Minecraft! (The QT3 multiplayer thread)

chequers · 2011-01-28T16:35:03.000Z

mok:

I thought you were running this on a box somewhere other than dedicated for qt3 minecraft. Who’s paying the monthly for this now?

It is on a box I’m using for other things too.

playingwithknives:

The first UK server host I picked off google does an 8 player server for a year for £48. (76 AUD), £60 for 10 player and so on. It’s half price at the moment. There’s a bunch of builder types who are always on at the moment, and I don’t think there’s more than 8 of us.

I haven’t read up on the tech specs of that particular host and have no idea if it can handle the server but it doesn’t look too expensive to run one. if the consensus is for a change I’ll look into it further and arrange.

Wow, that’s cheap. That half price coupon looks like it will come back, and there’s a permanent 25% voucher on their website, so there’s no need to jump in today.

Moving the world to something like that would be great, and if someone else wants to pay for it and take over management that’s cool too. Some considerations off the top of my head:

Need a way to access the world files to generate the map. I’m happy to leave map generation running on my server, but it needs access to the world files.
We also need to access the world files to do our own backups. I absolutely do not trust managed backups from cheap places like what we’re looking at.
What sort of control over the server mods do we get? Can we use our existing ones? (See my previous dislike of relying on a server mod that a third party has to update) Will it do what we want?
Performance is a big question. Anyone else on the minecraft forums using this host? I had a quick look and half the mentions of the above company are very positive and the other half are very negative.
Is the host an established company or some shoddy deal set up to ride on the back of Minecraft’s success?
Hosting in the USA would be best, considering the spread of player locations we have.

playingwithknives · 2011-01-28T17:36:08.000Z

I think at 50 quid a year you upload the world file, cross your fingers and hope it works =) You can use hmod and plugins. I’ll look into them and their competition over the weekend.

I know of Multiplay as they’ve been hosting public FPS servers for years now, right back to when Quake 2 was my game.

Skipper · 2011-01-28T18:00:11.000Z

So what’s the plan, and who can manage? I’ll gladly put up some initial funding for something like that. By 8 player they mean 8 simultaneous, right?

chequers · 2011-01-28T18:14:56.000Z

Yes. To be clear, I’m quite happy to continue managing the server in its current state. But if there’s something better/cheaper, I’ll look into it; and others are always welcome to put their hand up to take over management.

(PS, I have a festival tomorrow and am moving house early next week, so I won’t be doing any actual work about this until next weekend.)

Skipper · 2011-01-28T18:23:59.000Z

No worries on when it happens. Would you mind managing the second one Cheq? Or at least getting it started and seeing if this new host is any good? If you think you’re up for it let me know and PM me your email.

chequers · 2011-01-28T18:37:05.000Z

I’m happy to manage it, but you have to wait for a few days. If you can, run the server locally and then when I have some time you can hand the world save over if you’d like.

Skipper · 2011-01-28T18:50:59.000Z

No rush sir, I’m pretty sure all of us have plenty of minecraft fun until you have time. I would rather wait and explore a new map with others at the same time, to be honest.

If we started now, all I would be doing is setting tnt traps for pogo for several days.

Bluto · 2011-01-29T11:53:33.000Z

A silly little question- Is there anybody that wants monsters now that played when the monsters we on before? The first time I logged in with monsters I was killed by a skeleton before the terrain even loaded, and it was all downhill from there.

DeepT · 2011-01-29T12:01:43.000Z

If you are going with only one server, then my vote is to archive the old one and have a fresh start. How many people are still building grand projects on the current server now a days?

Wendelius · 2011-01-29T12:09:35.000Z

Bluto:

A silly little question- Is there anybody that wants monsters now that played when the monsters we on before? The first time I logged in with monsters I was killed by a skeleton before the terrain even loaded, and it was all downhill from there.

Yep. I play with monsters on multiplayer. It works fine these days (damage detection used to be really wonky in the early days after it was enabled).

We just made sure the spawn point is well lit. The early moments are a bit scary but no more than normal single player.

Wendelius

Pogo · 2011-01-29T13:03:47.000Z

Anyone that’s thinking of starting afresh with an SMP server should consider using the BiomeTerrain mod with Eagles Paradise settings:

http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=93573&start=90#p1507157

The distant terrain isn’t broken, it’s just my view distance set to 3/4 due to Minecraft tending to crash with over a GB of RAM usage. This world generation uses the whole vertical space to generate terrain, so more memory is used per chunk.

Poses a more interesting terrain challenge while remaining organic. Exploration is inherently dangerous since there’s quite a bit of terrain that gets covered by overhead rock, so a lot of the exposed ore is harder to see, although diamond is somewhat easier to find.

playingwithknives · 2011-01-29T14:30:51.000Z

DeepT:

If you are going with only one server, then my vote is to archive the old one and have a fresh start. How many people are still building grand projects on the current server now a days?

Quite a few of us of the EU timezone regulars. Pirani, Uni and I are summoning and working on some big stuff West and South West, Bluto is doing similar but in the Frontier.

Jason_Townsend · 2011-01-29T15:04:48.000Z

If possible, would love a whitelist for myself as jtownsend2k.

Skipper · 2011-01-29T22:05:51.000Z

I continued the work on the Frontier Express for whoever started that. I did change out your mining cart boosters though to use ramp boosters versus turnstyle. They seem to work better for some reason.

playingwithknives · 2011-01-30T04:20:58.000Z

Added jtownsend2k

chequers · 2011-01-30T15:20:47.000Z

Please note the underdrown line to the frontier is already known as the “Frontier Express”. Please Cease & Desist from reusing that name , or I’ll send my lawyers after you! I believe the frontier express you’re referring to was started by me, pif it takes a very circituous route around counter lake. Feel free to extend it as desired.

chequers · 2011-01-30T16:52:46.000Z

I’ve been chatting with a rep from bbservers.co.uk over the weekend. Their offer is USD$25.6/mo and they are happy to host our minecraft environment as-is, so that’s nice. I’ll probably move the server over later this week, unless someone suggests a better option.

Skipper · 2011-01-30T21:20:26.000Z

That sounds like the right line, it does go around Counter Lake, then off to the middle of nowhere somewhere to the south I think? Maybe it should be an additional Southern Road. It winds past the Connect Four board and currently stops near the giant Obsidian wall. I’ve extended it to that point, but will gladly rename it to something if you can suggest a name. The only marker on it is currently there near the Spawn Valley where you originally marked it.

Cheq, why don’t you let us Paypal you to help with the server fees. I can’t think of an easier way to do that.

chequers · 2011-01-30T22:08:55.000Z

Oh, you can name it, it’s just that I plastered the Frontier Express with signs already, and using the name for two transport routes might get confusing.

No need for donations, I am quite happy to cover the cost of a server for this community.

Nate · 2011-01-30T22:39:32.000Z

chequers:

Oh, you can name it, it’s just that I plastered the Frontier Express with signs already, and using the name for two transport routes might get confusing.

No need for donations, I am quite happy to cover the cost of a server for this community.

At least accept a gift basket :)

Also, anybody have any idea for how to make a glass tower look like a tornado?