Author Archives: uncovery

About uncovery

Owner & admin of this server.

Server upgraded to 1.8.1! PLEASE READ

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I now upgraded the server to 1.8.1! What is new? What is missing?

  • /spawn changed. typing /spawn in other worlds brings you back to the portal of that world. typing spawn in the normal world brings you back to the group spawn as before
  • /home changed. you have to type “/home home” now and “/home skylands” etc. advantage: go from world skylands to your home in kingdom directly with “/home kingdom”
  • Not all plugins are setup yet perfectly. Namely minecarts, spleef, hunger game. Still have to work on that.
  • Permissions might be not 100% perfect. I had to switch to a completely new permissions system. I will have to go through all permissions again to make sure I did not overlook anything.
  • Plot actions in the kingdom that happened in the last 24 hours are lost. Sorry about that.
  • There is no more /money top and /money rank
  • The virtualshop commands have changed. type /vs to see a list.
  • Enderman griefind should be disabled.

Please go through the worlds and check that all you should be able to do is possible and that you cannot do what you should not be able to do. Report everything that does not work as expected here. I will update the website with the command changes over the next 2 days.

Regarding the map: I will regenerate some lots in world to see how it looks like. most likely however, I will not be doing anything big in terms of maps until 1.9/1.10 are out since there are too many changes in quick succession. Once there is a larger stability in the whole development process, I will make the big changes such as a new map.

Thanks!

Latest progress

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I have been working on the upgrade today for some hours and debugged a pile of stuff together with a plugin author. Basically everything works. The most critical thing seems to be the towny plugin. Also there are some differences how home/spawn works.

I will have to make a final test tomorrow and see where the last issues with the towny plugin are. It seems that some of the plots have been removed. Anyhow, I am going to bed now and see if I can sort this out tomorrow and then upgrade finally.

 

 

Upgrade process…

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I am working again on the upgrade process. While the most needed plugins now work fine w/o showing any errors in the console, there are still issues with the plugins and how they work themselves.

I first have to find out if all the commands are still working and then re-create the permissions for them. I ran into some issues already trying to get the /spawn command to work. So please be patient…

Upgrade status

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While some plugins released a 1.8.1 version, some of the most important are not finalized yet. their nightly builds also do not offer the stability I need to run a 1.8.1 server. 1.9 still crashes on me on world creation and therefore we stick with the 1.7.3 & 1.8.1 temp server setup for now. We will see if this improves over the weekend. I can see that many plugins are being worked on, so hopefully this does not take too long.

Upgrade Dilemma – and a decision

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We have the following situation now:

  • 1.8.1 is out and reasonably stable
  • Bukkit recommended build is out so plugins can be updated for that.
  • Worldedit/worldguard is also working fine to protect the skylands and the normal world, towny should be ready very soon. Portals also work more or less….
  • 1.9 prerelease is almost public (will come within the next 5 hours)
  • Most of the other plugins are not updated yet. Some of the authors might not even update until 1.9 is out – who knows

So either we keep everything as it is for the normal server at 1.7.3 and continue updating the temp server with 1.9 beta- meaning new world, no plugins

Advantage of this option: stable 1.7.3 environment with all plugins, shops etc.
Disadvantage: You have to choose between an old version and a pre-release. No stable environment for the current 1.8.1 although it works reasonably well

OR

we move the current world to 1.8.1, using only whatever plugins and worlds work and then and generate a new map for the temp server under 1.9

Advantages of second option: Everyone can use the 1.8 features, right now and continue building on stuff in the normal world at least
Disadvantage: Stuff like minecarts, shops and other things wont work for anyone anywhere anymore until the plugins are updated for 1.8.1.

Please  note that it is NOT an option to run 3 servers parallel with all 3 versions.

So my decision is to reinstate the temp world on the temp server and then upgrade the 1.7.3 server to 1.8.1 with all plugins that work when I have time tomorrow morning (in 12 hours from now or so). Then i will also upgrade the temp server to 1.9 pre-release so people can fool around with that one if they like.

Making the first 1.8 server tests

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I will be taking down the temp map and making the first protection tests with worldguard and the original world map. All changes on the 1.8 server from now on will be reset once I know everything works.

If you want to help: go to the 25565 server and fool around. Portals and other worlds should not work. The normal world however should. Plugins are not installed however except worldguard lot protection. Tell me if something breaks.

About the discussions/suggestions to keep the 1.8 temp map

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Since the existence of this server, and for every single Minecraft update, we have had a temp map online until the plugins were updated too. And every single time, I announced when the temp map went life, that it is a “TEMP” = “Temporary” = “will be deleted” map. I also announced on top of that explicitly each time that “The map will be deleted!!”. And each time, there were people who suggested to still keep the map afterwards and essentially running a vanilla server with all the griefing, theft etc.

If you look through my posts from the last weeks you will see, that for this update too, every time I wrote about the temp 1.8 server, I mentioned, because of the past experiences, that the map will be deleted. And now, again, there are several people asking to keep it.

It is as if people are writing a book into the sand and they still suggest that the waves should stop and not wipe out what they wrote. If you spend so much time and effort on a temp map that was declared several times to be deleted I am not sure what to think.

Consider that if we would have kept every single map that was made for an upgrade, we would have 10 worlds by now. All with griefed buildings, broken world generators and all – abandoned.

On top of that, this time the issue is even worse than the last times. Consider that we are working on a system that is about to have 2 massive changes in map generation in quick succession. Not only new ores in a similar looking world. The complete map will look different. The current temp world is the same seed as the normal 1.7 world. 60% is water now. Those changes make us even consider to abandon the main world where hundreds of users have spent 9 months to to build stuff. And now people ask me to keep a map that was online for less than 2 weeks and which is generated on a system that will radically change within the next couple of weeks.

Despite all of this, I will do the following: When we move the main server to 1.8, I will offer to copy structures to the kingdom map. This means that the structure should be selectable in a box, not be underground, under water or inside a mountain. If you want it copied. I need you to place two identifiable red wool blocks in opposite corners of the construction so that the two blocks form a box around everything you want to have copied. If you fail to do this the way I need it, I won’t copy the stuff. No discussions. No further instructions. Ask me to copy stuff when you see me in-game AFTER 1.7 server is switched off.

2D Map software & Bukkit RB

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I have now, after working on that repeatedly since 2 month, managed to manually compile the latest source of the 2D mapping software on the linux server. This means we can now keep up with new blocks. For example, grass does not render as black spots on the maps anymore but rather green as they are supposed to. The 1.8 blocks should be available also some time from now

There is also, finally a recommended build of Bukkit available. This means that the plugin authors have something stable to work with. Some of the more important plugins have been worked on already over the last couple of days, so I expect a fairly soon update here to the new bukkit version. I will upgrade the server as soon as the most important plugins are released officially. Those include Worldguard, Worldedit, Towny, PermissionsEX, XCraftgate and iConomy and Virtualshop. Not all of those have to be released to move the old map over so I will make sure that the map is available on 1.8 as soon as possible, even if the shop for example is not available yet.

Permissions Plugin ported to 1.8

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I sat down today and ported all the user data to the 1.8 server. Therefore you have now userlevels back again and can see in the chat who has which level. Since no other plugins are installed, there are no additional user rights of course.

Due to the new permissions plugin I am using now, we will have a smoother time and less work for me in the future when it comes to upgrade people to another userlevel.

NOTE: whitelist issues

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If you just registered today or in the last 7 days, please note that if you are connecting to the server at port 25565, you are using our temporary 1.8.1 server. This server does not have the whitelist installed in the same way as the normal server at port 25564. This means that you might have issues connecting. If this is the case, please leave a comment here so I can fix it for you.

1.8 – no new map – we regenerate the lots

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Please note that since 1.9 will be another update on the mapping system, there will be no new map when 1.8 comes out. Instead you will have the chance to regenerate your lot or to move to another lot that is regenerated with the new mapping system – on the same world. If you will be able to switch to a new lot or regenerate the current lot will have to be evaluated. Either way, you can keep your current lot as it is if you want. And, please note that if your lot is regenerated or if you move to a different lot, the current lot in question that you own will have to be cleared by you of everything that you want to keep. Either you move the stuff temporarily into a shop (only for a day or so), or you find an alternative space for it, be it in a different lot you own or on a friends lot.

So what about 1.9? Ideally, we do not start a new map either. However if it’s heavy biome AND landscape changes (height & location of oceans etc), we will start a new map then to have a clean start. It will NOT be a forced update for anybody, people can choose if they want to move to the new map or not. If it is ONLY biome but no height/water changes, we will not start a new map. So as you can see, it really depends what they are doing with it. It is be hard to tell.

Upgrade procedure

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I wanted to give some info how the upgrade will most likely happen.

  1. I will be on a business trip from Sunday night to Thursday night. That means that I will not have too much time doing things.
  2. On Monday, 1.8 comes out hopefully. The plugins for protection will most likely not work yet. I will therefore install only a vanilla server (like the current pre-release one) with a temporary map which will later be deleted.
  3. I will try to find a map seed that does not have 80% ocean in the area where we want to build. I might be giving creative mode to some people so they can fly and explore the map faster.
  4. Once the protection plugins work. I will move the old maps over to a running 1.8 server. If you want to play on the old maps, you should not upgrade your client before that happens. At that moment I will also remove the temporary map & server.
  5. I will then prepare the new maps that will replace the normal world and the kingdom, the lots on them etc. and make sure all is working properly. Then you will be able to reserve a lot in the new world. To transfer your stuff you can move it either to another lot that you own or also use the shop to do so. Put your stuff for sale at a very high price and take it back out afterwards again. Please note that this is only a temporary permission to do so.
  6. The other plugins that we are currently using will be installed as they are updated. There is a certain risk that stuff like minecarts will not work immediately.
  7. The current ‘world’ will be kept as a showcase and a home for the city, as spawn etc. The new world will be where the lots are. If I ever get super-bored I might start a new world for the city and move it over. Skylands will remain as it is. The kingdom will be regenerated and I will be moving stuff over to the new map.

I have no idea how long it will take to accomplish all of this. I hope it will take only 1-2 days. Depending how long the plugins will take to update and how much time I actually have to work on this, it might take a bit longer though. Please be patient.

1.8 map restarted

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I had to restart a new map in 1.8 since the current one started to create excessive CPU loads that would not stop. Be prepared to have more of this, when the final 1.8 comes out for example.

1.8 Prerelease server live!

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Mojang released a 1.8 Pre-release! Get it here! I have setup a server at port 25565.

The world of that server will be deleted once the final version is out.

we built basic shelter @ -36 / -23

I also created a map here: http://minecraft.uncovery.net/map/temp.png

If you are a new user there is a high chance that you cannot connect to the 1.8 server. The whiltelist does not update automatically but only on restarting the server.