ThereCare > 2.29 Release Notes

2.29 Release Notes

We are excited to bring you a wide variety of changes to There with today's release.

Event Changes
The Events system was one of the early additions to There. As we work to improve There, we have several projects in progress devoted to improving the event system. We have completed several changes for today's release.

Optional Event System Messages
In response to your requests, we have made several of the 'automatic' system messages optional. They are all defaulted to 'ON', but you can turn them off by going to There -> Customize -> Messages

Hide Event System Messages - Should hide event invite messages and the 'Sorry, your chance to enter <Event Name> at <Event Zone> has expired.' message
Hide Event Summons - Should hide the event summons reminder messages
Hide Zone Owner System Messages - Should prevent 'AvatarX has entered ZoneY' messages
Hide Zone Participant System Messages - Should prevent 'Welcome to ZoneY' messages
Hide Theremail System Messages - Should prevent 'You have received a Theremail' messages
If you are the host of an event you will still get all event related system messages.

Improved Full Text Search
Our next step in improving the Events system is better full text search. We have changed how we store and retrieve the data so that searches for events return much faster. All of the improved Event Browse pages can be reached via 'Browse all Events' link on the Activities page, or via this URL:http://webapps.prod.there.com/eventmgmt/browse

Known issues: The new events browse system is still in beta, so the page design is still being finalized, but the functionality is in this release.

MyEvents
The events page information is being stored and displayed in a format that allows your MyEvent information and event searches to return faster.

a. http://webapps.prod.there.com/eventmgmt/myevents?show=operate (Events I am Hosting)
b. http://webapps.prod.there.com/eventmgmt/myevents?show=invite (Events I have been Invited to)
c. http://webapps.prod.there.com/eventmgmt/myevents?show=attend (Events I am Signed Up For)

MyEvents should show the correct information, but the number of sign-ups shown may not be accurate as that information is from the stored cache.

Known issues:
Currently you can only get to these pages via the links above. MySchedule, and the links from the Activities page still go to the original 'MySchedule' information.

The Events I am Hosting page will not reflect the 'Prep time' for your event. We are working on a fix for this, and will update the system when the fix is verified.

Invites from Ignores
We are currently working on changes to the event invitation system. The change that has been most frequently requested is to prevent invitations from your ignores to cause pop-ups. We are pleased to fix this issue that has been used as a griefing tool in the past.

Video Changes
1. Add the ability to add spacers between videos so that video no longer needs to be ON or OFF.

2. A fix to the Movie Playlists which prevents longer playlists from getting messed up.

Remember, in order to view videos in There you must run your client in DX8 mode. Here are instructions on how to change your client's video rendering mode.

Funzone Changes
New Funzones
After years of being listed as 'Coming Soon,' the There Development Company has begun construction in Saja. We are pleased to announce the release of three new race enabled zones:
Engee Skyway

Light Lanes

Pod Pontius

Existing funzones
In response to your feedback from recent releases, we've made the following changes to existing parts of the world:
Kansas - We've added a sound zone to the island, similar to the one on Comet, so it won't feel vacant any longer.
Hoverboard Park - We've added zone decorate kits to the 3 Hoverboard Park zones to give the owner the ability to personalize the zones.

New emotes
We are always looking for ways to help you express yourself in There. We have added these emotes with today's client:
'point & 'shrug
And the following emotes were added in December to allow everyone ring in the New Year with a splash.
'cheers & 'toast

Recent Changes
We are continuously working to improve There for you. We have released several changes into the world since our last client release in early December.

Data Merge
Our data merge process is another area of our service with a lot of room for improvement. The first phase has been live for a week. The result is that the push process no longer affects performance on the environmental servers. This is a work in process, and while we are quite pleased with the results, there will be more changes until we've got it running smoothly for everyone. TheChaz explains it further in this forum post.

Transaction History
Since the introduction of the Transaction History in September 2003, many of our developers have found that after the middle of the month, they are no longer able to view their transactions. To resolve this issue, we have expanded the number of lines that the transaction history can display. We are also gathering feedback for additional improvements to Transaction History. Please review and add your suggestions to the forum thread.

New Stylemaker & Vehicle Templates
We have been revising the developer submission tools and adding more templates. As a result of these changes, you can customize your world more easily and with more variety. Read about recent developer changes here:

Stylemaker Changes and New Vehicle Templates!

PixelVixen is currently working on better developer tools. You can view the discussion and make comments here.

There Central Page Redesigns
Our 2d team has been working like crazy to update the look of ThereCentral. In addition to continuous content changes, in recent weeks they've released new layouts for ThereCentral, Places, and Activities. There are more changes on the way and we look forward to seeing what you think!

This Release Brought to You By
myIMV - My Events, Events Full Text Search
KatKat - System Messages, Invitations from Ignores fix, Transaction History
Vertex - Video fixes
TheChaz - New Funzones, Funzone Fixes, New Emotes, Data Merge redesign, New Developer Templates
TheChaz, PixelVixen, Sonblock - New Stylemaker
EngeeDave, xbudex, bsquared - Daily ThereCentral updates, and ThereCentral page redesigns
Skippy - Black holes, Avian Flu, Sonic Booms, and spoiled potato salad