Max'ed Out

Sadly, after a few months of continuing frustration and a diminishing amount of patience I'm afraid it's time to finally throw in the towel with regard to MOULa and fan-created content.

Repeated Network Error 6 problems that sadly are not being resolved have basically made MOULa unplayable for me and this naturally has had a deep impact on my enthusiasm. Also, the shift to 3DS Max as a current requirement for the development of fan-created content means that I cannot afford to spend large amounts of time at present creating content that may need extensive conversion or complete rebuilding later on. And purchase of the required software is out of the question too as I just don't have that kind of money to invest.

So, it's all rather negative I'm afraid and not really how I saw this whole thing panning out - sorry about that. I know that the MYST community will continue to thrive and I will be keeping an eye on how MOULa develops and progresses. And who knows? Maybe one day Net6 errors will be a thing of the past and then everyone will truly be able to experience URU.

This ending has now been written.

'Six' Feet Under

Sadly, after waiting so long for the Cavern to be re-opened and then spending a further four days trying connect, it seems I may not be able to visit it after all. I probably don't need to tell you what a huge disappointment that is.



Basically the issue is frequent server disconnections which kick me out after just a few minutes, leaving me with a 'Network error 6' message. I have contacted Cyan Worlds' support about the issue, but they feel that there is nothing they can do to alleviate the problem, so unless something significantly changes server-side then it looks like I won't be linking in.

How this will affect my Age writing in the future I really don't know. I will continue to work on my offline Ages, but if the Community makes a near complete transition to MOULa and the option for creating online content becomes available (along with a new set of writing tools) then my work could well be of little use. I can only hope that the server connection/stability issue will improve.

Good Things Come...

... to those who wait. Exciting news for all, The Cavern is open once again and entrance is FREE! Thank you Cyan for this most wonderful gift.

To gain entrance to The Cavern and experience MO:ULagain, visit www.mystonline.com.

Eh'ko's From The Past

Whilst sorting out the various personal effects to transport to Arceo, the Book of Eh'ko was found. However, there is some disappointing news. The book is in a grave state of disrepair, time and decay having taken a significant toll on it's pages. Fortunately, much of the writing is still legible and although the state of some of the pages leaves them irretrievable, there is enough of the content to make full renewal a possibility.

The restoration of Eh'ko has begun.

And There Was Light

After recently visiting Cass, the converted classroom Age of URU explorer Keith Lord, I was inspirited to search for the book of my first Age. After linking in and finding everything still stable and unchanged, I have re-read my original descriptions of the Age and have begun making a few small changes here and there, elaborating on and refining some of the more naïve passages.

Adopting the Age as a place of sanctuary and retreat will no doubt assist my further study and practice of The Art. In order to remove the sterility of its current designation as Age No.1, I have chosen to name it Arceo (from Latin - to shut up, enclose). It has already proved to be an excellent location to test my concept of the Writer's Lamp and set up and install a Remote Viewer. A variety of personal effects are being brought in slowly to make the Age more homely and suitable for use as a library and study.

Let There Be Light

The matter of Age writing has been on my mind a lot recently and as I too settle down to once again explore the many possibilities of The Art, I have also been thinking of the ancient D'ni and the conditions under which they wrote their Ages. In particular - illumination. It would seem for most creative people their surrounding environment has a direct bearing on their creative output - e.g. natural daylight for the artist, solitude and silence for the writer. I would imagine therefore that the D'ni would aim to practice their Art in an atmosphere that was conducive to concentration and creative description.

Here is my concept of what a traditional Writer's lamp may have looked like, specifically designed to provide soft, subdued and shadowed illumination that fired the Writer's imagination.

Linking In...

Putting It On The Map

It seems this journal has now become more than just a personal record of progress and therefore I would like to provide an update to my wider audience that the writing of Eh'ko is continuing well.

I'm sure it will be understood that although we would all like see continual visual enhancements and additions written into the Age (myself included), there is a lot of work needed behind the scenes in order to stabilise and shape the Age. Therefore, time permitting, the past couple of weeks have mostly been about developing and structuring the backstory behind Eh'ko, putting thought into puzzle design and getting to grips with what may actually lay outside the Age's immediate environs.

A word of thanks at this point to Nek'rahm for contributing some very intriguing ideas and concepts for some of the story behind Eh'ko, many of which I will endeavour to weave into my further writing of the Age.

I complete this update with two things - Firstly, for those keeping a bookmark, just a reminder that this Journal has now changed to: www.hangar34.co.uk/bookofdeux/ and secondly, here's a taster of some of the sorts of notes that I'll be keeping of my visits to the Age: