Hi! Just letting everyone know that there are events at the usual time every Saturday. The calendar is being obstinate, but the events will happen! Hopefully, I'll see you all there!

~Uadjet

I've been writing a quest where players can ask questions of the Observatory and the Applied Knowledge faction, and I thought I'd give players a chance to suggest questions. Please post them here or on a thread in Discord if you think of any.

Aachey:  Well, hello and welcome to the Developer's Q&A!
Aachey:  No new faces, so I'll skip explaining what the meeting is about.
Karzela:  Hi there
Aachey:  If you have any questions, please step up to the lecterns at the front of the stage.
Aachey:  You don't really need to, but it's a handy indicator that somebody wants to say or ask something.
Gonger:  Silence...
Karzela:  Too many damaged musical scores in my bag. Think Talad will create something ingame to handle this?
Aachey:  If there are no questions, we can give a quick summary of what's been goign on in the last few weeks.
Aachey:  Ah, yes. I saw that chat in Discord.
Aachey:  I'm not sure, yet, what the problem is. I know midi playback isn't perfect yet, but it is still a work in progress.
Talad:  Hello
Gonger:  Zakena was testing a few things... and the results were not promising. She was quite down...
Karzela:  Hello Talad
Aachey:  As for porting the old music, I think that needs to be converted with an offline tool.
Aachey:  Hi Talad!
>Gonger greets Talad.
Talad:  some parts of this room didnt synch for me
Talad:  I cant see the stands
Talad:  weird
Gonger:  Aachey, why are you turning your back to the others?
Talad:  teleporting into this room has strange effects
Talad:  but walking in worked fine
Aachey:  Yeah, I had to reload, as teleporting here showed a loading screen for a split second, and then showed me where I was before the teleport. Reloading put me in here.
Gonger:  I also had to leave the room, and to enter it again.
Aachey:  And it seemed to me that I was facing the lecterns. I did move to make space for Talad, though.
Talad:  I read the comments on the music scores
Talad:  it's the first implementation and not many people tested it
Talad:  test it more, and report the bugs, so we can improve it
Talad:  any questions or discussions?
Aachey:  I know that I had to use a PS-specific converter tool to convert mxml(?) to the xml files Legacy used, so maybe that difference is causing the problems now.
Talad:  MuseScore should be able to load XML files
Talad:  am I missing messages or none is speaking?
Karzela:  Silence here
Talad:  ok, if you dont have any questions or comments I will go
Gonger:  I am only half here. Some problems at work...
Karzela:  Years ago Eriden helped me with music files, but he's been gone for many years too.
Aachey:  I think it'll take experimentation to check the music here.
Aachey:  We can test newly unloaded files, of course. I'll download some midi files and see how well they do.
Gonger:  We should try to contact ancient players, maybe some would come back. I shared some ideas with Talad and Uadjet.
Aachey:  It's the old files from Legacy that will be tricky.
Talad:  I did a test some time ago to import a PSLegacy music file and there were many changes needed
Talad:  because some tags were PS only
Talad:  but the base was similar to MuseScore XML
Talad:  so it's possible to convert, but will take some manual manipulation
Talad:  best will be to recreate from scratch
Karzela:  Many music scrolls were bought from other players.
Karzela:  Many from player: Grindulf
Talad:  the data is still in the music scores
Talad:  as it has not been deleted, unless you imported on top of it
Talad:  I may add a button to save to file or to view the data
Talad:  but it's a text file at the end
Talad:  you can save from musescore some notes
Talad:  then save to XML format
Talad:  then compare with the PSLegacy one, and see what you need to change
Talad:  with some trial and error it's possible to sort it out
Aachey:  That certainly sounds doable.
Karzela:  May be a good idea to post a step by step solution at the PSU wiki when it is found. Not all of us are tec gifted. ^ ^
Talad:  I assume it can be also automated
Talad:  but will require some work. please search someone within the players that wants to do that
Talad:  should not require much tech knowledge
Talad:  ask to other people, rally them towards a goal, etc...
Talad:  any other topics?
Aachey:  I normally recap what you've been up to in the vids. Seems odd, with you here...
Talad:  I can do it myself
Karzela:  Is anyone working on fixing quest problems permanently, that are posted in the bug tracker?
Talad:  lately I've been fixing various bugs, and adding Xiosia stone table to the new stone labyrinths area
Talad:  also I've been working on the observatorium so one day can replace the  summy one we have in game now
Talad:  *dummy
Karzela:  I've been out there. The building already is impressive.
Talad:  Also there have been new sketches made and new models in work for the factions/organizations
Talad:  progress there is going well
Talad:  I hope will be able to show something after august holidays
Talad:  about quests I've seen some bugs posted, I didn't yet work on those
Talad:  but seems split three main categories:
Aachey:  I've got some thoughts on NPCs and quests for the observatory too, though I'll need to check the lore first.
Talad:  1) the menita puzzle, this is currently impossible in unreal , we need to rework it as Unreal doesnt have the portals capabilities we had before.
Talad:  2) the quests which requre a proxity trigger (so you go in a place and it triggers something) this should be possible, just a matter of working on it
Talad:  3) Other minor problems like reloading of dialogues and such, or typos. These ones are something that will be nice if it gets first confirmed by multiple people before I dedicate time to it
Karzela:  So, shall I assume Venalan no longer is helping with quests and lore?
Talad:  In general going through the list of bugs and confirming those or adding detail is always helpful
Talad:  It's only me working on stuff at the moment.
Karzela:  ok
Talad:  Uadjet is the only other active person in the team
Talad:  rest is not gone forever, but they are inactive at the moment, I would say since at least 1 year or more
Talad:  we need new people
Talad:  anyway commissions help, as some has been done through that.
Talad:  relying on old devs or old players is not a good idea in my opinion
Talad:  we need new devs and new players
Talad:  people change hobbies during their life and it's unlikely they will return
Karzela:  Yes, very true.
Talad:  there are exceptions, but with 7 billions people in the world should be possible to find new people
Talad:  the game got more stable in the last 2 releases
Talad:  server is rarely crashing now, which is good
Karzela:  Such great progress
Talad:  the new player flow is also getting more solid
Talad:  new tutorial area is explaining and guiding players much more than before
Talad:  we need to connect that to the factions/organizations to provide more guidance after arriving in hydlaa
Talad:  so to have a continuation of the progression
Talad:  I have many ideas, but time is limited
Talad:  we need more people
Aachey:  Yeah. Get a natural flow to pull players along.
Talad:  ok, I have to go. have fun
Aachey:  Thanks for coming!
Karzela:  Nice to see you here o/
>Karzela cheers happily at Talad!
>Talad waves.
Aachey:  I'll just throw in that I've started mapping out some possible quest lines, for the new factions Talad has got set up.
>Karzela waves at Talad
Aachey:  I don't think they show on the factions page unless you've done something for (or against) the faction.
Aachey:  The new factions should have rankings, based on your factions from Legacy. Or more from your completed quests, really.
Aachey:  There are the religious factions, professional factions, the six Ways, Societal factions (government and criminals), and finally what started off as combat style factions.
Aachey:  That last group has been assigned roles as well, 
Aachey:  For example, the Indomitables were initially just a group dedicated to fighting with axes, but now they're also dedicated to defending teh Bronze Doors
Karzela:  Plenty of things for players to work on if they choose to do so.
Aachey:  The Rangers (archers) now take that name to mean more like what it does in other places, with expertise in fauna and motivated to take care of the natural world.
Aachey:  That kind of thing.
Aachey:  Some factions have tons of quests. Octarchy and Eternal Forge have 42 quests assigned to them, for example.
Aachey:  Essential Trail (gatherers of resources, like farmers and miners) have 5.
Aachey:  So I'm trying to plan out some quest lines there.
Aachey:  And currently learning about farming so that I can do that.
Aachey:  But we're past the hour, now. Please have fun playing, and check out the new additions to the game, like the new tutorial area, the NPCs in Delver, and the music system! The more testing we have, the easier it is to improve things.

Uadjet: Hello, and welcome to the Developer's Q&A!
Karzela  waves back at Damola
>Damola waves at Gova
Damola:  Hello.
Damola:  Kga, Gova!
Uadjet: You've all been here before, so I think I'll break from tradition and NOT explain how these meetings work. Let's see if my slight OCD tendencies will let me get away with that.
Gova:  Kga!
Karzela:  Go for it!
Karzela:  Hi Gova
Damola  tilts her head "Oh, dear mighty Uadjet, what was this meeting about?"
Uadjet's  eye starts to twitch.
Damola  giggles slightly
Uadjet: First off, are there any new bugs I should know about?
Uadjet: They tend to appear during events, but I can be a tad busy at the time, and might not recall them later.
Damola:  Not exactly a bug I'd say, but I found climbing ladders to be rather hard in PSUnreal. It was not perfect in Crystalspace based PS, but better.
Uadjet: Ah, that's true. I tend to /slide, so I don't really encounter that.
Gonger says: True, that.
Damola:  Even more so with those special collision enabled bamboo shelves, Damola collected during some special events.
Gova:  I was able to jump up a ladder, but I fell back down quite a few times in the process.
Damola:  These can not be climbed at all anymore.
Damola:  Yes, Gova. Sometimes Damola went up a bit also by walking, but then she stopped.
Uadjet: Honestly I'm not sure why they were climbable in Legacy. I think they'd have to be at a slight angle to work in PSU.
Uadjet: But ladders do need work.
Damola:  Thing is: PSUnreal can detect places where Damola needs to climb, and I would love that PSU would detect ladders and collision enabled bamboo shelves as climbable.
Damola:  Well a ladder can be "climbed" in RL as well? one can discuss about the bamboo shelves
Uadjet: I know Talad talked about an actual climbing ability, but I think ladders would need to be different. DIfferent animation (if it has one), and it would ideally be attachable to droppable items and not just sections of the map.
Damola:  That.
Damola:  The animation for a ladder I bet would be somewhat different but not too unsimilar.
Uadjet: I think a ladder climbing animation would likely be very complex, if there's any attempt to get the animation to match the ladder. Maybe that can be left for later.
Uadjet: There are ladder climbing animations on Mixamo, though, so they don't need to be created from scratch.
Damola:  Any other "bugs"?
Uadjet: I've found a ladder tutorial on Youtube. Less gthan 8 minutes, so it isn't too hard. ALS does change a lot of things in Unreal, so I'm not sure it's compatible.
Damola:  Great.
Damola:  By the way, Uadjet, about the server crashes in recent events, luckily not the one of yesterday, do you have an idea what caused them?
Uadjet: You just run up the ladder, but that was what we had in Legacy so it'll do. I have no idea how to align a animation with the actual ladder mesh, though.
Uadjet: Oh, Talad did figure it out.
Uadjet: It was my long impersonations.
Damola:  Ah okay, did you file a bug about it?
Damola:  Or did Talad already fix it?
Uadjet: The text the NPC says is part of the /impersonate command, and it was exceeding the allowed length of commands. Talad did have a fix for it, though.
Uadjet: I think it's already fixed, actually.
Damola:  Wonderful!
Uadjet: I don't recall my longest /impersonate yesterday, but I can be somewhat long-winded, so if I didn't trigger the bug it's probably fixed.
Uadjet: Ah, the next tutorial from the same person adds a climbing animation. Nice!
Damola:  What about news? Aachey, did you watch (parts of) some of the streams from Talad?
Uadjet: I haven't been able to watch many lately, but I've kept track of what he's working on.
Damola:  I heard he did a lot of bug fixing?
Damola:  Hope he releases a new version soon!
Igesalo:  all right
Uadjet: He has. We're getting very close to another release, so he's been doing a lot of fixes. I didn't watch the spell crash streams, but he spent two streams on it and finally fixed it off-stream.
Gonger says: Igesalo, if you have any questions, line up in front of the bookstands.
Igesalo:  hello
Uadjet: Let's see...
Uadjet: It's taking me longer to type than normal, as I'm still getting used to a new keyboard.
Uadjet: On my own to-do list, I've got some effects related to weather that might work. There's accumulating snow on the ground, which we had in Legacy at least for GM-cause snow.
Uadjet: I'm not sure if it'll accumulate on PCs and NPCs, but it would be fun if it did!
Uadjet: I've got a few different tutorials I'm going to try, and if they produce decent results I'll submit them to Talad and see what he thinks.
Uadjet: I'm also going to try to get working an effect that'll make the ground appear wet when it rains. Ideally puddles and spases from raindrops, but I don't know if I can get that to work.
Gonger says: Sounds neat.
Uadjet: I also trimmed down my Amdeneir NPC list quite a bit. Well, I'm sorting them into "Should Add", "Maybe a Good Idea", "Not Until Something Else Is Added", and "Probably Not.""
Uadjet: Sadly that means my favorite potential NPC is in the last list.
Gonger says: Why is this NPC a "Probably Not" case?
Uadjet: I looked up a list of medieval professions when first making the list, and... one profession stood out.
Uadjet: It's a pseudo-medical profession, that claimed to be able to divine health issues by - and I'm trying to be delicate here - tasting a particular body fluid.
Uadjet: Not blood.
Uadjet: It's the name that caught my eye.
Gonger says: Wait, TASTING that body fluid? That's just gross...
Uadjet: But at least colloquially, they were called piss-prophets.
Gonger says: I mean, the colour can tell a lot, but to taste it...
Uadjet: Now, I never thought that NPC would get approved, but I wanted to see how far along the process it would get before being rejected.
Gonger says: That gives a new meaning to PP in PlaneShift!
Uadjet: Sadly, I've had to reject them myself, and Talad does not want to sift through a list of 100+ NPCs. I assume. I wouldn't.
Gonger says: The technical term is Uromancy...
Gonger says: Sounds to much like Necromancy for me to like it.
Uadjet: I suspect that's a type of magic that doesn't exist in PS.
Gonger says: It was done in Babylon already, 4000 BC
Uadjet: So, any questions?
Gonger says: A few words from the PR team...
Gonger says: In RL we have a system migration coming up next weekend, so my workload there will get worse before it gets better.
Gonger says: Also I find it difficult to advertise right now PS as a true RPG when there is nobody around for newbies to RP with.
Gonger says: For these two reasons, not much news from my side for the moment.
Gonger says: Mayhap the time has come to try and make Ancient Players return...
Damola:  Would be nice to meet some players again who did not play for a long time
Gonger says: But first I need to survive the next two weeks IRL.
Gonger says: Aye, Damola.
Karzela:  The best of luck with your real life adventure, Gonger.
Gonger says: The Ancient Ones Who Return (do I sound like Lovecraft?) would also be aware of the fact that PS is Work In Progress.
Gonger says: So they would not be chased away by things not yet implemented.
Damola:  Best of luck, Gonger! And always remember not to overestimate the importance of work.
Gonger says: Certainly not! I am too old a bastard for that!
Uadjet: May the system migration be as quick and easy as that of the North American Blue Grouse, which migrates about 300 meters.
Karzela:  Age doesn't always equal wisdom, short one. ;-)
Gonger says: What about I make you shorter, like by one head?
Karzela  grins
Karzela:  I'd be unique then.
Gonger says: Oh, it will be a major pain-in-the-you-know-where, with all the "but" and "if" floating around...
Gonger  chuckles softly. "Indeed, Karzela, indeed."
Uadjet: Well, I think we've covered everything, so we can bring the meeting to a close. Thank you all for coming, and I'll see yhou at the next meeting in two weeks. Until then, have fun playing and maybe try an event or two!
Gonger says: And do not quit in this room...
Uadjet: Not if you're a Stonehammer, at least.
Gonger says: If I logoff here, after the next logon I will just keep faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaling...
Uadjet: You'll log back in to find yourself permanently falling.

Now that we're back to doing only one event each Saturday, we can fiddle with event starting times a bit. The options I've put up are the current event starting time we've been using for the last few months, the traditional starting time, and a time in between. Here are links to the three times in order, so that you can more easily see what time they'll be for you. Click as many as you like, if it doesn't matter as much to you.

Current Starting Time
Splitting the Difference
Traditional Time

Talad says:   Talad says:
Eonwind says:   Eonwind says:
Zunna says:   Zunna says:
Mordaan says:   Mordaan says:
Venalan says:   Venalan says:
Uadjet says:   Uadjet says:
Emaline says:   Emaline says:
Zweith says:   Zweith says:
Zweitholou says:Zweitholou says:
Tuathanach says:Tuathanach says:
Gonger says:   Gonger says:

Aachey:  Hello and Welcome to the Developer's Q&A, when you get a chance to hear what's going on behind the scenes and ask any questions you might have!
>Ghatha claps.
Aachey:  If you have any questions, please line up at the lecterns in front of the stage.
Aachey:  Though "line up" seems an overly ambitious phrase, at the moment.
Aachey:  Perhaps more will show up.
Aachey:  If there are no questions at the moment, I'll start off with what Talad's been doing.
Gonger:  Time change in Europe, I bet some will be here in 42 minutes.
Aachey:  Hmm. I thought the time should be constant in Europe. 10:00 PM, Italy time.
Ghatha:  It will be +1 hour sometime around midnight - Spring/Summer time
Aachey:  Time changes Sunday night?!?!
Gonger:  Time changed last night.
Ghatha:  no, today
Gonger:  At 2AM it jumped forward to 3AM
Ghatha:  I mean...yes, 2 am is like, today for me. Sorry for the confusion.
Aachey:  No problem.
Aachey:  I hate DST.
Aachey:  In the U.S. we were always told it was to help the farmers. It's not like it's actually creating more daylight!
Ghatha:  time change should have something to do with energy saving
Aachey:  Rants aside, Talad was working on musical instruments the last time we had a meeting.
Aachey:  Saving energy is a valid goal, but surely we can work it out so that we aren't changing the clocks twice a year.
Ghatha:  True. You have my vote.
Aachey:  Talad has now managed to get all instruments ported into the game.
Gonger:  Also, on the days after the change, there are 30% more car accidents, for example. This messes up the biorhythm of many people..
Aachey:  It's possible to export music from Legacy - and night falls inside the guildhouse - and convert it for use in PSU.
Gonger:  Nightfall indoors...
Ghatha:  Talad did well with the musical instruments.
Aachey:  He really did! The music is one of those things that PS has better than any other game I've played, so it's nice to see it working again.
Aachey:  Okay, I know Talad was excited to have a "sitting" Q&A, but it feels weird.
Ghatha:  Let's blame the time change and move on then.
Aachey:  One thing I noticed, is that I don't think I was getting idle animations playing when I was sitting, but i think Gatha was. Is that what everyone else saw?
Aachey:  Yeah, just like that.
Valbjorna tells you : hello could I get a teleport to the meeting?
Aachey:  Talad was working on stopping the idles from playing while you're sitting, but it appears that may only be the case if you're sitting ON something, and not on the ground.
Ghatha  greets Valbjorna
Aachey:  I'll mention it to Talad.
Aachey:  Let's see if it happens to me if I'm sitting like this.
Valbjorna:  greetings
>Gonger greets Valbjorna.
Gonger:  To me, you are totally unmoving, Aachey.
Ghatha:  Jup, like a marble fine statue.
Aachey:  We've had some issues with server crashes caused by combat. Talad did a lot of work on that, and hopefully it's all sorted now.
Ghatha:  ... and if I am not mistaken, some double loot was mentioned too.
Valbjorna:  A few days ago in the middle of the week.  Thosor and I were killing rats.  The crashes seemed to happen when looting the bodies.
Aachey:  Yes, those NPCs have been buggy for a while.
Ghatha:  Oh, and I will mention the fixed lights. Talad did great with the ingame lights.
Gonger:  We are still struggling with some things.
Aachey:  In Legacy, they'd often pop back up after death, only to immediately die again.
Gonger:  The light system is better but still not good.
Gonger:  We have too many crashes still.
Gonger:  Traps still cause problems, too.
Ghatha:  I lag much less in the city with fixed lights, that is surely a big improvement.
Ghatha:  Traps? Are they already implemented in the game?
Gonger:  Definitely better, but with room for furhter improvement.
Aachey:  Oh, yeah. Only in a few places so far, though.
Aachey:  There's a new dungeon that has a lot of them.
Ghatha:  Ah yey, we were shown the new dungeon two weeks ago, during the Saturday event. That was fun.
Gonger:  Exactly.
Gonger:  I still have to return there, and get myself killed...
Ghatha:  Havent been in there since the event, will going to check it out again.
Aachey:  Traps are fun to do. I did one event years ago where I filled the Laanx Dungeon with traps, run via shortcut. I don't know about the players, but I had a blast!
Aachey:  The swinging mace trap that got Mordaan (iirc) was my favorite.
Ghatha:  Ha!
Ghatha:  Seems like a lot of time and love is invested into the game. It would be nice to see a few more new players around.
Aachey:  I've been thinking that a dart trap could be done easily, with appearing/disappearing decals, and a simple particle system. Just a hole (dark section) and a puff of dust. Add a sound effect and it's good to go.
Aachey:  The descending/crushing walls and ceilings would be trickier.
Gonger:  Ghatha, we will do real advertising again once the most critical bugs have been wiped out.
Gonger:  I can tell a bit about the plans of the PR team (Yours Truly).
Aachey:  And we do something about the Dryken Plane...
Ghatha:  Now that is a great news, Gonger.
Valbjorna:  The Dryken Plane reminds me so much of "The Ways" in the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan.
Aachey:  Talad did a stream about Harvesting today, that I wasn't able to watch. It's the only skill that wasn't working yet, as Talad had some reasonable objections to having it work just like Mining or Fishing. Once I manage to watch it, I'll include the info in the next meeting. Unless someone here watched it...
Aachey:  And yeah, if you want to terrify people just add a wind sound effect to the Dryken Plane. Machin Shin would have me racing through faster than those crystals and barriers do.
Valbjorna:  <3
Ghatha:  I have to tell, me as somewhat new player, I do enjoy PlaneShift a lot. Talad and his team are doing excellent work.
Gonger:  AFK for three minutes...
Valbjorna:  I love the series, I have 2 uncles that were in the acknoledgements for book 2 "The Great Hunt" for helping Robert Jordan recover his land after Hurrican Hugo.
Aachey:  Nice!
Ghatha:  Wow Val.
Valbjorna:  Last time i was in Montana a few years ago, one of my uncles gifted the signed copy of "The Great Hunt" to me.  It's one of my prize herlooms.
Ghatha  jealous
Ghatha:  You are very lucky!
Gonger:  Back.
Gonger:  I read the first three WoT books, but then I realized that it would a pretty much endless thing...
Valbjorna:  it ended with book 14.  12 to 14 were completed by Brandon Sanderson using Robert's notes.
Aachey:  So the last thing I wanted to mention is that there are now Nolthrir houses! They don't have interiors yet, but having the outside makes it easier to design the inside.
Gonger:  Maybe in 5 minutes people will arrive for the Meeting...
Gonger:  And those houses look awesome from the outside!
Valbjorna:  are they the houses at HomeStead?
Ghatha:  Ah yes, at the Emerald Lake, right?
Ghatha:  I am yet to find Emerald Lake.
Aachey:  Well, you can follow the river that starts in Amdeneir. There's a road that leads up to the lake. It's pretty big, but sadly not big enough to justify making another ship there.
Gonger:  Aachey is refering to the ship he built for one of the events. A true piece of art!
Valbjorna:  nice!
Ghatha:  Thanks for the tip! I was wondering about the right location.
Gonger:  You can admire his balloon on top of the tavern.
Gonger:  And, no, he is no ballooney!
Aachey:  And don't forget that there's a map in the compendium! You can buy pieces from merchants.
Gonger:  Oy wey! In /who there is a character Magnifico Giganticus.
Valbjorna:  I have two such pieces, Hydlaa main and Hydlaa east though I havn't puzzled out how to use them yet.
Ghatha:  Jup, I have 5 map pieces in the compendium. I just completely forgot about it.
Aachey:  Yeah, that name is a bit OOC.
Gonger:  In inventory, drop them on your character.
Valbjorna:  Magnifico Giganticus?  Must be related to Bigus Dickus
Aachey  nods. "Gonger is right. Use them like a potion, and you'll get a message saying they've been added to the compendium."
Ghatha  chuckles at Valbjorna
Gonger:  And his beautiful wife Incontinentia.
Valbjorna:  haha
Gonger:  Let me say a few words about the plans of the PR team.
Gonger:  I am on holiday this week, so I can work on my health (not too stable since my Corona infection) and on some ideas I have.
Gonger:  I will write in the forums, but the rough outlines:
Valbjorna:  sorry to hear Gonger, hope it dosn't turn into long covid.
Gonger:  I think I have a pretty good view on mentions of PlaneShift. On many websites I left small reviews, or corrected misgivings there.
Gonger:  More difficult will be to find websites where PS is not mentioned at all.
Gonger:  And put a small review there, for example.
Gonger:  Drop me a line if you know about such websites.
Gonger:  Then, being trilingual, I would like to do more on German and French websites.
Gonger:  Then, rewrite of the wikipedia articles in  English, German, French. I did minor corrections already.
Gonger:  We need to improve our ranking in google searches.
Gonger:  And the website could be better in certain parts.
Gonger:  I am open to more ideas, and accept help
Ghatha:  And you want to do all that by yourself only? That is a full time job!
Gonger:  Well, since I will turn 59 this year, and have finished paying for my appartment, I am seriously considering retirement next year...
Gonger:  Which would give me more time for all this.
Gonger:  But as I said, help will be gladly accepted!
Gonger:  And everybody can help. Point me to websites where PS is not mentioned, or mentioned wrongly.
Gonger:  Spread the news among your friends.
Gonger:  PS has two problems: There are a lot of games that call themselves 1) FREE, and 2) RPG
Gonger:  But they are neither in the PS sense.
Gonger:  PS is FULLY FREE
Gonger:  And we do REAL RP.
Gonger:  So much talk makes thirsty.
Ghatha:  I honestly found PlaneShift by searching for MMO with Mac support. There are no many MMOs out there available for MacBook users.
Gonger shouts:  BOTTOMS UP!
Ghatha:  Cheers!
>Ghatha claps.
Ghatha:  Thanks for the energy and dedication you are willing to invest into PlaneShift Gonger.
Aachey:  Seconded!
Aachey:  And if I could get the /award command to work I'd be giving everyone a mug of ale.
Gonger:  Thanks!
Ghatha  smiles at Aachey
Ghatha:  Thank you Sir!
>Valbjorna thanks Anysu's Small Table!
Aachey:  Any time!
>Valbjorna thanks Aachey!
>Aachey Qantfar dropped a Brown Ale Mug.
Ghatha:  It was nice meeting you all tonight PlaneShifters, but it will be time for me to go. Emerald Lake is calling me.
>Aachey picked up a Brown Ale Mug
Aachey:  We're well past time, so I think we can bring the meeting to a close. Thank you all for coming, and I'll see you at the next meeting in two weeks!
Ghatha:  Hurey!
>Ghatha jumps around excitedly.
>Valbjorna cheers happily at Aachey!
Aachey:  Have fun, everyone!
Ghatha  Noods at everyone as she leaves the building.
Gonger:  See you!

Aachey:  Hello and welcome to the first Dev Q&A held in Unreal!
Zarre:  Hi and thanks
Aachey:  I'll be running the meeting as Aachey today, as Uadjet the character cannot be loaded.
Aachey:  I'm assuming it has something to do with being a Derghir.
Thosor:  Interesting, haven't seen one here yet.
Aachey:  Obviously the big news for this meeting is the official switch from the Legacy version of the game to the Unreal version.
Aachey:  Okay, is it just me or is the stage both higher and smaller?
Zarre:  Agree with both higher and smaller
Thosor:  anysu's table is still here.
Aachey:  So we held another event yesterday, and overall things went fairly well. There are still some GM commands that aren't working quite right, but those shouldn't be too hard to fix.
Thosor:  could almost lose a Dwarf under the tables
Aachey:  I'm still getting used to the different commands, so if I randomly crouch or attack Gonger, please assume that it wasn't intentional.
Gonger:  Good to know, Aachey.
Talad:  First dev meeting in PSUnreal , wooooo !
Talad:  we can sit now
Talad: 
Talad:  Gonger you can sit
Aachey:  Well, that worked pretty well!
Talad:  ok, I see the need of a gossip channel
Aachey:  I'm assuming /shout is no longer universal?
Talad:  I think it's 50 meters
Aachey:  And inside a guildhouse map it'll only be heard by those already inside. Gotcha.
Thosor:  i can not "examine" Zarre from here, but it was like that here in the courthouse in legacy, too.
Aachey:  So, does anyone have any questions?
Talad:  you can sit on the benches if you want
Talad:  look at the bench standing in front of it, and press z once
Thosor:  I was standing to hear better.
Talad:  in unreal you can sit like in a chair
Talad:  stand like this
Talad:  look at me
Talad:  the flat area should be in front of you
Talad:  you we 90 degrees rotated
Talad:  in front of your legs
Talad:  your character rotates 180 degrees to sit
Talad:  parallel to the chair
Talad:  dont hold z, just tap z
Aachey:  If you stand where I am and face the bench, it should work.
Talad:  there is zarre there
Talad:  she blocks the sit
Talad:  also dont hold z, just press z once
Talad:  a bit lcoser
Talad:  yes
Talad:  but you were rotated
Talad:  stay thre and look at me
Talad:  I mean your char should look at me
Talad:  its not where you camera looks , its what your char faces
>Talad waves.
Talad:  face me
Talad:  rotate 90 degrees to your right
Talad:  exactly
Aachey:  Oh, still mantling onto other players.
Thosor:  I don't want to crowd Zarre
Thosor:  But I did not mantle her.
Talad:  I should remove the idle when sitting
Aachey:  No, I was climbing onto Gonger. You're entirely innocent in the matter.
Thosor:  I only get 5fps anyway
Aachey:  I'm hovering around 50 in here.
Thosor:  where's Gova, Damola? they were in legacy
Thosor:  on the chart, damola announced to be here in gossip.
Aachey:  They were both on in Legacy earlier today, yeah. And they both can play the Unreal version, as I've seen them both online.
Aachey:  Night falls in the guildhouse....
Talad:  there is a strange bug that exactly at midnight the light goes up, then down again
Talad:  it's 0:04 now
Aachey:  How delightfully bizarre.
Thosor:  I never had any light control in legacy in this room, or the tavern, some of BD
Talad:  how does PSUnreal looks to you? did you play it a bit?
Talad:  any comments?
Thosor:  There is no light control by KB here, such as F12?
Talad:  you mean gamma correction... no there is not
Gonger:  Still struggling with sitting.
Gonger:  After yesterday's event I am very optimistic.
Gonger:  About PSU
Talad:  to sit just face the chair
Talad:  or any flat low surface
Talad:  be parallel to it if you can
Talad:  and close to the border
Talad:  then press z once
Gonger:  Gotcha!
Thosor:  Even after a lot of practice, I don't like the moving and camera views, etc.
Talad:  exacltly
Aachey:  The Stonehammer robe looks very warm.
Talad:  did you press C while moving Thosor?
Gonger:  Movement is still... awkward.
Talad:  I suggest pressing C, then R for autorun
Gonger:  It's not the speed.
Talad:  then just move with your mouse
Thosor:  I use M
Talad:  M wrong game version
Talad:  but yes if you remapped it
Thosor:  ?
Thosor:  I did not remap anything
Talad:  there is no M in Unreal
Talad:  you can press C
Talad:  then R for autorun
Talad:  then just move your mouse
Talad:  you can control the sensitivity of the mouse under controls
Thosor:  c doesn't do anything
Talad:  when you press C your mouse cursor should disappear
Talad:  and your char should move in the direction your mouse is giving
Talad:  let me fix your chair aachey
Thosor:  m is listed for mouse move here, but I don't remember setting it.
Thosor:  I am on Linux, but will try on windows later.
Talad:  its the same
Talad:  I mean windows or linux is the same
Thosor:  Too bad we are losing yet more people on Macs.
Talad:  what you mean we are losing Mac people?
Talad:  Mac is working in Unreal
Gonger:  I wanted to open a forum thread to help people, but I  got a database error.
Thosor:  lsost several friends when apple dropped 32bit or whatever.
Gonger:  Some Mac people need to upgrade.
Talad:  it's like hardware of 12+ years ago
Thosor:  Aljuvialle for one.
Talad:  a computer cannot last that much
Talad:  he/she will buy a new PC I guess?
Thosor:  yeah, but $2,000 or more for a quickly disposable laptop....
Talad:  I bought the MacMini for 900$ and it's more than what is needed
Talad:  a used one will be less than that
Talad:  games are usually targeting hardware of 1-2 years in the future.
Talad:  we cant target hardware 12 years in the past
Talad:  10 minutes left for me
Talad:  if you have any questions please do
Thosor:  I am on Framework 1.5 yrs old
Thosor:  well, It can only get better here.
Thosor:  I was going to build a new PC but due to supply shortages, a pretty stale chouice of motherboards, etc.
Talad:  what is a meetingore ? ahah
Thosor:  meetingore?
Talad:  he picked up one
Aachey:  That's the traditional teleport target placed in the courthouse for GM's to teleport players to.
Thosor:  ah
Thosor:  how do you get objects to name when hovering with curser?
Thosor:  I have to examine, for instance, Anysu's table. or other objects.
Aachey:  If you click on them with the mouse, the name should appear.
Gonger:  Talad, what is it with the forums? Database error?
Talad:  yes its only by click at the moment
Thosor:  But in legacy it would just show up, less clicking, or moving by mistake.
Talad:  not aware of that Gonger, when it happens?
Aachey:  I was having trouble with the forums weeks ago, trying to paste in Q&A logs.
Thosor:  OK, did'nt know if it was a setting
Talad:  at the moment its now, but can be added back
Talad:  *its not
Thosor:  Also, long chats don't scroll, have to move it up manually, already noted, I believe.
Gonger:  I was trying to open a new topic, but could not.
Gonger:  I will try again...
Talad:  long chat was not scrolling before
Talad:  should be fixed now
Talad:  does still happen for you?
Talad:  try , example /who
Thosor:  yes,here, now, too.
Talad:  will be interesting to know if it's a Linux only issue
Thosor:  who works ok
Thosor:  but if typed more than a line, it does not scroll.
Gonger:  Nope, not possible to open a new topic
Talad:  let me try to type more than a line, more than a line, more than a line, more and more.
Talad:  I see both lines ok here
Thosor:  do it again, was looking t forum, sorry.
Talad:  let me try to type more than a line, more than a line, more than a line, more and more.
Thosor:  I only get first line.
Thosor:  then have to scroll
Talad:  anyone else getting the same problem?
Thosor:  slash who is OK
Aachey:  I met a traveller from an antique land,Who said??Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert. . . . Near them, on the sand,Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,Tell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;And on the pedestal, these words appear:My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!Nothing beside remains. Round the decayOf that colossal Wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away.?
Talad:  I see it all
Aachey:  That should be more than a line for everyone. It scrolled properly for me.
Talad:  without need of scrolling
Thosor:  One who builds airplane in own garage, does not get to pilot much
Aachey:  On Windows.
Thosor:  I'll try on W10 later
Talad:  I have to go
Talad:  good to see you
Talad:  have fun
>Talad waves.
Zarre:  bye
>Thosor bows to Talad.
Talad Dev has quit
Aachey:  Any last thoughts or questions?
Thosor:  No further questions, your Honor.
Zarre:  I'll 2nd that statement
Aachey:  Okay, then I think we can bring the meeting to a close. Thank you for coming, and we'll see you at the next meeting in two weeks!
Aachey:  Have fun!

Uadjet says: Hello and welcome to the Developer's Q&A! This is an out-of-character meeting where you can hear about the development of the game and ask the Dev and GM teams any questions you might have. If you do have any questions, please line up at the lecterns in front of the stage.
Anysu says: Maybe. I did see Gonger is around.
Anysu says: In the plaza but maybe afk
Uadjet says: Okay, I'll give a quick update, then, on what's going on behind the scenes.
Uadjet says: Now, I think I mentioned that Talad was working on cinematic sequences at the last meeting, right?
Anysu nods
Anysu says: Oh Migg is on
Uadjet says: Those include not only cutscenes, but also smaller things where the camera moves to capture something impressive, like a great combat move or entering a new area. Just a second or two long, no loading anything extra, but they really do add flavour to the game.
Migg says: What is it holding in its handses, precious?
Uadjet says: I know the first time I saw Amdeneir in game it was pretty much perfect: The lighting, the angle... Just coming up over a hill and spotting Amdeneir through the trees. Something like that really adds to the atmosphere of a place, so those will be fun to have in game.
Migg says: You sound like you are about to propose
Migg says: taking it out for a picnic?
Uadjet grins. "Wouldn't be a bad spot for it"
Migg says:
Anysu says: Maybe since Uadjet is godlike, he is holding our souls.
Migg says: nah, it's a picnic basket
Migg says: he wants a date with Amdeneir
>You spawned Picnic Basket to your inventory.
Anysu says: All our souls in a picnic basket....
Anysu says: lol
Anysu says: See..
Uadjet says: There we go.
Anysu says: lol
>Migg Ellorean raises an arm and points towards Souls.
Anysu says: Sorry, go on while I try to stop loling.
Migg says: now we're just soulless puppent
Migg says: *puppets
Uadjet says: That's a weird setup for emotes.
>Uadjet stares at Souls with interest.
>Uadjet laughs heartily at Souls.
>Name changed successfully
Migg says: now if you were holding a scythe or something...
>Uadjet picked up a Player's Souls
>Uadjet dropped a Player's Souls.
>You spawned Magic Staff of Void to your inventory.
>Anysu Atani looks at Player's Souls and panics..!
Migg says: there, the ripper of souls!
Anysu facepaws
>Uadjet beckons Player's Souls with a slight gesture of the hand.
Uadjet says: Okay, so back to things slightly less silly...
Anysu nods
Uadjet says: Talad was also working on the Main Quest.
Migg says: silly is tha salt of life
Migg shuts up
Uadjet says: In this case, it's the way players enter the game. He's not planning on a tutorial area, per se, so the current tutoral area will be open for new NPCs. I've got a few in mind already.
Migg says: place is set up like a marketplace
Uadjet says: That could work. It's a nice, unique area.
Gonger says: So newbies are not going to start with Drykken Plane? Good news, that.
Uadjet says: Well, they are starting there. That's the plan, at least.
Uadjet coughs.
Migg says: I did not find it an easy experience, kind of disorienting
Uadjet says: After that they'll end up on the far side of the Bronze Doors, with the two rivers and the icky mushroom dripping black tar.
Gonger says: But the Drykken Plane needs more work...?
Uadjet says: It does. It's doesn't feel organic.
Uadjet says: Like it's a strange minigame people play before they start playing Planeshift.
Gonger says: As I said in my bug report, I like the general idea, but in its current form it will scare away newbies.
Migg says: ^
Gonger says: I will re-test it in the next release.
Thosor says: I've never made it out of there.
Thosor says: Waited for a new release last time.
Uadjet says: I've made it a few times, but failed on my first attempt. Maybe it's just that I know precisely what to do, and that makes it easier for me.
Migg says: I got stuck in there, but admittedly that was a rather early version.
Uadjet says: Talad has also worked on guildhouses, as well as guildmaps that players can enter.
Thosor says: And that is after a long period of deciding who to be.
Uadjet says: Like this map, or the Octarch's Residence.
Uadjet says: Up until now trying to enter those maps in PSU would drop you into the Dryken Plane, which is unhelpful.
Uadjet says: Talad's fixed the guildmaps with NPCs in them - although I'll have to ask about the Menita's Puzzle maps - and I think he's got the courthouse working as well.
Thosor gets a closer look
Gova says: Oh, I haven't done that quest in ages.
Uadjet says: Let's see... He's done map fixes, item fixes, and other bug fixes as well. Too many to list, but he's making good progress.
Uadjet says: He's closing bug reports faster than they appear, which I take as a good sign.
Thosor says: so fixing bugs before they happen
Anysu sings 'Squash those bugs right out of the game."
>Anysu Atani lets out a hearty laugh!
Anysu says: Sorry, please continue.
Uadjet says: As for me, I missed a lot of the bugfixing streams because I was writing quests.
Uadjet says: Or I had them playing but wasn't paying attention.
Migg says: reminds me of beetlejuice for some reason...
Uadjet says: I was aiming for a quest a day, not counting event days, but came up a little short. I've written five new quests and adapted another five that I had previously written for use with new NPCs in PSU.
Uadjet says: The adapted quests are the two intro to lockpicking quests, two low-level lockpicking repeatables, and the leatherworking quest.
>Anysu Atani cheers happily!
Anysu says: 'Lockpicking!"
Migg says: Set in Oja I'd guess
Uadjet says: The new quests are one for each of the two Enki sisters for Delver, An Eye on the Road and Knowing the Hunting Grounds, the latter being the first to check and see if you have compendium entries to progress.
Uadjet says: I've also written a couple quests that give players travel instructions on how to get to Delver, since it's a new town and not the easiest to find.
Uadjet says: There's one in Hydlaa, and one in Ojaveda.
Uadjet says: And I have to admit that I have as much trouble doing quick quests as I do running quick events.
Thosor says: Like trying to make a short speech.
Uadjet says: My shortest quest so far was intended to be a couple quick conversations, and grew to 38 steps.
Uadjet says: The medium length quest ended up being 78 steps. And there's a max of 100 steps in a quest!
Anysu says: That seems like alot of steps.
Uadjet says: One conversation can be 10 steps, and be done in under a minute. Each time the player has a chance to say something, it's a step. And not all steps must be (or can be) taken. Some are things like reminder steps, for someone who has forgotten what they were supposed to get. Others are optional branches, or questions players can ask.
Migg says: Any documentation on the new quest syntax?
Uadjet says: The same as the old syntax, from what I understand.
Migg says: but you said quests can test for compendium entries
Uadjet says: Ah, that's easy.
Uadjet says: It's: Require compendium creature CreatureName or Require no compendium CreatureName.
Migg says: was always looking for something to test if players have used a musical instrument
Thosor says: played or practiced enough to listen to/
Uadjet says: Hmm. I doubt that information is stored anywhere.
Migg says: though I guess that would be a one-off anyway with the compendium, if it existed
Migg says: where are we with repeatable music quests, if I may ask?
Uadjet says: That's a good point. Players could get a compendium entry on an instrument on playing it, which could then be checked in a quest.
Uadjet says: Only Talad (and Ven, if h'e around) can add quests. Did you send Talad a final version?
Migg says: No, did not get to repeatables, and now the initial quest will probably be missing
Migg says: the one that introduces music
Uadjet says: Ah, right. Well, I can work on repeatables, but that's hard to do without having new music. I could try doing one with music-themed errands.
Migg says: first thing that's missing is a list of new NPCs with any relation to music
Uadjet says: I was planning on asking which quests people want added, and the missing repeatables are certainly on the list.
Uadjet says: There's a house in Delver that has a number of instruments in it.
Migg says: Ah, nice!
Migg says: but another stumbling point is what to ask for in a repeatable that can be measured
Migg says: can only send them around to NPCs
Uadjet says: In addition, new NPCs can be added. Small towns may have limited numbers, but there's room in the tutorial area now, and in the 75% of Amdeneir that's empty.
Anysu says: I can't even imagine the vast task it is to fill a place with npcs.
Uadjet says: Oh, and a new Dsar in Oja.
Uadjet says: That needs NPCs too.
Migg says: Don't want to hijack the meeting, but some notes of how e.g. Kaiman's supplies is done would be nice
Migg says: how to send the player to a random NPC and have that NPC expect them, without going past these 100 steps
Uadjet says: I've got a list of NPCs for Amdeneir - which is badly in need of editing down - but it's just names, genders, professions, and family links. Adding things like descriptions, equipment, Knowledge Areas, and quests takes a lot longer.
Migg says: Perhaps I should revisit my quests, I think I had sent them to you at some point, feel free to reuse any part if you like
Uadjet says: Right now I'm adding new NPCs as I need them for quests. One of the quests that gives directions is A Fruitless Endeavor, and that introduces two new NPCs: One's a labourer at Oja's mills, and the other a grocer.
Uadjet says: Oh, and Haviland has done the Compass quest! Not the easiest to find, but once we get it approved it can be added to PSU.
Uadjet says: Until then I'll keep dropping compasses on Toda's counter.
Anysu says: cool
Gonger says: Good job
Migg says: So go visit Toda while you have the time
Thosor says: I've been sitting on Toda's counter since the last release
Thosor says: No compasses
>Uadjet raises a drink to Player's Souls before gulping it down. Cheers!
Uadjet says: I'll refill the counter.
Uadjet says: Any questions? Thoughts?
Thosor says: No, good job.
>Anysu Atani cheers happily at Player's Souls!
>Anysu Atani grins at Player's Souls impishly.
>Thosor Riereri looks at Player's Souls and panics..!
>Migg Ellorean sighs dramatically at Player's Souls.
>Uadjet pokes Player's Souls.
Anysu says: Are there emotes in PSU?
>Migg Ellorean salutes Player's Souls with respect.
Thosor says: any way to tell if players on on in PSU? teamix thing?
Uadjet says: Yes. There's a radial menu that pops up. I'm not sure if there the same emotes using commands, though.
Anysu nods
Uadjet says: Umm.. Not from outside the game, as far as I know.
Thosor says: Is useful before firing up a desktop.
Migg says: what about from inside?
Anysu says: Yes it helps to know who is online in game.
>Migg Ellorean bursts into tears on Player's Souls's shoulder.
Uadjet says: A /who still works in PSU
Thosor says: Or switch the computer to PS from workstation mode.
Migg says: Ah, no window for friends?
Anysu says: To know who is in game when in game and when out of game.
Uadjet says: When in game it's easy. I'll have to ask Talad if it's possible to do it from outside the game.
>Thosor Riereri coughs at Player's Souls.
>Migg Ellorean motions to Player's Souls to follow.
Migg says: My, look at the time!
>Migg Ellorean tries to cover a yawn from Player's Souls.
Thosor says: yikes
Uadjet says: Yes, we are well past the hour.
Uadjet says: Thank you all for coming, and i'll see you at the next Q&A in two weeks!
>Migg Ellorean fidgets impatiently while waiting for Player's Souls.