Paragon Chat 0.99i Beta!

[Count Vampyro]

I cannot launch the game with any of the costumes that were originally available for purchase once originally released, such as all of the Cybertech, all of the bodysuits, Valkyrie, Witch, Steampunk, All Body Armor, Bio-Luminescence, Circle of Thorns, Justice, and several others.  They can be put on the character in the costume creator, but when the selected "locked" part is added, the "next" option to launch the game goes away.

[FloatingFatMan]

All those parts are unlocked and available, and in regular use by me and many others. How exactly are you launching the program?

[Stitchified]

So, Codewalker, how come you didn't use JSON instead of XMPP for the server used for Paragon Chat? (I'm curious due to being told by tech people that JSON is easier to use than XMPP, and it'd be nice to hear what your thoughts on the subject are)

[FloatingFatMan]

So, Codewalker, how come you didn't use JSON instead of XMPP for the server used for Paragon Chat? (I'm curious due to being told by tech people that JSON is easier to use than XMPP, and it'd be nice to hear what your thoughts on the subject are)

I think you're confused.  JSON is a data format, XMPP is a communications protocol; the two are not even remotely the same.  I suspect you mean JSON and XML, and we've had that convo already. :p  He used XML, because that's the format the XMPP protocol already uses for its message stanza's and it would be silly to fool with what's already there.

[Stitchified]

I think you're confused.  JSON is a data format, XMPP is a communications protocol; the two are not even remotely the same.  I suspect you mean JSON and XML, and we've had that convo already. :p  He used XML, because that's the format the XMPP protocol already uses for its message stanza's and it would be silly to fool with what's already there.

Yeah... I tend to get all of em confused... there's too many main things and then sub things of the main things... Doesn't XMPP have the potentional to be something more than a communications protocol?

[FloatingFatMan]

Yeah... I tend to get all of em confused... there's too many main things and then sub things of the main things... Doesn't XMPP have the potentional to be something more than a communications protocol?

Define more?  XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, it is what it's designed to be.

[Stitchified]

Define more?  XMPP stands for Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol, it is what it's designed to be.

Like, can XMPP ever get past being a communication language? Or will XMPP ALWAYS what it is now?

[FloatingFatMan]

Like, can XMPP ever get past being a communication language? Or will XMPP ALWAYS what it is now?

It is what it's designed to be, a communications protocol. You can extend it to do things like CW has done with Paragon Chat, to include costume and positional data for game characters etc, but it's still a communications protocol. What would you want to turn it into?

[Stitchified]

It is what it's designed to be, a communications protocol. You can extend it to do things like CW has done with Paragon Chat, to include costume and positional data for game characters etc, but it's still a communications protocol. What would you want to turn it into?

I don't want to turn it into anything, it's more akin to that I'm amazed at what CW did with Paragon Chat using XMPP, thus making me curious as to what XMPP can do

[FloatingFatMan]

I don't want to turn it into anything, it's more akin to that I'm amazed at what CW did with Paragon Chat using XMPP, thus making me curious as to what XMPP can do

Well, sure.  It's already been extended to send costume, emote and positional data to everyone in range. Don't get your hopes up for combat though. XMPP is nowhere near fast enough to enable that sort of thing, and CW's already said that's not going to happen.

If you want to know what IS planned, there's a sticky thread for that. :p

[Codewalker]

Patch Notes

Version 0.99b Beta

• The trains are one again running on time, at least inside the station. They won't be stuck in a loop and should be synchronized between clients if your computer clock is accurate.
  
  
• Trams, Ferries, Black Helicopters, Vanguard Teleports, and a bunch of other menu-based travel options now work. The destination lists were manually entered based on the information from Paragon Wiki, so hopefully they're reasonably accurate.
  
  
• Seamless zoning in Praetoria will now send you to the right spot. It should no longer drop you under the bridge or out of the map completely.
  
  
• Basic functionality of waypoint system is now working. It does not guide you through doors, but just points directly at whatever you have selected on the map.
  
  
• Door easter eggs revamped and now work differently. Some are easier to find, some are harder to find. There are a number of new ones. Mutually exclusive messages that don't make sense together no longer appear at the same door. Monorail easter eggs removed now that those are working normally, but another entire category fleshed out substantially.

[FloatingFatMan]

Patch Notes

Version 0.99b Beta

• The trains are one again running on time, at least inside the station. They won't be stuck in a loop and should be synchronized between clients if your computer clock is accurate.
  

There's a train destination for Galaxy City, however it drops you at one of the tunnel entrances rather than the tram station, and the tram station itself doesn't work. Might want to either knock that one off the list, or fix it. ;)

Thanks for all your hard work! :)

[Void Huntress]

Trams, Ferries, Black Helicopters, Vanguard Teleports, and a bunch of other menu-based travel options now work. The destination lists were manually entered based on the information from Paragon Wiki, so hopefully they're reasonably accurate.

Will you be adding TUNNEL at some point?

I mean. The messages are amusing, but they're basically the same kinda thing as the trams, aren't they?

[Codewalker]

There's a train destination for Galaxy City, however it drops you at one of the tunnel entrances rather than the tram station, and the tram station itself doesn't work. Might want to either knock that one off the list, or fix it. ;)

That's a known issue and sort of intentional.

Since one of the primary groups that would have a use for Paragon Chat is roleplayers, and since Galaxy City was a favorite hangout for RPers (especially on the European servers), the goal is to elevate it back to a tier 1 zone. Whether Paragon Chat represents a fixed point in time before it was destroyed, or a parallel timeline where the meteor hit somewhere else and the other events leading up to I24 still happened, the end result is still that it's available as a location.

I had previously done some experiments on the live servers, mostly using the bugged arcane SG porter that got missed, later the long-range teleport exploit. So I knew that the non-echo zone still existed, but the trainer and contact NPCs had been removed, probably to keep missions from accidentally sending you there. With PC my plan was to eventually add those back using the same method as Ascendant and Mender Sally, as special NPCs not present in the map file that the 'server' spawns anyway when the right zone is loaded.

However, upon hooking it up to the monorail, I quickly discovered that the door beacon and spawn point had been removed as well. Those will be a bit more annoying to fix, but not impossible, so I decided to leave it for now since we do have mapmove/mapmenu available. Hence the following comment in the default travel.cfg file:

    # Argh, the spawn location and door beacon for the monorail was
    # deleted from the map. Will have to hack in a hardcoded
    # workaround at some point.

[Codewalker]

Will you be adding TUNNEL at some point?

I mean. The messages are amusing, but they're basically the same kinda thing as the trams, aren't they?

No, TUNNEL is intentionally excluded. Its haphazard implementation annoyed me, and if you want nonsensical immersion-breaking fast travel that entirely disregards established lore, there is /mapmove.

I do have some plans for what to do with the actual TUNNEL portals to give them a useful function down the road, but it's not something that involves travel between zones.

[FloatingFatMan]

That's a known issue and sort of intentional.

Aah, didn't realise they'd deleted the spawn points. No biggies.

As for Galaxy being available again... Well, seeing as the devs never bothered to further the story line after wrecking the place, how about it's now been rebuilt and is open once more? ;)

[Styrj]

I'm all for a rebuilt Galaxy City.  :D

[Nyghtshade]

I recently upgraded my PC to Windows 10, and now with version 0.99b, I can open the Tequila launcher, but when it updates and I click "Play", I cannot get the narrow white Paragon Chat launch window to open.  Help...

[Kelltick]

I recently upgraded my PC to Windows 10, and now with version 0.99b, I can open the Tequila launcher, but when it updates and I click "Play", I cannot get the narrow white Paragon Chat launch window to open.  Help...

1st thing I'd try is to rt-click Tequila and choose "Run as Admin"

[Nyghtshade]

Apparently whatever the problem was, it sorted itself out.  So nice to be able to ride the trams again.  Many, many thanks, Codewalker & Team, for your continuing work on PC.  :-)