So the logfiles and the memory test did not reveal anything. If the machine goes down again, I will ask support to take a look at the machine instead of just power-cycling it.

Maybe there is just an issue with the network card or similar that is causing issues.

The errors that I got over the last 24 hours during this and the last crash pulled me off-track to find out what is wrong. The first thing that happened yesterday and today was that on restart of the server the “session.lock” files of the worlds where reported to be write-protected. This can happen when the server crashes mid-session, so deleting those does the trick normally. But then, several worlds reported files to be inaccessible despite the fact that the user rights on these files were good. I guess there is some instance that when those files are written to while the server goes down, there are some issues leftover and the file has to be reloaded from backup. Luckily, and strangely, so far only the draftlands, hunger and city were affected. I have no idea why because those have been hardly accessed at all. This made me worry that I have another HD crash like some time ago. I still cannot rule out this issue.

The next thing I ran into was the issue that I did not auto-start the ntpd, which automatically synchronizes the time. The server, when crashing at 10:00am HKG time, restarts with that time, assuming it’s UTC. It then reads in a config file that the time should be HKG time and adds 8 hours to it. Now we have 18:00 in the evening. After the crash yesterday I started everything up, realized we have the wrong time and then fixed it by rewinding the clock 8 hours. Problem was that there is a file cache for PHP that does not report any file changes to the webserver and continues to use he old versions that were all seemingly 8 hours newer than what was on disk…. So for 3 hours I went mad because none of the file changes I did made an effect on the server, until I figured out I needed to restart the webserver…. Since I now have the time fixed on start, this wont be an issue anymore.

I am still, as written above, not clear why the server crashed at all. All I can see from the logfile in Minecraft is that all users lose network connection before that happens.

So the server crashed again and I have no idea why. On top of that, when restarting the server, the worlds in the RAMDisk always act up with an error:

java.io.FileNotFoundException: ./kingdom/region/r.0.0.mca (Permission denied)

This makes me think that there is something wrong with the RAM. This could well be the reason for the whole issue. So I am testing the RAM now.

You can now chose to reset your flatlands lot back to a blank lot any day. You can chose to “reset to Reset to Normal flatlands lot” in the lot manager. That means it will be wiped but you keep it. The reset happens at the next server restart. I will gradually enable more features along this principle, stand by for more!

The server was down for 2 hours, managed to have it restarted. It seems that something either froze or crashed the whole machine. I tried to reboot it but some bad config from the provider failed to connect it properly to the network, so that took it a bit longer to come back up. It’s back up now.

There seems to be some permission issue or otherwise where the data on the ramdisk cannot be saved. It affects the hunger world and the draftlands. I am getting this here and do not know why:

[12:47:24 WARN]: net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.ExceptionWorldConflict: The save is being accessed from another location, aborting
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.WorldNBTStorage.checkSession(WorldNBTStorage.java:72)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.World.F(World.java:2688)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.WorldServer.a(WorldServer.java:812)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.WorldServer.save(WorldServer.java:796)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_7_R1.CraftWorld.save(CraftWorld.java:664)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at org.bukkit.command.defaults.SaveCommand.execute(SaveCommand.java:30)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at org.bukkit.command.SimpleCommandMap.dispatch(SimpleCommandMap.java:199)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_7_R1.CraftServer.dispatchCommand(CraftServer.java:547)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at org.bukkit.craftbukkit.v1_7_R1.CraftServer.dispatchServerCommand(CraftServer.java:534)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.DedicatedServer.aw(DedicatedServer.java:309)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.DedicatedServer.u(DedicatedServer.java:274)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.MinecraftServer.t(MinecraftServer.java:560)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.MinecraftServer.run(MinecraftServer.java:467)
 [12:47:24 WARN]:        at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.ThreadServerApplication.run(SourceFile:617)

I have now disabled both those worlds and everything seems to run fine. I will have to find out what exactly is doing this and then I can re-enable these worlds.

I have now enabled the lot reset process of the new lot manager and if this one works nicely over the restart in 2 hours, I can finally delete the old code. Then, we can start testing the lot moving where you can get a different lot copied over into your lot (in flatlands, skyblock and draftlands for example).

Yay!

I have programmed a custom /who command now that allows for a more compact and informative display.

• First of all, it groups people by userlevel, ignoring the donator status. Instead, the donator status is indicated as in Chat with a “+” or “++” after the username.
• Secondly, the user are properly sorted by ranks in ascending row.
• Thirdly, you can do a /who where and see the world the users are in.

The command is part of the “/mod” commands (did not know where else to put it, and did not make a new plugin for it), so you can get help for it in-game with /helpme mod who. If we get more miscellaneous commands over time, I might make a separate plugin for it.

Changes done:

• The [G] for channels at the beginning of each line is gone. We have the color for channels, so I felt this is redundant. With the new vanity titles, space on the screen is getting tight
• The display for /find has changed to list the ID and prices first so they never get broken into the next line.

Please see the latest upgrades from the voting system:

• epicgreen12 (from CitizenDonatorPlus to ArchitectDonatorPlus)

Congratz and thanks to all voters!

I asked for ideas on the first post because I wanted to avoid people going ahead and working on finalized designs before we know what we actually want. Now some people have submitted ideas and others have submitted designs.

From the links that I can open, I got the following designs and my opinion on it. I try to keep this as generic as possible so that we can narrow down on a general design instead of talking about something too specific.

• Azkedar:
  
  I like that it’s easy to see and recognize from far away (what and Icon should be). I am a bit torn on the details because it looks a bit like a patchwork. I would think we should have something that is even easier to recognize and looks a bit cleaner than that also for the pattern/fill.
• Ktechwhiz:
  
  I like the idea of an open chest as a main logo. I am however not so sure what could be coming out of the box and the background since white might look funny on the server list background.
• Silver82:
  
  If we put writing like that on the logo, I think it should be better readable. I also think we need a something more unique or story-telling than the blocks or the mirrored U as a main object in the logo. I like the round text around it since it gives some shape to it.

As a summary, I would say that either a “U” to symbolize “Uncovery” or another distinct object/background to symbolize an Uncovery (like the chest) is a good thing to start on. I would not want to put too much text on it for now since the “Uncovery Minecraft” already will be on the server list next to it. “Build your dream” can be on it if it fits well on the logo and is easy to read. Comments, opinions?

Please see the latest upgrades from the voting system:

• Pilotrange (from Citizen to Architect)

Congratz and thanks to all voters!

I am now working on different flatlands world types that users will be able to chose from/reset to. I can generate a handful of empty lot types that the user can request to be copied over the existing lot to make certain builds easier. I am looking for meaningful and not disruptive types of lots that could be given as a choice. So far I have

• The current lot type. Grass on the top, 5 blocks of dirt, then stone, then bedrock.
• A “tech-lot”: Green wool on top with a marker every 5 blocks. Hollow below but framed underground to prevent people from digging across lots (see flat_c20)

Anything else we should have? Why?

I just found through the error log that the issue was caused on lot FLAT_P12 by a user that built some redstone system. Since there was not a lot of stuff on the lot, I reset it now. Please note that I have NO idea if the redstone contraption was built in a (unintentional) bad way to crash the server or if it was a spigot minecraft error that might cause further crashes on other stuff on the server. We will have to wait if there are other crashes occurring and hope for the best.

I am still getting crashes. updated Spigot now. Getting this error:

java.lang.ClassCastException: net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.TileEntityComparator cannot be cast to net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.TileEntityChest
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.TileEntityChest.i(TileEntityChest.java:212) ~[spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.TileEntityChest.h(TileEntityChest.java:250) ~[spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.World.tickEntities(World.java:1371) ~[spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.WorldServer.tickEntities(WorldServer.java:514) ~[spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.MinecraftServer.u(MinecraftServer.java:671) ~[spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.DedicatedServer.u(DedicatedServer.java:273) ~[spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.MinecraftServer.t(MinecraftServer.java:560) ~[spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.MinecraftServer.run(MinecraftServer.java:467) [spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]
<-->at net.minecraft.server.v1_7_R1.ThreadServerApplication.run(SourceFile:617) [spigot.jar:git-Spigot-1301]

Please see the latest upgrades from the voting system:

• AZJaguar (from ArchitectDonatorPlus to DesignerDonatorPlus)

Congratz and thanks to all voters!

I am gone for a couple of days due to the Chinese New Year holiday, so you won’t see me online. But I have already spent some hours finishing the new lot rest code, which looks very good now. I will make some test runs next week and then enable the functions.

I’ll be back online Wednesday or Thursday next week.

Please see the latest upgrades from the voting system:

• Me88321 (from Citizen to Architect)

Congratz and thanks to all voters!

Please see the latest upgrades from the voting system:

• butifuldzastr (from CitizenDonatorPlus to ArchitectDonatorPlus)

Congratz and thanks to all voters!

I created a chart displaying the incoming votes per day on the voting page now.

I have now finished the log-block webpage interface. All Elders can use it to identify any griefing issues in the empire, nether and darklands. The link can also be found in the Elder-section of the Userlevels & commands page.

To track places where griefing might have happened, elders can now use the logblock tools with /lb toolblock and /lb tool as well as the /lb commands to lookup regional changes wit the appropriate parameters.

I have now created a new world, dedicated for the planning of Mega-structures to be built in the Kingdom: The Draftlands

The primary incentive was to have a world where worldedit can be used. I made some intensive tests and discussed with Elders how to pull this off. So far Elders have been running private, local servers to do planning, and the lack of 100% backups and the complexity of running a server in general caused some issues that made me decide to host this service here directly.

As a result we now have a map that has the same lot structure as the kingdom. I highly discourage casual buying of these lots, which is why I put in the following limits:

• The lots can be bought by Elders only
• The lots are expensive (50k for a main lot)
• You can get only lots where you have the same coordinates on the kingdom already

However, there are also upsides:

• Elders can use WorldEdit (with some small limitations)
• It’s creative
• You can copy your kingdom lot as-is over into the same spot to work on it (still to be enabled)
• Elders can add lower level users to the lots

Before you complain now about not being an Elder and therefore not being able to use Worldedit: Even with the limitations that are possible, WorldEdit is dangerous. It is not possible to 100% prevent effects outside the own lots. There are numerous ways to make the server lag off everyone or even crash it. So I want to restrict this to the people I know well and where I know they can stand up for anything that happens.