Hakaku

Zone went boom And now I gotta wait for Snrrrub to wake up :/

Sama, only two of those that you listed are valid. One of them has two aliases, so it's just redundant. The rest have never been functional for more than a week. Seriously, how many times do I have to repeat this to people? http://www.ssforum.net/index.php?showtopic=11952 And yes, Continuum/Subgame do have a set limit on the length of the directory server field. Remove the cruft, and it will update properly.

Why not just ?load Misty / ?load=Misty (either that, or find it in f1)

True, Death Star Battle doesn't have it as a directory server. It's only been a few years that we've been campaigning to have zones add other directory servers, but alas no one listens. Anyhow, add the zone manually (add/remove zones -> add custom): Name: SSCU Death Star Battle Port: 3600 IP: 69.56.227.178

Or for simplicity's sake, add ssdir.playsubspace.com, sscentral.sscuservers.net You shouldn't have any problems connecting to the first one listed; the second one is currently offline.

Sama, getting old much?

Happens right when I start up Discretion, even before I have a chance to click on anything. I don't think it matters if there's an update or not, but I guess you could say it occurs right after it checks for updates and before or when the frontend screen loads.

Here's another question, why is it that if one zone has a blank description, Discretion will delete and try to re-retrieve the entire list of zones without my permission?

Actually, the gamertag & website takes me about 1~2 minutes to load. It might just start getting easier blocking users to be able to view pages normally on ssforum.

lol too late, I kinda already did that. Why exactly is the directory server hardcoded anyway?

Yeah, it's been since the 28th that Priit's directory server has been down. I had changed the status accordingly here. Btw Mav, neither subdir.net or subdir.org have ever worked. They were up for maybe a week, and then discarded without bothering to inform anyone. This was one of the reasons I had always been against relying on them and never listed them on ssforum's directory server list (someone else has been editing that list against me, constantly putting up dead dirservers though). But why not set the population statistics to automatically use ssdir.playsubspace.com if Priit's is down? Even if not all zones have it listed, it's better to have a few zones still updated than no zones at all (and if it's still bothersome, just make it not update the entire ss population graph).

It was about 22°C with 94% humidity here when you created the thread (not raining). Today it's 23°C with 73% humidity. And yes, this is considered hot, seeing how most of July has been unusually below 20s with nothing but rain, rain, and more rain. (The usual for July here is about 27°C) (For americans, 22°C = 71.6°F)

First thing I wrote from second post: It's rather a thinly veiled method of getting people to start paying attention to Deva; in other words, as I've made clear, I can't go on making absolutely every single update as I have for the past several months. I want help. Devastation needs active players, staff, and developpers of all sorts. We need new and fresh ideas, people to post on the forums. And the only way I could accomplish this was to create a hypothetical end-of-the-world scenerio. True; so many people I could endlessly mention, but I couldn't think of everyone .

PRESS TAB.

I think there are a few misconceptions going on in this thread. Firstly, I thank everyone for their comments, but I don't want the focus to be on appreciating the work I do. I have long acknowledged the hard work and dedication of various other key members of Devastation's long lasting community; XDOOM, tm_master, Hallowed Be Thy Name, SOS, No_Remorse, the_accountant, JDS, rasta420, Mage+, YuckFou, Bossboy, SG, Gibbit, UoK, Clee1, and several others I can't think of at the moment, or belonged to Devastation before it was taken offline originally. And I definitely countlessly thank everyone for their work and dedication; I'm not bashing anyone for their time and effort they've put into the zone. However, what I'm putting emphasis on is the exact last 10 months of Devastation. Why 10 months? Because 10 months ago, XDOOM officially retired from Devastation. Retired, gone, bye bye, sayounara. He would still enter the zone a few times for the following 4 months, but the intervals became more spaced as time kept on. Another problem 10 months ago was that there were barely any staff members asides tm_master, myself, and mage+. To also mention, 2 months in as sysop, I had asked tm_master what we should do: SSCI was shutting down. He told me not to worry about it, because Death+ had a plan. - I did worry, but I didn't plan it out very well, I never backed the content and I doubt D+ who only spoke riddles to me had either. Realistically, if no one else had a backup (XDOOM didn't), how would anyone be able to upload Devastation? Luck had it that there was one stored from around 2006 or so on the website. And yes tm, you're right, someone else could have still retrieved this backup and set up the zone. XDOOM did put a lot of faith in me; but I also didn't go around begging to be anything more than a dev person. I took it (after asking several times why not so and so) because I knew he was getting married and would quit subspace right after. It was either that, or XDOOM would have most likely put Devastation offline himself. I don't want reveration as a staff member, nor as a zone owner; I talked long to LYNX about the reason behind this some time back. And the main part of that was because this is still XDOOM and tm_master's zone, for all their time and effort. The major difference between Devastation 10 years ago and today is more than major ; it fundamentally comes down to its player base. 10 years ago the population of SubSpace was rising, people seeked to help, and others sought staff. Today being staff has no prestige, and helping out seems to be too much effort and time wasted. To also state that Devastation would be better off without bots or extra features is a fallacy. This isn't 10 years ago, no one plays in a zone that looks like it was set up in 3 hours; for about 4 months in 2007, Deva had no bot, and population dropped to near-nil as a consequence. It only picked up half-way during the summer because XDOOM started hosting the bot himself. I understand that you, tm_master don't mind in what shape or form Deva takes, but as Mage+ hinted concerning bases, these are nothing but old memories. Not all of us were around 10 years ago, and if we want to keep on par with modern SubSpace, we can't continue to focus on attracting older players : think about newbies and visiting players who enter Devastation from other zones. Development is a highly important factor in keeping a zone kicking. To quote Polix: "Stagnation is the enemy." And I know who enters the zone every 24 hours, and how often they log in, thanks to two nifty features : ?last & ?alias. Last time I had checked (when he told me I spend 24/7 afking), Sri played between intervals of 3, 31, 46 days.* If that's a lot do you, then I guess we must think differently. This is basically how I knew you (tm_master) couldn't enter Deva between February-April due to a computer problem. I also don't advertise when there are only 4 people on chat: usually anna, me, and two players like Able and Miskrit who are impossible to get replies from even if pm'ed. Unless they leave in under 30 seconds, I have far more than often gotten out of spec and played if someone's around. *This isn't why I'm frustrated with him. I'm frustrated at the fact that there was a 2 on 2 going on, then he came in and started ?brickwriting all over the players. They all left. I warned him and he acted as if nothing was wrong with speccing and being a nuisance to those who are actually in a ship and playing the game. This isn't an isolated incident. Concerning feedback, I already understand you not being able to provide feedback for subarenas and events. But I asked you to take a look at NR's map for over 2 weeks, reminded you a few times, and you still never did even though during those two weeks you had logged on Deva almost every day. But I don't want just feedback, I want communication between us. You're on when I'm not and vice versa. Things sometimes break when I'm not online, yet not once did you ever send me a message even though I've constantly asked you to; I would only find out a few days later after Anna mentioned it. You've known Deva better for longer than anyone else here, give some ideas and opinions from time to time, it's all I ask. I don't want to feel as if I constantly have to worry about your reaction on minor or major changes like XDOOM always did. You two had some issues because you never talked, let's not go that way. <3 I also never questioned your devotion to Deva tm, but maybe the term 'ditch' wasn't the best to use. XDOOM retired. You have a job, a life, and a wife that take up most of your time, meaning that you have gradually less time that you're able to spend in Devastation. It's an inevitability. Why is it so offensive for you to accept? You still find time aside to come and play Deva, and often sacrifice your sleep in doing so. Most of us have known this, and think you're awesome for your determination. But realistically you can't be on everyday or 24/7. But if you're the only one promoting Deva in the little time you have, how is Deva expected to gain population? Yes, in the past we've had over 20 players, and had up to 32 players in 2006. But 2006 didn't have a rough population of 32, nor 20, nor 10. 2001 statistic graphs do prove that Deva had over 20 players at times, but this wasn't constant; the average was at tops 7 players for that year. Also, if I really wanted to kill off Deva, don't you think I would have done it already? (alas I'm not that cruel) I started off the thread with a hypothetical question, not a definite line; and have also stated that I love Deva, or else I would have refused to even step foot in the zone from the start. I'm sure you've put up with your share of crap tm, but people respect and know you more than me, so I'm easy pickin's to them. Whether it's new players, old players, people I consider friends (eg. janedoe), current staff, former staff, billing operators; I've taken bullets from a little bit of everyone. But anyhow, asides the minor complaints, a number of personal attacks, having Deva accused as a safe harbour for cheaters and threatened to be shut down, here's a fair neutral message from former sysop SG-538 Psycho Drone: "Jesus christ, you have no players. You think I dont know how shitty of a job youre doing but I know your pop is generally Anna idling." Like you tm, I also have a life: I go to university full time, work full/part time, have friends, gf, family, church, and stuff to attend to. The reason why I prompted this thread is once again, if I'm not online and neither are you, who will in all honesty take care of and play Devastation? SG is correct in that Deva has practically no players, and has had a decreasing population since late 2006 - early 2007. We're now 2009. Let's find ideas and solutions to fix this. I'm not sure who it was, but they were correct in that I created this thread for the sake of sparking conversation in a closed community that's become so dispersed.

Devastation couldn't become a subarena because it's a full fledged zone: it's not as easy as bundling up a couple of SVS zones which have as only fundamental difference staff and map. The passerby might not understand this, but Deva wouldn't be Deva if it were just a map and settings, thrown into a zone which has no affiliation whatsoever; I'm not pulling a Zone66. Should the possibility even be considered, I'd rather merge with a zone that has not only heard of Devastation, but can at least spell my name properly.

Jugger is now online. Use ?start/?stop as always. Parameters include -k(#) for the number of kills required to win, -s(#) for the ship limits (applies to everyone except juggernaught*), and -j(#) for the jugger's ship (can only specify one ship limit for the juggernaught). Both -s and -j are optional, but the kills must be specified. Example: ?start jugger -k(25) -s(1,2,3) -j( *The catch is, you gotta remember that if you change ships while being the juggernaught, you lose your flag and someone else can steal the opportunity.

...I killed off Deva? Ever since I've become staff in Deva, I've been nothing but criticized from every end. I love Deva, and like anyone I wish it could have more population. Originally I only wanted to help out deving, but alas both XDOOM and tm_master decided to get married and for the most part, have completely ditched the zone. Staff had already slowly disappeared before that, as did the population. No one is able to host the bot anymore, which is the main reason why I wanted to switch to an ASSS server. We unfortunately had to make that move prematurely, and things broke. Over time I've been slowly trying to get things back, and with the exception of a few events, everything is fully functional. But I'm only one person; NR and Mage+ have helped with a few maps, but other than that, I'm still the one who's doing settings, server maintenance, bot hosting, programming, website and news updates, trying to advertise getting players in, etc. Heck, neither tm_master, sri, clee, or whoever else don't even spam the chat to invite players in anymore. Asides Mage+ and NR (+very recently JDS), probably the only two players who help out in-game in their own ways are Anna and laserman. Have a horse if you will, but what exactly have you done more than these two in the past 9 months? Devastation's population has never been high, its second peek was 2006. I'm sure my actions contributed to part of why Deva has such low population within the last 6-7 months, but most of it was bound to happen with or without me. I'm not even sure Deva would still exist if I hadn't taken it up though. But if I'm the cause of it all, and no one wants to step up and help, then maybe I should stop devoting any time whatsoever for the zone? It's frustrating enough when I send tm_master a message and he never answers or provides any opinion (it only takes 2 seconds... but I guess EG is more important eh), or when sri accuses me of being afk 24/7 when he a. never plays in Deva and b. I've always been there when I'm logged in Deva, but it's becoming a burden if I'm going to continue on developing for Deva and not a single person cares. This is only a very small fraction of the crap I've dealt with for the past 10 months, and I'm getting tired of it. Criticizing is always easier when you're not the one doing jack sh*t. So what if, Deva were to cease to exist?

To each his own. Let me know what kind of game style you want for dew, and I'll see to it.

Flash videos are not allowed.

I thought it was adorable. And Audry, they didn't all have the same music, so you kinda missed out.

Paintball is now online. Like MegaJackpot, all you have to do to start PB is to use ?start/?stop. Parameters include -g(#) for goals, and -s(#) for ship restrictions. Ship restrictions are optional, but the goals must be specified. For example ?start paintball -g(3) -s(2,5,7, I may eventually incorporate a full stats system into the game, but for now enjoy ^^. Please let me know if there are any problems with either this or MegaJackpot.

This is why there's a FAQ: http://www.ssforum.net/index.php?showtopic=13180&st=0&p=224995entry224995

1. The letters in front of zone names are called prefixes. These prefixes act as an identification tag, telling users that such and such a zone are hosted on such and such a server. For example, SSJ Name1 and SSJ Name2 would normally be two zones hosted on the same server (ie. server J), or are hosted by the same person. If you haven't caught on, SS stands for SubSpace, it's just a generic prefix that holds no value. SSC stands for SubSpace Central, and it means that the zone is connected to the central subspace billing server (it's what helps you chat across zones). Older zones might keep their prefixes, even if they're not hosted on the same server, or by the same host (eg. SSCU). 2. You only need to forward ports if you're behind a router, and want to allow other players to connect to a zone that you're hosting locally. In such a case, you need to login to your router and allow your Zone port through (e.g. 5000) plus one above it (eg. 5001). 3. Zone hosting implies exactly what the name says. It's essentially a service where someone will host your zone for you. You're still the one who controls and updates everything in your zone; all the zone host does is ensure that your zone is up and running, while maybe occasionally dropping in and providing hints, tips, and advice on how to improve. 4. No such thing as renting a server for free You can either host your zone on your own computer, or contact someone who provides zone hosting (for free), check out the list here: http://www.ssforum.net/index.php?showtopic=21167 5. Making a bot from scratch is not an easy task. You would have more luck using an already existing Bot Core, such as MervBot (C++), TWCore (Java), or Hybrid (Java iirc). Then modifying and creating your own plugins to do what you want.

Looking spiffy. When you put all the bases together though, make it nice and neat, and make sure to label them by number. As for the centre... we could always keep Deva's traditional green dogfight centre, it's not like it changes anything.