The Maintainers Gateway

If you feel like you're up to the challenge of building your own Ages in Blender or 3ds Max, this is the place for you!

The Maintainers Gateway

Postby melvin » Sun Apr 17, 2022 3:58 am

Well, here it is in all its glory; & perhaps a few imperfections. The vortex paint is difficult to get perfect, I don't know how blender saves the data but I'm sure I touched up some objects more than once. Here is the download link...
https://www.mediafire.com/file/auerv530 ... 3.zip/file

Seriously though I have been very unwell for the last two years, mostly with a bad back, which caused some blood pressure problems. It made sitting in a chair very uncomfortable; still does after any length of time. I concentrated my efforts on this age & just chipped away at it when I felt well enough. Some suffering went into making this age, hopefully you will get more enjoyment out of playing it than I did testing it.
Like with my other ages there are tasks to complete which are probably more suited to the offline version of Uru, but they should still work online. Most information you need to know can be found in the ages DRC journal. Anyway have fun, it's a big age & will take some time to explore, all the best Melvin. Apologies to Semjay & Korovev for not responding to your last private emails some time ago. I did't read them until January the next year, as mine failed to redirect them to my proper email address...
melvinhall4@aol.com
Last edited by melvin on Sun Feb 19, 2023 2:31 am, edited 4 times in total.
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby Sirius » Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:29 am

I don't have much time for playing unfortunately, but I had a quick look. This is outstanding work, I can only wonder how much time and dedication it required. I'll have to find some time to take a deeper dive at some point. Really great job, and I'm sure this will keep many people busy for a while !
Good luck with your back problems, sitting for too long can be atrocious. Take care, and I hope you recover.
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby dendwaler » Tue Apr 19, 2022 1:56 pm

I have not seen such a beautiful age in...... ages.
I can imaging how much time and effort you have put in this to deliver such high quality artwork.
I will start soon in exploring this one from the beginning.
thank you very , very much it's an absolute topper!
Those wonderfull Worlds are called " Ages" , because that is what it takes to build one.



Watch my latest Video Or even better..... watch the Cathedral's Complete Walkthrough made by Suleika!
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby Théodore » Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:06 pm

I do agree, this age is very well made! I didn't expect anything less tough. When you came on the public scene with your 4 ages in 2019, they were already almost perfect with little to no bug at all.

I'm glad I read the journal before starting my adventure, it saved me a lot of time especially in the link in area... I won't spoil much what I found so far. I'm well-advanced in the exploration. The adventure itself is much easier to understand than "The Lost Path" one. Avoiding a cycle of day and night is also better. I was wondering what those 6 pods in the entrance area were for. Now I know and I'm glad you put them there, it eases our exploration. I haven't found all the clues yet but I don't think it will be much necessary as the "red diamond" trail is in the pocket, at least for me! As for the usage of objects, it reminds me of JJJ's age Tentsahveet. It is a nice way to go around the issue of having no inventory. I really like the way you just haven't hid one particular object, it is there in its full glory for all to see, yet you just don't see it until you hover your mouse over it!

I hope you recover from your back pain soon enough. Thank you for all your dedicated work on this big addition to URU.

EDIT: just small mistakes I spotted ;)
Last edited by Théodore on Tue Apr 19, 2022 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby Chacal » Tue Apr 19, 2022 4:50 pm

Is this Age standalone or should it be played with the 4 other ones?
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"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is an attribute of the strong."
-- Mahatma Gandhi
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby melvin » Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:29 am

I can see I've most likely has some people up half the night playing this age; very bad for your eyes you know. This age has no real connection with the Lost Ages, other than the fact that it's released by the DRC. There most likely will be some bugs about; one is in the journal where a few words are missing from a sentence in the fourth paragraph. It should read...the inhabitants cut themselves off from the rest of the D'ni world. Maybe you can edit this yourselves. Another bug is the swing bridge which works like a door; or gates that open & close. If you link out of the age & then back again you may have to press the button twice, as it will reopen the first time. This is due to the age not having an sdl file.
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby Théodore » Wed Apr 20, 2022 3:57 pm

melvin wrote:I can see I've most likely has some people up half the night playing this age; very bad for your eyes you know.


That message must be targetted to me as I'm the one who detailled his advancement. I was most lucky I might say. The Red Diamond trail has 10 diamonds. The last one is quite given once you know where to look for. I found the first diamond location in about 5 minutes I was exploring that area. The 2nd location, I found out a mere 3 minutes later, maybe I was lucky after powering up the age (a classic location to put a device to power water LOL). I found a clue nearby for the 8th location. I then found the 3rd, 4th and 5th locations under a hour. For the 6th location, I was lucky because I was looking for the golden key. I had found the plank of wood already, so my thought process was to look somewhat nearby the building where the golden key needs to be used. So, I found the clue for the 6th location, I found then the diamond 6th location, the golden key and then took a while to found the 7th location. I had the clue for the 8th location and while looking for the 7th location, I found the clue for the 9th location. The worst was to find the 3 journey cloths necessary to push forward the journey. I then reached the 9th location and obviously the 10th and last location was a given by then.

So, all in all, under 4 hours for all that. Now, for the underground part, I'm not going to be as fast. I read the very last paragraph of your journal where you warned us not to read unless we would be spoiled, I did so there I am!
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby Théodore » Mon May 02, 2022 8:38 pm

I think I've made the grand tour now. I have the blue butterflies, the planets (hard to find!) & the galaxies in the night sky, I have the bridge to the Bahro pod in the entrance area and the castle is open now.

Really great fun adventure! The underground passageways are really great, especially the first one (Dn'i number 1).
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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby RubyQ » Mon May 02, 2022 11:51 pm

THANK YOU, Melvin, for another amazing Age!

I haven't progressed as far as Theodore yet, still need to get the underground bridge to move before I can continue. But in the meantime, while looking for an alternative route, I was swimming in the village pool and suddenly found myself walking along the bottom. You can't swim past the railings, but apparently you can walk under them! Panic Relto didn't happen, even when I stood on the drain grate. This ability to walk didn't seem intentional, I consider it a "feature" though. Thought I'd share a pic:

KIimage0049.jpg
KIimage0049.jpg (148.93 KiB) Viewed 7542 times


I loved your Lost Ages, I'm glad you persevered to produce this Age as well.

As for those blue butterflies -- every time I see them I think of Santana. Were they by any chance a nod to the Borboletta album?

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Re: The Maintainers Gateway

Postby melvin » Fri May 06, 2022 12:46 am

Looks like Theodore has cracked it, well done! Some leg work involved; like with the Lost Ages if you did it for real you would have worn out another pair of shoes. Well spotted Rubyq; missed that bug. Exotic location Hawaii; big waves, explains why you have no fear of the water, or swimming next too a dangerous whirl pool. As for the blue butterflies, I've never actually heard of the album until now.
Talking of bugs, I've been messing around with these sdl files. Using a blend file Dulcamara made for Maroonroon a few years ago which started about sound effects but got into the sdl states. It all turned into a nightmare, in the end it was unclear if the problem was ever solved. I've altered this file to show a working sdl state being saved on the gate. The original didn't need an sdl file as the animation closed the gate, & it didn't save the state either. The house door worked but the handles moved across the door the more you used it. Both doors now work correctly, here is the blend file it may be of use to some one. Personally I'm still having difficulty getting it to work in my test age. The age can be exported, Prefix 811, Blender 2.49b. Note it does not use the original Python files, but the Python Pak file is still required; without it the gate button will not work.
https://www.mediafire.com/file/4r3pc8e8 ... 2.zip/file
Last edited by melvin on Fri May 06, 2022 8:50 am, edited 1 time in total.
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