Note: All of the below things will happen when this server is updated to 1.9 and if there is no strong indication that the maps will change fundamentally again within the next couple of weeks.

I have now started to prepare the website for the new world generator. These are the decisions:

• We will have a new map, called “empire” with 400 128×128 lots (20×20 lots, A1-T20, 2560 x 2560 blocks)
• I have created the lot files already and you can preview how this would look like here. The map that you see there is only an example. The lots are the important part.
• This map will be re-generated with a mixed water/land seed once we have a more stable world generation system. I strongly hope that this will happen with 1.9 and not later.
• We will get another map called “city” in which the city will be. Duh. Spawn etc will be there including all great builds from the contests and other nice stuff from the lots.
• That city map will be 1280×1280 blocks large only in the beginning or so. That should enable us to expand  the map further in a later stage with newer world generation systems so we need only to smoothen the borders instead of regenerating the whole place.
• New lots would be given out only in the empire. People can abandon their old lots and move over. Nobody gets more lots then now, and nobody can get a new lot in the old ‘world’.
• What to do until then? Mine your lot. Ask to have it transformed to 1.8 version. Take part in the current contest.

1.9v2 will come out this week. If that version does not crash, I will setup a temp server again with a TEMP map. Yes, I will delete it afterwards, no discussions. So don’t spend too much time there!

Next week I will be on holiday and only on the internet 1-2 times a day (diving!). If 1.9 final comes out then, it would have to wait until 10th October. But anyhow we would have to wait for Bukkit & plugins to be updated, which would take until then anyhow.

I am not able to do the recovery. I don’t have the time to do it after all, sorry about that. I have family over at my home and still work to do on the upgrade, so whoever built during those 12 hours will have to rebuild it. Sorry.

I just had to do a rollback of ‘world’ since parts of the map got corrupted. I tried to copy the bad parts from the backup, but this would not work. The server spammed me with misaligned chunk messages. So the rollback concerns something like the last 12 hours. I can try to restore stuff if your world lot has a number 6 or higher in it. Please post here ASAP and I will copy-paste your lot back in.

00:34:27 HawkEye83 [Settler] (world): hey, it's matt, daniel's soccer...
00:34:45 chpentain: DUDE SIGN OFF YOU COULD GET HIM BANNED
00:34:54 HawkEye83 [Settler] (world): ?
00:35:00 Daiyamondo: -.-
00:35:02 HawkEye83 [Settler] (world): why?
00:35:04 Daiyamondo: -.-
00:35:12 chpentain: if somone else uses your account you get banned
00:35:18 Daiyamondo: Duh.
00:35:19 HawkEye83 [Settler] (world): are u refering 2 j3sus?
00:35:24 Daiyamondo: ......................
00:35:26 chpentain: no you!
00:35:50 HawkEye83 [Settler] (world): we live in the same house and share a computer...
00:36:00 [g] chpentain: there can only be one user per account
00:36:22 HawkEye83 [Settler] (world): I don't see a problem with this...

Well, unfortunately I see a problem with this. Hawkeye, if you want access again, get your ‘friends’ to pay you a new account and make sure they don’t have your password.

I need help writing a new map tool that shows which blocks are stored in the files that store the minecraft data. I need it in PHP or in a normal formula. There is something like that already here: http://dinnerbone.com/minecraft/tools/coordinates/. Essentially I want to input a block file name such as ‘r.0.-2.mcr’ and want to know which blocks would stored inside that file without reading the contents of the file. If you can write something like that, please send it to me. In detail: a minecraft save file is called ‘r.0.-2.mcr’. The numbers 0 and -2 indicate the area of the map covered. I need to know which blocks exactly. I need to know the top-left and the bottom-right X and Z coordinates.

Much appreciated.

Due to the new mapping system of 1.8 I allow people to have their lots reset. If you see me online, I can reset your lot. You can also ask here as a comment. Keep in mind that this will remove ALL your stuff from the lot you reset. On top of that, your lot might be 100% water, most likely if you are south or east of the city. There is no undo.

Since the existence of this server, and for every single Minecraft update, we have had a temp map online until the plugins were updated too. And every single time, I announced when the temp map went life, that it is a “TEMP” = “Temporary” = “will be deleted” map. I also announced on top of that explicitly each time that “The map will be deleted!!”. And each time, there were people who suggested to still keep the map afterwards and essentially running a vanilla server with all the griefing, theft etc.

If you look through my posts from the last weeks you will see, that for this update too, every time I wrote about the temp 1.8 server, I mentioned, because of the past experiences, that the map will be deleted. And now, again, there are several people asking to keep it.

It is as if people are writing a book into the sand and they still suggest that the waves should stop and not wipe out what they wrote. If you spend so much time and effort on a temp map that was declared several times to be deleted I am not sure what to think.

Consider that if we would have kept every single map that was made for an upgrade, we would have 10 worlds by now. All with griefed buildings, broken world generators and all – abandoned.

On top of that, this time the issue is even worse than the last times. Consider that we are working on a system that is about to have 2 massive changes in map generation in quick succession. Not only new ores in a similar looking world. The complete map will look different. The current temp world is the same seed as the normal 1.7 world. 60% is water now. Those changes make us even consider to abandon the main world where hundreds of users have spent 9 months to to build stuff. And now people ask me to keep a map that was online for less than 2 weeks and which is generated on a system that will radically change within the next couple of weeks.

Despite all of this, I will do the following: When we move the main server to 1.8, I will offer to copy structures to the kingdom map. This means that the structure should be selectable in a box, not be underground, under water or inside a mountain. If you want it copied. I need you to place two identifiable red wool blocks in opposite corners of the construction so that the two blocks form a box around everything you want to have copied. If you fail to do this the way I need it, I won’t copy the stuff. No discussions. No further instructions. Ask me to copy stuff when you see me in-game AFTER 1.7 server is switched off.