67
  Jan.+Feb. 2018
  AW News (january + february 2018)
 
*EBTS 9 - Building contest "Mars in Alphaworld"
 
There is again the annual EBTS building contest (= the Extreme Builders Talent Show). The EBTS 9 has been announced for being hosted in the world Mars. But finally Mars appeared to be in ....Alphaworld. The EBTS landing zone with the building instructions and useful tools, is located in Alphaworld on position AW 7520S 252E 0a 90
The reason why Mars has finally not been chosen is not because Mars has a weird object path, but mostly because you cannot use any V4-objects in Mars today. (movers, zones, particle emitters,...). And the V4-rights for this world cannot be changed.
Bach Zhaa (#360197) , who hosts the contest, came up with the great idea .....to bring Mars to Alphaworld. The theme for this contest is : "It's on Mars", you can use the space or underground caves or buildings if you want, everything is builder's choice. But everything has to look like as if you were on Mars.
The building lots are huge : 16 x 16 cells, which enough space between the lots to avoid affecting lag to your neighbours.
The contest starts on sunday February 3rd and ends on sunday March 31st , this means 8 weeks of building time.
AW 7520S 252E - Mars in Alphaworld (Community Meeting)
Finally, we use objects of Alphaworld, you can view Tart Sugar's object yard on position AW 27431S 12596E. The object path : http://objects.activeworlds.com/aw/
 

However, for those who like strictly Mars : you can view the Mars OY+textures on mars 1493S 520E. The object path of Mars : http://objects.activeworlds.com/mars/ .

Most of the mars objects can't be used in Alphaworld, but all the mars textures can be used. There is a special techique for that !! (see building tip below this page)
 
After the contest, each building lot will also be judged. Bach Zhaa is still looking for judges. After the judging period, the winners will be revealed.
 
  Period World
EBTS 1 june 2007-july 2007 AWGate
EBTS 2 mar 2008-sep 2008 Mars 1929N 1022W
EBTS 3 oct 2009-dec.2009 AWEBTS_3
EBTS 4 dec 2010-apr.2011 EBTS4
EBTS 5 jan 2014- mar 2014 America 500N 500W
EBTS 6 feb 2015 - mar 2015 Alphaworld 7500S 500E
EBTS 7 feb 2016 - mar 2016 Yellow 1800N 1600W
EBTS 8 jan 2017- feb 2017 WildAW 1061N 920E
EBTS 9 feb 2018 - mar 2018 Alphaworld 7520S 252E
All builds are preserved except for
* AWGate (Currently AWGate22 : no buildings anymore outside the chinese wall)

* AWEBTS_3 : the objects still exist, but the O.P. has gone.

 
* AW Program updates will be resumed
 

On friday 12th january at 8 PM VRT, there was an exceptional universe meeting in the AW Landing Zone, where Chris The Pegasus (#290065) announced a new upgrade of the AW Program. There was a visitors peak of 120 clients in the AWLZ (and 235 in total). Chris has been programming and coding the AW program from august 2003 till june 2015. Then the upgrades suddenly stopped, creating a kind of "uncertain future" for Activeworlds, like the risk of getting outdated or being stopped. Today, 2 1/2 years later, we got the good news that there will be upgrades again.
First essential upgrade will be an upgrade of the embedded web browser, with an update to VLCAPI for media , because especially a lot of Youtube videos couldn't be viewed anymore in Activeworlds.
Software updates will also be more focused on Windows 10 instead of remaining focused on Windows 7 and XP users. First updates will be available within 2-3 months in open beta. There are also news universe meeting planned : next meeting will be on 20th january.
* AW 6.3 Beta version is available
 

After the announcement that the AW program will be updated, there has been started immediately with the developments. On january 30th, Chris The Pegasus (#290065) has launched the first AW 6.3 beta version program for download. The beta version is meant for testing and also to solve bugs in the program, so that the new version will work perfectly.
All the information about the AW updates for 2018 can be viewed on the AW Forum, which has been reopened again (read article below about this). You can download the Beta version via AW Facebook official or via a telegram of a Community member (e.g. MeL).
On the forum go to the Artist's Corner webpage, where you can read about the beta development, you can post the bugs in the program....etc.
http://forums.activeworlds.com/list.php?3
 
* The AW Forum is again open for everyone
 
http://forums.activeworlds.com

The Activeworlds Forum has never been down. People which had registered before could still enter into the AW Forum, but approximately 3 years ago, there were some modifications to the Forum .

The main change was that you can read the posts on the Forum only after logging in. And the main problem though is that new users could not register anymore to the Forum, so the Forum became inaccessible to them. At the same time, the AW Facebook groups got popular , and the Forum got neglected. The link to the AWForum also disappeared from the AW immigration message (in the chat window).
However , citizens are aware that Facebook is not the solution for everyone . You need to scroll down for hours to find back older posts. Whereas for the Forum , each posts is categorized, and everyone can find the posts back quickly. That is why Jaisp started up an alternative AW Forum on his website.
However, with the return of Chris The Pegasus, who starts programming again for Activeworlds, he has solved now the "bug" of the AW Forum, so that everyone can register on the Forum again. You can also read the posts again without having to log in first.
You can now also log in with your citizen password. One of the reasons for this change is to prevent spam mails in the forum.
note : the login system to the forum has changed (read news article of april)
* Forum Archive and Newsgroups
 
The AW Forum is still a useful resource , however the ancient, archived forums , have disappeared from the Forum list , although the posts still exist (if you click upon "Recent Messages" , then you still see this category).. Hopefully this problem will be fixed soon.
However, if you want direct access to the forum archive (going back to 2006) and newsgroups (going back to 1997), you can use these links :
The Forum archive : http://forums.activeworlds.com/index.php?335
The Newsgroups : http://forums.activeworlds.com/index.php?333
* Jaisp.com
 

This new website has been put online by Jaisp (#425505) who came back to Activeworlds after some years of absence. He also started the world Chulak last july.
The website is simple : it is called : Jaisp.com . By clicking upon the Jaisp banner at the bottom of the page, you will arrive on the webpage objects.jaisp.com .
Here you will find a menu with a wide choice , (also with files that you can download).
* world hosting and object path hosting : Jaisp offers world hosting and OP hosting
* Jaisp's objects : with Jaisp's Touchscreen Control System
* modeling software : wings3d, truespace, cobdump3, accutrans , ...
* AW objects and textures : AW OP downloads and those of Uberpath
* object path archives, with the entire object path of Freebie world and others.
* texture archives : Mel's textures, ...
* file handling software : 7-zip, multizip, ...
* bot software : preston, xelagot , ....
* AW Community archives : chatlogs of the Community Meetings (see article below)
note : Jaisp has been banned from AW in june. As a consequence,the hosting services have stopped. The supportive website and forum however will be maintained , and will be expanded with additional 3D medium content in the near future.
At the top of the webpage there are still other functions in development :
* Jaisp's Chat : a seperate chat box
* Jaisp's Forum : a forum for all Activeworlds users
Jaisp.com/forums/
* Jaisp's Wiki : wiki pages for all Activeworlds users
(still under development)
The actual (and official) AWForum and AWWiki have been made (almost) inaccessible for new users. So this will be a good alternative.
* Community Meeting Chatlogs on Jaisp.com
 
Jaisp has also added the chatlogs of the Community Meetings to the Jaisp.com website. This inludes the Community Meetings Archives, hosted by Bach Zhaa (#360197) since january 2013 , and the Universe Meetings Archives, hosted by Chris The Pegasus (#290065) , which have been started in january 2018. Go on the website to the page : objects.jaisp.com/archives.html . There you select one of the archives and choose "open selected archive".
At the top, you see all the participants (which have typed someting during the chat meeting). You can scroll along the chatlogs, or you can type CTRL+F (=find) and enter your a subject (e.g.movers, ebts, game). Or you can enter a citizen name (e.g. Bach Zhaa) ,or your own citizen name and look what you have chatted yourself.
Bach Zhaa still has the Community Meetings on his computer back to 2010 , so it is possible that those could be added the this list in future.
* Locodarwin.com
This is the website of Locodarwin (#318855), who also came back to Activeworlds after some years of absence. He also started up the worlds Powergod, Simulator, Goreanoasis and Inspiringworks.
To be honest, the website is not brand new, because Locodarwin started up last year the website powergod.org, but stopped that site. Now he has started up this new site : Locodarwin.com (the name is better as it's the same as his citizen name), and with the same content.
 
The website consists of 2 parts : the blog part and the wiki part.
* The blog consists of regular news and articles concerning Activeworlds : e.g. AW Discord, developments, tips and tricks,
* The wiki part consists mainly of projects that he is developing himself
* bot programs : a radio bot, a hunt bot , a chat bot
* ActiveSim : a bot program for creating customizable role playing games
* AWSDK for AutoIt, : functions and components that make it easier for using the AutoIt scripting language. With the SDK(server development kit), you can make your own bots and utilities.
* Loco Radio: information about Locodarwin's internet radio station.
* AW Enceclopedia: link-o-rama, streaming radio guide, world hosting guide, propdump info, rwx modeling, world CAV info , bot information..etc
* Game developments
* To do -list
Some of these items are still under development, and the site will be completed when there is a progress in the developments of those items.
note : Locodarwin has left again Activeworld in march 2018, this means that the website might go offline soon again.
* Startup of AW Discord
 

Discord is a new tool on the internet, where you can chat , and also use voice chat. The website is called Discord.com , and you can download it for free.
There has been started up AW Discord by several AW members : Locodarwin (#318855), Vampire Queen1 (#361158) and Preston Garvey (#412495).
You can join AW discord by going to the link that is also mentioned on top of the webpage of AWPortals.com : http://discord.gg/PNW54Ss . The AW Discord group has already more than 70 members. The current AW Discord site has different "chat rooms" , there are rooms for newcomers, for building, for events, for aw-pictures, there is voice chat , there is a music room, and there is also a general aw-discussion room.
 
There is also an alternative AW Discord server run by Vampire Queen1 (#361158)and Genevieve (#281719) , . You can join their server by sending a telegram to them, they will give the link for getting access.
 
Both AW Discords are open for everyone. Note: AWTimes posts all AW related sites, tools and utilities as long as these are not harmful to Activeworlds. This is just the same as we have several AW Facebook groups.
* New freebie models from Horsy
 

Horsy (#319337) has added a new set of models to his website..
Horsy has the world Aeolia, and he often starts with new projects in his world. In 2016, his world took part in the multiple-worlds quest game "The Legend of Marcopolo". Then he also created a lego village with Lego models. These are also available for download on his website.
Now he created a set of industrial and agricultural machines , and offers those also for free.
You can download all objects from the webpage : users.skynet.be/horsy/aw2.html
Horsy has also an animations webpage, where you can download several sequence -files, also for the digging machine : users.skynet.be/horsy/aw1.html
* Activeworlds 2017 statistics
 

As usual, we start giving an overview of the evolution of the activities for the Activeworlds Community of 2017. The total number of worlds on 1st of january is 571 worlds, that is only 1 world less than last year. But taking into account that ±40 worlds disappeared and ±39 new worlds were started up, can only be considered as good news: citizens still believe in starting up a new world in Activeworlds.
The statistics for the number of clients is again based upon the website of Tomas (#312020) : http://pens.sytes.net/aw/users/
We know already that the real number of users is masked by the number of bots. But as this is already applied since december 2014, we can compare the stats with the previous years and use this as reliable information.
The table (at the right side) shows the number of days that there were more than 100, 110, 120, 130, 140,150,160 clients online simultaneously. With clients, we mean users + bots.
client statistics for 2017 (analysis from the website of Tomas)
Just like last year, there are missing 3 days for april.

We can see that the summer months are usually calmer, as a lot of citizens go on holiday or go outside (e.g. in the garden) instead of staying at home behind their computer. September is again the weakest month. This effect is even stronger, because also a lot of bot clients remain offline (for instance in september we had an average of 114 clients, whereas on 1st of january we had 120 bot clients, meaning that the bots go on holiday too :).
Unfortunately, we did not reach anymore the average number of december 2016 and january 2017. This could be for instance that we did not have such a large number of new users, like we had in 2016 with the Vinesauce video.
There are also less gatekeepers and greeters than before, which are welcoming the new users. So it will remain a struggle for 2018 to try to get an increase of the users.
But we can conclude that the current situation is stable. And the best news is that ±40 new worlds have been started up in 2017.
Worlds with bots on 1st january 2018
This is an approximate number :
17 bots : Heavensstairway , 13 bots : Alphaworld (AW)
12 bots : ReginaDn , 6 bots : Winter, AWReunion, Midtown
5 bots : AWMix07 , AWTrains , 4 bots : Mystica
3 bots : JDSDemo , Lakotanation, Mythopia
2 bots : MusicDance, America, Anchored, AWSchool,
Delight, ReginaUP, Chulak, Nuttshell
1 bot : A!!Vines, Acropol2, Arisia, AWSpades, AWTours,
AWTrains, Citawards, Citbingo , Français, GorN.F., Harps,
Hyria, Jetta, Kenneth, Kingdom_Rising, Leviathan, Mars,
Mouxi , Simulator, Tortugor, Uberpath
Total number of bots : 120
* OneSummer has passed away
 

On 28th december, OneSummer (#315801) had passed away. She was a popular citizen in Activeworlds, but later she has gone to Secondlife, where she became popular as well.
When people in Activeworlds heard about the sad news, they had not forgotten her.
There is a memorial site for OneSummer in Alphaworld on position 10154N 18786E , where everyone can add a memioral for and about her.
The memorial site has been realized with the help of Keshi and Nursemom. Next to the memorial site of OneSummer, you will find memorial sites of other popular citizens. From position AW 9117N 18866E you can teleport to all memorial sites, also for the citizens that passed away recently : Tunablues and CharleyO.
* New worlds :
 
Citawards :
This world is owned by Arsène (#152438) , and will be used to grant awards for AW citizens. You can vote for : Best building, best world, best event and best citizen.
The purpose is to offer an alternative trophy for the existing Cyawards, but they will certainly not replace the CyAwards. The CyAwards were hosted for the last time in july 2014. And maybe that is the cause for the startup of this world.
 
Citadel :
This world is owned by Activeworlds and the world consists of futuristic warehouses. The objects are made by Lady Murasaki, which is a well-known modeler in Activeworlds.
 
* Useful Tips :
 
Use Mars textures in Alphaworld :

This tip has already been published here in 2015 : http://venice3d.net/2015news49.html
But now with the EBTS 9 contest, Bach Zhaa brought Mars into Alphaworld, so it will be probable that you would like to use textures from the world Mars in Alphaworld.
Mars Object Yard on 1493S 520E.
Mars Texture Yard : 1486E 525E
The object path of Mars : http://objects.activeworlds.com/mars/ .
 
This is how to do it : we find this texture in the texture path of mars
http://objects.activeworlds.com/mars/textures/inlit2.jpg
http://objects.activeworlds.com/mars/textures/vpnl1.jpg
 
Now we go to Alphaworld and we type
model : flat1a_g
action : create texture ../../mars/textures/inlit2.jpg
  create texture ../../mars/textures/vpnl1.jpg
 
By right-clicking on the objects in the EBTS 9 , landing zone, you see that the mars textures have been used as well here.
 
For the public worlds, the object paths are different, but the textures can be used in all worlds : AW , Winter, Cofmeta, Mars and Yellow , also the megapath.. There worlds share the same root path ( = objects.activeworlds.com ), you can use the textures across worlds.