Hello,

We now have a new version of the much discussed Dryken Plane. The structure is much simplified, so that it now seems impossible to get lost. Someone who gets lost there now will never make the way from Hydlaa to Ojaveda!

A few points still seem worth mentioning / discussing because we do not get a second chance for a good first impression:

1) It could be made a bit more clear what the player is expected to do. Maybe add one more popup with an explanation?

2) Why are not always real objects used, but only graphics? This can look very bad.


3) If you pass this rock on the right side, the scene will not be triggered.


4) This mini-scene seemed particularly difficult to trigger. Maybe the trigger space is too small?


5) These mini-scenes I triggered in the sequence given by the numbers. Can this be more streamlined, or did I do something wrong there?


6) I would like to repeat an idea I had before, but which went largely unnoticed / uncommented: Instead of only having this introductory Dryken Plane, which otherwise is unrelated to the game, use different versions with increasing complexity at different points of the general storyline. Thus it becomes more of a feature instead of a one-time unrelated thing. And all players who get past the quest Menita's Puzzle should also be able to handle the original version of the Dryken Plane.

7) Where does the name Dryken Plane come from? Nobody I talked to seems to know...

That's it for now. Please do comment and discuss. It is in the starting area / tutorial that we lose or keep new players!

Thank you for reading,

Gonger

Uadjet: Dev Q&A starting momentarily at the Courthouse of East Hydlaa! Come and hear about the development of the game and ask any questions you might have. If you need a teleport to the meeting, just ask in Global or send Uadjet a /tell.
Damola: I wanted to give some feedback for harvesting. I really went on a tour today from Gugontrid to Listarindel to Amdeneir and then I went with Ptero to Ojaveda and from there towards Raurim.
Uadjet: What did you find?
Damola: My result was 10 gobo root, 10 night mushroom at the large mine near Amdeneir and 12 Glaboria near Eagle Gobble village.
Damola: With Glaboria I could harvest more cause I saw two places in vicinity. I think for the gobo root I would have found the other place as well if I took more time to look.
Damola: But all in all I wondered? that is not quite much.
Damola: For such a way.
Damola: I also looked a bit aside from path ways from time to time, but nothing.
Damola: However I stayed quite close to official path ways.
Damola: I quite like the new harvesting approach. However I tend to think it would be good to have more places where harvestable plants grow.
Anysu: Awe if I was on earlier I could have seen where those areas were to harvest. I have not found many
Damola: Yliakum is very vast? and Damola had quite the travel today, but still only found places for these three items.
Damola: Anysu we can go together one time.
Anysu: That be neat
Damola: Don't know whether others tried and what your experiences were.
Anysu: There are some plants around Camp Banished
Damola: Thanks for letting me know.
Uadjet: I seem to recall a lot of the harvesting resources being well away from roads in Legacy. If that's the case now, with this larger map, we'll need players to map locations, but that'll be hard without a means of sharing map locations with others.
Damola: Hmmm, maybe Damola's path way today went into areas that are not yet well developed map wise.
Anysu: That makes it hard away from road.. due to vastness
Damola: I remember Resildren saying there are a lot of harvesting places.
Damola: Maybe next times I try more the traditional PS Legacy path ways that may be more developed regarding their maps.
Mohonin: i tried feverfew near the pool of stealth, i found it wud let me do succesfull harvesting only 5 times then it depletes, but in that area there are 5-6 spots it spawns
Damola: Okay, Mohonin. Thats quite good. 5-6 spots.
Damola: I always found I could harvest 10 plants.
Damola: Then gone.
Uadjet: And as one despawns, another should pop up somewhere nearby.
Damola: With Glaboria I could pick a few more.
Damola: Maybe there could be some more variation regarding? 5 times and then gone.
Damola: In some places there might be more plants than in others.
Damola: So maybe have a variation from 5 to 10 times harvesting in one place, randomly chosen.
Damola: Or defined.
Damola: So maybe in a place one can harvest about 7-8 times and in another just 5 times.
Damola: I hope Resildren will read this, but I think I will point him to the protocol for the meeting.
Uadjet: I think that was mentioned before while Resi was here, and he did a ton of work on the current plant system.
Damola: Really I appreciate the new system, but I feel it could make use of some balancing in favor to be able to harvest a bit more without running for tons of times.
Anysu: Res was working on a location of plants.
Damola: It does not need to be limitless harvesting as in legacy, actually I like the better realism of the new system.
Anysu: Maybe a harvesting event would be helpful?
Damola: Yeah that as well. Hint, hint at Uadjet.
Damola: Well that is my feedback from actually trying to do a real harvesting tour. I hope it is useful.
Damola: Actually I have another Q, but first want to give someone else opportunity to ask a Q.
Gova: Hmmm. Maybe there's a stream I could find. I found the moved mines by watching old streams and seeing what the coordinates were. There may be something similar with harvesting locations.
Damola: Yeah, Gova. But actually players should not have to watch a 4 hour + stream to find plant locations.
Damola: Of course there could be some variety in how difficult to find plant spots. Some might be more rare or spawn at difficult to reach locations.
Gova: Nah, you just skip through the vids and watch for something that looks like a spreadsheet or editor panel with numbers on it.
Damola: Damola also follow the Irifon River for quite a while, leaving official path ways, but nothing there.
Damola: Anyway, if no one else has another Q? I would have another one.
Uadjet: Go ahead.
Damola: It is about Amdeneir mine. The large one with the roof top. I tried a lot of places but could not mine any ore anyway? Are mining locations implemented there already?
Damola: I went all the way down and tried to mine there. But also on the way down at several locations.
Uadjet: They are not currently active.
Damola: But I also saw now clear ore indications.
Damola: Ah, I see.
Damola: That clears that one up.
Uadjet: I have suggested that if the new city management system requires stone (as opposed to metal) that these places could be used for granite or marble.
Uadjet: That would give them a use, and bring in Masonry for at least simple items.
Damola: Good idea.
Damola: On the other hand you said Amdeneir is mostly about wood? but as I see it in the city, it has a lot of stone as well.
Damola: So would be fitting.
Thosor: The whisper function needs to be fixed, it really messes up trying to contact new players.
Uadjet: It's mostly MADE of wood, but the abundance of mines is part of the city's wealth.
Thosor: And no feedback of your own typing.
Damola: Hmmm? however as I looked there was also quite some stone? Like on the path ways between houses and in lower floor of houses.
Uadjet: I agree, but I don't know how much is involved in fixing it. It may require a new release.
Damola: I agree about whisper.
Anysu: That whisper is annoying..
Uadjet: Yes, that's true. The houses is mostly wood, but it is built on a stone foundation. And those walls sure aren't made of balsa wood.
Damola: I already asked in global. Drifters nowadays only eat fish? It would be fitting. Just wanted to ask.
Damola: Cause mine needed food but did not seem to take any food.
Thosor: Mine didn't want sand cookies, but the rivnak loves them
Damola: Rivnak last I tried eat almost anything.
Damola: Carrots, appled, baked apples, honey glazed apples, cakes, cookies, nut bread.
Damola: I believe even complete meals.
Anysu: cake, cookie and nut bread seems odd for a Rivnak
Thosor: How about ale?
Anysu: ohh never tried that.
Damola: But last I feed Rivnak and Drifter they ate almost anything. My question was whether that has been adapted.
Damola: I may just have misplaced the food, but I tried several places close to the mouth of the drifter.
Anysu: good question
Gova: We can test it.
Thosor: I think the ground terrain affects food placement.
Damola: I am all for adapting it. Aside from fish drifters may also eat algae. But an apple? Unlikely.
Damola: Thosor, that is a good hint. It was outside on uneven ground.
Gova: Anyone have some food that isn't fish?
Damola: Haha, Gova tries it here.
Damola: Ah, that clears it.
Damola: It seems Thosor is right about ground terrain effect.
Gova: Ate all three.
Anysu: good to know
Damola: Not like that apple?
Uadjet: So the detection for food seems to require it to be very close, at least on the vertical axis.
Damola: Haha, vegetable noodle soup was enough?
Thosor: Should have tried ale...
Damola: Don't have ale with me. But seems my drifter already has enough.
>You have been awarded item(s) by a GM
>You gained 1 pale ale mug.
Damola: It is correctly placed, isn't it?
Anysu: yeah
Damola: It has 50 energy and is 100 happy
Damola: So maybe good enough for now.
Anysu: maybe
Damola: Anyway, do not want to take too much time for this.
Damola: Anysu want to try ale?
Uadjet: Hey, we made progress on something! That's never wasted time.
Damola: Okay, no ale.
Damola: But nut breat and cooked carrots okay.
Anysu: No ale
Anysu: And not carrots
Thosor: how about groffels and yulbars?
Damola: Oh? which one did you try first? Maybe yours had enough already as well.
Anysu: I did nut bread and then ale
Damola: My drifter took one food and was done. Which is unusual. Rivnak usually eat quite some.
Anysu: It is at 100 now
Thosor: Yes, my pets only eat once, show not full for a long time.
Damola: Ah, so maybe someone need to try ale first.
Damola: So maybe hungry drifter eat ale.
Anysu: THE RIVNAK DRANK THE ALE!!
Damola: Haha, what a lively Q&A today.
Anysu: Likes fish also
Gova: As did my drifter.
Gova: It was a 300q crayfish, though. Not too surprising.
Anysu: That was a neat test!
Damola imagines a new book in library. From Gova, Anysu and Damola "About the eating habits of Drifter and Rivnak - a scientific study with a dozen of different summons."
Uadjet: As for news , most of the last two weeks has been about AI-assisted NPC voicing.
Damola: Ah, I bet due to a lack of voice over contributions?
Damola: I meanwhile saw quite some AI assisted short films and videos. Impressive. But there are still quite some glitches here and there. However? voices are quite good, if you ask me.
Anysu: Not crazy about the enki voice.
Damola: Glitches are more in the image generation / video part.
Gonger: Professional actors / voiceover artists are rightfully concerned about this, but we would not have been able to afford them anyway.
Uadjet: Yeah. There weren't too many player contributions, so Talad tried out the AI version that he's rejected before. It has advanced tremendously, and while still imperfect it is usable.
Gonger: So for us it is either volunteered amateur work, or AI.
Damola: Yeah, Gonger.
Gonger: Or a combination of both, of course.
Damola: Regarding AI it is very important to look closely at copyright issues.
Damola: Cause it depends on what data AI models have been trained with.
Damola: And not all suppliers are transparent about that.
Damola: But I bet Talad is very well aware of that.
Damola: However, speech synthesis is not actually a new approach that just arrived with the recent AI hype.
Anysu: Curious if we have voiced npcs, can you turn them off and use text?
Damola: I bet it would be similar like with Levrus?
Damola: Levrus has some voiced parts that are still displayed in dialog bubbles and NPC chat tab.
Gonger: Oh my god... Levrus singing!!!!
Anysu: Voice off would be a handy option.
Thosor: I have old phoneme chips used to make vowel and mouth sounds
Damola imagines Levrus with a guitar rocking about "my newest spell? oh well, well, well. It went to wrong and made big bong!"
Gonger: COOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!
Thosor: coal! coal!
Damola: Coaaaaaaallll? coal is so coaly! Coal, coal, coal.
Damola: Black like the night. Coal, coal, coal.
Gonger: That will break any AI!
Gonger: Damola, remember the quest "More Coal" where we discover that Levrus is a musical fan...
Damola: Faintly so.
Damola: But I remember Levrus babbling around quite a huge lot in some quests.
Uadjet: Oh, god!
Damola: Ah, yeah, I remember.
Damola: Where one had to choose the next sentence to sing in the right order.
Gova: Hey, I liked that quest! It had the best reward in the game!
Anysu: Turning it off the npc voice.. would the be an option?
Damola: Oh, I forgot about the reward.
Gonger: 1 broom
Damola: Ah? that one
Gonger: And Levrus even WROTE that musical.
Anysu: I mean if they spokes word may be wrong, where text  not do much
Damola: Anysu, I bet it would be like the current voice over parts in Levrus quests.
Damola: Spoken and displayed as text on screen.
Damola: Or did Talad said it would only be voice, Uadjet?
Gonger: Also remember those ladies in Amdeneir who practice singing.
Anysu: That is what I would like to know Damola
Uadjet: I think it will always be text, with voicing added on.
Uadjet: I'll ask Talad about making it optional.
Uadjet: I can't imagine Talad getting rid of the text.
>Anysu nods at Uadjet.
Anysu: Thanks
Anysu: Especially if the voice has an accent, may not be able to make out a word.
Uadjet: Each race is getting their own accent, based on real word accents. I'm thinking the choice of accent is what Anysu objects to? Or am I misunderstanding what you've said?
Damola: I agree, Anysu.
Damola: Would always be good to read as text.
Damola: Also for rereading in chat log.
Anysu: Yes I did not like the Asian element in the enki voice
Damola: I am not sure how real world accents would match.
Anysu: It seemed they should be African or first nation people of America. Native americans
Damola: For example a Nolthrir like Damola would have some kind of more flowing accent, like water.
Anysu: Both cultures tribal histories like an enki and nomadic
Damola: However not sure what real world accent would match that.
Uadjet: I'll admit, I thought Native American for Enkidukai too.
Damola: I see.
>Anysu nods at Uadjet.
Damola: My first association is still about cats with human like intelligence for Enki.
Anysu: And I mentioned this addressed to Talad on discord
Damola: But yeah, if you look at tribal like culture, Native American is a match.
Anysu: Or even African.
Damola: For dwarves there might be some real world matches in movies of the fantasy genre.
Damola: Ah, yeah and for elves like Nolthrir and Demorian there may also be matches in fantasy genre.
Damola: But not so much in real world cultures? I'd say.
Anysu: Then that is my opinion. Not sure I'd have much sway on what Talad does. Thus I would also like to turn voice off so I do not get a voice I do not connect with an enki when I speak to enki npc
Damola: I understand, Anysu.
Uadjet: Oh, the dice game has grown more complex. NPCs can now bluff and fold.
Damola: I am also not sure whether matching to real world existing cultures is a good idea? it could be interpreted as an offence to any real world culture.
Damola: I wonder what happens when Talad tries to build AI models into the server.
Damola: But I bet the server may not be powerful enough for somewhat larger models anyway. AI is a challenging topic and needs very careful consideration.
Anysu: Although I think any native peoples would like thier voice perserved or used respectfully given thier past.
Anysu: Complicated dice game.. if complicated seem not something ssomeone would wantto spend time on?
Damola: Maybe. But AI vendors have already been sued for blatlantly copying voices of real world celebrities.
Damola: Did not really interact much with any mini games so far.
Anysu: Me either.
Uadjet: I wonder if at least a few races could have custom accents based on their languages on the wiki. DIfferent languages have different sounds, of course, so that may influence how words and spoken in game.
Damola: Yeah. But also for some language there is not much in the wiki. Like for example Nolthrir language. Just a few words.
Damola: Also? if a Nolthrir NPC speaks Nolthrir, I need subtitle translation at the moment
Anysu: Found some book with many words.. is how we put together the alphabet bool Migg and Anysu
Gonger: Well, expanding those languages could be either very easy or very complicated...
>Anysu nods at Gonger.
Damola: With Nolthrir language some stuff was removed due to copyright issues.
Uadjet: I know I've tried to figure out what soulds underwater races would use. All I can think of is clicks  and other hard sounds that might travel further in water.
Gonger: I am a trained Linguist, but with no experience with artificial languages. I do have knowledge about natural languages that could be useful in this context.
Gonger: Simple example, pronouns are so important that they are very short in almost all languages: Me, I, Du, Er, lui, il, etc
Damola: Uadjet, but it could also be softer sounds like with our whales. But yeah, Dolphins do make clicking voices.
Anysu: So ai voice and dice game. Anything else since over time Uadjet?
Anysu: I did not know that about you Gonger.
Uadjet: Talad did take another look at the Dryken Plane, so comments on that are still welcome.
Uadjet: Other than that, i think we're done.
Gonger: Actually I studied Computational Linguistics, so I know about both computers and languages.
Anysu: That is neat, Gonger.
Anysu: Dryken Plane we could do a whole another hour on that!
Damola: Okay, thanks a lot for the news Uadjet.
Anysu: Good to know. Damola
Damola: So if someone wants to RP a bit, like exploring the vastness of Yliakum and finding harvesting spaces or different interesting spots or crazy new dungeons or mines or what have you?
Uadjet: I'll see you all here again in two weeks, and until then maybe give an event or two a try!

I really do not understand why you keep coming back to us with this.

For what I hope will be the last time:

PlaneShift is and always will be non-commercial, Fully Free to Play, with no fees whatsoever.

So, pretty please... with sugar on top. Leave us alone with this.

Thank you,

Gonger

Uadjet: Hello and welcome to the Developer's Q&A!
Damola: Karzela how did you do that rotation while sitting?
Gova: Holding down the middle mouse button?
Resildren: hold down center mouse , but know it takes a good rotation till you move
Damola: Hi! I tested new plant spawning harvesting. It works nicely.
Uadjet: Ah, good.
Damola: I tested with Gobo root and after 10 plants harvested the spawn disappeared.
Anysu: I did that with apples
Gova: 10 plants harvested? That's one go, with a high skill.
Damola: What I would prefer is some kind of progress indication. Damola as a herbalist probably would not harvest all the plants in a place.
Damola: But it was all plants there and after 10 plants all plants gone. And another spot not far away there. Again 10 plants, then all plants gone.
Resildren: most should just give five harvests till a respawn
Damola: Would be nice if after a harvest a plant at a time is gone.
Mohonin: where did they respawn? did you find it?
Resildren: you found a lucky one
Damola: It was near Gug the Gobo root and the other spot was not far away.
Karzela: So we normally would have 40 plants instead of only 10 with a high level herbal skill?
Anysu: Plants I still need to find.
Resildren: from what i've seen it used to be unlimited?
Damola: Is that planned that plants go incrementally so you can see how much of a spot is harvested?
Thosor: Do they respawn in the vicinity of the depletion zone?
Anysu: Did we get hops yet?
Uadjet: It was unlimited before.
Damola: Thosor, yeah.
Karzela: Like ore for instance
Resildren: there's been hops
Damola: I have no problem with a limit. But I would like a progress indication on how far the limit has been reached.
Resildren: well you have it
Anysu: Would like to know where hops are.
Damola: Resi?
Resildren: when it dissapears it respawns
Damola: It is either all plants there or all plants gone.
Damola: I'd like to see plants disappear incrementally. That's all.
Anysu: Damola has a point. Yes, an indicator showing how many left not a bad idea
Damola: Otherwise fine. One can discuss the exact limit, but otherwise fine.
Gova: Hmmm. I'm already getting fish at about 1/30th to 1/40th the rate I used to.
Resildren: be hard to set the graphics to be incremental
Resildren: from what i've seen
Anysu: I tried the rotate, doesn't seem to work for me.
Damola: Nice, did not know that middle button trick.
Thosor: Any new carnivorous plants?
Damola: Resi, I understand. Still would prefer that
Uadjet: No, just the gorweal.
Uadjet: Don't try harvesting them.
Resildren: blackroot if you *^% him off
Thosor: They harvest you...
Karzela laughs
Karzela: They are rather beautiful from a distance
Thosor: no rotate for me
Resildren: it takes a good bit of rotation till you'll have movment
Resildren: a good 20% till you're body moves
Uadjet: So, over the past few weeks I think most of you have seen Listarindel.
Karzela: Yes, nice unique look to the area too.
Damola: It looks beautiful.
Damola: Really nice design.
Damola: I quite like those colorful stones and windows.
Karzela: So do I
Mohonin: There's a pond on the way to it, have seen it only once
Anysu: colorful mosaics
Gova: I think that's near a cinnabar mine.
Resildren: not sure on apple though
Gova: Oh, the pond is very nice.
Mohonin: ya, and there's a fishing platform also there
Gova: Top quality unicornfish, crayfish, and ide.
Resildren: on the road between amandier, and the outpost
Damola already found another best hiding spot in Listarindel.
Damola: Uadjet, you wanted to tell more about Listarindel?
Damola: Found guard NPC. Is there any other?
Uadjet: Just that it needs NPCs and decorations, and that player input on those is welcome.
Damola: Hmm, okay.
Anysu: If there is tavern, needs a barkeep there
Damola: Is that center building more of a meeting hall or a temple?
Resildren: there is the big house there?
Damola: Buildings all empty so far as I found, and none really good for a tavern, or am I mistaken?
Damola: Interesting also? all buildings can be entered within game map.
Uadjet: I think it's both and more. Small towns don't have many large buildings so they take on multiple roles. I'll wager any village event is held there.
Anysu: Makes sense
Damola: Not like in Gugontrid or Hydlaa where most buildings are in separate map.
Thosor: Small huts good for small business like instant shoe and horn polishing.
Damola: Hmm, I see.
Damola: Yeah, Thosor, I agree.
Damola: But I think some kind of tavern would be good as well.
Thosor: A well stocked one.
Resildren: ahh maybe they'll put one up on murder hill?
Damola: Just imagine Gonger running out of ale. No fun.
Resildren grins
Gonger: Dreadful thought.
Mohonin: Sir, today i saw a scroll sort of paper in Harns, the content was fasinating, a pic of a diaboli lady and the notice was to find her, but that alone what i saw was a system notification that the graphics is downloading
Damola: Oh.
Mohonin: So how does those paper scroll work?
Uadjet: That is the new drawing system.
Anysu: Did some make a drawing up because of our event yesterday?
Resildren: you can make it off line and add it to the scroll
Mohonin: I haven't checked it but last i tried to write something in a scroll paper and it says its not implemented
Thosor: cool
Anysu: Add it how? Does it someplace explain how?
Uadjet: A very talented Kran took a simple image from the Diaboli page and turned it into that.
Resildren: when you open the scroll it has a prompt to upload
Resildren: but no naughties, they're checked
Mohonin: and same with music scores. it says can't find any midi file in some folder i forgot the name
Anysu: Do you click that on page and it send you to what you machine hd?
Resildren: yes
Anysu: I must try that.
Thosor: So it is local to your machine like quest notes?
Uadjet: It starts on your machine, but then gets uploaded.
Thosor: ah
Mohonin: i found a site where we can get  free midi music, its url is freemidi.org, i'm trying you use those midi file to make a score
Resildren: ohhh  thunderstruck?
Anysu: Migg or I, I wonder if we can do that to fix our alphabet books.. yet they have pics and text.
Uadjet: It'll take a little while to get used to the new drawing, I assume.
Uadjet: I don't know if the standard books can take images or formatting, yet.
Mohonin: Sorry, moved the discussion from Linstradel town to these drawing and music paper
Resildren: i think it's only the drawing scrolls atm  you can buy them at the library
Karzela: Hmm...so there is no hope of all our music scrolls being converted for use in Unreal?
Anysu: That be so sad Karzela
Uadjet: Well, the information in the scroll could be converted to midi, I think.
Thosor: bummer
Mohonin: Talad Sir told me a software to manage audio, its Audacity, but i still have to figure out how to make midi file with it
Damola: Audacity IMHO is more about editing samples. It is no MIDI composer unless I am not up to date with it anymore.
Karzela: Is there a way to view outgoing replies to whispered messages?
Damola: There probably could be a conversion tool old music scroll to midi file, however someone would need to write it.
Damola: Karzela, not at the moment I think. It's bugged.
Damola: You can view incoming whispers by having them send to main tab, but whisper tab is broken.
Uadjet: I think there are multiple tools that can do the job. I google music xml to midi converter.
Damola: According to Gonger bug already reported.
Anysu: I have not seen that Karzela. I type I whisper and it appears in a chat bubble, but not in whisper or main.. it is not seen
Uadjet: Yes, as Damola mentioned whispers are now bugged.
Karzela: ok, thanks
Damola: Uadjet, is PS Legacy using a standard format? Music XML? Was not aware of thus a format, but there are a ton of file formats, you cannot know all of them
Damola: *such a format
Anysu: I mean you can see what comes to you in a whisper in main, but not what you sent after you send it. I hope bugg gets fixed
Damola: That's exactly the issue, Anysu.
Mohonin: lemme try Anysu
Thosor: And whispers appear in chat and chat bubbles.
Damola: Whispers are so silent they do not even appear in whisper tab anymore
Karzela shuckles
Karzela: Good one, Damola
Uadjet: Just go into options, to interface, and then scroll down to Chat Text To Main Tab. Make sure Whispers is selected. Then whispers will show up in main, but still not in the whisper tab.
Thosor: makes it hard to reply to a whisper.
Uadjet: Hmm. Maybe PS isn't precisely music xml. I do that the old PS music converter, though I don't know how much it had to do.
Resildren: be nice if it stayed in the whisper tab even if one choose to send it to main
Karzela: Oh, I like that idea Resi
Damola: I will set them only to go whisper tab once it is fixed.
Damola: Normally it is cat like typing detected. Countless videos on that one.
Anysu: I hope Talad can fix that server side instead of waiting for new download.
Thosor: I got double click ok when my name mentioned, but I get no clicks when chat updates, used to be a light click.
Anysu: Sorry, any new news?
Damola: Yeah, news block from Uadjet still missing.
Thosor: How we missed TP then...
Uadjet: Well, the last few weeks were mostly about getting the new plant system in.
Thosor: snowbuds?
Damola: Any other news?
Thosor: did I miss mount bug?
Uadjet: It's great when it's cold, but when it gets close to room temp...
Damola: Otherwise we have completed the hour I'd say?
Uadjet: Yes, the mount but is very hard if not impossible to replicate.
Damola: Oh, I think we did not talk about mount bug.
Anysu: Yet not had too much new news this hour.
Uadjet: That's going to make it challenging to find a fix.
Damola: I did not experience it yet.
Thosor: happened on way here, is why i was late
Gova: I did, once.
Gonger: I only had it once, and next time I tried it was ok... So what Uadjet said...
Damola: Had about 5 mounts/dismounts before dev q&a
Resildren: i checked my logs and nothing there, wondering if Talad can debug it on the server?
Damola: No issue. So not sure how to trigger it.
Damola: Haha Gova tries to brute force it.
Thosor: I had to examine, not eyeball a couple things in inventory, then fell, then recovered where I left off.
Resildren: you need to not thin about it before it bugs
Gova: There must be an extra element to trigger it.
Anysu: Only appeared with the latest download.
Gova: I think I triggered it by accidentally right-clicking on myself while riding.
Damola: Always stop before dismount.
Resildren: I triggered it dismounting
Damola: Haha, in PS Legacy we used dismounting while jumping to have char fly a few meters through the air
Thosor: I had dismissed a pet to get a rivnak, i think when I mounted rivnak, it happened.
Gova: And to get onto places we could not otherwise reach.
Gonger: Let's just observe this, and try to get more data...
Damola: Gova, exactly. Exactly.
Damola: Like a certain rock near the explorer's camp.
Damola: Well now different map.
Damola: Has the mount login screen bug been reported?
Damola: I cannot report it, did not happen to me so far.
Mohonin: i have recently found out that i can't cast magic spell with fishing rod equipped in hand
Uadjet: Yes, it's been reported.
Damola: No mounts at the smithy and no spells while fishing
Uadjet: Equipping a fishing rod and reel changes the interface. That's how it enables the ability to interact with bodies of water.
Damola: Considering it: Compared to first version PSUnreal really went a long way.
Damola: A lot of stuff is so much better now.
Damola: Anything else to mention?
Uadjet: I can't think of anything at the moment. Any more questions?
Damola: No Q from me.
Anysu: I do
Damola: Anysu?
Thosor: no questions, Your Honor.
Anysu: I think Res mentioned this on discord about voice chat.
Anysu: Does voice chat work in ps here?
Damola: Never tried it.
Uadjet: If not, I think we can bring the meeting to a close. Have fun playing (and maybe testing out the new plant system?) and I'll see you again in... three weeks this time. Extra Sunday this month, and all.
Gonger: And don't forget to show your support to the cause of the semi-intelligent races.
Anysu: So voice does or does not work in game?
Thosor: time changes should be over
Damola: Ah, right, Gonger. Petition to Uadjet it was?
Gonger: Or /whisper, or on Discord, yes.
Anysu: Sorry.. did I get a reply to my question??
Gonger: https://www.reddit.com/r/planeshiftrpg/comments/1jhhdft/the_yliakum_times_event_recap_referendum_march_08/
Uadjet: Ah, yes. I've had some petitions, but need more!
Uadjet: About voice chat? I've never tried it.
Anysu: Yes
Uadjet: I have a microphone, but never opened it.
Gonger: I made three already, but will try to think of more. I had a blast writing those three.
Anysu: So noone knows?
Uadjet: I did hear in chat that it might not be working. Can anyone verify?
Anysu: Bit of a shame, it save alot of time.
Anysu looks around
Karzela: Is it too picky to ask if player names could be alphabetized when typing /who?
Anysu: Not in discord, in game.There is an option for voice in options.
Anysu: So noone knows.. okay
Mohonin: The chat in game is what Talad Sir calls voiceover, we players to recoed the dialogs of NPC and upload the file
Resildren: I saw misha and she was trying it but i was off when she tried
Uadjet: I have not. I did order a microphone, and I can see it from where I am, but I've never used it.
Gonger: Don't forget to leave the room before quitting. That would also be a nice bug to fix...

Uadjet: This is where we discuss what's going on behind the scenes, and you get a chance to ask questions or make suggestions.
Uadjet: Hello and welcome to the Developer's Q&A!
Mohonin: Sir, i have a suggestion about music
Mohonin: Sir, i recently found this site --> https://freemidi.org/ but not yet registered and downloaded a midi music file as i'm not so good with music and sounds and i'm afraid i may bugg up the system. So in this DEV Q&A just wanna say, those who are good with music, can try the midi files from the site mentioned and make interesting scores. And why i am telling to try it out is cuz once i have heard Talad Sir said in PSU version only midi sounds will work for music/the scores/the music paper... hope i cud explain it so it will be awesome to check it out. Thanks!!
Uadjet: Yes, the music will need to be in the form of a midi file. We can covert the old files (xml) to midi, I think. Not in game, but there are online converters.
Anysu: So do want those old scores converted
Mohonin: no, just want to be able to play music
Anysu: I hope could have both.
Mohonin: How does it work? for eg. i have a midi file, i get 1 blank score from library and then try to edit it, will we get an option totake the midi from our computer to the score?
Mohonin: did anyone try this way to make music and did it work?
Uadjet: I haven't. I'm not gifted musically, but I'll try it out this week.
Mohonin: ya, then i'll take the risk and try it, Thanks
Uadjet: Okay, if you have any questions or suggestions, please line up at the lecterns. Meanwhile, I'll give a little update.
Uadjet: For the last few weeks Talad has mainly been working on Diaboli architecture.
Uadjet: There was some Diaboli art that's been in the back of a drawer somewhere for many years, and Talad has pulled it out to turn it into a Diaboli villiage.
Uadjet: There are multiple buildings with similar styles. If you haven't seen any of the streams, I really recommend taking a few mines to check them out.
Uadjet: they really have their own style.
Mohonin: ya i have seen a bit of the stream
Uadjet: Diaboli should be fun to write for.
Mohonin: what is this 'write for' that you just mentioned?
Uadjet: I was thinking about writing quests and to a lesser extent knowledge areas for Diaboli NPCs.
Mohonin: oh i see
Mohonin: That wud be great
Anysu: Where would their villages be located the Diaboli?
Uadjet: I think NW of Hydlaa, maybe N of Homestead.
Uadjet: But I'm guessing based on old maps.
Anysu nods
Uadjet: So there will be quite a bit of work going into making the village, and then there's adding in things like furniture, stables, randomly placed barrels, etc.
>Anysu nods at Uadjet.
Uadjet: Player input will be very welcome. Talad does ask for input during streams as well, so if you can spare the time to watch you can help Talad decide what things should look like.
Mohonin: Uadjet Sir, is it possible to take charge of a guild and do some guild management, with GM power?
Uadjet: It is possible to petition for leadership of a guild that you are in if the current leader has not been online for... the rule says two months. I thought it was longer.
Uadjet: It also helps to have support of the other currently active guild members.
Mohonin: oh ok Thanks!!
Uadjet: So file a petition, and if you can ask other guild members to do so as well saying that they support the change in leadership. Once I get those, I attempt to contact the current guild leader.
Gonger: Mohonin, did we not talk about that a couple of months ago?
Gonger: We, as in you and I.
Anysu: Be hard to do that if there were no other active guild members to ask.
Uadjet: I take that into account. Part of the GM Webconsole is a page for each guild containing last login information. If nobody else has been online recently, I take that into account.
Gonger: The small player base is still a problem.
Gonger: It is really hard to get PlaneShift promoted on MMORPG websites, because we do not really fit in anywhere.
Gonger: We are FFP (Fully Free to Play), and we are truely RP-oriented.
Gonger: A niche product.
>Anysu nods at Gonger.
Gonger: Well, I still have an arrow or two in my quiver
Mohonin: Gonger Sir, some where i have mentioned a site named hotrpg.com, have you visited that site and saw what it offers?
Gonger: I did, and I was not exactly impressed.
Mohonin: oh ok
Gonger: Is that the name? It no longer seems to exist...
Mohonin: and i got another site where they want to host the wiki, i'll give you the site name just check it out
Uadjet: There's a twitch channel with that name.
Uadjet: No content, though.
Gonger: But, yes, such links are always welcome. Damola for example pointed me to an interesting German site for free games, and I dropped some information there.
Uadjet: Ahh, that's nice to hear.
Mohonin: check out https://drakorpedia.fandom.com/wiki/Drakorpedia_Wiki
Mohonin: this has the info of another game but as i cud not go to its home page so i gave you this link
Uadjet: I think that new players will stick around longer once the can't-move-after-character-creation bug is fixed. Talad did write a fix, it's just not live, apparently.
Gonger nods at Uadjet.
Gonger: I know it takes some work to create a release, but a killer bug like this IMHO is enough to justify a release.
Anysu: Thing is our player base is small. Someone joins to rp, yet find few online to rp with?
Gonger: True! Which is a circular problem...
Anysu sighs
Gonger: I wonder whether I should open discussion about mailing ancient players again...
Uadjet: That could help, though discussing it here would only help if Talad were present. Maybe in Discord?
Mohonin: about mailing old players, i have heard in another game that EU has a law for such spamming of about 10 Euros
Uadjet: We're still missing the players that don't have a discord account, but Talad is very good at responding there.
Anysu: There may even be ancient players on discord, but just lurking, not participating.
>Anysu nods at Uadjet.
Gonger: Informing people about a game they used to play is not really spamming. Also remember that we would send a maximum of two mails.
Gonger: Aye, there are lots of lurkers on Discord. I have no idea WHAT they are lurking for. I once asked the question, and nobody answered.
Mohonin: ya i understand that, but what if the cyber police don't understand it
Gonger: Which cyber police?
Mohonin: i don't know in other countries, but in our country theres a dept. for cyber crime in police station
Mohonin: and if the recipient of the mail make complain to police then there wud be a great problem
Gonger: I find it hard to believe that many people would be upset to be reminded of a game they used to play.
Gonger: More upset than about real spam they receive.
Uadjet: Yeah. People send out millions of emails wi4th suspicious or outright malignant intent. We're harmless.
Mohonin: ya it looks like innocent act, but who knows if a problem crops up
Gonger: The Evil Spammers from PlaneShift who not even ask for money. Big problem.
Anysu: Some of those e-mails of oldies may not be even used anymore. Some returning players have mentioned that on discord.
Uadjet: Yes, that happens a lot.
Anysu: So no ancient players may even see such a message.
Gonger: Well, we would not reach all ancient players, of course.
Gonger: I seem to remember the number of 300,000 accounts.
Gonger: If we reach only half of them, and if of those 10% have a look, that would be 15,000 visits from ancient players.
Gonger: Just playing with numbers a bit
Anysu: Live chat in discord voice with Talad might garner interest like a dev meet but in voice.
Mohonin: number sounds good, but actually doing it may have the problem i mentioned
Uadjet: I think it would help.
Gonger: Mohonin, it would not be spamming, since THEY registered with US in the first place.
Gonger: We did not hunt for those email adresses.
Mohonin: thats what the other game says but then he started to face the prioblem. this problem we can't actually say spamming but something like forced email
Gonger: Give me some links about this case you are thinking of. I will check this.
Gonger: You can give them to me on Discord, for example.
Uadjet: Okay, so we're past the hour - by a good margin - and I see nobody at the lecterns, so I think we can bring this meeting to a close.
Mohonin: the game name and url is https://usa.tycoononline.com/ you can enter the game and ask around for this problem
Anysu: Thanks for the updates Uadjet and Gonger.
Mohonin: Thank you, Uadjet Sir and Gonger Sir
Gonger: I'm not giving them my mail adress. They might spam me....
Uadjet: Have fun playing, and I'll see you at the next Q&A in two weeks!

Uadjet: Hello, and welcome to the Developer's Q&A!
Koraza: Hi
Resildren: 14 players on line
Resildren starts to count the bodies in the room
Uadjet: This is the place to hear about what's happening behind the scenes, and ask whatever questions you have.
Uadjet: If you have a question, please step up to the lecterns in front of the stage.
Uadjet: If not, I'll give people a little rundown on what's going on. Sound fair?
Uadjet: Hello, and welcome to the Developer's Q&A!
Uadjet: This is the place to hear about what's happening behind the scenes, and ask whatever questions you have.
Uadjet: If you have a question, please step up to the lecterns in front of the stage.
Uadjet: If not, I'll give people a little rundown on what's going on. Sound fair?
Resildren: Might i suggest a call out on global see if any on line might want to join in?(22:11:22) [chat] Uadjet: The Developer Q&A has started at the Courthouse in East Hydlaa! If you'd like to hear about the development of the game or ask a question, now is the time! Let me know if you need a teleport!
Uadjet: Good idea, Resildren.
Uadjet: I guess not everyone reads the Help tab.
Gonger: Information for newer players - you can tell a character is really old if they have a single name, like Trensol.
Damola: Gonger, thanks for posting all the Dev Q&A protocols on the forum for later reference.
Gonger: My pleasure. I am still lagging behind with the event summaries, but these are harder to do, and I was just struggling with and overcoming the Nasty Flu monster.
Uadjet: Okay, so you may have noticed that some of the bodies of water that you couldn't fish in are now full of fish.
Anysu: All have fish now!
Uadjet: I checked Gug Lake and Delver, which I believe weren't working before.
Gova: Delver lake and the stream now have fish, and I found a new pond between Amdeneir and BD that has  fish, but I was out of bait.
Gova: Blue Shan, Snowlilly, and Saffron make the best baits, but I've only found the Blue Shan.
Koraza: Found a bait book in the Gug tavern so may be fishing soon (tm)
Gonger: Some low quality bait should be found pretty much everywhere, no?
Trensol: the lake outside of gurg had fish at first but no longer i think
Uadjet: Talad has talked about expanding the harvesting spots to more locations.
Resildren: so what would be considered the low level baits? i can see that there  easier them some to find?
Gova: It's the order in the bait-making book, and the colour of the bait tells you the quality. Mostly. Purple Orchid has the colour of top tier bait, but is only +30%, not +40%
Gova: I only know where the blue shan flowers are and, well... Knowing might be half the battle, but the other half is ulbernauts.
Resildren: ok so most of the baits are critter based, so not an issue for plant locations
Gova: You can buy carp in the Plaza, and while it isn't great bait it will still do.
Uadjet: Talad has also improved the magic portals so that there can be more than one active at a time.
Uadjet: He's also changed things so that dungeons are generated by a seed value that is maintained after a server restart, so the dungeons won't need to be recreated each time the game crashes.
Damola: Oh regarding that dungeon behind the portal when exiting Hydlaa through former tutorial area:
Damola: It went into the dungeon but then did not figure out any way to proceed further into the dungeon. Hitting a solid concrete without finding any mechanism to operate.
Damola: I do not ask for any spoilers though, in case there *is* a way to proceed further.
Damola: As we have been there during an event it was possible to proceed further into the dungeon.
Gonger: Resildren, that was just a thought of mine: Would it not be an idea to be able to simply FIND low level bait?
Resildren: I went thru it a few weeks back and managed
Damola: Okay, then maybe I have to look more carefully. Thanks
Uadjet: I haven't seen it, as it was rendomly generated. It could be that there's a secret passage, or that the randomizer generated a map with no exits from the first room. I'll have to check.
Damola: Thanks.
Damola: Great to hear about all the news.
Damola: Actually: I really appreciate 0.7.46 and 0.7.47! Things are coming together very nicely.
Damola: And I am so happy about the locomotion fixes.
Damola: Thanks Talad!
Anysu: I have a dungeon question
Uadjet: Anysu?
Anysu: I have not done many of them. But what happens if server crashes while you are in one? DO you fall? Do you end up outside. Or if dungeons randomize after a crash would you end up in another one?
Koraza whispers, "so much to worry about"
Resildren: could be a way to teleport?
Uadjet: Up until now, you fell endlessly. I think.
Uadjet: Once a new dungeon was created, you landed in the starting room.
Uadjet: Now that dungeons are restored, I think you'll just end up in the start room.
Uadjet: If that fix is live. I think it is, but I'd have to check.
Anysu: so end up in a start room and not falling?
Damola: Not resting Damola in the guild house for now. For that endless fall bug reason.
Anysu: okay
Anysu: thanks
Damola: Gonger I pondered and replied to your PR strategy forum post.
Uadjet: I just checked, and the quest that gives the fishing baits book is active.
Resildren: good to know thanks
Gonger: Thank you, Damola.
Damola inspects Uadjet "I just checked. And the GM that gives the nice Saturday evening events is active."
Damola chuckles.
Gonger: I will check out the website you mention there.
Damola: It is older than 20 years. Many of the links to other former Linux gaming sites are not active anymore.
Uadjet: Heh, Talad commented on how long that quest was. That was one of my SHORTEST quests.
Anysu: Is that fish quest repeatable?
Uadjet: We have two repeatable fishing quests that grant skill points, but I seem to recall the player needing to supply fairly high quantities of fish.
Uadjet: That's back when we got up to 10 fish per cast.
Uadjet: The quest for the book is not repeatable.
Trensol: maybe incorporate net casting?
Uadjet: Net casting would be fun, but I assume a lot of work.
Anysu: Nets? Pole?  Nah use the claws is what I say.
>Anysu grins impishly.
Uadjet: Would characters without claws need to get some of those hand claws to fish that way?
Anysu: There is like a claw weapon item
Thosor: What do the gobbles fish with?
Anysu: Yeah that is what I was thinking Uadjet
Uadjet: More recently, Talad has done some work on Drawings.
Anysu: Drawing, I am curious about that.
Uadjet: He was able to load drawings from legacy into Unreal.
Thosor: Any progress in moving music sheets from legacy?
Uadjet: So being able to make your own art again isn't far away.
Uadjet: I don't think music sheets can be directly loaded. The new music system for Unreal needs midi files, if I'm remembering correctly.
Anysu: I haven't checked, but it wuld be nice to se Migg and me Anysu's in game childrens' books work that we made.
Thosor: I have Migg's music, but yes it doesn't work.
Uadjet: And just today Talad was working on uploading images into the game.
Uadjet: And got it to work.
Anysu: nice
Uadjet: So the visual arts should get a little boom in the near future.
Thosor: Images as in?
Uadjet: Not in, but he figured out how to do it.
Resildren: png files from he's showed
Resildren: from client to server, but  he's calling that step 1
Uadjet: Filtering out genitalia is step 2, I assume.
Uadjet: I'm just very worried that I'm the solution to that step.
Anysu nods about filtering
Uadjet: That can be automated to some extent, of course.
Resildren: a thirty day auto respawn to the void shold do it
Uadjet: But it gets us one step closer to being able to hang paintings of your characters in your guildhalls.
Uadjet: Or anyone who tries it gets their stats and body dev skill set to zero.
Uadjet: Do you have a question?
Resildren: i do about fishing
Resildren: is the leveling system the same for the fishing mini game? as example will buffs still effect the probability of a catch?
Uadjet: I think they will, but Talad did mention at one point that having a skill over 200 put someone out of the skill range the game could handle, and might be treated as having a skill of 0. Hopefully that isn't the case.
Thosor: So that is why I get so many "training is not in thee skill range" or the like from trainers
Gova: I'm at 201 fishing, and I'm not having a problem catching fish. I have one get away despite doing everything right now and then, but I think that's part of the game.
Uadjet: Trensol?
Trensol: any chance to introduce ai for npc knowledge?
Trensol: took me about a decade to find couchgrass
Trensol: limited of course
Uadjet: I don't know about NPCs pointing you to things, but the Harvesting skill does have the Prospect Plants ability. Maybe that could be used to find plants in the area.
Uadjet: As I mentioned, Talad is intending to add more locations for each plant. He has the game world divided into biomes, and I think he'll use that to some extent.
Uadjet: The description of the ability says it helps determine properties and value, but does not mention location.
Uadjet: I was just proposing a hypothetical use for the skill that would be nice to have.
Anysu: need more plant location.
Koraza: I agree with you, Anysu
Anysu: A skill for finding  them, helpful.
Trensol: thats a lot of space to search
Resildren: I'm sure its going to get better soon..ish
Koraza: ...and find again
>Anysu nods at Koraza.
Uadjet: It's a thought, at least. It might be good to discuss in Discord, so that Talad can participate.
Anysu: Now that we have plant bait making for fishing be quite helpful.
Uadjet: It's the kind of thing that I think should be something players can find and share with other people. Notes on a map that can be shared, for example. Talad likes that idea, though he has said before that the map should not act as a GPS.
Uadjet: And to do a notes on the map idea, we'd really need to be able to zoom in on the map quite a bit, and that's detail that would have to be added.
Uadjet: I thinking aloud. Stream of conciousness.
Resildren: but a good point
Uadjet: Oh, we're well past the hour!
Uadjet: I don't see anyone at the lecterns, so let's call it a night.
Gonger: Don't forget to leave the room before quitting.
Uadjet: I'll see you again in two weeks at the next Q&A. Until then, have fun playing and maybe check out an event or two!

[1] https://holarse.de/wiki/planeshift
[2] https://holarse.de/search/node/PlaneShift
[3] https://holarse.de/wiki/%C3%BCber_holarse

Hi Damola,

Thank you for your support. You might wish to fix the third link, the leading "h" is outside the url tag.
I had some trouble creating an account there, only to discover that I had used my mail for this purpose already two years ago, without ever getting a notification, neither then, nor today. They seem to have some issues with account creation, but be that as it may, I added a comment about the current state of PlaneShift.

@all, let the links roll!

Greetings,

Gonger