2.31 Client and Server Update
Release Notes
Tuesday, August 21
Tip Jar
Tip Jar system was requested on the previous Top 10 list! With this new feature we have provided a means for Zone Owners and Event Hosts to collect therebucks outside of the event management system. Drop it in your zone or event. Own your own Tipjar with only 12,000T's. Have fun and start saving.
Buy it here: http://webapps.prod.there.com/catalog/product?category=1000000628
Features: Drop Donation Box in zone that you have decorate privs (your own zone or a zone where you are hosting an event). Donation box ownership cannot be transferred to another avatar, but you can Lend it to another avatar or Return it to There for a refund.
· You can drop the Tip Jar in any zone that you can decorate.
· The donator and the Tip Jar owner must both have upgraded Premium Membership.
· Only the owner will be able to view the donation history, or empty the Tip Jar.
Known Issue:
1. We are polishing the Tip Jar History page. We will release the Tip Jars into There when we are comfortable that it is working properly.
2. Currently there is no way of identifying who is the owner of a Tip Jar. Our engineers are working to resolve this issue.
Customizable Buggies
We've added a new Developer Item - The Customizable Car. With this new functionality members of our Developer Program will be able to design custom Wheels, Bumpers and Paint Jobs to go with our new Custom SUV model. The new Custom SUV behaves much like our current Buggy, with the added feature of having customizable parts which can we swapped in and out of it. The Custom SUV also has 4 engine types which can be swapped in and out; they are the Default Engine, SUV Engine 1, SUV Engine 2 and SUV Engine 3 (listed slowest to fastest).
Currently only the Custom SUV Bumper, Paint Jobs and Wheels are Developer Program items. The SUV Chassis is the only chassis for this initial release, with more to follow in future releases. When you purchase a Custom SUV from the shops (link here perhaps?) it will come with the default Bumpers, Engine, Paint Job and Wheels - you will not have to buy them individually. The Custom SUV also has it's own class for racing.
You also have the ability to sell SUVs you've customized with Developer Parts in the There Auctions. Prepping a Custom SUV for sale in the Auctions will "bake" the parts you currently have mounted on it, into the SUV permanently. These "baked in" parts will be considered the default set for the Custom SUV you are selling. Thus the person who purchases your Custom SUV from the Auctions will have the SUV as you prepped it for sale, as their default SUV - which they can then swap parts on and off of as they please. However when returning their SUV to its default state, their default SUV will always be as you prepped it for sale. Also parts which are part of a Prepped SUV will not show up in the purchaser's inventory when other parts are applied to the car - just like the original default SUV parts do not show up in your inventory when you add parts to the default SUV model.
But where is it?
As we have stated all along, the customizable parts for the buggy will be developer items. We concluded that it didn't make sense to release the base model until the developer models were released. In the meantime we will clean up the catalog so that there are no error pages.
How to use the Customizable Vehicle:
Attaching and Removing Parts from your Custom SUV:
Via the There User Menu:
1) You must be in the Custom SUV to apply or remove parts
2) Click on "My Things" in the There User Menu
3) Find the part you wish to mount in your inventory and mouse over it
4) The part's sub-menu will come up
5) Select "Use on this vehicle"
- the part will be mounted to your Custom SUV
To remove the part you can follow the same instruction as above and select the "Remove from this vehicle" option, or you can mount a similar part. If you mount a part (say a set of wheels) and then mount another part of the same type (a different set of wheels); the original part you mounted will be removed and the new one will be mounted in its place.
Via the There Organizer:
1) You must be in the Custom SUV to apply or remove parts
2) Click on "My Things" in the There User Menu.
3) Select "Organize..." from the list - the There Organizer will come up.
4) Find the part you wish to mount in the Organizer and click on it.
5) A "Use" button will appear in the lower right hand corner of the Organizer.
6) Click on the "Use" button
- the part will be mounted to your Custom SUV
To remove the part you can follow the same instruction as above and select the "Remove" button (which will appear like the "Use" button), or you can mount a similar part. If you mount a part (say a set of wheels) and then mount another part of the same type (a different set of wheels); the original part you mounted will be removed and the new one will be mounted in its place.
Prepping a Custom SUV for Sale in the Auctions:
Via the There User Menu:
1) You do not need to be in the Custom SUV to prep it for sale
2) Click on "My Things" in the There User Menu
3) Find the Custom SUV you wish to prep for sale in your inventory and mouse over it
4) The SUV's sub-menu will come up
5) Select "Prep For Sale"
6) A dialog will come up informing you that this is a permanent / irreversible step - proceed only if you are sure you wish to prep the Custom SUV as you currently have it configured.
7) Select "Yes" in the warning dialog if you wish to proceed. Once you do this all the parts mounted to the SUV will be removed from your Inventory permanently - you will need to repurchase them if you wish to use them on another vehicle.
8) Your SUV is now prepped for sale in the Auctions and all the mounted parts are "baked" in as your SUV's default parts.
- You can now list your Custom SUV as you would any other item in the Auctions.
Via the Custom SUV's Action Tag:
1) You do not need to be in the Custom SUV to prep it for sale
2) Mouse over the Custom SUV's Action Tag.
3) Select "Prep For Sale"
4) A dialog will come up informing you that this is a permanent / irreversible step - proceed only if you're sure you wish to prep the Custom SUV as you currently have it configured.
5) Select "Yes" in the warning dialog if you wish to proceed. Once you do this all the parts mounted to the SUV will be removed from your Inventory permanently - you will need to repurchase them if you wish to use them on another vehicle.
6) Your SUV is now prepped for sale in the Auctions and all the mounted parts are "baked" in as your SUV's default parts.
- You can now list your Custom SUV as you would any other item in the Auctions.
Lockable Vehicles
After discussions with Community and Customer Service we have made a change to the way Lockable Vehicles work in There. With the new configuration, vehicles will only be locked or lockable when they are in a zone controlled by the vehicle's owner. This means that you can lock vehicles in a zone that you rent or are hosting in.
Note: This does not change what vehicles are lockable. If you have a vehicle purchased prior to the introduction of locking, it will still not lock. We have not yet extended the locking to developer vehicles.
Developer Workshop Zone
As long requested by our developing community, we have created a tool for builders to test models and textures before submitting them to be approved.
The Workshop Zone can be found in the Test Items section of the Catalog, and is restricted to members of the developer program. http://webapps.prod.there.com/catalog/product?category=1000000402 The workshop zone comes in the same sizes as a Portazone or Lot.
How it works:
1. It drops like a portazone.
2. The test objects will show up in "My Gear" under 'Nobjects' for Non-object.
3. Set zone to 'Show Decorate Tags'
4. Click on the action tag option to 'Change Assets'
5. Click Browse to select a .model file from your hard drive
6. Click Update to load the model
7. Click Textures to select a material to update.
8. On the new window, select the material you wish to update on the drop box and then click Edit Material. You can configure all the materials in a model, but you can only edit and update one at a time.
9. On the new material window that pops up, fill in all the material settings you wish to use and click Update to apply them to your model. This process can be repeated for all the materials on a model.
- Only .dds, .jpg, and .png files are supported.
- This may not be immediately obvious, but you can continue to update the number values (for animations) by clicking in the textbox for the value and typing.
10. "Reload All Assets" from the This Place Menu should reload everything around you. Any changes you made to used model or texture files used will show up after you reload. It takes a few seconds because all the assets (models and textures) around you are being reloaded on your client.
11. "Reset All Overrides" from the This Place Menu should clear all your asset override settings. This is useful for when you want to start over with your testing, or just encounter a seemingly unrecoverable error.
12. "Diphy On/Off" from the This Place Menu will toggle server physics corrections on your avatar.
- If you are having trouble dropping items in front of you in your Workshop Zone, it's because the server thinks you are standing somewhere else.
- Turn Diphy On, walk over to the area that you want to drop on, and drop the item.
- After that, you can turn diphy off and test model collisions.
Your model and texture overrides should be on display in your zone, and only visible to you on your own client.
Please note that putting models with the inappropriate amount of seat nodes on nobjects can result in unexpected behavior.
Known Issues:
Dropping a model that is very different in size from the nobjects is known to be a little off.
Smarter Asset Downloads
We have added 2 methods of better asset downloading to improve your experience in There, especially as a new member or after a new client install.
Priority Based Download - We have made changes to the download code so that it downloads models (which is the frame for the texture) first. The result is that you will not spend minutes falling, or rubber banding against something you can't see, because your client will load the collisions quickly, and then the textures once the models have all been downloaded. Additionally, if you teleport to another location, your client will start downloading the assets in your new location rather than continuing to download the assets where you were.
Anticipatory Download - We have added the ability to automatically download scene assets to your client. When your client is not busy downloading new assets for objects close to you, it will check the system to see if there are any new scenes to download. This should improve member's experience, especially new members, by downloading the assets for popular areas before teleporting there.
Download Queue HotKey - Press CTRL-SHIFT-Q to turn on the Download Queue Monitor. This queue shows what assets are currently downloading and how many assets are pending.
Here is a list of the asset types that download to the client in order:
- model - The frame on which the textures are applied
- bubl - A collection of blocks (models)
- glob - A placed set of blocks (Zephyr is built with a bubl/glob set)
- skute - A model that bends with a skeleton
- ts - There script - Usually configuration information, but may have functionality (such as the rules of a spades game)
- aconf - Animob configuration
- agsc - Skute configuration
- emotion - A collection of animations, expressions, moodicons, and sounds
- animation - Skeleton based animation (i.e., body movements)
- expression - Morph based animation (i.e., facial movements)
- dds - Texture file
Better Camera Controls
We have added a new functionality to our default User Camera - not to be confused with the "User Cam" control panel (Ctrl-U). The new User Camera Controls only work when in Standard View and not in vehicles, chat props and such, or when in "Default Action Mode".
Zooming in and out:
1) If your Mouse has a Mouse Wheel you can zoom the camera in and out with your Mouse Wheel.
- This functionality also works in "Body View" as well
- This functionality is always active in "Standard View" and "Body View" you do not need to hold down any keys to make it active.
- Track Ball Mice do not support this functionality with the Track Ball - a Track Ball is not the same as a Mouse Wheel.
Moving the Camera:
1) Hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys
2) Move the Mouse - the placement of the camera will be moved
- Note this is different from holding Ctrl and moving the mouse. Ctrl-Mouse moves the direction you Avatar is looking and the camera will follow this. Ctrl-Shift-Mouse physically moves the location of the Camera in relation to your Avatar.
- The camera will stay in the position - relative to your Avatar - which you left it in. So as you walk around the camera will follow you from it's new position.
Reseting the Camera:
1) Click on "Views" in the There User Menu.
2) You will see none of the views has a check mark next to it.
3) Click on the view you'd like to reset too (ie Standard View)
4) The view will reset and you will now have a check mark next to the view you chose in the Views User Menu.
Adjustable Screen Resolution
We've now added the functionality to switch your Client resolution and preferred Renderer, while in the Client. You can switch "on the fly" to any resolution which your display can support while running the Client. Changing the Renderer (DX or OGL) will necessitate a relaunch of the Client. The "Settings Manager" Control Panel is setup so that you will not have resolutions selectable, which your Monitor / Display card will not support.
Note for Dual Monitor setups:
For Dual Monitor setups, the Client Resolution selections, which will be available to you; will be based off the compatible resolutions for the monitor you *first* launched the client too. So if you launch to a monitor which has a higher resolution setting that your secondary monitor; it is possible to drag the Client in Windowed Mode to the "smaller" 2nd monitor and set the Client Resolution to a higher resolution that the your 2nd monitor will support.
Opening the "Setting Manager" Control Panel:
1) Click on "There" in the There User Menu.
2) Select "Customize" in the menu.
3) Select "Toolbars and Tips" in the menu.
4) Select "Settings Manager" in the Menu - the "Settings Manager" Control Panel will be displayed in the Client window.
Closing the "Setting Manager" Control Panel:
1) To close the "Setting Manager" Control Panel simply click on the "Close" button in the lower right hand corner of the "Settings Manager" Control Panel.
Changing Client Resolutions with the "Setting Manager" Control Panel:
1) With the "Settings Manager" Control Panel open.
2) Find the resolution in the list you wish to run your Client at.
3) Click on the Resolution you wish.
4) Your Client will resize to the resolution you chose.
Note: If you launch the Client Full Screen to the same resolution as your Windows Desktop Resolution, it will be Task Switched and minimized to the Windows Task Bar when the There Browser Window opens up. Simply click on it in the Task Bar and the Client will resume Full Screen.
Note: If you launch the Client Full Screen to the same resolution as your Windows Desktop Resolution and then select a lower Client Resolution; switching the Client to Windowed Mode will resize your Windows Desktop Resolution to the same resolution as the Client. Thus your Windowed Mode Client will appear full screen in a window. To fix this simply go Full Screen once again and then back. This is a temporary work around until we fix the issue.
Changing Client Renderer (DX, OGL or Default) with the "Setting Manager" Control Panel:
1) With the "Settings Manager" Control Panel open.
2) Find the Renderer in the list you wish to run your Client with.
3) Click on the Renderer you wish to use (DX, OGL or Default - Default being DX)
4) You will be given a message stating "You must restart the client for changes to take effect."
5) Exit the Client.
6) Relaunch the Client - Your Client will launch using the newly selected renderer.
Note: If you choose "Default" the client will display DX when you relaunch - as DX is the "Default" Client renderer
Hand Held Props
Wouldn't it be cool if we had items that you could hold other than drinks? Maybe a rose for Valentine's or a Treat bag for Halloween? We have made changes to the code to allow more flexibility of what can be held and where.
We are not releasing any new products at this time, but we are excited that the ability to create action-less hand-held items now exists!
Newly Released Auction Items
Today we have made it easier to find newly approved items in the auctions. We have added a tab to the auction listings that shows only items that have been approved within the previous 30 days. This helps not only established designers who have a lot of listings, but also new designers who cannot afford to be a Featured Designer.
2d Teleport page
Before, if you clicked on a teleport link ('visit' is obvious, but some links are less obvious) when not logged into the 3d client, the page wouldn't do anything. With this change the system will let you know why it isn't doing anything. When you are not logged in, or are only logged in to ThereCentral, clicking on a teleport or visit link will result in the page being greyed out and a message reminding you to login to be able to visit the location.
Before contacting CS have you tried:
Login issues
Customer Service receives frequent contacts from members who are having problems logging in to There. Many of these members do not remember their registered avman names. To help these members, we have added the following functions in addition to 'Forgot Password'.
Login Via Email - You can enter your registered email address and password to login to There.
Forgot Avatar Name - By entering your registered email address we will email you your avatar name.
Cancel Rental Button
We have returned the Cancel Rental button to the Zone Information page. The previous Cancel Rental button would relinquish your rental without any confirmation. This button was removed in 2004, when we did not have the engineering resources to make changes to the functionality. Now, when clicked, you will be asked to confirm that you really want to relinquish the rental before any change is made to the rental.
This Release Brought to you By:
Tip Jar - NullPointer & TheChaz
Customizable Buggies - TheChaz & Samsyn
Lockable Vehicles Limited to Owner's Zone - Samsyn
Developer Workshop Zone - PixelVixen
Smarter Asset Downloads - Skippy
Better Camera Controls - Vertex
Adjustable Screen Resolution - Vertex
Hand Held Props - TheChaz
Newly Released Auction Items - KatKat, xbudex, Skippy
2d Teleport page - xbudex
Login Page Changes - KatKat & EngeeDave
Rent Cancel Page - KatKat & EngeeDave
QA Testing - Light67, Mommm, Kirzten
Landslides, Typhoons & Bad Smells - Skippy
And of course, we couldn't have done it without the support of everyone at Makena:
Administration
Community
Customer Service
Data Warehouse
Engineering
Graphic Design
Marketing
Operations
Product Submissions
Accounts & Billing
Release Updates
