Using Multiple ages a question

[J'Kla]

I have built three ages and a shell in Ahra Phats and now have links joining them together (At least I do in my personal versions).

The ages are Phats Shell xxx, Enobmort Noidrocca and Nilodnam.

At present the three main ages are available via the restoration links.

My Phats shell is withheld till we sort out my question.

The storyline has you find the required shell locate the link within the shell that then links you part of Enobmort (a section that lies behind a locked door) there is a link there that would appear to take you back to the Pahts shell but it drops you into the Nilodnam gallery there is only one link out of Nilodnam accessed via two routes one long and convoluted that takes you past nearly all of the galleries pictures and a much shorter one thats a shortcut to the bottom end and the exit.

The Link out of Nilodnam links into Noidrocca and that’s a pretzel of an age with massive complexity and the Periodic Table room amongst other things.

But there is a Balcony that reveals the world outside this maze of passages the balcony has it's own secrets that allow you to access another linking book that linking book is to the third age Enobmort.

Enobmort has lot's of other stuff but amongst that other stuff is three small galleries which contain a set of Journals which contain the Walker story. (The Walker story was the original piece of business that D'Lanor was able to add to the original fan shards).


HERE IS THE QUESTION
What I would like to do is have my Shell added to Pahts but the three ages at that time not in Restoration ages but as each is accessed via it's link it would then become available. In much the same way as the Books are not visible on your bookshelf till you have used your pedestals from Relto.

Not only that the subsection of Enobmort that you visit from Pahts should be the only part of Enobmort you can access until you link there via Noidrocca. To do this I think I may need to build a small identical version of Enobmort with just that closed room (DONE). But this subsection should not ever appear in restoration links.

There are issues with this as the eventual solution. Opening the locked door will involve an avatar outside and inside both operating some sort of switch at the same time.
(A separate problem in it's own right) probably solved by having the link to the sub age changed to the main full Enobmort age once the full Enobmort has been accessed via Noidrocca.

What I want to know is there some way to make these ages available as required I know that if I put the shell in Pahts at present It does not work if you don't have Enobmort loaded but I don't want it visible in Restoration Ages until it's accessed from the link in Noidrocca and the same all of the way back up the chain?

Just to refresh the chain is.

Pahts Shell xxx

Locked Room in Enobmort

Nilodnam

Noidrocca

Full Enobmort. (at this point Phats link moves to this instance of Enobmort)

I am open to ideas and suggestions? Help with doors could be useful.

[diafero]

What I can easily do is remove an age from the Restoration category - that's just an Offline KI configuration thing. However, we do not (currently) have a mechanism to "unlock" fan-ages in Nexus, the list is statically defined in a file. Any more complicated logic has to be done in your age, e.g. you could try to use some SDL magic to let new books appear in your Shell after the player unlocked something. This however can get quite nasty in multiplayer environments, with some people seeing the book and some not...

[J'Kla]

Would there be a way to make the ages load with Pahts but stay off Restoration Links?

One of the options I am considering is a mini nexus in a second shell in Pahts with a coded door the coded door password revealed when you get to the Enobmort full age.

[diafero]

I am not sure what you mean by "load with Pahts"... you can easily add a linking book to the age even if it does not show up in Restoration Links. In fact, there are several ages out there already that are only available this way (e.g. Adrael).

[J'Kla]

Ok I have added a link to my Pahts shell that links to one of my ages but I have been told if this age is not loaded on the users computer then it does not work.

So how do I insure that the user has the required ages for these links to work.

It may be easy to add a linking book a'la Adrael but the only way I know to add the age is to pass the files to Dustin at which point it appears in Restoration Links.

In a perfect world the ages would only be needed when a user accesses Pahts and susequently links from My shell to the sub section of Enobmort there's a linking book there that will appear to be a return link to the Shell in Pahts but this actually links to Nilodnam the Gallery Age so you don't see or need Nilodnam till you link out of the partial Enobmort.

In much the same way as you don't have the linking book in relto to Eder Kemo till you use the link from Eder Gira. (That may be the other way around I keep forgetting which is Gira and which is Kemo).

Similarly you don't need to see or need the Noidrocca files till you use the exit linking book in Nilodnam and likewise for the Full Enobmort age till you find and use the exit linking book in Noidrocca.

However once you have visited all of these then I would prefer the user to have direct access to all of these as following the route every time would make the operation tedious.

Again in an ideal situation as each was accessed it should at that point become visible in restoration links or even better useing the link in Phats adds a book to the bookshelf and each susequent link adds a new link page to that book like the current city book.

[diafero]

You could use the xLinkMgr contained in the Offline KI for linking (that requires a slight modification of the Linking Book python file), it will check the existence of the age you link to and show an error message if the age can not be found. Offline, of course, people still have to manually install that age, there is no way around that.
As I said, I can hide ages from Nexus. So, if you tell me which age this is about, I can update the Offline KI, send the update to Dustin, and the age will vanish/not appear in the Restoration Links. There is however no way to make it appear after some puzzle was solved, you would have to do ensure that yourself, somehow, within your age.

[J'Kla]

There's no issue as reguards puzzle release any of the ages as the extent of the puzzle consists of finding the required linking book.

You could use the xLinkMgr contained in the Offline KI for linking (that requires a slight modification of the Linking Book python file), it will check the existence of the age you link to and show an error message if the age can not be found. Offline, of course, people still have to manually install that age, there is no way around that.

This first part has me confused here you tell me there is something I can do with the Linking Book Python file to work with the Offline KI the latter part of this appears to tell me that "Offline , of course people still have to manually install that age" is this implying that the Offline KI has effects that work Online?

The whole structure is intended for online and off line I will just have to have a note that tells players they need to download the required ages this does require that I have different versions for off and on line play a problem I will sort in due course.

As I said, I can hide ages from Nexus. So, if you tell me which age this is about, I can update the Offline KI, send the update to Dustin, and the age will vanish/not appear in the Restoration Links. There is however no way to make it appear after some puzzle was solved, you would have to do ensure that yourself, somehow, within your age.

It's the latter part of this that I am looking for help with I do understand that you can make them invisible in restoration links and that part is understood that you just need telling.

At this time the invisible ages would be
Enobmort
Nilodnam
and Noidrocca

My problem (On line version) arises out of this desire to have the links to these ages invisable in Restoration links till the linking book has been used (Not a Puzzle as such)

Is there a way to implement this?
If so is there somewhere I can get guidence in how to do this?

[D'Lanor]

If you are using my book template there is also a "force owned" setting in PageDefs.py which makes a linking panel show up only if the player already "owns" the book (has linked there before). It seems to me this is what you need. Obviously your initial linking book should not have that setting otherwise the player will never be able to go to your age.

Keep in mind that this will not work on Alcugs shards because fan ages are usually global there and therefore they do not become "owned books". Alcugs is in fact the odd one out here. It works offline and in UU, and should work in MOULa as well.

Edit: In addition you can use diafero's checks, but that should not be necessary since I'm quite sure that fan age linking books, once they are submitted, are always rerouted through xLinkMgr for safety reasons.

[diafero]

This first part has me confused here you tell me there is something I can do with the Linking Book Python file to work with the Offline KI the latter part of this appears to tell me that "Offline , of course people still have to manually install that age" is this implying that the Offline KI has effects that work Online?

The whole structure is intended for online and off line I will just have to have a note that tells players they need to download the required ages this does require that I have different versions for off and on line play a problem I will sort in due course.

Maybe I should have been more clear, sorry. First of all: Yes, Offline KI has long passed the online border. All public Alcugs Shards I know of use the Offline KI, it is automatically installed - and it's deeply necessary, playing Alcugs with a plain unmodified POTS is no fun, believe me.
Now, to your problem: I am referring to the problem that linking to an age which is not installed can cause trouble. Offline KI can deal with that, a very small change to the linking code and the KI will check that the age is actually available before linking there, and show an error message to the user otherwise. This of course means that the Offline KI must be installed to play your age, but that's the case for most Uru installations anyway. But other than that, it works both offline and online (for the latter, the KI usually knows that the age is installed on the dataserver, and the link will always work).

Keep in mind that this will not work on Alcugs shards because fan ages are usually global there and therefore they do not become "owned books". Alcugs is in fact the odd one out here. It works offline and in UU, and should work in MOULa as well.

The old linking rule issue . Owned boos are indeed possible with the Offline KI (and with Alcugs - after all, instancing works fine for the Cyan original ages), that's an easy change in the age definition file. However, then there is no way to reach other player's instances of that age.

but that should not be necessary since I'm quite sure that fan age linking books, once they are submitted, are always rerouted through xLinkMgr for safety reasons.

No, that's not correct. Dustin uploads the ages unmodified to UAM. I am just doing this rerouting for all ages installed on Deep Island.