Fan Content On Minkata

[Malfhok]

Am I understanding this correctly that we're talking about a "fan nexus" catalog of sorts in the fan-Age library?

Because if that's the case, why not just have multiple terminals? Just like a library has multiple computers for searching, you can have, I don't know, three terminals. You could even make a sort of queue line behind each so that it's obvious that people need to use them one at a time.

[Mac_Fife]

I think you'd then up with both the issue of potential queueing and needing to code up client synchronisation so that each client knows which terminal is in use

[Dot]

As others have said: Why not keep it simple, and retexture the current Nexus to make a new one? Having seen a similar, albeit private, project come to fruition, the time to complete this would probably be a matter of days.

Then the effort can be put into sorting out the coding behind it -- and that is likely to be a huge task.

Little steps are more likely to get done. Grand plans are easier to abandon before they are completed.

[CalumTraveler]

EDIT: Sorry, this came out a bit ramble-y on my part. :(

A simple suggestion by someone who I've been talking to about the multiple nexus usage issue: "Make the hotspot turn off for others when someone is using the terminal." A "one at a time" system, as it were. There's already coding for that: The Relto Library shelf. Nobody else can use it until the person using it links out. Someone on MO brought up the idea that having the nexus keep track of variables would add vault stuff and cause a lot of stuff to keep track of. But that's how the normal nexus works anyways! It doesn't have *ANY* ages available in it beyond the few that are 'City/Public Links' until a flag saying "Link Got!" is triggered! (Or something to that degree anyways.)

And where are we getting the idea that new players are going to see people lining up for the nexus terminals anyways? The idea I laid out for Sevkor in a previous post is to have it "Private but Share-able, an extension of the Relto Library." There wouldn't be a *PUBLIC* instance of the place to begin with. People wouldn't *have* to share the place unless they wanted to, and to be honest, physically making the books accessible is going to be a lot easier than implementing KI invites. {EDIT: Harder? How's that work out? 0-o; Stupid word substitutions.}

Am I understanding this correctly that we're talking about a "fan nexus" catalog of sorts in the fan-Age library?

Yes, the basic idea was that there would be a tower of books, and once we got to a point that the age would have *Lots* of books inside, people would want to use the age to fast-track finding the original book to go to an age once they had *already linked* to that age! The terminal doesn't even need to be active on the age's first release, as I severely doubt that we're going to have *Lots* of books on the place's release (and even then,it'll probably take months or even years to get to the point where we have that many ages), and all the quirks and kinks can be worked out after the age is made and working for the Library function.

We've all been thinking too far ahead at the moment- There aren't even any Nexus-type ages that have been completed in basic modeling yet as far as I'm aware, concepts and ideas *only* are what we right now. We need to take a step back and actually *Make* something tangible. Also: I keep seeing people going on about how "the" nexus needs to be simple, as if there is ever only going to be "THE ONE" Fan Age Nexus/Library.

There *ISN'T* going to be *only* one unless we only *make* "one." There could be three, four, or Ten nexus all designed: all of them doing the same functions, but done in their own styles! People could choose which ones they want to use on different shards if they want to! So if people want to make a simple re-textured nexus, go right ahead, make one! There should have been one made as soon as the suggestion was put up. We *SHOULD* already have people working on coding, not waiting around while everyone else tries to get a location decided. Each and every Nexus Location could use the same base code if the coding work was done first before the models. In an ideal world, we would have everyone already working on things en mass!

You *don't* have to go with my idea for a place, I'm not forcing anyone to. But at the moment, it's the only idea on the table that's been designed for a compromise- Display and Convenience. I don't want Sevkor, if it is made to be the "official" nexus, to be that because it was the only idea made! I want to see more library and Nexus ideas! I want to see people putting those ideas out there! Simple, complex, it doesn't matter! Just get the ideas out there! We've got momentum going, but we're going to stall out if we keep rehashing the same points over without working on those ideas beyond the conception stage. :(

I'm sorry if this came out as ramble-y, but I felt that it needed to be said. We have too many ideas being given right now, and not enough people to work on those ideas.

[JWPlatt]

Yes to all that, underscoring that ideas need to be made into tangible ages, that no efforts are wasted, that no one project needs to wait for other to make a decision before making their own. My only exception is that Nexus code is very unlikely to be sharable among Nexuses other than the low-level basics of linking, and that the coder will need to understand the model and the UI before writing the code.

[Karkadann]

Yes to all that, underscoring that ideas need to be made into tangible ages, that no efforts are wasted, that no one project needs to wait for other to make a decision before making their own. My only exception is that Nexus code is very unlikely to be sharable among Nexuses other than the low-level basics of linking, and that the coder will need to understand the model and the UI before writing the code.

As long as were on the topic of nexus code, do we have some one who can write the nexus code?? or perhaps a fan age library code???

[JWPlatt]

Greetings,

I'll be posting this on MOUla as well.

Adam wrote me that he has "been mentally designing a framework for 'easily' adding fan ages to MOULa that could be used in both the Nexus and a Library. Given that we don't have vault access," he asked if I could find out whether "Cyan can easily create public instances of any arbitrary age in the vault, such as Ae'gura is, or is this something hardwired into the servers?"

Most of the answer is compiled from a discussion with Chogon, but the short answer is that public ages are not hard-wired.

To digress for a moment and cover the basics of adding new content for those unfamiliar with it: The Game server has to have the .sdl and the .age file for each age. The Auth server needs to have the encrypted .sdl (and any new python files) to send to the client. And the file server manifest has to be modified to know what files are to be downloaded/updated. There might be more to it, but that's the basics.

The answer for Adam is that it's dynamic - not hard-wired at configuration or boot time. The age doesn't know whether it is public or private. It is how it is linked to that determines whether it is public or private. This is actually how we got away with making public areas in MQO. That is the reason for all the checks to the vault so the client knows how to link and what GUID to use. So we could plop in an age, including public, and then the python uses the linking rules to determine all. But it can't get to a public age unless that age's GUID is stored somewhere it can get to. If the Vault doesn't know the GUID then it will create a new one, thinking it hasn't been created yet. That's all that magic in the bookshelf and Nexus python code.

In MQO, we added taking a string from the user in the logon dialog to create the same GUID. "MyPlace" would always create the same GUID allowing everyone that types it in to get to the same session. Chogon added this ability to the MOULa source in the 1.902 update to MOULa along with dragosh's Bevin into Hood. So, that might be the easiest way to create a public age that can even be "sharded" sorta speak, Chogon says. No one is currently using the string into GUID anywhere in MOULa yet. It is a linking method that is accessible via python. You can see Chogon's commit comments about it. He calls it a "meta kind of GUID." You put an @ at the front of the GUID specified. He put it in there intending it for fan ages.

[D'Lanor]

But it can't get to a public age unless that age's GUID is stored somewhere it can get to.

I believe that is what Adam wants to know. Can Cyan add records on the fly to the table which stores the public age info?

At some point though Cyan stopped using public ages and replaced them with hard coded GUIDs. Examples of "public" ages with hard coded GUID linking are: Phil's Relto, K'veer and the guild pubs. I suppose one needs to make sure that hard coded GUIDs do not conflict with existing ones when using this new method. Is that the purpose of the meta-GUID?

[Jones]

I would like to add my thoughts about how I would like to see Fan Ages added to MO:ULa.

I like using either the Library approach or a Nexus/Nexuses philosophy depending upon the 'type' of fan creation being added. I think it would be productive to preserve the already familiar convention that the Nexus links us to "places" in the City and around the Cavern, while the Bookshelf (via Linking Books) takes us to the various "Ages".

With this in mind, if a fan-created entity is like an "Age" (i.e. A discrete isolated 'world' probably with puzzles), then it should be reached by a Linking Book. If a fan creation is a new "Place" (like a newly re-opened room/building inside the City, or a newly discovered region of the d'Ni Cavern, then it might be accessed via the/a Nexus.

I have always thought it would be nice for all of the new fan-created Ages (existing now and those to come) to have a Linking Book on a bookshelf in the Library, just like a real-life library. Fan Content Bookshelves could be located in the Library, labeled as such appropriately. The front-plate of each book could list the Age Name, Author, Description, Intro, and anything else the Author wanted people to know about the place before a visitor continued through the linking panel. By using such a Fan Content Bookshelf, the content itself would not necessarily have to be created to "Cyan Standards" for design, artistic merit, or technical ability. Visitors would expect to find all levels of proficiency on such a bookshelf. New Age Creators could just have a good time contributing to Uru and we would all benefit from exploring their work.

Thanks for the opportunity to participate...