[sek929]

Originally Posted by cycl0pse 

(or drop the power armor modifier)

Booooooo!

[cycl0pse]

(in my best Foghorn Leghorn voice)
It's a joke, son! See? A Joke! Laugh, Boy!

(Disclaimer: If I just dated myself, or anyone else, with the above comment.... I'm really not that sorry )

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Best I could find.

[cycl0pse]

(gotta save that picture for future use...)

Yup, that about sums it up!

[sek929]

A side note:

I set up a liquid tesseract to our infinite water pump at the warehouse. Named the channel Poland Spring™

So now you can have access to unlimited water from anywhere without having to store it in a tank.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Could I get a head count of people who've been on the vanilla server recently?

I'm 3/4 done moving the machines to the new shop. Then we can expand the barrels further. I have the sorter feeding the seed oil stuff to a tank for the carpenter. And it should be safe to put water producing things in the squeezer now.

[cycl0pse]

vanilla server?
seriously, last weekend for a bit.

[cycl0pse]

so I made time last night to watch DireWolf's Mystcraft spotlight... finally. And it became obvious where I was 'doing it wrong'. Interesting system for writing books. Once I put my brain into thinking like a stack processor it began to make sense. I'm going to do some testing in SSP tonight to see if I can get a stable world.

Blaze, should we start keeping a log of what each of us tried?

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I got three times lucky exploring cycle0pses latest age. So there are presents waiting for Andi and jawbone.

[cycl0pse]

Basic Mystcraft How-To

I'm not going to get into the specific mechanics of making an age book, such as using a book binder or the writing desk. Rather, I'm going to focus on how to author an age so that it creates a stable world. Be forewarned: the system pretty much punishes greed, so don't go using :dense ores: if you want stability. Balance is the key to stability, balance and being thorough. And always, ALWAYS make a copy of the page you're going to use.

Think about what we take for granted in Minecraft. The various biomes. The sun. Moon. Weather. Time. Heck, even Light. If an age doesn't define these items, the system randomly adds the missing items, usually leading to instability. So we need to account for all of them. In order, we have:
BIOME CONTROLLER (and BIOMES)
CELESTIAL BODIES
LIGHT
WEATHER
TERRAIN
ADD-ONS

Since an example will work best, let's do the most basic Age, a stable one biome Age

:Single Biome: :Autumn Forest Biome: :normal sun: :normal moon: :normal stars: :bright: :no weather: :flat: :villages: :villages: :clear modifiers:

So, in English, we get "A single autumn forest age with a normal sun, moon, and starts, constantly bright with no weather to speak of, populated with villages." (Ever read a good Victorian novel where the sentences go on and on ... and on and on? This is quite similar.) Now lets take that same exampe and spice it up.

:Single Biome: :Autumn Forest Biome: :zero length: :noon: :normal sun: :normal moon: :normal stars: :bright: :red: :cloud color: :no weather: :standard terrain: :villages: :villages: :dungeons: :crystals: :tendrils: :clear modifiers:

Thus we get "A single autumn forest age with a permanent noontime sun, typical moon and starts, constantly bright with red clouds but no weather to speak of, populated with villages, dungeons, and strange crystal tendrils." Before you ask, the last page (clear modifiers) is a failsafe to strip any unused modifiers out so the system doesn't randomly get unstable. Additionally, using double villages increases their spawn rate.

So there you have it. The basics. Right now the server can handle one new Age generation at a time, so please don't have two or three people travelling to a newly age at the same time. Additionally, keep track of the age number (or name you give it). If it's horrid, let me know and I can delete it from the server. Finally, don't forget a link-back book. If you do, and no one is around to take you one, you are completely stuck.

Happy writing.

 

writing:symbols [Mystcraft Wiki]

[cycl0pse]

Server down for maintenance. ETA about 30 minutes.

Update:
And maintenance is done. server is back up.

[sek929]

Logged in and spread my legs in the now half-empty warehouse.

Added overflow protection to the Fuel, Honey, and DNA tanks.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Okay my TBM Mk1 is setup in the quarry pit i made in the mining Age (Age 10). I just need to extend it vertically by adding bunch more block breakers to it. I smell fabricators and turtles in my future. There's a tunnel there where I tested it. I'll move the battery charger someplace more inconspicuous later.

[cycl0pse]

that TMB (we'll call it Mk1.2) is friggin awesome...

a bit of a lag monster, right now (heh, so are a lot of other things) but AWESOME

Speaking of lag....

COMING SOON (this weekend) to a Minecraft server near you...

Dell PowerEdge 2950. Dual quad core Xeon E3545 processors (2.33 GHz per core). 16GB fully buffered memory. two hard drive arrays totaling (roughly) 1TB of redundant storage. Redundant power supplies. And enough fans to make the neighbors think a jet is taking off nearby... good thing I live near an airport

cycl0pse is happy ... can you tell?

The server OS is already installed and ready but I need to move it to it's permanent home in the basement... once I add some sound proofing (no, seriously, this damn thing is much louder than expected. Alternate fans may be in my future). Assuming no major setbacks, I'll be testing on Friday and Saturday and hopefully making the switch Sunday.

So what does this mean to you, the user?

First, it is a VM environment, so I'll be able to (eventually) split off the web server and minecraft server into two separate VMs, That should improve the web map performance. Second, I can also regulate how much memory and processor power goes to each, so the relatively lightweight web server can get a processor and some RAM while the rather processor-intensive minecraft can get a belly-full of CPU. That should reduce the chunk loading lag, give dynmap more grunt for updating, and give us a better experience overall.

How will this affect everyone?

Very little. Once the server is ready to go and tested, total outage time will be about an hour, probably less. It could be as fast as 10-15 minutes. Virtuals are fun!

cycl0pse

[cycl0pse]

server was down due to a power outage. it's back up now.

[andi*pandi]

Lots of thunder lightning near you? This week we had a storm so close the windows rattled.

[cycl0pse]

yea, we lose power once or twice a year during a strong storm. so that's one down for the year...

that said, I just tested and it seems the router is unhappy. may have to reset.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

server down?

[cycl0pse]

server, no. router, apparently.

power outage wiped the port forwarding settings and I missed it. it's back now.

[cycl0pse]

new server is installed and being stress tested.

let me know if it's an improvement.

cycl0pse

[andi*pandi]

thank you sir for your efforts.

I logged into vanilla this weekend and just took a minecart tour around our creations.

[cycl0pse]

FYI: with the new server, I'm making some map changes. The big one is I've switched the map to use the jpg format instead of the png format. That reduces the map size by about 40% at the cost of some clarity. It also means I need to rebuild all the maps. The main world flat map and part of the surface have completed if you want to see what the resolution looks like. I'm perfectly happy with it, and it's saving about 2GB of storage space.

Other changes will include mapping some mystcraft worlds and (eventually) turning back on the auto-updating feature.

(and I'm going to eventually un-rack this server and do some soundproofing. Man it's loud )

[Jawbone54]

I'll try to hop back on late tomorrow evening. Have gone through a bit of a busy spell.

Thanks again, 1,000x over, cycl0pse.

[cycl0pse]

It's funny, but I find working on the server stuff relaxing in a zen kinda way. Without all the work-related stress, this IT stuff is rather fun again. Been a good thing.

Since there was a bit of a crowd on last night, I have 2 requests:
1- was the server performing wellat it's current specs? I can add a processor or two if it was laggy or loading chunks slowly.
2- can someone check the online map and see if any changes made last night have updated? I turned the dynamic updating back on but suspect from the logs that it's not doing it's thing.

And does anyone have any thoughts on a building project? The warehouse is running well, I like the new machine shop, and you folks seem to like the bees... but I'm a builder: I just like building stuff. The bigger the better. The tower will eventually Mystcraft-land with, possibly, an enchanting library on the second floor, but I'm itching to build something massive. Like a themed village, or possibly a futuristic skyscraper. Maybe even a self-sufficient arco-style structure.
Thoughts?

cycl0pse

[andi*pandi]

I logged on last night, but the stuff I was doing wasn't very processor-dependent. I analyzed and sorted some trees and achieved diamond bees. It's about what my tired self could handle.

The last few weeks have been busy/exhausting but I have lots of ideas for building, just waiting for energy. Have to finish the potion hut, and the dragon could use a left side.

I am happy to help though, just give direction.

In one of the red rock cliffs, an ancient cliff dwelling. Hmm.

[cycl0pse]

heh. one of those adobe hut villages in the orange cliff? hmmmmm....

may have to relocate my second dark tower. that's ok, wasn't feeling the vibe on that tower anyway...

[andi*pandi]

Well technically, cliff dwellings are built into the side, so you can do whatever you like up top. Also, plenty of red rock around.

http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm

[cycl0pse]

I suppose what's on top doesn't matter, but I just don't think the tower will 'fit-in' with the look... and I'm not entirely happy with the tower. Didn't turn out as I wanted it to. so, I'll keep the neat 'lava vein' hole and rebuild the tower I want... elsewhere.

BTW Andi, I'll post a pic later, but there's a neat sandstone structure out in a desert that has a rather interesting basement in it. you may want to take a look... bring ender pearls.

(I stumbled upon something, so made a little 'puzzle' for folks. don't worry: it's not going to blow you up or anything.... just some indiana-jones type stuff to get in)

cycl0pse

[BLAZE_MkIV]

The aesthetics of the tower are just wrong for being next to a pueblo village.

[andi*pandi]

Maybe the pueblo should be a little removed from the village anyhow...

[cycl0pse]

The last pyramid I built in minecraft was in a desert made out of netherrack and on fire. It will annoy me to keep hitting /toggledownfall and relighting if I put one there

That said, in response to this: 2,300-year-old Mayan pyramid bulldozed - NBC News.com perhaps a nice mayan-style temple above the cliff dwellings would be appropriate.

Blaze, that second picture is going to become inspiration for my next Mystcraft world

[sek929]

As far as I can tell the map has not updated.

Loading, however, is much improved. I went on a rather large excursion last night and it only failed to keep up with me once or twice.

[cycl0pse]

well, it seems I may need to reload dynmap for the auto updates to work.
I'm going to wait for a new version before doing that.

and one tower is gone...

cycl0pse

[cycl0pse]

Blaze,
Log shows two golems (a clay and a wood) killed about 6 seconds apart due to fire. Just a FYI... occurred about 9am EST.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I've been growing nodes with saplings stolen from the myst ages. Trying to make the power suitable for thaumcraft by killing the village node and making a useful node in the twilight. It causes allot of flux. It's probably the 2 at the tree farm by the village. I'll probably just decommission it.

[cycl0pse]

server down for maintenance..... processing... processing....

[cycl0pse]

... and we're back. sorry about that. A simple task ended up going haywire.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I merged the node in the village into a pure node and moved the thaumcraft stuff from the desert back into the tower.

[andi*pandi]

The village, now with more zap!

Any chance the vanilla server will be updated? Horses!

[BLAZE_MkIV]

You want all the redstone changes in 1.5.x?

Horses aren't in just yet. All the lets play people are running per release and spoiling it.

[cycl0pse]

I noticed less activity on the Direwolf server... wasn't sure if that meant people were having trouble connecting, or if they were getting their Minecraft on elsewhere. Apparently I need to stop by the vanilla server...

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I haven't been in the mood for SMP. No inspiration. I am on my 3rd hardcore world in SSP. If you want to survive a point blank creeper in modular power suits you need the energy armor.

[andi*pandi]

The Direwolf village is impossible to do anything in, due to tons of wisps zapping you if you come out of doors. Is there a way to tone them down, or cage them?

edit: apparently waiting a day or 3 will do it, much better now.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I though I had dealt with that problem yesterday. I had left some crystal clusters active.

[BLAZE_MkIV]

I see a new version of the direwolf pack has dropped

[cycl0pse]

Yea, Was going to give it some time to percolate before upgrading. A day or two at least, maybe more.

You have a link for the list of changes? The link I use ( Direwolf20 | Feed the Beast ) doesn't show the change yet.

cycl0pse

[cycl0pse]

I find it odd that they still don't have a formal change log posted. They have a bug reporting thread, but no version numbers.

How irritating.

Anyone seen a change log out there?

[BLAZE_MkIV]

Changelogs for the recent updates. | Feed the Beast

/search foo win

[cycl0pse]

OK, going to get ready to update the server, BUT...

I'm very busy this week between work and my daughter's dance recital, so if i do the change in the middle of the day I won't be able to test it.

Do we wait, or are the possibility of 15 new bees enough of a temptation to take a chance?

cycl0pse

[andi*pandi]

more bees?!?!

No. No more!