http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/ Myst Online - Uru Live - PodHopper's Journals - About Uru Live, Shards, Ages and Portals 20 Apr 2019 17:00:00 GMT http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/img/7116825-102.jpg http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/ http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/conerace podhopper000079 5 Jul 2024 16:00:00 GMT Cone Race is an annual event that takes place in PodHopper's Hood in August each year. This new topic will contain all the information you need to prepare for Cone Race and it also lists the results from previous years. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/chatcommands podhopper000078 19 Apr 2023 11:00:00 GMT The feather commands were updated to include a new feather that was added recently. At the same time, the /look, /get, /go and /fly commands moved to the "Other Commands" section as they clearly are not related to collecting feathers. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000077 23 Dec 2022 19:30:00 GMT The dates on this page and the News Archive are now displayed in local format. This is one of those things I wanted to do from the beginning 5 years ago, but I never got to it. Until now, the dates were always displayed like they are in the usa (mm-dd-yyyy). From now on, dates will be in local format. For most countries this means something like: dd-mm-yyyy. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/naybreeclock podhopper000076 27 Sep 2022 14:00:00 GMT A few weeks ago a new Fan Age arrived in Moula: Eder Naybree. It is a Garden Age like Eder Delin, but without a spiral door. It has however, a day and night cycle much like in Eder Gira. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/eddie podhopper000075 13 Jun 2022 20:00:00 GMT Eddie Competition is an annual event that takes place in PodHopper's Hood in Februari each year. So it will take a while before the next competition takes place. This new topic will contain all the information you need to prepare for Eddie Competition and it also lists the results from previous years. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/installingdeepisland podhopper000074 01 Apr 2022 11:30:00 GMT A minor update aimed at making the installation of the Deep Island Shard for offline use a tiny bit simpler. As it is not absolutely necessary to rename the UruSetup.exe file, I changed the instructions to make renaming optional. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/spiraldoor podhopper000073 04 Dec 2021 14:00:00 GMT During the Net2-era, I started working on the Spiral Door Simulator. It is an online tool for learning the symbols on the Garden Age doors and a training tool for those who want to know how to do a doorrun. It has a help section containing information about the tool itself, as well as information and tips about what to do during a doorrun. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/lakianay podhopper000072 30 Oct 2021 16:30:00 GMT When I was writing the Laki'anay Guide, I left out the explanation for the Giloto Office Door puzzle. At the time, I felt my guide would become too long-winded. However, as the correct solution to the keypad puzzle was not derived from the available clues, I decided that more explaining was needed. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000071 18 Aug 2021 17:30:00 GMT For years the monkey in Negilahn was named incorrectly. I used the name Panuhdoy for it as that was the name the D'ni Zoological Society had given it. In their defence, the only available description of the animals came from the notebook in the museum. As I have stated before, the animals are so poorly described in that notebook, that a mistake like this was apparently unavoidable. The monkey is called Pumi instead of Panuhdoy. That information was revealed only very recently with the disclosure of the "Intangibles" materials. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000070 31 Jul 2021 13:30:00 GMT For many years, 13 was the total number of feathers in Moul(a). Now that new Ages have arrived, new feathers have been added. Currently, there are 16 feathers total in Moul(a). You'll find the feather commands listed under Easter Eggs on the 'Chat Commands & Emotes' page. Another tip was added for pellet bakers: Instant Pellets! This is an old trick that existed for years but it fits well in the category of harder-to-find information. See the 'Hints, Tips & Manuals' page for more info. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/hints podhopper000069 29 Jul 2021 17:30:00 GMT A lot of information is available on the internet about Uru or Moul(a). However, sometimes certain information is hard to find. Among these harder to find things is (for example) the 'Myst Online Manual'. I decided to create a new page where I can put manuals, documents and other bits of information. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000068 18 Jul 2021 18:30:00 GMT Some time ago I had a conversation with another explorer about the emotes listed on my 'Chat Commands & Emotes' page. He said that contrary to what I stated, the emotes were not so self-explaining for people that don't speak english natively. I thought about it and I agree. So I decided to add a description to the list of emotes. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000067 07 Jul 2021 15:30:00 GMT It's been too long since I last updated this website. And there were several things that needed to be updated or that I had started working on. Of all the things I worked on, only my weekly 'Relaxing Session' continued without any interruption. One of the first things on my todo-list was the fact that we no longer have the Magic bots (Magic bot and Mimi bot). These bots were mentioned in two topics: 'Shroomie' and 'Bots For Fun'. These topics have now been updated to reflect this change... http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/loki podhopper000066 09 Jan 2021 13:00:00 GMT This update fixes an issue that only occurred during the change in Daylight Saving Time. A few minor interface improvements were added too. For example, after setting the time, the conversion can also be started by pressing the Enter-key now. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000065 08 Jan 2021 02:00:00 GMT The Eder Gira Clock is updated and is working correctly for all time zones now. :)) http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000064 07 Jan 2021 23:30:00 GMT The Eder Gira Clock seems to have a timezone related issue. Although it is working fine for me, I have received two reports of the time being displayed a few hours off. Both were from a timezone in the USA. Interesting thing is that the portal calculator is working fine for these people. So it looks like I omitted doing something that I did in the portal calculator. The issue is definitely timezone related, so I will look into that aspect as well. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/podcalc/nextportal.html podhopper000063 07 Jan 2021 15:30:00 GMT The Portal Countdown was updated last year to also show how long a portal remains open. However, it actually showed how long a portal is visible. During the last few seconds that a portal is visible it is no longer possible to step through the portal. From now on, the Portal Countdown will show correctly when and how long you can step through the portal. And with that, the portal countdown has all the features that I had planned for it. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/chatcommands podhopper000062 03 Jan 2021 16:30:00 GMT The Easter Egg commands have been added to the 'Chat Commands & Emotes' page. These include the feather commands but also the /roll command. I found a handy PDF file that was made by Tiran (no, I never met him), showing all the chat commands and such on a single page PDF file. Last but not least, I also changed the layout of the page a bit and added a jump-navigator to quickly jump to a chapter further down the page. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/podcalc podhopper000061 02 Jan 2021 16:00:00 GMT The Portal Calculator has a small analog clock in the top right corner. I changed its timings in order to make it use fewer cpu cycles. Not that it was a problem on modern computers, but for older computers the clock could be a bit demanding. I have also added a Pod Age map that was sent to me by Ovaron. It shows more clearly where the 4 pods are located in the Pod Age. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/giraclock podhopper000060 30 December 2020 15:30:00 GMT Eder Gira by day or night, this new calculator will tell you what time of the day it is in Eder Gira and show the actual Age from 3 different viewpoints: one looking at the waterfalls, one looking at where the sun rises and one looking at where the sun sets. Showing the color changes over the course of the day. Should you want to come back later, it can also tell you when the next sunrise will be. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/ercana podhopper000059 12 November 2020 16:00:00 GMT Sometimes when you climb onto the harvester, the camera moves away towards the facility and warps your avatar directly to the facility without the harvester. When you continue climbing up or down, your avatar will fall down and panic-link back to Relto. Fortunately, this glitch is not as evil as the one in Ahnonay and I believe it can be prevented the same way: make sure you have your KI visible in the top left of the screen before you climb onto the harvester. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000058 08 November 2020 17:00:00 GMT The Event Galleries have been updated: dark images were made more bright or the colors were corrected where needed and the occasional mouse-cursor was removed from the images. This is something I usually do much sooner after the event but I have been quite busy lately. I have been working on several topics and hope to finish most of them before the end of this year... http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/ahnonay podhopper000057 26 September 2020 16:00:00 GMT In my original Ahnonay Guide I wrote about the device in the middle of the pool and called it a 'lifesign detector'. OMG! Did I really write that? That's not very D'ni-ish. Pressure plates and such are D'ni technology, but lifesign detectors are not! Ok, I will submit myself to [X] for a public flogging later, for now I reworded the pieces about the device. I also added a few lines about the three places where you can get back on the island from the water. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#noloben podhopper000056 20 September 2020 18:00:00 GMT This is another delayed project of mine as I started taking the first pictures over a year ago. However, I wanted to include a picture of one of the snakes in the tall grass. Unfortunately, these snakes have a nasty habit of not showing up when you are waiting for them. Anyway, Noloben is a very beautiful Age with a very realistic ocean surrounding the main island. This Age is not included in Uru but can be added to either the Deep Island Shard or the UAM Shard using the Drizzle program if you have the original Myst 5 game already installed. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/chatcommands/ podhopper000055 12 August 2020 20:00:00 GMT Although I thought about making this topic last year, it was after I recently met a few new people that I decided to actually make this topic. It is about commands you can use while chatting with other people; things like waving hello, laughing, tapping your foot and many others... http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000054 10 August 2020 20:50:00 GMT Contrary to what I previously stated, the Deep Island Shard has widescreen support. You need to create a simple text file (.ini) to enable it. A link to the forum-topic that explains how to do it is also included. Also added a new button for my weekly music stream. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000053 23 May 2020 13:00:00 GMT Last week's Fan Age Touring Club expedition has been added to the Event Gallery. Although this event does not take place in MOUL(a), I decided to add it to the gallery anyway. This event takes place in the Deep Island Shard (online version) every sunday from 11:00 KI-time. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/podcalc/nextportal.html podhopper000052 17 May 2020 17:00:00 GMT The Portal Countdown (Timer) shows when and where the next portal will appear in the Pod Age. From now on it also shows for how long the portal remains open. No other changes have been made. It should work just as well as the old one but just in case, I left the old Portal Countdown on my website. A link to the old Portal Countdown can be found on the Portal Calculator page. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000051 6 May 2020 14:00:00 GMT Although no new galleries have been added yet, I've added a table of contents to the image gallery, listing the Ages that are included in the gallery. The new table of contents has not yet been optimized for mobile devices but that will follow soon. The Fan Ages have moved to their own page which will improve the loading time of the galleries. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000050 17 April 2020 11:00:00 GMT The March and April Cavern Tours have been added to the Event Gallery. Nowadays, you can end up in strange places when going on a Cavern Tour. The April Cavern Tour was a good example of that... The Gehn Shard has two new Ages: 'Chiso Preniv' and 'Veelay Tsahvahn'. The first is a new library for fan Ages and the second is a memorial Age. Pictures of the memorial Age 'Veelay Tsahvahn' have been added to the Gallery of fan Ages. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/livegallery/ podhopper000049 10 March 2020 16:00:00 GMT Shortly before the 10th Anniversary in Februari, I moved the past Event Galleries to a new location but forgot to update the links on my site to these pages. (Ouch...) The links have now been corrected, so the Event Galleries from before the Anniversary are accessible again. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/wall/ podhopper000048 29 Jan 2020 17:00:00 GMT This new topic is about the Gahreesen Wall Game. It was written for the MOULa 10th Anniversary in Februari 2020. Although I wanted to include the Wall game in my Gahreesen Event on Februari the 6th, it was simply not possible because the MOULa Wall room is just too unstable. The only shard where the Wall game can be played is in the Deep Island Shard (and maybe the tPotS variant of The Open Cave). I added a short video to give an idea of how the game is played. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#caverntour2020-01 podhopper000047 24 Jan 2020 17:00:00 GMT On Saturday Januari 11 was the first Cavern Tour for this year. A guided tour, led by Larry LeDeay and CT Hostess Susa'n. They showed us around in the Cleft and Larry had quite a bit of information about the place. It was however very difficult to follow as Larry had some problems with his microphone. Had Larry been the only speaker then I could have turned the volume up all the way. However, the moment Susa'n started speaking, my speakers would have blasted out of their enclosure. So, I had to settle for a lower volume, making it extremely difficult for me to hear him speak. Hopefully, Larry will have found a better microphone before the next tour. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000046 5 Jan 2020 01:30:00 GMT A few updates to begin this new year: 1) The info on the 10th anniversary is updated and 2) One of the fan Age galleries (Elodea) now has screens from the underground parts of the island. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#xmasparty2019 podhopper000045 21 Dec 2019 19:30:00 GMT On Sunday December 15 a Christmas Party was held in snowy Eder Delin. Everyone attending was greeted by Yoda's 7 dwarfs. They looked taller than I expected though. The floating statue was transformed into a tree of light and the snowflakes looked better than ever. Yoda certainly knows how to transform any Age into a party scene. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#glyphtour2019 podhopper000044 12 Dec 2019 19:51:00 GMT On Saturday November 16 was the second part of the Bahro Glyph Tour. A guided tour, led by Shokhootahn Rehn who showed the Bahro glyphs that you can find in a number of places. Not even the rain in Eder Kemo would stop him from explaining the meaning of these glyphs. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000043 7 Dec 2019 14:48:00 GMT Cyan made a number of changes to Uru Live recently. Among the changes are: better widescreen support in-game, a snowy version of 'Eder Delin' and the removal of Peter Gabriel's song on Zandi's radio. Because of these changes, I have updated my topic about Image distortion. I also added a picture in the Garden Ages Gallery to show what Eder Delin looks like in the snowy version. Last month I reported that a few new Ages were available for the offline Deep Island Shard: 'Palamary Bay', Peridia, 'MYST Refuge' and 'The Ruins of Azmar'. These Ages are now also available in the online version of the Deep Island Shard. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#palamary podhopper000042 16 Nov 2019 19:00:00 GMT Palamary Bay is a fan Age that is still under development and currently only available in the offline version of the Deep Island Shard. The Age comes with three other Ages: Peridia, 'MYST Refuge' and 'The Ruins of Azmar'. When you link to Palamary Bay, you'll find yourself in a setting that reminded me of the Kings Quest games, especially because of the large red mushrooms. This Age has its own way of opening doors: you'll have to find a hand symbol elsewhere in the Age to open each door. As far as I can tell, this is the first fan Age with a day and night cycle. Although I have to say, the day could use a lot more light as there are way too many places that are pitch black. In real life you would find very few pitch black areas because the light of the sun bounces off all surfaces, thus removing most dark areas. That being said, this Age is one of the very few fan Ages that actually use light sources, as most fan Ages use only the standard illumination setting that removes most of the atmosphere in an Age. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#halloween2019 podhopper000041 01 Nov 2019 21:00:00 GMT On Thursday October 31, a Halloween party was held in the Mir-o-Bot's Ae'gura. It was a scary hike through some parts of the city, followed by a lightshow and party in Descent (The Great Shaft). Strange things happened that evening and never before have I been coned, stoned, beach balled, pumpkinned and what not in a single evening... http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/myst2online/ podhopper000040 19 Oct 2019 12:50:00 GMT This new topic is about some of my own experiences during the first weeks of my explorations in the cavern. It also explains why I changed my avatar name to PodHopper. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/podportals/ podhopper000039 05 Oct 2019 14:30:00 GMT The Pod Age Portals page was one of the first topics that I wrote for this site. Although I have observed some portals appearing before the time indicated by my calculator, I never mentioned this before. For completeness' sake, I have now added a paragraph called 'Variation' in which I try to explain this variation in portal appearance times. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000038 29 Sep 2019 15:00:00 GMT On Saturday September the 28th, a meeting was held in the Minkata Shard. The meeting was about how to proceed with Minkata. The maintainer of Minkata (Rarified) had done a lot of work to ensure that no-one would lose his progress or Relto-rewards in case something went wrong, like a server crash. For that reason the Minkata-alpha Shard was introduced. Although that was an admirable goal, the extra work involved introduced the need for people with certain special skills that are simply not available among the people that are willing to help. Continuing on that path would have meant more long delays before anything new could actually be tested on Minkata. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#dance podhopper000037 05 Sep 2019 15:00:00 GMT On Tuesday September the 3rd, a party was held in the Mir-o-Bot's K'veer. It was the 'Day Of Dancing' with Ghaelen taking the lead in the dance show. It was the first event where I used Fraps to make screenshots. Considering that I was participating in the dance show, I would not have been able to make screenshots the old fashioned way as I did up until now. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#crow-rowan podhopper000036 27 Aug 2019 11:00:00 GMT This is the second Age from Crowthistle. Much of what I told about The Great Marsh, is also true for Rowan Green. Within Uru, you won't see the tall grass waving in the wind. Other than that, the Age looks the same as in the original game. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#beaches podhopper000035 25 Aug 2019 17:00:00 GMT While the temperatures are rising to 30 degrees Celcius and up around where I live, it's time for a refreshing beach or lakeside. I selected a few Ages that fit perfectly into that category: Aerie, Ahreeuhtahv, Denkasen, Llantern, Tehr'Dovah, T'vel and 'Zephyr Cove'. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#cathedral podhopper000034 22 Aug 2019 11:00:00 GMT About a year ago, I wrote that Cathedral is one of the most beautiful Ages among the fan Ages. That being said, I can't make such a claim without adding the Age to my Image Gallery. So here it is. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#todelmer podhopper000033 19 Aug 2019 17:00:00 GMT This is another Age that is not included in Uru, but can be added to either the Deep Island Shard or the UAM Shard using the Drizzle program, if you have the original game installed. This one has always been my favorite Myst 5 Age and it is for that reason the first Age from Myst 5 that has been added to the Gallery. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#zahlto podhopper000032 03 Aug 2019 12:00:00 GMT In the online version of Deep Island, you may have noticed a new book on the lower shelf in Relto. The book cover certainly is an eye catcher compared to the other books. It's a new Age that was recently added. The text next to the linking panel pretty much sums up what the Age is about: Find out what the shop owner was doing. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/alabaster/ podhopper000031 02 Aug 2019 18:20:00 GMT In my original Alabaster guide (part 5), I missed the fact that the tiles on the floor with the red pillars can be clicked. I also incorrectly stated that the iron gate there could not be opened. These errors on my part have now been corrected. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#crow-marsh podhopper000030 20 Jul 2019 12:10:00 GMT This is one of the Ages that are not in Uru, but can be added using the Drizzle program if you have the original game installed. Crowthistle is actually not a game but a novel. The second book is called "The Well Of Tears". The hardback version of this novel contained a disk that allowed you to explore some of the scenes in the novel. It's kind of a virtual tour thing. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#garden podhopper000029 29 Jun 2019 16:20:00 GMT The garden Ages 'Eder Delin' and 'Eder Tsogal' are excellent "Ages for resting", as Esher (from Myst 5) would call them. These two Ages are also the places where the so called Door-Runs are being held. Now, a Door-Run requires at least 5 and if possible 8 people to participate. However, it can be difficult to find that many people when you are ready to do a Door-Run. It's good to know that at the end of each All-Guilds-Meeting, you can ask people to do a Door-Run with you. The All-Guilds-Meetings are held in Kirel at 13:00 Ki-time, each first saturday of each month. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/lakianay/ podhopper000028 23 Jun 2019 11:00:00 GMT Laki'anay is a very well made Age. It has an interesting story in the journals, good textures, a few puzzles and certain details like with the jukebox in the tavern. Laki'anay consists of four Ages: Laki'anay, Argosy, Giloto and Cholanay. By means of linking books within the Age, the other Ages can be visited. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#laki podhopper000027 28 May 2019 14:30:00 GMT As my work on a guide for Laki'anay is almost finished, I decided to add a gallery for Laki'anay first. Laki'anay has linking books to two other Ages: Argosy and Giloto. As soon as the guide is finished, I will add a few screenshots of Argosy and Giloto as well. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/rimewhale/ podhopper000026 20 Apr 2019 17:00:00 GMT This topic is just a slight detour from the world of Uru Live. Rime is an Age that you can only find in 'Realmyst' and 'Realmyst Masterpiece Edition'. The Rime whale is less elusive compared to Shroomie, but it is still difficult to spot this whale. That is mostly because it is always night in Rime, but the extreme cold doesn't help either... http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/alabaster/ podhopper000025 14 Apr 2019 13:00:00 GMT This is definitely 'The Longest Journey' among Ages. Although you could argue that Elodea is even bigger. The thing is however, that Elodea could be explorered as four seperate Ages, while this is not possible in Alabaster; you can't do Alabaster2 or Alabaster3 without having visited the main island (Alabaster1) first. You would be missing essential clues to get anywhere otherwise. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#elodea podhopper000024 28 Mar 2019 11:00:00 GMT The main island of Elodea has many locations that are perfectly suited for a few screenshots. There aren't many trees on the island, though. And most of the trees are dead. Let's hope that the Age "Gallardien" will be greener in that regard. The Gallardien Age is not yet available, but that may change... This Age is available in the UAM Shard and Deep Island. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/shards/#Minkata podhopper000023 03 Mar 2019 15:30:00 GMT As of februari 10th, the Minkata Shard is open again! The technical issues from the last couple of months seem to have been solved. I was able to complete a few Ages without running into any issues so far. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000022 15 Jan 2018 14:00:00 GMT This website has moved to a new location: www.podhopper.dds.nl. Only the address (URL) has changed and the old links to this site will be redirected to the new site for at least another year. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000021 29 Dec 2018 16:20:00 GMT Only a few days left before we are living in the year 2019. I have added a few Christmas pictures that I took in the Open Cave Shard to the Screenshot section. I would like to use the occasion to announce that this website will soon move to a new location: www.podhopper.dds.nl. Only the address (URL) will change and after the site has moved, the old links to this site will be redirected to the new site for at least another year. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/shards/ podhopper000020 18 Dec 2018 10:30:00 GMT The last couple of months I have been working on a topic about the Shards. People that are new to Myst Online might get confused by the mere existance of multiple versions of the same game. That's the main reason I wrote the Shards topic. It explains what each Shard has to offer and what the differences between them are. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/cathedral/ podhopper000019 29 Nov 2018 11:00:00 GMT I finally found the time to finish my guide on the Cathedral Age. After the gong puzzle I expected to find more puzzles about the D'ni musical notation. However, there were none. The remaining puzzles were a lot easier than I expected. The hints given by Yeesha in this Age, pretty much tell you exactly what to do. Nevertheless, this Age is among the most beautiful of all Fan Ages. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/podanimals/ podhopper000018 23 Nov 2018 14:00:00 GMT During one of the All Guilds Meetings, I had a conversation with Focus-mocus about the appearance of the Pod Age animals. He was told by Shokhootahn Rehn that an animal would appear sometime in the hour prior to the opening of a portal and another one would appear sometime in the hour following the time that a portal opens. However, that idea is not based on facts. It is for this reason that I decided to add the piece of code that controls the animal appearance times to my topic. Normally, I would not go as far as bothering my readers with a piece of python code, but I decided to make an exception for this particular instance. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/elodea-treasure/ podhopper000017 11 Nov 2018 22:30:00 GMT Finally, the fourth episode of Elodea. In this episode you will find the hidden treasures of the lost D'ni civilization on Elodea island. You won't find much puzzles in this Age. Only one actually, and that one requires not many brain cells left to solve it. Most of the time, you'll just be looking for hidden things. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/installingdeepisland/ podhopper000016 30 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT The Fan Ages, or Ages created by players of Uru, can be visited using either the UAM Shard or the Deep Island Shard. The UAM Shard offers one simple installation method that is explained on its website. The Deep Island Shard on the other hand, offers two installation methods: for Offline and Online use. As these are two slightly different ways to install the Deep Island Shard, I will start by explaining the difference between the two. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/spark/ podhopper000015 26 Oct 2018 11:00:00 GMT In several Ages you will find a spark floating above the ground. The spark moves in the shape of an 8 or the mathematical infinite symbol. Underneath the spark is a symbol on the ground consisting of a sun, a moon crescent and three small swirls. They are also called Sparkle, Sparklie, Sparky or Blue Flame, depending on who you talk to. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000014 27 Aug 2018 11:30:00 GMT Based on my observations in the Open Cave Shard, I have revised my explanation of the pod Age battery charging. Essentially, the batteries are being charged, even when they are being used, but only during the pod Age day. The amount of charge during the day seems to be equal to the amount of power used by the internal lights during an entire pod Age day. So, no everlasting power, but just enough to keep the internal lights on. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/#news podhopper000013 25 Aug 2018 12:30:00 GMT A few weeks ago, I noticed that the power was still on when I linked into one of the pods. Obviously, I forgot to turn the power off the last time I was in that pod. The question which arose, was whether the battery behaviour had been changed? I decided to turn the power on in all four pods and didn't return until a few weeks later. When I returned, the power was still on in all four pods. That means that the MOUL(a) pods have eternal power now. I'm still verifying the battery behaviour in the other Shards, but it looks like the other Shards still follow the original battery behaviour, meaning that these batteries will be drained when you leave the power turned on. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/#relativity podhopper000012 12 Aug 2018 15:00:00 GMT This Age was inspired by the work of M. C. Escher. Although many games have done something like it before, none was as realistic as this one. This Age is available in the UAM Shard and Deep Island, although the UAM shard uses an older version of this Age. The house in this Age has three different planes you can walk, each has it's own season: summer, autumn and winter. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/cathedral/ podhopper000011 05 Aug 2018 14:30:00 GMT After my wanderings along the lava canals of Elodea, I decided to visit a more spiritual site. Peace of mind and that sort of thing. Cathedrals have that calming effect on me. Although this cathedral is unlike any other cathedral I have ever visited, the general atmosphere is much like it. The copper work is polished like you will never again see it these days. This Age is really beautiful and the puzzles are quite good. Although I haven't finished the Age, I decided to publish what I have, instead of waiting until it is finished. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/elodea-maze/ podhopper000010 31 Jul 2018 12:00:00 GMT This Age is the third episode of Elodea. This episode adds little information to what we already know. It offers a few real puzzles to solve, a lot of buttons (both needed buttons and completely useless buttons) and a lot of jumping around. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/payiferen/ podhopper000009 16 Jul 2018 12:00:00 GMT The Payiferen night holds some mysteries that I still can't seem to figure out. I've added a paragraph about the glowing rocks. The Payiferen rocks are the only rocks in all of Uru that seem to be crafted specifically for the purpose of making them glow (at certain times). I've also added a few pictures showing the four different states of glowing. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/bots/ podhopper000008 04 Jul 2018 17:00:00 GMT The bots play an important role in Myst Online - Uru Live. They are used with almost every major event in the cavern as they can change things in an Age. For example, fireworks and lightshows would not be possible without them. Actually, most of the fun-stuff in Uru Live is made possible by the bots. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/elodea-city/ podhopper000007 16 Jun 2018 12:00:00 GMT This Age is the second episode of Elodea. This episode continues where Elodea ended: behind the waterfalls by the lake. Time to further explore what secrets the island holds... http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/ podhopper000006 15 Jun 2018 12:00:00 GMT About two weeks ago, I contacted the webmaster of the Minkata Shard. I had tried a number of times to create an account there but all attempts failed because of a script or configuration error on their server. I got a reply stating that he was out of town and would look into it as soon as possible. He did not mention how long he would be out of town, but it is now two weeks later and it is still impossible to create an account. For now, I'll let it rest. I'm still hoping this issue is going to be resolved soon, but already it is taking a lot longer than is to be expected. :-( http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/gallery/ podhopper000005 29 May 2018 12:00:00 GMT KIimages are not that big, only 800 x 600 pixels. Some Scenes just look better on a larger picture. Therefore, I have added a fullscreen image gallery. Although I would have prefered fullscreen as in 1920 x 1080 pixels, I decided to settle for 1360 x 768 pixels. It is less space- and bandwidth-consuming, especially considering that I will be adding more pictures along the way. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/podanimals/ podhopper000004 26 May 2018 12:00:00 GMT I've added more info on the animals themselves, explained the mechanism that determines when they appear and I've added a few more pictures of the Urwin, the two-tailed monkey and the Sandscrit. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/shroomie/ podhopper000003 11 May 2018 12:00:00 GMT After I finished the previous update of this topic, I noticed that Shroomie would not show herself again within four minutes after she has appeared. The log files from both 'The Open Cave' Shard and the Gehn Shard confirmed that this is indeed the case. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/shroomie/ podhopper000002 07 May 2018 12:00:00 GMT I've added new pictures of Shroomie and explained some of the differences between MOUL(a) and the Shards in regard to Shroomie. All in all, it has practically become a completely new page, only the first two paragraphs are still the same. http://www.podhopper.dds.nl/distortion/ podhopper000001 25 Apr 2018 12:00:00 GMT If you play Uru using a widescreen monitor, you may have noticed that KIimages do not look as expected, especially when you upload them to an imager like the ones in the Bevin neigborhoods.