How are things going?

[Justintime9]

Hey guys, I've been sort of out of the loop this past year. With all the changes that are happening with the shards, and website update, it's hard to keep everything straight. I really miss writing ages, but if I'm not mistaken, that's changed a lot. So if you don't mind, I've got a bunch of questions. Are there still fan ages being released? Are people still using Blender? Or is everything done with 3DS Max now? The newer versions of Blender are definitly WAY different than I'm used to. Are we still using the older versions? Or have things been adapted to work with new versions? The way the wiki is now, it appears no one's really using Blender... they're just the old tutorials archived or something.

And what's the deal with URU and the shards? I've been on the Gehn shard a few times (at the time the only fan age was the Vothol Gallery. Not sure if that's changed.) But then I also heard about some other MOUL based shard that's gotten The Wall up and running. So what's up with the URU community? How have things changed? If feel like there's almost a whole new generation of URU fans. When I go to MOULa all the names are unfamiliar. Have all the old fans given up?

[janaba]

WB dear Justin, nice to see you around again ...

Your question is not very easy to be answered ... Much has changed and not very much at the same time,
as you've already suspected and sensed in one way or another ... Our dear Prof Askew of 'The Great Tree'
asked a similar question a few days ago on our forums and I've tried as good as I could to provide a brief
rundown on what's been up and going on around Uru and the D'ni universe with a few essential links etc. ...
Please, have a look here if you like ...

The Shard, you're mentioning, providing 'The Wall' to be played, the open 'Great Tree' in the Watcher's Pub
and a 'City of Dimensions' with many opened and restored city locations etc. besides other fun stuff like
special commands to be used etc., it is the 'TOC MOUL Shard' based on a MOSS server, while Gehn is
running on DIRTSAND (don't ask me what that means lol) ... For the TOC MOUL Shard, please look onto
their website and forums for further info and instructions for setting this up if you'd like to do so ...

As of age creation, as you might have read on my TGT post above, the last age was released in February,
some are in the making ... As far as I've read it here, many are still using Blender, some the old, some new
versions, there are pros and cons to choose one over the other, you should know that better than me lol ...
To have the future opportunity to implement whichever age into MOULa or a MOUL based Shard, the ages
had to be created with 3dsMax or converted from the Blender version ... This is very raw as I don't really
understand what I'm talking about lol ...

Our 'Gehn Shard' contains two fan ages by now btw, the latest one released with Gehn build 10, August 11th ...
So, now we have the 'Vothol Gallery' and 'Tre'bivdil' age which was a special contribution converted by our
precious Deledrius who decided to step back from Uru and the community for a while or maybe for good ...

Justin, and all inquiring the same, I believe that is it so far ... Maybe someone else had something more to add ...
To keep you up-to-date community-wise join us at the next AGM, the 'All Guilds Meeting' which is still going
and going well on the first Saturday of every month at 13:00 am KI (Mountain) time ... So, see you maybe
next Saturday, Sept.1st, in Kirel in MOULa ... and above all enjoy and have fun ...

[Lyrositor]

Well answered janaba.

Greetings Justin. I can't profess to know you, but I nonetheless extended my warmest greetings at your return. What janaba said is all correct, so what I'm adding here is just a few minor points.

Fan Ages are still being made. Unfortunately, no Blender plugin currently exists that can fully export Ages to MO:UL (that is, shards running MOSS or DIRTSAND, or MO:ULa), although PyPRP2 is capable of very basic work (development has stalled though) and there are plans for a newer plugin eventually. Basically, if you want to get your Age on a shard, the best way for now is to make it in 3ds Max. However, if your Age meets certain requirements, it CAN be manually converted - although the process is difficult and time-consuming (this was what was used for Tre'bivdil). PyPRP still works fine from what I hear, though I don't know if it's compatible with the newer versions of Blender.

I started updating a few of the tutorials on the wiki and reorganizing things, but I got involved in programming for Uru so that's kind of "on indefinite hold" (read: never going to happen ).

The current (main) shards out there are: MO:ULa (run by Cyan; a few fixes trickle through eventually; no fan Ages), Gehn (usually quick release-cycles; new engine features; two fan Ages), Minkata (testing for MO:ULa; essentially the same as Cyan's shard, but with newer features from time to time; run by OpenUru.org, the "liaison" with Cyan) and The Open Cave (fan Ages, customized Python, etc.; be aware of the legal implications (although, really, nobody cares, not even Cyan apparently ); probably most "fun" shard to play on right now). Afterwards, a few people here and there have started their own shards (I have the currently dormant Lyros Shard, for example).

In MO:ULa, not much has changed, apart from the aforementioned few fixes. There are still events being held (like the AGM janaba mentioned, but also the D'ni Day of Dancing and so on) and people contribute here and there where they can (my contribution is Lyrobot). CAVCON is currently at 3.

I'm guessing I'm part of the "new generation". But as far as I know, there are many people here from the old days, regularly active.

Finally, as a Guild Master of the GoMe, I'd just like to plug the Guild of Messengers as a source for news about Uru. We recently re-launched our online magazine, The Cavern Post, and are starting a new video project called URU2U.

Here's to hoping you're here to stay!

[Annabelle]

I will add to the list of shards Lyrositor mentioned:

Deep Island which is the main Alcugs shard where you can play and see every fan ages available to public (yours as well). Being an "old not-so-old" explorer, I grew up with that shard. There are many MOUL based shards except... they can't be compared to an Alcugs shard: buggy, unreliable, exploration offering is very short.

[kaelisebonrai]

And... to add a little more info...

New fan content (more specifically, Ages) has all but ceased to be released. Most of the people /you/ knew, as content creators, as Writers, have all but vanished. I'm here to help Branan where he needs it, and add my two cents, occasionally. (not that anyone ever wants to hear it)

Dustin went out in a fiery dust explosion of Drama.

With the release of the moul-era engine's source code, pyprp sort of died. there were a few abortive attempts at getting PyPRP2 going, but... look for Korman, *not* PyPRP2.

3dsmax is currently the main direct exporter. But there's some work on a new blender plugin (Korman, note I'm out of the loop, so I dunno if Hoikas is still working on it) I don't even know if pyprp2 works on Blender 2.6+ =P

PyPRP 1 certainly does not. But, PyPRP1 is still your best bet, if you want to keep working on Ages in blender. From what I hear, there's /some/ work on converting from PotS-era PRPs to MO:UL-era PRPs, something called "Plasma Transfusion"? Probably not fully real-world usage ready, but I know it got Tre'bivdil running on the Gehn Shard

Dunno if you were around for it, but the 'tainers have all but died. Entirely. Could be wrong, I peace'd the hell out a while back.

Branan poked me in Gtalk to get me to make a new book model to put in for Tre'bivdil's link in the Neighborhood on the Gehn Shard, and that's pretty much the only reason I'm paying any attention anymore. >.>

Possibly useful information for you, as well: http://www.guildofwriters.org/branan/my ... integrity/