cyan runs an official MOULa shard. (on second thought, shards are usually not connected so they "shatter" the community...anyway)

What is the "CyanWorlds.com engine"?

It is the game engine, it used to be called Plasma. Currently people also seem to use it to refer to a client.

What's "MOSS" ?

It is server software(usualy just called "server" but I want to make clear it isn't a /physical server/ ), you can use it to make a shard.

What, ultimately, is the difference between Blender and 3DS Max?

Well I think dendwaler answers that one pretty good. I will only add that I choose for blender because at that time it was the only plugin, and now I even choose to use Blender for school (instead of 3d max, as is the curriculum) because I do not feel comfortable with 3dmax anymore.

If these Fan Ages are not accessible in Myst Online Uru Live, then how exactly are groups accessing them?

People access them in Uru:CC or on one of the Alcugs shards, which also require Uru:CC (or POTS). The fan ages are not accessible in MOUL mainly because of the different physics engine.

With these new open source servers provided by Cyan, what has changed now in the world of Age creation?

There is no server provided, there is code provided. What has changed for age creation? Little as there is no plugin yet and there might not be for some time. One of the things the developers want to do is change the physics engine and I expect that the plugin will wait until that happens (or people must feel like doing the work twice). So while some people seem to think a lot of stuff changed now, I disagree on that for /age creation/, as long as their is neither a plugin or shard nothing has changed. Okay we will have to think about multiplayer, but you should already do that with the alcugs shards.
It might be wish though to keep in mind stuff is going to change and , especially as noob, focus on the /modelling/ rather then getting your age in Uru.

[diafero]

You can find some more information about The CyanWorld.com Engine, MOSS and Alcugs at
http://www.guildofwriters.com/wiki/Cyan ... com_Engine
http://alcugs.almlys.org/Alcugs
http://wiki.openuru.org/index.php?title=MOSS

If you are looking for a Shard that allows you to play fan-ages (unlike Cyan's MOULa Shard), maybe Deep Island is interesting for you.

[J'Kla]

So, I had this idea for an Age, and rather than beg others to do it for me, I thought I would simply learn how to write Ages and do it myself. Turns out there's little about that that's "simple".

Hey me too that was about July 2008 actually I had been involved in a project to extend UntilUru that would be early 2006 (pre Game Trap).

I don't do Pthon but I found a man who did.

Suffice to say when it came to building an age I jumped in with both feet (unfortunately they were tied together and I was waring a staight jacket). In desperation I bought a book "The Official Blender 2.3 guide" now my copy has become well anonotated and it's flaky in places and theres corections and tutorials available at Blender.org but I still recomend anyone new to blender does the quick start from that book.

They say 30 + 30 minutes but I recomend doing it 3 times in sucsession writing notes in your book or hard copy (it's available on line) as you go. 3 months ago I did it again for fun it took me 20 minutes and some of it still didn't work but the core took about eight minutes.

It's taken me three years to get to Enobmort and Noidrocca as they stand now, I'm producing animated 3d graphics for my local basketball team's scoreboard in a day. And I still go back to that book when I'm stuck.

The community here and on GoMa are spot on for support and I say install the bit's and play.

As for software to run your ages GoG.com do a copy of "Uru Complete Chronicles" for ten dollars that will work with drizzle that will let you play all the fan ages plus your own all be it solo.

Upload your finished age to Dustin (see wiki and forum re Drizzle) and your age will be on Deep Island and UAM shards and be available to others for solo play testing via Drizzle. Usualy takes Dustin about 18 hours to do the bit at his end.

But before anything else and without spending a cent Download and install Blender 2.49b (the version you will need to build ages) and find that quickstart blender tutorial (You build Gus the gingerbread man) don't be frightened to ask questions.

Before long those tutorials on the wiki will only be mildly confusing

Ok you will need to add the PyPRP stuff pluss some other Python stuff before you can write an age but it's no big deal.

[bnewton81]

Honestly, I wouldn't rack my brain looking for a copy of 3ds 7. PyPRP with Blender is very much the same and there are no worries pirated software. Never know when they are going to actually crack down on that stuff.