Dacy

All the yes! Especially since new items were added, some seem to have been added in rather arbitrary places. We have light sources in Room Details. We have a category for statues, but there are many statues not in this category. To name just a couple of small examples. If organized, I would also want some items that could appear in multiple categories. For instance, the floating cauldron under lighting, it doesn't actually light, and it's arcane, so it could easily go under arcane, as well. You should be able to find out which lights actually light without having to test them out, which floors are counted as floors, without having to test items on them. You should be able to trust that, if something is a surface, you can walk on it without falling through or sinking into it. (Roman Emblem comes to mind, if I am recalling correctly, and also, if you don't have a floor under a water plate, you fall right through it). I'd love to be able to sort items by surface type: which ones look like concrete? Which ones look like metal? Which ones look like glass? If I want glass right now, I can look under Dividers, for the glass walls, Surfaces, for the glass floor, or (memory fails, it's a newer item) I think Cityscape for glass sections. If I want stone, I might look under Landscape, or, a lot of stones were just added to Nature. Ruins? Try Cityscape...No, wait, maybe that's Structures...unless you want Roman ruins, and then maybe it's Pillars. Oh, was it a temple front you wanted? That'd be under Windows and Doors. How about Arachnos windows? Oh, right, Windows and Doors. And Tech. Oh, and the new Villain Lair category! Don't forget Wall Details.... Yes. Categorizing would be wonderful! But challenging, to say the least. Some floors aren't floors, they are surface coverings. Some lights aren't really lights, they just look like lights. Some windows are really just wall decorations, because you can't see through them at all, and some light up. I'd almost want tags: these items have a light effect, and these items actually provide light. These items are counted as floors (things with the "floor" attachment will attach to them). These items have a surface that looks like concrete. These items have a surface that looks like stone. These items are round. These items are tintable. These items are see through. These items are huge and must be placed after enabling room clipping...and so on. However, that might be exhaustive, since things are so very inconsistent, but it would be helpful to someone who hasn't spent hours and hours in the base editor, figuring out just which things have which properties. Which is most people. 🙂 -Dacy

Another video! I go over some of the options for creating walls, talk about creating levels in your base, and show you a couple of tips to create white, smooth ceilings, and fix flicker. I do appreciate it when people know if these video helped them, or what sorts of things people might want to know more about. Thanks! -Dacy

Today's video installment is on lighting. -Dacy

Large items fitting where small will not does sound much like an error you would get when trying to place an object between rooms. I noticed that they've changed the coding a bit; used to be, not long ago, you couldn't fill a room and apply it to the base, it wouldn't do that, because that filled the entrance room. However, now you can do that. Also, when I filled the rooms, the doors I had placed did NOT fill, and what's more, were completely open once the rest of the base filled. The base did not look nor act as if the doors were even there. In other words, if I ran over the surface, when I got to a door, I would fall through. Maybe they don't just -look- like they aren't there; they also did not appear on the map, and they used to. Perhaps the new coding has made it difficult to place objects in doors, especially if you are building above the base. Are you building above the base? -Dacy

This topic gives a list of videos created to help people with everything from basic base questions to more complex editing techniques. Feedback, questions, and requests are all welcome. I am changing the first post to give an index of the videos, so people can find them easily. The original post is below. Here is the link to the channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/DacysBaseBuilding These are short videos, not the highest quality, so as to make it faster to download and stream. Each video tackles a facet of base building briefly. URLs and descriptions are listed here, thumbnails are throughout the topic. Introduction to Base Editing: Getting Set Up A brief look at what you need to get your base started, and also, how to set the sky to "open sky". A Look At Base Editing Commands Improved to cover slightly more, more concisely. Looks at setting up the editor to make editing as easy as possible, which keys to use to manipulate objects, and placing your base entry portal in or out of the base, and how to deal with the error when people get stuck in the entry portal when entering base. Base Lighting Options It might seem unimportant as a topic you should visit before you start building, but how you choose to light your base has a big impact not only on how it looks, but impacts the decision on whether or not to build outside of the base walls. Know exactly what you're choosing if you choose to build above or below. Wall and Ceiling Options in Your Base A look at what your options are for walls, both as part of the base itself, or as in what items make good walls and ceilings, and where to find them. Dacy shares her favorite way to make straight white walls and ceilings. Make Your Base Work For You Setting up base functions: Storage, Rez Facilities, Teleporters, Services and Buffs. Dacy shows you what is available and where to find it, and how to set it up. She includes a trick she picked up to make storage units disappear. Making Base Function Look Fabulous A short tour of some bases for samples of what Dacy spoke of in "Make Your Base Work For You", in making your functional pieces look good, or seem to be part of your design, or even completely unnoticed. Help For Editing Problems The editor has quirks and outright bugs. This segment is a bit longer than others, but deals with negotiating these bugs and quirks. Why is your item jumping around? What do you do when things have shifted around from where you put them? How can you get rid of flicker? These and other problems are sorted out. Quick Tips to Fix Editor Errors For those who don't want to watch the longer and more complete “Help For Editing Problems" and just want to know what they can do to avoid or fix a problem. Kitchens! A guide to putting together the appliances you've seen in my kitchen, with some options to what's been shown. Windows You Can See Through, Plus More Construction tips for making windows you can see through, and a look at options the base editor offers for ready made windows; which walls are best for the outer walls of a house, and different door options. Creating Different Levels in Your Base A look at the different items you will need to create different levels in your base, how many levels you can put into the base within the walls, and different items you can use to achieve different looks. Base Sky Options Goes over some of the different base-wide sky options, and how they effect objects you place, plus, the place-able skies found in the "Skies" tab in the Place Item category. Terraforming Making higher grass hills, rock formations, and floating islands. Advanced Base Editing Techniques A few things I’ve learned that should help you edit some trickier things more easily. Roads and Cement Surfaces The replacement for the one with the wonky video; a look at good materials in the editor you can use for roads and other cement surfaces. Building Material for the Outside of Buildings A look at some materials good for the outside of buildings in actual finished buildings in a base. Both house and city buildings shown. All New Building Above and Below the Base With Page 6, everything changed! Updated info on how to get set up to build above or below, followed by information on things you need to know: what are the advantages and disadvantages and trade-offs. Working With Water Placing water so it looks good, without flicker or gaps, which water plates need solid surfaces under them to prevent characters from falling through them if they are placed over air, and making pools and rivers and lakes. Building Complex Items Shows techniques I use in making complex items, with a demonstration build using the techniques. COH Basebuilding: Creating Roofs Creating roofs, different types of roofing materials. TOURS Base Tour: Power Girls See a high-end townhouse. COH Base Tour: The Invincible Ones Tour of award winning space ship base on Excelsior. Base Tours: The Pagoda Base tours of the most awesome bases in Paragon: Today, the Pagoda! Base Tour: Rat City Tour the one, the only...Rat City Base Tour: Karma Tour the island everyone talks about...Karma Island! Base Tour: Sleigh Belles The holiday base everyone will be talking about! Base Tour: Paragon Galleria See a wonderfully realized full scale mall! Living in Style: Apartment Tours Two apartments by @BBBadger, beautiful! The Chapel Dacy's own build, a perfect place for weddings! Granny Victoria's Tea Room A beautiful little gem by @Aalya New Series: Base Quick Tips Base Quick Tips: How to Open The Sky The often asked,"How do I change the ceiling to sky?" COH Base Quick Tips: Placing Plot and Rooms Start with the basics! COH Base Quick Tips: Moving Entry Portal Often asked right after they learn how to open the sky... COH Base Quick Tips: Placing Objects on Top of Other Objects How to put things on the table instead of them appearing to float over the table... COH Base Quick Tips: Interior Base Teleporters The how-to for how to connect the pieces so you can zip about your base in no time! COH Base: Quick Tips: Positioning Those Pesky NPCs Can't seem to target NPCs? You're not alone...but there's a solution! COH Base Quick Tips: Using Banners: More Than Just Decoration! Make colored walls, carpets, and more! COH Base Quick Tips: Making Spiral Stairs Creating spiral stairs is easier than you might think! COH Base Quick Tips: A Quick Look At Editing Commands A very short overview of what commands you need while editing. Quick Tips: Raising and Lowering Room Section Walls How to raise and lower sections of walls inside of rooms, even if they're blocked by objects. New Series: Building Skills (Placed some older videos in this category on my channel, more in depth than my quick tips on a single topic) COH Building Skills: Lettering There is a lot more to lettering than just the oversized alphabet in the editor! Building Skills: Disguising or Hiding Base Services Get your salvage and other services to look like the rest of your base! Building Skills: All New Building Above or Below the Base Same video as referenced above, but is part of the building skills series. Lays out both the technique for building above or below a base, and the considerations you need to know about before you make a decision on where you want to build. COH Building Skills: Making Slides Flat, self-propelled slides, downward slope slides, and...UPWARD slides? See how to do them all! I will add more videos as I make them. URLs will be added here, thumbnails later in the post. ************************************************************************************************************************** Original Post: *************************************************************************************************************************** I am seeing many people whose learning style is perhaps more visual than learning from print To help those people who learn better by watching someone do it than by reading about it, I made some very short, basic videos. I plan on doing more, but for now, I've covered the very basic getting started information, and a video detailing how to build above or below the base, and also a video demonstration of the basic editing commands. I'm happy to consider requests for demonstrations of how to do something you've heard about, perhaps, but are unsure about how to do it. I plan on keeping each video as short as I can make it and still cover the topic, but each segment will only cover one aspect, in order to keep them short. They are also not the highest quality I could make, intentionally, so that they use less memory and are faster to download. Getting Started: Intro to Base Building I am replacing "Basic Editing Commands" here with the more helpful "A Look At Editing Commands", because it's more complete. Let me know what you think! 🙂 Thanks! And if you have a video of something you think would be helpful for others, please feel free to put it in this topic! -Dacy

I made a couple of very basic vids, one to get started/get to open sky, one to get set to build above or below your base. There are short, and of necessity, only address one small aspect at a time. They are not super high quality so that they didn't become overly huge to download. Basics: Building Above or Below: I'm planning more in the future. Hopefully these are clear enough. -Dacy

Thanks, though I meant, here. These stories would be specific to COX. -Dacy

Right. Somehow I missed these replies yesterday....I did the art, but they are of duos featuring characters of mine and a friend's. -Dacy

I did build in the plot, because the lighting is so much easier in there. 🙂 I just hid the outside walls with items that could go past them. -Dacy

Yeah, and diving back in to the story...seems like there are always more edits I can do. At least, I thought of another one...I updated the file with it just now, and that's hopefully the last version, unless folks find something that warrants more change. -Dacy

Thank you! :):

Hey, Chris, be sure to get the edited version, please; to my chagrin, I found several spelling errors, plus, I rewrote a scene a little. -Dacy

Corrected version (will replace the one in the Prose topic by editing link). The Fight Begins.docx

Well, I like to hear if someone likes it, and I'm ordinarily really good at grammar and editing, so if I've missed something, PLEASE do point it out. I shall be correcting that mistake immediately. The bio thread commentary was quite useful, and I've yet to change that bio, but I will. I will likely make changes to the changes, but what I was looking for there was if there was a way to fit more in, make something more concise, or phrase it differently so that it was more clear and/or fit better. You did wonderfully on those points. I guess I am hoping the story is good as is for the most part, tho if you see a logic error, typo, grammar mistake, or a particularly egregious run on sentence....lol... I'd be happy to hear about it. Yes, I do enjoy long sentences. I consider that more a stylistic choice, but, if it makes things awkward or less comprehensible, I'd want to know. Anything that was difficult to understand is also helpful to know. I try to write so that things are understandable. I greatly dislike slogging through writing that is awkward and incomprehensible, and I would think that's a common feeling. If you feel that there is something that would improve the story, I'm open to hearing about it. If there was something you particularly liked, or disliked, I'd like to know. And yes, I love hearing the overall impression, probably because feedback up to this point has been positive, so I'm hoping it's actually a good, engrossing read. I love hearing about specifics you really liked. I know the parts I think turned out particularly well, and I know the parts that I'm not as sure about. Part of me wants to know how it compares in quality to something you might buy in a store, and part of me is scared to ask that. I always write more than I need to, I think, heh. Summing it up: Say it if you think it's helpful, Say it if you think it improves the book. Say it if you think it's important. I'm not asking for everything you've got, but hopefully the specifics I wrote about will give you some idea as to what I would welcome. I would think this would go for anyone who posts something here, but, I would also say, only give feedback if they say it's okay. Thanks for all your commentary and feedback! -Dacy

Yes, Trick Dacy was my husband's creation, and he came up with the name. It was he who first became friends with Fire Onyx and Starchilde. Before I had my own account, I would watch them team, jealous that I was not able to join them (I had no account because there was at that time, only one computer which could play the game). Once I was able to get my own account, I made a character to team with Trick and Fire and Starchilde. I came up with Dacy's Trick. Since Trick was a spoonerism, or a sort of a flip/play on Dick Tracy, I made Dacy's name a flip/play on Trick Dacy. Then I came up with why that was her name. 🙂 We had a full team nearly always, and others who were fairly regular, but these four were the core. I became known simply as "Dacy", because that's how most people had met me, and the name stuck, even though I later branched out into a plethora of other characters. I intentionally modeled Dacy after myself in some ways...we are the same height and coloring and build, and we share a similar level of eagerness, determination, and energy, and a desire to get it done and done well, and I liked the name, so I was happy to simply adopt it as my general handle. 🙂 -Dacy

There was no place for longer pieces of fiction, and I KNOW they are out there! So I decided to start a topic. Sure, I could make it about just my stuff, but I know there are lots of great writers out there. If you'd like critical feedback, editing suggestions, grammar and spelling checks, I'd like to think this is a place where you could ask for reviews, and our lovely community will respond in a constructive fashion, with the goal of improving your skills and your stories. If you are critiquing someone's work, please try and phrase things as constructively and positively as you can. The rule of thumb is to try and say at least one to two things that are positive for every negative you point out. As for grammar, I encourage people to ask for editing help with this if grammar or spelling is a struggle for them. Nothing ruins a story faster or makes it more difficult to comprehend than poor grammar and construction, and nothing helps a story to shine better than constructive feedback and good editing. So here is my story, it's a bit longer than some, but I've been told it reads well. I appreciate feedback. 🙂 (Unfinished starter sketch of Trick and Dacy) I hope you enjoy, and I hope to read your story here, too! -Dacy The Fight Begins.docx

Thanks, Chris! It means so much to hear back from people. Yeah, the cat's name is Chip (yes, Fire's got a Chip on her shoulder...), and he is really, really good at the trash talk. Also with the following through on the violence he promises. Chip appeared some time after my story takes place, so, he's not in the story. Just appeared one day, and like all cats, doesn't care to answer questions. I think possibly he is somewhat fashioned after the cat-like creature Honor Harrington had with her at all times. Obviously, I used my own interpretation of how he'd look, and did not go with the "shoulder kitten" piece as it appears in Icon, lol. 🙂 -Dacy

Here's the sketch. I haven't been able to do a color version of Dacy that captures the look I want, the look I see here. I will probably still make changes to Trick, too; I love the ipad, it's so easy to make layers and changes! Wow. Now I'm getting the itch to finish this...and I have so many bases I've got to do! I've never done Starchilde. Her player died just before Sunset on Live, and I just haven't. That was an interesting thing in doing the story: keeping the characterizations in line with what the player/creator wanted. Which, especially in the case of Trick, meant rewriting a lot. He is my husband's character, and he never intended for Trick to have a sidekick of any sort, much less a love interest. So, she's not, much as she might want to be. Some of the interactions they have aren't what I'd pictured, originally, but that's how writing goes sometimes. Sometimes you write the characters, sometimes they tell you what to write. 🙂 Interesting tidbits on the story: the city mentioned from Central America existed...and they don't know what happened to the populace, but they think it was sudden and calamitous. It was a huge metropolitan city for its time, until...it wasn't. Marcus Solomon was also a character created by my husband, and at the end of the story, he's off on another adventure, where another character finds her origin. Thylacine, who has also been recreated here on Everlasting, has one of my all time favorite bios. I can take no credit for it, however, it's all my husband's creation, so I have not written her story. -Dacy

Thanks so much, Xoza! It means the world to me that you actually took the time to read it. 🙂 And that you commented, and liked it! 😄 I posted in another topic, but here is Fire Onyx and Dacy's Trick: Here is an unfinished work with Trick..it's going to be Trick and Dacy. I'll post the sketch I'm working from in the next topic, I'm outta MB space for this post! -Dacy

Thanks!! 😊

The second piece I did is a duo my friend and I started together, and proved to be amazingly effective; we did pretty much every task force, not to mention story arcs and sig arcs, as just a duo on Live. My friend had a Fire/Ice tank, and I had an Earth//Rad controller. Celestia i and Earthbound i. (i is a Chinese word/concept for "of the mind", if I recall correctly). -Dacy

I have a couple of pieces...but they're not traditional comic book style. I don't know how to do that, lol. This is just my best stab at art, using an iPad. First up, the first I did. This is of Dacy's Trick, my katana scrapper, and Fire Onyx, my best friend's inv/fire tank. We took all comers, and it was the start of a wonderful friendship, so I decided to do art as a salute to my friend. Completely surrounded by a host of foes from City, they are not worried. "We got this!" -Dacy

Hi, I was wondering if there was any place to post/publish lengthy fiction pieces? Naturally, I ask because I have a piece here...I've attached it, but I do not know if this is the best way to post it? -Dacy The Fight Begins.docx

For easiest editing, I would fill this space as much as possible with "doors" from create room, and then open them up to the sky for the atrium effect. Also, the official name for the ceiling light I mentioned is ceiling spot.

Also, what is it you want/need to know about teleporters? Things seem fairly self-explanatory to me, if you read the object descriptions. Teleporters can now each hold up to 10 beacons, so you can cover every single available zone teleport point with 4 teleporters, 3 if you are only going to blueside. There are also points that you can set up within your base, starting with Aleph Point. These can be used to quickly span a large base, or as an elevator/lift imitation, or as a "door" to a room. The cool thing is, the room the "door" goes to doesn't even have to physically be in that space, it can be anywhere in the base plot. There are items and NPCs that you can sell and buy inspirations or enhancements from. There is a mission computer, an Ouros crystal that lets you access missions you missed, there are machines that give you temporary buffs created from salavage, there are storage bins for IOs, salvage, and inspirations. There are workstations for creating IOs, and resurrection items that restore you after defeat. I think that's all of the items with function, other than for power and control. I am more confused by "how do they work"...I don't know the programming answer to that, but basically, you put them somewhere, and they do their job. You do have to attach which beacons you want a teleporter to go to, but other than that, yeah, just plunk it down and you're good. -Dacy