It seems that the major component needed to update the server, Craftbukkit, has been updated to work with the latest version of Minecraft. However, the Craftbukkit plugin which is managing the access rights to the lots, has not been fixed yet. Before that is done I will not update the server. So please stand by.

As you can see some posts below, I asked everyone not to update until I would announce that it is OK. Some of you however did not get the choice to update or not and now cannot get onto the server. You need to first download the most recent minecraft.exe from the server so you won’t be force-updated. The you can downgrade your according to this forum post and connect back to the server.

I am working on a new mall system. It will be more work, but the current one is just causing too much lag. I already removed the shops for the outer areas. I will build larger shops that the users can reserve. I have to find a way to get those back though when the users are not using them if we run out of them.

I would like to give you a “warning” on the update next week (presumably Tuesday). There are two choices:

1. The software will ask you if you want to update
2. The software will update itself no matter what

If the first case happens, DO NOT update until I will ask you to do so. Otherwise you will be unable to connect to the uncovery server.

In the 2nd case, well you will update the game. If this happens, I will also update the server to the latest version, since this is usually required. Otherwise nobody can get on the server. This also means that most of the plugins and the protection breaks. If this is the case, we will switch to a TEMPORARY map that will not have any protection against griefers. The new map will be up until protection can be given. Then we switch back to the current map.

I have now a statistics file which counts the blocks in the map. I want to make a pricing guideline according to this statistics. I need someone to sit down and think about a mechanism how we can price blocks according to the rarity and the complication to harvest them and assign a price. The more scientific this is, the better.

ONe can start with the rarity of a block, then add a modifier if you need a diamond pickaxe and one for the durability of the block (from the wiki). Stuff that can be automated such as reeds should be cheaper etc. The whole thing would go into a table and make a price recommendation.

Any takers? Here is a sample file.

Sorry about that, but while fixing the malls I must have shot a hole through the server map from the eastern outpost all the way to the spawn on sea level. It’s only 1 block large but it goes essentially through 7 lots. [Update] Contrary to the common belief that this happened from letting my shark with his laser eyes take his sunglasses off, it happened by myself looking in the direction for a second too long.[/Update] I hope it did not remove any chests filled of diamonds or flooded your area with Lava. If so, make a screenshot and I point and laugh at it. Yeah, sorry again, but still no refunds!

There seems to be a big with the /home command. I can fix the entries in the database manually if you tell me that you have problems.  Please post here if your home command does not place you exactly where you have set it.

I have just now relocated all the malls including their contents to the spawn. You have now a 9-storey tower there with all the lots represented. Please go and take a look. Please note that the original mall in the spawn was relocated one floor down. Look for the signs on the wall to know where your floor is.

There have been several server freezes over the last four days. The problem is that the freezes do not throw any conclusive message into the logfiles. So I need all your help on this. If you are online while the server freezes, please come to this post and tell me that it froze so I can restart it ASAP, what was the last thing you did before it happened. Did you see any odd behavior?
Thanks a lot!

Ok, I have read the comments, and thanks for those. They have given me a good perspective on the topics and I have an idea on how to move forward:

The malls

Instead of having split malls like now, I will rather combine them all at spawn. It is better to have a crowded central spawn than splitting up the people over the map. If we ever extend the map again and have a lot of people online permanently we can think about that idea again.

The /home command

I will leave the /home command as it is. If you die, you should not loose your stuff because it takes too long to get it.

The nether

This will depend how the portal making works. If making a portal from the nether does NOT make a portal in the normal world, I will make the whole nether public. If it creates a portal in the normal world, I will either make a portal command instead of people building them or split up the world in sections. Then I might also reset the nether regularly such as one a week or so.

I am currently waiting for the WorldGuard plugin to be updated. The new version was promised for last Friday, and I hope it will happen this week. The new version will introduce a very important new feature:

The Nether.

Actually, the nether is accessible technically already now. The problem however is that the nether is currently split up the same way as the normal world, in 100×100 lots. This is not bad as such but at the nether scales to the current world 1 – 8, this causes issues. If you walk 100 blocks in the nether, you will be 800 blocks away in the normal world. This means that if someone on the edge of the map builds a portal, he will come out on a protected lot of someone else and will have to walk again far to get to his protected lot. Building a lot there, would be miles out from the current map borders.

So the new version of said plugin will make it possible to have different (or none) lot allocations than the normal world and therefore make more sense. So once the plugin is out, we will have the following options:

• make an equivalent reserved lot system in the nether or
• make it one huge public area

The next topic is a consequence out of this. Once the nether is active, I can see how much load this will bring on the server, and then most probably give out the outer lots of the map. Then, we will have 30×30 lots up for grabs. Which
Brings us to the next topic:

The Outposts

Currently, the outposts merely serve as travel-points for the people going to others lots or peasants trying to get to their place for the first time. Recently, also the malls were built there. When the outer areas are given out, these will gain in importance. Once the hospitals work, I can also install smaller ones out there etc. The question right now however is about the spawn points. I can theoretically make everybody spawn where their mall is. This has a couple of consequences I want you to think about:

• This would create 9 types of settlers. They can but do not have to be visually different (in chat for example)
• This would give the malls in the outposts more live and therefore more money all
• This would make the game experience different for people since the places look different
• This would give the central spawn a much different role since there are much less lots around spawn and much more new players in the public area etc.
• I would probably switch off the /home command since you then have to walk maximum 500 blocks to your home
• This has a probability of bugs during the transition, since I have to update all the chat channels, user rights etc.
• It’s a piece of work for me too!

I generally intend to do as described above. I think it would be really great and give the server more unique features. If you have opinions on that, specially LOGICAL reasons why this might not work, please tell me. Otherwise I would work on that.

Since I had to go on an urgent trip, and my internet connection is not very good, it might take a couple of days until I can finish the malls.

In the meantime, a little hint: in the finished malls you can take a wooden sword to find out who owns a box. If the box is called box_a1, the owner is the same of lot a1.

I have just created 4 more outposts. To complement the 4 in the corners, there are now 4 more straight north, south, east & west of spawn. Find the portals and take a look! please tell me if the trading chests are not accessible.

Too lazy to pull out the logs now. But when people repeatedly tell you to shut up because you are insulting it should be a good hint to do so.
Also the IRC password changed, please check on the chat page what it is now.

By the way: You can ignore people in chat with /ignore . Of course, if someone is trolling, please tell me first and THEN put them on ignore. Being able to be ignored by someone is not a reason to be trolling.

On a side note: If you tell me “Ban me please”, there is a very high likelyhood that I will do that. Some people do that in anger, some because the feel they spend too much time here. So do not joke about this.

I have fixed the trading post in spawn. It now works with normal chests and does not need dispensers anymore. I also installed trading posts in the 4 outposts. Please try them out and tell me if you cannot access the chests there. Happy Trading!

There finally seems to be a decent trading plugin that works with iConomy! This means that you will be able to run shops in the spawn and outposts! I will set up market places where you can setup shop and start trading your stuff at your own prices. In spawn, this will most likely happen in the Tower above the Spa. I am not sure when the first version of the plugin will be released but I will test it with some people first before we release it to the general public.

I am hoping to get the whole game a bit more interactive that way. Ideally I would disable even home and instead setup a couple of additional portals to make the whole game experience more action than command-based. I already now have the option to charge for using the portals…

I have a rule that people should not build large walls. Why? Because they are ugly of course. They block the view for others and do not have any effect whatsoever. You cannot keep people out anyhow.

Now some people think it’s better to make them out of glass. like 100 blocks high. Well, I do not think this is an improvement. Then other people come and ask that if they put a roof on them, it’s not a wall anymore but a building. Well guess what: This is hard on the edge of the “stupid questions” ban.

I have reviewed and updated the building guidelines. Please go and read them. If your current construction violates them, please change it. If it’s too big, I can come over and take it away quickly or move it underground when I have time.

In short: Do not build ugly stuff. This game does not have ladders, stairs, 120 materials so that you build a hollow box because you are too lazy to cave the underground out.

If you read the building guidelines and think: “Oh but I wanted to build this huuge box in the air out of [whatever] and if I make it only 80 instead of 100 blocks, wide, it should be ok right? Let’s ask uncovery”, then you are already on the path of the stupid questions.

I found a forum that seems to integrate with WordPress quite well. Please try it out and tell me if it works well for you or not. Help requests, Clan pages/threads should be placed into the forum. Also discussions about specific features will be held there instead

The lot reservation is back up for now. Please note that this is not instant and not fully automated. I have to process the requests manually and make sure that not two people applied for the same lot. I hope that the coming update (tomorrow) for the protection plugin will make this easier.

Today one of the more annoying players who was banned dropped in on the IRC channel and started harassing users. To prevent this type of behavior in the future, I added a password to the IRC channel. You can find out what the current password is by going to the Chat page. The web form automatically inserts the password, so no change there.