VibroAxe
Junior Administrator
So, I would normally put this in the Minecraft UG, but figured I'd post in here in case people aren't members and would like a view.
With the arrival of 1.8 we shall gain a new fulltime game mode: Creative. This is similar to what we have been accomplishing with /i up until now but looks like it should be alot better. In addition to this we have several new terrain generators and NPC villages (well half of them). In addition to this we also have Promethius back up and running (Immense thanks to Luc for holding the baby on this one whilst we get everything up and sorted).
So, your friendly neighbourhood minecraft admins have been thinking for a little while now: "How do we take advantage of all the new shinies"? And we think we now have the answer to reveal to you today...
Firstly a caveat: Nothing here is completely set in stone. We've got some pretty good reasons for why we're doing what we're doing but we're also a community. Everyone has their say and opinion, we hope to take everyone's opinions on board but i'll be amazed if we get it totally right. In short: we value your opinion and take it on board, but we reserve the right to ignore it as well.
The Plan
We came to the conclusion that one world could no longer manage to keep all of the different play styles which THN is harbouring. The logical solution therefore is to have several different worlds each with it's own playstyles, all interlinked as if they were one server with an easy way to get between them.
THN Universe
I'm currently referring to this as the THN Minecraft universe, though any better name suggestions are more than welcome. I've tried a few ways to describe what we're planning here but I think a virtual tour is probably best.. so here we go:
THN Hub/Village
When you first arrive in the THN server you will be at the gates to then THN village. Situated in the Hub world this will be a large village/town which is modelled completely by the community. Each person can have their own styled house to make their mark on the land but within a specific footprint to try and keep it neat and swanky. If you head through the village you come to the main crossroads. Looking around you see several much larger and ornate buildings. These are the Gate Houses and they contain the portals. Walk into the any of the gate houses and you will be taken through them into their relevant world. Lets look at creative first...
Creative
The creative world does just that. It will either use the new creative mode or essentials item mode like we do at the moment. Anyone with build access to the creative world will be able to spawn as many items here as they want and build huge creations to their hearts content. (We are considering world edit for certain uses, mainly terra gen). We will probably have mobs disabled on this world, or at the very least mob damage off. When you first arrive in the creative world you will find a large portal port with links to each creation site in the world. This allows us to traverse the whole expanse of the world to different biomes and themes without having to walk the whole damn way...
Adventure
This world is very much about getting back to the roots of the minecraft game. There will be NO item spawning or health regen on this world. You are on your own. Mob frequencies will be higher to add to the difficulty and it is highly recommended moving as groups. Particularly difficult items may be prespawned on the server (minecart track) using crates in the "safe" spawn point.
Skylands
We've had quite a few requests for skylands to be loaded onto the server and this multi world environment gives us the ability to run it very easily. This world will be similar to the adventure world but using the skylands map.
But what about...
...my current creations? During setup and until we're fully happy with the new worlds the old world will still be available for building in through one of the portals. Once we firm up on creating new worlds (See later) we will freeze building in the old world. It will still be available as an archive and can be viewed as a testament to THN's greatness but we're not going to keep building in it. The world has got very disjointed of late, particularly around minecart tracks and old features long forgotten, so we hope the change to new maps now the game feature set is much more stable should keep us well suited for the future.
What else
At the moment thats the main 4 worlds which we are planning on loading into the universe, but it doesn't have to be the limit. If we get a new idea or otherwise we can load additional features.
Can I keep my stuff?
During the initial migration period we are going to let people request builds are moved from the archive to one of the new worlds (creative/adventure). If you had /i support in building your creation then it goes in Creative, if you mined it then it can have a home in either, up to you. We will work out the exact process of this nearer the time, but it will probably involve YOU finding an area you like and then letting an admin know to move the creation as soon as we can.
Likewise mined and rare items may be brought accross into the new adventure server. This has a slight caveat depending on how the community wants to run the adventure server. Either as a new push into a new world (probably no carry overs) or just a cleaner better world (in which case we will bring your diamonds with you)
Inventories
In addition to the multiple worlds plugins we are also configuring multiple inventories. This will ensure that all of your stuff is preserved when you leave a world but also stop you moving stuff between worlds. This is primarily to ensure a bit of order in the adventure and skylands worlds and to enforce the no item spawning rules.
When is all this happening[size]
Soon(tm). We are currently testing the mods and permissions involved with this on promethius. Once 1.8 officially releases we need to wait for bukkit (The server) and all the mods to catch up before we can fully activate this new environment.
What do I need to do?
Currently, nothing.
Sit tight, enjoy the view, possibly consider what you might want to take with you.
Once we are ready
Once we are ready to open the doors is a different issue. We want to do this as a community and we figure the best way to do this is with a massive event. It will probably last around a week (best guess) and will involve setting up the server and finding a new home. First setting up the Hub/Village and finding somewhere pretty for it to be, then creating the Village itself and building the portal houses. The adventure mode will need a safe fortification building as soon as possible (potentially difficult, no tools to start with, remember) and then we can open creative up as well with the creation of the portal port. I really hope we can get some decent community backing behind this event and have a good fun time doing it as well.
Comments and questions?
So thats about it for now. It's a pretty radical rework of the server we know, but it's also hopefully for the better going into the future. We have some great minecrafters on THN (Award winning no less) so lets make it great. Any queries you have on the new setup or comments in the thread below please!
With the arrival of 1.8 we shall gain a new fulltime game mode: Creative. This is similar to what we have been accomplishing with /i up until now but looks like it should be alot better. In addition to this we have several new terrain generators and NPC villages (well half of them). In addition to this we also have Promethius back up and running (Immense thanks to Luc for holding the baby on this one whilst we get everything up and sorted).
So, your friendly neighbourhood minecraft admins have been thinking for a little while now: "How do we take advantage of all the new shinies"? And we think we now have the answer to reveal to you today...
Firstly a caveat: Nothing here is completely set in stone. We've got some pretty good reasons for why we're doing what we're doing but we're also a community. Everyone has their say and opinion, we hope to take everyone's opinions on board but i'll be amazed if we get it totally right. In short: we value your opinion and take it on board, but we reserve the right to ignore it as well.
The Plan
We came to the conclusion that one world could no longer manage to keep all of the different play styles which THN is harbouring. The logical solution therefore is to have several different worlds each with it's own playstyles, all interlinked as if they were one server with an easy way to get between them.
THN Universe
I'm currently referring to this as the THN Minecraft universe, though any better name suggestions are more than welcome. I've tried a few ways to describe what we're planning here but I think a virtual tour is probably best.. so here we go:
THN Hub/Village
When you first arrive in the THN server you will be at the gates to then THN village. Situated in the Hub world this will be a large village/town which is modelled completely by the community. Each person can have their own styled house to make their mark on the land but within a specific footprint to try and keep it neat and swanky. If you head through the village you come to the main crossroads. Looking around you see several much larger and ornate buildings. These are the Gate Houses and they contain the portals. Walk into the any of the gate houses and you will be taken through them into their relevant world. Lets look at creative first...
Creative
The creative world does just that. It will either use the new creative mode or essentials item mode like we do at the moment. Anyone with build access to the creative world will be able to spawn as many items here as they want and build huge creations to their hearts content. (We are considering world edit for certain uses, mainly terra gen). We will probably have mobs disabled on this world, or at the very least mob damage off. When you first arrive in the creative world you will find a large portal port with links to each creation site in the world. This allows us to traverse the whole expanse of the world to different biomes and themes without having to walk the whole damn way...
Adventure
This world is very much about getting back to the roots of the minecraft game. There will be NO item spawning or health regen on this world. You are on your own. Mob frequencies will be higher to add to the difficulty and it is highly recommended moving as groups. Particularly difficult items may be prespawned on the server (minecart track) using crates in the "safe" spawn point.
Skylands
We've had quite a few requests for skylands to be loaded onto the server and this multi world environment gives us the ability to run it very easily. This world will be similar to the adventure world but using the skylands map.
But what about...
...my current creations? During setup and until we're fully happy with the new worlds the old world will still be available for building in through one of the portals. Once we firm up on creating new worlds (See later) we will freeze building in the old world. It will still be available as an archive and can be viewed as a testament to THN's greatness but we're not going to keep building in it. The world has got very disjointed of late, particularly around minecart tracks and old features long forgotten, so we hope the change to new maps now the game feature set is much more stable should keep us well suited for the future.
What else
At the moment thats the main 4 worlds which we are planning on loading into the universe, but it doesn't have to be the limit. If we get a new idea or otherwise we can load additional features.
Can I keep my stuff?
During the initial migration period we are going to let people request builds are moved from the archive to one of the new worlds (creative/adventure). If you had /i support in building your creation then it goes in Creative, if you mined it then it can have a home in either, up to you. We will work out the exact process of this nearer the time, but it will probably involve YOU finding an area you like and then letting an admin know to move the creation as soon as we can.
Likewise mined and rare items may be brought accross into the new adventure server. This has a slight caveat depending on how the community wants to run the adventure server. Either as a new push into a new world (probably no carry overs) or just a cleaner better world (in which case we will bring your diamonds with you)
Inventories
In addition to the multiple worlds plugins we are also configuring multiple inventories. This will ensure that all of your stuff is preserved when you leave a world but also stop you moving stuff between worlds. This is primarily to ensure a bit of order in the adventure and skylands worlds and to enforce the no item spawning rules.
When is all this happening[size]
Soon(tm). We are currently testing the mods and permissions involved with this on promethius. Once 1.8 officially releases we need to wait for bukkit (The server) and all the mods to catch up before we can fully activate this new environment.
What do I need to do?
Currently, nothing.
Sit tight, enjoy the view, possibly consider what you might want to take with you.
Once we are ready
Once we are ready to open the doors is a different issue. We want to do this as a community and we figure the best way to do this is with a massive event. It will probably last around a week (best guess) and will involve setting up the server and finding a new home. First setting up the Hub/Village and finding somewhere pretty for it to be, then creating the Village itself and building the portal houses. The adventure mode will need a safe fortification building as soon as possible (potentially difficult, no tools to start with, remember) and then we can open creative up as well with the creation of the portal port. I really hope we can get some decent community backing behind this event and have a good fun time doing it as well.
Comments and questions?
So thats about it for now. It's a pretty radical rework of the server we know, but it's also hopefully for the better going into the future. We have some great minecrafters on THN (Award winning no less) so lets make it great. Any queries you have on the new setup or comments in the thread below please!
</Vibs>
