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Of Voxel Wipes

So when last we were together, I had mentioned that Dave Georgeson had posted a rather lengthy topic about just how the issues with the voxel wipes and how they fixed it.  Since he urged us to get in and build again, I figured I would finally start to plunk back down some of the stone I was saving up into the design for Temple Belghast once more.  As of last night the above image is roughly where I was at in the creation.  The very basics of the first floor were in place along with a porch in front where I would keep my crafting machinery so that anyone who happened to be wandering by could use it.  I was happy with the progress so far, and while I had run dry on stone again it seemed as though I had a clear plan.

So I decided to take a screenshot and post it on twitter, and then bam moments later @Lemanicus informed me that there was another voxel wipe on the way tonight.  I am so amazingly thankful that they spoke up because I would have lost all that stone once again.  Basically at this point my claim has been voxel wiped five times or so, and each time I have lost a bunch of stone in the process.  This time thankfully I was able to create a template and then suck back up all that stone into my inventory.  Interesting thing of note… if you want to recover a large amount of resources that you have already placed down on your claim, you can select the region and hit control plus X at the same time.  Using the windows cut shortcut sucks up all those resources back into your inventory which thankfully means I have all the mats to rebuild this creation once things stabilize.

At this point I just want a real “all clear” to be sounded.  I am not cross or anything because I knew what I was getting into by playing a game in a super alpha state.  In the meantime I can still manage to gather resources and as of last night I crafted the smooth tool and a tungsten pick.  Since the Legendary pick has spoiled me it is my plan to keep gathering resources until I can craft more picks trying to get another legendary.  The amount of material that the legendary quality pick removes per swing is just insane.  For the time being I can simply clear most of the material with my silversteel pick and then mine out what requires the next tier up afterwards. 

As far as the game goes… right now I would suggest players wait for a bit unless they are prepared for some frustrations.  Don’t get me wrong the game is really amazing, and I am loving every minute of it.  Then again I also loved every minute of the early buggy as shit days of minecraft, so it feels like I have lived through this all before.  Getting in right now is not for everyone, so be warned before you plunk down your money hoping to get in on the ground floor of this new game.  The path to success is often paved with the tears of alpha testers.  One of the funniest things about the voxel wipes is that the props remain in the same place.  I find myself going to The Hollows zone a lot, which is a Tier 2 area on the Liberation server.  One of the nice denizens has created a really great crafting station just off the wizard spire.  When the voxel wipe happens the desert reclaims their plot, but you can still see and use the machines that are now half buried in sand.  Thankfully I have been able to recover every prop I have placed apart from my first set of crafting machines that unceremoniously disappeared on me.

Most Unfortunate Name

This mornings factoid is inspired by my wife as we tried to get to sleep last night and wound up being purred off to slumberland by one of our cats.  I am very much an animal person and always have been.  I have three cats and three ferrets currently, but in the past we have had as many as six cats at one time and an assortment of other animals including two sugar gliders, a guinea pig, a rabbit and an extremely spoiled hamster.  All of our animals have been for the most part rescues minus the guinea pig and hamster.  Even then, we got the guinea pig days before that pet store had a fire in which she would have surely died from smoke inhalation… so in a way we rescued her as well.

I tend to give most of my babies “people” names because they are in fact a member of our family.  Our “furkids” are likely the only children we will ever have, so we tend to treat them as such.  We don’t go to the insane lengths some folks do, but this is definitely their house… and we just happen to share it with them.  Growing up out in the country we didn’t have indoor animals, but instead had what is generally referred to as “barn cats”.  The above baby followed us home Thanksgiving 1999 has has been with us since.  Following my normal pattern I gave her the name of Sascha which I have always thought was a pretty name.  The problem is… that unknown to me my wife who is a school teacher had a student named Sascha as well.  Every now and then there is one of those students that teachers absolutely hate… and for my wife it was Sascha.

So over time she found it harder and harder to call the cat by her real name.  At this point she was so tiny, so much so that she couldn’t even climb the stairs to our second floor.  She has also been an extremely curious cat, getting into everything.  She has figured out how to open pretty much any door that is not locked by pressing up on the bottom of it until the latch gives, additionally she opens the cabinet doors and crawls inside.  So as she was getting older there was a constant refrain of “you little shit!” as we discovered whatever mess she had made.  After awhile this just got shorted and stuck as her name… and from that point on she has been lovingly referred to as “Little Shit”.

I say this is an unfortunate name, because really she is without a doubt the sweetest cat we have ever had.  She is always there to curl up and snuggle and tends to sleep on our pillows at night.  Since she has been with us since five weeks old, since simply doesn’t know that she is not a human as well.  So I am sure she has no clue what her name means, because we always say it in a loving way.  The only time she actually gets referred to by her given name is when we have to take her to the vet, which thankfully is not terribly often.  At this point she is old and set in her ways, but she is one of the most precious animals we have ever had.  At this point however it would just feel wrong to try and name her something other than the moniker she once earned.

NaNoWriMo 16

Been feeling relatively horrible this weekend so I have not be writing as much as I had hoped.  I did roughly 2000 words yesterday and honestly if I can do that this morning I will be “happy enough”.  Both my wife and I have some crud that has made us feel relatively miserable.  Needless to say neither of us have much drive to do anything.  So long as I can keep up with the curve I figure I will be just fine.

As always here is the story so far if you want to catch up, and once again it is all unedited.

16 – The Pack

No matter how hard she tried to push away the thoughts, there was just something about this Merowyn that Kale did not trust.  From the cross looks that she would catch from “the lady” she could tell the feeling was mutual.  She had been tasked by the queen to protect her son, and she still did not really understood why she said yes.  While slightly older than her, Jace seemed so much more naive.  She liked him, he was kind and gentle, but she simply could not picture him as this powerful prince that people make him out to be.

Kale had always felt protective over those weaker than her, she felt honor bound to defend them.  She guessed that she had always considered Jace weaker, and despite trying to see this power all she could see was a scared boy.  He was kind and gentle and all the other things that she was very much not.  She blushed slightly thinking about him, and the blush turned to frustration and embarrassment.  She had not had much experience with boys, at least not kind ones, so I guess it was natural that she was developing a little bit of a crush.

She brushed away the thoughts.  It was certain that he didn’t even notice her, or at least not in that way.  He was focused on the mission ahead and saving his mom, and I guess she would be too if the tables were turned.  She too would focus on the mission, she would protect Jace at all costs.  Then maybe afterwards…  no she couldn’t think like that.  What would he want with a gangly mess like her?  He was a prince after all and she was just a cast off half ort…. part of the thing he is fighting against.  She sped up her pace to get ahead of Jace, Mero and the band of sprites so that they could not see her face and the few tears that had formed.

Once she was at the head of the pack she allowed herself a moment to sniffle slightly.  How did she get herself in this mess?  I guess it was better than living on the streets, not knowing where her next meal would come.  She missed the sun, she missed its warm glow.  Everything in the shadowlands was just that… cast in permanent shadows.  To her left she saw a warm amber glow as Dimcy flitted up and rested on her shoulder.  The little firesprite nestled in against her neck making an almost cooing noise.  The little thing had been extremely good about predicting her emotional state and coming to comfort her.  She was thankful for that, and thankful for her warmth.

She turned to look at the little sprite who had drifted off to sleep suddenly she was struck by a force from her left knocking her over.  She fought hard to get to her feet but something was pushing her down, when she managed to orient herself so she was staring up at the thing she noticed that it was what appeared to be half man half wolf with massive dripping fangs.  From behind her she heard Mero yell “Reavewolves! Ready your arms!”.  She wrestled hard against the powerful shape, never quite able to get any force behind her punches.  The blows seemed to be absorbed by the mass of fur covering every inch of the attackers body.

She was wrenched to the side as a great blow struck the wolf knocking it off of her.  She turned to look and it was Jace.  He had apparently shifted into his armor and transformed his staff and lyre to sword and shield.  It looked as though he had slammed into the wolf with the shield and quite a lot of force behind it.  He reached down offering her a hand up and as she got to her feet he moved off to the right intercepting an oncoming wolf with his shield, bringing down the sword on top of the wolf’s skull causing it to erupt in a spray of red.  She rifled around the ground, finding her pack and pulling out the mirror.

Within moments she had transformed it into the great silver hammer and was charging a wolf that had leapt towards Jace.  She brought the force of the hammer down upon it, and there was a crunching sound which she took to mean she had shattered bone.  The reavewolf let out a mad yelp and turned on her flailing its thick paws trying to slice her with the talons at the tips.  With a backhanded swing she caught the wolf in the jaw sending it sliding into a nearby shroomstalk.  She turned around to watch as the Dobin and his sprites took down another wolf.

Surveying the scene she saw Jace finishing up another two, and Merowyn standing in the middle of all of it doing nothing.  It was as though she was simply watching the events with a bored gaze.  She did not once lift a hand to try and help her, jace or the sprites.  The wolf from treeline was crawling towards her so she brought the force of her hammer down upon its head ending its misery.  As quickly as the fray had started it was over.  None of that made any sense, why would pack of any sort of wolf attack travelers that had a clear number advantage on them.

Jace came running up to Kale frantic.  “Are you okay? Did they wound you?” he said with genuine concern in his voice.  “They seem to have only wounded my pride.  Where did you learn to fight like that?” she remarked because the Jace she had just seen was every bit of the warrior they expected him to be.  He was not nearly the weakling she would have liked to have believed.  Had he not shield slammed that wolf it might have gotten the best of her.  “Uncle Benj made sure I could use a sword.  At the time it made no real sense, but I guess in the end he was training me for this.  The shield… it just seemed to come natural.  I tried out for football one year, and it felt like slamming into a tackling dummy.”

She wondered if they had better keep their weapons out for the rest of the journey.  She took out her own cloak and let it meld onto her as armor.  “Just in case we get attacked by more.”  Jace nodded and he slung the shield onto his pack and slid the sword down in it as well without shifting it back to a stave.  He walked over to Merowyn who was still in the midst of the chaos in touched.  “What were those things?  Why did they attack?” he quizzed.  She sensed he also found it was a little odd that she announced the attack but did nothing.

“Those were reavewolves, what happens to a werewolf when driven mad with hunger.”  The look on her face finally changed to one of concern “They normally live beyond the wall.  Something must be happening to stir them up and get them to face the pain of pushing through the wall.”  She pointed at the fur and finally they noticed it was singed in places with little scarred patches of exposed flesh.  “They were burnt by the wall as they passed through.  The wall was not really sure if they were peaceful for not, so it only partially stopped them from moving across it.”  She began moving forward again “It is surprising to see them this far from the wall however.  I am sure when we reach the wildfae they will be able to explain further.”

Jace this time joined Kale at the head of the pack.  He commented “I want us to be ready together, if they strike again”  She smiled widely, she didn’t care if this meant what she hoped it meant, she was just happy to have him by her side.  Within moments Dimcy had joined them and was flying slow circles around them as though trying to protect them both.  The little fae had said very few words, but her actions always spoke volumes.  It seems as though the firesprite had adopted them both, and Kale was completely fine with this.

They continued walking together like this for several more hours when Dobin buzzed up between them.  “Kale, it is nearly high shadow, the Lady is tired…  I can see it even if she says nothing.  We should stop for the night.”  The little sprite said with deep concern.  “We can make it to the wildfae enclave tomorrow, we are not far now.  There is a cave up ahead, I think we should camp there in case there are more reavewolves to worry about”.  Kale and Jace both nodded in agreement and Dobin buzzed back to the other sprites to tell them the plan.

It did not take them very long at all to reach the cave.  It was dry and had a narrow entrance which would allow for the sprites to guard against anyone approaching.  This would also act as a bottleneck allowing them to defend against anyone in large force.  It felt wierd for her to be thinking like that, but there was a part of her to which it just felt natural.  She could tell that there was war in her blood, and to some extent she understood why her Ort kin craved battle.  She felt the most alive when she was in combat.  When she hit the wolf and she heard its bones shatter, it sent shivers up and down her spine.

She nestled into a corner of the cave, placing her hammer against the wall beside her.  She was surprised at just how tired she was, and she slowly found herself drifting off to sleep.  Throught closed eyes she sensed the presence of another up against the wall beside her.  She felt the others hand wrap around her own and squeeze it tight.  She recognized the hand, it was Jace’s and she wrapped hers around it tightening.  Things were going to be okay, she would be completely happy if she lived in this moment forever.  With these thoughts warming her she drifted off to sleep quickly.

Good morning you happy denizens of the digital landscape… or at least it is morning here as I begin typing up my morning blog post.  There are various sundry reasons that have made me late in getting started this morning… not the least of which is that my wife left the house crazy early this morning for a seminar at her school.  As a result I got up, made her coffee, and then promptly went right back to sleep.  I did not wake up of my own volition until roughly 9:30.  From that point forward I have been dealing with various things around the house.

Rat vs Pump

One of the things I had to deal with was the pool pump.  When I got home from work I pulled into the driveway and upon opening my door there was the most hideous noise.  My brain immediately lept to… god please don’t let it be the air conditioner.  Our AC unit is original to the house, and at this point is over 30 years old.  We had been advised by the air conditioner folks that we should just let it run until it died… because they simply do no make them like that anymore.  So each season I find myself worried about the imminent death of our unit and the insane price tag that will come from replacing it.

As I got closer to the AC unit, I realized that the noise was not in fact coming from it.  I breathed a quick sigh of relief…  that quickly changed as I realized the noise was coming from our back yard.  Sure enough… it was the pool pump letting loose a horrific death shriek.  I turned it off immediately and noticed that the pump pot basket was dry.  First thought was a clog in the skimmer basket at the pool.  Sure enough… it was definitely a clog.  Sitting in the basket was a rat… the likes of which I have never seen in Oklahoma.

Seriously… I had no clue we had rats like this.  Apparently it had tried to get a drink from the pool… fell in and gotten sucked into the skimmer basket.  I always thought rats could swim… or at least you are given that impression from the movies. I dislodged it from the basket which sent it floating out into the pool proper… at which point I retrieved it with a shovel and promptly employed it as a ratapult to sent it sailing over our back fence into the unmanaged green belt behind all the homes.  Going back to the pool pump… I could hear it sizzling… so I brought over the hose and tried my best to cool it off.

I put the hose in the pool and filled it to the brim and later on that evening tried the pump again.  Still making the same death shriek.  Normally on Saturday mornings the pool guys come out, so I called them to warn them of the impending death of the pump motor.  Sure enough after looking it over… they agreed that the pump was well and dead.  They feared that this time however it had likely warped the impeller as well as the motor assembly itself.  So sometime around the beginning of the week they will come out and install a new one.  Here is hoping that we do not lose the war to algae in the meantime.

Service Pack Shuffle

Additionally this morning I decided to work on my wife’s laptop while she was up at school.  We had been behind on patching it, and after windows update failing multiple times on automatically installing service pack 1 I thought I would take a stab at downloading the standalone install and getting that going.  While the 900+ meg download was coming down from Microsoft at a blazing 200kbps I thought I would do some general maintenance as well.  There were a ton of things sitting in the On Start Up section of her registry.  So after a bit of googling on a few of the items… I whittled it down to only a handful of required items.

Finally while sitting there waiting on the pack to install… I decided to set up open hardware monitor.  Essentially for some time that machine has been seemingly underperforming its specifications.  I used it briefly as a gaming machine, prior to getting my Asus g73sw, and it always felt extremely sluggish.  Open cracking open the monitor it seems as though I might have found the problem. 

It looks like the default windows 7 drivers are not taking into account the full processing power of the core 2 duo processor.  So I have the intel drivers sitting waiting to install if the service pack install goes successfully. Here is hoping this will resolve the issues for her.  She has been super frustrated with how sluggish that machine has been acting.  Essentially it is currently only performing at roughly 1.5 ghz where it should be performing at 2.5 ghz.  I figured while I was waiting on the service pack install, that I would come downstairs and knock out a blog post.

Wrapping Up

Last night was another NDA test for me… so I really do not have a lot of gaming related news to share.  However I have heard rumor that participation in any future stress tests for this certain NDA bound game… greatly increase your chances of getting into “other” activities.  That’s about all I can say on that, but if anyone is reading this… and has not been participating in the “break the server” nights… I highly suggest that you start doing so.  My allergies are still going crazy, so here is hoping that we get some rain to wash out the air.  I hope you all have a great weekend… and I hope when I get back upstairs that service pack 1 has installed nicely.