backpack on my back

This post was originally published on my regular real life blog as “Back to the cavern…”

I recently rebuilt my Uru blog with the intention of getting back in there and maybe doing some fan age exploring, maybe even some “age writing” of my own. Hmm…. Well, here’s the thing. There just aren’t enough fan ages to keep me interested at present. And while I got half the Uru Live ages to work thanks to Andy Legate’s “Drizzle”, how much can you do even with fly mode in a pod age or an age that consists of one small canyon worked in different ways. Minkata was the only large new age and it refuses to work for me offline, so, there’s just not much to do.

(Andy Legate’s book room nexus, “Drizzle” - click to see larger versions)

Whilyam made a quite nice age called “Maw” which I did manage to enjoy, for a while, until it became apparent that I was going to have to use fly mode just to get around in there because I am a horrible Uru jumper.

(KI shot of “Maw” - click to see larger version)

I am happy to say I got through Robert the Rebuilder’s Ahra Pahts Shell 111 finally. That was an adventure! I really enjoyed the puzzle there. It made you think hard but turned out to really be kind of simple. Basically the way all good puzzle ages should be.

(Ahra Pahts, Shell 111 - click to see larger version)

But then there are other things hindering my enjoyment of Uru too. I can’t get Hypersnap to take screenshots of it anymore. Where it worked perfectly on my old Compaq, it refuses to work on my Dell and the obvious reason is twofold. One, I’m using (and loving) Windows Vista, and two, Hypersnap has just recently been upgraded and I would have to step backwards I think, and install an older version in order for it to work for Uru anyway. I’m not willing to do that, so no more screenshots via Hypersnap for Uru. It works for everything else, no problem at all. It’s just Uru I’m having issues with. Oh well. In any case, for now the KI images will work okay as nothing major is going on. And that leads me into my next area of complaint.

Blender. Blender is the the most impossible thing for me to learn. I just can’t figure out how to do the most basic of things in it. I wish with all my heart that someone out there would develop an export plugin for Moray that would export to Blender and ease my pain, because I can create anything in Moray, easily and quickly because I used it for so many years. I miss it so much right now. It’s installed, but it doesn’t like VIsta and it hasn’t been updated in so long since being given to the Povray community that I’m starting to wonder if it will ever see the light of day again. Meanwhile I’ve been banging my head on my screen, trying to figure out how to use this impossible Blender thing. I have three tutorials open and I still can’t figure out all the things I need to learn. Of course, it doesn’t help that Max is home so much more thanks to the summer vacation and all and there’s so much outside crap going on. (Doctor’s appointments, shots, eyes examined, Marjorie’s college stuff, Max’s hours cut at SEC, etc.) I feel like if I had a few days, lots of quiet and a 800 page manual with a comprehensive index I might actually be able to figure out how to make the basics for the age I want to make. In the meantime, I work for a little while, help Max, work for a little more, help Max or Ian, answer the phone, go outside with Max for an hour, come back in, make lunch, open the program and have to go help Max, etc. Eventually I always give up and go play one of my Big Fish games again. *sigh* Oh well…

Now, should I post this again in my Uru blog? Oh, why not. And I’ll add links and pictures tomorrow.* Too tired tonight.

*Done.

I made this background using a photo of an old book I have.  It’s actually a really old copy (circa 1930’s) of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” that my Mom gave me a while back.  (She’s a librarian.  We always get a ton of books from her.  Librarians hate to throw away old books and we hate to throw away anything so you can imagine the book collection in this house.  We have thousands of them probably.  We love books!)  The book has lovely ragged edges so I thought it would make a nice Uru journal.  Inside I had to modify a blank page to use as the background because the pages are so thin you can see the text and artwork on the other side.

Here’s a couple of scans (reduced of course) to show what I was working with:

(click the pictures to see a larger version)

(Aren’t the raggedy edges cool?)  Anyway, I think I’m happy with this format for now.  (I just found this same book for sale on Ebay!)

Now if only my Hypersnap would take screenshots of Uru again.  For some reason the new version completely refuses to comply.  I’ll have to email the creator of Hypersnap and ask if he’ll help me get it to work again.  In the meantime I’m off to take some fresh KI shots, Max permitting….

I am heavily modifying an existing theme because I just hated the results I was coming up with without help.  I don’t understand why CSS has to be so complicated on most Wordpress themes.  I was reworking one that I got from the Wordpress theme generator, but it was just a nightmare trying to get it to do what I wanted.

At least the background graphic turned out okay!  I made it myself using an old book I have. 

More fixing to come tomorrow.  It’s 2am and I gotta get some sleep.

I’m in the process of rebuilding this blog.  Please bear with the mess.  This current look is modified from an existing theme.  I prefer building my own theme so I’m off to do some work.  Be back soon!

After the announcement that the DRC could no longer find funding for us to enter the cavern and are about to close the doors again, I ventured back into one of my dustier volumes and returned to my old Relto. To my complete surprise, there was a new book just sitting there on the shelf. I have no idea how it got there. Ian hadn’t been in a while either so he hadn’t found it and left it there.

Being the act now and later think type of explorer that I am, I, of course, placed my hand on the linking panel and then found myself in a fairly modern city with the feel of a brand new shopping mall. There are dozens of these “shop areas” known as “shells” reserved for future development and it’s my understanding that this is such a new age that these shells are being written even as I write this entry. This is one of the first major projects put together by the Guilds. In fact as I did some research on the age’s name “Ahra Pahts” via Google, I found Maintainer’s Guild and Writers’ Guild log entries and forum discussions on the subject.

I had my camera with me, but like a little kid at the zoo the first time all I wanted to do was run around from place to place. There’s quite a few interesting things about the place, for instance the water channels running along the sidewalk/streets, the central pillar area surrounded by water, what appears to be a water control dam or reservoir in one centralized area, etc. It should be even more interesting as the Writers begin filling up the shells.

One shell is full however and has quite a perplexing puzzler on the front door. Being an Uru explorer means never leaving any button unpressed or knob unturned you know, so of course, I gave it a go. And of course, it is booby trapped and zapped me to Gahreesen and Teledahn and New Mexico and Kadish, etc. as I stare up frozen at the giant red letters flashing above the control box stating “BEGONE!” And of course, I still haven’t gotten in. So, I found some Maintainers and the Writer of the shell and they are giving me hints as to how to get in. No luck yet though…

click to see larger version