Llantern

[N. Sigismund]

That sounds about right.

Just discovered two interesting things:
1) Max crashes when I try to load the Age Description Manager.
2) I don't have any python scripts, so I can't make a GUI Pop Up. Means I have to use PlasmaShop, not used it before.

EDIT: Just got a chuckle out of an error message:

"This file has some bad python components in it. You REALLY shouldn't save it."

[Oliver Knowles]

Well, I'm still going to be messing around with the lights, but it is now clear that they work. *dance*

Anyway, so far today I have figured out how to make decent textures (Textporter is excellent) and I've been creating content, namely loose leaves of Nye's journal which are going to be scattered all over the room. Here's a screenshot, and an example page (the shoddy handwriting is a side effect of my own shoddy handwriting...)

http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z99/ ... -31-48.png

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Thanks for using your own handwriting. It's SO much nicer & more immersive!

[N. Sigismund]

Thanks! I'm probably not going to use that exact image in the final release, as it's very bad handwriting.

Okay, major snafu time - I unpacked Uru's Plasma.pak file, then copied over Glue.py and all the Plasma*.py files to where I think they're supposed to be (D:\Export\plasma\python) and nothing happens... My python file component is giving me an empty drop down box.

EDIT: Fixed!

EDIT: New problem. I'm following the tutorial on how to do the GUI pop ups thing that Alex wrote on the GoM site, and when I get to adding the GUI dialogue to my camera, I can't select anything on the name dropdown... And now it suddenly fixes itself (solution was creating another age file, then flicking between the two...)

[kaelisebonrai]

There is no "GoM", by the by, There is a GoMa (Guild of Maintainers), and a GoMe (Guild of Messengers).

Though, the new pics are looking gorgeous!

Even that messy handwriting. No worse than Yeesha's

[N. Sigismund]

Not much progress today. I'm sort of worn out from such a long time in 3DS Max at once!

I've been visiting some ages in MOULa, and I've come away with an idea to improve my textures. I'm going to try Genetica and see if I can roughen up what I have at the moment.

Next priority should be the outside, but I'm kind of worried to tackle it as it will be hard to make look good. But once that's done, I literally only have to concentrate on the small details in the room, maybe change a few things to make them more Uru-esque, then the age will be ready for public testing. I'll tell you, Nye's not going to be happy that everyone's linking to his office, reading his private journals and whatnot because he dropped his linking book in Nexus! (I intend to have a journal entry mentioning it - actually, the journal is going to have a lot of IC explanations for OOC stuff in!)

As I hope I've made clear, I'm looking to create a pair of ages of high enough quality that, at the very least, once OS enters the world of reality it will only take a short time to bring up to Cyan quality. I want Llantern as Cyan-adopted fan content.

EDIT: Just read the GoM*a* Neolbah thread, and Andy really is outdoing himself. Neolbah might just end up as my favourite fan age if he actually codes proper puzzles in!

EDITX2: Just before I go to bed: A new screenshot of current developments!(I.E. retexturing the age!) - Lightmaps are broken again! Other changes you'll note is the addition of the picture and the rewriting of the word "Llantern" on the book, as I thought it looked crude in the last attempt.

One of the nice things I've discovered about using embossed wallpaper in the age is that when the avatar looks around normally it is nearly impossible to spot...

The textures are placeholders. I'm tempted to return to my old texture for the walls, and the carpet definitely needs fixing.

Oh, one important question. Is there any way to simulate square - or in my case long and thin - lights?

[N. Sigismund]

I'm hoping people are happy to hear that I've made some progress on Pontypridd. Here are some screenshots (and my current thoughts are in the chat window!) and a couple of problems...






1) I need ideas for the garden. I'm happy to take suggestions for this. Nye treats the study of D'ni as his real job, with his freelance writing duties merely as the facilitator. I'm going to try and reflect as much of his character as possible in the room and garden. He's travelled far and wide, not only in the D'ni worlds but also through most of the Cavern and across wide expanses of Earth. The Llama picture is a joke and an example of this.
2) I'm having trouble with interactable GUI notes. Namely, either the "go away" button draws the entire of the screen bar the note in white, or does not appear at all and requires the use of Esc to remove the GUI from the screen.
3) That lightmap bug.

Anyway, if all goes according to plan, Pontypridd v.1a (a for Alpha) should be up for next week. As an open source project, I hope people will take the opportunity to lead by example and try and improve it.

EDIT: Oh, forgot to mention. One of the sidestories is Nye's learning of the D'ni numbers and letters, and I'm going to reflect that in the age with notebooks filled with notes on both, scrumpled notes in the bin, etc etc etc. This age is going to have stuff to read.

[Wamduskasapa]

The picture of the Llama looks like a stylized picture of Machu Picchu. Here is a shot of one that I took during my visit there

Just click the Icon for a full size view but beware it is hi res 311 KB

[andylegate]

Make sure your "Clickoff" panel for your GUI popup is below the panel that you want actually seen. Make sure also that you give it a transparent material, and that when you apply it as a Plasma Standard, you select "Alpha" for the output blend.

[N. Sigismund]

Make sure your "Clickoff" panel for your GUI popup is below the panel that you want actually seen. Make sure also that you give it a transparent material, and that when you apply it as a Plasma Standard, you select "Alpha" for the output blend.

That sounds like the problem. Thanks again Andy!

[N. Sigismund]

Just an update to apologise for a lack of updates. Been busy slacking off recently - I want to get back to Pontypridd as soon as I can, though.

What are people's thoughts on Open Sourcing age development? I'd love to be able to put up my first version of Pontypridd for people to visit, but I'd really love for people to dive into the files and see what they can do to improve aspects of it. Doing that sort of thing seems like a sure fire way to have the highest quality possible ages for use in the game.