Marker game update...

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to attempt to sacrifice an alternate avvie to see if it really is the marker games that are causing the problems... I created a 400+ marker mission in Gahreesen with no problems, linked back to Relto with no problems (tried this several times, both panic linking and regular linking), and quit and restarted the game with no problems. So perhaps it isn't the marker games that are causing the problems. However, it was done with a completely clean KI, no images, no notes, and my "recent" list had been totally wiped as well. So perhaps it's a combination of a cluttered KI and the marker missions... I don't know.
However.. how cool is this?

/me and You

Posting from Eder Kemo...
Sorry for neglecting this blog for so long, but all of the recent news and gossip has been overshadowed by the announcement of the return of Uru Live.
However, we got an update not too long ago, and it included a few interesting things, such as the marker missions, a linking stone from Eder Kemo to the 'hood, and the nifty /me command. However, (and I hate to look a gift horse in the mouth, here) the only really awesome part of the update is the stone in Kemo. The other stuff has some drawbacks.
The do-it-yourself marker missions are superfun, but (I'm speculating, here) apparantly, if you have too many markers in a mission, or too many missions, your avvie will get stuck in "fetching player" while loading up the game. I'm not really sure about this, but it seems to be the most prevalent theory. I, and quite a few people I know, have lost avatars that way. I'm about to try an experiment, and perhaps sacrifice an avatar to the vault, to see if that's the true reason, or if it was because of the vault corruption I mentioned earlier.
And the /me command... superfun. However, there's an odd little bug that goes with it. Evidently, if you're locked in one of the neighborhood eggrooms with someone else, and you use the /me command... not only will your companion not see the emote, but everyone else in the hood will. Which can be very embarrassing if the emote was meant to be something private. So the eggrooms are sound and KIchat proof... but apparantly, they're made of glass.
Other than that, it's a fun little command.

Cyan Worlds Pizza Party 2006

Posting from Kadish Tolesa...

Today as a "thank you" to Cyan Worlds for years of entertainment, as well as their contributions to the DRC, the explorer community banded together to pay for a truck of pizzas to be delivered to the doors of Cyan. Along with the pizza was delivered a lovely plaque, and the remainder of the raise money has been contributed to a "Donut Fund".

As a result of this, a party was held this afternoon at Cyan (and may still be going?) which also spawned a cavern wide party in D'ni.... it's madness! There are people dancing all over Ae'gura, from the ferry to the Great Zero. Cocktail parties in the gallery.... there's an incredible rave going on just beneath me here in Kadish... who knows what else is going on. I wonder if the DRC are wandering around in this mess somewhere, and if they are, I wonder what they think of it all?

Myself... I'm loving every bit of it. There's so much energy right now, coming from Cyan, from the return of the restoration, from the hundreds of explorers. It's SWELTERING in here... the lights keep clicking on and off, people are bouncing off of eachother... a few of us started forming Tetris blocks when a Tetris remix. I... why am I writing here? I need to get out there on the floor! And besides that... I've got to host my own event in just a bit...

Update!

Looks like the authentication server is down, so I'll finally post again.. I know I've been neglecting this blog, and my apologies... recently, I've been too embroiled in cavern drama to have time.

But.. there's been an update! So far, we've found a new linking stone in Kemo, leading to the classroom roof in the 'hood, and the marker games have been turned on again, which means that the Great Zero has been at least partially recalibrated. Woot!
However, someone who remain nameless (because it was really just an accident, and he shouldn't feel bad about it) somehow managed to bring a unauthorized age into the game via the AgeManager, and corrupted the vault. The effects of the corruption have been pretty obvious, one of my avvies, my main, has been lost in link limbo, and there have been a lot of others who have lost theirs as well. And the random "WTFcrashing" seems to have gotten worse. Personally, I'm hoping for a vault wipe, since I won't really be losing much; I already lost my avvie, so I'll have to re-do everything anyway... so why not just go ahead and repair the damage that caused me to lose that avvie? Ergh.. enough pontificating.

Another random side effect of the cavern: there's something in that cave that somehow speeds up time. It's almost like a black hole; time appears to go slower on the inside. For instance, I can sit in the cavern and chat with friends for what feels like an hour or so... however, on the surface, four hours have passed. Or more, the most extreme case that I've experienced has been a full eight hours (on the surface) passing in what seems like the blink of a eye. Could this be the secret to the extrordinarily long lives of the D'ni? Perhaps something in the cavern gasses that causes this time dialation? After all, time while in the cavern seems to equal out to three or four times that on the surface, so a lifetime of being in the cavern could account for the three-hundred year long life spans of the original inhabitants.
Holy crap, we've discovered the fountain of youth!

It LIVES!

There's so much to say, but I simply can't find the words for it.
Uru Live is back!
I am speechless with happiness. I giggled like a madwoman, danced, cheered, and even cried from the sheer joy of it.
I guess the best quote of the night goes to Vortmax.. "And to think, until tonight, dreams are all we had of Live." I'll be dreaming about Live tonight.

Perhaps the ending has not been yet written....

A visit from PetroChem Ind

Warning: VERY long post!
Sorry for not posting about this before, but I've been laaazy. A few nights ago, while vid and I were chatting in the 'hood, one Debbie LeBlanc linked in. At first I thought she was a newbie, she said that it was her first day in D'Mala and she would like to ask us some questions. Unfortunately, I didn't remember to start a log until after she had asked some rather... disturbing questions, mostly about how the explorers would feel about her "company" stripmining an age or two in return for funding the restoration. We essentially said that depending on the resources they're planning on collecting (i.e collecting solar energy in Teledahn vs. taking the entire clean water supply from Gahreesen), they should expect differences in how the explorers treated them. One of the things I said before I started the chatlog (below) was "Even though the explorers have their differences, our love of the cavern and of the ages is not one of them."

(05/05 02:01:42) Chat.log started...
(05/05 02:02:17) Debbie LeBlanc: Oh yes... I actually kinda found this at the bottom of a dusty old tree, I saw a video play in 3 dimensions describing it, however the technology would be much better suited in a game console so many kids play these days.
(05/05 02:02:37) vid: a video in three dimensions..?
(05/05 02:02:55) Taba: hrm? Please elaborate, I'm not sure I follow you.
(05/05 02:02:56) vid: on an imager somewhere? Or...?
(05/05 02:03:12) To vid: oh. she means Yeesha
(05/05 02:03:29) From vid: ohhh.... but Yeesha never really described Relto that well, did she?(05/05 02:03:32) Debbie LeBlanc: Perhaps we should get back to the job opportunties
(05/05 02:03:44) vid: hm... if you'd like.
(05/05 02:03:51) Debbie LeBlanc: We have many jobs for seasoned explorers of the cavern.(05/05 02:03:57) To vid: she does later on.
(05/05 02:04:08) Taba: do tell.
(05/05 02:04:12) vid nods his head
(05/05 02:04:53) Debbie LeBlanc: We need explorers to show various clients the ages, for strategic assessments.
(05/05 02:05:14) Taba: What do you mean by "strategic assessments"?
(05/05 02:05:26) vid: I'd be more than happy to guide anyone around the ages... but I'm not sure what you mean by "strategic assessments"
(05/05 02:06:18) Debbie LeBlanc: We need detailed strategic information of the ages for prosporus revenue production.
(05/05 02:06:27) vid: hm...
(05/05 02:07:14) vid: I'm not sure how many of us could help with such an assessment.. but I know a lot of people are always willing to show someone around.... help them learn the lessons, take their journeys
(05/05 02:07:29) vid: I'm still not sure I understand exactly what your company produces though
(05/05 02:07:47) From vid: heh... it only just struck me... "LeBlanc" and she's wearing all white...
(05/05 02:08:08) To vid: mmhmm...
(05/05 02:08:48) Debbie LeBlanc: PC Ind. produces high volume resorces for high grossing nations and governments both foreign and domestic
(05/05 02:09:18) Taba: for something like that, you may wish to contact the DRC, since they've already done a detailed analysis of the ages.
(05/05 02:09:57) vid: Debbie... I hope you don't mind me addressing you as such... but anyway.... "resources" doesn't mean much.... "resources" could mean you want to take all the water from Gahreesen... or it could mean you've been collecting what a lot of people drop off their docks in Relto...
(05/05 02:09:59) Taba: what sort of "resources" are you talking about?
(05/05 02:10:26) Debbie LeBlanc: We feel that for personal analysis of the ages that our investors would feel more comfortable with explorers rather than the buerocracy of a Council.
(05/05 02:10:35) From vid: we're picking her apart too much :)
(05/05 02:10:55) vid: ah... so a more personal level. Makes sense... but still might be frowned on by the "higher ups" here
(05/05 02:11:08) To vid: I know.. but is it mean to say that ir's FUN?
(05/05 02:11:16) Debbie LeBlanc: Resources is what we call an umbrella term. It covers alot of different types of resources.
(05/05 02:11:19) From vid: not at all :D
(05/05 02:11:45) vid: well... does "resources" involve harvesting the mushrooms in Teledahn?
(05/05 02:11:50) Taba: Perhaps you could give us some examples?
(05/05 02:12:08) Debbie LeBlanc: PC Ind. has no interest in the mushrooms in Teledahn
(05/05 02:12:09) vid: or the clean water supply of Gahreesen? Or even those... uh.. brain... plant.. things... in Kemo...?
(05/05 02:12:19) Taba: The trooms.
(05/05 02:12:28) vid: well... what DOES PC Ind want?
(05/05 02:12:34) Debbie LeBlanc: PC Ind. has no interest in the water of Gahreesen
(05/05 02:12:34) vid: also.. is it Ind or Inc?
(05/05 02:12:47) Debbie LeBlanc: Ind.
(05/05 02:12:57) vid: *raises eyebrow*
(05/05 02:13:43) From vid: I sure hope these guys have better employees than their Survey Squad here...
(05/05 02:13:57) To vid: *giggles evily* me too...
(05/05 02:14:01) Debbie LeBlanc: PC Industries wants a lucrative relationship with the various ages, as well as a receptive relationship with the caverns inhabitants.
(05/05 02:14:19) vid: Debbie, all you're giving me there is generic PR talk
(05/05 02:14:47) vid: you're not going to get much help here unless you make it clear exactly what you hope to achieve... not "feel good" blanket statements
(05/05 02:16:01) Debbie LeBlanc: Far reaching goals for any ages or cavern have not been set, however our short term goals include building public relations.
(05/05 02:16:06) From vid: *sigh* I think we've exhausted her entertainment for now.....
(05/05 02:16:17) To vid: I think you splodyed her brain, vid.
(05/05 02:16:32) vid: Public relations won't make profits for anyone until they lead into the true objective though.
(05/05 02:17:06) vid: I can walk around and tell everyone how good their behind smells today and get good PR... but it doesn't really help either party.
(05/05 02:17:35) From vid: I was really hoping it was going somewhere too :(
(05/05 02:17:43) Taba: And public relations with a group like ours, the explorers, who tend to pick things apart... you won't get much of a warm reception until you explain to the explorers exactly what you want.
(05/05 02:17:45) From vid: I want Moke or someone to link in right now...
(05/05 02:18:02) To vid: me too...
(05/05 02:18:05) Debbie LeBlanc: Soon a package will be put together to answer some of your questions about my company.
(05/05 02:18:15) vid: heck.. think about what you had to do just to get to your Relto book
(05/05 02:18:28) vid: it involved some research... some problem solving... some searching...
(05/05 02:18:50) Debbie LeBlanc: Yes.... it took along time..... anyway, so you say you give tours or something?
(05/05 02:19:09) Taba: And you can't get to the cavern unless you have the skills and the patience for that.. so pretty PR talk won't work with us.
(05/05 02:19:21) vid: mmm... I wouldn't say "tours" but if you want to show anyone around the ages, I'd be happy to do so sometime in the future
(05/05 02:20:23) Taba: As would I... I'm quite knowledgeable of Yeesha's teachings in each age, and would be happy to explain them.
(05/05 02:20:23) vid: there's a lot of beauty to see, and a lot of lessons to learn... and everyone who gets to experience either or both of those is a step forward.
(05/05 02:20:44) Taba: However, Kadish Tolesa is my personal favorite. :)
(05/05 02:21:13) From vid: now see... if I were her, I would have already commented on how irresponsible it is that two people who love this place so much are sitting in a fountain mucking up the water
(05/05 02:21:27) From vid: but she doesn't seem to mind or care...
(05/05 02:21:30) Debbie LeBlanc: Kadish Im not familar with.
(05/05 02:21:32) To vid: (minor jab) yanno.. Kadish was also greedy...
(05/05 02:21:48) From vid: ..we could lock'em in the vault...
(05/05 02:21:53) To vid: LOL
(05/05 02:22:10) vid: Kadish Tolesa is an age built inside of what's pretty much a giant tree
(05/05 02:22:27) Taba: It's a beautiful age, very serene and very peaceful.
(05/05 02:22:38) vid: the man who wrote it though was very clever...... he put a lot of securities in place. It was a very private place.
(05/05 02:22:57) To vid: perhaps once her "clients" see what happens to greedy people...
(05/05 02:23:20) Debbie LeBlanc: A giant tree?
(05/05 02:23:31) To vid: oh, and you're right about the fountain.
(05/05 02:23:59) vid: actually, come to think about it.. the really accessible areas of most of the ages probably wouldn't make for the best places to get resources anyway. A lot of them we've only been capable of seeing a few miles of, because of their design.
(05/05 02:24:04) Taba: Actually a series of them, I think, however it's difficult to distinguish, since they've grown together.
(05/05 02:24:20) From vid: and... she's cone surfing... o.O
(05/05 02:24:42) To vid: yeaaaaah... "newbie" I think not.
(05/05 02:24:49) vid: very nice balance, Debbie
(05/05 02:24:59) vid: we love our cones too....
(05/05 02:25:13) Debbie LeBlanc: Thank you, my father used to make road cones.
(05/05 02:25:21) vid: I think when the restoration is over, we'll still have cones just for Slider
(05/05 02:25:48) Debbie LeBlanc laughs
(05/05 02:25:51) Taba: hehehe... if he shows up at the convention... I'm going to liberate one just for him.
(05/05 02:25:57) vid: he's our resident cone expert :)
(05/05 02:26:04) vid: oh! Debbie..
(05/05 02:26:20) vid: there's a yearly gathering for fans of the goings on down here..
(05/05 02:26:28) vid: your company might do well to look into that
(05/05 02:27:02) vid: it's a surface gathering, I mean... so if they're uncomfortable with linking and the like...
(05/05 02:27:19) vid: can't say I blame them... scared the willies out of me at first
(05/05 02:28:11) Taba: Same here... the idea of going to an unknown place with no sure way of getting back..
(05/05 02:28:14) From vid: *waits for the inevitable*
(05/05 02:28:24) To vid: hrm?
(05/05 02:28:31) From vid: want her to ask about the floating...
(05/05 02:28:41) To vid: hehehe... I doubt she will.
(05/05 02:28:51) From vid: yeah... :(
(05/05 02:29:06) From vid: oooooh.... countered!
(05/05 02:29:20) To vid: hmmm..
(05/05 02:29:55) vid claps his hands
(05/05 02:30:00) From vid: I'm out of ideas >_>
(05/05 02:30:26) To vid: same here... and it's getting late, but this is just too interesting to pull myself away from.
(05/05 02:30:26) Debbie LeBlanc: yes well Im lucky in that we had several test subjects before I had to link
(05/05 02:30:55) To vid: SO tempted to take the bait.
(05/05 02:30:56) vid: Heh. So you sent someone through and waited to see how long it'd take them to get back?
(05/05 02:31:07) Taba: Test subjects?
(05/05 02:31:33) Debbie LeBlanc: No... we wouldn't use humans, we aren't monsters
(05/05 02:31:44) Taba: that's odd.. what happened when they linked in, taking the Relto book with them?
(05/05 02:31:52) vid: then how do you know the link succeeded?
(05/05 02:32:09) From vid: if she was holding the book.. or someone else was... it wouldn't have gone through though...
(05/05 02:32:30) Taba: I'm assuming that your Relto book is the first linking book you found, from what you've previously mentioned.
(05/05 02:32:36) To vid: damn.
(05/05 02:33:07) Taba: So if you sent a lab rat or something through.. how would you know that it was a safe link?
(05/05 02:33:16) Debbie LeBlanc: Yes... um... Another opportunity you could have at PC ind. is an ordinance handeler
(05/05 02:33:36) To vid: *violent subject change*
(05/05 02:33:50) vid: if you sent through an animal that can't report back.... how do you know it's just just a "vaporize whatever touches this part" device?
(05/05 02:34:06) vid: if you're vaporizing random animals, that seems pretty cruel
(05/05 02:34:21) Taba: Or the mythical prison books?
(05/05 02:34:27) vid: and we've already had plenty of animal cruelty down here... *shudders*
(05/05 02:34:42) Debbie LeBlanc: PC ind doesn't harm animals, that is our policy
(05/05 02:34:46) Taba: oh, yes... *shudders*
(05/05 02:34:55) vid: so you didn't send a person... but didn't send an animal...
(05/05 02:35:00) vid: so what made the first link?
(05/05 02:35:07) Debbie LeBlanc: No comment.
(05/05 02:35:13) vid: ....
(05/05 02:35:15) Taba: I'm curious, now.. what form of "test subjects" did you use, then?
(05/05 02:35:36) vid: You STOLE fizzy lifting drinks...
(05/05 02:35:40) Taba: After all, your ideas may help the DRC open new ages quicker.
(05/05 02:35:48) vid: you bumped into the ceiling which now has to be cleaned and sterilized....
(05/05 02:35:55) vid: you leave with NOTHING.
(05/05 02:36:00) vid: you LOSE. GOOD DAY SIR.
(05/05 02:36:02) vid points
(05/05 02:36:47) Debbie LeBlanc: Is mental illness a common thing amoung inhabitants of the cavern?
(05/05 02:36:51) From vid: well I'M thoroughly entertained
(05/05 02:37:04) vid: Bingo.. and you just answered my ultimate question
(05/05 02:37:05) To vid: me too.. this is too rich
(05/05 02:37:30) vid: If you believe I have a mental illness... well... your group has no chance of survival here.
(05/05 02:37:39) Taba: Indeed.
(05/05 02:37:46) vid: But if you want to come down..... minus the business.... you're always welcome
(05/05 02:37:53) Debbie LeBlanc: It was just a question.
(05/05 02:37:57) vid: the ages are for everyone.
(05/05 02:38:04) Debbie LeBlanc: surely.
(05/05 02:38:14) Taba: Not for profit, not for personal gain.
(05/05 02:38:43) Debbie LeBlanc: right.... So have any of you ever been members of the communist party?
(05/05 02:38:49) vid: and mental illness or not... everyone here is part of a family. Some people have made best friends here... or met people they view almost like parents.... or even fallen in love... because it's such a wonderful community.
(05/05 02:39:00) To vid: I'm laughing so hard I'm crying now...
(05/05 02:39:24) vid: so please.... tread carefully if you seek to profit from these worlds. The cones and barricades are for your own safety.
(05/05 02:39:38) From vid: comere
(05/05 02:39:39) Taba: As you've said before, Debbie... "no comment".

After that, we locked ourselves in the linking room (thank you Cyan for that bugfix!!!) and continued our previously interrupted conversation in PMs until she left. I'm wondering if this person was attempting to start up another fan-based storyline, i.e. the DRC vs. the Evil Corporation, or was just a troll looking for a giggle, or what. From some of her last comments, about mental illness and the communist party, I have no doubt whatsoever that this is not a Cyan approved storyline, since I seriously doubt that they would resort to childish namecalling to advance the story.

Skydive!

Yet something else awesome about Gahreesen... you can skydive. I'm not talking about jumping from the walkways, or being dropped by the elevator, but actually dropping from the sky above the first building. Ok, it's just a forced camera angle change, but it's so totally awesome. And addictive, too. All you have to do is take the elevator to the roof of the first building, walk across to the down elevator, and walk in front of the door, from the right side to the left. If you did it right, your screen will go black for a minute... and then you'll have an amazing view of Gahreesen, slowly dropping down to where you started. And you can do it over and over and over again, and depending where the building is in its rotation, you'll get a diffrent view. Fun fun fun!

Is the rubble in the Kahlo pub a red herring?

Mucking about in soloplayer with flymode the other day, I discovered something... interesting. There's a second hidden room in the Kahlo pub, behind the bar. The doorway is partially hidden behind the shelves, and it looks like it was once a storeroom.



However, of course.. there's nothing much in it.

I was hoping for at least some of the really good D'ni booze... or perhaps another laminated linking book. Alas, nothing.

So.. I turned my attention to Bevin, remembering something about one of the windows being a sort of "spy room".. and found it. It's a tiny little room, and you can't do much of anything in it except, well, spy on the others in the hood:

But nonetheless, it's pretty cool. And on other UU shards (not D'mala), with the userKI you can /spawn there. However, the really interesting thing is the back of the room. I had to rip the texture from the game itself instead of take a KI shot... but even though it's a solid wall, it looks like a hallway.

This gives me hope that eventually, D'ni homes will be opened up to the explorers. But I can't really fathom the reason for this room... you can't get to it without some form of hack, and it's too tiny for.. well, anything. I guess that's the real mystery behind a lot of my findings.. what's the reason behind all of this stuff I'm finding? (or posting about, since I wasn't the person who found most of this stuff, I just heard about it.) Why is there a Bahro stone to the Great Shaft in Gahreesen? Why are there hidden rooms in the pub? Why is there a linking book to Teledahn in front of the library (another random hack)? What is the meaning of 3 1 4? And the most important question of all: where the heek are the bathrooms?!?!?