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Kingdom proposals!

Posted on by

I tried today to enable the kingdom. However it requires a dev version of the multiverse plugin which is incompatible with other current version of multiverse parts that we depend on.

What I will try is to render a world and frame it with border and use that. If we do not generate additional land then we do not need to worry about the generation code.

I am also strongly considering using standard lots for the kingdom instead of other plugins like towny or precious stones. I could make larger lots and put them up for sale. The nice part is that this does not require a lot of work from my side and that it would be very easy to reset places. In order to enable roads to be build I could do be leaving a chunk wide space between lots for people to build. Those could be also lots that people can claim to make their own streets.

So let’s make an example:

Lots would be 256 x 256 blocks large. Around all lots would be a 16 x 256 wide chunk, and a 16×16 corner between 4 lots.

Financials: If we keep the cost per block constant, and a 256 widex 256 long x 256 high would cost 10k uncs, which is 0,0006 uncs per block, then  a street lot of 16x256x256 would cost 626 unc and a corner lot with 16x16x256 39 uncs.

To get a 4 main lots + 4 street lots + 1 corner lot you would pay 42’539 Uncs and get a 528×528 area.

Input appreciated.

Enderchests – IMPORTANT!

Posted on by

The new version of the plugin that manage game mode and inventories are breaking the way enderchests store data. There is a high risk that when the next version comes out, all ender chest inventories will be wiped.

So make sure that you do not keep inventories in enderchests when you log out. Once the final version of that plugin is out I will upgrade and there is a chance that all your stuff in the enderchests will be gone. You have been warned.

 

Preview….

Posted on by

Here is again a preview of what I will be working next:

  • the new contest system, as described before. This will be the next thing I plan working on
  • The kingdom. I plan on trying the current dev build of the multiverse plugin wich is needed for the ‘large biome’ generator. If it works well, we can finally create the kingdom
  • advertising. Since we have a lot of space now and also a larger world would not cause issues since resetting lots is now a non-issue, we can advertise on reddit again and get more users. If you want to put your builds on reddit, please go ahead.

190 lots reset!

Posted on by

I have now enabled the 1-month lot reset frame and this resulted in 190 reset lots (130 in empire, 60 in the flatlands). As you can see from the users directory, we still have now 645 active users with lots, despite the changes. This shows me again that I made the right decision on this move. We can now start advertising for the server on reddit again and attract even more active users!

Banned bobbypickles124, INFERNAL_swift, Bruhn16 for Xraying!

Posted on by

Since bruhn16 has been a master (!) I give you the courtesy of a logfile excerpt.

Spoiler
[Sun Aug 26 08:30:25 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -95, y=   9, z=   -60, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:30:25 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -95, y=   9, z=   -59, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:30:30 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -94, y=   9, z=   -60, l= 8)
[Sun Aug 26 08:30:30 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -94, y=   9, z=   -59, l= 7)
[Sun Aug 26 08:31:05 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -114, y=   7, z=   -43, l= 0) [t=  34sec / (d= 26 / b=  44) = r=58.2] [flagged x1; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 08:31:05 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -114, y=   7, z=   -42, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:31:05 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -114, y=   6, z=   -43, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:31:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -115, y=   7, z=   -43, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:31:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -115, y=   6, z=   -43, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:31:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -114, y=   6, z=   -42, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -117, y=  10, z=   -70, l= 0) [t=  58sec / (d= 28 / b=  50) = r=102.0] [flagged x2; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -117, y=  11, z=   -70, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -118, y=  11, z=   -70, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -118, y=  10, z=   -70, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -118, y=  11, z=   -69, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:15 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -118, y=  10, z=   -69, l=12)
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:15 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -117, y=  11, z=   -69, l=10)
[Sun Aug 26 08:32:15 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -117, y=  10, z=   -69, l=11)
[Sun Aug 26 08:33:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -123, y=  10, z=   -44, l= 0) [t=  54sec / (d= 26 / b=  31) = r=65.1] [flagged x3; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 08:33:10 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -123, y=  11, z=   -44, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:33:15 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -124, y=  10, z=   -44, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:33:15 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -124, y=  11, z=   -44, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:00 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -139, y=   7, z=   -90, l= 0) [t=  44sec / (d= 49 / b=  27) = r=24.5] [flagged x4; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:00 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -139, y=   6, z=   -90, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:00 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -139, y=   7, z=   -91, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:00 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -138, y=   7, z=   -90, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:05 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -138, y=   7, z=   -91, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:05 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -139, y=   6, z=   -91, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:05 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -138, y=   6, z=   -90, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:05 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -138, y=   6, z=   -91, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:20 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -143, y=   7, z=   -81, l= 0) [t=  13sec / (d= 11 / b=   5) = r=5.8] [flagged x5; ratio paranoidDiamonds]
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:20 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -142, y=   7, z=   -81, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:20 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -143, y=   7, z=   -82, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 08:34:25 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=  -142, y=   7, z=   -82, l= 0)

[Sun Aug 26 10:38:19 HKT 2012] GOLD_ORE    broken by Deadly_Gizmo at (x=   -43, y=  28, z=  -323, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:56:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -22, y=   5, z=   166, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:56:44 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -15, y=   6, z=   178, l= 0) [t=  30sec / (d= 14 / b=  46) = r=99.1] [flagged x7; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 19:56:44 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -15, y=   6, z=   177, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:56:44 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -14, y=   6, z=   178, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:56:44 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -15, y=   5, z=   177, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:56:44 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -14, y=   6, z=   177, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:56:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -14, y=   7, z=   178, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:14 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -8, y=   8, z=   218, l= 0) [t=  29sec / (d= 40 / b=  34) = r=24.4] [flagged x8; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -7, y=   8, z=   219, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -8, y=   9, z=   219, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -8, y=   9, z=   218, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -7, y=   9, z=   219, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -7, y=   9, z=   218, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -7, y=   8, z=   218, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:34 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -11, y=   8, z=   225, l= 0) [t=   0sec / (d=  8 / b=  10) = r=17.4] [flagged x9; ratio paranoidDiamonds]
[Sun Aug 26 19:57:34 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -12, y=   8, z=   226, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     4, y=   6, z=   231, l= 0) [t=  40sec / (d= 17 / b=  64) = r=151.6] [flagged x10; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     5, y=   6, z=   232, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     4, y=   6, z=   232, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     4, y=   5, z=   231, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:19 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     4, y=   5, z=   232, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:24 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     5, y=   5, z=   232, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:34 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     9, y=   7, z=   228, l= 0) [t=   0sec / (d=  6 / b=   9) = r=16.5] [flagged x11; ratio paranoidDiamonds]
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:34 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     9, y=   6, z=   228, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:34 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     8, y=   7, z=   227, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:58:39 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     8, y=   6, z=   227, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     7, y=   6, z=   282, l= 1) [t=  32sec / (d= 55 / b=  23) = r=13.4] [flagged x12; ratio paranoidDiamonds]
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     7, y=   5, z=   282, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:14 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     6, y=   6, z=   283, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:14 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     6, y=   7, z=   283, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    16, y=   7, z=   326, l= 1) [t=  13sec / (d= 44 / b=   7) = r=2.1] [flagged x13; ratio paranoidDiamonds]
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    17, y=   7, z=   327, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    16, y=   6, z=   326, l= 2)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    17, y=   6, z=   327, l= 1)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:44 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     4, y=   7, z=   311, l= 0) [t=  14sec / (d= 21 / b=  15) = r=10.2] [flagged x14; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     3, y=   7, z=   311, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     4, y=   7, z=   312, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 19:59:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     3, y=   7, z=   312, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -11, y=   4, z=   316, l= 0) [t=  19sec / (d= 15 / b=  41) = r=52.4] [flagged x15; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -11, y=   3, z=   316, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -11, y=   3, z=   317, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -11, y=   4, z=   317, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -10, y=   4, z=   316, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -10, y=   4, z=   317, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -10, y=   3, z=   316, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:14 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=   -10, y=   3, z=   317, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:24 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -8, y=   9, z=   305, l= 0) [t=  13sec / (d= 14 / b=  16) = r=15.3] [flagged x16; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -8, y=  10, z=   305, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -9, y=   8, z=   304, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    -9, y=   7, z=   304, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:54 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     7, y=   3, z=   276, l= 0) [t=  22sec / (d= 32 / b=  16) = r=10.8] [flagged x17; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:54 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     7, y=   2, z=   276, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:00:54 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     7, y=   2, z=   275, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:01:09 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=     8, y=   3, z=   275, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:01:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    28, y=   6, z=   202, l= 0) [t=  39sec / (d= 76 / b=  32) = r=16.5] [flagged x18; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 20:01:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    28, y=   6, z=   203, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:01:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    29, y=   5, z=   202, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:01:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    29, y=   5, z=   203, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:01:49 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    29, y=   4, z=   202, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:02:24 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    20, y=  10, z=   194, l= 0) [t=  33sec / (d= 13 / b=  25) = r=61.3] [flagged x19; ratio]
[Sun Aug 26 20:02:24 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    20, y=  10, z=   193, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:02:24 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    21, y=  10, z=   194, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:02:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    20, y=   9, z=   194, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:02:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    21, y=   9, z=   194, l= 0)
[Sun Aug 26 20:02:29 HKT 2012] DIAMOND_ORE broken by Bruhn16      at (x=    20, y=   9, z=   193, l= 0)
(this continues for 5x that long….)

Login problems?

Posted on by

If you are having issues connecting right now, please note that this is neither your fault nor mine. Minecraft.net has a history of issues almost every Sunday to overload with the high amount of users trying to authenticate their login. So it seems that we have to wait until it’s daylight in Europe and someone wakes up and kicks the servers.

IRC user impersonation

Posted on by

I have had several reports now about users logging in on the IRC server and impersonating others by assuming their username. Please note that I will insta-ban anyone who does this. If you see someone doing it, please send me an email with the username and time so I can check on the logfiles.

Zombie Contest Winners!

Posted on by

I have finished rating the contest entries! This one was hard since you had to make a broken building that still looked good, integrate traps, etc. Some really cool ideas came out and I am sure that the builds will be a great inspiration for all who take a look at them! Plus, we had quite a number of participants. I decided to split the submitters into 3 groups: Architects, Citizens and Settlers. Technically it is not THAT different to be a Citizen or Settler (none of them won a contest before), but I thought we can use a couple of higher ranks on the server, so there we go:

Architect
# User Score Prize
3 blakavalanche 3.72 32 Diamonds
2 silver82 4.02 64 Diamonds
1 Xecaria 4.31 Level up + 64 Diamonds
Citizen
3 JoBilly 2.45 32 Diamonds
2 mumurees 2.51 64 Diamonds
1 colossal92 3.06 Level up + 64 Diamonds
Settler
3 oALB 3.07 32 Diamonds
2 Dimetrex 3.11 64 Diamonds
1 kidcodiwise 3.24 Level up + 64 Diamonds

Congratz to all winners and thanks to all for participating! Also thanks to the masters & elders who decorated the streets around the new city area! The prizes will be in your deposit boxes. Please remove them from there once you get them!

Automated lot reset coming!

Posted on by

Again with the great help from our Arch Coder, Azkedar, we are now able to do 100% automated lot resets! Yay! I am SUPER excited about this. What does it do?

I wrote a script that runs once a day – when the server shuts down for the daily restart – which basically does the same as my map-code: It goes through all the worlds, lot by lot, and checks if the owner is banned or absent for a certain time, matches that with the world name and the user group to find out if the lot is up for reset or not. Then, it will tell an external program (the one Azkedar wrote), to take the lot from a new, untouched world (same seed however) and copy it over the current world. Sounds easy, is complicated to do, since the it has to take a part of one file and the same part of another file. Once that is done, the server will restart, and the 2D map will be regenerated to show the changes.

The results:

  • No more (zero) work for anyone (me) on lot resets anymore (ever). Yay! This is the only leftover non-automated regular task I had on the server. I could go on holiday for a year now and the server would be still fine (except for software updates).
  • No more discrepancy how a lot looks on the 2D map and in reality since I won’t manually reset lots 15 hours before the map updates.
  • We will always have the maximum amount of lots free for new users, there would be never more than today’s expired lots marked red on the map.
  • No more broken trees, mineshafts, etc. Everyone will always have a mint new lot in perfect condition, no matter what world, biome etc.
  • Less broken mountains. If the world generator changes but not the ores, we can stick with the old world and avoid broken mountains. If the ores change, we can re-generate a new source world to copy from and reset lots will get new ores (and maybe broken mountains).

Those who have been around for longer know that this list of solved issues is summing up some of the biggest topics we had since the beginning of the server. The fact that after all this time messing around with those issues we finally came to a sustainable solution is truly amazing. We are basically entering a new phase for the server together with the recent hardware upgrade. Uncovery 2.0!

I will be testing lot resets for the 2+ months old lots from today on and start the 1+ months lots next week. Just to make sure everything works fine and to give the people who did not know about the shortening of the expiry until I sent them an email the promised time to login.

[UPDATE] Success! I did a test first on the banned users (6 or so), then on all the users that are absent since 2+ months. That was a bunch of 60+ lots in all 3 worlds combined! It worked like a charm, and all lots are in perfect condition, with trees and everything else! It is setup to run during server restarts. So since this works perfectly, it will continue to reset lots at every restart. This weekend I will switch to the shorter restart cycle and reset the majority of the other lots that are already now red[/UPDATE]

ATTENTION: Lot reset now after 1 month inactivity!

Posted on by

From now on, all lots will be reset if you do not show up on the server for one month!

I will try to send an email to all lot owner that have not been here for a month tomorrow.

[UPDATE] I have sent out an email and will most likely reset the lots on Sunday or Monday. Also, I made the decision to give the following people 2 month time until the reset:

  • All DonatorPlus levels. You need to have ++ level throughout the full two months of absence!
  • All users above and including “architect” levels, no matter if donator or not.
  • Skylands lots will not be automatically reset. Theoretically they expire on the same schedule, but in all likelihood they won’t be reset until you have been away for some longer time. No guarantee there however.

[UPDATE]

Lot resets & Map size

Posted on by

From the lot of feedback that I have received, I came to a conclusion on the issue ofmap enlargement vs. earlier Lot resets. First of all, some info however.

The issue of lot resets is a lengthy one. I want to give some background so you understand how this works currently. There are 3 different methods to reset a lot currently:

  1. The //regen command from Worldedit. This is creating working lots, broken trees and this command has a massive memory leak. So after using it 3-4 times, I have to restart the server. While I was now able to submit a proper bug report to the author, we would have to wait for a fix to get this to work, and that still leaves us with broken trees as that in return is a minecraft bug (which I also could submit now). So it will for a longer time a either broken or unusable method.
  2. The regeneration by chunk. This is using the plugin azkedar wrote. The fact that we have this plugin also helped making 2 proper bug report for the above. Chunks are sections of 16×16 blocks from bedrock to sky. This method turned out to be even more broken than the first. It places a chunk over an old one, and then starts creating structures in the lower-right corner such as trees and underground stuff like mineshafts, and then stops a couple of blocks while it works through the chunk upwards and left. So a tree has its trunk in the lower right corner, the leaves further right and down are missing and the mineshafts that start there go for a couple of blocks and end in a wall. 8×8 chunks per lot of that mess. In my opinion that is not acceptable.
  3. The copy-paste. I created another empire from scratch with lots (world “newemp”). I go to the right location in the new world, copy a whole lot, move to the empire and paste it over the existing lot. This creates a perfect world with all we need but has the disadvantage that this is quite slow.

From my perspective the 3rd method is the only really sustainable one. But also the slowest. Due to a bug however this cannot be a fluent process steered by a program. Otherwise I could write a program chain that does almost everything for the user including warping him through worlds, copy paste etc. If I try that, it crashes the server.

Enlarging the map would increase the amount of lots that have to be reset. Given the issues above this would not be a good way to go – as long as there is an alternative.

Shortening the reset time would therefore be the best alternative. If we assume that only a small group of those hat have not been here for one month will actually come back, then the actual work will not increase – except during the time I catch up with the suddenly expired lots.

Regarding the option of a reminder letter: I will not send a reminder for people to log back in before the lot expires. I want people who come here because they want to, not people who come here because they are told. We are finally not a library you have to go to to return a book.

Regarding the leave of absence, that can only work if we limit that to once a year and if we can automate it. I do not want this to be extra work for me and I do not want people to use it on a permanent base. I see this as a low priority.

Map enlargement or faster lot expiry?

Posted on by

We are running short on lots again and I have the impression that people turn around at the door when they realize that only snow or swamp lots are available on the empire map currently. There are two options here:

  • Enlarge the map again.
    Advantages: More users on the server, easy to do.
    Disadvantages: Increased workload since More lot reset required. Longer travel distances, more inactive lots on the map.
  • Shorten the lot expiry period
    Advantages: increase the amount of Active users, less half-built lots
    Disadvantages: People on holidays might get reset.

I am convinced the shortening of the expiry is the better solution. The big question is what is a too short period? I think 2 months is too long. We see this with the amount of lots where nothing happens. However, what is a “natural” break people might have to take from the game? What holidays do people have where they might be unable to connect?

[UPDATE] For a visible reference, I now colored all lots that have not been active since the last 4 weeks in yellow on this map.[/UPDATE]

[UPDATE 2] I would be happy to have a 2-months expiry for donators and people above citizen levels[/UPDATE]

[UPDATE 3] I updated the map now so that DonatorPlus Settlers & Citizens as well as Architects & above by default become yellow after 2 months. Others after 1 month. So there are less lots colored now, but still enough to tell me that the 1 month cutoff is the right thing to do.[/Update]

 

Map update

Posted on by

I now changed the 2D map so that lot members only show when you hover over a lot. Owners are always shown. This was needed because some users need to give access to so many other users that the lot below was completely hidden.

Future contest system

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I have thought on how to change and improve the contests so that people can participate no matter where their lot is. So here is the proposal:

For every future contest, I will make regions in either the skylands or flatlands where people can become members of to make their contest entries. This way, anyone can make an entry. If you are a flatlands owner, you can still go to the darklands and mine for stuff and use it for the contest. It will also make it easier for me to copy the entries and due to the region restriction there will be no more question how large to make it, and who make which contest entry. We will also be able to rate stuff easier, no more need for screenshots etc etc etc

All will be a whole lot easier.

Uncovery 2 Year anniversary coming up!

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Our 2nd anniversary is coming up with the 1st of November! I am thinking about things to do during that week and how to make this week special for everyone, old and new users alike! I would like to ask everyone for suggestions what to do during the week and on the anniversary, and how to engage users to join and do something special!

Zombie Contest entries copied! Please all vote!

Posted on by

I have copied the zombie entries now to the city. Please go to the city, enter
/warp zombies and take a good look at all buildings! Each building should have a name somewhere near the entrance with the creator on it! Please vote!

If you have a build submitted, please ask an elder to place pictures and beds for you again since they get lost during the copy process…

Massive Java Crashes – Temp server in place

Posted on by

Guys, we had massive java crashes over the course of the day and I have no idea what is happening. I first rebooted the machine, undid some changes in the hope it would fix something, and it worked for 2 hours or so and then crashed again several times. I have upgraded a couple of things but I cannot trace the issue. I got a [Too many errors] on the console as well as the crash report from java at times:

Spoiler
#
# A fatal error has been detected by the Java Runtime Environment:
#
#  SIGSEGV (0xb) at pc=0x00000007f8327c00, pid=32641, tid=140230393620224
#
# JRE version: 6.0_22-b22
# Java VM: OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM (20.0-b11 mixed mode linux-amd64 compressed oops)
# Derivative: IcedTea6 1.10.6
# Distribution: CentOS release 6.2 (Final), package rhel-1.43.1.10.6.el6_2-x86_64
# Problematic frame:
# C  0x00000007f8327c00
#
# If you would like to submit a bug report, please include
# instructions how to reproduce the bug and visit:
#   http://icedtea.classpath.org/bugzilla
#

with different contents in “Problematic frame”. This is quite a serious issue that is why I have created a new, temp bukkit server and will now see how I can add plugins one by one and see if it works. So until then the normal server will be frozen. Unfortunately this comes at the worst of times since I will be leaving for a trip tonight for 2 weeks. I will see how much I can fix during the trip, but it looks like we will have to live with a not-fully operational server for some days. If you have any ideas how to debug something like this, please let me know. All help greatly appreciated.

Zombie City contest has been closed – no need to vote yet!

Posted on by

I have closed the zombie contest today. However there is no need to vote yet. Unfortunately a significant amount of users did not submit screenshots. I want to take the time to copy the entries to the city so people can wander around and cast proper votes. I will make an announcement once all entries are copied. Unfortunately I will be traveling for the next 2 weeks so do not expect this to happen in the next 24 hours.

New command to add/remove members on your lot

Posted on by

I have no hand-written a command to add or remove members of your lot. You can use

/lotmember [lot_id] add [member]

/lotmember [lot_id] rem [member]

The nice thing of the new command is that you can use it no matter what world you are in. This is one of the biggest bug being removed that was introduced when upgrading the server. There are still a few around but most of them depend on other plugin developers so we will need to wait a bit until we are able to do all we want to.