Guild of Writers

Hey everyone,
I just posted on the GoAB forum, but as someone very nice just pointed to me it appears all the Age creation activity as now moved here.. I have to say I felt a bit lonely there.. I'm glad to see there's indeed quite a bit of activity here. I went here a week ago, but this whole 'Guild' thing that is going on in Live these days, well, it's a bit too IC for me; so I didn't spend too much time here. It appear I was wrong. :p
So, whithout further chatting here is my copy-pasted post from the GoAB board:

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21.10.07 -- Ahra Pahts: New version incoming.

The rock is hard; the rock cutter is patient. (Old D'ni proverb)
And Ahra Pahts is made of a very hard rock.


Well, this has been a while since the last update. In those last updates I mentionned bugs that were plaguing the Age and preventing me from releasing a new version. The good news is that I finally managed fixed them all and a new version is coming. It will be the version 0.8.6, it will fix all previously know bugs, it will include our 'nexus' for the Age (known as the 'Prin Pahts'), and an updated Hub. It will not include much new content beside that, as it is essentially a 'bugfix' release. (For the three of you that might be interested in details about the bugs I mentionned I'll post a new topic.)
New content will however follow soon, because I am extremely happy to have that Age up and running again; and I intend to give it a lot of my time to complete it.

The new version of PyPRP did introduce a small lighting issue however: the Age is much darker now. Since their is no actual light in Ahra (except for the avatar), it's all vertex painted on the models, it might be due to the way the materials work now. I'll look into that, but it doesn't look like anything that can't be fixed.

So, that little lighting issue aside, Ahra Pahts is back on track! I am adding and fixing all that I've had on my list for the last months, the Prin Pahts Nexus and the Hub are integrated, and the new version is only a couple days away.. I am *very* happy about that. The future looks bright again for this Age. I've never been more motivated for this project.

There is still a lot left to be done, but the hardest part is behind me. I intend to have Ahra Pahts version 1.0 completed before christmas!


A word about shells:
To all the people who have registered shells: this Age needs you, if you have done some work on your shell I'd love to see it. If you have questions or need help, I'd love to hear it too. If fact I'd love to hear anything about your work or your plans.

If you know just a bit about Age creation creating a shell is easy, all you need to do is follow those simple Guidelines to make sure your shell integrates nicely in the Age, and then submit it. (either directly to me, or by posting about it in this forum)

As I look at the shells signup list I see there are over 20 people who registered over 50 shells, that's potentially plenty of great material to give life to the big city..

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(wow this turned into a pretty long message.. )

w00t!

Now I'll have a bit more motivation to do some work on stuff again!

Great to have you back Aloys!

Ahh, so it has been a while since you last exported the age, eh?

The lighting issue is one I ran into with an update to PyPRP few versions ago. All vertex colors are (apparently) multiplied by the "Ambient" value in blender before they are written. I don't really understand why they used such an obscure setting..

Anway, the slider in the "Materials" view > "Shaders" panel > "Amb" defaults to 0.500. Set it to 1.000, and everything will be happy again. I eagerly await the fully lit, bug-free, export of Ahra Pahts.

Oh, and do you still need people to work on the district courtyards? I think I could make some nice greenery in the green district.

Speaking of which, whatever has happened to the Pahts sign up wiki page? Could we get the development journals and other reference material moved over here from AgeBuilder too?

*digs Shell 237 out of folder* "I has modeling to get back into!"

Paradox: thanks! I'm glad to be back again, plenty of exciting stuff going on these days..

Nadnerb: Thanks for the ambient light tip I will try that. About the district courtyards: all help is welcome I would love to do the largest courtyard myself, but I have quite a bit of work to keep me busy already.. Beside, I just saw the work you did on Odema and that looks really good, I think you could do some interesting work in that district. So if you want to get your hands on one of the courtyards just tell me which one and I'll send you the files. (I have yet to isolate the courtyards and put them on separate pages so give me a couple days).

Aloys! Welcome! I'd remind you of the score that I have to settle with that bug of yours, but my avatar on this forum is fine.

I might make a shell sometime in the future, but for now, I'm trying to get my bearings[again]. Maybe in a month or two. THEN I'll have something to rock Ahra Pahts.

WOO great news. Ahra has got to be one of my faves in fan creation.

Ahra Pahts is an amazing example of what fan creators can contribute to MOUL. I think the GoW should push Ahra Pahts to the top of list for group effort, completion, and eventual submission to Cyan.

Could you tell us if it's possible to register a new shell... (I was not around in the old days) ... and if so, where and how would we be able to 'sign up'? (I assume the Alcugs forum is no longer going to control this ... from what you've said?)

When I "signed up", I think all I did was edit the list of registered shells so that a couple of them had my name on them. I apologize if I was supposed to do it some other way: I would be happy to relinquish my hold on those two shells if necessary.

You can view the registered shells here, and you can sign up by editing yourself into the "Shell Sign-up Sheet". Remember though, that you'll have to actually ask Aloys to send you your shell before you can do any work on it. (That should be easier, now that Aloys has found this forum. )