Uru Age Manager

The Uru Age Manager is a sub-tool of Drizzle and, to no surprise, manages the Ages of your Uru: Complete Chronicles installation by downloading, installing, updating and removing them. It is the primary method by which writers distribute their ages.

Usage

UAM is relatively easy to use: After launching Drizzle, select the "UruAgeManager" tab at the top left of the Drizzle window. Hit the "Select" button next to "Pots folder" and choose the directory you installed Uru to, then hit "Ok". Now you can "Get the latest age list" to download the information about all ages available through Drizzle. If you want that to automatically happen each time you start Drizzle (so you don't miss any age update), you can select the appropriate option at the top right of the window.

Now UAM is set up, and you can browse the list of ages, select whatever you want, and hit "Download" to download the latest version and install or update your installation to use it. To actually reach these ages within Uru, you need the Offline KI, which you can easily install through Drizzle as well: It's at the top of the age list.

Releasing an age via UAM

Before you release your age, please test is thoroughly and check the list of common issues. Also, your age will probably be put on Shards once it is in UAM, and there are some extra pitfalls here. Please check out Writing Ages for Shards.

Files to pack together

Your age consists of a bunch of files which need to be put together the right way, so that Uru will find everything it needs. In addition, it is important the there is no file which exists in two age packages - after installing both of them, uninstalling either one will leave the other age incomplete. For that reason, it is important that your age's name (the unique filename) is, in one form or another, part of every filename you put into your age package.

  • put the .age, .fni, .sum and .prp files into a folder called "dat".
  • put the age descriptor(s) into "img\AgeInfo"
  • put sound files your age needs (if any) into a folder called "sfx". They should all start with a four-letter prefix specific to your age, or the full age filename.
  • put the packed Python files your age needs (if any) into a folder called "Python". The pak file should have the same filename as your age, and the Python files in there should all start with your age's four-letter prefix, or the full age filename.
  • if your age has an SDL state, put your age's SDL file into a folder called "SDL".
  • if you want your age to have a linking panel or a book cover, put the appropriate files into a folder called "img".
  • if your age loads some journals' texts from external files (you'll probably know if it does), put these files into the "ageresources" folder. All these files must start with your age's filename, followed by "--".
  • if you want to include any additional documentation, changelogs, credits or similar, put them into a folder called "readme", and let the filenames start with your age's filename, optionally followed by "--" and a description what this file contains.

For example, a package of an age called "MyGreatAge", with the four-letter prefix mgra, could have the following folder structure:

  • dat
    • MyGreatAge.age
    • MyGreatAge.fni
    • MyGreatAge.sum
    • MyGreatAge_District_BuiltIn.prp
    • MyGreatAge_District_mainRoom.prp
    • MyGreatAge_District_Textures.prp
  • img
    • LinkingImage_MyGreatAge.jpg
    • CoverImage_MyGreatAge.jpg
    • AgeInfo
      • MyGreateAge.txt
  • sfx
    • Do not include the streamingCache folder
    • mgraBackground.ogg
    • mgraBirds.ogg
  • Python
    • MyGreatAge.pak
  • SDL
    • MyGreatAge.sdl
  • readme
    • MyGreatAge--changelog.txt

Then use your favourite archive software (or right-click, and choose "Send to - compressed folder") to put all these files into a single packed age archive.

Uploading

Now you need to get your age archive to the maintainer of the UAM you want the package to be uploaded to.

The recommended way to release a new age or an update is to upload the age package to some One-click hoster and announce the release at the GoW forums. Then Shard and UAM database administrators can pick it up, so explorers can install it without messing with the bare age files. The DI UAM is maintained by Diafero, so please contact him if you want the upload to happen ASAP.

Some one-click hosters that do not require registration: