User talk:Arthgon

Welcome to Ultima Codex! We hope you will contribute much and well. You will probably want to read the help pages. Again, welcome and have fun! -- Fenyx4 14:55, 27 November 2012 (PST)

C64 Ultima VI
I noticed that you are adding details from the C64 version of Ultima VI that were different from the original. Does it mean that you've played (and maybe even won) the game? I never managed to do so, as it was far to tideous with how slow it is and all the disk-swapping.--Tribun 09:56, 30 November 2012 (PST)


 * Yes, indeed. I've played and won the game with a lot of patience and perseverance. Did you know that in the Commodore 64's version the switches in Dungeon Covetous/Wrong are invisible? --Arthgon 10:10, 30 November 2012 (PST)


 * Won on a real C64 or on an emulator? (I ask because it's next to impossible to find C64 endgame pics)--Tribun 10:38, 30 November 2012 (PST)


 * I've won it on a real C64. Sorry. But if it's okay, I can find the emulation version and get the C64 endgame pics for you. --Arthgon 10:42, 30 November 2012 (PST)

Oh yes, please.--Tribun 10:52, 30 November 2012 (PST)

I read your troubles with the Xiao bug. Since she only is important for spells, you can just use the cheat system to get the spells you'd miss otherwise.--Tribun 04:42, 5 December 2012 (PST)


 * I am going to do that. Do you know what's causing this bug? It's really weird. Oh. One of the other things that I'm going do is this; Getting my C64 computer (yes. Original with one disk drive. Got it for my birthday in the 80's) from the attic and play (and making pictures of the progress and such, of course) the game with authentic and nostalgic feelings. --Arthgon 05:26, 5 December 2012 (PST)


 * Nice idea, but for screenshots I'd stick with an emulator.--Tribun 06:12, 5 December 2012 (PST)

I really find it interesting how different the game looked on a C64, so keep on! The bug with the gargoyles is funny, but some other thing: is it normal, that some persons are called "Aaaaaaaaaaaa"? Seems to be another bug.--Tribun 11:44, 29 December 2012 (PST)

Screenshots
I took the freedom to improve your two screenshots and can give you some tips to imrove the quality:


 * The screenshots were far too bright and the color timing was off. You should re-calibrate the contrast and color-timing of your emulator.
 * The first screenshot had bad dithering. Please save the pictures as PNG files (or JPG with good quality).

Since C64-shots are rae, I hope we see more. The two you have now will be put onto the bugs page.--Tribun 00:10, 7 December 2012 (PST)


 * Thanks. I will try to improve the pictures. If it still is not okay, sorry. I will fix it. --Arthgon 10:40, 7 December 2012 (PST)


 * It's getting closer. The brightness is still a bit too high (the blacks are greys) and the contrast and color saturation too low. But you are on a good way, use other C64 screenshots on this wiki as a guide.--Tribun 12:06, 7 December 2012 (PST)


 * Better? --Arthgon 12:28, 7 December 2012 (PST)


 * VERY close now! Just the contrast a little bit lower (so that they greys don't get slallowed by the whites) and the color a bit stronger, then yu are there!--Tribun 12:36, 7 December 2012 (PST)


 * And now? --Arthgon 12:49, 7 December 2012 (PST)


 * Color look OK now. Uhm.. contrast is good, you just need to reduce brightness now, so that blacks are blacks.--Tribun 12:52, 7 December 2012 (PST)

Just to be sure, you guys are confident of your colour perception and equipment, right? I was once given an Ishihara test which I failed miserably even though I aced the lantern test. With that an my 10+-year-old KDS CRT (at least it faces away from the window), I'd want a second opinion (and wouldn't look for the colour blind to lead the colour blind) The Ultra-Mind 14:23, 7 December 2012 (PST)


 * I for one are not that sure with my colour perception. Oh well. Have you noticed that sometimes the picture don't change as you upload another version of it? I did that with a version of the picture with Lady Nan, Ariana and Kenneth but still it was the same as the one before that. That's why all those pictures of the same thing. Sorry. Now I will go on, until it is right. --Arthgon 16:33, 7 December 2012 (PST)

Sometimes you need to refrash the page, before the change is shown correctly. I tweaked your latest picture and uploadedd it as a guide for you. Basically, I just lowered brightness and increased color saturation a bit. You can use that one to adjust your emulator. While at it, try if you can tweak (after the first two things) the color timing a bit so that the back wall looks a bit more grey, since the whites and greys right now melt together (I think using a PAL palette on the emulator improves the output).

Don't give up, screenshots are constantly improving, and it really is a bitch to get the correct settings for a C64.--Tribun 00:42, 8 December 2012 (PST)


 * Addendum: I re-created the scene with my own emulator. Here what it should look like (I didn't alter the picture at all).
 * [[Image: Exampleu6.png|200px]]
 * What emulator are you using? If you are using VICE (the most common one), I can give you the values needed to get this picture.--Tribun 01:06, 8 December 2012 (PST)
 * Thank you for helping me out. I'm using a ccs64. --Arthgon 01:29, 8 December 2012 (PST)
 * I'd suggest using VICE, since it is far more faithful with picture and sound. I stopped using CCS64 because of its shortcomings.--Tribun 01:47, 8 December 2012 (PST)
 * I never have had some problems with the CCS64, (Perhaps it is because I'm used to swap floppies on my C64/128 and I experienced the awful and painstaking waiting with the good ol' tapes.) but the pictures and sounds are a bit off indeed. (Not to mention the way to get the right color. Well. My original C64/C128 had a black and white screen so...I had to connect it to the television to get colors. Besides, it was the only way to survive the piranhas in "Aztec Challenge".) I will go and try VICE. --Arthgon 02:26, 8 December 2012 (PST)

Good, once you got it to work (it's really simple) I can tell you how I adjusted my video options for optimal picture.--Tribun 02:33, 8 December 2012 (PST)
 * Okay. It's installed and it's ready to roll. --Arthgon 06:15, 9 December 2012 (PST)
 * Something like this? BlueFire.PNG‎ --Arthgon 06:18, 9 December 2012 (PST)

Mmm..How did you adjusted your video options? --Arthgon 06:18, 9 December 2012 (PST)


 * Make an in-game screenshot from the scene you used before, that would be a better comparison.--Tribun 06:39, 9 December 2012 (PST)

You mean? --Arthgon 06:46, 9 December 2012 (PST)


 * No, I mean where you talk to Kenneth (the topmost screenshot on this page), since it is good to compare colors. I also took the freedom to shrink the screenshots on this page.


 * This?Ladynan.PNG‎

Perfect. Your picture already is well adnjusted. That's what you should use for future screenshots.--Tribun 07:09, 9 December 2012 (PST)

After you left Wikia
Just something interesting: I did leave you a message at the old Wikia place at the start of the month where to find us (didn't know then you were already coming over) and as a result, they banned me. It just shows how desperate they must be to try and cover up that their place is dead. Funny is, they even asked you to become an admin, showing how deserted the place is.

Btw., some other poor sod has recently fallen prey to them. Maybe you can warn him and tell where we are now?--Tribun 06:32, 16 December 2012 (PST)


 * Strange. They must have deleted the message, because its nowhere to be found. Admin? Wow. Even though I feel flattered, it makes me feel like Zog. I shall warn QurupecoHunter04. --Arthgon 07:20, 16 December 2012 (PST)


 * Yeah, they did erase the massage. Cowards can't even face the competetion.--Tribun 07:30, 16 December 2012 (PST)


 * How's this? "You may have noticed that there's another wiki called http://wiki.ultimacodex.com/wiki/Main_Page. (Yes. I am perfectly aware that this is the opposing concurrent.) Moreover, it's quite different as this one. This place is full of life and user-friendly. You'll notice that every one of the older contributors is there. Come and see." --Arthgon 07:55, 16 December 2012 (PST)

Better add as well that right now he's basically at a deserted place, an old version.--Tribun 08:05, 16 December 2012 (PST)


 * Something like this? "You're now in a place which you could compare with Ancient Sosaria after Zog used the Armageddon spell. Alone in an empty world." Subtlety is the best way. --Arthgon 08:14, 16 December 2012 (PST)
 * Looks good.--Tribun 08:36, 16 December 2012 (PST)
 * I have send the message.--Arthgon 08:45, 16 December 2012 (PST)
 * I've changed it into something like: "You may have noticed that there's Ultima Codex...." This is to prevent that it will get notified as spam and such. Okay? --Arthgon 15:11, 16 December 2012 (PST)

It seems that semanticdrifter has deleted the message (notifying it as a solicitation) and wrote this: "In the meantime, please refrain from directing users to the forked community. There will be zero chance of rebuilding this wiki if everyone who contributes is directed to a competing source. It is against our fork policy to direct users to competing wikis. Thanks. " Oh. He is also REALLY wants me to be an admin. --Arthgon 01:45, 17 December 2012 (PST)

Oh. I forgot to tell the funniest bit. Now it only says: Welcome to this Wiki. You're now in a place which you could compare with Ancient Sosaria after Zog used the Armageddon spell. Alone in an empty world. --Arthgon 13:00, 17 December 2012 (PST)


 * Ha! Good one!--Tribun 13:26, 17 December 2012 (PST)
 * Oh yeah, they edited what you wrote him. However, I find this one what they told you much better: "Fair enough. Please let me know if you change your mind. In the meantime, please refrain from directing users to the forked community. There will be zero chance of rebuilding this wiki if everyone who contributes is directed to a competing source. It is against our fork policy to direct users to competing wikis. Thanks,".
 * That was a good one from them. They are still too stubborn to admit they they'd lost since the move.--Tribun 13:30, 17 December 2012 (PST)


 * It's sad to see how worried they are about having a wiki there just for the traffic, rather than being worried about the Wiki's content... from the community point of view, of course it's better to focus all efforts in one wiki, especially since the community is ok with that (and since it is pretty small in comparison to other wikis). But they insist on trying to lure people into rebuilding that other wiki, which would of course waste the efforts of people that could be helping here instead of doing duplicate or separate work... They clearly show how they care only about the traffic, and nothing about the actual communities.--Sega381 16:01, 17 December 2012 (PST)


 * It should be remembered Wikia is a for-profit business, so of course what they ultimately care about is traffic. The Editable Codex may have lost its active community, but I'm willing to bet it still gets loads more visitors than we do if Google search results are anything to go by. Wikia has reasons to keep it alive and I don't expect them to stop trying any time soon. --Terilem 18:17, 17 December 2012 (PST)

Hey, you're onto a good idea, making the sedition subtle, in Ultima-speak and such. Even if they see through it, at least you made 'em work for it.

Next you might try something like "now, whatever you do don't go over to the forked Codex of Ultima Wisdom! It's a horrible place full of nearly all the editors that made the content here, and not a bit of advertising. Seriously! None whatsoever! Imagine!

But my preferred method would be to upload something like this to users' talk pages: Then maybe add some garlands and stuff... they'll never know The Ultra-Mind 19:54, 17 December 2012 (PST)


 * Oh my... that image is brilliant. --Terilem 22:00, 17 December 2012 (PST)
 * I totally agree with that. It's awesome and they'd probably don't get it. You can always do it in the  Ophidian Alphabet, because they call us "forked"--Arthgon 00:25, 18 December 2012 (PST)
 * Nah, Runic is enough. I'd be next to impossible to read Ophidian script.--Tribun 01:45, 18 December 2012 (PST)

Broken Code
Somehow during your writing of the RoV walkthrough, you broke masses of code. No idea how that happened, but It'd be better to fix this.--Tribun 06:53, 24 December 2012 (PST)
 * Yeah. I know. I will try to fix it.--Arthgon 01:32, 25 December 2012 (PST)

Hooray. I fixed it completely. Thank God that I had a back-up of a part of it. Phew. The culprit? To avoid the same problem, just not press Save Page when someone else is editing the page. This will break the mass of code and makes everything really look bad. Strangely enough, no one but me was editing the page only this time. --Arthgon 01:32, 25 December 2012 (PST)

Your Picture Uploads
First, I did put together the Ultima VII paper map and replaced the old version with it. Please tell if I did a good job with puzzling it back together.
 * The map looks awesome! --Arthgon 15:33, 3 January 2013 (PST)

Now, I noticed that the scans you uploaded for ads and covers were horrifically bloated. No offense, but several megabytes is simply too much for a simple cover scan (I draw the line at a mamimum of 2 MB for a complete cloth map) So, for the future, here some tips to make life easier for yourself:
 * Do not save the pictures as PNG, that's only meant for small pictures or with few colors, not scans. Save as JPG and select a good compression rate.
 * Shrink the scans down. The original scan size is simply too big to be practical.

I do appreciate your work, but authors here have little understanding for creating pictures of several megabytes. I hope to see more of your work and that my tips help you out.--Tribun 15:02, 3 January 2013 (PST)


 * Okay. I shall do that. Thank you for changing them (they look much better now) and giving me advice about this sort of things. I really appreciate that. --Arthgon 15:33, 3 January 2013 (PST)


 * Right, none of us here have any idea about image processing... :/ --Terilem 17:35, 3 January 2013 (PST)


 * I <3 you so much right now. -- Fenyx4 18:36, 3 January 2013 (PST)

The big 1,000
Almost 1,000 edits to the wiki. That's something to be proud of! Dungy 16:23, 25 January 2013 (PST)
 * Thank you. --Arthgon 02:35, 26 January 2013 (PST)

UW2 Weapon Icons
If you upload Underworld II wepaon icons, please right away create the correct category to put them into.--Tribun 12:45, 31 January 2013 (PST)
 * Yes. You are definely right. I will make them. --Arthgon 12:47, 31 January 2013 (PST)
 * Great work on those icons, between You, Dungy, and myself; the images on the site will be really cleaned up and organized. - Iceblade 09:17, 7 March 2013 (PST)

Articles for deletion
To make my life a bit easier, if you want an image deleted, change its category to "Articles for Deletion". I'll get around to it eventually. Dungy 15:03, 3 February 2013 (PST)
 * Okay. Sorry. I will do that. --Arthgon 05:34, 4 February 2013 (PST)
 * Thanks, that prevents me from deleting the wrong page. You don't have to blank discussion pages, when I delete the file, the discussion page is deleted too. Dungy 06:15, 4 February 2013 (PST)
 * Your welcome. The discussion file still functioned to my surprise. One of items was still linked to it. I hope that I did the right thing. --Arthgon 06:21, 4 February 2013 (PST)

Thank you
Good grief, thank you for taking on the task of cleaning up the Serpent Isle walkthrough. I'm shocked and embarrassed that kind of language was on this wiki for so long before your removals/rewrites. Keep up the good work. --Terilem 05:34, 11 February 2013 (PST)
 * Ditto. We've got lots of pages that need this. Dungy 06:09, 11 February 2013 (PST)
 * Your welcome. At this moment, I have clean up the whole walkthrough, fixed the typos and the sentences. Shall I now remove the banner? Now, I am going to fix those other pages that need this as well. Ninja-edit: Removed the banner.--Arthgon 12:46, 11 February 2013 (PST)

Renaming images
Hey Arthgon, just letting you know if you want to rename an image, you can click the "Move" tab at the top of the file's page. It'd be much less convoluted than uploading new versions and leaving all the old ones marked for deletion. --Terilem (talk) 18:11, 12 April 2013 (PDT)
 * I know. Because I was just not that happy with the results, I changed their sizes and names. The newer ones have a different size and actually looking now much better than the original ones. --Arthgon (talk) 02:50, 13 April 2013 (PDT)
 * What I mean is you don't have to upload a completely new file under a different name and mark the old one for deletion. You can overwrite the same file with the new version, and if you want to rename it, click the "Move" tab at the top of the page. --Terilem (talk) 06:35, 13 April 2013 (PDT)
 * I know I really do not have to do this. However, I just want to make it look perfect and prevent that there are too much different versions under one file. If you know what I mean. I really hope you do not mind my perfectionism. --Arthgon (talk) 06:40, 13 April 2013 (PDT)

Empty Image Space
There is something that bugs me with the armour images. I understand the space with the weapons, since some are quite big and you want a uniform picture height. However, none of the armour is that tall, making all the extra space look very useless and the table needlessly bloated.--Tribun (talk) 20:54, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Yes. You are right. Perhaps 80x50 or something for the armour and shields? However, I also want the pictures look great and not bloated or something. Better? --Arthgon (talk) 22:09, 11 May 2013 (UTC)


 * Looks much better now!--Tribun (talk) 08:12, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

Everything got fixed, so you can now update the old png files instead of uploading entirely new jpg ones.--Tribun (talk) 14:04, 12 May 2013 (UTC)
 * It is good to see that everything is fixed. How are the armour looking so far? I uploaded some new ones to prevent that it become too many versions. (Also better named) --Arthgon (talk) 20:04, 12 May 2013 (UTC)
 * You can look at my recent changes to Weapon Values to see how you can format the table to do the work for you instead adding white space to the image itself (making it easier to work with the image elsewhere if necessary). This advice is coming pretty late but if you have more tables and images to work with in the future this might help. -- Fenyx4 21:26, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Thanks. --Arthgon (talk) 09:06, 3 July 2013 (UTC)

Broken Files
As you noticed there were a few files that were uploaded during the moratorium that are busted (see here). Sorry my bad I should have just disabled uploading during the durtion. Do you still have local copies of them? If so could you send them to me editablecodex-at-gmail.com? Thanks. -- Fenyx4 12:54, 12 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Nevermind. I managed to fix it. -- Fenyx4 13:35, 12 May 2013 (UTC)
 * Sorry, it was a bit of my fault. I should have waited for it being ready. Someone said (Yes, short-time memory is the first to go) that it would not be happend the next day. So...I thought that it would be okay to do this. Sorry. --Arthgon (talk) 18:57, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

Advantages of new vs. old files?
I was wondering why you were systematically replacing the old U6 files? It seems like the old versions have couple advantages. 1) they have a transparency layer and 2) they don't have the extra whitespace around them that could make them hard to use elsewhere. -- Fenyx4 12:26, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Oh. I just wanted to use better looking ones. Sorry.--Arthgon (talk) 12:28, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I can understand better looking. :) But I'm wondering what you find better looking? Both of the below look the same to me. -- Fenyx4 12:40, 7 July 2013 (UTC)


 * I know. It is just the name, size and all. I hope it is okay. Just want things to be perfect--Arthgon (talk) 12:44, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I can understand wanting consistent names. Although it has been explained before you can use move to change the name instead of uploading an entirely new version. (except in the cases of changing the filetype. Then, yes, you do need to upload a new version).
 * Can you explain what is better about the size?
 * Why do you need to remove the image transparency? -- Fenyx4 13:01, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * As I said before, when I change the name, (instead of uploading) there is still a redirect page to the new title. It seems that you just cannot prevent it. And that does not look good. Besides, only a couple of weapons, the Storm Cloak and some armor are like this. ALL the others are new.
 * Uh? Image transparency? So I have to copy the items, equipment, et al out of my Ultima VI game and then using Image transparency? Oh. --Arthgon (talk) 13:25, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * I'd suggest moving it and then requesting the redirect be deleted. Then a duplicate file isn't on the server, it gives the mods clearer information on what is going on with the delete (makes going through the to be deleted category faster), and the file history isn't lost.
 * Image transparency has two advantages that come to mind. If the item has bits of white on the edge that information isn't lost (with a white background you can't tell what is white item and white background). And if sometime in the future the background of the pages change it won't make all these images have a white border around all of them. So if you can easily add in image transparency that would be great. (I won't make you jump through hoops to add image transparency if it is difficult).
 * But my real point here is that if we already have images with transparency then replacing them with nearly identical images WITHOUT transparency is a step backwards.
 * And what is better about the size? -- Fenyx4 14:06, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * Okay. I will asked it for someone to delete the redirect. The most of the items so far are have not got that much white on their edges et al and are identical in the game. I have triple-check to make sure. However, now I know what you mean. I will try to use transparency, IF there is white on the edges. However, I am not that good at this.--Arthgon (talk) 14:23, 7 July 2013 (UTC)
 * No worries. You are doing great. I just saw stuff that concerned me so thought I'd discuss it with you. -- Fenyx4 14:58, 7 July 2013 (UTC)