Creating Quality ages

[Justintime9]

Well thx BAD, but I think everyone was trying to follow those guidelines, It was just a bit of a misunderstanding...

And Andy... please don't go... You're on the path to becoming a really great writer, Many explorers have used camp bravo in their music videos, and I really like your ages. With URU going down, and the possiblily of a GoW URU, I dont' think It'd be the same without you... You've become an Icon to me on this forum, as much as Nadnerb, boblishman, and a few people on this forum... When I think of GoW, I think of them, and I think that perhaps someday I can become that good. Now, I must admit that your ages aren't brilliant, but you obviously have a deep understanding of what you've learned so far, and whenever I needed help on blender, you were always the first one to post. Please don't go Andy, GoW needs you.

[andylegate]

Thank you for you compliments Justin, and your welcome on the help I've given you in the past.

Word of advice though.......when you are trying to coax someone back, you might want to leave the part about how their Ages aren't brilliant out......

ROFL!!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, but that just cracked me up! I know what you mean though, and to tell you the truth, as I've told others, I really don't mind being the "Filler Guy" for Ages. Meaning, I put out Ages quickly, that are not the best in the world, but give people something to play with, until someone comes out with one of their "Rock Star" Ages. Then I fill some more until the next one.

I'm just taking a break is all. Don't worry, I've talked privately with BAD, Trylon and others. But I let some things get under my skin that should not have. At my age, and being not only a father to 6, but a grandparent also, I normally don't let people get under my skin.

However, I'm very tired. Zephyr Cove has taken quite a bit out of me, and some other things. So I'm just going to take a sabbatical is all. I have to finish Zephyr first, and that will take several weeks at least. Then I'm going to go do some other stuff. I've had people requesting some maps for other games that I'm known for, and some other stuff. I'll still be sticking my nose in here. But I'll just be taking a break from Age Creation is all. My 18 year old son, Ray is returning here from Florida to go to USCA. He's majoring in Particle Physics, and he loves to do 3D mapping with games too. So I imagine I'll be getting a lot of questions about Age Creation anyway, as he's been waiting to join in until he moved back up here.

In the mean time, post your questions, I'm sure others will catch it. If not, as I said, I'll still be poking my head in here.

[Tsar Hoikas]

Okay, I'm putting on my Guild Councilor Hat here.

Andy: I don't know where you've experienced hostility here, but I agree with BAD in that you should contact a member of the forum staff if you are being harassed, punched in the face, etc. I know that BAD, Paradox, and myself will entertain any issues that you may have.

Now, I am going to write to all of you: the general age-creating mass.

I have an unprecedented, earth-shattering statement: You very likely do not understand what it is like for us, the tool developers.

Now, I'm sure you're thinking something along the lines of: "zOMG HE DIDN'T!!!1111 I'LL KEEL HIM!!!11111"

Well, guess what? I did.

I have been helping developing tools for Uru since 2005, a pretty long time, don't you think? I've been involved in some way in just about every recent reverse engineering project, etc. of Uru. So, I think that establishes some credibility on what I have to say, yes? If you disagree, stop reading now so that you won't waste your time.

Developing tools is hard. Why? Because we don't know what we're doing half the time. Have you ever thought about it? We have no support from Cyan. We have to figure out how every little thing in Uru works. What each byte in the prp file does, because, if we don't, we've messed up and Uru will likely crash from unexpected or extremely incorrect data. If you are thinking: "Pfft. That's not hard." I challenge you now: Open a PRP file and figure it out all by yourself. This is what we do.

Now, I will give this point, we have had, what, about 4 years to discover a lot of stuff about the formats, etc. used by Uru. They haven't changed very much over the past few years. Not from Uru Live Prologue to PotS to M5 to Hex Isle. They're all essentially the same thing with some minor differences (with different formats for physical objects and geometry). However, a lot of data is required in Uru to make even a simple age. I wouldn't want to create one in a hex editor.

Moving onto other things: Features in Blender do not map precisely over to Plasma. I would go into details over this, but, honestly, I haven't worked on the blender plugin in a year or so save the odd bugfix and don't think I could remember the specifics. I seem to remember a conversation between Paradox and Nadnerb about how Plasma Lights and Blender Lights were definitely not cool with each other.

Did you know that PyPRP has existed since October 2005? I remember the very day when it was released. All it could do was create simple geometry and colliers, but it was a start. Honestly, at that time, that was about all that we knew how to do, and (to put it bluntly) we didn't even know what we were doing then. It was a big hack.

To close, what I'm saying here is: We, the Tool Developers receive no help from Cyan, save the odd cryptic comment, and have to figure out everything in Uru for ourselves. When you add our ignorance of Plasma and the fact that Plasma Content is not originally in nor for Blender, but 3dsm whose feature set is not directly compatible with Blender; we have a major issue on our hands.

I'm not saying all of this to slap you in the face or "say no," but rather to educate you on why we do and say the things that we do. We're not trying to sell you short... I do hope that you have been able to understand my ranting and raving.as I feel this has been a rather incoherent post.

[andylegate]

Hoikas!

That's....that's.....man.....that's the LONGEST post that I've EVER seen written by you!! Here anyway......

Wow......well now I have to stick around just to see if this was a fluke, or if you're going to post more!

No, really, thanks for the post, I've already talked to BAD and others. Thanks though

And may your Hex's not Hex you.

[Tsar Hoikas]

LOL. Maybe I'm getting in the habit of writing long posts. That was my longest to date, I think

I need to make up for it with several one liners, methinks.

Glad you're understanding! I hope you have fun with blender (I haven't completely figured out if that's possible) and those other game maps you were talking about

lol at your last comment.

[BAD]

I think what Hoikas is saying is that we do not have support from Cyan, nor many people who know anything about how Uru game files work. With limited important resources, it has been a constant uphill battle to create the tools you have now.

However, the dev team is working to make better, more functional, and easier to use tools.

[greendragoon]

/me raises glass in toast.

Here's to the dev teams wonderful work to date. And may Cyan one day give you 3 years worth of backed support. Maybe.

[Chacal]

because I get so tired of the hostility that greets you here on this forum if you try to think outside the box.

Try starting a discussion on MOUL security...

[Lontahv]

AH,

hostility on this forum = Lon the boogie-monster.

I couldn't help but to make a joke.


Well, it's not hostility--it's criticism and a topic gets more and more filled with it the more outside the box you think.

But this doesn't mean you shouldn't tell other people your new ideas, you just have to prepared for those ideas to be looked at with a 1000x microscope, I will in the future try to leave more space for other people's criticism of "outside the box ideas".

I really don't mean to be negative to the ideas only to make comments--I have strong opinions on certain things and I let it be known(err, and draw the attention of the mod ).

Andy, I had an idea for ZephyerCove; what about a tent on the beach with some crates of maintainer gear in it(maintainer marks, shirts, hardhats, CampBravo books)?


~Lontahv

[D'eux]

OK, in order to progress Justin's original post and questions, I have set up a Live Messenger account that I am happy to use to answer Age writing related questions (if I can). The address is under my profile details on the left of this post. I cannot hope to be available to answer any question immediately or within any expected time frame, but I'll do what I can to help.

I do feel that I should draw your attention to the following conditions though:

- This *IS NOT* an officially endorsed avenue of support by the GoW Council. It's purely an act of voluntary assistance on my part.
- Any discussions entered into or advice given is done so without any guarantee or acceptance of responsibility on my part.
- No-one is ENTITLED to this support. It's purely voluntary and on a 'if I'm available' basis.

I will try and leave the account logged in as much as possible in order to see any messages left and respond if I'm able. Please make use of the 'Offline Messaging' facility to leave a message or a question as I will be able to read and respond to it at a later time. And finally, I have a life, so please do not abuse the offer of assistance

-: D'eux :-