MySQL Issue

We're having an issue with the MySQL server and it's causing the server cpu to max out every so often (twice today) and disconnect everyone, if I can't fix it within a couple of days I'll revert back to SQL-lite, in the mean time apologies for any 'downtime' this causes but it should be minimal!

1 Month Free For VIPs

As you all should know by now VIP is going annual and the price is being set as £20 for 2014, unfortunately the renewal date falls on January 14th though, which I felt was probably too close to Christmas to expect everyone to be able to afford it, however...

Thanks to a player that wishes to remain anonymous for now all existing VIP players will get the Month of January FREE as the entire cost for that month has been covered, so the hosting renewal will be 14th February instead!

I'm respecting the players request to remain anonymous but if you would like to leave them a thank you message please do so on this post.

Not only does what they have done give VIP's a free month but it drastically improves the chances of raising next years hosting fees in time for when I need to step down as Admin so the contribution is also a big step towards securing the servers future!

The New World Is Here!

Well it took 12 hours but it's finally done!

You'll notice quite a few changes across the site and the information in all the sections have been updated with the changes (let me know if I missed anything!).

Protection Stones

The area of the standard stones has been decreased to 51x51, however New Builders can now place 2 of them and Member rank and above can place 4. Premium stones have stayed the same,

VIP stones have been introduced in place of VIP regions, two have been put into each VIP Chalet for existing VIPs!

Malls

Shops will not be available to rent Friday unless you had a store in the old mall, in which case open a modreq with the shop ID you would like to reserve.

BuyCraft / Donator Rank

The packages are not activated but will be very soon, watch this space!

There are quite a few other small changes but I think that covers the most important ones for now, with so many changes there are bound to be a few bumps to be worked out so please be patient while we get things back to normal.

There will be a Quick Exchange in the Admin store for the next few days paying $10,000 instead of the usual $9600 for a stack of 64 Industrial Diamonds!

World Switch Started

The server is now down and work has begun as follows:

1. Full backup/clone - Done.
2. Restore normal maintenance schedule - Done.
3. Replace all plugins with fresh copies & test - Done.
4. Replace all mods with fresh copies, apply latest patch versions & test - Done.
5. Remove current world - Done.
6. Undo some temporary changes made to keep server running with old world - Done.
7. Remove all world specific data and config that doesn't apply to the new world - Done.
8. Rename new world and change configs to match - Done.
9. Test old configs now work correctly with new world - Done.
10. Make several dozen config changes & test - Done.
11. Add permissions for new plugins and features & test - Done.
12. Set border for new world, pre-generate all chunks and scan for errors - Done.
13. Generate new Nether world, pre-generate all chunks and scan for errors - Done.
14. Generate new End world, pre-generate all chunks and scan for errors - Done.
15. Delete backups and other unneeded data from the old world  - Done.
16. Setup wilderness warps (replacing current world warps) and warp zone   - Done.
17. Reset coreprotect database and other logging - Done.
18. Full backup/clone - Done.
19. Double check I didn't forget anything and re-open server! - Done.

As usual I'll post updates on here as things progress!

Done, enjoy the new world!

Scheduled Downtime On Monday

Just to confirm the world switch will be happening tomorrow as follows:

Downtime For World Switch:

Date:	Monday (9th December)
Time (UK):	9:00 am to 3:00 pm*

*3:00 pm is the earliest time the white-list is expected to be removed, it could be significantly later so please check here for updates before trying to connect.

As you can see the list of stuff to be done is pretty long: 

1. Full backup/clone.
2. Restore normal maintenance schedule.
3. Replace all plugins with fresh copies & test.
4. Replace all mods with fresh copies, apply latest patch versions & test.
5. Remove current world.
6. Undo some temporary changes made to keep server running with old world.
7. Remove all world specific data and config that doesn't apply to the new world.
8. Rename new world and change configs to match.
9. Test old configs now work correctly with new world.
10. Make several dozen config changes & test.
11. Add permissions for new plugins & features & test.
12. Set border for new world, pre-generate all chunks and scan for errors.
13. Generate new Nether world, pre-generate all chunks and scan for errors.
14. Generate new End world, pre-generate all chunks and scan for errors.
15. Delete backups and other unneeded data from the old world.
16. Setup wilderness warps (replacing current world warps) and warp zone.
17. Reset coreprotect database and other logging.
18. Double check I didn't forget anything and re-open server! 

As usual I'll post updates on here as things progress!

Switch Going Ahead Tomorrow!

I can confirm that as per my last post the switch is definitely going ahead tomorrow!

A few important notes:

Players have until 5pm (UK) today to submit modreq requests for building backups and be guaranteed they will be saved as schematics, after that time it depends on what staff can get online and how much time they have.

The Vault and VIP Island will remain available until the server goes down tomorrow so you have until it shuts down at 9:00am (UK) to store your items.

Please remember inventories will not be saved and alchemy bag contents may or may not be saved, it's likely that many will carry over. I just found out that the longer it's been since you accessed your bag the greater the chance it's contents will be lost so just taking something out, closing the bag, then opening it again and putting something back in will improve your chances of keeping the contents!

I'll post a more detailed schedule of work being done tomorrow a little later, I'm still going over the order things need to be done myself to make sure I've got everything covered!

I've been asked about placement of the copied builds by a few players, basically when you arrive in the new world just go and find a spot you like open a modreq and we'll paste the schematic in for you (larger ones may have to wait for quieter periods), we cannot rotate builds though as this will create problems with various Tekkit items, especially factories and miniblocks. Also please remember we have builds to transfer for a lot of players, it will take time to get them all done.