So I got to the end and beat the dragon...easily. Lemme show you how I did it.

First, as you see below, I had a bedroom safehouse set up in the room with the end portal. I needed to be able to respawn here.

I'm kind of surprised...the test server is working out better than I thought. I'm gonna put the real map up there some time today. If you see the map changed, don't blow it up :) I took the most recent backup from this morning of the servercraft version...also all our homes and such should be restored when I get to it.

Temporary Address: surfrock66.yourhda.com

Until then, I need to see how functional this really is. Please fill out this survey over the next few days...submit multiple times if you would. More data = better assessment if this is a long term solution.

By The Way: Wanna see what we have to host the server? Here's a backup of our configuration to play with: Server.Config.Backup.zip

UPDATE and REQUEST: Testing the config to move hosts. Can people connect to surfrock66.yourhda.com to see if it's working? Assume this is not the map we'll keep, it's just a test setup. Expect mega lag...this is coming from my house :o

Also, it appears everyone is a noob when they join, this is temporarily by design. I need to figure out how I can add users and change their groups in a way more efficient than McMyAdmin. I'm collecting data.

FINAL UPDATE: People signing in momentarily gave me what I need. I think the config is all set. Can people PLEASE connect to surfrock66.yourhda.com to see if it's playable (I know it's lag...it's my residential internet) and if there's any bugs. If not...VPS here we come.

OK REALLY LAST UPDATE: Is playing on this really so bad? It's running out of my house...play on the test server for a day or 2 and at different times. I wanna see how running the server out of my house plays...I assume it'll suck, but it seems good so far. If it's playable for 24 hours...I'd much rather host it here for FREE than pay anyone else to host it :)

Short answer? I don't know! We keep crashing the server...it's random plugins. Each time I disable the offender plugin...it crashes again with a different one. Problem is, these are really severe crashes...the whole virtual machine needs a reboot, which I have to submit a ticket for and wait for the host. Hence all the downtime.

McMyadmin just updated as well...it's possible that's the offender itself. Most people use a permissions plugin that reads a config file, then distributes groups and permissions...McMyAdmin has it's own permissions and groups thing...which then EXPORTS the config file to the plugin for other plugins to read. I think THAT is the broken process. The last plugin I disabled is the new permission manager, PermissionsBukkit. There's actually an old one we used to use (Permissions) but it's been discontinued, but it still kind of worked. Everyone says "move to PermissionsBukkit!" so we did...but now we constantly crash.

Conclusion...I'm working on it. A lot of this is waiting for the host. If this goes on for much longer...we'll move to someone NOT using mcmyadmin, which IMHO over complicates things. SORRY!

UPDATE: We've had some plugin crashiness, I try to respond as soon as possible, just assume it happens until all plugins are resolved. Sorry for how often it dies!

Bukkit is out, server is updated, join and play!

SOME NEWS: Skyland is kinda broke. Read here and you'll see that notch removed skylands code, so new chunks can't load, and the sky won't wrap around to the bottom (meaning perma-night until I fix it). Sorry, not our fault!

So I've been thinking. We voted to keep main world, clear and update "update map," and make a 1.0 map. I never understood the whole specific 1.0 thing...it's just a point rev of the game really. Do we need a permanent map there?

Then I got to thinking. I'm loving 1.0 single player...hunting for stuff like a noob. Why can't we bring that to multiplayer? It brought me to the idea of treating the 1.0 map as a protected environment to play the actual game as a group.

Here's some parameters I thought of for this experience:

• Everyone works together towards a single goal; the map isn't just for going into and diggin. We have other maps for that.
• No bringing resources, with the exception of tools or armor, into the world. If we need it...mine/grow it.
• Admins/owners spawn no items in this world. Game becomes pointless otherwise.
• No warps allowed. No setting homes either. We build a house at spawn...when you die you go back to your real world house and have to map switch back to spawn.
• When we find the portal to the end...we plan to go in as a group. No renegades. Everyone that helped get there gets to help in the fight.

Basically, we go in as a group, set up a necessities-only shop, make as-needed teams (think "you three...we need a lot of wood" "you two, hunt for ender pearls" "can the four of you make a wheat farm and stock us up?") We could even have a planned out nether expedition (for a 1.0-specific nether)

What think you?