Issue #4, November 2, 1995

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The New World Times

BIG CHANGES TO COME

OBJECT OVERHAUL AND MORE IN THE MAKING

The New World Times has been speaking with Protagonist and Kalak about changes to come in AlphaWorld software, and there are some very interesting developments in the works. Sometime in the near future there will be a major change in the AlphaWorld environment which will incorporate at least some of the following changes:

CONTENTS

(Note that most of these links won't start working until you load more of this page.)

Encroachment Logic Fixed
All encroaching objects destroyed!
Zombie Problem Solved
If you're a Zombie, read this!
About Our World
How big is this world anyway?
Kalak Goes Berserk
Well, it seemed that way for a while anyway.
Under Construction
Towns are being built in the hinterlands.
Classifieds
Ads from our citizens.
Dear Data
A word from the editor.

ENCROACHMENT LOGIC FIXED

ALL ENCROACHING OBJECTS ARE DESTROYED

October 2, 1995

For some time we had problems with people being able to build on top of others' property. Today this problem was fixed, and the ensuing database purge of encroaching objects cause a bit of confusion.

Once the logic was fixed, Protagonist ran a routine to purge any object that was built on an area that had a previous object occupying it. This cleaned up the world quite a bit, but confused some people who had taken the "broken" rules for granted.

For instance, some folks had been building "cooperatively," working together on the same area. Current encroachment logic does not allow for this, but the broken logic did allow it to happen in some places. Unfortunately, the fix did away with many objects in cases like that.

Just to recap for folks who have had trouble...no object may be built on top of (or under) existing objects built by another person. Keep in mind that this means that certain objects whose "footprint" is larger than the object itself cannot even be built near existing objects that belong to other citizens. This includes streetlamps, trees, and other similar objects.

ZOMBIE PROBLEM SOLVED

MANY ALPHAWORLD CITIZENS LEARN TO HEAR

October 20, 1995

This paper has reported in the past that there was a "Plague of Zombies" in AlphaWorld. "Zombies" are citizens who can speak but don't necessarily know it, because they cannot "hear" (i.e., see) people speaking.

This problem has now been fixed. No changes were necessary to the AlphaWorld software, but those who are having this problem should download the WING.ZIP file, unzip it and install it.

You can tell if you have this problem very simply: just type a message and hit END to go to third person. If you see "conveyed" next to the message (this should happen as soon as you hit ENTER), but do not see the message over your head, you're a Zombie.

The problem is associated with Renderware, the rendering engine used in AlphaWorld. Renderware "decides" how to render on your machine based on several factors. Those who have the problem should fit in one of these categories:

If you install WING and still have the problem, please contact Dataman.

KALAK GOES BERSERK

Rebuilds Ground Zero Area

October 13, 1995

Today folks who dropped into Ground Zero got a real treat. Danny "Kalak" Viescas was overhauling the area and was in one of those wild and crazy, zany and playful moods which have (or are about to have) earned him the nickname "Kalak the Furious."

A few citizens were concerned when they dropped in to bare grass at Ground Zero, especially since some of their homes had disintegrated at least partially due to a recent encroachment fix (see related story.)

After a while, things got back to almost-normal and Ron "Protagonist" Britvich took over the landscaping chores downtown. The current scheme (about to be revamped again we hear) is largely the result of Ron's love of waterfalls and gardens.

ABOUT OUR WORLD

Installment #1 of a new series

A lot of us come to AlphaWorld and just start building, or just chatting and hanging out in general, without a whole lot of background information. This may be because the background information is not really available yet, and also because the world changes so rapidly. In this first installment of About Our World, we'll focus on the size of AlphaWorld.

AlphaWorld is made up of "cels" which are each 10 meters square. Presently no object in the world is larger than 10 meters square. The largest object is a piece of street, which is exactly 10 meters in width and breadth. The numbers at the top of your screen (for instance, 10N, 44W) are the count of 10-meter cells from Ground Zero. So if you go from one end of a piece of street to another, the number should change.

To see how large 10 meters is, just click on any piece of street. You'll see that there are two types of street, STREET1.RWX and STREET2.RWX. STREET1 has lines down the middle, STREET2 doesn't...otherwise they are pretty much the same. STREET2 should be used for intersections.

If you have built roads in AlphaWorld, you know that it takes 20 keyboard clicks to move a street to a new location that doesn't overlap the street piece you are copying. This is because when you move objects, the smallest increment is 1/2 meter.

Anyone who has travelled extensively in AlphaWorld knows that it is big. But just how big is it? Presently the world extends from the center in each direction for over 32,000 cells. To be more precise, from "North Pole" to "South Pole" (or from East to West ends of the world) is almost 64K, actually 65,535 cells. Let's do a little simple math and find out how big this place really is:
65,535 cells = 655,350 meters North to South Poles or East to West ends
To get square meters, we multiply 655,350 by itself (square it) and get 429,483,622,500 or over 400 billion square meters.

Since some of use are more familiar with the older "British" measuring system (now mostly used in America), let's do some rough refiguring:
655,350 meters * approx. 3.1 feet/meter / 5,280 feet/mile = approximately 385 miles squared = about 148,000 square miles.

CLASSIFIED ADS

Commercial ad space available here. Eventually we may actually charge for this so get it while it's virtual.

Enigma Announces the Opening of The Adrenaline Vault



Now you can download your favorite 3D Action Games straight from AlphaWorld. Just stop by The Adrenaline Vault located at 6N 0W. Click once on any of the seven monitors to display the name of the game and the size of the file. To download a game just launch and minimize Netscape browser and then double click on a monitor. Games will be updated weekly.

SLEEPY HOLLOW IS LOOKING FOR RESIDENTS

The Township of Sleepy Hollow is open for residents! Enjoy all the comforts of a planned community, including a hotel, fast food and other restaurants, the SLEEPY DOME, a Bowling Alley, and more. You build your own residence within picturesque the Hollow area. To hear more about the future of Sleepy Hollow send email to Sleepy.

ENIGMA'S ART GALLERY IS NOW OPEN

We are still waiting for canvas materials from Kalak, but have found what we consider an acceptable compromise in the small computers that came in version 32. Please stop by and see some of the more outstanding artwork on the Web at 6N, 1E. On your way out please doubleclick on the mailbox and Netscape will set you up to email Enigma, so you can vote for your favorite work of art.

The Best The Net Has to Offer

Forest H. Stroud
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~neuroses
The Consummate Winsock Apps List
http://cwsapps.texas.net
Email to: Forrest H. Stroud

ALPHAWORLD'S FIRST PET STORE

The Pet Gourmet - AlphaWorld's first pet store! We sell puppies, kittens, pet food and supplies. Located at 1S 152W, stop by for a look or to play with our puppies.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

The New World Times has learned that there are a few people busy building fullblown towns in the far reaches of AlphaWorld. These towns are an attempt to provide alternative population centers to our citizens.

Although the builders are not ready to divulge the locations of these towns, they are hurrying to ready them so that when we get teleportation (see article, front page) people will have a choice to build their homes in areas other than the already-congested Ground Zero area.

The New World Times did manage to take a few photos of the new areas. We include those here. We will tell you more about these towns as the information becomes available.

DEAR DATA

This is going to be a short column...I have had a nasty recurrent cold for the last few weeks and have been very late with the paper, cranking it out in record time this issue.

I have also been working on a program to make it easier for people to learn about the new objects and select which one they need for building. Stay tuned, it should be ready for prime time shortly!

One of the next upgrades will features a README file which covers issues such as how to move, speak and build in AlphaWorld, but for now let me answer a few of the most common questions I get by email.

Q: How do I speak to others in AlphaWorld?
A: Just type and hit ENTER!
The big trick here may be that you do NOT click your mouse in the "Message" box at the bottom of the screen. Just type it and hit ENTER. The "Message" prompt should change to "Conveyed."

Q: How do I find land to build on?
A: Take a tour of AlphaWorld. Look around, you'll find plenty of land to build on, more and more of it as you get away from the cluttered Ground Zero area. Remember, the further out you build, the more room you will have to stretch!

Q: Why can't I see others speak?
A: You may need to download the file WING.ZIP. You'll need to use an UNZIP program to unzip the files into a temporary directory, then run the SETUP program in that directory to install WING. See the related story in this issue.