Myst Online: URU Live Forums

Global Textures

Stucuk — Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:16 pm

Author: Stucuk

Posted: Wed Jun 29, 2011 3:16 pm

Most games don't limit the files that can be accessed by the game. If you take the engines made by ID Software (Quake 3, etc) they use packages like URU does, but the engine can access every single texture, model, etc. They don't load every texture/etc in existence, they only load what is needed.

The reason textures are stored in ages PRP's is proberly because they would just copy textures from the Age's 3DS Max directory without any checks to see if any textures are duplicates(Don't quote me on this though). With games like Quake 3, you have a custom map editor which uses the games directory to get the textures, so there is no copying of textures when you "compile" a level.

I have no clue how easy or hard it would be to make it so URU can have global textures but which are only loaded when needed.

Possible GPL issue with PhysX

Mac_Fife — Tue May 17, 2011 5:51 pm

Author: Mac_Fife

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 5:51 pm

The illustration in the GPL Quick Guide expresslly shows zlib as compatible with both GPLv2 and GPLv3: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/quick-guide-gplv3.html

plPythonPack

PaladinOfKaos — Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:32 am

Author: PaladinOfKaos

Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 12:32 am

AdamJohnso wrote:

A helpful note, if you compile the client in internal mode you can just put the scripts in the python folder. No need to pack them... Be sure you put SDL in the SDL folder as well. Happy exploring

When I tried to use an Internal build with packed python, it exploded handily, so unpacked is definitely the way to go if you're a developer.

EDIT for clarity

Just a couple of technical questions...

PaladinOfKaos — Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:26 am

Author: PaladinOfKaos

Posted: Sat Apr 16, 2011 6:26 am

There are a huge number of assumptions in the code about 32-bit. 64-bit support will happen eventually, but probably not until around the timeframe when we're working on mac and linux support, as 64-bit is still easier to work with on those systems. In other words: several months out. Hopefully many of the 64-bit issues will be noticed as we work on cleaning up other parts of the code, but the majority will probably go ignored until I start trying to build it in my 64-bit linux environment.

Remote Code Execution flaw in python scripts

Zenoc2 — Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:53 pm

Author: Zenoc2

Posted: Fri Apr 15, 2011 9:53 pm

Thanks for fixing this, guys. It's so great to see progress being made on this great game.

MOSS Servers

Nalates — Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:24 pm

Author: Nalates

Posted: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:24 pm

@Martin, I didn’t get that Anaerin was clarifying the definition of shard and grid. I brought up the ambiguity of the words because of the question I was asking. Anaerin gave a reasonable answer. [/Martin]

We have considerable thread space on MOUL forum used defining shard and the idea still remains nebulous.

I think Rusty’s statement that the database makes the shard is accurate. I think all that matters to most fans is that a shard contains a group of players that can communicate with and see each other. They couldn't care less about hardware configurations.

JWP’s point that a future NET will allow a virtual MOSS machine to be 'taken off the shelf' completely reframes Lyrositor’s poll. There are some interesting things happening with cloud hosted virtual worlds. Some OpenSim worlds are now extremely cheap to host, ranging from nothing when idle (no players) to a couple of dollars per user per hour and up depending on performance requested. With player access controls one can control their cost.

Still there is a cost. Running my VW in my home computer has limits but it does not change my basic computer/Internet cost. For visitors there are lag issues. So, free home hosting for someone that wants to have lots of visitors will likely be way more costly than a hosted server with lots of outbound bandwidth.

So, asking why pay for something that can be free, while a pertinent question, leaves out the issue of performance, which many are willing to pay for.

Setting up a MOSS shard easily

Lyrositor — Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:20 am

Author: Lyrositor

Posted: Tue Apr 12, 2011 11:20 am

How hard would it be to package it ?
And for manual installation, would it be best if waited a bit to see if there are any updates to the procedure ? Maybe, specific command-by-command tutorials. Or someone could just show me how to do it, and then I could write up a tutorial.

Some ideas to try when MO:UL becomes open.

D'raekmus — Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:16 pm

Author: D'raekmus

Posted: Wed Mar 16, 2011 8:16 pm

Ken Telinome wrote:

D'raekmus wrote:
Example: someone creates a mod pack that allows Uru to be run as the base for an MMORPG-like configuration. The additional libraries for combat, leveling, and AI could be stored within a mod pack.

Mod pack idea = good. I just hope we never, ever, ever have this particular example in Uru.

Hm... You do have a point. I mean, I know most games have something of an in-game economy, and, since most MMO players are used to that kind of element, I think that is where some might try to take it.

But, looking at it, Uru is a fairly powerful little game, graphically. I've tried comparing it to snapshots of the Source engine by Valve, and I say that Uru's graphics >>>> Anything Source has made so far.

The python language, I've heard, is able to be compiled or scripted, allowing flexibility in both directions. Naturally, there's going to be someone out there go "Hey... We could turn Uru Live into a better game than WoW with a little work.".

But, I'm on a fence myself. On the one hand, I'd love to see people improve upon Uru. But, The game itself is about puzzles and problem-solving, not about fighting monsters.

Although... With the unrest among Bahro at the end of MO:UL, there's no telling what might happen. Someone might be able to make it to where the "Bad" faction of Bahro are bringing around all kinds of beasts from other Ages, while the "good" creatures are helping by giving explorers abilities, much like how Yeesha gained her own abilities.

Huh... Now I sound like I want to deviate from the whole puzzle take. Not really. I mean, The focus should still be on exploring worlds, that's the whole purpose of the Myst games.

Anyway, I'd love to see someone just attempt such an experiment.

But, I'm getting off track. Mod packs involving new Ages and physics would be simple enough, since, as I've heard, the Physics part is handled on the client end (That's if I'm reading the documentation of the PlasmaClient correctly), and the Ages are fairly low-level work, needing no addition to existing code.

However, if OSMO is as open as allowing users to modify the engine, as is the nature of true Open Source, then the possibilities are substantially increased, allowing people to mesh in other applications (Quake3 maps, and someone might develop a unique mapping program exclusively for MOUL) and additional programs (Think expanding the functionality of the KI, but on a much, much larger scale.)

Personally, what I'd love to see first is a KI-handled inventory system. You know, you can drop fire marbles to light the way, pick up logs in your Relto and move them around, or even fix that danged problem in garden ages involving the wood walkways. The ability to pick stuff up would make it so much less frustrating.

Once that's implemented, maybe people could begin to work on items having a function, like being able to stack logs and light them on fire for a campfire, move cones to block places off (administrator function?), or reposition lights to shine in new areas.

Anyway, those are just some low-level ideas I have that could be implemented at some point.

MMOG’s and Females

Gahlen — Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:27 am

Author: Gahlen

Posted: Thu Jan 27, 2011 6:27 am

This is intriguing material; Hussain and Griffiths in particular come up with some thought-provoking findings on correlations between gender and online behaviour (and the whole interesting gender-swapping phenomenon), although they seem to me to stop short of pushing their conclusions very far. (And I had to smile at the cheerfully naive use of the word "feminist" in Phoebe Frangoul's piece in the Sunday Times.) A strength, alleged or real, of these studies is of course their ability to draw on empirical data ("64% of players…" and so on, even with breakdowns for specific games). Do you (or does anyone) know if we have any statistics at all for MOULa or previous incarnations of Uru Live, beyond raw account and login numbers?

Nalates wrote:

I suspect that number has changed in the last 4 years.

Why?

Why Do People Play Minecraft? Or Uru?

MustardJeep — Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:13 am

Author: MustardJeep

Posted: Mon Dec 13, 2010 6:13 am

As someone that has spent the last month or so in Minecraft having fun I have to say it's got three basic things that appeal to me.

1. Infinite Worlds - No mucking about for Fan made or Dev made stuff. Hit load and you have a brand new "simcity" generated terrain to explore that is the size of minkata and the complexity of all the "On the surface" levels combined. It may be 8-bit but it is big and fresh every time you hit go.

2.It's a Sandbox Game - to highlight part of Emilly's statement "Why play Minecraft? Because it exists in the pure spirit of game, itself." If you want to describe creating, building, or destroying anything in Minecraft it's somewhere between building things with wood blocks or creating sand castles at the beach. Simple child's play at it's purest. Personally I find it a lot of fun to load up my inventory with a inventory editor and go on a building spree.

3. PEOPLE - Yup you guessed it for a small fee minecraft is multiplayer. In full 8-bit glory people can load up their own servers publicly, have friends join publicly, and stakeout their own bit of turf online in that server. (Some of the lava based home defense traps are crazy clever by the way.)

I'll agree with Nalates that I really don't see players gaining the level of control in Uru that Minecraft has over it's game worlds but it shows another way of doing things.

The Learning curve is part of it but honestly for the crowds of people that play most every other game a major step forward is going to have to be Official Public Fan Servers. None of this hacked stuff that gets by on a wink and a nudge using Uru:CC but Cyan getting off the fence and releasing a stable server set any fan can take to any game host to run their very own server with. A decade or more in and Cyan has never "Officially" permitted anything to touch their worlds; only a wink a nudge a poke to get the Fan Action back behind the curtain, never once center stage in a way that can be touched from the official server.

Not even way back in Ubi Beta has Cyan ever expressed more then a vague interest in letting Uru get into the hands of the Fans. If and I do mean IF Cyan releases/backs Fan Servers, and backs a tool set for modeling that gets it in the hands of the majority, and that doesn't require learning a Fan committees interpretation of how to properly do something in blender; well then Uru might become more popular,

Nite all that's my last rant for the year.

Can't open the door...

ngc2392 — Sat Nov 20, 2010 1:50 am

Author: ngc2392

Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 1:50 am

I will play the offline version on UAM shard until things improve with that prototype version.

OS Uru on Macs

Lars Nordstrom — Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:14 pm

Author: Lars Nordstrom

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 7:14 pm

Well, to the end-user, playing under WINE or Cider is like emulation even if it technically is not.

PlasmaClient MacPorts issues

rainbow — Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:15 pm

Author: rainbow

Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2010 10:15 pm

Lars Nordstrom wrote:

Right off, I can't login with latest version. Cider-MystOnline logs-in fine.

Sorry about that. Please "sudo port sync" and "sudo port upgrade PCLauncher" to get version 0.0.1-72772 which fixes this.

Age Editor for Blender

Spock712 — Mon Oct 25, 2010 6:34 pm

Author: Spock712

Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 6:34 pm

I found a plug-in, thank you.

Open Source Security Concerns

we6jbo — Sun Sep 19, 2010 10:47 pm

Author: we6jbo

Posted: Sun Sep 19, 2010 10:47 pm

If there's a reason why the community would want to branch the Uru server/client code then how about creating a compile farm where the developers can submit their sourcecode and the compile farm can create the binaries for the client/server. That way anyone who is downloading a game client knows that the sourcecode is also available on the compile farm's webserver and in no way can the developer alter the code after it has been compiled by the server farm to remove any malicious code. In addition, if you're afraid that the developer could later change the server soucecode to include malicious code then what the server farm could do is after it reveals the source code on the web server, it could then inject authentication code into the source before compiling it so that the client could only connect to servers that have the correct authentication code which would have a public/private key pair as part of the encrypted binary. Hopefully that makes a little sense. If not, I can re clarify.