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Another Skylands update: Not at all as bad as I thought!

Posted on by

So the skylands has places where you everything is dark and you seem not to be able to place blocks. Also, the minimap is messed up there. You try to place blocks but cannot see anything happening. However when you leave the area (unload the chunk) and come back, the blocks that you tried to place but could not see, are actually there. Also, now the chunk properly displays in the minimap. The whole chunk that was first compelety invisible, is suddenly there.

It seems to me that only completely empty chunks are affected, those where there is not one single block. I am not sure if that is a bug where bukkit does not load chunks w/o contents or if there is a different issue. Clearly the map files are OK. Dynmap also renders the map w/o the issue the minimap has.

So I am not sure what has to be done to fix this issue. I posted this now at first to the author of the skylands plugin. I will see if we need to escalate this to the bukkit team.

This has the following consequences: If you have an empty chunk in the skylands where you cannot place a block, place one, go to spawn, come back and it should be fine provided that no-one else is in the area. This is a good workaround for now. Latest after the server restart, the empty area will be fine – if you at least attempted to place a block there.

Skylands update

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I have now found out that even a new skylands world has this problem. That means that there is an issue with the skylands generator or Multiverse. That also means that we most likely will be able to fix that issue. So no need to panic (yet). Keep everything as it is and we wait if there is any word from the skylands plugin team to fix that.

Skylands future

Posted on by

I finally could not find a non-broken Skylands copy in the backups of the last 2 weeks. So instead of making a month-long rollback I rather deprecate the skylands and create a new world from scratch that hopefully does not have the issues of the current one. Finally the skylands is the oldest existing world and that shows now. If I would restore an old copy the chances are high we would run into the same corruption as with the current one. I am suspecting that there is a flaw in the world file that disables importing it into 1.3.1

All of you who have stuff in the skylands can still access it. Most of the areas (if not all) that are affected by the bug have never been built on or are even empty. I would recommend however to move your chest contents out. For larger builds, I will help copy/pasting stuff out to the new skylands.

Now regarding the principle of the skylands: The current issue is that the 200×200 lots are not practical as I wrote before. They are too large to regenerate. I would have to make smaller lots. In order to compensate, I could give out several lots instead, depending on the level.

The big question however is this: Do we just want to have a “void” or do we want to have a skylands? Opinions welcome. Oh, and how to call it? We cannot have 2 skylands at the same time. The name should be something different. Ether?

Skylands corrupted

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The Skylands files are corrupted. Many chunks (mostly the empty though) are damaged and one cannot build there. I am currently evaluating what to do to fix it. At the minimum we will get a rollback. In the worst case scenario I will block building there and simply copy-paste one build after the other into a new world – however that will look like. The 200×200 lots are too big to reset so there might be some alternative in the works.

Currently the skylands are disabled, I will re-enable them once I know how to handle that.

New Mobdisguise plugin!

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I found a new and working mob disguise plugin for the donators. The commands are now /dis and /undis. Baby and other modifications are currently not enabled since I have to re-do the permissions first.

New FAQ Entry

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I have created a new FAQ entry:

  • I built something amazing for the city! Can you copy it over?
    Do not build something because you think the city needs it. Do not ask me to copy things because “you built it for the city”. Specially not if it took you 30 minutes to build it. If you want your stuff to be seen, post it on the forum. If I think the city needs it, I will copy it.

To make you understand why this is a FAQ now: I have received about every month once such a request. Many times the buildings were bad, unfinished, made for a special purpose nobody needed or any combination of those. I want to avoid people wasting time to build some type of Arena we don’t need or me being obliged to coach them in a week long review process to a level where the building would be remotely acceptable as a showpiece for the server. It’s frustrating for all involved.

If you think you are great at building something, just do it. If it is good, it WILL end up in the city. If we need something, it will be either done in a contest or I will tell people who I trust with their building skills to do it. That is one of the basic privileges of the higher ranks. If you just joined the server yesterday you are most likely NOT in the position to submit something for the city in the first 3 days you are here.

New Support Chat

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We have a new support chat system where users can open help tickets and Masters and Elders can claim the tickets and enter in a personal chat with the person needing help. This should avoid the permanent chat on the global channel of people needing help. If you see someone needing help for stuff like the settlers quiz, please encourage them to open a support ticket for help instead of spamming the channel. I created a page with the commands to use it.

 

Upgrade Progress, New features

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Here are short update summary:

  • All the plugins seem to be working fine except HeroChat. I have no idea how long that will take to fix.
  • All the maps are regenerated and working fine. I even managed to compile an updated verison of c10t, the 2D map renderer. I will keep the current system for now however and use the Dynmap generated 2D maps for the lots since it seems more sustainable. The only issue with that is the confusion between Lotmaps and the dynmap which now has a 3D and a 2D map. I might have to change the wording on the website for that to make it clearer.
  • I found a replacement for the end reset. It should reset the end 20 minutes after the last player left the end when the dragon is dead. Please test and tell me if that works
  • The shop should work with all new blocks available in the game
  • I have to fix the user list to check if they are banned since the banlist format in the game has changed.
  • Since the reddit-flush-in was about 2 months ago we have a lot of expired lots from then (20+) and I need to reset them. Prepare for a couple of restarts here.

Future (new) stuff to do

  • I want to connect the nether with the darklands, waiting for the nether portal plugin or at least the multiverse plugin to be updated to make sure this works fine. If there is no update in the coming 2 weeks I will go ahead anyhow.
  • I want to re-instate the kingdom and use the preciousstones plugin. I will most likely only offer 2 blocks, one for a chunk at a high price (1k uncs or more) and one for rail lines (long, thin) to keep it simple.
  • I want to re-enable the hunger games but need to test this. It’s quite annoying to test however. I do not know when to do that.
  • I want to replace mapmarkers and whitelist plugins since they are abandoned with alternative code. No change for the users however.

So before anyone comes to me with new stuff, please keep that list in mind. This stuff will give me enough to do for the coming 4 weeks.

Upgrade bugs PLEASE READ

Posted on by

Here is a list of currently known bugs:

  • /tell and /msg does not work in the empire. Messages go straight to the /general channel. So be careful what you message. Test first. Everyone migh tread it
  • You cannot chat in channels with the shortcut. Normally you can chat in trade with /ch t <enter> and then text or with the shortcut /t <text>. The /t shortcut is broken. Chat will go to the global channel.
  • [FIXED] I have to re-enable flat map rendering for the 3D map and then assemble the resulting tiles into a single image to be used for the 2D map so we can get up-to-date 2D maps of the lots.
  • There was a mess-up with the integration of the darklands. The un-explored areas do not line up with the already explored areas so there will be weird breaks in the landscape.
  • When you switch worlds that share the same XP, the XP seems to be lost. If you gain additional XP however, the result is the right one. So you do not loose any XP, the display is just wrong for some time.
  • [FIXED] emeralds cannot be traded yet (until I fixed that)
  • [FIXED] story signs cannot switch you to survival mode anymore

Both chat issues will be fixed with the new release of HeroChat which is delayed because of some server-wars.

 

1.3 Testing – please join!

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I have upgraded the server now to 1.3.1 for TESTING. Please come over and help testing the setup, specially access rights, inventories and new: Ender Chests.

I have set it up so that all survival worlds share the ender chests just like your personal inventories EXCEPT for the darklands – so while you can bring stuff into the darklands in your inventories, you wont be able to use ender chests there to transport their contents to other worlds. – keeping it hard to play there.

This is a test setup. If we run into any issues, I will revert to the last saved status of the 1.2.5 server and try to fix whatever the issue was. So please don’t build or mine like hell, it might be reverted. Currently all looks fine though.

I will make a blogpost when the decision is made if we keep that setup or not. Until then the 1.3 temp server will remain. After the decision is done, I will move the 1.3 darklands to the upgraded server.

Upgrade progress

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I am about to go through every plugin we are using and testing it. Here are some issues I have run into, just FYI:

  • HeroChat is in some kind of war with some Brazilian MC server, DDOS, flamewar and all. The current version of Herochat seems to work fine so far however. I will continue using that.
  • BringBackTheEnd is broken and there is no update of the admin whatsoever. Either we manage to find a new one or we have to stick with once-a-day resets of the end.
  • iConomy is abandoned, and seems we are only lucky its still working since some other server have seen major issues in accounting accuracy. Since we do not use this plugin together with other plugins, we can replace it with our own code instead. Other plugins out there do not support MySQL so we are stuck on that. Once we would want to charge for other stuff than buying/selling, we would need to find a plugin that interfaces with those plugins however. I will continue running the current version until I have time to rewrite the basic functions we are using in PHP.
  • MapMarkers is abandoned since long but working fine. Should not be an issue since dynmap creates a similar file we can use. I use it to display the users on the 2D map
  • NoCheat+ is not released as a final version yet. I will try to install it and if there are issues, simply disable it for the time being.
  • Whitelist is abandoned since over a year but has been running fine. Now mincraft added finally a command to reload the whitelist file in case it has been updated externally so we can phase out the plugin. I only have to add the reload command when someone has been whitelisted and we are good to do. Will do after upgrade.
  • WorldGenerationControl is used to forcibly generate regions no-one has been visited yet, after map enlargements etc. It seems abandoned but still working fine. Dynmap has a similar function just in case.
  • c10t seems to be abandoned since some time but receives sporadic updates. I use it to make the 2D map. If they do not update, I wrote a script to assemble the 2D maps from dynmap into such a map, and I can re-activate that.

All other plugins either have updated to 1.3.1 or have not but also seem to be working just fine with the recent versions. I will test the updated versions now and then see if I run into issues. Protection and the possibility to run all worlds with no issues between them is the first priority. Economy & Shops is the second etc.

Upgrade on Monday!

Posted on by

The server will be upgraded on monday to 1.3. That means that whatever you held in your personal inventory (not chests etc, what you hold in your hands only) on the 1.3 temp server will be ERASED as previously announced. Stash it into a chest or donate it to a charity, but please be aware it will be gone otherwise.

PSA: Hiding your stuff in the Darklands (1.3 server)

Posted on by

I have gotten reports that people were griefed in the darklands. Aparently someone with a Xray plugin is going hunting for chests. Please understand that I am not able to track that. The plugin I have alerts me when people are mining ores and not when they are opening chests. If you want to protect your chests, then place an ore on the 6 spots around it so that anyone who opens a chest has to dig through ore before being able to open it.

All I can do is check if the people going for the chests also have mined normal ores with Xray and ban them for that.

Update Status, 2nd ed.

Posted on by

Bukkit 1.3.1 has just been released, 1 hour before I leave home for holidays. I will have limited possibilities to update the server this week, but I will be able to test certain things to make sure the update goes smooth. It will also allow us to wait for plugins to update so we can make sure everything works as expected.

Significant issues / opportunities:

  • Ender Chests – We need to avoid that they are used to transport stuff from creative to survival
  • Adventure mode – we might be able to use this to have adventures in the city and other places, watch for an update of the story admin!
  • Kingdom – we still need to find a good way to have protection there. I want to avoid it’s used for mining. In the worst case, I will make buyable worldguard regions just like on all other lots. Towny and preciousstones are the two contenders. Towny is very complex and preciousstones needs a smart setup without being too complex. Generally running two protection plugins at the same time is not ideal.

Update status

Posted on by

I have been observiing the progress with bukkit several times a day now and in the meantime updated it at least once per day, if not twice. While they have been fixing many quite big bugs, some of the big ones are still there. My decision is still to wait for a recommended release since I do not have the time to sit behind the server console 24/7 to make sure that it does not crash and mess up our world files in the process.

I will be leaving for a trip tonight (my second week of summer holidays, yay!) and be back on Sunday. In the meantime I most probably wont have the time to upgrade the server. I strongly hope that we will have a stable build until the end of the week though so I can upgrade then. If you want to watch a fancy graph showing the bug fixing status, check here.