Thanks a bunch!

I have LOTS of work to do. In the next couple of weeks, a major revamp is needed for the front page of the PZE forums, to reflect the new Update Patch 4 which is a lot different than the Update Patch 3 in both graphics and functions.

PZE Forums? Where can I find that? *wipes slobber from lip*

The ones here

Oh oh you mean the PZE topic then. I'll shut up

Might be an interesting idea to have your own forum though, but if you decided on that I'll help you guys get something simple set up.

I think that's a pretty good idea. You could have an entire forum dedicated solely to the PZE, complete with sections for people to post their games and tutorials from the developers and from fellow users. A section for walkthroughs and things like that. Perhaps maybe a Wiki could be made.

I recall, before Open Zelda's demise, The Gaming Universe had a forum designated specifically for Open Zelda. There exists even a wiki for Open Zelda!

ya, I been saying pze needs it's own website which I can set up, but yearly fees would be an issue unless the site is free which has banners and restrictions.

We just created the PZE's website. More info about it (links, etc) will be published to the community after the website is ready

S_R, I'm telling you I should create it, I can make awesome websites, I've taken classes for it.

The only thing I'm having a problem with is free providers have an upload limit of 50mb and may have ads.

Chak: I took classes on website design, though my skills are way outdated...I'm kinda curious to see what you had in mind . However, if S_R has a site up and (presumably) running we may not have to worry about it. It could be she has her own web space or perhaps a wiki already. Might even have another forum like invision.

We were definitely thinking in the right direction though

well I can tell you mines has a register, log in page, forums, profile pages, pm, chat, and alot of other things, I am using a CMS, but I still program things with html and css, so basically I know what plugins to use with the cms and what settings to turn on.

I wish there was a 150mb file upload limit, most only give 50mb in the free ones, or have ads.

About the wiki: there is a site called shoutwiki, which uses the standard wiki layout, not the wikia one, (Thus not as many ads[since flash/java/whatever takes to long to load]) so maybe i could try to get something like that set up.

Forumotion. And if the site uses a CSS based layout I can make you a real good looking skin (Green and white for a zelda forum, anyone?). If not forumotion, any other forum that uses CSS is something I can code a skin for, though I'm not great with PHP or the other languages.

Just lemme know if you want help

Edit: And yeah forumotion has a single ad, but if you have a decent web browser (Eg: Not IE) that has adblock plus functionality, like firefox and google chrome, then you can't even see the ad. Also, it's only $4.95 for like 3 months without ads, so there's that too.

Klokinator: You.....wouldn't happen to be familiar with Zelda Fan Game Central, would you? XDXD

does anyone have a paid hosting site that has cpanel, php5, myqsl, and is decent in size as well as WHM, or VPS? or knows of a few better than x10hosting?

I mean one that they are willing to let us use?

I will be proposing a layout for the css I need in a few moments if not a few hours, it uses the e107 CMS, so it may need short codes entered into the css.

ok everyone so I got the base website going, I may add more plugins later on, but have a look and see what you think, I'll need to edit the theme a bit to the way I wan't it, bit I'll do that in the next coming days.

pze.x10.bz

please no sign ups as of yet as I have to make sure the email server is working correctly, I will just have to delete them.

I really think you guys should stay simple. Why do you need file uploading? That's why you have dropbox and/or rapidshare among other file sharing sites. Try using forumotion, it has strong servers, is up 24/7 and (so far) in a whole year I haven't experienced even an hour of downtime. It handles lots of people just fine, built in chatbox (much better than a shoutbox) and has a very good ACP.

Not only that but I'll even code you guys a skin if you like. All you gotta do is make me a nice banner and I'll work the skin around said banner, real simple.

If you complicate this startup process now, it won't take off very well I'm afraid.

Acouple of the members of the team have been working on a forumotion site. It's a simple custom template that we've been working on which is true to the zelda theme. I know it's not flashy and doesn't have many custom features, but i believe the PZE forums don't need to be anything too extreme. Something quick and easy to use for us to submit our resources and help you guys out.

There are some tutorials and scripts i've written that i would like to post, but i have refrained from doing so until we actually decide which forum we are going to use. Instead of a user guide the team is just going release of bunch of tutorials on the forum. It will allow us to update the tutes after the release of the engine and make it allot easier for us to give you guys help and support. Also if we write any additional scripts or create any additional resources we can submit them straight away so you don't need to wait months for the next update.

Heres the link to the forum, tell us what you think:
http://projectzeldaengine.forumotion.com/

I like it Simple, yet it gets the job done However I would recommend widening the content column just a bit....perhaps by about 20%?

I like the forumotion one a lot more. Simpler, and the skin looks very nice. So if you guys would like help setting up permissions, making sure the forum in general is functional and even adding some new stuff, just give me a ring

Edit: Speaking of permissions, newly registered members can't post in any of the forums, whether a topic or a post...

Edit 2: The forum is a little disorganized, with regards to board layout.


Try working it like this:

[Forum and Discussion]
Site Announcements
-Site Feedback
Introductions and Departures
General Discussion
-Spam Land (I personally hate this sort of board so feel free to not include this)

[Project Zelda Engine]
PZE Discussion
-PZE Tutorials
PZE Resources
-Scripts
-Graphics
(Anything else you could add here)
PZE Projects




Let's take a look at this now.

6 boards on main index, 5 subforums. I recommend using only a PZE resources board for the beginning, and as more stuff gets added, THEN add subforums and move stuff into there. The less boards you have in the beginning, the less you'll feel frushed to make the forum feel ";ess empty".

Everything is clearly labeled and you understand where it goes. I don't recommend adding a spam board, just if you feel the need add a spam thread or something as the hangout spot. Works great on my forum, and we aren't even that spammy lol.

In addition...


You might not have even noticed this, but you don't have topic titles visible on the index. I can't recommend making those visible enough lol.

Thanks for the feedback FF and Klock, I will let you know if we need any additional help.

By the way, all thanks go to Silent for the skin. She did all the artwork

my site has a signup and all this will allow people to upload there projects which I like, and I am still editing it, just let me edit the theme, the mail server is up and running now.

pze.x10.bz

it just seems to me that a more professional site will grab more attention.

Here's a better idea. If Chakanevil's site is like an actual web server (Not just a forum) then we can assign the forumotion forum to it instead, and use it as like a homepage. IF, however, it is just a forum, I don't think we should use it. Forumotion is stable, has a great base to work with, CSS support (CSS3 actually, which is the best), and lots of fine tuning options. Let me manage the forum, you guys focus on making the PZE great as it deserves to be.

Also, I'll get you guys your own domain, it'll be real cool.

the only problem is since it is a free host that they could take it down at any time, and it may be slower on loading, so I'm looking at host gator or godaddy.

But yes this has it own forum plugin.

pze.x10.bz/forum

It seems a bit stable though

But it's... ugly... like, really ugly. And FYI, forumotion forums are very stable. As someone who has been administrating two of them for over a year, there is never downtime. Unless you're doing money laundering or something, there's no reason some obscure forum would get taken down for some silly reason.

http://puu.sh/ebIx
VS
http://puu.sh/ebKm

My eyes actually throb after looking at the first link. Features =/= goodness.


I assure you, they're rated for a megasized 100,000+ member base without slowdown.

http://www.forum-software.org/forumotion/review

I was gonna edit the theme, I have to recode it.

now have a look since i can switch themes at will.

e107

Its completely different with a theme change.

I'm thinking host gator

I finished the main layout of the forumotion board. Looks a lot cleaner and more organized now, feel free to post and have a cheery good time

My dear Chakanevil, the decission is taken. We will stay with the Forumotion.com, as we won't swap to another site anymore. We really will appreciate if you follow us in forumotion, since it is a set webpage . Chakan, your efforts to bring us a website are highly appreciated, but its fine now, we no longer need a new website, so please lets stay all together in forumotion now.

I'm gonna post the PZE banner in my sig and link to the new forum, so everyone will be able to get to it very easily.

I just don't like forum motion it's too plain and feels too much like word press, plus it has an ad.

just give me a chance to edit the theme.

Take a look at some of the big sites

zeldadungeon.net

zeldalegends.net

zeldauniverse.net

all these sites have a main page something forum motion is lacking.

I posted something on the forum but nobody is reading it so I'll post it here.

I was talking to my friend Norodo, and he's a professional web developer. He runs the SoS forums, which I am a global mod at. He has a dedicated server, unlimited uploading space, and access to all free forum software, as well as the paid versions of MyBB and a couple others. (Not invision though.) He has the corporate versions of these softwares, so he has access to 1 additional domain for free, and he said he'd love to host the PZE community.

We would have room for members to upload their own games (Baffou will like that) as well as none of the limitations that forumotion has, and all the power and more. He can even port the skin we have now over to his MyBB server, and he's very good at creating custom programs.

This is a rare opportunity guys. We can get a free domain (www.yoursitehere.net) and access to a paid forum server with no downtime, as well as unlimited uploading space. I can't stress enough how useful this is. Who wants to take it? I want a concensus of at least 3/4 of the current team before proceeding.

And for Baffou, we can easily add a main page, or main pages if you want to work on that

Edit: I mean Chakanevil.

I just feel a cms, be it mybb, e107, CPG-Nuke, or any other is the way to go, me personally I like the features and plugins of e107, it's the most cutomizable, I tried the others, and this is by far my favorite.

But I agree this is a big thing to pass up on, we should take this while we can.

I'm sure you like it and think it's really dope, but it has drawbacks that any experienced web developer would not like. Firstly, this PZE forum is a forum where announcements will be made in the forums. So what's better in this scenario:

1. Posting an announcement in a forum, and then having to copy-paste it onto the mainsite?
2. Posting an announcement in a forum, and then having it automatically updated to the mainsite?

Norodo already made a very efficient system for my anime reviews that allows them to be automagically updated to the mainsite, and the portal as well. You can't do that as easily with CMS. I'm glad that you're confident in your abilities, and you'll probably be a very good web developer in the future, however you're not as seasoned as Norodo and I are, and don't seem to understand how forums work.

For one thing, the PZE forums would need a memberbase, and would need content rolling in. After a goodly amount of time, then a mainpage might be useful. However, you're underestimating the amount of effort it takes to get said mainpage going. These pages don't manage themselves (With exception lol) they require manpower and time. This is time taken away from the creation of the PZE engine, which I prefer not to do.

You're a member of the team, your duty should be to doing your part on the team. Your part on the team is helping out with XABS and being an amazing eventer. My contribution to the team will bhe managing the website (8 years of forum experience), and my friend Norodo will help me out with that anyway (Having years of experience coding for forums and running a dedicated forum with a 9,000+ memberbase is no small achievement.) so I'm confident in my abilities.

Now let's not worry about it. A CMS requires a lot of labor, while Norodo's custom system does all the hard work for you.

I have taken college classes on html, css, and java.

Since my laptop is down I'm doing all this from school, so I feel like I am doing something by making the site, I've felt like I haven't been doing anything for you guys lately.

Dragonfly CMS

Rating: Very good Popularity: 5/5: Very popular Updated: Wed Nov 09, 2011 7:56 am

The new advanced content management system from the CPG-Nuke Dev. Team.
Dragonfly CMS includes a better photo gallery, forums, and a lot more from an easy-to-administer web interface.

e107

User Ratings
88% out of 100 based on 137 reviews recommended e107

Thumb Ups: 121
Thumb Downs: 16

e107 Review

I mean look at the differences.

CPG Dragonfly


e107


Forum Motion


the ones above are just soooooooooooooo much better and nicer if you ask me, I'm sure others will agree.

Are you like, missing the point entirely? We aren't using forumotion anymore....

Never mind, we're just going to use Norodo's server, I'll give him the go ahead on that.

sorry, I was being threw around in circles since no one had made any decisions up until this point, and I thought we said we was going to ask the other team members before we proceeded.

So then what is he using in terms of software mybb?

No, it's just you guys are jumping around so much that it's hard to know what anyone will be using.

Norodo may be an awesome programmer, but if we have no clue what he is planning on using or how it works how can we be of any help to him, and like I said before if we have no knowledge of the system how can we monitor forums, or the site?

It's not your friend I am worried about, but rather myself and the rest of the team that may have no experience with his chosen system.

Let me draw up a mock layout then the rest of the team can add or take on my idea or draw their own up. I sorta have an idea image in my head as to what I'd like to see.

It won't really matter. You guys post on the forum, just like you've been doing for over a year, and I/Norodo manage the frontpage stuff. Though, since all mainpage stuff will be posted automatically with his custom plugins, there won't even be much of a need for me or you or him to do anything. Just post big PZE updates in the specified board, and it gets added automatically.

As for other stuff, it'll be added as needed. Incidentally, Norodo settled on a really good catchy domain title, he's setting up stuff now. I'll update here once it's done.

I am glad to share some info about the upcoming Update Patch 4's features and improvements.

As you see, a new button is added to the HUD, which shows Link's possible and available interactions with objects or NPCs in the game's world, or possible actions with certain weapons.



Also there are some good comparison pictures between the Old PZE (up to Update Patch 3) and the new Project Zelda Engine of Update Patch 4, and especially improvements over weapons:

The UP4 brings the use of bombs to a brand new level - throw as many bombs against your foes as you want, without facing any limitations to how many bombs you can use at a time! Also the UP4 allows you to pick up the bombs you dropped, to throw them over long distances if you want!


Improvements made to the Hookshot and Longshot as well - now those 2 weapons finally have a chain properly displayed between the hook and the base of the weapon! Also the weapon in UP4 is now much faster and has no longer those performance issues it had in the old Project Zelda Engine!


Is pointless to remind you that in the UP4, the new menus are much more customizable, fully scripted, can have as many items as you want, as many screens as you like, and the cursor is fully animated now!

My favorite part about the bombs are how they have random colors, or possibly how they flash colors before exploding. (One or the other) still, super cool.

Actually thats 'flashing' xD

It warns the gamer that the bomb is about to explode. The flashing is timed to show how much time is left before the bomb explodes lol

Man I can't wait to try this thing out *___*

I like al of it, you guys have been doing awesome work.

Also I had a theme idea, anyone else can take a crack, but Klok said Norodo had it though.





Thats how I was planning to set e107 up btw, and Norodo says he likes it, he's gonna work on porting it I think he said.

Go ahead and say it. It's a sexy theme isn't it?

lol random colors, hey im back and i was wondering if i could have a copy of the project as it is i cant wait to try it and transfer my old game to the Update 4.

you'd have to get permission from the whole team and it wouldn't be very fair to others waiting, also we could take the chance of a possible leak, so I'm thinking this would be a no.

Not only that but you don't WANT the engine as it is now, it is better in many ways, yes, but the vast majority of the items have not been fully programmed yet, there are errors that need cleaning, and the whole thing is still a bit messy here and there since the conversion to XABS. The only reason you'd want it as of now (other than dicking around with it like me) is to leak it.

The new official forum will be found at www.zeldaengine.net and it is permanent. For Chaka, Norodo may install a CMS for you later after he finishes the skin.

Keep in mind that the skin is being made by a professional web developer, and he takes his time so it probably won't be finished for about another week, and even then he has to install helpful plugins and stuff you probably don't know or care about.

But hey, it's ready. Are you?