Thanks a lot for all the new developer Q&A posts, Gonger! I appreciate it.

Hi.

@Gonger: I basically agree with what you say. I am not sure about good alternative web pages to go to, but I will ponder over this a bit more. I follow a German language based site called Holarse Gaming. Their page about PlaneShift is highly outdated, but quite detailed¹. And their last news items is also a time ago². But they do care about free games as well and they certainly do not do this for money³. I can try to ask them on IRC on what would be required in order to help updating those pages and probably giving out a up-to-date news item about.

@Volki: Have you been playing PlaneShift recently? While a challenge is to have enough other people to play with when logging in at some random time, during the regular GM events hosted by Uadjet each Saturday there is a very good quality RP going on between player based characters and GMPCs (Game Master Played Characters) as well as other player based characters. Consistently so! I really look forward to those Saturday evenings!

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

Uadjet: Hello, and welcome to the developer's q&a!
Damola: Any news regarding that annoying pushup bug?
Uadjet: I was bringing online a character on another account to test that.
Uadjet: Ah, yes. The pushup bug's days  are numbered.
Damola: Yeaaaah!!
Resildren: ohh we sure do hope so
Uadjet: Last I knew Talad had updated the game to  a more recent version of ALS (on the test server) and had things working there.
Gonger: Hooray!
Mohonin: Cheers!!
Gonger: So we just need a new release?
>Damola cheers happily!
Mohonin: you see the map in PSU is so large and many of the mining and harvesting locations are shifted to other places, so...
Mohonin: Wud it be too much of a spoiler if Sign post are place on the road where theres a nearby mine and/or also a harvesting place?
Uadjet: Well, my first thought is that would go well as a player project.
Mohonin: i think we have to get a vote on this from players, isn't it?
Uadjet: Talad did like the idea of players being able to trade map notes, so that two players could trade notes they've made on their maps with each other.
Uadjet: I'm not sure how hard that would be to put in.
Damola: Actually even in a medieval world it makes kind of sense to have sign posts indicating where mines are?
Uadjet: but physical signs could be placed by players.
Uadjet: Can you lot buy signs?
Gonger: I am not sure we can.
Uadjet: Hmmm. Event idea bubbling...
Resildren: oh signs for sale to the public, can't see anything that could go wrong with that
Mohonin: ya as player project, i wud say, can we drop a line of gems from the road to the mine/harvesting place?
Gonger: You can drop a book until signs are available.
Gonger: But will books stay, Uadjet?
Uadjet: Only if I lock them down.
Dentritus: If all mines are marked by signs - the corresponding mine location quests make no sense. But they have to be updated anyways
Uadjet: Early quests have iron and coal in the quests. Are those now incorrect as well?
Dentritus: No, magic house is still correct for coal and the iron is only a bit harder to reach
Mohonin: for the iron and coal mine theres good hint given by the sign posts
Mohonin: almost all road crossing and road dead end theres a sign
Resildren: I offered to help the team in propagating more plants aroud the dome, and have started a thread on the forums under "Plants thru the dome" one of my hopes is to make some sence of what and where there plants would normally grow, and would like to ask anyone/everyone to offer some input to help get this going?
Resildren: and anytime I'm open to tells while online
Damola wonders whether there are books about plants in library.
Uadjet: Talad has divided the world into biomes, so that might help determine which plants go where.
Damola: Location depends on the attributes of the plants.
Damola: matching the biome.
Resildren: yes i have that but most plants seem to have been randomly set
Uadjet: They may have been placed more by making plants that need the lowest skill to use being placed nearer cities.
Resildren: I'm seeing where some would be higher altetuds, others nearer o water, and the discriptions on the plants are wanting
Damola: Hmm, makes sense, Uadjet. But whether it is fitting their attributes.
Uadjet: Yeah...
Uadjet: But yeah, there should be far more locations for each type of plant.
Resildren: having the early quest plants near to  the the areas is a no brainer, , and wanting to add more plants I'm just trying to set up a logical layout for them
Resildren: so I'd be glad for any input or suggggestions
Mohonin: How far are we from tools rapairing to be implemented in game?
Uadjet: Talad's continuing his work on fishing, and has now started doing some terraforming.
Mohonin: as i already see tools decresing in durability
Uadjet: He's adding more rivers and lakes to use in fishing. Mostly in the unused areas of the map.
Mohonin: oh thats great, missed that part of his stream offline to watch
Damola: Haha, Uadjet, you probably could do some exploration quests, where we need to find some random spots somewhere in Yliakum.
Mohonin: i think now we can't expect any other development till the fishing minigame project is over and released in next version
Damola: Of course you would need to place some hints or so.
Mohonin: will there be a separate book for the mind slot for cooking baits for fishing?
Thosor: master chef for bait cooking.
Uadjet: Yeah, hints are hard to do. They're like riddles: It's hard to judge the difficulty when you start out knowing the answer.
Damola: Yeah, like with the fire? does someone see it or not. However I love to challenge you!
Uadjet: Actually, I'm not sure about making bait. It could be in a cookbook, or just one of the things you can do without a book, like portioning out drinks.
Thosor: And I would think fish are not used to baked food.
Thosor: Could be a big attraction, though
Damola: If done about fishing, what about Mohonin's Q regarding any estimate of when tool repairing arrives in game?
Mohonin: i was thinking how wonderfull it will be for the cooks of the fishing baits trying to sell the baits to the fishermen and fisherwomen
Uadjet: With tool repair I have no information. I'd suggest using 50q tools only for now.
Damola: And any estimate on new version? This year still?
Damola: Okay, thanks, Uadjet, about tool repair.
Gonger: Where is this obsession with fishing coming from? Is it Talad's RL hobby?
Uadjet: I'll show up at markets occastionally as a tinker, I think.
Uadjet: I think it's a small project that grew massively.
Damola: Need to attend a market again. Gova, still sometimes opening a stand there?
Gova: I haven't for some time, but I could start up again.
Thosor: My weapons are showing wear....
Damola: Would not ask you to, cause it would be boring if no one comes along. However? as I am having holidays? Damola could come along.
Resildren: weapons can be repaired
Thosor: although Gova could not fully restore some things.
Damola: Thosor, was more about reviving the market.
Damola: Haha, Damola could sell glyphs.
Thosor: It is where Gova usually repaired my stuff.
Damola: But no one who attended the glyph quests would need any.
Damola: Thosor, sure.
Dentritus: repair works again with fines repair kits - I could repair everything without quality loss again
Damola: But not tools?
Mohonin: one lady had started a forum post while we were still in legacy titled " stop wipping the fishes" then in PSU i saw the whipping of fish has stopped and the fisher man throws the reel and pulls it back to cath the fish, in that post, then Talad must have seen that and got excited to make the fishing minigame
Dentritus: no not with tools
Dentritus: but you can buy q150 tools now
Damola: ah, I see.
Damola: did not know one can buy q150 tools, thanks.
Thosor: Nothing was funnier than fish whipping from a ptero
Damola: Any other news or Q's?
Mohonin: recently i saw particle effect added as sparks flying off the anvil when beating an ingot on the anvil, the sprk of metal to metal beating, haha
Thosor: That's cool.
Damola: About market, maybe next Saturday doing event ask whether some want to attend market? Then Gova or anyone else wanting to opening a stall would know that some would be coming along.
Anysu: Good idea Damola
Resildren: indeed
Damola: Uadjet, any prediction about when new version?
Gonger: Ask for next Sunday, and the Sunday after, because "between the years" as we say in German, many people will be unavailable.
Thosor: is sitting problem related to pushup bug?
Anysu: Would be nice new version comes out before an event Saturday and not on that Sat
Damola: Yeah, especially as you are having trouble getting it installed and run.
>Thosor nods at Anysu.
Damola: I was hopeing before Christmas? however I do not want any pressure on Talad. In the end it will be ready when it is ready.
Uadjet: No release date yet, unfortunately.
Uadjet: I think there's a lot going to be in the next update, though.
Damola: Okay? I accept that.
Damola: A lot?
Gonger: I think the pushup bug alone is imporant enough to justify a new release, but that's my opinion only.
Damola: Gonger, I agree.
>Thosor nods at Gonger.
Gonger: Especially with Talad complaining about not enough outside visibility of PlaneShift... The pushups will chase away many newbies.
Uadjet: Well, fixes, fishing minigame, terraforming, bait crafting, and more.
Anysu: Rid of push ups be great. And look forward to more plants.
Uadjet: On Christmas I won't be granting 100 levels to skills or anything, but you can expect little treats to be available.
Anysu: Yeah treats
Mohonin: ahh nice
Gonger: 10 levels, maybe?
Damola: Haha, Gonger negotiating.
Damola: But yeah, we have been attending all or almost all of your events?
Damola looks towards Uadjet sweetly.
Anysu: Nice turn out for the Dev meet!
Mohonin: luckily i didn't feel sleepy today
Uadjet: Let's see... There are skills I haven't used for events in a while.
Uadjet: Oh, and Talad just mentioned in the stream that there will be 28 types of fish.
Thosor: 28 wow, how many plants do we have?
Dentritus: Looks like we need a larger storage or an extra fish entry
Mohonin: we need more category in food ingredients in the NPC storage
Zrak: Wonder if more inventory slots arrives with all these fish?
Resildren: has any thought been given to tabbing the shortcuts yet?, would be nice for the next upgrade?
Mohonin: can you keep containers with something in it
Uadjet: Maybe fish need their own category, yeah.
Mohonin: as i have the experience that only empty containers can be stored or traded
Resildren: makes the gift box kind of useless
Damola: But I just have too much crazy stuff in inventory so I need to put things into containers. I have no intention to use them for anything else than making Damola carry more things around than she otherwise could.
Uadjet: Yeah, there's no way to store a container with items in it, as all stored items get sorted into categories automatically.
Damola: Resildren, true for gift box.
Damola: But a complete container can be dropped.
Damola: I hope I can pick it up and all my fine tools are in it still.
Damola: Well? of course. Otherwise you can not drag closets around in guild house when they contain stuff.
Mohonin: Any news of more npc being added to the new cities like delver and homestead and specifically a storage npc in these new cities?
Uadjet: I'm not sure if small towns will get storage NPCs or not.
Mohonin: ok
Damola: Well it does not really prevent it. I just tested it: One can drop non empty containers into the world, pick them up again and all items are still there.
Thosor: or a ptero, a new player without a ride takes forever.
Uadjet: Delver has NPCs, but the few quests they're involved in aren't active yet.
Anysu: My GH is a mess.. stuff half in walls or floating. Not sure how to fix stuff like that.
Damola: I fixed up the stuff in our guild house. There are new buttons to move and rotate stuff.
Uadjet: With the other places - like the newer section of Ova - I'm trying to add NPCs as quests require them, so that they don't just stand there ignoring people.
Gonger: Anysu, ask your local Game Master
Zrak: More storage NPC's would be ideal for new players too. It takes quite a while to be able to carry a lot of weight.
Mohonin: rt clk the stuff and realine it
Uadjet: @Anysu: The transform tool should work, though I don't know how much players can do with unpickupable items.
Dentritus: at least the quest giving the dice set is active in delver
Uadjet: If you want to work on things, I can unlock them temporarily.
Damola: Just like that, Anysu. Can arrange stuff just nicely in PSUnreal.
Damola: Only thing is: No collision detection in guild house.
Damola: Means you cannot sleep *on* a bed.
Damola: In classic PS there was collision detection in guild house.
Uadjet: I can fix that too.
Anysu: I think I tried to move stuff, but do not recall if I succeeded. Been in there only once. Have to check it out again. Lot of stuff that floats do not even know where it was originally
Resildren: can we get an emote of fainting, could be real handy in RP?
Damola: I bet? it may be off in PSUnreal as I remember Uadjet talking that guild houses would just be stuffed at some crazy place as Unreal does not have instances. And to prevent players to build structures to escape their could house to access crazy location.
Thosor: similar to death animation.
Damola: Our guild house was not too bad, but some things needed arranging again.
Uadjet: Well, guild houses do have instances now.
Uadjet: It's weird, now, but the recent events that used guildhouses - the kidnapping ones - were in different instances. Makes decorating weird, as I can't move items across instances, but I can get around that.
Damola: Ah okay? so could collision detection be turned on in guild house?
Damola: I'd like to have it on in Family guild house. All arranged nicely, so no problem there.
Uadjet: Essentially. I just go there and use a "/modify area:items:25 collide true" command, and everything will have collision turned on.
Damola: Thanks for a great dev Q&A.
Uadjet: That is correct. I think we can bring the meeting to a close.
Damola: And thanks for Talad for constantly developing on the game all over the years!
Resildren: and thanks to you guys being here to Q&A
Damola: And finding a new sponsor for the server.
Damola: Have Happy Holidays everyone!
Thosor: merry Xiosia
Zrak: You too
Mohonin: ya definitely greatest Thanks to Talad Sir
Damola: Merry Xiosiasmas.
Mohonin: Merry X-mass to you all
Damola: And thanks to Uadjet for another year of wonderful events!
Damola: I hope you enjoyed them with us, Uadjet.
Damola: And I hope we have not been too difficult
Gonger: Merry Christmas to all, and Peace on Earth.
Damola: Peace On Earth!
Gonger: Hoho, hohoooooo!
Damola: I second this!
Damola: Christmas ale for everyone!
Gonger: As usual, leave the room before quitting (that would be an important fix, too...).

Uadjet: Q&A starting momentarily at the Courthouse in East Hydlaa! Come and hear about the development of the game and ask any questions you might have. If you need a teleport, just ask in Global or send me a /tell.
Resildren: oh and take a peek at the plant book i'm working on
Mohonin: containers cannot be traded/transfered unless its empty
Anysu: Yeah it is hard to trade containers.
Anysu: When you finished book may I have a copy, Resildren?
Resildren: good chance, remind me later
Uadjet: It used to be possible to /give and /take containers, but the last time I tried the contents vanished.
Resildren: it's slow going to get all the directions clear enough to help
Uadjet: Not trying that again!
Anysu: They were
Resildren glance at Uadjet in that case I'm glad it did'nt take
Mohonin: should keep a back up copy in storage of the book
Resildren: oh by the way the purple Orchid stem has been located
Resildren: Thank you Gova
Gova: Happy to help!
Uadjet: Hello and welcome to the Developer's Q&A!
Mohonin: i have some thing to say, just a small matter
Uadjet: Yes?
Mohonin: I have a request... is it possible to get system msg when a pet eats something Like "<Pet name> just ate <food name>". Great thanks in advance to implement this. This is required when i feed more than 1 pet to stop the spamming of "i need food". if the mentioned msg shows up, then i'll know which pets are fed and which are remaining to be fed. Or also with my pet to know wheather someone has taken the food i dropped for it to eat or not and that only my pet has eaten it. Thank you :-))
Uadjet: Well, I can pass that request along to Talad. A pet eating something already produces a sound, so it should be easy to add a system message if Talad likes the idea.
Uadjet: Normally people won't be able to steal the pet's food, as it's being guarded.
Gonger: Considering the real problems we have right now, don't hold your breath while waiting for this to be implemented...
Mohonin: ya Thanks
Uadjet: Yes, it's doable, at least.
Uadjet: So, in the last few weeks Talad has continued to work on the fishing minigame.
Uadjet: We're going to have many different kinds of bait, and the fish models look as good as any I've seen.
Resildren: and that crayfish was amazing
Uadjet: We don't yet have models for the more exotic fish, like mantas and I think lionfish, but Talad has found and edited a crayfish model that we'll be able to use.
Gonger: The crayfish was not really a crayfish, it was a ...what are they called...tloke.
Gonger: Count the legs!
Lytoza: Seeing that giant version behind me in the water was a surprise yesterday!
Mohonin: i saw the baits list once when Talad Sir was streaming the fish work.. so i have 1 question... wud the baits be craftable/cooked like food?
Uadjet: Yeah, I was a tloke yesterday.
Uadjet: On youtube, stream #1327 is about crafting bait.
Mohonin: oh ok thanks
Uadjet: I'll have to look and see which fish is attracted to firelantern poultice.
Anysu: Once you have bait, how do you get it on your pole?
Mohonin: bait in 1 hand and pole in another then /combine
Mohonin: i guess thats how it wud be
Anysu: But we do not combine things in hands.. we use a container or table..
Uadjet: I think so.
Uadjet: See, the baits are made in PS (the test server) so that they can be worked into the crafting system.
Gonger: For repair kits we also do not need a table.
Uadjet: The fishing minigame is currently a stand-alone project, that has yet to be incorporated into PS.
Uadjet: True. It could be set up so that when you examine a fishing pole there's a button that opens a little window in which bait can be placed.
Anysu nods at a button idea
Mohonin: Sir you mentioned, this fishing is implemented in test server, can you give some idea about if we loginto test server wud we will still have our data as in the main server
Uadjet: The test server is really just for development.
Uadjet: I don't even know if it's linked to player accounts.
Mohonin: oh i see
Gonger: Last time I tried it was not linked, but that was some time ago...
Mohonin: gotta try out to see it
Gonger: You can try, Mohonin...
Mohonin: ya Thanks Gonger Sir
Thosor: I don't want a spoiler, but are there any roaming merchants out west?
Uadjet: Yes.
Resildren: more then one?
Thosor: I have seen none in months, was wondering, thanks.
Anysu: I have yet to find them.
Resildren: i do know there is al least one, still trying to run across the other'
Thosor: I remember a male Nolthrir somewhere, but he ran away while I was trading.
Lytoza: Didn't see any in a boat on the water yesterday. >.>
Uadjet: I think two, for the far west. East map section has its own source.
Thosor: In legacy the NPCs would pay attention to you while engaged.
Resildren: the one i found gave the araloth map furthest west
Anysu: The west on my map is quite empty.
Thosor: I wore out some rivnek shoes out there. Do pets scare them off?
Uadjet: They spawn on the roads sometimes.
Mohonin: Anysu, you can get a west map just outside hydlaa west outpost, enter the room on the ground floor
Anysu: I almost fell off a cliff far west as well.
Gova: I ran around the lake repeatedly until I found them.
Thosor: I got stuck in a pit a few days ago, was rescued by Uajet
Thosor: Out west
Anysu: I have that map Mohonin. But the farthest section West is still empty on my map.. need to find those merchants
Mohonin: oh ok, right
Thosor: I saw carpets being stitched over the hole. And signs were erected.
Gonger: Speaking of signs... is there a chance to get these funny portals back?
Uadjet: Which ones?
Gonger: They would be helpful, especially now that all ways have become longer.
Uadjet: Oh, the shortcuts?
Gonger: Like the ones in the forest, teleporting to the Magic Shop, for example.
Anysu: Yeah portals!
Uadjet: I think those were added to avoid problems with zone lines. Since we don't have those anymore...
Thosor: But why? is part of the fun, exploring, and we can earn rides.
Thosor: Let newcomers wear out some boots earning a pet.
Anysu: No I do not like that largeness. It isn't like you can boost endurance running around. And so many large mountains and hills are hard to see or climb.
Gonger: And we still have some zones, like this house. Every time I go out that door, I am turned by 90 degrees to the left.
Resildren: good point I'll give that a try
Mohonin: just a curiosity, how many of you know about the mail system by ptero handelers? its awesome
Thosor: Yes another way to be spammed.
Gonger: The mail system was announced repeatedly, so I think most people would know about it.
Gonger: Not sure about newbies, though...
Gonger: Is it mentioned somewhere? I will check that with a new character.
Resildren: and you can  put the message on your char from the ptero drivers
Uadjet: Maybe the guildhouse is turned 90 degrees to the right.
Gonger: I am not THAT strong.
Anysu: Use mail a lot. It is good when have more than one character to get items back and forth.
Uadjet: Ah, yes. I haven't mentioned the mail in a while.
Uadjet: Okay, here's the pterosaur handler from Gug.
Uadjet: Right-click on him or any other pterosaur handler and there's a mail option.
Uadjet: Looks like an envelope.
Uadjet: Can't miss it.
Mohonin: on player inventory screen also theres a envelop icon which has the mails
Mohonin: only you gotta retrive your mails from the ptero handelers
Uadjet: To send something, go to the Write Mail tab. You can add tria or items at the bottom, and add a message at the top. You will be charged a fee, with a faster delivery costing more.
Mohonin: then read it or get the item attached to it
Gonger: A quick word from the PR team. I have some days off next week, so I will test out the latest changes to the Drykken Plane and give detailed feedback there. I believe that real PR work does not make much sense until the Drykken Plane is in a good state, and the pushup problem is solved. We will lose many newbies to these two problems that would stay otherwise.
Thosor: especially the pushups
>Anysu nods at Gonger.
Anysu: Thanks for checking that Plane, Gonger
Velora: wonder why they used the mining animation for gem enchanting instead of using casting animation.
Uadjet: I know. The casting animation makes more sense.
Gonger: Agreed.
Uadjet: Mail, iirc, shows up in your inventory. Just click on the envelope icon in there.
Anysu: Use chopping for harvesting, Use to swish right and left when harvesting. Now it's up and down an axe sounds.
Gonger: I will bring beer to the DEV meeting when the pushup problem is solved.
Thosor: I will consume it until under her table.
Uadjet: There are farming animations on Mixamo.
Anysu will drink you under the table Thosor
>Anysu lets out a hearty laugh!
Thosor: yours?
Anysu: Sure
>Anysu lets out a hearty laugh!
Anysu grins. Did it before at a Hammerfest.
Gonger: The day when a fenki won the Drinking Contest (was it you, Anysu?) is still remembered in shame among us Stonehammers.
Anysu: Yes Gonger!
Uadjet: That's all the news I have for now. Talad starting working on something called enhanced inputs today, but I was out shopping and running errands so I didn't see it.
Gonger: So Thosor, she for sure can drink you under any table, and certainly under hers!
Anysu: That day was crazy. Anysu was so drunk she climbed the wall and nearly jumped off bieng in such a funk over drink and her life at that time.
Thosor: I woke up under my rivnek at the big banquet, I thought Yorlak had dragged me out of the rain.
Gonger: It was a fun event.
Anysu: aye it was.
Uadjet: Any other questions?
Resildren: has any consideration been made on tabbing the shortcuts?
Thosor: for tabby enkis?
Lytoza: Oh.. so we can have like 200 shortcuts!
Uadjet: I'll bring it up again.
Uadjet: It would be very handy. Even to GM's and Devs.
Resildren: it would def be handy
Resildren: a tab for RP, crafting  Mele, etc
Lytoza: Different languages too used to be helpful
Uadjet: Okay, I think we can wrap things up. Thank you all for coming, and I'll see you at the next meeting in two weeks!
Lytoza: Thank you too!
Resildren: Thanks for the meet, and all you guys do
Anysu: Thank you for update, Uadjet and Gonger.
Gonger: Anysu, if you have event ideas, discuss them with us here, or with Uadjet in private.
Anysu: yup
Gonger: I think Uadjet is always open to ideas. It cannot be easy to come up with new ideas again and again!
Uadjet: Very true!
Anysu nods
Uadjet: And if people are suggesting ideas it's less likely I'll base events off disturbing music videos
Anysu: I'm just going to pick a few locks.
Gonger: Don't forget to leave the room before quitting.