A Land Far Away

STATUS: UP

PWC Download instructons (not optional I'm afraid) are here:
http://www.alandfaraway.org/phpbbforum/ ... hp?t=35778

The gamespy title is:
ALFA 03 Silver Marches Beta

Sometimes the server loads with no title, so Gamespy will list it as Unnamed Server, but the module name will be tsm_jan31.

Password is the default ALFA password.

A Travel Map beta has been introduced, but it's just a fairly plain, if somewhat hilly, 32x32 area to traverse long distances on. It is not decorated. I'm leaving that to Rick and team, *if* they like the Travel Map. I think it's a lot of fun, and would be great if the map received some decoration. You'll encounter the Travel Map as soon as you leave any major area.

I just want to point out that this server has been Rick's for well over 3 months and the work you see is our joint effort.

Final Note: Quests are not yet working. I need to catch up on some other work (Cold Lands in particular) now that the TSM is up.

I'm going to try and login anyway.

Working fine now.

Can anyone log into this to beta test? And if so can we create a test character to do so?

All members are welcome - indeed, encouraged - to log into the TSM Beta. Moreover, as this is not a Live mod, you can make as many test PCs are you desire. Please check out the TSM Forum for further information on the mod and for bug reporting threads.

Down for an hour or two for maintenance and updating a NWNX plugin.

Will post again once it's up.

Thanks to Runestaff and SJ for bug reports.

Back up.

Is this where we post bugs for the server?
I haven't found anything serious really, just minor stuff.

Leevoth and I played on TSM tonight and did some testing -- First let me say to the Dev's --- WOW -- very nice work. Now to the bugs.

1. In HH the quest givers all have no dialogue and just award 246 XP if you click on them. You can do this continuously if you like --unlimited XP -- obviosly needs to be fixed.

2. The merchants in HH and the other town River ...something ... have no dilaogue either -- when you click on them they just open the barter screen.

3. It looks like there is a player faction bug or something. All players logged on seem to be in the same party without joining up for purposes of XP. When Leevoth and I were in separate towns his XP from the quest givers was registering on my PC.

4. The prices on the merchant inventories in the towns seem a bit off in spots -- I purchased a halberd that gives monkey grip as a bonus feat for 1 gold. Should be checked. Also the merchant inventories seem really high powered -- not sure if this is intentional.

5. No resting is allowed anywhere but the inn as far as i tested it. not sure if this was intended.

6. We did the orc mine in the hills above the river town -- everything looked good in there (very nice dungeon area) -- but the lootable corpses did not fade, nor did the loot indicator, after they were looted. Regular corpses did fade. Oh we also tried the orc cave in the hills (the one with the camp in front of it) and the iron gate door to the second level doesn't work -- the one when you first come in -- won't open or bash.

7. There were a few walkmesh issues I noticed here and there but nothing major -- i need to learn the area better before i can really report them. The area outside the keep in HH is a bit narrow -- very nice in terms of atmosphere -- but the walkmesh seemed a bit wiggly in spots -- might have been the wandering NPC's though.

Hope this helps. Its late and all i can think of.

Let me say again --really really beautiful work by the Devs -- love the rocky hills over the River town with the narrow switchbacks and trails --very nicely designed.

I'd suggest maybe looking at posting bugs here somewhere

And welcome to ALFA, oldgray.

Thanks for the report oldgrayrogue.

Yeah, quests (god I hope I wrote it in my first post) are broken until I update them to the new ALFA system. I'm still debating over whether to just rip them all out and start again or go through the conversion process.

I'd recommend any testers grabbing xp the way ogr did however. Just go to HH and get to level 3 and then go and test. Much more fun than running away at every encounter.

That said, if I can fnd the will, I'll get stuck into some broad fixes tomorrow, plus Rick has some surprses in store for tomorrow's update also.

And Rot, I was hoping we could do this on the main forum for a week or so, to advertise that beta testing is back, if that's ok with everyone.

The plan is to rework some exteriors and add them bit by bit as the server is online and test them as we add more content.

The next update will hopefully include a highway area (east of Rivermoot)and two 32X32 areas for Silverwood Forest, which will be a great adventure area for residents of Silverymoon. In Silverwood Forest South there is an ancient castle on a tall rock where I plan an epic dungeon of the scale of the old Daggerford House of Stone. Of course, Silverwood has its trolls

If Indio is willing, bugs will be fixed on the fly, AL's scripts can be tested and bugs fixed there as well. This will be our guineapig server.

As time goes by and we add more content, interiors, quests, NPC's, etc, and things will be tested and tested until we are live!

We plan on using a combination of a travel area for the more remote distant areas and a scale travel area for the closer towns. For example, we hope that there will be a regular road travel from Silverymoon to Rivermoot, and High Hold to Quarryvar, but to more remote areas such as Mithril Hall and Sundabar, a travel area.

Again, a lot of this needs to be tested for size, lag, and feasibility. But this is the current plan.

So we appreciate all testers and their feedback!

This is so exciting, and not just because I'm a builder on 003. Having the server up for beta....getting bug reports...people able to log on at will....can you say "Live"?

My thanks especially to the two newcomers, OGR and Leevoth, for getting on there and working the mod. Welcome to ALFA, indeed, both of you. I know Spider and Runestaff have also logged on. We need more. Download the PWC; take a look at the very near future of ALFA.

Just glad to be part of the team!

It is my pleasure -- thank you all for building it =)

Along those lines if there are any particular areas or items or updates you want tested I am at your service. Please post here or via PM and I will get to work.