Patch Notes 1/7

Primary & Potato updated with these changes:

  • New admin commands to create new areas & copy objects from one region to another — just in time for tomorrow’s livestream!
  • Fixed bug where eating when you’re a zombie caused a doge to fly out of you.  (< This may be the weirdest bug fix sentence I have ever written).  Thanks for the report Sage.
  • A safe can now only be attempted to be opened one time per second.
  • Fixed issue where Wildepad would sometimes instantaneously kill you for fun.  Thanks for the report Alex.
  • Fixed issue where quest tracking objects were cluttering up regions and throwing off the region count.  Thanks for report Jimmy & Reaver.
  • Server list now orders servers consistently
  • I now have real-time stats graphing at my desk.  Will try to take a pic tomorrow, it’s super neat.

Design Root’s Social Club – Win Plat!

 >>> Twitch.tv watch link: go here. <<<

With the addition of instancing, Root needs a place where players can gather together to chat & trade.  I’m going to open this up to the community to allow you to design & create Root’s new Social Club!

Specifications:

  • The social club is a small area, somewhere between 2×2 regions on the small side, to 3×3 regions on the large size.  2×3 regions is also fine. [a region is a collection of 16×16 tiles, as defined by the loc command. Details]
  • You can create it in your pocket universe, in the wilderness, in a town, or wherever you like
  • If your Social Club is selected, I will be copying your blocks, so you will be free to re-use them later for something else.
  • The Social Club should be self-contained – no links or roads to other locations (other than a space for a telepad to link to Root where players will arrive and leave from (you don’t need to purchase the telepad, just leave a space for one)).
  • When copied, the Social Club will appear as a pocket universe with blackness on the edges outside the region boundaries
  • On that note, please design with region boundaries in mind — ie, don’t have a building hanging off the edge of your social club

Winning:

  • There will be two winners – one for Primary, and one for Potato (different social club for each server!)
  • Each winner will receive a Gold/Plat Pack Token that includes 5,500 gold and 39 platinum (equivalent of the $24.99 pack)
  • On Wednesday afternoon, we’ll do a livestream where we check out all the entries, and possibly even announce the winner & install the new social club in Root
  • Contest will run until the start of the livestream on Wednesday afternoon
  • No purchase necessary to enter
  • If an entry has blocks by multiple players, the mayor is the one who will win the prize
  • Enter by posting a comment to this blog post that includes 1) your in-game name, 2) coordinate to teleport to view your entry (get them by typing /loc), 3) Size of your entry (ie, 2×2 regions), 4) Server your entry is on (Primary or Potato)

Tune In to Wednesday’s Livesteam

Wednesday’s Livesteam (where we review the entries) happens at 2PM Pacific.

 

Coming Soon: Net Compression, Instancing, Z-Lock hotkeys

I wanted to give a preview of a few features that I’m planning to have up and running before the week is out:

Net Compression – We’re testing out a method of compressing network traffic that will result in as much as 60% less data required.  This should result in faster region loads.

Instancing – Sometimes Root gets so full, it’s hard to even find the NPCs to talk to.  Instancing will allow each player to explore Root & the tutorial areas by themselves, so they won’t have to deal with fifty other players getting in the way.  One day in the future, I’d like to expand this even further so anyone can create their own instanced dungeons that players can group together to tackle.

Z-Lock Hotkeys – In the next client build, you will be able to cycle Z-axis with ctrl + [ and ctrl + ].  A red background will remind you that you have Z-Axis Lock engaged.

Additional fixes – Fixed issue where you could start typing into the chat bar when you have a rpg dialogue open, and fixed issue where you could get stuck in the void when you had an object next to the void.

Santa Hat Out of Stock – The Santa Hat will be hidden from the shop if you haven’t already bought it.  You can still wear one if you’ve bought one (even after it’s de-listed), so if you wanted one, now’s the time to get it!

Since Net Compression & Instancing are both large changes, we’ll test them out on Potato first for a few days to make sure they’re stable before we update Primary.

EDIT 1/3: These changes (other than Santa Hat, which I forgot to do for now), are now live on the Potato server.  Check them out!

Playing with the UI

ui-tweak

  • Changed a lot of the UI colors / button style
  • Improved menu dropdown — there was an issue where if you moved mouse diagonally past the menu button, the menu would go away.  Fixed
  • Quest reminder window made 90% snazzier
  • Not sure about the green color for the level bar, or the blue color for the quest reminder flash on change, but it’s sure harder to miss now.  😉

Check it out in the new build up now!

Launcher v7: Retry on Server Temporary Error

Looks like there’s one main bug left to fix on the launcher, which I’m hopeful this update will alleviate — sometimes the server will have a temporary error when connecting to Steam’s servers.  In that case, the launcher will now retry a couple times.  If it does fail, it also does a bit better logging.

You should be updated automatically.  To check if you are running the latest launcher, your log file will say “Local launcher version:7“.  If it indicates a lower number, then right click 8BitMMO in steam -> files -> verify integrity of game cache, which should force an update.

If launching via Steam doesn’t work, try the logger batch file.

Launcher v6: Even more debug output

Most of the random launcher issues are cleared up now, but I’m still seeing a couple users have trouble with login.  The new launcher v6 includes a bit more debug logging that will hopefully help us pinpoint that.

You should be updated automatically.  To check if you are running the latest launcher, your log file will say “Local launcher version:6“.  If it indicates a lower number, then right click 8BitMMO in steam -> files -> verify integrity of game cache, which should force an update.

If launching via Steam doesn’t work, try the logger batch file.

Town Vice Mayors & Town Ownership Transfer

Potato server has been updated with two new town features:

Town Transfer

You can transfer town ownership to someone else with /towntransfer <player name>.  You will have to run it twice for it to actually take effect — there is no undo, so be very careful!  Once executed, you will lose your mayorship and the target player will gain it.

Vice Mayor

There is also a new town role: the Vice Mayor.  Users with this role have these permissions:

  • Add/remove citizens
  • Set/clear Official status for a citizen
  • All the permissions of a Town Official

A mayor can make a citizen of the town a Vice Mayor by /townvicemayor <player name>.  Removal of Vice Mayor status uses the same command.  Given the permissions the target player will have, use with care!

Testing it out

The new features are running on Potato.  I’ll get them uploaded to Primary as well soon, after they’ve had a chance to prove themselves stable on Potato first.

Launcher V5 – Retry if timeout

The launcher will now retry downloading information if its connection times out, up to a maximum of five times.  Previously this manifested as “java.net.SocketTimeoutException: Read timed out”

You should be updated automatically.  To check if you are running the latest launcher, your log file will say “Local launcher version:5“.  If it indicates a lower number, then right click 8BitMMO in steam -> files -> verify integrity of game cache, which should force an update.

If launching via Steam doesn’t work, try the logger batch file.