Changes Ahead! I Want Your Opinion

There are many changes that will be coming to Mineshafter Squared over the next few months.  All of these changes are still in the planning stages so don't worry if you see something you do not like.  Voice your opinion and I will do my best to take it into consideration.

Site Revamp
I am looking into technology to recreate the site from the ground up.  New design, new look, same functionality. The new site should be much faster, which in turn will make the login process to minecraft faster as well. Also the site will be more secure.

New Features
The new site will not only make it much easier for me to add new features, but I will be building new features in from the ground up as I create the new site.  The main feature is a server list (finally) so admin's running MS^2 will be able to list their server on the site. More about that below.  I will also make it possible to "connect" accounts.  Basically, if you have multiple accounts for whatever reason you can combine them so your skins and capes will show up from all accounts in each account.  This will also give me a much more accurate reading of how many users the site actually has, all without using methods that put your privacy in danger. (yes I do use Google Analytics, but I am considering removing that from the site in the new version).

Podcast
I am considering starting a podcast.  Not a "Mineshafter Squared Podcast" more of a general Minecraft / Mineshafter / Games / Technology podcast under the site KayoticGamer.com.  It would be the "official" Mineshafter Squared podcast only by the fact that I would be doing it, but it will not be just about MineshafterSquared.  If you like this idea please let me know.  And let me know what topics / things you want the show to cover.  I do not want to be your generic gaming news podcast there are way too many of them out there.  What do gaming podcasts that you like NOT cover?  Lets try to create something different.


Forum
I will most likely be getting rid of the PHPBB forums.  I will instead find a system, or create a very simple one, that can tie into the normal login on the site. I want you to be able to sign into MS^2 and be able to post in the forums, not have to set up a separate account.

The rest of this post is about the server list so you can stop here if you are not a server admin.  (Just so you do not think TLDR.)  I would very much like your opinion on the above topics. (And the below topic if you are a server admin).


About the Server List
The server list will most likely work in this way.  If you do not like this please tell me and why.  It is simply the best way I can think of doing it, but if there are problems with specific parts I can always change it (I have not started working on it yet).
The Plan: I will build into the server proxy a "first time setup" along with a config file.  The first time setup will really just be a GUI interface to make data entry into the config file easy.  The general process will go off like this:

1. Start Server.

2. Before the server boots (on the first time for the new version only) it will ask if you want to list it on MineshafterSquared.com. You can select yes set up now, or no setup later. (Setup later will just let you modify the config file whenever you want to, Set up now will launch the GUI.  Deleting the config file will reset this question).

3. Connection
Using the GUI: Will prompt for the administrative account Username only. Then it will tell you to log into MinesahfterSquared.com using that account.  At this point the "Server List Admin" section (or similar name) will become available. In there a request to list the server will be shown.  You accept and an encryption key token is given to you.  You paste this into the prompt for the encryption key token on the server. After that, you will be able to edit your server settings from MineshafterSquared.com (Server settings being what information is displayed in the server listing).

Not using the GUI: Pretty much the same process expect you put the admin username into the config file and then launch the server.  It will start up the GUI at the prompt for the encryption key token.

4. Now the server is listed.

Features:
List if the server is currently online or offline.  List a blurb about the server, the IP or URL address along with server type and general rules, max players etc.  Also you will have the ability to force players to be premium or allow free users as well. (What this means is if you want the features of Mineshafter Squared but only want players who have bought Minecraft to be allowed in, then you will be able to do that).

Advanced Features:  I will also be writing a Bukkit plugin to get some advanced features for your listing if you use Bukkit.  Such as number of players currently online, list of server moderators, what plugins you have running, etc.

All features will have the ability to turn on or off, so you are not forced to show anything more than you want. If you just want to list the server IP that is okay, if you just want to list the IP and its status (online or offline) that is okay too, if you want to list everything, that is awesome.

Everything I have listed is about as far I have gotten with the planning (along with mentally having an idea of how to implement all of this) so if you want specific features included from the get go, please let me know.  I want to make this a great tool and a definitive server list for Minecraft. (I plan on growing this service into something similar to MCMyAdmin, except more open and free).

General Note:  If I can do something easily without bukkit, I will not use bukkit. So people are not forced to use it if they currently are not.  Some features are just orders of magnitude easier to implement in a bukkkit plugin, so when I have to use bukkit to make sure development time stays low I will.

Official Server is Back Up!

Sorry about that downtime but I got the server back up and running, although it is still on 1.8.1. If you have upgraded by accident you can read below on how to roll back to 1.8.1.  I will upgrade the server to 1.0.0 once Bukkit has a recommended build available (hopefully any day now).  If you have any comments, concerns, complaints.  Let me know in the comments.

How to rollback to 1.8.1
Windows-Only:

1. Open up the .minecraft folder in appdata (on vista and 7: open up the start menu and type 'run' then press enter.  Type %appdata% and press enter.  There you should see a .minecraft folder)
2. Go into the .minecraft folder and right click on the bin folder.  Click on properties.
3. Go to the Previous Versions tab.
4. Find a version of the folder that existed before you upgraded to 1.0.0.
5. Click Restore.
6. Start Mineshafter Squared and refuse the upgrade option.

Server Upgrade

Okay, I have getting the hosting for this site moved to a new system.  If MineshafterSquared does not seem to be working give it a little bit and then try again.  It should not be down for more than a minute or two during the process.  But if something does go wrong do not fret it won't be down for long.  The entire process should happen over the next few hours, so hold tight.

Minecraft 1.0.0 is Out!

Well the day I could not wait for and half feared has come and gone.  Minecraft is officially out with version number 1.0.0.  No need to worry Mineshafter Squared is already up to date.  No need to re download anything, You should get a popup about updating to the new version and that's all you have to do. :)

I was afraid that Mojang was going to crack down and crush services like mine when the game was officially launched, but the fear was misplaced as they did not change a thing in how the game authenticates.

Properly Open Source

Finally, finally.  It is done.  I have finished the Open Sourced Authentication Server version 2 and it is properly Open Sourced on GitHub using the GPLv3 license.  Go to the downloads page to get the new version. Or head over to the GitHub page to check it out.

I will soon be doing this same exact thing for the Client and Server code bases as well.

Finally Mineshafter Squared can live up to the Open Source name!

Official Game Server Is Down

To be short and to the point.  Something happened, the Official Game Server is currently down.  I have a lot going on and will not have the chance to even take a look at it until this weekend.  I am sorry for the inconvenience but it will not be down for more than a few days.  The authentication server is perfectly fine.  You can still log in and play single player or play on other servers.

Well, my server is having some issues

As you might have noticed MineshafterSquared.com is a little... inconsistent at the moment.  My hosting company is having some issues, that may or may not be caused by the amount of traffic Mineshafter Squared sees.  While this is a good thing in general (the traffic I mean) I really hope that I am wrong and the errors I had been receiving recently were due to some other issue and not caused by the site.  That said, I need to look for some more / better hosting.  Unfortunately better hosting is expensive.  I might have to put up a donations page or amazon affiliate links to help pay for new hosting.  Please let me know what you guys are comfortable with me doing to try to get enough money to support my hosting.  After all, Mineshafter Squared is nothing without you guys, I want to do right and see what you think first.

In other news, I have finally finished the new Open Source Authentication Server / website.  I am very happy with it and will release it for all once these server issues subside tomorrow.  I know many of you have been waiting (too long) for me to finish it, but it is finally done.  Look for a post tomorrow announcing its launch.

Everything is down right now stay tuned...

I apologize for this inconvenience but the company I use for web hosting is having technical issues.  Unfortunately the authentication server and the forums are being hosted on their servers.  So right now authentication is down and the forums are down, feel free to use the Google+ or Facebook groups as a forum for the time being I will be on both keeping everyone up to date.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mineshafter-Squared/196825507034536?sk=wall&filter=2
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/1/b/113898740489331533439/

How do you want server list implemented?

I am going to begin working on the server list this weekend.  In order to grab the current number of users on your server and check to see if it is online among other things, it would be easiest for me to write a bukkit plugin.  My question to you is this.  How many servers using MineshafterSquared already use bukkit? And if your server does not use it, would you be opposed to use it just to get on the server list?


Without the bukkit plugin I can check to see if the server is online... and that is about it.  With the plugin it will be easy to grab the number of users and other data that you want to display in the server list.  Should the bukkit plugin be required? Or just an option to get those advanced features but not required to be on the server list?

Please make your voice heard, I do care how it is implemented, I only care that it is implemented in a way that is easiest for you guys and will cause the least amount of problems.  If you have any suggestions about a different way to implement it please voice them too.

One last note.  If you absolutely do not want to have to use bukkit but still want to be able to display how many users are currently online and if the server is full or not. Please let me know.  I think it might be possible, it is just proving to be tough to figure out.  If enough people want that, I will make sure you do not need the plugin.  (Really I don't want to require people to use bukkit but if most already are / are okay with it it would cut the development time down).