Scheduled Maintenance

The server will be down for scheduled maintenance tomorrow morning to do the following:

1. Full backup/clone.
2. Tidy up the log files.
3. Minor config changes. 
4. Remove BuildWorld.
5. Create world for new spawn*.

 *See this post: http://tinyurl.com/om5sbau

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: 1st May 2014

Est Start: 8:30 am (UK)

Est Finish: 10:30-11:00 am (UK)

Server Down

A management interface update by our hosting company has gone badly wrong and as a result our server has been down since around 8am, they are working on resolving the situation and hopefully the server will be back up very soon, there shouldn't be any rollback etc needed as the server was properly shut down.

I'll update here as soon as I get any news.

As of 11:15 am the server is back up and the whitelist removed!

Staff Chat Tags

Staff chat tags now include a [V] or [D] if they are also a VIP or Donator, this is a manual change I have to do for each player but it's only fair that they should be recognised for helping to fund the server, sorry this took a bit longer to implement than I'd hoped but better late than never!

Modpack Server - Clans

We're working on plugins for the upcoming custom modpack server and we are having a tough time reaching a decision on whether to include a basic clan system, so we are looking for some player feedback.

If we do include a clan system it will be a fairly simple one as a lot of people don't like faction/clan type servers so we want participation to be entirely optional.

Here's a brief guide as to how it would work (bear in mind things may change):

Note: Players can create protected areas as they do now, but also towns/cities capable of having sub-plots which can be rented out to other players, all set up just by placing Protection Stones and a sign or two (more on this soon!).

Players of a certain rank pay in game money to create a clan, then once it's approved by staff they can invite others to join.

Clan leaders can transfer ownership of the clan to another player, or if they stop playing for a set time another player can take over.

Clan members can be either 'trusted' or 'untrusted' or set as a 'leader', giving or taking away certain rights within the clan. 

Whole clans can be added to or removed from protected areas just like a single player.

Clan leaders can add a short (2-4 character) clan tag to their members in game chat tag.

Each clan has it's own chat based bulletin board so 'trusted' members can leave messages for the whole clan.

Clan leaders can set clan home & teleport locations, only visible to and usable by clan members and staff.

Clans can form alliances and rivalries and receive 'points' for killing players of rival clans in minigames or other places where PvP is allowed, allowing clans to compete with each other and keep long term scores, leaderboards can be viewed by all players.

So, what are your thoughts? Let us know by commenting or dropping us an email!

Improved Rules List

The information given by /rules has been given a major overhaul by Tatankore, it now looks prettier and displays a lot more information as follows:

/rules - lists the rules, they haven't changed but look a lot nicer!
/rules 2 - lists globally banned items.
/rules 3 - lists items restricted by rank
/rules 4 - lists other restrictions (disabled clicks etc)
/rules 5 - lists available ranks, with colours
/rules 6 - lists protection stone types and limits by rank

This basically means everyone can check a lot of the information currently at spawn without needing to go there.

Enjoy!

Super Slot Being Mean

I got sent this earlier by sleep_eater, I'm not sure what the 

odds are on this happening but I've never seen it before...

... at least he got $500 for sharing this screenshot though :)

BuildWorld

BuildWorld will be removed on 1st May, after taking a full backup, giving players another week to have a look at the builds etc, if any players that took part would like a WorldEdit schematic of their build emailed to them or the build copied to a region in the main world just let me know. 

Spawn Change Coming Soon

We don't anticipate needing a map reset for at least a few more months but for simplicity we have decided to have Spawn in a world of its own in future, similar to The Vault etc, this means that map resets can be done much quicker and that spawn would not have to be rebuilt every time we have a reset.

Work will begin on the new spawn shortly and we are likely to switch to using it before a reset is necessary, that way if a reset needs to happen at short notice we will be fully prepared. Based on player feedback we will also be returning to a simpler player shop system, I'll post more details on that soon, players with existing shops will be given time to clear them out and will be refunded the last weeks rent once the new spawn is ready.

To clarify the map is not resetting, a new spawn is being built in it's own world.

Building Challenge Winners

The winners are... 

1st Place - joeygerace
2nd Place - Criminal4ever & fam_mou
3rd Place - rensdertje

As two players got the same score they've ended up with joint 2nd place, we have decided that they will both get the full 2nd place prize and the 3rd place prize will still be given as well!

Congratulations guys!

We will get your prizes to you asap :)

I thought you might also like to know:

Most voted for by staff judges: fam_mou
Most voted for by player judges: fam_mou
Most voted for in poll: rensdertje

If you didn't win then better luck next time and thanks for taking part!

1st Place...

2nd Place...

3rd Place...

Building Challenge - 3 Hours To Vote!

There is just 3 hours left to vote... or change your vote and it's very close!

Remember the poll will close at 7pm (UK) and the winners will be announced by 8pm once the poll results have been combined with the judges scores to get the final result, winners may claim their prize at any time after the results have been announced.

Also as the Premium Booster Pack is no longer available here's a reminder of what those prizes actually include:

$20,000 in game money (Shards)

64 x Industrial Diamonds

64 x UU-Matter

16 x Scrap Boxes

Good luck all!

Downtime Rescheduled

I've taken the server down to perform the maintenance originally scheduled for tomorrow.

The Mojang servers had been up and down for a while so as players couldn't join anyway I figured I may as well just do it and avoid having a downtime tomorrow!

1. Full backup/clone - Done.
2. Log data clean up - Done.

Maintenance:

Started: 14:00 (UK)
Est Finish: 15:45 (UK)

The maintenance is complete and the server is now back up!

Scheduled Downtime

There will be a scheduled downtime on Tuesday 22nd April to do the following:

1. Full backup/clone.
2. Log data clean up.

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: Tuesday 22nd April

Est Start: 8:30 am

Est Finish: 10:00 am

Cancelled, see post dated 21st April.

Server Back Up

Sorry about the downtime, there was a serious buildcraft glitch a few hours ago and we've only just managed to find and fix the cause, the server is now open again and should be back to normal with only a few minutes rolled back.

Building Challenge Poll Added!

The poll has now been added to the website, you have until 7 pm (UK) on Monday to cast your vote  and can change your mind at any time until the poll closes!

Good luck all!

Building Challenge Finalists

The votes are all in and I can reveal the six finalists are as follows (in order of build areas)...

rensdertje (N3)
joeygerace (NE2)
sam_the_chicken (E3)
Leathernuke (S2)
fam_mou (W3)
Criminal4ever (W4)

It was extremely close in the end and the following players missed out on being in the final 6 by just a single point...

lincoln1313 (E1)
Xx_baylee_xX (NW4)

...better luck next time guys!

Those that didn't make the final 6 will find a little something in their inventory as a consolation prize, competition was tough so don't be too disappointed!

The poll will appear on here a little later and will run until Monday morning (UK) so if you haven't already then you still have time to check out the finalists!

Here are some screenshots of the final 6 in no particular order...

Building Challenge Voting

Just two more judges votes to collect and I can put up the poll for the top 6 builds!

So far we have four builds definately going through but another five builds with very similar scores, which of those five get through to the final six and earn a place in the final poll depends entirely on the last two judges!

The poll will appear on the site by around 8pm (UK) tonight!

Building Challenge - Player Judges

Two player judges will be selected at random today, tomorrow and Friday, making six in total, if you are selected just follow the broadcast prompts and type your replies in chat.

More than half of the staff votes are already in and the first player judge has already cast their votes, at the moment there is no clear favourite with half the votes split almost evenly between five builds... every players votes have the power to change the final six!

Building Challenge Closed!

The building challenge is now closed!

The regions have been removed so that no further building is possible and the concrete has been taken down, judging will take place over the next 7 days and will work as follows:

1. Staff will get an email with voting instructions later today and have until 9am (UK) on Friday to vote.
2. Between now and Friday 6 players will be selected at random to also be judges.
3. A poll will appear on the website on Friday allowing everyone to vote for one of the top 6 builds, as selected by staff and the player judges.
4. On Tuesday the scores will all be combined and the 3 winners announced!

In the end we had 14 player builds plus random ones by me and Tatankore that you can't vote for!

Good luck to everyone who entered!

Server Status Banner Removed

The server status banner  has been removed from the site.

Basically the website that provided that service no longer offers it and so the the banner was stuck on the last figure it had before they ceased the service, I will be looking at replacements and hopefully we will have a new one soon!

Support Emails Etc

As some of you know I've been away on a residential for my degree, Tatankore is a little behind on the support emails etc but we'll be catching up over the next few days so if you've got an outstanding issue please bear with us and we will get around to you very soon!

Also please remember that if you send a mail directly to myself it will almost always take longer to be picked up than if you send it to the admin address due to my study schedule this year!

Mojang Servers Down

Just to confirm that Mojang is having server issues again (started just over half an hour ago), as usual I'd suggest this site for checking the status of their servers:

http://xpaw.ru/mcstatus/

Building Challenge

There are 7 days left to get your entries built and still quite a few building areas available, see here for details of how to enter and the prizes available...

http://diggyminecraft.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/building-challenge-details.html

Good luck to everyone who enters!

Ranks For New Server

Just a quick post to clarify the ranks planned for the new server!

Standard player ranks:

Explorer > Resident > Citizen > Veteran   (all promotions automatic)

Donation based ranks:

Donator  (equivalent to Veteran + extras)

VIP  (equivalent to Veteran + extras)

A special rank which is not a part of the normal promotion ladder:

Architect  (equivalent to Veteran + specific extra permissions) 

Staff ranks:

DemiMod > Mod > Admin

And finally the owner rank:

 Owner

Hopefully with it broken down like that you can see it's not actually as complicated as it looks at first, the colours may change between now and when the server launches though!

Player Made YouTube Videos

Here are some videos made by one of our regular players, Joeygerace!

This video series is based on our minigames...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYoN5IDGXnk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-iz1fs5bE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQM7gtkiL-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euNWZVYNKxk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH_JZ3VS5GU

And here is a co-op build he built with some other players...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqDij16i5JY

If anyone else has made videos then please do let me know so I can share them with everyone else on here and Technic Forums!

As with screenshots Joey has been given $500 in game for each video posted here, was cool watching you guys have fun with the Minigames :)

ModPack FAQ

I decided to put together a little info regarding the upcoming modpack to answer a few question we've been asked a few times, bear in mind that some details might change:

What is the pack going to be called? How many slots will it have?

This is still a bit tentative, but most likely it will just simply be 'DiggyMinecraft'.

Update: We've decided to go with the name DiggyVerse'.

The server will initially have 30 slots, the same as the current server.

How will I run the pack?

It will simply involving adding the pack to your Technic Launcher by pasting a link into the 'Add New Pack' dialog box. 

What version of Minecraft is it going to be based on?

1.6.4, although we were tempted to go for 1.7+ the mods and plugins just aren't mature enough and a few we really wanted to include wont be stable on newer versions for quite some time (some developers haven't even started work on 1.7 compatible versions yet due to upcoming changes in 1.8).

What mods will it include? Will it have Tinkers Construct?

Well unless something changes the client will include a total of 62 mods, two of which I have written myself, we already have permission for 53 of the others and the rest shouldn't be an issue.

Update: A couple of mods have had to be removed for stability reasons, for an up to date figure on the number of mods see the Modpack section of the website.

Yes, it will include Tinkers Construct! 

I don't want to give too much away but I can also confirm these popular mods are to be included;

Natura, Biomes O' Plenty, Not Enough Items, Iron Chests, Treecapitator, BiblioCraft, BiblioWoods, Metallurgy, ExtraTiC, Chisel, Statues & Vending Blocks.

As previously stated the modpack will not include advanced machine mods such as IndustrialCraft and BuildCraft, this is to reduce lag and glitches/dupes and allow for a more creative build/fun orientated pack, think more 'Minecraft enhanced' than 'Minecraft with machines' as almost every aspect of vanilla Minecraft from enchanting to fishing has been enhanced in some way.

I will be posting a full list crediting all the developers and including links for more information when the pack is ready for launch!

Are you releasing your own mods separately and allowing reuse?

One of them yes, it is a bridge between a few other mods that makes certain items more compatible (cross mod crafting recipes etc), this will be my first public mod and I hope it will also help promote a lesser known but awesome developer by tying his mods into big well known ones!

Update: Although a stand-alone version of some aspects of my mod will hopefully be released at some point I've had to merge them for use in the modpack for a couple of reasons.

My other mod is very much tailored to our server and adds functionality specific to not just mods but also plugins, it would therefore make little sense to make it public, I also feel that this mod will keep the modpack server unique and make it 'stand out in the crowd' so this will be kept exclusive to the server.

Will you have the same plugins? How will land protection work?

Some but not all, some stopped development before 1.6.4 and for others there are just better options, the casino slots and minigames (+ 3 new game types!) will feature as well as;

Essentials, Multiverse, Lockette, WorldBorder & WorldGuard.

As for land protection we will still use a Protection Stone type system but with some major enhancements, including tying in with my main mod to make it more user friendly. The new plugin allows for city & town type setups with different sized plots that can be rented to other players as well as the ability to buy, sell and rent single regions outside of towns and cities, you will even be able to let multiple players rent the same region at the same time. 

There are also lots of other exciting features but you will have to wait and see!

When will it be released? Who gets access when?

For now we are being cautious, but we expect the server to be fully open with any initial kinks ironed out by sometime in August, with my study schedule etc progress will be fairly slow for now but my kids and Tatankore are doing a great job of testing things out and finding odd behaviour for me to fix!

Staff will get access for testing as soon as we have permission for all the mods and my second mod is finished (still ironing a couple of things out). VIP players will get access soon after, followed by Donator and Member+ players, players of Member & New Builder rank will only get access once the server officially launches. 

Does this mean the Tekkit Classic server is shutting down soon?

No, the intention is to see how popular Tekkit Classic is towards the end of the year and go from there, with this years funding already covered it will be at least early 2015 before we retire the Tekkit Classic server. Players will be able to transfer some in game money to the new server though if they wish.

Will I keep my rank?

This one is a little more complicated, the ranks are being overhauled and there will be some big changes but you will be promoted to an equivalent rank on request.

Here are current details of the new servers ranks:

http://diggyminecraft.blogspot.co.uk/2014/04/blog-post.html

Well that's it for now, a lot to take in but hopefully it gives you all an idea of what is coming and why it is taking so long, hope to see some of you in game soon!

Scheduled Maintenance

The server is down to perform the following maintenance:

1. Full backup / clone - Done.
2. Remove old log/backup data - Done.
3. Test small maintenance change - Done.
4. Reset Nether & End - Done.

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: 3rd April 2014

Started: 08:30 (UK)

Finished: 10:15 (UK)

Update: added 30 minutes to end time, my internet connection is quite a bit slower than usual!
Update: added 15 minutes to end time, decided to reset Nether & End whilst testing the maintenance change as it's a little overdue and will only take a few extra minutes.
Update: Almost done, whitelist will only be on for another 5-10 minutes!
Update: The whitelist is now off and you can connect to the server!

'Bad Login'

Just a quick post to make sure everyone is aware, the 'Bad Login' message a lot of players are getting when trying to connect after switching between Minecraft accounts is in fact a Technic Launcher bug that has been around a little while now. 

If you get this problem then try completely closing your Technic Launcher and relaunching, if that doesn't work for you then try restarting your computer and if that doesn't work either you will have to 'reset the pack' by using the reset option in the launcher or manually removing your '.technic' folder.

Hope that helps!

Scheduled Downtime

There will be a downtime tomorrow morning to do the following:

1. Full backup / clone.
2. Remove old log/backup data.
3. Test small maintenance change.

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: 3rd April 2014

Start: 08:30 (UK) approx

End: 09:30 (UK) approx