January 2008 News Archive - The Sims Online Mania

Month:

Tuesday January 29, 2008
Version 2.1588.0.0 in Test Center 3 and EA-Land

Hello,

Tomorrows update is going to affect all cities because it involves login. There is lots to communicate so please read carefully. (We reserve the right to add or remove items in the next 24 hours)

IMPORTANT NOTICE:

If tomorrow’s update goes well, Thursday 1/31/2008 noonish we will:

Set all cities except TC3 to paying players only.
Disable character creation in all cities except TC3 and EALand
Close down all moves.
Enable moves from all cities (except TC3 and Betaville) to EALand, aka the bullet train. (Rember the bullet train is with out simoleans and properties.)

Updates to all Cities:

Subscription: The ability to immediately recongnize when you become a paying subscriber is now fixed.

Updates to TC3 and EALand:

Custom Content: You will now be able to upload custom sculptures using the crafting bench. This will be similar to uploading chairs, but you click on “Sculptures.”
Custom Content: Selection for chair comfort is now max comfort 10.
Custom Content: The sandwich board is now the first skinable object. Drag and drop a picsicle over a sandwich board and see what happens.
Custom Content: New confirmation dialog added.
Windows Mode: Default resolution is now 1024×768. If you want 800×600 use -r800×600 on your shortcut command line.
Map View: Default view is far, far zoom. (We don’t have a name for the far far zoom. Suggestions?)
Map View: Far, far zoom now highlights buildable areas.
Map View: Last lot pointer now correctly points to last lot in other buildable areas. (Meaning, it now shows the last property you were in.)
Name Filters: Updated to forbid certain names. (Ha ha! If you didn’t have the name before, its too late now! If you have the name now, we’ll change it, and we get to pick your new name.)
ATM Object: Improved graphics and fixed clipping issues.

Updates to TC3:

Graphics: Various graphics updates and fixes.
Free Player: Only able to have zero size lots, and will not be able to resize. This is a work in progress. More changes will be occuring regarding free player restrictions.

Tomorrow we are going to bring down the cities as early as possible. We will work as fast as we can to bring them all back online. Barring any issues we hope to be fully operational quickly. I will be prepping as much as possible tonight to help speed the process. Once I have an actual timeline I will update here.

Cheers,

Lee

Posted by: Matt

Sunday January 27, 2008
EA-Land Bake Off Contest Tonight!

Source: http://tso-e.com/blog/?p=525

To celebrate the changes in economy, and the new features that enable us to dynamically change the payouts in the game, we will have a cooking contest tonight. I will dramatically increase the pay outs of the canning stations and pizza maker between 6pm and 8pm PST (9pm and 11pm EST). Probably one for an hour, and then the other for the next hour!

This is not to be missed! Pass the word. Call your friends. Increase your skills, build your pizza teams.

Prepare your houses today, and get ready for the event!

A small group of Maxis judges will visit the different lots to find the best teams and we will celebrate those houses this week!

We will not need to bounce the city for this event. And remember, this is only on EA-LAND.

Sincerely,

Luc

Posted by: Matt

Wednesday January 23, 2008
Version 2.1580.0.0 in Test Center 3

Source: http://tso-e.com/blog/?p=521

Hi,

Today’s update has a bunch of prep work for the updated graphics. They mostly include performance enhancements to the DirectX 9 Client.

32 Bit Color: DirectX 9 Client now supports over 16,000,000 color in preparation of higher quality art. (Upgraded from 65,000 color.)
Graphics: DirectX 9 Client is now faster. In the new version the the multi colored particle stream (aka Rainbow Worm) will show in the lower right hand corner of the splash screen. We are still working on the performance of the DirectX 9 Client we will keep you posted.
Windows Mode: Is only mode possible now. Full screen is gone.

NOTICE: Once we have the performance where we want it, we will be switching the DirectX 9 Client to the default client in 2 to 3 weeks. In 4 - 6 weeks the DirectX 9 Client will be the only client available. We still are aware of issues with this version of the DirectX 9 Client, for example, the factory and some other jobs are running slow. We appreciate any and all feedback regarding this update.

Cheers,

Lee

Posted by: Matt

Thursday January 17, 2008
EA Land is Now Open!

EA Land is now open for avatar creation!

Remember that if you want to access EA Land you MUST run the TSO patcher (tso.exe) first and not the TSO client (tsoclient.exe). After running the patcher you can pick which version you want to play. Select EA Land (Beta) from the list and click Login. If you select anything else you will not load the correct client.

A question that I have been asked frequently is "When will the production cities merge into EA Land?" The answer from Lee is that the production cities will merge in a "few weeks", there is no set schedule as of yet. Keep checking here for updates!

See you in EA Land!

Posted by: Matt

Wednesday January 16, 2008
Version 2.1574.0.0 in Test Center 3

Source: http://tso-e.com/blog/?p=515

Everyone,

Today’s update includes mostly bug fixes:

Lag: We think we have finally found the lag monster and tamed it. (Gracie Nito says she can’t find it)
Entitlement: Fixed the bug with permium vs. vistor accounts.
Weekly Bonus: Fixed the bug fix for weekly subscription bonus.
Graphics: Fixed the pink shadow on the scroll bars.
Sim Creation: Players can now create new sims!
Build Mode: Chairs uploaded as custom content will no longer show up in build mode.

TTFN,

FFL

Lee

Posted by: Matt

Sunday January 13, 2008
EA Land Site Updates

We have gone through the entire site and have updated all the required pages in preparation for the opening of EA Land. Certain features in the game have been added, updated, or removed and our guides will now reflect these changes. Here is a list of all the changes made:

A new Custom Content guide has been added.
The Casino Objects guide has been removed.
Prices in the Crafting guide have been updated. The reference to being charged for failure has been removed.
Fire has been removed as a terminal method in the Death guide.
The descriptions in the Property Categories guide have been updated to show there are no motives on residential lots, and that job objects can only be used in the money category.
Our Property Upgrade Calculator has been updated with the new property upgrade costs.
Object depreciation has been removed from the Store Owners guide since the sell back value has been reduced to zero.
The Sim Move guide has been removed and replaced with an Avatar Name Change guide.
All references to hardcore cities (Dragon's Cove) have been removed.
The Buy and Build catalog prices have been updated to the values in Test Center 3, and the new chairs have been added to the seating category.
Last but not least, the "Did you know?" facts to the right have been refreshed.

If you happen to come across any inaccurate information please let us know by sending an email to inquiry at tsomania dot net. As the game evolves we will continue to keep you informed and update the site accordingly.

Thank you for your continued support!

--TSO Mania Staff

Posted by: Matt

Wednesday January 9, 2008
Version 2.1566.0.0 in Test Center 3

Source: http://tso-e.com/blog/?p=510

Here are today’s updates:

Cash-in Ready: Developers currently have the ability to add simoleans to their account via the ATM machine using PayPal. Over the next few days we may open this up to players for short periods of time so that we can test that this is functional.
Lag: We have further instrumented and added additional fixes to help improve the lag problem. If the lag gets better thank Greg if not yell at Lee as normal.
DX9/DX7 Internal: We have merged the two code lines. Information on this below.
Custom Content: Chair bugs have been fixed and now provide comfort.
Tuning Payouts: Fixes to our tuning application to allow for dynamic payout tuning.

Announcements:

Gift Box and 4th year gift: This is ready and Parizad will be announcing when they will be handed out in a separate post.
DirectX 9 and DirectX 7: As I have mentioned above we have merged the DX9 and the DX7 Client code into a single code base this is an internal thing and we probably added a few bugs, sorry. In the next 1-2 weeks we will be making the DX9 version of the client the default version when you login. (Test Center 3 will become DX9 and Test Center-Test will become DX7. It will be reversed.) We need as many of you to play with this version as possible so we can fix bugs in DX9. Shortly after DX9 is stable (1-2 weeks) we will remove as in get rid of forever the DX7 Client.
Character Creation: Prior to the opening of EALand and the forth coming merges we will disable forever character creation in existing production cities. In addition existing cities well only allow subscribing players to play. Expect this change in 1-2 weeks.
Free Play: Expect it free play to be out in 1-2 weeks. The Free Trial will be temporarily discontinued. Details on what Free Play mean will be explained at a future date.

Cheers,

Lee

Posted by: Matt

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