SW City
News
Merry Christmas
AW 5.2 Released
If you haven’t heard already, AW 5.2 was released last week with the major changes being a slight-rework to the GUI and a faster rendering engine. If you want to check out the changes that were made, view the wiki or head on over to the forums to take part in the update “discussion”. Here’s to looking ahead to AW 5.3!
‘Tis the Season to be Gaming
While we continue to wait for ActiveWorlds 5.2 with bated breath… several popular games will be updating/releasing this month, and the Software & Hardware forum has been abuzz with SW’ians coordinating to play together!
Terraria seems to be the big hit, with over 15 people expressing interest so far. You can view all of the current discussions below:
Terraria (Version 1.1 Live – December 1)
* Terraria 1.1 Discussion Thread
* Pricing:
* December 1st STEAM Daily Deal – Terraria for $2.50! (75% off!)
* Standard Price: $10.00
* Advice: Wait for a Steam Sale to purchase… Terraria is on sale often.
* Media: (Patch Notes) (Trailer)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (Preorders Live: December 16, General Release: December 20)
* SW:TOR Discussion Thread
* Preorder Online
* Pricing:
* 30 days game-time included for each edition below
* $59.99 Standard Edition
* $79.99 Deluxe
* $149.99 Collectors Edition
Minecraft (Live)
* Minecraft Discussion – CMM’s Server
* After Hours Minecraft – Sevs & other AW veterans
* Pricing:
* $26.95 on the Minecraft Store
SWI November Content Update
Hey everyone!
The next leg of work involving the Fort Masen Archaeology Questline has been completed. We still haven’t reached the end of the dungeon, but there is a lot of new content to keep diggers occupied for quite a good while! Here’s what we’ve got:
November Changelog
QUESTS: (4)
‘Coaxing Spirits’
* Descritpion: A large Hotep idol is blocking your path to progress deeper into the Keep, and have been tasked to find out what happened.
* Prereq: Completed ‘Opening the Gate’
* Find the spirit within the Masen Keep Commons to begin!
‘Unearthing Statuettes’
‘Unearthing the Bronze Statue’
‘Unearthing Cannons’
* Description: An unlikely friend within the Historical Society is working with the Hyokos to protect their culture, while simultaneously recovering Imperial artifacts to appease the society’s patrons.
* Prereq: Completed ‘Opening the Gate’
* These 3 quests are repeatable
* Speak with the Gray in the Fort Masen Historical Society to begin!
DIGSITES: (2)
Masen Keep Commons
* Just beyond the foreboding doors of Masen Keep lies the Commons, an open space that was once used for trade and commerce. After the siege, the space was converted into a hall of reverence and worship… focused on a massive idol that was placed in front of an old passageway. Many artifacts and personal items of the inhabitants still remain.
* 20 digging nodes
* Two collectible sets, and a handful of other valuable items
* ~20 new items to collect and trade with other players!
Masen Keep Cannons
* The interior cannons were once Fort Masen’s last line of defense, which ultimately proved futile during the Siege. The damaged remains were left as a testament to the Imperial Army’s might, and have been long forgotten on the ledges and rafters that loom over the Commons.
* 6 digging nodes — each node takes a large amount of time credits and stamina
* One collectible set
BUGFIXES:
* Players who completed ‘Opening the Gate’ before November will need to speak with the Gatekeeper at his location in the Commons. Their version of the digging permit was bugged and he will swap them.
* A profile icon is available in the digsite — it was previously in the digging loot table, but that proved to be problematic so it is now a stand-alone, hidden item in the area.
* Several new NPCs were missing an NPC image, and this has been corrected since they went live.
* (Thanks to Comit for helping with many of the bugs, some of which weren’t so much bugs as they were me being dum )
There’s not really a ton left to do in order to get this done… so I may work on this again over Christmas. Until then, this should be plenty to occupy anyone who happens to come across it.
2011 City Audit Reports Gross Negligence
The SW City Government Auditing Board has finished it’s per-decade audit on the city spending budgets, and has revealed some rather alarming trends. Records indicate tens of billions of Flint being spent to implement multiple forms of mass transit infrastructure that is ten fold more than called for with the current population base.
“This monorail line loops all the around the Faldon Desert. Why would anybody go out that way? Ticket sales indicate it is it never even used, which, led to the much alarming fact that there aren’t even any trains for the entire monorail network!” states Jerald D. of the accounting firm.
The report goes on to point out eminent domain payouts to citizens to demolish their buildings in order to replace it with rocks and landscaping. In some instances, entire neighborhoods were plowed over with man-made mountains.
“I used to visit my grandpa in the neighborhood just north of Town Square. But now there’s a bunch of steppes there. It’s like it happened overnight! I don’t even know where my grandpa is! Does he just live underground now?” asks just one of many upset and confused citizens.
In recent years, the report dug up that many of the government workers have not even showed up to work for years at a time, the greatest offender being a Mr. Flint Prestonous whom, due to his seniority perks within the government, alarmingly has the greatest salary.
“He always goes on about needing to ‘feed his birde wife and birde kids’, but I’m pretty sure he has neither, and could probably buy my house out from under me if he felt like it!” says a riled Nimbusian who, up until recently, was a regular tipper of the city greeter.
AW 5.2 Preview Videos
AWI released a few new preview videos of AW 5.2, of which Syntax uploaded over to youtube for your convenience. Check them out!
I predict cataclysmic flooding in poor Alphaworld >
Seiya, Builder Extraordinaire, has passed away
Today the Universe Immigration Officer was updated by AWI to include the following message:
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Seiya ActiveWorlds user since 2005. Our condolences go out to her family.
Seiya was actually an AW user since 2001 and became close to several of our family in the SW’ian tribe and even more of our friends over the years, and it really comes as a shock to all of us that this has happened. We don’t have any more details, but will share them in the comments if they become available.
Until then, you can leave any messages at the following locations, and I think you’ll agree that not only have her building techniques become an indispensible part of our world, but that these sites show beyond a doubt that she’s become loved by many, and will be missed by us all.
http://forums.activeworlds.com/showthread.php?t=16056
Memorial Site in Active Worlds: AW 9801.06N 18783.71E 0.13a 90
On a personal note, I helped her out in those early years since 2001 to deal with some issues she struggled with as well as her rejection at the time by the AW community. We’ve grown distant since then, but I’m already missing her as if we remained close friends. Seiya, I know you’re at peace now, and that is what warms my heart in the midst of our loss. God bless.
You can view her collection of works at her Starbuilds teleport center at AW 2530s 4960w.
AlphaMapper Milestone
Byte has been busy at work on AlphaMapper. Be sure to head on over to the AlphaMapper Blog to see the exciting updates and the first map renders!
Shear & Skew enabled for Alphaworld Builders
Shear and Skew have been enabled in Alphaworld for eager builders. 
Before support by the v4 bot was abruptly dropped earlier this year, builders had become very fond of shear for its unique properties that assisted with landscaping and mathematically-precise building. Hopefully now we’ll see some more of that cropping up again!
V4’s for all in Alphaworld
After how many countless years V4 objects (particles, zones etc) have been enabled in Alphaworld for everyone. Even tourists! Now, about all those other new restricted commands.
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