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Server back up

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.

Server crashed again…

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.

Flatlands Lot resets now possible!

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!

Server crashed….

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.

Last step to phase out old lot reset process

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!

New /who command

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.

2014-02-06_14.40.45The 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.

Visual Improvements

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.

Uncovery Logo, Step 2:

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?

Flatlands lot types – input requested

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?

 

Error found, lot reset, let’s see…

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.

Crashes update

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]

Server crashes. I blame some plugin. Also: A bird caught a crab.

The server crashed a couple of times. After the 3rd crash and attempt to restart it via my cellphone I made my way back from the beach to my PC to check the logfiles (don’t worry, I had other reasons to leave the beach…) and found that the new version of the IRC plugin made trouble. So I reinstalled the old version and restarted the server. Let’s see if that helped.

On unrelated news I tracked down a kingfisher on a crab hunt during the morning low tide on our beach:

IMG_6123And then, I caught a crab. They have 2 convenient handles here to hold them.

IMG_6145

 

Gone, but working

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.

Some new upgrade vote stats

I have added some new upgrade vote stats to the voting page. Here are the current figures. New new stats are italic:

Vote Stats

  • Overall proposals: 56
  • Proposals per day: 0.6
  • Overall votes: 631
  • Votes per day: 6.8
  • Proposal fail ratio: 13.73%
  • Vote down ratio: 23.14%
  • Max days for proposals to succeed: 48 days
  • Avg days for proposals to succeed: 3.1 days

Trivia forced ending

So far I did not have a function that would end a trivia game in case the quiz master would not ask all the questions. The game would be open and nobody had the chance to start another game.

I now changed that. In case someone tries to start a new game and there is one still open, and the quiz master of the open game is not online, the old game will be automatically closed, the winnings distributed and a new game is started by the new quiz master.

So if the quiz master is still online, please ask him/her to continue the quiz or to close it by skipping the remaining questions.