Site Update Archives (2005)
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Archived Documents and Information. This page contains archived site wide updates for the year of 2005 (January - December). Some of the information below may be out of date, please check the live pages (home page) rather than depend on dates and Internet addresses given below.
January 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during January 2005.
1/5/05 (James): Updates now cross-posted to Scholars of Shen Zhou!
Today brings a minor but perhaps interesting update to Kongming’s Archives: all site updates are now cross-posted to our forum, The Scholars of Shen Zhou in the Kongming’s Archives forum. This gives everyone the opportunity to discuss changes with our staff, or chat about them with other viewers and members.
Scholars of Shen Zhou contains many forums covering a variety of topics (both serious and light-hearted), and though membership is required to post in most of them, you do not need one to reply to Kongming’s Archives updates: simply click the ‘PostReply’ button, type your response, and click ‘Submit’ to share your thoughts. Please be advised, however, that our forum conduct rules still apply, and even guests can be blocked from accessing to the site.
Things are beginning to settle down after the holiday season (which was certainly a busy one for me), and interesting new updates may take place in the upcoming future. For the time being, however, there is still much to be done and some personal projects in need of completion. I hope everyone had some truly wonderful holidays.
February 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during February 2005.
2/16/05 (James): Dynasty Warriors 5 (Shin Sangoku Musou) Home Page!
Presenting the Dynasty Warriors 5 (Shin Sangoku Musou 4) Home Page! Due to the number of requests I have taken time out from the current project (briefly explained below) to get you some basic information and resources for the game (and I might get a Kessen III page online down the road too). You can view character profiles (and see who is new) through the Character Profiles page, and on the game home page a collection of useful links, forums, and searches are available. If you have particular requests, please post them here in our forum. No high-resolution portraits available yet—I don’t have them—but if you happen to have any please send me an email.
The project I mentioned? Just as I did in the past with the Hanzi Project and the Biography Project, I am updating the game information to be managed through a database. When complete, this will automate the products page, the game news (at the bottom of our home page), and all the news and links shown on each game page. The Dynasty Warriors 5 and Dynasty Warriors 4 pages are already using this new system. The benefits? When done, the convenience afforded will allow me to start making game updates again, and site-wide information will always be current!
2/23/05 (James): Game updates, music, downloads, and site fixes.
Updated Three Kingdoms I, II, III, and IV to work with the new game database, providing each with new information and links in the process, and finished further work on the database itself bringing it one step closer to completion. (This is the current major project, and will open the doors for a great deal of new content).
Updated the music page fixing a few links (remember, there will probably always be broken links on the music page, as the content is hosted by third parties). Added links to some Dynasty Warriors 5 tracks at Scholars of Shen Zhou.
Fixed some links and errors in the Three Kingdoms Biography Project, as well as improving the accuracy of the kingdom searches. Tidied up the game downloads page and added a MAME download of Dynasty Wars along with a Sega Master System download of Destiny of an Emperor III. Also updated a few links on the links page.
March 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during March 2005.
3/1/05 (James): Dynasty Warriors 5 update, database work continues.
Added Zuo Ci to the Dynasty Warriors 5 characters page (no portrait yet) and completed the new Dynasty Warriors 5 unlocking officers guide. Made some general accuracy fixes in biographies and improved the search/display feature. Also entered Romance of the Three Kingdoms V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X and Destiny of an Emperor information into our game database, and updated each of the previously mentioned pages to take advantage of the new information. Several of them include new links that may be of interest.
3/11/05 (James): Zuo Ci, Biographies, and Windows Dynasty Warriors 4
With Dynasty Warriors 5 featuring Zuo Ci as a new character, he has gone from being someone only fans of the novel knew about to a character pretty much everyone is trying to learn more about (he’s the most frequently searched for officer in our search engine). To give you some background on this curious fellow, I’ve prepared the Zuo Ci (Yuanfang) Sanguo Yanyi Biography. A historical translation of his Hou han shu record is due for a future update, along with a number of other biographies.
The Dynasty Warriors section has been updated to work with the new game database, leaving only the Kessen games, oddities like Fate of the Dragon, and newer titles like Dynasty Warriors for GBA, DS, and PSP left to enter. As soon as we are caught up, work will branch into new content, and the improvement of existing pages that rely on this data.
Koei has announced the development of Dynasty Warriors 4 for Windows, and it looks like it is going to be a very attractive game. You can track the release of this title here at Kongming’s Archives. A short while down the road we’ll bring you more information and some screenshots. It is unknown whether or not there will be an English release.
3/15/05 (James): 1785th anniversary of Cao Mengde's death.
New Sanguo Yanyi biographies of Zu Mao (Darong), Jiang Shu, and Zou Jing are available for your viewing pleasure; each by Sam Wrest. Today also marks the 1785th anniversary of Cao Cao’s death!
3/16/05 (James): Dynasty Warriors 5 avatars, and SGYY biographies!
A collection of Dynasty Warriors 5 avatars made by Jaime (an administrator at Scholars of Shen Zhou and SimRTK), made using art in the Dynasty Warriors 5 art book, have been added to the avatars page. We all hope you enjoy them!
Also, in the novel and history section and all by Sam Wrest, Sanguo Yanyi biographies for Gongsun Yue, Qu Yi, and Jiang Bin have been added. Down the road you can look forward to a few new historical biographies as well.
3/18/05 (James): Updated Novel and History Page; Game Database Work.
Today brings a rather large amount of work, though much of it isn’t immediately visible on the site. The Novel and History Home Page has been completely rewritten, and should be much more informative and easier to navigate (not to mention cleaner). Our Site Map has also received an update, though it is only to bring it current with new content.
Samurai Warriors, Kessen I–III, and the new Dynasty Warriors handhelds, which are still under development, have all been added to the database. This means each of those pages (among those which currently exist on the site) contain some new links and resources, and also means that the Kessen III and Dynasty Warriors Handheld home pages are just around the bend. The game information page updates (e.g. products, the game menu, news on the home page) will also be revised in near updates as well.
3/20/05 (James): Signup for the next SimRTK game begins on 3/24/05!
Simulated RTK (SimRTK) Update: As several of you know, the current game (see below for more information) which was currently being played has finished, with Kymvir Raemiz unifying China, and the staff has been busy at work updating and refining the game for the next time around (v3). As before, the update will include new features, but it will also bring important improvements related to easier gameplay and smother learning. If you haven’t played before, or if you were hoping for something a little easier to understand last time around, joining now before the next game is a perfect opportunity.
Ruler signups will begin on March 24th, and will run through to the 28th, at which point the 20 starting player-controlled kingdom rulers will be selected. Bandit and pirate forces wishing to be present from the beginning must also sign up at this time. The first civil phase of the new game is scheduled to begin on April 1st. Though we will post a reminder when signup begins, it never hurts to get familiar with the game in advance.
Simulated RTK (SimRTK) is a forum-based online role-playing game based on the novel, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the Koei strategy series of the same name, and the history behind the era. Players join as a character of any sort they can imagine, rulers included, and participate with several hundred other people, each aspiring to their own unique goals. Simulated RTK never fails to capture all the aspects of honor, betrayal, scheming, victory, and defeat found in the novel, but with a vibrance not found in any book or game. This new game marks the eighth incarnation of this popular pastime, and best of all, like everything else here, it’s free.
3/24/05 (James): SimRTK is now accepting ruler applications!
Simulated RTK is now accepting ruler applications. If you are interested in being a ruler it is suggested you post as soon as possible, and come up with an interesting background for consideration (there will probably only be twenty at game start).
A great deal of work was also done on the Kongming’s Archives game database, but the only thing you’ll probably notice is that the release dates on the home page have changed a little. They are now automated: red being an upcoming release, orange meaning we are waiting for more information, green being a new release, and gray being old news or a non-release. I’m in the middle of writing some more advanced code to apply this automation to much more detailed game-related pages.
April 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during April 2005.
4/1/05 (James): Site change to Zhongmou's Archives, and a Wu focus.
Welcome back to Kongming’s Archives, everyone. I’m sure most of you, before long, figured out that Zhongmou’s Archives was an April Fool’s joke, though I certainly hope you got a grand laugh out of it. As for those of you that didn’t figure out—gotcha! In the name of fun, the Zhongmou’s Archives page will remain online in our page archives section. You can also view the original Scholars of Shen Zhou discussion thread and news post. It doesn’t seem this prank was as popular as Pikachu’s Archives, but for most it certainly seemed more believable!
4/2/05 (James): He purchased Dynasty Warriors 5, and it was good!
Dynasty Warriors 5 is out, and available in stores. If you enjoyed Dynasty Warriors 3, but for one reason or another felt Dynasty Warriors 4 fell a little (or more than a little) below the standard, you might be pleasantly surprised with this new release. I’m enjoying a copy with my family myself, and as such you can expect some fun Dynasty Warriors content in updates to come. Looking for a copy? You can order it online at Amazon.
Simulated RTK is also now accepting game signups, so if you’ve been waiting for the next game, or want to try something new, have a look! If this is your first time visiting, the game rules may seem a little daunting, but after playing for a short while you’ll quickly learn that most of the information is used by rulers, in one time events like signup, or are common sense, leaving you with a comparatively small amount to learn. You can also always ask for assistance in the game rules and questions thread.
4/5/05 (James): Dynasty Warriors 5 content (Dim Sum, Wine, Stages)
Rather than bore you with more database work, or page remakes, I’ve decided to start (and in some cases, complete) several Dynasty Warriors 5 projects. First, an Information and Features Page has been created. It should be useful to people who are still deciding if they want the game or not (and I might actually write a review soon too). A list stages each officer must complete is available in the new Character Stages Guide. A Dim Sum and Musou Wine Locations Guide has been started, and I hope to complete it through gameplay and with your assistance (submissions are always welcome by email). Finally, I’ve also added a decent collection of game media (e.g. box covers, disc covers, manual cover), which can be accessed through the right-hand menu of the section pages.
May 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during May 2005.
5/3/05 (James): On vacation to good ol' Utah. Soon to return!
I will be on vacation, without internet access, until 5/11/05. (Yay!)
5/20/05 (James): We're back, along with some various site updates!
We’re back from vacation. I have learned that the world isn’t fond of waiting quietly for someone while they do everything in their power to ignore it for over a week. We were actually back a little while ago (around what I guessed earlier), but everything has been so crazy I’ve hardly had a chance to get online up until now.
I would also like to let everyone know, particularly those who have written me and are waiting for a reply, that my laptop is presently dead and I just finished reformatting my computer during a Tiger upgrade. Nearly everything has gone smoothly, but in the transition, I lost over two hundred emails from my Kongming’s Archives account, which included a number of newer emails I wanted to respond to. If you were waiting to hear back from me, or wrote me recently, please send your email again.
We have added a new Dynasty Warriors 5 Rare Items Guide. All the information should be there, but entries in italics are presently considered unverified. We’ve got notes on the various items and we’ll be using them to make another update soon. We’ve also added the Dynasty Warriors 5 OST CD Cover in the form of a 300x300px graphic, which you can access on the right-hand menu of the Dynasty Warriors 5 section.
Finally, you’ll probably notice that the colors of Style A have changed, and that there is a new Zhuge Liang picture in the upper right-hand corner (replacing the age old Cao Cao graphic that has been up there for the last three years; if you can’t see it, reload the page a few times). The illustration is by animetayle, a member of Scholars of Shen Zhou, and we think it adds a most excellent dash of personality to the site. We’ll toss out a little more information on this in times to come. For now, enjoy!
July 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during July 2005.
7/8/05 (James): A month and a half of updates; now in one edition!
It’s been a little while since I’ve actually posted an update, though site work has, as usual, along with the occasional updates and fixes. The primary project has been the Featured Game Directory and the individual game category pages (Three Kingdoms, Dynasty Warriors, Dynasty Tactics, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Kessen, and Other Three Kingdoms Games). These pages are not new pages, but they have been fully revised. They are now generated dynamically using PHP and our game database so they always provide current information, enabling us to better focus our attention elsewhere. As I developed the code for this section all on my own, with limited freetime, it turned out to be quite a large project indeed. Either way, enjoy!
A short while ago the wonderful Lady Wu assembled The Definitive Guide to Names and Style Names, which is now online in the Novel and History Section. If you’ve ever wondered about things like what style names are, how parents name their children, why you can’t the actual names of the era’s women, or what those strange names Emperors have are, you will absolutely love this guide. Two new Sanguo yanyi biographies by Sam Wrest, Wu Ban (Yuanxiong) and Guan Ping (a heavily requested work), are also now available for your viewing pleasure.
I’ve completely updated the Dim Sum and Musou Wine Guide for Dynasty Warriors 5 and the Dynasty Tactics 2 page now also features a FAQ and an excellent game map from Professor Worm (you might remember his wonderful Dynasty Tactics map). The Dynasty Tactics 2 page has also been converted to use the game database, meaning pretty much everything but the Product Purchase Page on the site is now using it.
Koei has plans for portable Dynasty Warriors titles on the Gameboy DS and the Gameboy Advance, and has also released Dynasty Warriors 4 for Windows. Also, a version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms V has been released on the Sony PSP, and a version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms III is going to be released for the Gameboy DS. You can track release dates on the home page. We certainly haven’t overlooked these games (though many probably won’t come out in English), and down the road you’ll start to see a little more attention in the games section.
Having trouble with the music page? We know and plans are in place to smooth the jagged corners. For the time being, though, you can access the content using Mozilla Firefox. It doesn’t have many of the bugs that are in Internet Explorer.
A company filed a complaint with our host about the download section of this site, saying we are hosting such copyright works as Spiderman and PacMan, though we’ve never hosted anything of the sort on the site at any point in history. In fact, of 13 listed complaints, not a single one actually applies, or even has anything to do with the Three Kingdoms. We’re going to address this issue in due time. For the time being please use the individual feature pages for your entertainment needs.
I’ve added a new section to the Links Page for websites that are new and under development. It gives us a chance to share traffic with upcoming sites, rather than denying the listing until their page is complete with original content. Also, some old favorites on the internet have since gone away, and, remembering how often I wondered if a certain page would be back looking at a links page, I’ve added information on site closures to the section.
7/16/05 (James): An update for the novel-fan or historian in you!
Those among you who follow online Sanguozhi translations probably noticed the unexpected disappearance of the Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms, a small but excellent translation site that was maintained by Jack Yuan. Fortunately, his excellent work doesn’t have to vanish with it. After talking briefly with him I’ve uploaded his translations to the site so everyone can continue to learn from and enjoy them (see the list below). If you haven’t read these biographies through older links on this site, you’ll probably be thrilled to see some familiar names in the list. Sam Wrest’s fine new Cao Zhang (Ziwen) Sanguo Yanyi biography has also been uploaded for your viewing pleasure.
Jack Yuan’s Sanguozhi biography translations include: Scroll 1: Cao Cao (Mengde); Scroll 35: Zhuge Liang (Kongming), Zhuge Qiao (Bosong), Zhuge Zhan (Siyuan); Scroll 36: Guan Yu (Yunchang) (with Pei Songzhi’s notes, a new addition), Zhang Fei (Yide), Ma Chao (Mengqi), Huang Zhong (Hansheng), Zhao Yun (Zilong); and Scroll 46: Sun Jian (Wentai), and Sun Ce (Bofu). In addition, a new translation of Yuan Shao (Benchu) with Pei Songzhi’s notes has also been added. It is missing a few small parts, like Chen Lin’s long document, but still serves as a grand cache of information. If you haven’t read these biographies through the links that were on this site, you’ll probably be thrilled to see some familiar names in the list.
August 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during August 2005.
8/11/05 (James): Wounded in battle, but still fighting on!
I bet a few of you thought we had finally died away this time, didn’t you? Well, it seems you’ll have to wait a little bit longer. Our previous host’s server went offline, and not just for a short amount of time. As much as I love them and the quality of their service and server, I’m not comfortable simply vanishing from the internet without notice for such an extended period of time. After a few days I started looking for a new host, and it so happened the opportunity was right in front of me.
A member of Scholars of Shen Zhou, Blackrazor, has generously offered us hosting (more on this in a little bit). We’ve also been discussing future possibilities for the community and expansion of the site (more on that later too). Even though we were offline, this could turn out to be a bright moment in our history. I truly want to extend my thanks to you, Daniel.
I’m sure you won’t have to browse the site very long before you stumble across some broken pages. Kongming’s Archives is actually a large and intricate site, and simply uploading it won’t be enough to restore functionality. Some pages might not display properly, may be missing information, or might be completely missing (please post major problems to the forum). In addition, I wasn’t able to access email for several days during the downtime (so please write again if you don’t hear from me). Our email form is also currently offline. I’ll respond when the site is back in order. I usually don’t ask for donations, but at the moment they would be very helpful: it would allow me to dedicate more time to fully resolving this problem.
I just want to thank everyone for their support, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site for many years to come. We’ve put a lot of work into it since Kongming’s Archives was born in 2002, and there are plenty of plans for the future as well. As long as I know the site is making a difference in some people’s lives, it will always have its place.
8/13/05 (James): Email form is fixed; you can all harass me again.
Our contact form is, at long last, back in business! It took a little while because I had to re-write it myself from the ground up to work with the new server. The underlying code has been greatly improved though, and it will certainly cut back on the amount of error emails. Some new additions also make it easier for me to work with error reports. If you’ve been trying to reach me, now’s your chance. If anyone has problems with the form, please let me know, be it through email or a reply in this thread. Some other submission forms on the site don’t work yet—I’ll get to them.
8/17/05 (James): We're off to GenCon Indy, but we'll return soon!
I’m leaving for vacation now, and I’ll be gone a little over a week. We’re off to Indianapolis for GenCon. Though much of this site works now, several things are still broken (various submission forms and some download content in particular). When we return, we’ll address those matters one at a time. We’ve also had some very kind people offer music hosting, and we’re in the process of developing a much more secure (and compatible) music downloads page to protect their bandwidth. These things and more are in the site’s near future. In the mean time, please feel free to send me error reports so I can take care of them when I return.
September 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during September 2005.
9/24/05 (James): A different breed of update...
For some time now (quietly, and as the days passed without noted updates) we have been working on a download manager to govern bandwidth, in hopes of having the opportunity to share files we couldn’t in the past. This is behind us now, though, and it has been completed into its first complete version. People who have been trying to access our music section over the past few weeks have already seen the program’s beta version. It is now in its first real trial, so please enjoy the new opportunities it provides! It restricts predetermined downloads to one-at-a-time, with a limit per day, and provides us with logs which can be used to catch (and block) people who find ways to abuse the system. For virtually everyone, this will mean updates in the future that are fun to say the least.
On that note, Odds & Ends has been repaired (it has been down since we moved to the new server) and it features new content as well (thanks to the download manager mentioned above). If you have access, log in and take a look, and keep an eye on the page through the month for new goodies.
The Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX Portraits Project, which was left in a void of sorts months ago, has been revisited and completed. You can now browse our full portraits collection.
New Sanguo Yanyi biographies have been added from Sam Wrest, who has authored Xie Jing; Zhuge Ke (Yuanxun), a colorful and interesting character; Gao Lan; and Zhang Ni (Boqi), who is usually referred to as Zhang Yi (by Koei and usually on the internet). Mike Holmes has also authored the biography of Du Yu (Yuankai), the officer who led the unifying invasion of Wu.
Here’s some poetry that has been begging to go online for a while: First, Lady Wu’s famous Wuist Christmas Carols are online for your reading and singing pleasure. Do yourself a favor, especially if you have read the novel or are familiar with Christmas carols, and have a look—they are priceless! Also, Barbarosso, a member of Scholars of Shen Zhou, wrote a grand poem celebrating the reign and fall of Shu, named Foundation of Shu, which is also now featured. For those that might not know of it, these poems and more can be found on our poetry page.
October 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during October 2005.
10/12/05 (James): Things are starting to become shiny again...
Quite a bit of stuff broke when me moved servers a while back. This is partially due to differences between the servers, and partially due to some of my older code being, well, less than portable. After some off-and-on working through the past few weeks, though, things are starting to look nice again. This update includes some major fixes, chief among them being many aspects of our image viewer, which is used across the while site (so if you haven’t been able to see some pictures, have another look), the whole FAQ/Walkthrough viewer program (I’m amazed I wasn’t getting error reports about this one), and last, but certainly not least, the Three Kingdoms Quizzes Project (you should be able to do fun things like log in, edit your profile, and save your high scores again).
I would like to thank Blackrazor, a member of Scholars of Shen Zhou, once again, for stepping up shortly after this site went offline with a wonderful new hosting solution. We share space on his business’s dedicated server, purely out of the kindness of his heart, and this is allowing us to do some very cool things for you, our viewer (access logs tell me that an unnatural amount of you have noticed the music section updates, for example). If you’ve got access to Odds & Ends, though, I’d suggest taking another look, as you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised. I would also like to thank Animetayl, again, for the wonderful art now used in the upper-right-hand banner (which we call the ‘mast’ for reasons we can’t quite explain). This sort of kindness is the reason why I still enjoy hosing this site after so much time has passed, and so much in my life has changed.
10/14/05 (James): Ah, another one of those vacation things...
As I’m going to be stuck here in the ol’ work routine until earlier next year, I’m taking a vacation with my family and will be gone for around one week; just a heads up for everyone trying to reach me in relation to forum and site issues. I’ll be going through everything when I get back, however. If you haven’t visited them yet, we’ve got a forum, Scholars of Shen Zhou, and an online Romance of the Three Kingdoms game, Simulated RTK. Enjoy!
November 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during November 2005.
11/12/05 (James): An update of gargantuan proportions...
Greetings all! Today, I present another one of those compound updates—a really big one. You may have noticed that everything broken in the earlier server move was related to submitting information or databases (e.g. the Quiz Project). This left is with quite a bit to fix. Rather than throwing out a bunch of quick code patches, I’ve taken the opportunity to upgrade everything I’ve worked on with better functionality and portability in mind (also to avoid the possibility of an encore of this problem). It tooks some time, but this means a few fun new things for everyone.
First, the Quiz Project is now fully operational and online again. You might not really notice any changes, but the code is a little more stable and consistent, and the account you may have set up for it has now become a site-wide account (more on that below). All scores and accounts are still intact. In the future, thought, a small amount of scores will be removed, and we apologize in advance for this (we will have to do this equally given the note ahead). Every question now has a default answer, which serves to patch some vulnerabilities that were successfully exploited in the past. The quiz question submission form is also active again, so please, submit some new questions for everyone to enjoy!
As for the account, as mentioned above, it has now been converted for site-wide use. You can create and update your account using the new Kongming’s Archives Account Manager. Your account will be used to access specific sections of the site (see below for an example), and to store special settings and permissions (such as access to the site’s development tools, also mentioned a little bit below). Naturally, your information will be used strictly to manage your account and for the things above, never given out, and never used for marketing.
We would like to welcome back the game downloads page. As before, it only features old titles that went out of circulation long ago (so don’t expect to see anything new there). Our first interest is to support game developers that make Three Kingdoms titles, and if you are interested in this era, we would hope that you share this value as well. An account is required to access the section’s content, and the downloads are governed by the download manager you’ve seen on our music page.
Here’s some news we hope a few of you are excited about. There was talk some time ago about a community maintained Three Kingdoms Encyclopedia and there I mentioned my hopes of one day giving everyone access to our site’s database. That day is finally coming, and soon people will have the ability to update information on all our site’s featured officers using special tools that are currently in development. I’m really looking forward to everything this could potentially become, and the information it could one day make available to all of us. I’ll explain more when it is ready for public use, but in the mean time, if anyone among you with good Three Kingdoms knowledge would like to start participating now, please send me an email or post in this discussion thread, which is dedicated to the upcoming project. I truly hope a few people are interested.
Odds & Ends has been repaired… again… and should now be running perfectly.
I know our game news is woefully out of date. This will be fixed soon.
In the Novel and History section, new Sanguo yanyi biographies by Sam Wrest for Bao Xin, Deng Zhong, and Wang Shuang (Ziquan) have all been added. Bu Zhi (Zishan)’s Sanguozhi biography, Zuo Ci (Yuanfang)’s Sanguo yanyi biography, and Zhang Ni (Boqi)’s Comprehensive Officer Biography have also both been re-uploaded, as we’ve now discovered that it didn’t survive the server move a few months ago. Links to a collection of external Sanguozhi biographies have also been added. Shi Hui and Shi Yi were listed as having Sanguozhi biographies in our database, but we can’t find a record of either of them ever being on our site, so, unfortunately, they are both still missing in action (if you have any information on their whereabouts please let us know). I would like to thank Scholars of Shen Zhou member Cloud Strife specifically for all the errors and mistakes he has pointed out over the past month—your assistance is truly appreciated.
11/17/05 (James): DW5:XL and a new tool for Chinese Unit Conversion!
First, Dynasty Warriors 5: Xtreme Legends is available in stores. It shipped two days ago, and most locations received it yesterday. I will probably prepare a review of the game once I’ve had a good chance to play it (and perhaps down the road reviews for other games as well). More on this later.
About half a month ago I was reading a conversation between a few Three Kingdoms fans about the different units of Chinese measurement found in the book and other references, and how they translated to English. They were lamenting the fact that a tool they used to use to do this for them on the internet has since gone offline. I realized I didn’t know the locations of any tools for this either! As a result, a small but cool side-project was born, the Imperial Chinese Unit Conversion Tool. It was in early development with bugs up until recently, but it is now providing accurate results for units of distance/length. Rather than keep it on hold until it is complete, I decided I’d share it with everyone now. I’ll add the other unit types with time, but for now, please enjoy, and do report any problems you encounter so I can fix them. Permanent Location: Novel and History section, on the right-hand menu under ‘Literature and Language’, listed as ‘Chinese Measurements’.
December 2005
Site-wide updates to Kongming’s Archives made during December 2005.
12/5/05 (James): Of database improvements and the dev. project.
Previously, all the Kongming’s Archives database information was stored on the Scholars of Shen Zhou server, which meant they both shared downtime—a problem resolved by migrating it to the local server. In fact, pages that depend on the database run faster now than ever before. The home page, however, still depends on the remote server. (Update: Mission accomplished! The home page now loads with or without the database, so the two sites no longer share downtime at all).
Work on the Kongming’s Archives Development Project continues, is stable enough for public testing, and has now been joined by its first members. Down the road much more information will be available, but for now, if you are curious, please feel free to read up on it (or even join) in the forum.
The game release dates have also been fully updated. Please note the additions of Samurai Warriors 2 (PlayStation 2), Samurai Warriors: State of War (PSP), and Dynasty Warriors 6 (PlayStation 3).
12/9/05 (James): Of readable officer lists and entry color coding.
Here’s an update I actually had a lot of fun with. I was looking at long officer lists, like the ‘all’ category of the biographies page, wondering how I might make it easier for people to scan through it and differentiate between similarly named officers. Well, rather than simply placing the names in bold and improving spacing (which I did), I wrote an extension to the display program that goes through the kingdoms an officer has served and generates a color specifically for them. An officer that served Shu only will obviously be green, but if they also served Yuan Shao (yellow), for example, their name will show in a lime color. Down the road I’ll port the system to other officer lists on the site as well.
Copyright © 2001–2008 James Peirce
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