Mesh333

Last edited by Mesh 28/05/2017 A celebration of my first Month in Ylands! - Alpha 0.3 - Wonderful writing Hi Ylanders! I am really enjoying this game, as a show of appreciation, support and a little thank you, I have documented the first few days of my Ylands life. I have tried to minimalize spoilers so this is in no way a full coverage of all my experiences in game! I have recorded my thoughts both as an in game character and from the real world, you decide which are which! I am not a writer by profession and don't recall writing a story since school (a long time ago!) but I have had a go and enjoyed doing so! I hope you enjoy too! Mesh -------------------- Start of journal page -------------------- Introduction My name is Mesh, I am currently stranded in Ylands, how long I have left here is unknown, how long I have been here is starting to fade, for that reason I attempt to log my experiences in the journal below. I will leave it somewhere for future Ylanders to discover... DAY 1 I awoke to the sound of my personal dronecam 'F12' quietly buzzing behind me, the familiar click, click, as it took photographs was comforting, I have included several images taken by my faithful companion throughout this journal. Like the early morning fog, I rose slowly that first dawn, my eyes gradually adapting to the light, as night turned into day. The sun's rays, now penetrating the remaining mist had started to warm my body and the chill of the night passed like the Moon. I stood alone, on a sea shore, in a strange new Yland. I had many questions, some of them will be answered as this story unfolds and some of them remain a mystery to this day. 'Where was I?', 'How did I get here?', 'Is this location safe?', 'Should I move on or sit and observe?', 'Is it better to move quickly and boldly or move slowly and cautiously?' The biggest question of them all, kept repeating in my mind,'Why was I in my under clothes?'!!! No going back. I must move forward. I recall now how my training in the ARMA(!) bode me well those early dayz(!), I had learnt discipline and self-control, how to keep calm (and smile!) in moments of great danger, how to keep my head on my shoulders, when others around me quite literally lost theirs, many, head shot before the adventure had barely begun. I guess for the hunter(!) this was entertaining but I did not want to fall prey(!) too quickly, so I moved on with quiet confidence, slowly and cautiously. This truly was a new experience for me, never before had I entered the unknown of the Alpha game environment and what I found before me was a very pleasant surprise; visually, (IMO) Ylands is stunning, it is both simple and complex, many simple forms at an individual object level, complement each other beautifully when combined, to produce a complex scenario, imagine a 'cartoon' landscape that stretches on and on into the distance, filled with a multitude of trees and flora, all the beauty that nature has to offer in a simplified, yet convincing manner, this is a format that for me is very pleasing to the eye and I often find myself fully immersed in the environment, probably more now than ever before, as my Spawn Yland has become so 'familiar'. To the left and right of me stretched the coast line, where crystal blue sea met golden sand, scattered with colorful shells, tuffs of grass, shrubs, sticks and stones. In front of me, the ground inclined forming a small hill, flowers and plants of many types rocked gently in the breeze as far as the eye could see, to the top of the hill where trees, again of many different types, obscured what lay beyond. I collected sticks, stones and grass along the beach to the sound of waves softly lapping the sand, I knew the format... back in ARMA we used to play 'a popular mining game' on R&R days, collect as much as you can carry, there 'must be' a use for it, eventually. Sticks, stones, sticks, stones, the day was moving on, the sun had risen to full noon and past without me noticing, sticks, stones... I never saw it coming, didn't hear it and didn’t see any sign of it... I awoke to the sound of waves softly lapping the sand, I looked around me, confused at first, 'What just happened?', I started to focus, the landscape was familiar, yes, there was the Elderberry bush where I collected berries earlier that day, now standing bare, the fruit long since consumed. I knew the format... 'Spawn point'. I had to move on. I retraced my route along the beach, it was obvious this was the way I had passed previously, no sticks or stones! I eventually came upon the site of my 'mishap', how I knew this, because laying in front of me was a pile of sticks, stones and bones, my bones! What kind of Yland was this place! Not wanting to fall foul of the same 'mishap' I collected my sticks and stones and U-turned (nearly(!)), stopping only briefly at my 'Spawn point' to eat some fruit, I travelled further along the beach, gathering all I could carry until nearly overburdened. By this time I noticed the shadows were getting very long, the sun was soon to set, I needed to find somewhere to spend the night. As luck would have it I chanced upon a structure, set slightly back from the beach, what was it? I needed to get closer for a better look... Was it occupied? Would I be safer in there or taking my chances out in the wilderness? I sat, thought, observed and prepared, my inventory by now had become quiet full, (with sticks and stones!), I must be able to craft something useful. I knew the format... choices, I had to make the 'right' choices, use my currently limited resources and knowledge to craft the most useful items. Remembering the chill of the early morning I crafted some basic clothing, it wouldn't get me on the front cover of a fashion magazine but I hoped it would keep me sufficiently warm. Twilight(!) was almost past, I was mindful of the dangers of the dark, the walking dead(!) etc. and wanted to keep them at bay, a camp fire was always a good choice, it would provide warmth, light and hopefully be a deterrent, if that failed I had crafted a basic tool that would double as a weapon. I was ready, I moved forward towards the structure. As I got closer I could see the structure was in fact a small wooden hut, it was a simple square construction, made from wooden planks, there was a door way at each end, but no doors, providing a clear passage from one side to the other, both the adjoining walls had large open windows, giving good all round visibility. I took a deep breath and stepped from the relative safety of my observation position, I was in the clearing between me and my destination... nothing, my second step... nothing, third step, fourth step, I was in, weapon raised ready... nothing! To my relief I found the hut to be free from all life, friend or foe and to my delight the counter tops that served the large window openings were filled with goodies, edibles, tools and seeds. I lit a fire at each end of the hut, just outside each door way, this I hoped would keep any creeper(!) crawlies from entering. By now the outside world was in complete darkness, visibility was zero beyond the limits of the hut, the small flickering glow of my fires the only light to be seen. I was still uneasy, 'Who owned this hut?', 'Where were they?', 'Would they be back and when?' I was contemplating a long restless night when something caught my eye. I reached down and took it, 'Could it really be?', 'Yes.', 'Yes it was!' In my hand I held a copy of one of my all-time favourite books, 'Robinson Crusoe'. Without further thought I sat down, in the crude wooden chair in the middle of the room, opened the front cover and started to read, read the wonderful writing... Robinson Crusoe - Wonderful writing. DAY 2 The night passed without event, I paused my reading periodically to munch down a few berries and before I knew it, the last page was turned, I returned the book to its place on the shelf and strode outside just in time to see the sun rise above the horizon over the sea. Robinson Crusoe had inspired me, I had hope, I had a plan, a mental list of things I must do. Firstly I needed to scout my surrounding area, was there sufficient food to keep me nourished if I stayed here, what dangers were there, could I deal with them and how? I spent the morning carefully exploring, foraging for food and collecting anything potentially useful. I saw rabbits, a goat and possibly a wild pig, I wasn't sure at the time, as he scuttled off into the bushes as I approached. The ambient sound was generally impressive, the gentle lapping of the sea has been mentioned previously but now as I ventured inland, there was the sound of birds, far more than I could see(!) but I knew the potential for them to be there because I saw sea gulls, sitting on the ground, flying and most amusingly 'stuck' in rocks. I was to later discover birds are very important when travelling. What an amazing place this Yland is turning out to be! I was feeling confident, apart from my first day surprise 'mishap', all was going well, frame rate was adequate (given my current pc spec), there were very few apparent bugs, not a single crash and I was feeling good about my experience, this Alpha environment was definitely worth further investigation. With no sign of predators in my immediate area and the owner of the hut nowhere to be found, I was happy that he or she were not about to return any time soon, so I decided I would stay, at least for the time being and set myself up a little base, somewhere to call home. I had plenty of fruit seeds, so I planted some close to my hut, hoping that they would produce a sustainable food source. Next, I considered my safety, the fires seemed to serve me well the night before but I preferred to have a solid wall between myself and the elements. I would need some construction materials, so tools in hand I set off for some lumber. I travelled a little distance from my hut, I figured it would be better to leave the trees around it standing, to provide some protection and concealment. I chose a tree out of a thicket and started to chop. Chop, chop, chop... my basic tool was working well and the tree soon started to fall... 'CRASH!' I hope I can craft ear defenders in the future! The tree lay on the ground, 'What now?' I didn't know this format... Chop, chop, chop... it didn't take me long before I was collecting logs, sticks, seeds and resin, 'Resin?'. Chop, chop, chop... 'LOUD NOISE!' down came the next and another, chop, chop, chop and... I never saw it coming, didn't hear it and didn’t see any sign of it... I awoke to the sound of waves softly lapping the sand, I looked around me, 'Hmmm, now this is familiar!' the beach, the Elderberry bush, the Spawn point! I sat and contemplated, 'What would PSJ, master of soarviving do in this situation?' (!!!) He'd tell a joke, 'What do you call Postman Pat on his day off?'... 'Pat!’ I stood up and set off to where I thought my latest 'mishap' had occurred. Sure enough, amongst the trees I found my belongings and my bones! What are you smiling at? On the way home I thought it would be prudent to place some torches, now that I had the required ingredients. I didn't want to be losing my bearings in the dark, the last 'death by unknown entity' was a close call, the sun was starting to set and I was lucky to find my way. Show me the way to go home. I spent most of that night making torches and storage containers, at first light I placed them around my hut and for good measure I built camp fires all over the surrounding land. DAY 3 With a cooked breakfast in my belly I set about building a simple extension to my hut. I cleared some ground, this took some getting used to, manual labor hadn't really been my thing in the past and I found myself blaming the tools for undesired results! I eventually managed to get the rough shape of what I was looking for and set about building my log walls. There is more to building than what first appears but this journal is not the place for those details, I'll leave them out for another time. Happy with what I'd achieved, my first little construction project, I stood back and let 'F12' take some photos for the record. Small and cozy. Home sweet home. I was feeling very pleased with myself, things were coming along nicely, I had a good supply of food, wood, sticks & stones and an assortment of other not yet useful items! It was time to level up, I got an early night and a grand plan started to form as I drifted off to sleep. It's not fancy but it's clean! The image of my back yard, 'as is' floated through my dreams, interlaced with the 'future', a super-imposed vision, consisting of a large clearing, with workstations, places to craft, do wood work, metal work, embroidery, who knows what else... zzzzzzzz! The power of positive thought. DAY 4 I awoke 'well rested'(!) Sprung out of bed and stuffed some roasted fruit down my neck, 'Hey ho, hey ho, it's off to work I go!' It was a glorious day, the birds were singing, there was a slight breeze in the air swaying the flowers to and fro, I'm not sure if it was my imagination but wasn't that a hint of salt I could smell coming off the sea, which itself was a sight to behold, covered in thousands of dancing sparkles. I set about my work with vigor and enthusiasm, it didn't even seem like work, this was fun! I was having fun! Here in a new world, Alpha at that, 'stranded deep'(!), but carefree, with no pending crysis(!) I was not just being entertained, I was having fun, with no fallout(!). Something special was happening, it was already noticeable, each time I entered Ylands I had a warm fuzzy feeling! As I dug the sand and chipped away at the rocks, I reflected on how I came to be here, was it a series of random coincidences, or a clear path, set by fate, I didn't know, it didn't really matter to me now but for the record I will lay out the set of events preceding my entry into Ylands, just in case, by chance or fate, someone will one day find this journal and wonder whY... ---vvvvvvvvvv--- Rip line ---vvvvvvvvvv--- end of journal page ---vvvvvvvvvv--- --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Missing section of journal... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---vvvvvvvvvv--- Rip line ---vvvvvvvvvv--- start of journal page ---vvvvvvvvvv--- I stood back from my work and waved, I would have stretched but for now it would have to do! I was feeling tired but satisfied, I had no idea at the time if the space I had cleared would be big enough but it was plenty for now. The wooden steps were holding steady, surprising, as I seemed to pull them up more times than I lay them down but I got there, eventually, practice makes perfect! All in a day’s work. Quote, 'Not too shabby.' Joe Robinet(!) I spent the rest of the day doing chores which were to become part of my daily routine, gathering, preparing food, tending my fires and scouting the Yland. I was relaxed, I felt I had made a good start, I tried to keep things simple, in line with the environment I found myself in. What I took from nature I gave back, replanting and replenishing resources as best I could. I didn't know what lay ahead of me but I would be ready for it, I would spend the next few weeks, building workstations, crafting, learning and preparing. Several weeks after arriving in Ylands. Time to reflect and start writing my journal. To be continued... -------------------- End of journal page -------------------- If reproduced or linked please give credit to Mesh 2017. Enjoy! 'Why was I in my under clothes?'!!!

Hi Ylanders! Congrats to all on the promo vid, v nice! I have been doing some testing of the Stylish Sharing pipeline and thought I'd give some feedback, I probably need some clarification on what is / is not currently possible! I have been able to upload a Composition and Scenario (IMHO - confusingly called 'Game' in workshop) that were created from scratch with the editor but have been unable to upload one of my Explore games opened in the editor. Is it possible to share a played Explore map? If so how do we do this? Also, why are the editor options different for a 'Game' edit session, e.g. no terrain tool, no Play option? Here is what I tried, what worked, what didn't and some comments:- Uploading a Scenario (which the workshop calls a game): 1. Open a saved Scenario. 2. I have all the options as when starting a new scenario, e.g. Terrain and Play. 3. I'm happy with my Scenario and choose File>Pack for sharing, IMO This is self explanatory and couldn't be easier! 4. The console gives feedback that the Game is ready to be shared, good. 5. The console tells you where the saved file is, Cool. 6. What it doesn't tell you is that to avoid an overwrite it suffixes the file name with a number, Not so cool! 7. A notification message would be nice and possibly an option to choose the filename... ...pre-populate a suffixed number by default (for those of us that don't read notification messages and just hit return! ) 8. I then tried a couple of File>Save As 's which worked OK but I have the same comment as above about overwriting filenames and... 9. Console feedback, OK. 10. Console feedback, IMO weak. It didn't confirm where or what filename had been saved. 11. Tried another Save As of the same Scene with a different save name. 12. Worked OK. 13. File>Saved As again but this time didn't change the filename which results in the 'automatic' suffixed number to the file name which presents the following to the user next time they open the editor, duplicated files... Trying to upload an Explore Game: 1. Open a game (created in 4.0 Stylish Sharing). 2. Why are the editing tool options different? e.g. No Terrain tools, no Play? 3. File>Pack for sharing... Nothing seemed to happen, I waited, waited and then decided nothing was happening... 4. The same thing happened for File>Save As... nothing seemed to happen after entering a filename and clicking Save... 5. I waited and waited and then assumed nothing was happening and clicked cancel. Behind the scenes, the automatic file suffixing: At some point during the testing my Laptop sprung a leak! Sorry I can't be more specific as to what caused it...

Hi Houp, thanks for your reply. If I understand you correctly, I think it is a shame that 'opened saved games' will not be available to share via the workshop. I think it would be nice to see how other people have developed their Ylands (by walking through them yourself), what structures they have built, crops grown, etc, given only the resources available in game (I do realise people could 'cheat' by using add item cmdline to add assets etc. in-game. But who cares if people enjoy doing that!). I think there maybe 'a missed opportunity' if only 'from scratch' editor created games (scenarios) can be shared in the workshop... an option to upload a game created 'on the fly' as people played would be really good and if you could also 'tweak it' in the editor before sharing even better! Maybe your team could make it possible to simply share the native save game file? (Although I do realise there may be technical issues with this, file size being one of them? I Have played my 1st Yland for a Month and it is now over 20Mb!). What does the in game Options>Share do? On my computer it just opens a Windows Explorer window and highlights the saved game file... which could then be manually emailed, uploaded, whatever... why not make it part of 'official' sharing?! Please do consider my thoughts, think about how popular 'play through' videos are, how cool would it be to play the same game file yourself?! It is not uncommon to find links to download such files for another popular crafting game, on a very popular video website... Why not keep the 'clicks' within Bohemia? Anyway, I wish you all the best whichever direction the game/creator takes you and thanks again, great work.

Nice! Enjoy LA!

No worries, you are welcome. It really wasn't obvious! But easy once you know how!!! I'm looking forward to trying your ships out... have fun!

It's easy once you've been shown how! So here's a quick how to - Editor: How to prepare a composition for upload https://ylands.com/community/topic/1364-editor-how-to-prepare-a-composition-for-upload/ I hope it helps! Mesh

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... Time to light some torches !!!

Hi Ylanders! I've now uploaded the solar clock to the Ylands Workshop. Title: Solar clock and compass, Tags: Solar, Clock, Compass. Enjoy!

Good work A3_ Melle, I'm guessing English is a second language for you, so a big thumbs up from me! I'm sure we will all be 'sleeping with one eye open' when the animal AI update is released! We will not know what animal behaviour to expect... I'm looking forward to it!

Excellent work! I'm going to crib the temporary dock idea! I too like to put a torch on the front of the small boat but it did bob around a lot and make it tricky. Not any more, thanks!

I think a button to 'zoom extents' to the full map boundary would be good. It wouldn't have to reveal undiscovered terrain or sea just show the maximum 'searchable area', this would also give an indication of scale, as any discovered terrain would show at a relative size to the 'play boundary'. (I assume there is currently a limit and the sea doesn't go on to infinity! I haven't tried...) I found using the mouse wheel or keyboard +/- buttons doesn't let me see all of the Ylands I have discovered, I have to pan the map around. I'm sure I've seen the suggestion else where but in support of the idea; the map really needs a 'you are here' marker! I have a technique of zooming all the way in to the map, panning away from where I think I am and then press the 'centre' map button, your character should be somewhere near the centre of your screen, this is not ideal! Other ideas: players able to 'draw' and add 'text' to the map, the most obvious use for me is 'X' marks the spot! Link/embed a map to a letter and vice versa, that would allow v cool journal logs! Cosmetic improvements, like add a North arrow, overlay a co-ordinates grid, 'you are here', etc. How about a journey 'logger'? If the map is in the hot bar and you press button 'start journey' it adds a 'dottet' line as you move, until you press 'stop journey', could have some interesting side effects if not stopped! Oops, that got a bit long, sorry!

Hi Ylanders! I have a question about finding raw materials, iron, cotton, flux, Ylandium etc. Have you managed to find (at least a small quantity) of all the different types of raw materials in each Explore map you have played? I know I am missing at least one type of ore and have found no Ylandium, I think I have visited every Yland (6 total) in my Expore map but have yet to explore every cave system... I shall keep looking but do wonder how others are getting on? Do we know if every material is available to find in each Explore map? Happy exploring!

Thanks for the tips fellow Ylanders! I shall keep exploring, it is very possible I've 'skipped' past some from the sound of it!

Thanks again! Be safe on those seas!

V helpful thanks A3_Melle. If the distribution of resources is currently a bit 'tricky' (as read in the coal thread) I'm going to ask specifically: Where has any one found Salt Petre? I'm fairly sure I have been over all the surface of my Ylands but I haven't found any, it sounds possible I am unlucky and don't have the correct biome spawned... any ideas?

Hi Ylanders, I'm also looking forward to the updates and am intrigued as to what 'Project X' could be! I too hope to share very soon a record of my first Month in Ylands. Have fun Ylanders!

Thanks, I'm loving the 'flexibility' of this game, it is truly a sandbox, it has sparked the imaginative freedom of a child in me!

Hi Ylanders! Does anyone know if it is possible to recreate an existing Explore map as it was in the beginning? I know you can use a 'seed' to create a new Editor map but I don't know of a method to extract the seed from a Yland created Explore map or if it is even possible... Any ideas? In case you are wondering wh'Y': I've spent many hours on a single Explore level and would like to go back in time and try things differently!

Thanks Ane, in that case, I'll look forward to the new start-up options, which is probably 'healthier' than looking backwards anyway!

You could make one as I did using the backwards apostrophe key, left of number 1 on my keyboard (Edit, sorry I said the wrong key before) to display the in game time and place the shells at each hour or if you can wait I'll share it when the 'sharing' update is released. Teaser: The shadow pole needs some special attention!

Yes, the time is correct!

Lol !

That's really funny! Are you sure it's a bug! That's exactly how I remember feeling last time I rode a horse!!!

Hi Ylanders! As I love experimenting in Ylands, I thought it might be fun to start a 'What happens if...' thread, what can you think of trying? Here's one to start us off... What happens if... ...you plant 1000 Oak tree seeds? ... ... ...