Upcoming Changes To Our Hosting

As some of you already know our hosting company is in the process of migrating from  a data centre in Cheltenham to one in London, amongst other benefits the move increases network bandwidth from 2 GBps to 10 GBps  (GBps = gigabytes per second).

Given the recent DDOS attacks against a server sharing our rack in Cheltenham that caused us significant network lag I have requested that our server is moved to London early, this will however mean that...

1) The server will be down for a short period for the data to be be transferred, probably around 1-2 hours.

2) We will be assigned a new IP address.

They have advised me that we can have a default (25565) port, making the address you use to connect a lot shorter and meaning that shortly after the move you'll be able to just use...

tekkit.diggyminecraft.co.uk 

...to connect, so you won't need to remember the new IP at all!

The new IP assignment is automated so I will not know the new IP in advance.

I'll post updates on here as and when needed so please make sure you bookmark this page!

This will take place on Tuesday (2nd July) at or shortly after 10 am UK time.

June Challenge - RollerCoasters

This will not be judged today afterall due to a low number of entries.

We know more coasters were built but for one reason or another not entered in time so we hope to judge this in the near future!

UPDATE: 17:00 - Judging will now take place on Saturday (6th July) at around 2-3 pm.

New Helpers

Tatankore is now a full helper and BobKiller52 is now a probationary Helper!

This brings our total number of helpers up to 6:

Full Helpers:

freaksdesign
zinatawehowe
blad2003
xPhantomY2kx
Tatankore

Probationary Helpers:

BobKiller52

June Challenge - RollerCoasters

Don't forget this is being judged this Sunday!

So you have until Midnight (UK time) on Saturday to submit your entry.

See here for full details of how to enter etc... http://tinyurl.com/junecoaster

Enderchest Goodies!

Just for fun I've placed some goodies, including some HV Solar Arrays and Red Matter in a randomly coloured enderchest, the first person to figure out the the combination (there are 4096 possibilities) can keep the contents!

I will keep checking the chest and post updates as well as clues!

Clue: 20th June - No white! (3375 possibilities remaining)

Clue: 21st June - No yellow! (2744 possibilities remaining)

Clue: 22nd June - No magenta! (2197 possibilities remaining)

Clue: 23rd June - No brown! (1728 possibilities remaining)

Clue: 24th June - No light gray! (1331 possibilities remaining)

As of... 22:00, 24th June ...the items have been found! Congratulations freaksdesign! 

The code was... Orange - Pink - Cyan

Somehow no-one noticed that I kept changing the spleef arena floor to these colours... 

New Way Of Connecting To The Server

You can now connect to the server using:

tekkit.diggyminecraft.co.uk:25965

instead of using the IP address, if you want to!

Minecraft Login Server Is Down

The Minecraft login server has now been down for 30 minutes, Mojang are investigating, you can check the current status at this website...

http://xpaw.ru/mcstatus/

UPDATE: 21:00 - Minecraft logins are back to normal!

Player Portals Are Ready!

It took longer than we had thought to get everything configured and tested but player portals are finally ready to be put to use!

Some important info you'll need to know if you want to apply for a Player Portal...

You need to be a minimum of Member+ rank to request a player portal.

There are 16 Player Portals, one for each colour of wool, you may request a specific colour if it still available.

Portal requests should be made to DiggyWig or DigginChickin, we may take a couple of days to decide and ask for feedback from Helpers before making a decision.

Due to the limited number of portals the build quality of the destination should be high and of genuine use to players, either providing some sort of function or just as an impressive place for players to visit and hang out.

Portals are linked to ranks when setup, and can either be set to 'New Builder' (allow everyone) or set to Member, Member+ or VIP to only allow that rank or higher to use the portal.

A portal will need to be built at the destination and will require a space 6 blocks wide, 3 blocks deep and 4 blocks high, the portal will not be modifiable by the destination owner.

Signs with the destination name and minimum rank will be placed on the portal in the hub for you.

Similar rules apply as for a market stall, if the player owning the destination doesn't log in for more than 14 days or the destination becomes unsuitable for any reason then the portal will be closed and made available to other players (let us know if you're going on holiday etc and we'll make sure it doesn't get closed!).

Main World Border Is Up!

The main world border has been turned on, if we did miss anyone who has a build outside of 8000m then please contact DiggyWig or DigginChickin asap and we'll sort something out for you!

Size Limit For Main World

We have decided on a size limit of 8000m for the main world, one of the players outside of this area is already in the process of moving and signs have been placed on the other two buildings as the players have not been online for a few days.

The border will be put in place tonight (around 9pm UK time) to make sure no more buildings pop up out outside the border region, the players with homes still outside the border can be given temporary permission to bypass the border to collect items from their areas, however this permission resets when the server restarts and will have to be re-requested afterwards.

On Friday at around 9am UK Time all chunks outside of the 8000m boundary will be automatically deleted and items remaining outside this distance will no longer be recoverable!

New chunks within the 8000m boundary will also begin to generate at this time at a rate of 20 chunks per second. As we expect over 70000 chunks to be generated in total this may cause a little lag for around an hour if the server is busy, but will mean that new chunks will never need to be generated again when players explore the world!

World Size Limits

After taking a look over the world map we have decided to introduce world size limits, for the following reasons:

1 - The larger the world the more likely it will suffer from corruption, making a map reset necessary.

2 - Chunk generation in a large world can cause lag and increase the chance of map corruption when the server is busy.

3 - We have massive unexplored areas within relatively short distances of portals (under 4000m).

4 - We have several thousand chunks generated at extreme distances which no-one is using.

A very small plugin has been installed this morning to handle the limits and borders and limits have been introduced as follows:

The End: 150 blocks from the central point, this covers the 'island' but stops people building out.

This also has the useful side effect of forcing players onto the main 'island', meaning you no longer need to type '/spawn' when you arrive. The spawn region has now been removed from this world as it's no longer needed.

Marble End: 200 blocks from the central building (not noticeable to anyone expect staff).

The Nether: 700 blocks from the spawn point.

All chunks within that area have also been forced to generate, meaning that exploring The Nether will now not involve any chunk generation and so will be less laggy.

The Main World: No limit currently set.

We will be looking at this over the weekend, but at the moment we are thinking a sensible limit (based on use to date) would be 8000 blocks. We will be forcing generation of all chunks within the area once it is set so that no chunk generation will be needed when players are exploring, any chunks outside the area will be 'trimmed' shortly afterwards.

There are 3 builds beyond this limit and we will be investigating who they belong to and if they are active players, if you know you are one of these 3 players then it would be a good idea to begin moving to within 8000m of spawn asap, contact DiggyWig or DigginChickin if you need help with this!

Server Down

The server is down for maintenance as explained in the previous post and should be back up by around 2pm, I'll post an update here as soon as I have a better idea how long it will take and when the server will be back up.

UPDATE: 13:35 - Almost done, the server should be back up within 10 minutes.

UPDATE: 13:45 - All done, the server is now back up!

Downtime Tomorrow

The Server will be down from around 1pm (UK time) tomorrow morning and is expected to be back up by around 2pm.

This is so that I can take a full backup of the server and create a clone for me and DigginChickin to test the Beta of the new TekkitRestrict version on, it's a complete revamp and has numerous fixes and some huge changes to the way it works so this testing will help smooth the transition as well as helping find and report any bugs to the developer so he can hopefully fix them before it's final release.

As always I'll post updates here!

1000 Unique Logins!

At some point last night we had our 1000th unique login since switching to the new hosting company!

I didn't post this for any particular reason just thought it was a cool fact =D

New Command For Member Rank Or Above

Players of Member rank or above can now use the /list command to see who is online ordered by rank, this command was previously only available to Helpers but a tweak to the way it is logged means it no longer generates console spam!

I've updated the Commands page of the site and Helper Handbook (which also has another change).

Changes To VIP System

We've made some changes to how the VIP system works in order to simplify it, details can be found in the VIP Benefits section of the website.

Because of the hosting company switch back in April some existing VIPs would potentially lose out under the new system so anyone who donated between 27th April and 17th May will be given the opportunity to renew their VIP status for a smaller donation next quarter to make up for it! If this applies to you then a special PayPal link will be sent to you by e-mail nearer the time.

We are also working on a couple of new VIP perks and will update the site with details soon!

UPDATE:

Discounted minimum VIP donations will be as follows:

Donations between; 27th April & 2nd May - £5
Donations between; 3rd May & 17th May - £4

The VIP limit will remain at 12 players as I will be subsidising any shortfall resulting from the discounts myself.

Hosting Company Commision

Our hosting company, FragNet, are now paying 20% recurring commission on signups via the links on our website, so for example if someone buys a Counter Strike + Voice server for £10.00 a month we receive a £2 a month discount on our hosting fees for as long as they keep the server!

They offer servers for over 60 different games as well as voice services, web hosting,  dedicated servers and more based either in a choice of 4 European and 8 Us locations, with discounts of 10-20% for paying quarterly, biannually or annually.

So if you know anyone looking for a game server please do point them this way, they'll get a great quality server and we'll have less funds to raise next quarter so it's win-win!

PvP Village Removed From Spawn

I decided to remove the PvP village from Spawn Island as Marble End has essentially replaced it.

However it isn't entirely gone...

Instead of getting rid of of it completely I've moved it to Marble End, where it has been adapted into a  space-ship-village-kind-of-thing, that will make more sense when you see it, honestly!

It adds skeletons and zombie pigmen into the mix of mobs in Marble End, although they cannot leave the village due to interdiction torches at the entrance, as well as containing another regularly supplied chest. The chest in the village automatically receives iron swords and various random splash potions, it is the only chest in Marble end supplied with these items and I think the splash potions will add an interesting dynamic to the world.

Enjoy!

EDIT: The Interdiction Torches have been replaced with tesla coils to make it a little more dangerous going in and out of the village and to stop players standing in the doorway safely killing all the mobs!

Spawning Tweaks

I've tweaked the maximums for natural mob spawning from the default values as follows:

squids - decreased by 20%
animals - decreased by 20%
hostile mobs - decreased by 30%

I've also decreased monster spawning frequency, which means that for any given chunk the server will attempt to spawn hostile mobs less often.

From a player perspective these changes probably won't even be particularly noticeable, however when you look at the server as a whole this will mean at least 150 less mobs during the day and at least 400 less mobs at night with a typical number of chunks loaded. This will give a noticeable reduction in CPU usage, especially during busier times, and also reduce 'Nether lag' a little.

Server Software Upgrade

The server will be down for up to 40 minutes this morning for a software upgrade, I'll update here when it's complete.

EDIT: 10:10 - The upgrade is complete and the server is now up again!

June Challenge - RollerCoasters

As promised here are some more details on how and when they will be judged...

Judging will take place on Sunday 30th June, sometime in the afternoon.

Entries will be judged by DiggyWig, DigginChickin and 3-6 other random players chosen on the day.

Each judge will make a first and second choice, being selected as a judges first choice will get you 10 points, second choice will get you 5 points, all your points will then be added up to get your basic score.

As well as the basic score bonus points will be awarded for:

Best rollercoaster name - 10 bonus points
Most impressive feature - 10 bonus points
Most unique build - 10 bonus points
Most interesting use of materials - 10 bonus points

For the bonus points each judge will get to cast a single vote for each category, the coaster with the most votes in each category will get the points, or they will be split in the case of a draw.

Once all the votes are in, I will add up everyones points and post details here, the winners name will also be displayed on one of the boards at spawn and images of the builds will be posted here and on the Technic Forums!

The winning entries will also be offered a choice of prizes!

Entries will be disqualified if they cause excessive lag or death of the judges!

To enter you need to send the name/s of the player/s entering the coaster, the name you have given your it and coordinates the judges should teleport to when judging. This information can be sent either by skype (DiggyWig or DigginChickin) or e-mail (admin@diggyminecraft.co.uk) but must be received by midnight on Saturday 29th June for your entry to be included.

I'm looking forward to seeing what you all come up with!

May Castle Challenge - Results!

Votes have been cast and the results are in, thanks to redkid1, BobKiller52 & Tatankore for being the additional judges!

It was very close but here's the results...

1st Place: Tiffaria - Princess Castle
2nd Place: zinatawehowe - Fort Blue River
3rd Place: xPhantomY2kx -  Alkenridge Isle
4th Place: Lorir - Solid Foundations
5th Place: All three remaining entries got the same number of points;

masskiller2011 - StevieWonder
mrgamnamman911 - Corgarff Castle
SHaughey98 - BlackRock2

Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone that entered, we'll be arranging the prizes for 1st & 2nd place asap!

Here's some screenshots of the winning entries...

Tiffaria - Princess Castle (Voted: 1st Place, Best Garden, Best Name):

zinatawehowe - Fort Blue River (Voted: 2nd Place, Most Interesting Build):

xPhantomY2kx -  Alkenridge Isle (Voted: Best Moat):

Lorir - Solid Foundations (Voted: Most Unique Build):

Marble End - Reopened!

Marble End has now reopened with some changes to fix the bug...

The command '/home' is now disabled in Marble End.

Rather than 4 entry portals there are now only 2.

A two stage exit portal has been added, meaning you'll need to go through one portal and then another to return to the normal world. 

Please note that player inventories have been reset to make things fairer!

Enjoy!

Castle Challenge - Judging Delayed

Judging for the Castle Challenge has been delayed until tomorrow, and is expected to take place 1-3 pm UK time, this is due to DiggyWig being ill.

Posted By DigginChickin - On behalf of DiggyWig