Great news for you, Noveans!

[DaSpitz]

NQ-Bearclaw did an impromptu Q&A in Discord today, Thought I'd put the Q and A together and share here...

 

Q
The big question is will you get ALL the planets back in myDU
A
I think by default you get a setup similar to current prod, but this is one json file in the right folder away from more planets

Q
Would being on a LAN make performance much better? Would that solve the issues around ground mining? Faster data access could mean the tunnels wouldn't create as much lag?
A
If you play LAN pings will be like at least two orders of magnitude lower, that will definitely help.

Q
Do you know how the MUs work? I had wondered how possible it would be to repurpose them as mining laser for ships. Drawing from a resource pool on an asteroid instead of the planets. That would enable ship based mining lasers?
A
One will not be able to make so drastic changes with myDU.
That would require code change, not just config change.

Q
Effectively MyDU will be as it is now. Just hosted locally?
A
You'll get acess to what we call the item bank, which defines all properties of ingame stuff, from talent effets to element HP.
Server admins also get our backoffice.

Q
will it be possible to trade items and BPs with other servers
A
indirectly through BP exports for admins with access to the backoffice.

Q
Will we be able to roll a new seed for ore distributions?
A
You can change the ore distribution, but our seed_based algo will not be released (yet?)

Q
I assume people will get a blank version of the world to start a fresh?
A
Yes, you  get the state of freetrial just after a weekly reset basically.

Q
Do you have any idea on the type of rig required to run a server. Are we talking bedroom or DC.?
A
For a handful of players your decent gaming rig will do.

Q
Can you give us an idea of what (if any) dev tools will be available?
A
Our backoffice (BO), it has a lot of features, it's what GMs use.
BO can trigger game features on/off, edit talent effects, item properties, teleport/delete stuff, import/export ships and blueprints

Q
do whe have a timeline when myDU would be avaialble for spining servers?
A
very soon(tm)

Q
Sir is it possible to make a new game with planetary mining enabled? Miner friend of mine that quit with MU is asking
A
Not sure about that one sorry, it would require the previous planets with ore in them, but not sure if this wuld be enough

Q
Will people be able to export all BPs or just cores.
A
core only, having a core bp more or less means you own the stuff, so ok to export

Q
Can you put like effects on talents.....jump 5000%
A
You can put effect on all declared properties of the player character, not sure if jump height is one of them

Q
minecraft uses area of effect boost....was looking to see if you can have like an area of a planet where there is like 0 gravity or highgravity....extra jumpspeed....
will see what BO can do
A
nope, gravity is a property on each planet as a whole

Q
Just so I'm clear on the ground mining. We can turn that back on? It wasn't removed from the code?
A
well you can still dig, so I guess code-wise we're good, but I would need to investigate at a later time

Q
But myDU will be additional, not mandatory, in order to continue playing DualUniverse
A
It's a totally different things, lights stay on on the regular du MMO server

Q
Nyota said that NQ would open a dedicated channel for us to submit questions for the myDU FAQ - any update on that?
A
This will be taken care of asap I guess.

Q
Can I set the NPCs to spawn anywhere in normal space? To do random combat?
A
that would require code change...there might be an internal API to trigger PvE NPCs though, will require digging.

Q
Just so I'm clear on this, we can only export core BP's to myDU....what about current constructs that we have in game at the moment....say my Eye of Ra. I don't have a BP of that so does that mean that I can't export it?
A
you need to make a core bp of it and have that core bp in your inventory to export
(spoiler: it will happen through the meshexporter)

Q
Do we have to be subbed for each time download a construct? Is myDU one time purchase or how does it work payment wise?
A
Server will be freely available to anyone. mydu client is a one time purchase per seat.

Q
So not only have we been paying a subscription, we now need to pay for a single player client.
A
mydu is a separate thing, and we have a plan for regular du players that want to switch. More on this later.

Q
how likely is it that we can also trade items with the nq server??
A
that sounds complicated, what currncy would you use? admins of a mydu server gets infinite everything

Q
Can an admin remove someone elses DRM Protected construct on their own server?
A
By construction your data is actually in the hands of the admin, so yeah they can read your lua and copy your voxels

Q
Will all in game items be available? What I mean items that haven’t been release on official server but we’ve all seen. Like XL Wings, XL cores, generators, territory weapons?
A
not all of those realy exist afaik

 

[Blackbeard06]

thanks for that q&a paste. I will be a dedicated server owner, already got two ready to go, just waiting for mydu to release.

[Cremora]

@DaSpitz you are a legend! Thank-you.

[CrazyHenky]

nice one thanks

[Wyndle]

Since myDU will not be connecting to the MMO server, will it run without anticheat software? 

 

I returned to Windows explicitly to play DU but have since reinstalled exclusive Linux.  I dare not ask for Linux support, just that myDU will not require anticheat software.  

[McXerXes]

Seems it's time to say goodbye. Was a create time . I think they will give up the game on the end. But was create time. R.I.P. DU. Thanks for the this experience.

[DaSpitz]

22 hours ago, Wyndle said:

Since myDU will not be connecting to the MMO server, will it run without anticheat software? 

 

I returned to Windows explicitly to play DU but have since reinstalled exclusive Linux.  I dare not ask for Linux support, just that myDU will not require anticheat software.  

 

EAC has a setting which will allow it to work under Mime/Proton. Whether NQ would spend the time to make that change is another question.

 

[MadlockeSkipper]

I also collected some of the questions on the next day.
Pasting it here.
Some were answered:
https://gist.github.com/VoidRunner87/94b16a3c16c01abdc3bccd653cac440b/edit

[Emptiness]

I just want the old mining system back.

[SpacemanSpiff]

15 minutes ago, Emptiness said:

I just want the old mining system back.

 

Yeah, it would be great if we could enable that.

 

[Muhadmananda]

ok the great news is you gave up on developing the game, mmo will be shut down soon but at least you leave local version...still a sad fade DU took and could have been so much different

[Omukuumi]

Oy,

What about Feli, Ion, Symeon and Lacobus on myDU? 🤣

[mghtyred]

So when will you be shutting down the MMO servers, and will the Founders get a free copy of myDU? 

 

PS: I see some founders have received their physical rewards. Hoping mine arrives soon. Ironic it will get here in time for the whole concept of a single shard DU game to die. 

[Nidhugg]

 

This text willH be deleted within minutes. So i hope some will read before the police remove it.

 

ahha this has to be the dumbest thing you guys have done to the game. You have ruined the game. It had sooo mutch potential but hou killed the game, and now you are just grabbig money from new players thst do not know better. It's sad. Glad I do not play anymore.

[SirJohn85]

You don't expect me to buy this again as Ruby founder now, do you?

[AtroKahn]

Maybe this opens up to MODS?

[Starflight]

I'm really optimistic about MyDu, I've always wanted a creative mode without the need to grind.   I think I can get friends to play if it's a one time purchase for them and we can all just build, knowing what we build is safe and won't abandon.   (And I'm assuming I can keep backups of the server in case something does happen)

 

Plus we can try PVP for fun if we like with it being evenly matched.

 

Thanks NQ for doing this.   I think we will see an interesting "multiverse" of servers created, I'll certainly set one up.  Also, I second the comment on mods - opening the game up to mods would really help with this new direction - the more open it is the more fun it will be.

Edited August 5 by Starflight

[Danger]

First of all I want to say, I spent nearly 2000 hours over the beta and earlier alpha versions, much more than I spent in the game after release. With mining disabled on planets, factory changes (forcing me to trade instead of being able to build everything myself) and lack of people to play with, I lost interest quickly, I was just logging in to set up training queue for another year (since I have lifetime account from kickstarter).

Hearing about myDU is a great news for me and many friends, some who I played with in beta and some who are new to DU. We love to play various co-op games and with this transformation I think DU just got on our long-term playlist.

 

 

1) Will there be a dedicated server? So we can just rent one and pay it for a year, so any of my friends can hop in whenever they want to? From the answers above it's not clear, but it looks like that.

2) Can we enable mining on planets again?

3) Can we set multipliers for all important game elements? Skill training speed, crafting time, resource cost, several multipliers related to mining aspects, etc.

 

4) Can we set custom talent point reward for various activities? This would really improve game experience for many of us who are looking for more active and rewarding gameplay instead of just waiting for the points. Since this would be optional, I don't see the reason to not add it. And if it won't be added, I think it will disappoint a lot of newcomers. Model that worked for MMO won't work for many people coming here from survival/crafting/building co-op games. And I think that DU is about to see a lot of them and with nice story behind, setting up a great example that such transformation of game is not only possible, but very profitable. DU has a lot to offer and I welcome it.

 

5) Fast travel, respawn and death penalization settings. For example, not losing items in the inventory, or being able to define what kind of cores can be compactified, so we can not just compatify small shuttles, but also big ships if we want to just have fun on a friend-only server where we build and then make private battles. Also, if we have only 2-3 hour long windows where we can play over evenings, it would help to have few options for fast travel so we don't speed 2 hours getting to each other:) Setting for jump cost would help, but maybe devs can think of other options too. Let the players choose if they want it realistic or not.

 

6) I think that even the values for flight simulation should be configurable if anyone wants to make less realistic / more arcade simulation.

 

I'm sure there will be a lot more, but for start, this game needs to have rich configuration and let the server operators choose.

I'm also sure that this is the first nail in DU's coffin as a live service game but it's also a huge win for players and DU's journey to be one of the best self-hosted games around. If this works, it will basically promote itself just by the word being passed around.
 

I really hope the devs will embrace and double down on this approach and listen to the feedback and take a good care of community server support. Because if DU has any future, it's in the community and private servers.

 

Of course, the devs need to live from something and in the case that game sales are not enough, I wouldn't really mind if they simply sold some cosmetic stuff (will work on all servers where you link your account with your NQ account) or provided some fair licencse (% of sales going to NQ) that will allow existence of servers that handle their own communities and payments from players (basically servers made for commercial purpose). Players will do it anyway so embrace it instead of fighting it. And I'm saying this as one of those who pledged a lot of $$$ on the kickstarter and still has over 30 DACs unused. I can't simply wait to play this with my own setup:)

 

Anyway, gj:) Funniest thing is that I was telling this to friends over last two years... that DU would be much better as self-hosted game with custom settings, mining on planets re-enabled and factories reverted or modified to be closer to the original freedom of building. And now I found this... cool:)

 

 

PS: As another Ruby founder above said.... you don't expect me to buy it again, right? I have 30+ DACs unused on my lifetime account and yet I would have to pay for a steam key lol:) It would be nice to have it on a steam and would really appreciate if founders had option to display a key in account settings here, so we can add the game on steam.

[Cremora]

@Danger There have been several really informative info sessions by NQ-BearClaw on the official discord. Some of the questions you asked have already been answered.

 

1) Yes. This comes in the form of an installer package which you can run on Windows 11 with WSL, or a dedicated Linux server. Your choice. It likely won't be long before game hosting companies pick this up and offer a managed server like they do for other games.

 

2) No. Not in its current form. The tools were changed and will require a code change to revert them back - no code is being altered for this initial release. That said, if enough people ask nicely I bet there would be motivation to get it done.

 

3) Yes - All options and settings are managed through the "Back Office". Every tweak to existing systems you can imagine is in there from what I understand - and it it's not, there are JSON files that you can edit.

 

4) By custom if you mean something that is not currently in the game, then no, unfortunately not. But it it's in the game, you can tweak it.

 

5) Fast travel - probably not in the sense of a teleport type beacon to beacon - but using the existing tools in the game, yes. You can adjust the cost and recipe for the warp cells to make them cost less or even nothing. Again - nothing that requires a code change, but anything else that is a setting or a recipe - yes.

 

6) Sure - you can adjust thrusters and winds and things, even the gravity on a planet.

 

7) There was mention by NQ-BearClaw that "mydu is a separate thing, and we have a plan for regular du players that want to switch. More on this later..." which I personally interpret that they are looking at ways to offset the cost of myDU for founders - but this is still tbd.

 

Personally I am still holding out hope that this is a positive spin on DU and that it will bring players back to the MMO eventually.

 

Cremora

[Wyndle]

9 hours ago, Cremora said:

this is a positive spin on DU and that it will bring players back

So far it seems most of the complaints about the retail MMO will be open to tuning to the private server owner's taste.  Will myDU be an MMO, technically speaking?

 

Judging by forum activity alone there seems to be a renewed interest tempered with a healthy(ish) side of skepticism. 

 

I haven't given up hope that a Linux Proton client might be able to get a functional experience from myDU that currently does not work in the centralized Demo server (not paying a sub to test Live).  After a few hours testing various game play aspects the engine did not seem to have any obvious errors other than dynamic constructs being completely absent.

[Danger]

@Cremora Thanks for answers, exactly what I've been looking for.

I also hope that there is more interest in them re-adding on-the-planet mining.

And maybe you're right and it gets more players back to it as MMO, but I'm not sure if I would play it again. No one I know and want to play with is interested in such game, but they are all up to trying myDU where we tinker with the setting to achieve very good survival/harvesting/building game experience. Our time is limited, we have also a list of  co-op games we are replaying after updates (and time to time trying something new), but we expect this game to have a special place on the list. While we usually set up servers for few weeks, I think we will make permanent private server for DU.

I will surely write a lot of feedback (kind of a patch notes style) once I get my hands on myDU. I'm pretty sure it will mostly be low hanging fruit and QoL where NQ can make us very happy with very fast to make changes.

I'm also sure that players will make and upload mods (Nexus Mods for example) with their private server configuration and tweaks, providing hand-crafted experience for those looking for playing just in their closed small group. Just look how these games are popular nowadays (Palworld, Valheim, V Rising, Conan Exiles, Soulmask and so on...). 

 

Anyway, thanks again for answers and let's see how it goes when it's out. I'm cautiously optimistic:)

[DigitalNimbus]

13 hours ago, Wyndle said:

Will myDU be an MMO, technically speaking?

 

If i'm reading things correctly, it seems like it would be a minecraft type of setup. You host the server and allow people to join.

[Cremora]

1 minute ago, DigitalNimbus said:

You host the server and allow people to join.

 

Yes, you run the self-hosted server either on your desktop Windows machine using WSL (Windows Services for Linux), or on a dedicated Linux server. You and your friends then connect to the server. Depending on the spec of your "server", you can host a few or many guests. If you have the community of friends and sufficient hardware to host, you can certainly run it as an MMO - the choice is yours.

[Wyndle]

16 hours ago, Danger said:

@Cremora Thanks for answers, exactly what I've been looking for.

I also hope that there is more interest in them re-adding on-the-planet mining.

And maybe you're right and it gets more players back to it as MMO, but I'm not sure if I would play it again. No one I know and want to play with is interested in such game, but they are all up to trying myDU where we tinker with the setting to achieve very good survival/harvesting/building game experience. Our time is limited, we have also a list of  co-op games we are replaying after updates (and time to time trying something new), but we expect this game to have a special place on the list. While we usually set up servers for few weeks, I think we will make permanent private server for DU.

I will surely write a lot of feedback (kind of a patch notes style) once I get my hands on myDU. I'm pretty sure it will mostly be low hanging fruit and QoL where NQ can make us very happy with very fast to make changes.

I'm also sure that players will make and upload mods (Nexus Mods for example) with their private server configuration and tweaks, providing hand-crafted experience for those looking for playing just in their closed small group. Just look how these games are popular nowadays (Palworld, Valheim, V Rising, Conan Exiles, Soulmask and so on...). 

 

Anyway, thanks again for answers and let's see how it goes when it's out. I'm cautiously optimistic:)

I finally took the time to scroll back through the Discord channel to see what is being discussed.  There will be a wide variety of ways to modify your server the way you want within the Back Office tool.  From the sound of it there is not likely to be a category on sites like Nexus Mods, but there will be online communities sharing knowledge.  Some of the variations being discussed make it sound like there may be a few groups to figure out how to make PvP work all the way to the planet surface and I know you can disable it entirely if that is your preference.  It also sounds relatively simple to clone a planet (as it would be at fresh start) and place as many copies around the solar system as you want.

 

There is also talk of getting a Discord channel specific to myDU questions set up. so it could be worth your time to hop on there for more.

[Polraudio]

Just wanted to pop in and say im very very super excited for this. Me and my friend always wanted something like this where we can just pop in and play whenever we want without having to worry about getting our moneys worth and getting burned out from playing all the time just to make sure we use our monthly sub or also spending the time to make money to upkeep things. This will be perfect for us who have a full time job and can only spend a day a week playing. This is also going to be great so i don't have to worry about getting disconnected and losing out on lots of money/time to repair my ship. I once wasted almost an entire day running to the market by foot and back just to repair my ship that got badly damaged from a disconnect.

 

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU times a million for doing this. I really love this game and this will fix nearly every single problem i have with the game.