Category Archives: Announcements

Happy Holidays and some small news

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I am off to another diving trip and not sitting in front of my computer the whole time. I am frequently checking my email however. If there is anything wrong, please send me a message and I will try to fix it ASAP.

I also want to wish everyone happy holidays and a much better 2018 than whatever this year was.

Also, I recently started a small experiment by re- generating the Empire with the same seed. It turns out it pretty much looks identical on the map. That means that (at least for version 12.2) we could update the empty lots in the empire to include all the current stone types that at right now missing, such as andesite, diorite etc.

So some time early next year I will likely replace all empty lots in the empire with new versions and test the same for the kingdom as well. As long as there are no big breaks in the borders between the lots, we should be able to get updated stone types.

I will continue to do those checks and updates for the coming versions as well.

All the best!

Uncovery

Shulker Box issue identified & fixed!

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As you might know, we had issues with people buying shulker boxes from the shop. The money would be taken but they won’t arrive in the inventory.
I tried to identify the issue but could not replicate it. So I changed the way transactions are logged in the system and made it log the full command that is used to give items to users.
Then, VixenGold had the same issue again and kindly reported it to me.

It turns out that the issue only comes when you try to buy more than one at the same time. The system refuses to hand over 2 items at once. That is why it worked for some (they bought only one) and not others (who tried to buy more).

It turns out I had a wrong asset-config where I store how items stack. Shulker boxes were registered there as items that are allowed to stack 64 items, in reality it cannot stack at all. Assec config fixed, problem solved.

Some progress behind the scenes

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Today I made some progress behind the scenes for the server.

I am using a self made debugging tool that is sending me instant messages when there are errors in the code and debug texts wherever I insert an alert in the code. That system broke some weeks ago when 2 software libraries were updated.

I have been struggling ever since to fix the issue. Partly because time constraints and partly because limited technical knowledge I could not fix the issue. Today I have finally resolved it and the system is back up and running. This is a base fix for any kind of improvement in the server, so that’s great.

The first thing I looked into was the bottlexp command and i might have solved this. I need to to one or two more tests and then we likely can reactivate the command.

I will then try to setup a temp server with the latest development snapshot to try and get a picture of the level of disruption the new version will bring.

Disasters ahead…

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Disclaimer: please don’t panic on this post. We need to see what actually will happen before we come to firm conclusions. I want to give a heads-up here to what lies ahead so people don’t wonder why we don’t update to the latest version.

So Mojang just released a snapshot for the next version and described in the changes list that they changed the way blocks are named.

This is a major issue since a LOT of our code is customized to deal.with the current way. A lot of plugins areas well. If this will happen, all item related stuff will break. That means mainly deposit and shop functions but also other huge things such as per-world inventory and so on.

There are several things that need to happen to deal with this:

  • Current, maintained plugins need to be updated, we will have to wait for that (that’s the easy part).
  • Unmaintained plugins will have to be fixed or replaced. This is really tricky since the main one, websend, which we use as the one and only interface between Minecraft and my code is one of those. I am not good at all at Java and to deal with such a fundamental change might be impossible for me to deal with.
  • Then, all my code will have to change so we can deal with the new methods. This is some work, but might be feasible with some effort, but it will take a while.
  • Then, we need to change all the stored information about blocks. For the system to tell you what stuff is in your deposit, it needs tables of data that we at times created together from the wiki information. We have to recreate those tables. Maybe I can write a converter, maybe we have to rebuild it from scratch. Who knows. This can be done as a team effort – hopefully.
  • Then we have to change the databases that store such information. This can be tricky, but if done with care should be over quickly. The problem here is if we can maintain the existing data or if the change is so dramatic that everything will be lost. That would mean that all shop stuff, deposits, historical data might disappear. If the changes are more transparent, I might be able to convert it.

So there you go. The issue here is that the update to the new version might take months just to wait for other plugins to update and then again months for me to re-code everything.

The thing that makes all of this so much worse is that I am right now traveling 3-4 days a week and don’t have the time or energy to take care of such massive changes – if they happen. I will be busy likely until at least April like that. Further, my wife is pregnant again and we expect our second kid end of March where I will be busy for the next reason.

So you see where this is heading. If the changes in the Minecraft code are dramatic, we might not upgrade for quite a while unless someone with either Java or PHP knowledge steps in and helps me deal with the workload.

That said, I base all of this on the change log I linked above. Maybe it’s all harmless. Maybe it’s a disaster. We will see. Please be patient.

Server back up with temp. fix

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I have found out that since the last spigot update, a plugin broke.
I have disabled the broken plugin now until we get a fix. That means that some commands such as /spawn are disabled temporarily.
I will re-enable them as soon as the issue is resolved.

Server issues

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There seems to be some technical issue with the server. I am on the road right now with limited internet access and not sure when I can get it fixed. Please be patient. Thanks.

I restarted it now once, could not pinpoint the crash reason yet. If it’s down again, please be patient for another 12-18 hours until I am back online.

Trouble with Shulker boxes

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It seems we have a repeated issue with Purple Shulker boxes.
When the item is bought in the store, there is a risk that the item is not arriving in your inventory.
So far I could not replicate the issue, but the result is clearly logged when it happens. So in case you did not get your shulker box, please let me know and I will get you your money back.

For now I have updated the log file system to better log the exact command that is used to give you the item. I hope we’ll be able to fix it.

Mine bitcoin!

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You can now mine Bitcoin on this website! The Bitcoins are mined using your processor power and used to pay for the server. Any coins you mine will be transferred into your donator status. Like that you can become a donator without spending real cash! You can try it out here!

[Update:] I just wanted to add some information: It is very likely that not one individual will make a significant amount of money for the server – and therefore also not towards a long donator status. The mechanics of this tool is rather geared towards many people contributing a little and the overall sum of all the small parts then being meaningful for the server. If you realize that you make a lot of money with this (like several USD/day), you should rather likely investigate if you should not be doing this for your own benefit instead. I will be letting this running for a couple of days now and then publish some statistics here. If statistically it would make sense for the server to continue this, I will leave it up, otherwise I will shut it down.