Doing some research on the URA Zelda Restoration Project...

[CM30]

But obviously, because it's cancelled the official Youtube channel and site have been deleted.  So could someone fill me in a bit on what order certain updates were posted and what date that was?

 

Because I really want to write an article on my news site about the whole debacle (including the project's cancellation, some of Zeth's actions afterwards and those guys trying to restart it independantly), and hence I want a timeline of events to go with it.

 

So yes, if anyone could help with that it'd be fantastic.  Same if anyone on the dev team wants to come forward and give their side of the story (since the only evidence I have now of behind the scenes stuff is from that ex URA staffer who posted over on Zelda Informer)

 

Thanks!

[KEMIKOOL]

ready yourself for attack

[Conker]

ready yourself for attack

 

No.

 

Anyways, I'm sure someone can fill you in. But in all honesty, I'm tired of talking about URA, so yeah. I'm not much up to discussing it, sorry.

 

Maybe I'll change my mind if nobody else fills you in.

 

 

---

Sent from my cell phone, because ancient satellites from across the cosmic web are lame.

[Spire]

I'm in the same boat. I would like to help you CM30, but honestly Ura is something most of us want to forget about.

 

But tell me: as an outsider to the Ura crisis, do you feel there has yet to be closure, and if so—is that what you're trying to bring with this article?

[CM30]

Personally, I think there are many reasons I want to write an article about this and why I think it should be discussed:

 

1. There's a lot of things you can speculate from the source material that was leaked, like the soundtrack, the concept art and screenshots, the levels, etc.  I don't think anyone has really done that (most sources which show this stuff are just posting it in slideshow or video format and leaving it at that).

 

2. People don't really know what even happened with the project or why it was cancelled.  I think it'd be both interesting to show the mainstream what happened behind the scenes and also what happened both before and after the project hit big.  Like what led to it being created, those old interviews, and then these guys on Youtube who are trying to revive it themselves.  There's a lot of story there that could be told in an article.

 

3. Closure too.  I have no idea what happened between me returning to these forums after its cancellation and the time I left prior to trailer 3 or whatever, and I also have no idea why Zeth went from being sort of popular to... well not (other than hearsay from developers).

 

4. I've been asked about the project before by people on other sites.  And the amount of people wondering about the project on videos like this:

 

 

makes me think an article is probably in order.

[CM30]

Sorry to bump the topic, but I'm still looking for absolutely anyone who has records of what happened since I last visited since I want the article released fairly soon.

[giadrosich]

Rather than make an article on a dead project, and that everyone has talked about to death, you should do some articles on released products and up-and-coming stuff. To show that modding isn't always failure. It would be more interesting I think.

[Airikita]

I know some details from other members... I will say Zeth had his share of activities behind everyone's back, and deceit, however it is still not a good time for this... I just started to get into the groove of some silence from the whole uproar.

 

If you wish, send me a PM. I'm more likely to answer questions in a PM than on here. I may not reply right away, but usually I will respond to a PM right away. You'll just have to try your luck with me.

[CM30]

Rather than make an article on a dead project, and that everyone has talked about to death, you should do some articles on released products and up-and-coming stuff. To show that modding isn't always failure. It would be more interesting I think.

 

I know what you mean, but keep in mind I do cover lots of active fan projects too.  I wrote about the URA Zelda Restoration Project and said how good it was when it was active, I comment a lot about how good games like Mushroom Kingdom Fusion are and I bring a spotlight on many fan works in articles like this:

 

http://nintendo3dsdaily.com/nintendoarticles/fan-made-themes-five-great-sets-of-original-nintendo-style-songs/

 

and this:

 

http://nintendo3dsdaily.com/nintendoarticles/ten-fantastic-fan-projects-that-rival-official-games/

 

It's just I also think a more indepth look at one particular project's fate would be interesting too.  Heck, if anyone has suggestions for fan projects to talk about (although they'd have to be somewhat... fancy), then go ahead and mention them.

 

I know some details from other members... I will say Zeth had his share of activities behind everyone's back, and deceit, however it is still not a good time for this... I just started to get into the groove of some silence from the whole uproar.

 

If you wish, send me a PM. I'm more likely to answer questions in a PM than on here. I may not reply right away, but usually I will respond to a PM right away. You'll just have to try your luck with me.

 

I'll send a PM later.

 

And yes, I know people want to forget about it and move on, and once my article is done I'll be doing the same in regards to the URA Zelda thing, but I do think the story of the project, all the behind the scenes events and the things zeth did after it was cancelled are an interesting article subject.

[Conker]

Oh, that's your website? Any reason why you decided to repackage the soundtrack with less music than there is in the official download, and with unofficial album artwork? I don't really see any practical or valid reason for doing such a thing, if I'm going to be honest.

 

At the risk of sounding like a total ass, I'd like it if you can fix the download.

 

 

---

Sent from my cell phone, because ancient satellites from across the cosmic web are lame.

[Shadow Fire]

Oh, that's your website? Any reason why you decided to repackage the soundtrack with less music than there is in the official download, and with unofficial album artwork? I don't really see any practical or valid reason for doing such a thing, if I'm going to be honest.At the risk of sounding like a total ass, I'd like it if you can fix the download.

I agree with this entirely.

[CM30]

Oh, that's your website? Any reason why you decided to repackage the soundtrack with less music than there is in the official download, and with unofficial album artwork? I don't really see any practical or valid reason for doing such a thing, if I'm going to be honest.At the risk of sounding like a total ass, I'd like it if you can fix the download.

---

Sent from my cell phone, because ancient satellites from across the cosmic web are lame.

 

Nah, you don't sound like a jerk.  The reason I posted a lesser version is because until recently, I didn't know that version wasn't the full soundtrack.

 

Basically, I came across it online where someone had reuploaded it to some free file sharing site, didn't find the GCN download for whatever reason and decided it was better hosted somewhere other than Rapishare or what not.

 

Sorry for any inconveniance caused by that.

 

As for fixing the download, do you want me to link to the one here or reupload it somewhere else?  Either is fine.

 

P.S. I'm still looking for anyone willing to give their side of the URA Zelda story and say what happened in the few weeks/months since I last visited.  Even more so if it turns out they can shed a light on why Zeth was banned (prior to the 'hacking' incident or whatever it was).

[Gump]

A lot of it is actually quite personal for all parties involved. I'll just say it's not as cut and dry as it may appear to be.

[Conker]

There's an entire topic on why Zeth was banned in the central hub.

 

 

---

Sent from my cell phone, because ancient satellites from across the cosmic web are lame.

[Omnai Blackwind]

Zeth wasn't banned from the GCN for personal reasons. He was banned because his actions were poor, harsh, and unprofessional for someone in a management position. There are many reasons why he was banned, a lot of it was also stuff overlooked from the past because of the friendship he and Shadowfire shared at the time. Shadowfire then saw the mistakes and the things overlooked and took it upon himself to rid the community of such a hazard.

The topic that contains this information has been closed so I don't think those who aren't staff can view it, but since it was public information you can maybe ask Shadowfire or Sakura to post the info.

[Shadow Fire]

Zeth wasn't banned from the GCN for personal reasons. He was banned because his actions were poor, harsh, and unprofessional for someone in a management position. There are many reasons why he was banned, a lot of it was also stuff overlooked from the past because of the friendship he and Shadowfire shared at the time. Shadowfire then saw the mistakes and the things overlooked and took it upon himself to rid the community of such a hazard.The topic that contains this information has been closed so I don't think those who aren't staff can view it, but since it was public information you can maybe ask Shadowfire or Sakura to post the info.

Pretty much this, here.

 

The last time Zeth went all moody and stuff was on either 64hackz, or N64Projects, upon which he, and I quote, DELETED FUCKING EVERYTHING. I could not risk it again, and demoted him to a basic member. But in light of speaking to my administration team, we all agreed, upon further investigation, that he had broken the rules of this community so many times, even ones that he, himself helped to write. Due to my relationship with him, and yes... I will publicly admit that he and I have been in relationships, I overlooked many of his transgressions and blindly came to his aid. With this in mind, it was unanimously agreed that he posed too much of a threat to the community, one he admittedly didn't really care too much about, and was discharged immediately.

 

Anyway, if you want more information, don't hesitate to PM me with questions, and I shall answer them to the best of my ability.

[Airikita]

I also noticed he was able to bluff so casually to the community.... claiming everything was alright and was going back to the project. Such an empty sense of honesty and trust.

[Omnai Blackwind]

 

Zeth wasn't banned from the GCN for personal reasons. He was banned because his actions were poor, harsh, and unprofessional for someone in a management position. There are many reasons why he was banned, a lot of it was also stuff overlooked from the past because of the friendship he and Shadowfire shared at the time. Shadowfire then saw the mistakes and the things overlooked and took it upon himself to rid the community of such a hazard.The topic that contains this information has been closed so I don't think those who aren't staff can view it, but since it was public information you can maybe ask Shadowfire or Sakura to post the info.

Pretty much this, here.

 

The last time Zeth went all moody and stuff was on either 64hackz, or N64Projects, upon which he, and I quote, DELETED FUCKING EVERYTHING. I could not risk it again, and demoted him to a basic member. But in light of speaking to my administration team, we all agreed, upon further investigation, that he had broken the rules of this community so many times, even ones that he, himself helped to write. Due to my relationship with him, and yes... I will publicly admit that he and I have been in relationships, I overlooked many of his transgressions and blindly came to his aid. With this in mind, it was unanimously agreed that he posed too much of a threat to the community, one he admittedly didn't really care too much about, and was discharged immediately.

 

Anyway, if you want more information, don't hesitate to PM me with questions, and I shall answer them to the best of my ability.

 

This ^ And when Shadowfire DID Demote him for his poor actions, he took it upon himself to freak out at  Shdowfire because he was just "Listening to lies" or something along those lines, and proceeded to block and deleted, not only Shadow, but many other friends who would still be there for him despite his childish behavior. 

[ManInYellowHat]

Hmm...well, I know there's a big stigma about this URA Zelda stuff, but I guess I could talk a bit about Zeth himself. Let's start, shall we?

 

The farthest back I can remember about Zeth is probably back around 2009, when Team Beta Triforce was still going strong. He had told people about a Nintendo of Japan representative telling him the story of the OoT Beta, "Zelda 64". Of course, it wasn't real, it was just a shitty version of A Link to the Past's story. He told people it was a fake pretty soon after, though...so I guess he was a bit better back then. Eventually he matured---er, well, GREW into a sniveling asshat, to put it blatantly. He had shown that his ego was over-inflated multiple times, and had managed to piss of a large group of people. Then after TBT fell, there came Forbidden Legends. I was in that group, actually. To be honest, it really didn't have much done. It had...some stuff. We had a public FTP so people could see our progress, but it also wasn't exclusive to progress related material. A big mistake, apparently, as Zeth hated all the people in that group. Including me. A couple days later and unrelated materials/screenshots had been posted to The Stone Tower forums, in which Zeth commentated with his gigantic ego.  Yet, why did he do it? Why did he hate us? ...lol, I don't fucking know. Probably just to make his project seem bigger. Oh yeah! I think it was around that time that Zeth and his...groooup (maybe?) started the URA Project, which admittedly was more like the real Ura back then than the project would ever become. Meanwhile, tons of shit including Flotonic, Vex, Matthew (what did he go by... ZX3A? Something like that. XZ33?), apparently spinout, and probably a ton of people that I'm forgetting, was going on. Funny, actually, my attitude towards the "community" shifted a lot during that time because I realized how people acted...well, to sugar-coat the reality of it all, people in the scene don't exactly have the greatest foresight. Anyway, back to Zeth. When the whole Trailer 3 thing had started, it become SUPER apparent that Zeth was lying...to me, at least. Finally, all this URA Project failure and Zeth getting banned stuff happened. It was inevitable. Just...prolonged for farther than I had originally expected. So there you go.

 

That's all.

[zaneebaslave]

And we still haven't gotten that mini mod!

[Airikita]

And we still haven't gotten that mini mod!

Zeth seemed to have made a lot of empty promises, and was able to bluff in the face of the community... don't hang on to a bar of soap, it will only slip away without your control.

 

I may not know Zeth, but he really showed some alarming signs since I joined the boards.

[ManInYellowHat]

Zeth seemed to have made a lot of empty promises, and was able to bluff in the face of the community... don't hang on to a bar of soap, it will only slip away without your control.

 

I may not know Zeth, but he really showed some alarming signs since I joined the boards.

 

 

He's ALWAYS shown those signs. Quite frankly, Zeth is an asshole.

[Mellow]

And we still haven't gotten that mini mod!

Zeth seemed to have made a lot of empty promises, and was able to bluff in the face of the community... don't hang on to a bar of soap, it will only slip away without your control. I may not know Zeth, but he really showed some alarming signs since I joined the boards.

Knowing Zaneeba, that was a passive aggressive, sarcastic remark. Zeth acted ridiculous and immature multiple times, he's gone now, so let's leave it be. The shit stinks, but you don't just sit there and talk about it. You close the door and forget about until it's gone. Let's do that with the Zeth situation!

[Arcaith]

Ultimately the downfall of URA comes down to one simple fact; creative control, and the fact that Zeth wasn't happy with the amount of creative control he had over the project. In his view, he was losing control over the project's direction on multiple occasions, and there were quite a few disagreements with Zeth's own decisions at various stages, several of which meant some parts of the project had to be started over from scratch. That's more or less it.

[Shadow Fire]

There is one truth I can confirm... Zeth's family really was involved in a horrific traffic accident. There was never any doubt about it for me. Let's just say, I have my sources, and they were able to confirm it easily. Also, in spite of any fibs he's told in the past, I know for a fact that he wouldn't lie about something as big as that. Family is extremely important to him, and he really was torn up about it. However, let us stray away from that topic itself, and shift the focus back onto URA.

 

When he'd originally said he was going to cancel the project, I thought I had been able to convince him to continue it, even if it meant baby steps. He'd said to the remainder of the group that the project was going to continue, but within mere minutes/hours, he played the "Fuck you! It's cancelled!" card, effectively putting all the work we'd done for it to waste. It was then that I was able to start seeing the childish side to him, and realised I had been blinded to that fact because of my feelings towards him. When I didn't jump to his defence, he saw me as abandoning him. He even turned a couple of our mutual friends against me, with his usual story of him being the victim. I'm not so sure if I've explained to the community just how I've helped him out in time of need.

 

I've had to help him out financially on several occasions. There have been days where (and I know a lot of you won't like this) I have taken from the donations made to The GCN, and sent the funds to him, replacing them out of my own pocket. There have also been several days where I've quite literally starved myself by sending him what little money I had left in my account, just so that he wouldn't starve. Imagine 4 days of work without being able to get yourself something to eat. It's quite draining, lemme tell you that. Whenever he's been upset, I've always stayed awake and tried to help brighten his mood, many times when I am working the next morning. I've stuck by him through good and bad, but the moment I disagree with his decisions, I am abandoning him.

 

Meh.