Website Overhaul-age

Did some re-working of the main site. Not sure how much more I'll be doing total, but I think I'll be expanding the Worldmap and Paragons & Patrons sections with subsections as appropriate.

You can for example see several of the P&P upgrades

• The Celestial Hebdomad


• Talisad And The Five Companions


• The Court Of Stars(Not liking the way this one looks truth be told.)

Daily Debriefing

Northern Armsmen is available for testing. It was pretty easy to just take similar .2da entries and tweak values as needed, still it will require admittedly more effort later to go ahead and get all the right feat options in at the right levels.

Right now, the epic feats this class can pick(As class feats) are absolutely strange, but time and effort will change that easily enough. I think I just need to make a -1 into a 21 in a few instances to allow them to be taken as epic class feats but I can't(and won't) pretend to tell anyone I'm sure.

Daily Debriefing

Alright, see the rant below, additionally, World map coding(with both South East, and South West maps added) is finished, although updating/finish maps is still on the 'todo' list, and cropping mini-maps to make web images will take some time and effort, but at least the structure behind it is all present.

You'll probably need to hit F5 to refresh the page(and your browser cache with it). Will probably be doing more later.

110MB Rant

Alright, this is done:
Module

(This will never change, once you have it.. you have it.)



Hak

(This will change frequently, usually with an annotation somewhere that something has changed. I will bump this topic when hak is updated.)

However in the doing of that, I required a beer. For those who don't know, I'm weird, I think drinking and smoking, and other such vices are simply a lack of willpower and a failure to exhibit adult behavior. Essentially, they are the recourse of those who have lead such a shitty life due to their own mismanaged choices that they require such things to continue, and/or experience a bout of happiness.

Be that as it may, 110MB.com made me drink today. To start with, I couldn't upload a .7z file. Understandable I guess, the listed reason is they don't want their site to become an alternative to yousendit.com. Again, understandable I suppose. Seems to me their deliberately avoiding a business opportunity, but that's not my problem.

What is my problem, is that I couldn't upload the 7zip, alright no big deal, I'll upload the 5.01MB file and let them deal with the increased space on their server. Oh Fracking well, they brought it upon themselves. As it completes uploading, I get this lovely little message in my FTP client.

[R] TYPE I
[R] 200 TYPE is now 8-bit binary
[R] PASV
[R] 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,242,99,102,157,145)
[R] Opening data connection IP: 195.242.99.102 PORT: 40337
[R] STOR Black_Book Class Test.mod
[R] 150 Accepted data connection
[R] 550-File too big. Max allowed size is 5120 kb.
[R] 550 Black_Book Class Test.mod won't be saved.
[R] Transfer Failed!
[R] TYPE A
[R] 200 TYPE is now ASCII
[R] PASV
[R] 227 Entering Passive Mode (195,242,99,102,156,74)
[R] Opening data connection IP: 195.242.99.102 PORT: 40010
[R] LIST -al
[R] 150 Accepted data connection
[R] 226-Options: -a -l
[R] 226 4 matches total
[R] List Complete: 263 bytes in 0.47 seconds (0.5 KB/s)
Transfer queue completed
1 File failed to transfer

Ugh. 5120 kb? It was 5.01MB, or 5010kb What in fracking blazes? Vile bastards. Alright, I open it in the toolset, Gut it down, remove a worthless area and upload it again. No problem. 4.88mb is apparently less than 5120, while 5.01 mb is not. What-fracking-ever.

Thinking I had reached a mutually hostile truce with the software, I went to upload the hak BB_Top.hak knowing full damned well it was 1.28mb and would upload.

Ahh, the foolish pride of youth, you see I had forgotten it didn't like some file types, apparently .hak is one of them. I was half way to SevenZipping it when I remembered it didn't like 7zip either. I swore. and started to .Rar it, then I realized .rar also has a good file compression. I swore again, and decided to use .zip.

For those who aren't as technologically savvy as I am, I'll put it in perspective. 7Zip is like using K-Y Jelly when jerking off. Zip, being years older is like using Sandpaper instead.

Not so much in the fact that zip isn't even remotely designed to do the job, it was designed for compression, but in the age of E-tech its outdated by years and outshone by present alternatives. While there is a leisure(as well as a health) aspect of riding a bike when traveling distance, its rarely done with the intent to travel distances, or move cargo a distance with speed.

Those two goals are the core of compressing data. To move it quickly, and in large loads. .Zip is outclassed easily by .rar and .7z just runs circles around it.

Daily Debriefing

More mapping done: Results Here
Web map of course, updated to match.

Daily Debriefing

• Bit more mapping done in the module.


• North East section of the World Map created.


• World Map changed to point to this section as well.

Daily Debriefing

Well, Todays trial has been experimenting towards class changing. I'm slotting out quite a few that will get either full or partial reworking to provide what I believe to be a better overall arrangement. Todays goal was to change the Assassin class on the two primary levels.

1. Changing the 2DA to alter what feat's the class gets/what level they become available at.
2. Changing the TLK (Talk table) to reflect the above changes and display properly in game.

Suffice to say, I've only made one change so far, a Simple one, let's show you the basic assassin:


- Hit Die: d6.
- Proficiencies: Simple Weapons, Light Armor Proficiency.
- Skill Points: 4 + Int Modifier.


Not bad for a start, but I've always disliked one thing about the class.. How most of the cool and strange weapons.. it can't use by default.


- Hit Die: d6.
- Proficiencies: Exotic Weapons, Light Armor Proficiency.
- Skill Points: 4 + Int Modifier.


See the change? Its minor, until it comes to weapon selection. Anyway, I've tried before to tamper with a talk table and met with a level of success that resulted in only a single change: I got a beer, it seemed preferable.

Not so, with the Tabular Framework application I've kicked around in for this latest attempt. It's actually a TLK and 2DA editor in one app, allowing the user to drag around and alter both, with the added convenience of having both open and drag-around-able while tampering.

This is to say you can have both the talk table(only one allowed per module) and all the 2DA's open that you want and you can switch between them, or drag and place them to keep all the data coherent.

Coherent, that's something I'm not at the moment, but its difficult to explain properly how easy this makes it. Suffice to say, I could train my dog to use this program, getting her to work the keyboard may be difficult. However the software is empathetically not the hardware.

This is a rave review from me to be honest, for the simple fact it handles 2 tasks together that are needed to produce changes, and it does it without bells, whistles, or flaming hoops that seem to be listed as 'features' in so much of todays software. To put this in perspective, my Cell phone has a Calculator(1), a calendar(2), an alarm clock(3), a world clock(4), a stopwatch(5), and a notepad(6) build into its software.

I've used the alarm clock once. It did not meet expectations and I've never used it again. Nor were any of the other "features" I listed above used. Their Fucking Junk. Tabular Framework thankfully does the job, does the job well, and does it without Junk.

Daily Debriefing

So, It seems I'm the only one working, or the only one posting updates.. No matter! I've been slacking somewhat lately, but some of my mapping work has been uploaded to the site, so while its still not nearly done.. you can take a look over here to see how the northern mountain range is coming.

On a related note, I may do up a NE section tonight too, and redo the linking for that part too. I also spent some time last night making Patrons and Paragons look a bit nicer. I'll still be kicking it all to Roen when finished so he can ply his hand at being editor, and more pointedly re-authoring it all into a more flowing script. Following that, I'll turn it into a real web page with better formatting and get the hell away from the inline frame its presently using.

I may just be old fashion, but it was pounded into my head when first learning HTML that Frames = BAD. However I confess this page is made possible by an inline frame, so maybe the more I play with it, the less I may cling to that belief. My initial concern lies mostly in targeting it.
{A href="Link_URL"}link{/a}
is how most links are written but the inline frame bit forces me to add another parameter, which I don't really like.

target="" It works, fairly well in fact, but its a pain to have to manually add it to all URL links when making a post.
{A href="Link_URL" target="_blank"}link{/a}

However, let's not forget before I used 3 links in this one post alone already.. Suffice to say, its a cumulative headache as more things need to be referenced.

Daily Debriefing

Trans completed:

• A Row
• B Row
• C Row
• D Row
• E Row
• F Row
• G Row
• H Row
• I Row
• J Row
• K Row
• L Row
• M Row

DONE!

On that note, I took a brief break and came up a fun trap script:

Random save, Random DC, Jumps PC to random location, and hides the map on them. Fun 'eh? I also worked up some AOE traps, but they work less well(there are still bugs, Note the plural form 'bugS'). Spell traps may be next.

I may even take tomorrow off, but eventually I'll clean up A-E and do the Mountains.


Edit: I also did a fair bit of web work today, check the main page.

Daily Debriefing

Trans:

• H Row
• I Row

Some web work completed, Roen also made his first post here, also note on the main page, he's introduced(you may need to F5 to refresh).

The Nightmare Begins!

Due to much prodding, harassment and death threats, yes, I'm finally going to begin posting notes and updates on here as well concerning the storyline and anything relevant to it. As it stands, I haven't really begun on anything solid, save for some brainstorming sessions with the Steel Clad Helpline. Basically, I'm opening up shop in terms of ideas for quests, plots and anything else those contributing to this have bottled up inside those heads of yours. And now, for something mildly amusing, and partially earnest....

(The Greatest Introduction Ever Composed)

I have a dream. A dream where the little posters with rabies might come together to unite under a single flag, one banner. This dream has been built on the emphasis of one person, one semi-divine being, obsessed not only with good, but chasing irritating little goblins around gatherings in Taverns. This dream, this sole person, not only fights for what he sees as truthful, but for loot, for the hope of actually beating his peers in PVP. While he might shout random bursts of "DAMMIT!", live in Bumblefuck (aka, the middle of nowhere), and have himself banned multiple times from a certain forum, his tenacity is truly an inspiration for us all. His name is Amanda! And HE IS IRRITATING!!!

(See I AM CANADIAN! Speech for humor reference... Yeah, yet another cheapshot at Art, but its been a while.)

(End Silliness)

And now, as per the /real/ intro...

This is our Dream. Dreams embody all aspects of what we perceive to desire inwardly of this world... If you could take a dream and shape it, mold it into something real, something that permeates the world and rings true to your designs, you have truly made your mark on existence. For too long time has passed us by, smothering and giving birth to our dreams, repeating an endless cycle. With this introduction, I give you the creation of our dream, one which until now, has only been able to exist in murmurs and whispers... My friends, go forth, and let fate weave your dreams into the fold of existence.

Welcome, to the Black Book.

Black Book/Whateverwe'recallingthisserver Logo
Dare to Dream, Mold Your World.

An NWN Persistant World Community Project



And, that should do it for now. Just something a brewed up in the five minutes I have here. Lates peeps!

Daily Debriefing

Trans Completed:

• Row E
• Row F
• Row G

7/13 Done.

Daily Debriefing

Trans completed:

• A Row
• B Row
• C Row
• D Row

4 Row's down, 9 left. Not bad all in all, even more so as I go over ground I'm taking care to ensure all the edges line up, and heights are maintained consistently. Its a pain, but A-D are my baby, and more to the point, I think I'll be taking over Row E as well to ensure the mountain range mesh's back to land level well. Once I get Row E connected in terms of Trans, then I'll spend probably 4-8 hours going over area's and remapping it all to update on the web-map.



I may go do a few simple area's today, but you can see in particular, I took some time to dress up C10 & C11(Ur'krhurthk). I've also extended the road all the way up and out to B06 where it will lead into the fortress city of A06(Waurhkhathth). But I don't want to get into map making yet when I know C Row is liable to change, and I may change B Row to offer some nice steppe terrain with possibly caves here and there..

Additionally, While I was working on C10 & 11 I thought up a nice little quest to work in there, as you can see on C10 there's a bridge across a lake that leads into the terrain. Its my half cocked notion to have a quest from the cities guard captain(or more likely an LT who doesn't want the job) to send the PC to kill the leader of the Miscellaneous_humanoid_tribe who lives there and return with his head.

The reason being of course, the tribe could easily despoil the supply of fresh water that leads through the town and out into the sea. However, I'm thinking it would be far more interesting if the options were above and beyond a simple killing. Maybe negotiate a truce, or Talk the tribe into serving Prince Mardak.

The possibilities are endless, but it's little things like that which will bring the place to life I think.

Daily Debriefing

Did a few more area trans today. Today in general was a lazy sunday, I'll probably get something more productive done over the weekend.

Daily Debriefing

Tonights accomplishments pretty much consist of this showing here As well as having cleaned up several other pages to likewise display relevant content on the page, rather than placeholders/forwarding setups.

• Forum
• FAQ's
• Story Outline
• Paragons and Patrons
• Blog
  

Doing a similar page for contact us, is also planned, but that's another day. I really didn't feel like tool-setting at all today, and have far to many IRL things to get done. For more of my IRL dysfunctions, feel free to visit my Personal Blog.

For those unfamiliar with the term Debriefing, click it.

So at the moment

I'm working on transitions, more notably the seamless trans system I cooked up.

1. Drawing them takes a fair bit of time
2. Most must be 1 tile in size.
3. 2 makes 1 even more annoying
4. All of that is due to the fact that to make it idiot proof I went ahead and well, idiot proofed it.

What this means is that when a PC enters Trans A on map A, their thrown to the corresponding side on Map B, in the middle of trans B. This is where it gets fun.. What happens is when entering the trans, a variable is set to keep you from using another trans. Its removed, when you enter trans B, instead of Trans B actually moving you.

In the beginning...

Well, its open and up, we'll see if anyone(myself included) ever writes anything here. As you can tell, I'll be using shades of Blue(or just this shade assuming I can get the same one every time). As others join in, we'll see who picks what colors.