Talk:Nexus

From MYSTlore

I don't know that the use of the Nexus was widespread among the D'ni. Although there are alcoves for pedestals everywhere, doesn't the Nexus require you to wear a KI? If so, then the Nexus couldn't have been commonly used except among Maintainers.--JohnLynch 05:51, 1 October 2006 (CDT)

Actually, according to [1], "Close to The Fall, some buildings were opened to the public, although still under strict security, to allow for the dispersal of KI's." In other words, it is my understanding KIs did eventually become available among common people. It also seems unlikely that so many Nexus terminals exist when they were only used within an elite group of the Maintainers Guild, assuming, of course, that these terminals did exist around the fall, rather than having been set up by the DRC. I could be completely wrong, of course! :-) Chucker 05:58, 1 October 2006 (CDT)

I just found a source saying that the KI wasn't made available for general use. In this Town Hall Meeting Laxman says when asked about people without KIs getting trapped in the Nexus

"that actually was part of the plan. The elite members of society who had access to KIs could move freely... upper eschelon. We assume that the Nexus was monitored back then and those who were trapped were fined and released. But we're not sure on that point."

So yeah, looks like they weren't generally used by people. That or Laxman is a bit out of date in his information (or just plain forget the newer evidence).--JohnLynch 00:06, 3 October 2006 (CDT)

What about KI dispensers outside Gahreesen, then? Chucker 03:34, 3 October 2006 (CDT)

Well they don't make any sense (based on the DRCs documents so far) to me at all. But yes, after some more thinking, it's possible that originally the Nexus books were in private hands and the Guild's hands, so access wasn't easy and anyone who did get access when they weren't suppose to would be fined. However towards the end of D'ni just before the fall the Maintainers Guild decided to begin handing them out and so set up the Nexus points. So both quotes (and your speculation) would be all be accurate. It would also explain why the Ahyoheek tables were KI enabled when KIs were for the most part only used by the Elite. But it does mean that other transportation was used by most people for most of D'ni's history. --JohnLynch 07:25, 3 October 2006 (CDT)

"But it does mean that other transportation was used by most people for most of D'ni's history." Yeah, certainly, and in that sense, my page is misleading, if not inaccurate. It ought to be rewritten. :-) Chucker 07:45, 3 October 2006 (CDT)

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[edit] Riven?!

Wikipedia states:

The Nexus idea dates back to the development stage of Myst II (eventually Riven), when it was planned Myst II would start on an Equiquay. This eventually became Gehn's 233rd Age, which serves as the Nexus for Riven Island. Uru's Nexus recycles many textures from Riven.

This seems to be several pieces of unrelated and more or less inaccurate information.

• Per [2], equiquay simply means hub Age, such as Nexus or Age 233 (or also J'nanin, Myst Island, etc.). Wikipedia seems to misuse "nexus" as a generic term for hub Ages, whereas Cyan apparently at some point in the past used "equiquay" for the same. Therefore, despite being in the section for the Nexus (as in Uru), the first two sentences actually have absolutely nothing to do with it.
• The second sentence also implies that Age 233 was a replacement for "Equiquay", some Age with a similar function. As far as I can tell, this is not at all the case. I.e., no such change occurred.
• The third sentence makes little sense at all:
  • Uru's Nexus has very few textures to begin with (largely big patches of black/grey/brown); there isn't much texture-defined structure to it (most of the structure is model-defined, e.g. the machinery)
  • There's a six-year gap between Riven's and Uru's releases. Cyan had transformed a lot in the meantime, also in terms of which employees (including graphics artists — i.e., those responsible for creating/selecting/uses textures) work(ed) at it. It's not impossible that someone decided to use old Riven material that much later on, but extremely unlikely.
  • Riven's textures are tailored towards pre-rendered graphics, not real-time graphics. You could reuse the same textures (and realMyst is an example of where this was essentially done), but with something like the Nexus, you'd probably be easier off just starting anew. It's not impossible that the Nexus uses textures previously used (or intended for use) in Riven, but, again seems improbable.

That said, if someone can shed some light on this, I would greatly appreciate it. I think it's just a case of a misinformed/confused Wikipedia editor, but please provide your thoughts, especially if I'm terribly wrong. Chucker 16:01, 5 December 2006 (CST)

It appears the information was added by Anárion in this revision. Chucker 16:08, 5 December 2006 (CST)

I have no clue about this Nexus thingamabob (never player Uru), but I know that I have seen the Riven sky texture in several Uru screenshots, from the cleft I think... so it wouldn't really be surprising if they reused textures in other parts too. After all, if they already have a library of textures that work splendid, there is no reason to get new ones... 0123456789 12:59, 8 December 2006 (CST)