Feral Heart

I have a few map ideas I wanted to share with the community as well as with some private RPs, but me and a few friends that I've discussed said ideas with can't decide on something!
Basically, do you all feel it's more fun and cooler when you have a large area to explore, at the cost of outspread detail and barren areas (I can't completely cover a giant map, obviously), and to just feel like you're surrounded by land, OR do you think it's cooler to see a large piece of land or territory represented in a few (say... 4-7) smaller maps with high detail all over, but to get to different areas in the land you gotta cross through portals and such.

A large map sounds ideal and cool, but it couldn't be nearly as detailed as a smaller map/if I were to cut that territory and map idea into pieces and sections.  I'm not sure if I should release my maps as large and extensive with spread out details and little detail scenes in certain areas of the map, or in detailed sections and divided mini-maps.

Do feel free to expand on your opinion or answer!

posted to my dA here as well: https://www.deviantart.com/rookfox/art/feralheart-free-shorthair-cat-806578848

all the short hair textures look great and all but a lot of them already have spots and stripes.  This is just a basic short hair with no stripes or anything, only a smooth shiny coat.  Looks best with a multiply layer and a lower opacity overlay layer.

download here! if you get a DS_Store file just ignore it it's a log file mac computers give off to window users but mac users can't delete it it's annoying

please credit if posted publicly to dA user rookfox/in game user leda


https://www.mediafire.com/file/pwxx6g45jml898w/shorthair_kitty_by_weda_.zip/file


lmk what you think and if you have any ideas for future textures.

To put it simply, this is a realistic to semi-realistic canine role play, primarily stray dog, set in the deserts of New Mexico.  If I could describe the RP in a simple blatant sentence, I'd say it's basically a cowboy western take on stray dogs but ya know, not actually.

We now hold two packs in our role play: 

Los Sabuesos (Lows suh bway sohs) is the pack of old and of legend.  El Viejo, the first dog to take to the desert, started Los Sabuesos.  They dwell on an abandoned ranch and have a fair bit of resources that have helped them survive, but still they can struggle in the hunt.  All dogs who walk the highway are taken in by Los Sabuesos, all dogs are seen as a Sabueso at heart.  Although, some dogs have shown distaste for wolf-dogs and coy-dogs, believing that they won't truly walk with El Viejo in their death, because of how 'their kind' treated him...
This ''distaste'' to say the least, helped in the creation of the new pack.
El Estrago (El Eh Stray Go). They believe that not all dogs are of El Estrago blood, and that they must prove they are through trials of strength.  They live in the lands of outcast and lesser resource, the lands of coyote and lobo alike, in an abandoned mine, and they seek to create a new blood of stronger dogs.  They believe El Viejo would be disappointed in what Los Sabuesos is and has become.  They were originally started when wolf-dogs felt they were being treated poorly, and had a call to arms that forced them out of the territory.  But they take all dogs willing to prove themselves... all dogs willing to face the consequences if they fail.


In our role play, we offer the opportunity to read about lore, or simply learn about everything naturally just as your character would if they were taken in by the stray haven of Los Sabuesos.  Our staff play plot advancing, lore friendly characters that show our story to offer an interactive and advancing environment without being overwhelming.

You have the option to have personal character development and casual small RP sessions, to drama-filled, intense, plot-wide event sessions that are scheduled if you'd like to show up and participate in those as well.  We try to offer spotlight to different members in said plot sessions when we can, trying to give equal opportunity for everyone's character development.

Lastly, our role play offers a no-pressure environment.  You aren't pressured to be online, we don't kick for inactivity.  The most we do is server sweeps to keep things clean.  Beyond that, this is an "at your leisure" RP that is great for those of you who have jobs, school, etc. 

Our role play needs a few more members for some interesting but still member-driven plots that are being planned, one taking place on this Friday evening (tomorrow!)
Chapter Two of our role play is now beginning.  You can view a full plot recap under our forum's plot info board here!  http://highway550.boards.net/board/11/plot-recaps




- Can I make a wolf or coyote character?
Because lobos aren't specifically in this region in mass amounts if at all, wolf characters are limited to a family group.  Auditions for them are currently open.  You're pretty much almost guaranteed a lobo if you present a fully completed audition.
Coyotes are very common, you can have one, but it can't be your main character.  Just ask a staff member before you make one, and before they do any pack interactions to make sure it doesn't affect any plot stuff or other stuff that could be happening.

- Do I apply?  Send an RP sample?
We prefer and enforce a thing I call "eventual literacy" in that you don't need to join and already be a great RPer, we accept those who may need improvement, we don't require any RP samples.  Just hop into the discord and paste a short description, optionally a picture or screenshot under los-sabuesos-bios. 

- Can my character be a loner?
You'll miss out on a lot of the plot by having a main character as a loner, so we don't allow it.  Loners are not permitted to stay in the pack's territory and 'use resources' so pretty much all loners are often previous pack members who deserted or were sent to exile in the outskirt territory of Rabid Ridge.  In other words, have a main character be in the pack, you can create a side character that is an exile/has somehow failed pack life, if you wish.

- What kind of dog can my character be?
Upon joining you can be literally any dog that is realistic.  We do allow all eye colors, but the rest of the dog, it's backstory, it's behavior, all realistic.  We got chihuahuas, we got caucasian shepherds, we got big staffordshires, we got elderly hounds, we got tiny border terriers, we got three legged mutts... The only thing we never allow is poodles and komondors because matting can be deadly, and albinos because skin and health conditions.  You also are not allowed a half dog half wolf immediately upon joining because we have certain rules to keep wolf dog to dog ratio realistic, but you can make one after having a normal dog character.
If it's not an albino, poodle, komondor, or half-wolf, and it looks realistic, we'll work with it.

- Can my character be found by the pack?
Yup, just find a place for your character to be found by a scout in your chosen pack.  Keep in mind new and young pack members are given another pack member to teach and mentor them in the ways of the pack, called a blood brother. You can find your own mentor OOCly, or ask someone who has their characters up to teach.

- Can my character be a pup?
Pups need an NPC mother, or you can play their mother, or you can seek out a mother.  Either way you just need to acknowledge they have a mama, and then sure.  If they aren't nursing any longer, their mother can be recently deceased from dehydration or something.

- Am I allowed items?
Any items are allowed as long as they were given to the dog by their owner and the dog has an attachment to the item.  For example, someone in the RP has a hat, completely fine because that dog has an attachment to the hat.

- Can my character be a wolf-dog or coy-dog?
half dogs can only be made after you have a normal dog character to keep the ratio near realistic.
Coyotes are far more common and can be made at anytime, each user is allowed one coy-dog and one coyote.

I really appreciate the time put into updating FH and I'm happy to see it's still being updated after so many years.  I haven't had an issue with the game at all before.
Just some information before I begin, I run FH through an application for macs called PlayOnMac which helps run windows exes on macs.  So far this has not effected anything but maybe it's worth mentioning.  I do not run any harsh mods, retextures, ENBs, etc on it because they aren't mac friendly.

I excitedly downloaded the new FH and ripped apart my old FH to install my RP's map, my RP's presets, and my maps and objects. I was careful in doing this to not replace any of the new FH's files, assuming they needed to be in tact of course.  I deleted anything default from my old FH as I was copying stuff in so that they wouldn't paste and replace into the new FH, and made sure I wasn't replacing anything upon pasting.

Yesterday and today it worked fine post installing of my old stuff but progressively throughout my day today it's just.  I don't know.  Maybe corrupting?  Slowly becoming more and more unrunnable.  I haven't even gone into the new maps, just my same old map and the grounds.
I think the issues began after recruiting today, so in a public map.  I've been randomly freezing, crashing, more so than usual (i only crash when changing into maps, typically) and then when I try to reload, a lot of the time it'll start and freeze on just a white blank screen and not get to the menu.  I can get to the menu a few tries later or after a few minutes which is a nuisance when I'm trying to recruit or in the middle of a session.  Again I say I appreciate the update and I know this is likely a me problem, so please don't take my slight annoyance as annoyance with the staff or map creators.
A few times when I did surpass white screen stuff, I wouldn't be able to switch characters from the first one in the line.  It would freeze upon clicking an arrow.

Fortunately PlayOnMac has a debug thing which debugs applications for you.  I used debug once or twice which still required one or two restarts to get past the white screen but I could get on quicker.  Things were looking up!

And then, just now, I used debug like I use on any problematic application annnnd I came back to FH to find that plants... don't render anymore?  And only plants is the weirdest part... I can see rocks and the building in our RP's map.
I will note that the old FH would allow me to debug without any issues, so that's why I'm very confused here.  I mean I've been running FH like this for years, and never have I had so many issues.  I'm worried because Raz said this is the first of many updates which is exciting and great, FH is my childhood man, but if I'm having this many issues with the first one then now I'm a little down.

So now that I've explained my issue, I do have two questions.
1) the obvious one of does anyone know what's going on or what corrective action I can take and
2) is there somewhere I can download the old FH and if I can, does it allow me to connect to the same server that new FH does??  Like I said above, I ripped apart my old FH to install things to the new one ):

FH worked perfectly fine with me installing my old stuff onto it at first and I didn't install anything else at all since then.  I don't have additional mods or preset sync or poor connection, I don't know what to do.  Suggestions appreciated!

Just gonna post the description from my deviantart, also gonna go ahead and include some rules!  Check the very bottom of the post for the download.


Greyboone's Mountains were previously used for our temporary and private role play, "Akiak" which told the story of a sled dog team who ends up crashing down a slope they cannot climb up again.  This crash results in the eventual death of their dear person, and the group is left to fend for themselves.  Out of the several team members, only two or three made it to the end of the role play session.  I made this map for just a temporary role play, I would hate to see it go to waste.  I'll leave you here with an introduction and small plot we had going for Greyboone's territories, and then you're free to either build on that and use the plot, or come up with something completely different for your own role play and purposes.

GREYBOONE is at the heart of many trails, slopes and hunting places.  It is also the heart of treachery and desperation among predators.  The winter is seemingly endless amongst the land, making the slopes that surround it covered in ice and snow just as Greyboone is.  This has resulted in the crashes of several sled dog teams among these slopes, and the loss of hunting dogs whom stray just a bit too far into it's reaches.  Besides the occasional lost dog, the area is far more rich in foxes, wolves, and cougars, whom fight amongst each other constantly for the same resources that Greyboone has to offer.
The area is generally untouched by humans, who intend to preserve it's wildlife, and who intend to not get eaten by predators or lost to the constantly worsening weather conditions.  There have even been search parties sent to Greyboone who simply do not return.

This offers the option for several interesting role play perspectives :
- crashed sled dog teams, confused by the wilders and desperate to find rescue that will likely never come.
- wandering hunting dogs, always confused as to why their person never followed them or came looking for them... at least they know how to hunt for food.
- conniving cougars, who remain hidden until the night or dreadful snowstorms arrive... you only see them because they let you see them.
- cunning foxes, who know exactly how to play the gullible to their own advantage, and how to steal or sneak their way to their next meal.
- or, whatever you want, because at the end of the day, what Greyboone really is and what stories it really holds is completely up to you/your groups imagination.

With the base description aside, I'd like to go over some quick quick rules!

1.  no, you don't have to use any of the posted plot for your role play.  If you wanted to call the map Smelly Boy Peak for your role play and say a bunch of giant dragons live there, that's a okay.  That was simply the preferred/base plot we had going and since the RP has ended, I wanted to share in case others were interested in building off of it!

2.  Please be respectful of other people in the map!  While I think it's great to role play with anyone and everyone, I also think it's great to let people hold private role play sessions if they or their role play need it (although if that IS the case, consider party?).

3.  Please don't claim the map!  The map was made by in game user leda, or user Rookfox.  "Credit to the person who made it" is lazy, and is not credit!

4.  Camps and dens are first come first serve.  If you and another group are fighting over it and don't know who came first, consider seeking a different camp, give it to the bigger/more active group, or block each other completely while RPing.  There's no reason to fight over a silly camp.

5.  Please don't come to me with questions until you've read the map DL read me!  It's very frustrating when I spend two hours writing those and people don't even look at them.  Just take a gander before PMing/commenting below, will ya?

OTHER IMPORTANT NOTES...
- The map was originally going to be expanded on, but I lost all of the map files and wasn't able to ever build on them.  Near the entrance by a small source of water, you may find a portal that has no map attached to it.  This is normal, and just something I never got to.
- If you experience other missing map files though, please let me know so I can look into it and check the download.
- If you're experiencing missing textures, reinstall and thoroughly follow the read me.  If nothing comes of that, comment below and again I will check the download.
- If you experience any lag, crashing or bad tokens, check the read me for a guide on that, but do keep in mind that part of that is simply FeralHeart being an older game.
- Lastly, I don't recommend lighting mods and such with Greyboone's mainland unless your computer is high up there.  The mainland is large and although I can run it fine, I would still say it's a bit iffy with mods like that.  Consider turning them off, or deleting Greyboone's weather file if you're leaving them on.