I know there's the Until Uru pseudo-FAQ above my little thread here, but looking at the site recently brings the question of accuracy to me mind.
So basically, here's my thread:

Finally bucked up to spend the five or so hours downloading the Complete Chronicles patch, and right now I'm wondering about a few things:

1. I bought PotS expansion once it came out. So now I run Uru from the PotS CD instead of that for Prime. Does that still count as Complete Chronicles, or am I out of luck?

2. There's stuff on the site now about invitations. Little wary of their instructions. Can anyone give me a hand on starting up?

3. Oh, and will I be waiting ten minutes just to link into the shard for the first time while me dialup thinks about when to download?


And yes, I did RTFM.

:unsure: Umm, hello.... Is anyone watching down here? I know it isn't above the fold on the index page, but could anyone help?

heya, marina!! sorry for the slow reply (i've been sick).

to do until uru, you need a clean install of uru ages beyond myst or uru complete chronicles. no expansion packs or update patches!

then you download the patcher - either the abm version or the cc version.

sounds like you've got abm and then you bought pots expansion.

first, create a folder on your c: drive and call it untiluru.

then insert the abm disc and use the custom install and tell it to install to the untiluru folder.

then get the until uru patcher for abm and tell it to install to that same untiluru folder.

if you downloaded the cc patcher, i can send you the one for abm - to save you time on downloading. i can send you an invite too...i need your email address tho!

Okay, well. It's been forever since you invited me, but armed with a faster internet connection, I'm finally in!

And I can't even begin to describe how much more awesome Uru is online.

So, here's my next semi-obvious question: How do I get into the other shards, like Tapestry, Guild of Greeters, etc.

it's absolutely AMAZING being in the city with other people, isn't it?!?!?!?!?! doesn't compare, at all, to the single player version!!

anyone with the proper installation of uru (either abm or complete chronicles) and the until uru patcher can access the d'mala shard after being invited.

the other shards are only available to people who purchased the registration keys through kagi. purpose being that the price ($4.99) went towards maintaining the server cyan needed to run their end of things.

they stopped selling these reg keys long before the announcement was made that Urulive - Myst Online would be returning. which, at this point, doesn't really matter too much.

urulive is supposed to be up and running at the end of the year...it's in beta testing now. it'll be available through gametap (they've already got a few of the early myst games and even some of the other cyan games on their site). they're offering a discount on membership - if you sign up for 1 year in advance, it comes out to be about $5.00 a month. basically, that's half the normal price AND you can play any of the games they have on their site (hundreds). not bad.

you can find more info here: http://www.urulive.com/forums/index.php

i don't know if UU will be kept up and running once Live is back...i kind of doubt it. cyan hasn't said anything one way or the other tho...

I do like the idea of exploring ages with other people, but it's kind of a bummer that I can't do the PotS era ages. From what I could tell from the patcher, I don't think there'd be much reason I couldn't run it in place of Complete Chronicles, but the whole "unsupported" thing kinda turned me away from trying it. UU's buggy enough, and funny while at it, but I don't like the crashes that much.

Yeah, I figured they'd make D'mala standard. Not much reason in giving us the patcher for free if we can't get right up and running, eh?

So I guess that means I can't get into the Tapestry shard? That seems to be the place where every ID I see is from. Ah well, I'm meeting people in D'mala and having a blast.

Gametap does sound great, especially since I'd be able to use it with this faster internet (and after the 2.9k nightmare that is dialup, anything's better). I'll have to look into it soon.

I sure hope they keep UU, or at least D'mala or other invite/open shards open for a while. I'm having too much fun!

d'mala is strictly the basic ABM...if you didn't use the correct patcher for your version of the game (CC) if you did manage to get on to d'mala (which i don't think would happen) you'd, at the least, crash your game AND you'd definitely corrupt their server - which would affect other players...i'm glad you didn't try it!!

actually, tapestry shard is down completely :( and it's no wonder that you're seeing a lot of id's from there...that is the shard that was most frequented. i did manage to get on all the others at least once and there were a few i visited on a regular (if infrequent) basis. there was just always something happening on tap - either the main shard or the event shard (stripped down version so that we'd have less lag and other problems during the big events).

there are shards that run the PotS ages, i've never gotten around to reinstalling uru so that i could go on them...actually, i STILL haven't even finished PotS!! :gak:

i've barely had time to keep up on the forums lately, much less log into UU...i'm so glad you've been getting on and getting to know people! we've got a great group of people in this community!!

i'm definitely going to plan on attending the halloween thingie, tho! part of the fun of the big events is the lag - yeah, i know it sounds funky!! we've just always made the best of it and things have always turned out to be a ton of fun!! i WILL try to make some time to log in beforehand tho...would love to meet up with you there!! can't promise too much tho...with this broken foot and 2 sick ferrets on top of the usual working full-time and trying to keep up on housework i just haven't had any free time for fun...being on crutches makes it take 4 times as long to do anything (and there's lots i can't do and have to get help for - and then i've got to work around their schedule...). all i can say is: DON'T EVER break your foot!! besides being extremely painful...it's just a pain in the tush to deal with!!

i would think, at some point, that the ages that are in PotS will be added to Live...as usual, cyan isn't lettin' da cat outta da bag.

they're also not explaining how the 'freebie' area in Live is going to be set up/run. basically, people can go to some common area (like the hood or somewhere in the city) and kind of check things out and socialize...

UU has been wonderful...i can't wait for Live to start up again tho!!

Broken foot and two sick ferrets? My, I leave the boards for a few months and all Jakooth breaks loose... :D

I have my ID thing in my sig now, so hey, now you know where to look for me.

yeah, i keep forgetting to update the siggy's with the d'mala ki number...

Well, I suppose now that UruLive is back, no one's on UU at all. I was just in there, and it's totally empty... *sniff sniff* and no matter how much i try, i can't get the support to go to Live. Guess that's the end of it, then. *sniff*

I'm sure it's even better now, but it doesn't seem that there's any more to do for us unfortunate free users. I'll probably broadcast every now and then on the Teamspeak server (gtchat.hopto.org), but no guarantees. This is really kind of a bummer for me.

Wish you all the best of luck on Uru Live. Perhaps someday we'll actually see each other in the depths of cyber/D'ni-space.

Marina, there's supposed to be a "Visitor" feature when Uru Live goes live. I'm not sure how it will work (yet) but it's supposed to allow non-subscribers to login to the game, probably through GameTap, and visit a limited number of areas or ages. I haven't seen anything specific about this yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I find out.

Oh also, rumor has it that at least some of the PoTS ages will be brought to UL, eventually! yay!

why don't you just join gametap?? if you pay for a year in advance, it's cheaper than paying monthly.

fallstar is right tho, there is going to be a 'visitor' thing available. i have no idea how it's going to work tho.

:joclyn:

*sniffle* I'd love to..... but the folks won't pay for it...........i dunno why............

oh well, we have a wonderful rpg going on my boards and I'm doin my best to incorporate d'ni, so I get that kinda "live" thing... just kinda a bummer that they couldn't, like, update the UU client or something.. that'd be nice...

Someday, though, someday...