Extended Downtime Tomorrow

There will be an extended downtime after the daily backup tomorrow to fully investigate the cause of the recent disconnect issues we've been experiencing, I expect this to take 2-3 hrs minimum as it will involve running both automated checks and manually going over the last weeks logs.

In a worst case scenario the server could be down for 6 hrs or longer depending on how difficult it is to locate the problem, whether a fix can be implemented immediately and whether any further testing is required if changes are made.

Please note that the server may appear up during parts of this time but will be whitelisted, please do not attempt to connect until I update this site to say it's ready as this will create extra log entries and may slow down our progress, I'll post regular updates on here to keep you all informed as to when I expect the server to be available again!

Sorry for the inconvenience!

WorldGuard flags & CoreProtect

Since upgrading to CoreProtect 2.04 two of the region flags have stopped working correctly, theses are:

chest-access & use

They still work for regions for which they were already set but fail to work if the flag was changed or set after CoreProtect was installed, I've investigated the cause and it seems that their is no fix for this other than to remove CoreProtect, which given how much it has helped to catch griefers and how much time it has saved staff isn't an option.

I've therefore removed these flags from the command page and removed the related permissions, effectively disabling them.

As we have protection stones and Lockette these flags weren't essential anyway and looking at the region file were only used by an extremely small number of players so this should have minimal impact, I'm sure you can all understand my decision.

Thanks to DigginChickin for bringing this to my attention earlier!

Text Formatting Now Available In Chat!

I've enabled the use of Minecraft's text formatting codes in chat, all the codes except 'Obfuscated' are now available to all ranks. 

A full list of the colour and formatting codes can be found here:

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Formatting_codes

When using them in chat you need to replace the character before the letter or number with an '&' symbol, for example:

&4Hello!     - would make the text appear red (as '4' is the code for the colour red).

&lHello! - would make the text appear bold (as 'l' is the code for bold formatting).

&4&lHello! - would make the text appear red and bold (a combination of the other examples).

The codes can be combined in just about any way you want!

Also please note that you can also use any of the colour codes on Lockette signs, however Lockette signs will not recognise the other formatting codes such as bold or italic.

Maintenance

I have taken the server down for maintenance, it shouldn't take more than a few hours and I expect the server to be back up by midday.

There will be a whitelist in place until all work is completed.

UPDATE: 11:50 The work is complete and the whitelist is removed!

Protection Stones, Website Changes & Helpers

Protection Stones

Protection Stones are now limited in number by rank rather than having a limit of 4 stones for all players, the new limits are as follows:

New Builder     - 2 stones.
Member           - 4 stones.
Member+         - 6 stones.

Stones already placed will not be affected by these limits unless removed, i.e. if you are a New Builder with 3 stones placed your areas will remain protected, however if you remove one of them you will not be able to place it again until you are promoted to Member rank and your limit increases.

We feel this is a fairer system that provides an additional reward for regular players, as well as increasing the maximum area of protection available to players at Member+ rank or above.

Website Changes

The "Commands", "Security" & "Rank Info" pages have all been updated with new information and to make certain things clearer based on player feedback.

Helpers

We now have 3 players at Helper rank:

crazyboy909, Go_Magic2, & zinatawehowe

We've received excellent feedback on all three and based on feedback from the Helpers themselves and other players we've decided to increase their powers.

As of now Helpers can remove dropped items en-masse to assist with machine overflows etc causing lag, teleport directly to any players 'Home' and view (but not edit) other players inventories to help gather evidence relating to griefing.

Downtime last night

There was a severe DDoS attack against another server in our rack in the data centre, they ended up having to reroute the entire rack for several hours last night / this morning.

I'm just sorting a few things out before it comes back online, which should hopefully take no longer than an hour.

I'll post an update once the server is ready to come back up!

UPDATE: 11:30 - Nearly done, just waiting for the manual backup to complete (90% done)!

UPDATE: 11:50 - Last batch of files are taking longer than expected, getting their though!

UPDATE: 12:15 - Server is back up!