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belrathius

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Posts posted by belrathius

  1. Posted

    19 minutes ago, kimbuck said:

    For information... another game i was  looking into had a  similar series of errors.. they stopped  development for  nearly a year while they  re-wrote the  entire  game  for another  engine    ( unreal engine)

    They posted that their initial testing  indicates  a lot  will be fixed  and their  mp  version runs way better.   Maybe  Ylands  might have to stop with the goodies and  new stuff, bite the  bullet and look for an alternative engine that supports their  game..

    Praytell, what game was that?  Could you possibly link to the info you mentioned so that BI can see the whole discussion for themselves?  It may be more compelling than a summarized version.

  3. Posted

    5 hours ago, spiritchaser28 said:

    I am sure many of you have noticed that the colors can vary on certain entities. For instance if you paint a stone block white versus a baroque block using the same variables in colors, they turn out to be completely different shades. Red, Green and blue set at 250 in each color ends up with bright white on baroque blocks, and a light grey on stone. I realize this is to make things seem more organic, but from an artistic point of view it becomes difficult trying to match colors.

    One thing I discovered to help change the coloration of blocks, especially when using the color white, was to alter the brightness.  A low, non-zero level brightens the color without seeming like a light source.  This may help match colors while waiting for a better solution to be implemented.

    • Like 1

  4. Posted · Edited by belrathius

    1 hour ago, mmalik13042007-3c3bdb7d2e8ea76b said:

    i just say okay

    You don't need to respond to everything.  If you have nothing to add of value, just let it go.

    You even resurrected the old Haiku poetry competition that was long over.  Seriously, think about whether what you are saying adds value to the conversation before you reply.  Spam just annoys people.

    Also, please make your replies into one response, not several that screws up the list of recent posts.

    • Like 3

  5. Posted

    I had this issue in the past but discovered that a group of items is seen differently than welded items.  If you can weld the items together, that makes it a single item.  This allows certain actions that even grouped items aren't capable of (as well as reducing the count of something, I don't recall what it was called, which optimizes the item to reduce the performance hit).

    I hope this helps address your issue.

    • Thanks 2

  7. Posted · Edited by belrathius
    improved reference to "it".

    34 minutes ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

    It will be re-enabled in the Editor with 1.4.1.

    Is the "it" in reference to the firearms or the underwater terrain editing?  Presumably, the underwater terrain editing, since crafting is done outside of the editor.

    How does one do underwater terrain editing outside of the editor?  The example given of a ship running aground is not an unusual occurrence, and with the projected exploration expansion in 1.5, it is only going to get worse.  I can appreciate the underwater terrain editing being improved in the editor in 1.4.1 but explorers also need (at a minimum) a way to dislodge ships that have run aground, and ideally a way to expand in-game creation to cross the surface of the water - as is often seen in most piers and docks.

  10. Posted

    7 hours ago, mmalik13042007 said:

    WHEN YOU WILL MAKE FREE IT IMAGINE 5 MILLION BUYS COYNS NOT A BIG DEAL BUT EXPLORATION IS THE GATE TO ENTER BUT IT IS LOCK, THE PLAYERS.ENCOURAGE THEM.BUT THE CREATOR OF THIS GAME DONT LISTEN THEY THINK I M TALKING RUBBISH.BUT WHEN I SAY THIS CAN BE HAPPENED .IN COVID YOU MUST FREE IT PLAYERS WILL COME TO THIS GAME.

    As you say, you are indeed talking rubbish.  The only way that they can make a game free to play is if they put in lots of microtransactions that are often seen as necessary to enjoy the game.  Their existing approach is far more reasonable - free chance to see what the game is capable of in terms of the sandbox, and then a single, one-time price to unlock the full game potential.  While  I may be frustrated with the direction the game has taken in the last year, I definitely feel that their primary business model is correct.  The approach is more customer-centric and customer-friendly than most "free" games that require you to spend more and more money along the way just to have fun with your "free" game.

    Frankly, their coyns have minimal benefit beyond hosting servers; the extra apparel and pets are strictly cosmetic and the game can be enjoyed without them.  Even the blueprints can be ignored so long as you are willing to spend the time and effort to recreate the objects yourself.  As such, coyns are totally optional or reserved for complete game creators who need to run a server.  Relying on them exclusively to support the company would be incredibly stupid, based on the game structure.

    Stop demanding that the main fruits of their labor be free.  Covid is no excuse.  At the end of the day, if you don't like their pricing model, move on.  There are plenty of subpar games out there for "free" that will nickel and dime you to death, eventually costing more than a single, one-time price would have.

    • Thanks 1

  11. Posted

    Actually, Spankin, you presume a great deal.  I have read many of Bojo's posts, and she used to be a very vocal supporter.  If you are only reading the last six, then you don't get the whole picture  Her current attitude is because the game that she once loved (no assumption on that still being true) is not only devolving but seemingly her requests to make it easier for her and others to pay for services goes ignored.  It is bad enough that the game is being pulled in too many directions, a jack of all trades approach and master of none.  It is bad enough that key issues and bugs plague the system at a level that makes the game not worth playing anymore.  Her rant here is the icing on the cake; she is TRYING to give them money and they are making it more difficult than it should be.  What company makes it hard for you to pay for their products or services?  What you are seeing in her posts is not a demeaning and condescending tone, but rather an earned frustration at what used to be great but has veered off course and continues to spiral down in many ways, both in fixing blatant issues and poor design as well as trying to go in too many directions at once.  Veteran players who were enticed by the early game have a right to be as frustrated as she demonstrates, and her very clear logistical issues simply compound her frustrations.  Frankly, her tone is quite tame compared to what is deserved.

    But by all means, decide her character based on only her last 6 posts that focus on logistical flaws that BI has already shown that they could bypass if they wanted to.  I'm sure that is a clear picture of her character.  Perhaps I should base my opinion of you on your one post that clearly shows you to be too lazy and judgemental to be considered reasonable.  Would that be fair?  I think not, but then again, I guess I could be wrong and it could be a fitting description of you.  I think I will wait for more posts (far more than 6 in a short period of time) to make that determination.

    • Thanks 1
    • Upvote 2

  12. Posted

    RedEagle, your original post was well said, and thank you.  It gets frustrating every time I see something that worked gets broken or a new feature implemented that doesn't do what was needed or contribute to the game.

    Ylands team, I'll be honest, I haven't played in quite a while because Explore just seems like the same old grind, nothing that enticing.  Would I come back if it was improved?  You bet.  Would I spend real money?  If and only if you provide value for my payments.  No offense to anyone who does, but why would I ever spend money on renting a server when the player limit is so low and there is no real longevity?  Any community has to be built outside of the game because the server can't support a community on its own.  Longevity is important even at a personal level.  I despise starting over, losing all of my hard work and time invested, which drives me (and likely others) away from community-based games.  If you want people to stay, then give them continuity.  If a server goes down and can't be turned back on, it can only reset, then that becomes a compelling point to move on to something else, which I have done.  I come to the forums only out of hope and seemingly unfounded optimism.  Please, listen to what is being said here by RedEagle and restore our faith in the game.

    • Like 1
    • Upvote 1

  13. Posted

    Yet again, it seems there is movement forward but accompanied by movement backward.  Why not leave the existing workshop web page and just promote using the Play page to find games?  Don't remove something until you have the complete solution to replace it.  Browsing new compositions is way easier on a browser, not to mention that it was functionality that you had but then removed.  Whoever is planning these transitions is banking too heavily on "down the road" and forgetting that people need to remain interested until "down the road" arrives.  As has been seen with Exploration, making the experience worse with plans to improve later often results in a diminishing user base before such improvements are done.

  14. Posted

    Your reference about improvements to the workshop speak about making it easier to find games, but what about compositions?  How do I find new compositions?  I go to Create and I get the dashboard with my creations and my current favorites, but nothing for looking at published compositions that I can browse and find new things to try.  Do you have to be a member of the Creator's Club to even look at stuff whether they are monetized or not?

    • Upvote 1

  15. Posted

    No game is ever truly for free, as no company could ever afford to make a game like that.  If they are touted as "free" rather than have a purchase price, then they have advertising or in-game microtransactions (and ignoring the few deplorable games that charge both ways).  Ylands has (smartly) gone the route of effectively free for creators and a one-time charge for their Exploration mode.  This means that your game experience is not mired in advertising nor does it require that you continually spend small amounts to get added short-term game benefits, as with many "free" games.  While there are additional things that you can purchase with coyns, their BI currency, the items gained are either cosmetic (outfits or pets) or blueprints for things that you can build yourself with time and effort.  So even their extra purchasing options are not meant to be a requirement to enjoying the full game.  Frankly, this is how games SHOULD be.  One clear price so you know what you are paying up-front and not get bled over time for far more without realizing it (which happens far too often with "free" games).  Anyone who expects a game (or anything else) for completely free has no concept of money or how things get produced.  Nothing in this world is ever truly free, someone has to pay somehow.

    And as others have already said to you, please stop using your caps lock.

    • Upvote 2

  16. Posted

    I see that there is still no obvious way to go to "Favorites", to pick from games that you favorited in the Workshop.  Why bother having the workshop for games if people can't see a connection between favoriting a game they found (using the Workshop feature that BI implemented) and getting to it from the actual main menu?  It seems like favoriting a game in the workshop is pointless.

  19. Posted

     
     
     
     
    25 minutes ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

    We have talked about this with the designers and they thought about it before, but dismissed it. There's quite a lot lying around in Ylands and the player would be receiving loads of stuff he didn't want/didn't know was there.

    What if you had to turn it on, meaning it was a choice, and the range was fairly small (same as the right-click range or so).  Furthermore, the dialog box to confirm turning it on also let you pick 3-4 items that it would work with, which would also mean that it wouldn't work with anything else.  This would limit it to things that you expected (like when chopping down trees) but wouldn't include things that were unexpected.  This would also allow you to carefully harvest specific plants while avoiding other stuff, which can be a problem with the current method.  If you wanted it to work with everything, it would take far more time and effort because the player would have to keep going over the same area with different items selected to pick up, but it would definitely reduce the grinding element (not remove, but at least reduce).  It would also make mining somewhat less tedious as well as make it easier to get materials that pop up (e.g. logs and sticks) in difficult to reach areas.

    Overall, the auto-pick up feature would be good, and hopefully the ideas above address the developers' concerns.

  20. Posted · Edited by belrathius

    Actually, this gave me what I think may possibly be a better idea.  How about a standard block series that allows for a custom texture?  You could have like 5 sets, and the maker of the map (or original host of an explorer game) could assign textures to each set as they see fit.  Not only would this overall be less work than creating blocks for each texture requested by users (even though the style requested above is a good one), it would also have the added value for map creators in that they can give their maps a bit of unique personality that other maps don't have.  This could open up considerable potential, and the extra textures would just need to be stored in the unique map rather than creating a long list of additional new textured blocks.  Obviously there would need to be texture maps (images) so creators would know how the texture gets folded / manipulated onto the blocks, but that shouldn't be too hard to provide.  Implementing this would easily allow for the above texture where desired but also allow for additional textures to complement it or replace it as others may want (like for a modern setting).

    Thoughts?

    • Like 1

  21. Posted

    I have a serious problem with the games menu that seems like a huge disconnect that it exists in the first place.  Let's say I'm in the workshop and see a game that I think looks interesting.  I use the favorites feature and mark it as a favorite.  The problem is that when I go to the main menu and select games, there is no listing for my favorites.  You have "Featured", "Top Rated", "New", "Played", "My Local Games", and "All", but nothing to list my favorites that would have the game that I just favorited in the workshop.  This makes the favorite feature seem completely pointless and broken, at least in terms of games (works great for compositions in the editor).  There needs to be a clear, simple, and intuitive means for someone to favorite a game in the workshop and then easily get to it in the games menu - maybe then more people would use the workshop to find games, making the workshop even more worthwhile.

  22. Posted

    11 hours ago, Adam Snellgrove said:

    Not currently but we can look into it ? Could be interesting ?

    In my opinion, the simplest approach is simply to use blocks (standard shapes and sizes) that have a seamless water texture and have a modified collision - meaning entities can enter its space but the collision is detected (allowing for things like splash sounds to be attached, etc when breaking the surface) similar to a barrier area or some such.  Just a thought.

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    Hi guys, I just thought you might want to know that Firefox is indicating that your websites have expired certificates.  I am getting it for both the workshop and the community sites, but based on your site schema and the likelihood of certs all being done simultaneously, you may have more than just the two.  It's no big deal for me, but a more basic user may not know how to get past the security threat blocks that prohibit a user from getting to your sites (at least in Firefox, presumably other browsers also some form of risk management).  Just an FYI, for you to pass on to your web admin team.

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