News, Notes and Ratios

Kris Takahashi News 1 Comment

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One of the things I’ve considered is planning out the blog posts so that every day offers something specific. For instance, Fan Art Friday could’ve been a thing. Then I compared the total number of fan art submissions to the number of weeks in a year, and came to the conclusion I was going to need a hell of a lot more fans.

Japanese fans, probably, but fans of all types will help. Or I could just focus on delivering more content and give everyone more reasons to draw.  I think I’ll do that.

You may have noticed that every trailer to this point has come with a pair of black bars. That’s because the world has an aspect ratio of 16:9 and I’m still using a CRT. I’ve decided then to playtest in window mode, which means no more black bars, gray bars, or handlebar mustaches on the Youtube videos, but only because Inge Six-Fingers’ brother Rollie isn’t lore-friendly.

Inara has also added video walkthroughs for the first three acts of Darkened Steel, which you can find in the sidebar on the right. Like screenshots, I’ll be happy to add any video walkthroughs to the wiki pages and Let’s Plays to the front page if you want to contribute.

I want to eventually add a video carousel similar to the screenshots so somebody get on that widget ASAP.  In return you will receive 4000 Dwarvenbucks as payment.

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This money will likely be redeemable in game after Mazanauch’s armies are defeated and Two-Tails is crowned Emperor of Mundus. Look out for that quest in the near future, and yes, it will be strictly Pay to Win. If you have already killed Two-Tails in your game then I can’t help you, the universe is now doomed why would you do that.

On the volatility front, I would say on a scale of 1 to Bitcoin, Dwarvenbucks are probably a cheese wheel. Which means they could be worth a ton or completely worthless, depending on whether you are in need of a sandwich.

User Roles and Collaborations

Kris Takahashi News 22 Comments

I want to make a post to discuss the user roles on the new website.  The original goal was to give everyone a key to the kingdom. Make you authors, editors, and keymasters of Gozer. Normally that might make the website susceptible to vandals, but that presumes people actually care enough to bother. The mod is a known entity, but it isn’t famous.

The problem wasn’t vandals, but spambots. Hundreds of hundreds of spambots. They go by names like Alfredo Bowers and Vaun Diamond and Zoila5110sxido, names that couldn’t possibly be real (We need more Zoila5110sxido license plates in the Gift Shop. Repeat, we are sold out of Zoila5110sxido license plates). Worse yet, they make posts on the front page about maggots and bees.  Their will is unbreakable because they have no will to break.

Vandals get tired. A spambot never sleeps.

I am still sticking to the plan, of course. You will all be given powers, I just need to confirm your status as a human. While I realize this disqualifies Anduniel, who is clearly some sort of evolved superhuman machine, the rest of you well-mannered waterbags shall be awarded authorships and the like.  Just make a post somewhere on the website while logged in as a subscriber, or ask for a key directly by sending me an email.

This will allow you to make posts to the front page, and edits to the wiki. Author powers will also allow you to make additions to the collaborative script page in the casting call section. Want to write a quest where Zora gets her scars healed? Where you can marry Two-Tails? Make Olivia a follower? Have party banter with your new followers Olivia and Dai-Dar’rakki? Anything you want, you can write.

Consider it a fanfiction playground, save one stark difference. I’ll be notifying the actors and if they are willing, they may lend a voice to your fiction. Myself or another modder may make a patch to turn it into a reality. I might even include some of the lines into the base mod. Basically, this is a way to satisfy every request and desire without altering the canon version.

3DNPC v3.05.5

Kris Takahashi Releases 6 Comments

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All right, it’s Monday, so that means it’s time for another update. This one features the re-introduction of Jeerah-Nur from the island of the mutes. I believe he’s the last one, come to think of it. Now we can sell the island to an evil scientist to create his secret lair of nukes and kittens.

There’s also a ton of new lines for Daenlyn Oakhollow, as well as a new song and a mini-quest involving him and another NPC. And as always, the updates are cumulative, so you only need v3.05 installed for this one to work.

3DNPC v3.05.5 (100MB Zip Download) – REQUIRES v3.05 INSTALLED

New NPCs
• Mithril (Ronja Monto)

Re-Recorded NPCs
• Jerulith (Jessica Osborne)
• Carmella (Elegant Artist)
• Jeerah-Nur (Aranas)

New Songs
• Spring (Ronja Monto)

All Fixes and Tweaks from v3.05
• Increased difficulty by adding reanimated corpses and healing mechanic to Forgotten Lore
• Provided option to turn in Talos worshipers for Immortal Coil
• Fenced In – Morndas asks to meet fence but script referenced wrong quest.
• Immortal Coil – Added wandering, potentially hostile Thalmor patrol in Markarth for first phase of the quest and objective to ensure PC talks to Froa upon retrieving the soul gems. Also added objective to return to Widow’s Watch.
• Froa’s 100+ Post-Quest audio files were not included in 3.05
• Hagravi missing marriage lines added
• Dropped HP of Darkened Steel NPC and added failsafe script to ensure proper outcome
• Ylgyne dismissal was incorrectly conditioned to Meresine being in your group as opposed toYlgyne
• Removed instances of double voices for Larkspur, Duraz, and Yushari
• S’vashni’s minimum level raised to 20

Site News and Notes
One of the reasons I don’t like Nexus is because everything is funneled to a single comment thread. This is ideal for most mods, but hardly for something of this size. What the new website does is compartmentalize everything into specific sections. Here are the main areas we have at the moment.

  • Wiki – I’ve disabled comments here. In the past, people have used these pages to give their thoughts, post screenshots, and report bugs. These should now be taken care of by the forums and Q&A.
  • Blog Posts – This is where regular comments are enabled. They should pertain to the post itself.
  • Forums – The forum section is for discussions. In other words, questions can be asked, but they should be directed toward facilitating a conversation as opposed to things that are better served for the Q&A.
  • The Q&A  – This section is for troubleshooting questions and bug reports. Unsure how to start a quest? Found a typo? This the place to ask your question or search previous inquiries.

Using the Q&A Search Function
The Q&A is there to help build a database and allow users to quickly find the answers to their questions. However, don’t be afraid to just ask a question, even if it’s been asked before. That’s because I’m not entirely clear on how the search function works.  I think it’s better for keywords than complete phrases.

Notice here how the word “robber” immediately pulls up the pertinent question.howdoi3

However, typing the full phrase “How do I get into Robber’s Refuge” does not.

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Even though the term “Robber” is used here, the additional words seem to fool the system. Generally it appears limiting your search to key phrases is the best way to use the search. Ultimately though, it never hurts to just ask the question like it’s never been asked before.

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Advertisements Showing up on the Q&A

Update: They’re gone. Just had to add a little bit of code to the Custom CSS editor as suggested by the DesignWall team. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Hopefully this is just temporary. I’ve begged onto the WordAds beta in order to help feed my addiction to money. The problem is the plugin offers much less control over where the advertisements show up. I don’t think I’m going back to Adsense – it pays worse than a Guangzhou sweatshop – so I’m either going to have to find a new plugin for Q&A or hope DesignWall or WordPress provides a solution.

I don’t see it as that big of an issue at the moment, because hardly anyone uses the Q&A, but I definitely could see problems if the database grows and becomes something people depend on. As always, I appreciate those who’ve whitelisted the site and my hope is that doing so will not come with pain and suffering.