[0.4.14] LinuxGaming2 - A Server for Builders

[noob101]

Yay, good news are always VERY welcome! Thanks everybody involved!

See ya, noob101

[klappspaten]

Hey everyone!

Wanted to make some suggestions:

1. Could you please add the functionality of Blockmen's simple and fancy beds to the other beds as well? The mod's api should make that an easy task. Of course it's a question of personal taste, but I prefer the design of homedecor's beds (style and choice of colors) over those of Blockmen's ones.

2. Could you make it so that lying in a bed will set the spawn-on-death? Currently you need to sleep in the bed and actually skip a night, which isn't easy at times (fellow players busy, new and without bed, afk...).

3. I noticed that, while "hand" digs leaves almost instantly (which is great), digging leaves with an axe now decreases said axe's durability, something I've never seen happening anywhere else before. I can see how the almost-instant digging of leaves via hand encourages players to leave fewer floating trees behind; the need to constantly switch between hand and axe while chopping a tree though seems to defeat that purpose. While the axes being slower than the hand isn't a big problem gathering leaves loses its necessity quickly (once for saplings, a bit of rope, some oil extract and a few other minor uses), later on most players will grow trees only to gather wood. So they'll only remove leaves to get to the trunks, not to gather the leaves as well. So you either scroll (a lot) between axe and hand/some other slot or you watch your axes wear off in no time. Please make it so that axes won't lose durability when used to chop leaves.

4. Please consider adding TenPlus1's [bakedclay]-mod (https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8890). There are some more colored clay-mods around, but this is the only one I found that's based on Minetest's default wool only. While the server already has a great variety of blocks there's still only wool that uses the full basic palette of colors
IF this was added, another wish: Some time ago a simple recipe to craft clay was added to the server, maybe the in- and output of that could be increased a bit (8 instead of 4?) to make the mass-crafting of clay a bit less of a pain (the bucket of water makes totally sense in this recipe, but makes it a bit too much "work": fill the bucket, add the bucket, craft 4 clay, remove bucket, fill bucket, add bucket....).

5. Please reconsider the prices of moon- and antimoonrock sold from the admin shops. Currently a stack of them is sold for 1000$ each, while crafting 18 of them costs 8 diamonds, 1 mese_crystal (Moonrock) and 8 mese_crystal, 1 diamond (Anti). Usually 1 diamond sells for 100$ (80-120) on the server, while mese_crystal is ~75$ (60-90).
So crafting them is (theoretically) more expensive than buying a stack. So either increase the output of the crafting recipes or the prices of the admin shops.

KR, klapp

[Thron]

Good points klappspaten. I just can add: a few more plants will be nice... the jungle grass not really good for landscaping :) "a few plants is better than a few mobs eating the server " :))

But.. thx for the super server!!!

Come-one old LazyJ.. grind that code :))

[LazyJ]

Howdy ;)

A few quick responses:

• HomeDecor has included Blockmen's day/night/individual spawn functions in a recent update but I haven't had the time yet to tailor the latest changes in HomeDecor.
• Clicking on the beds to set individual spawn points is redundant because we already have two different sethomes that players can use as well as three different teleport mods. The purpose of Blockmen's (and eventually HomeDecor's) beds was so that players could change night to day, after the coded time, and if enough players agreed to get into their beds at the same time. Setting individual spawn points was just a bonus.
• I made it so the wield-hand would cut leaves quickly to compensate for not having swords on the server, not for making it easier to cut down the giant MoreTrees trees. Tool wear is a part of the game. After re-reading, that didn't make sense, so I'll try again... Tool wear is a part of the game so axes will wear out like the other, normal, tools. Switching between tools is no different that switching between materials. Swords were removed to make it clear that this was not a battle server but swords also cut leaves faster than the other tools so I coded the wield-hand to compensate for not having swords to cut leaves with. This does make cutting down the trees a little easier but not super easy. Minetest is still a game where effort is required.
• Adding more colored blocks has been on my list for the server. Baked Clay is a good start but I think I'll use the existing clay block recipe (with the output increased to 8) and adding a dye color. I'll also add compatibility with MoreBlock's circular saw.
• The crafting recipe for antimoon/moonrocks was made to be an expensive "convenience" for the impatient. The "Evil" tools are similar in that regard. I've removed many challenges from the server but I've also left a few in place so that players would still have to plan, weigh their options, and take the time to learn how the game is played on the server.
• I'll look into the Ferns mod. I have a couple other, more custom, plant ideas on my list.

[klappspaten]

Alright, let me try again as well :-D.

- Setting spawn on death
Makes sense. With the day/night- cycle currently running like hell, which I didn't notice before I did a lot of tree growing and chopping in the very same spot lately, it's not a problem anymore anyway since there are enough opportunities to get everyone informed and into the boat....erm bed. I've managed to set my new spawn-on-death eventually so problem solved :-).

- Leaf-cutting wear-off
My point about the axes was that it's not "normal" that the cutting of leaves has any wear-off-effect on whatever tool (apart from the mentioned and replaced swords maybe?), at least from my experience. Currently cutting a leaf with an axe has the same wear-off-effect as cutting a trunk which seems a bit weird and out of proportion to me. That's why I assumed it might not be deliberately so. If it is, however, that's ok, already developed some tactics around having to switch back and forth all too often ;-).

- Anti-/Moonrock
My point about it was actually the same as yours. The prices of the admin shops are too low. Crafting the blocks is more expensive than simply buying them. I feel it should be the other way around. There are two variables in it: cost of crafting and sell-price of admin shops. To encourage players to do more crafting buying a whole stack of them shouldn't be less expensive than crafting a bunch of them. While I see your point when taking into consideration that usually players don't make excessive use of these quite special blocks but only need a few of them (which would make crafting them more attractive) the fact that buying a whole stack of 99 costs about a quarter more than crafting 18 of them will keep knowing players from crafting them at all and give new players a bad feeling when they a) have crafted them already and b) stumble upon the admin shops eventually. You are right, crafting them _should_ be terribly expensive after all, since they are so special, but buying them should be even more expensive then.
I spent some time searching for actively maintained player shops, cheapest diamond I found was 104$, while mese goes for as low as 56$ a crystal at the moment. Taking those numbers into consideration crafting 1 moonrock costs around 50$ and 1 antimoonrock around 30$, which still seems kind of cheap for such mighty blocks - but not so much if you can buy one at the admin shops for ~10$ each. In reverse, diamonds had to sell for < 25$ and mese crystals for < 20$ to keep up with the admin shop prices. As much as player-made prices aren't written in stone it still shows that the admin shops are far too cheap. So once again, please consider increasing the prices of the admin shops for both moon- and antimoonrock.

- More plants
I know this has been discussed before, but what about (also?) adding a few more cultivated plants, like tomatoes, grapes and melons and the like? Since there is not much use for food on this server I don't want to suggest those as actual crops, but as purely decorative blocks instead (so no further growing abms, cooking recipes and so on, but just the blocks + recipes to craft them).

- Everything else
Good news! Really looking forward to it, especially the colored clay :-).

KR, klapp

[LazyJ]

Update
Overview maps have been updated to 2015_05_17.

[LazyJ]

Update
Earlier today it was found that the steelbrush tool was allowing players to scrub moss off of blocks in protected areas not belonging to them.

I went back through the code and saw that there was no protection-check in the steelbrush's code. I've corrected that, uploaded the fix to the server and restarted the server.

Now the steelbrush will check the Areas protection so that only the area owner(s) will be able to scrub moss off of mossy stuff in the protected area.

[Thron]

Thx LazyJ and all the admins for your hard work. In the time of the server "VPS" crash i browsed a few servers, but this servers is still the BEST of them all. (Well i had to float around on MT in that time, im addicted to this game :)) hehehe

GOOD WORK MATES!!!
Thron

[noob101]

Thx LazyJ and all the admins for your hard work. In the time of the server "VPS" crash i browsed a few servers, but this servers is still the BEST of them all. (Well i had to float around on MT in that time, im addicted to this game :)) hehehe

GOOD WORK MATES!!!
Thron

I can not more but second that... :-)

A few things with underlying pictures:
#1 I got some temporary privs to resolve an issue. Came across my spiralling staircase of my first mine. Looks awesome from outside!


#2 Meeting of the newly skinned people (klappspatens skin isn't new though ;-)


#3 The bug hit me again. Out of 174 benches placed, three sunk into the ground and replaced two floor nodes each. Strange indeed!

[noob101]

One more:

#4 I came across some grief just earlier, 9 missing concrete nodes. Fixed it of course, but could you have a look who did it? It's the bottom end of the new descending Norwood road towards Ep1cMaN's and Throns.


See ya, noob101

[Thron]

Some Fun :) Thron hard at work :)

[LazyJ]

Thanks noob101 for spotting the greifing. The greifer has been banned and actions rolled-back.

Cool screenshots ;) "Group photos" of players at builds are something this thread is missing.

Thron, you look like Paul Bunyan with the tree in your hand. :)

[Thron]

Here a few Update Snaps of my world... THE SERVER TO BE!!!































Thx LazyJ and all the admin for keeping this server BUG free... Thx Dudes!!

Cheerz
Thron

[LazyJ]

Cool screenshots, Thron!

I've added your post's link to the "Featured Builds" link list in the first post of this thread.

Thanks for the compliment on the bug fixes :D

So as not to disillusion any future readers of this thread, our server does have its share of bugs, gremlins, and other quirks. It is very much a process of trial-and-error and adaptation. Over the years a few folk have helped with the code or have helped come up with work-arounds or workable solutions.

While code work is important to keeping things running, our server is what it is today largely because of the good character of the folk who regularly come to play. Good people are more valuable than great builders.

Thanks, folks ;)

[Thron]

The three Musketeers :) busy with PROJECT BEAUTIFY at spawn!!!











The Server to be :)

[Thron]

The CubeHeads very busy at spawn, "PROJECT BEAUTIFY"

some pic's of Cubes at work :)























































The Server To Be!!

Thron

[gtest]

Hi folks :-)

One of my recent projects, one that I took over from klappspaten, was to restore PlayMassiv's Wood House.
Here's a short write-up and some pictures:

Before I started work, I had a good long think about how to proceed. Because this build was unfinished and long-abandoned, I felt that I had a relatively free hand on the refurbishment.
The build was, apart from the windows, constructed almost entirely from plank blocks, giving a monotonous and boxy appearance. So I decided I would use wood as much as possible in the refurb, but would use a variety of types and colours to create a more interesting effect.
The main room had floor-to-ceiling glass walls, giving a nice light and airy feel to the interior, and klappspaten had already placed some furniture - so I would keep with this style.
A staircase had been started, so I would add a second floor and a roof. It's possible that the stairs were originally intended to connect with the high-level road, but I decided this was unnecessary as there was already good road access nearby. In the end, I replaced the original plank-and-cobble staircase with a new wooden one

Here's how it looked before i started:


The original staircase is removed, and a concrete foundation built:


The second storey and roof added:


A view of the ground floor lounge.


Finished:


you can view these and other screenshots full-size here:
https://imgur.com/a/qrYSZ#0

~gtest

[LazyJ]

"Project Beautification" is an on-going project to renovate, rework, or demolish old, abandoned builds and to re-landscape tore-up land surrounding Spawntown.

The project kicked-off this weekend with Thron, noob101, and BluAngel working wonders; each adding their own unique style.

Thron's cool screenshots show-off the Southwestern theme of "Pueblo", the new name for the former wasteland.

The team has worked hard to sculpt the ruined landscape into an artist's retreat. Adobe-style builds in the desert stone cliffs, an irrigated field, a waterfall and cistern all connected with stone footpaths.

A lot of good work is being in the southwest area of Spawntown!

gtest has done a really nice renovation job on PlayMassiv's place. The "before" and "after" screenshots show a world of difference and improvement. By telling a little bit about each screenshot, what was done and why, gtest is also helping to teach anyone interested in improving their build skills.

Check out gtest's Imgur photo-album link of his renovation project to see even more screenshots showing the progression from abandoned ruin to a beautiful wood home as well as more interior screenshots for inspiration.

Maybe someday gtest will post screenshots of his estate ;)

Thanks folks!

[WhiteKnight]

Ok, a skin for my bro BluAngels_Brother:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ai6jmv3vou7dg ... 1.png?dl=0
If you could please use that for his skin.
Thanks!

[xilef]

here is a link from some pictures from my renovated hous
http://imgur.com/a/OhrHa

[LazyJ]

Howdy ;)

BluAngel, I've uploaded your brother's skin; it will be active after the next restart or after the nightly backup.

I've added gtest's renovation screenshot post and Thron's "Project Beautify" screenshot post to the "Featured Builds" link list in this thread's first post. I'll also add xilef's renovation project to the link list after I make a post with his screenshots in it.

Nice looking work, folks ;)

[LazyJ]

These are some screenshots from the Imgur album link that xilef posted earlier.

A few months ago, xilef helped a couple newcomers build a home near SkyCity. Since then, xilef has renovated the house into a fine piece of Minetest architecture.

Good job, xilef! ;)

[bdjnk]

You've likely seen my Lava Domicile, but I've now connected into to an as yet unfinished above ground Modern Rustic house. This is the progress so far:





Screenshots of both can be found right over here.

[noob101]

Guys and gals, this thread is gaining momentum in a very nice way! Cheers to all the great builds (esp.) in the recent past, and their respective builders!
I'm not soo much the picture genius, but I'll try my best to add my share whenever I finish something (not if Thron is quicker at that though :-p).
bdjnk, what a shame I couldn't spare the time to come over for a look, have to do that today! Nice work!

Now a final word about addiction: I finished my office work at around 22:30 yesterday, then logged in - and only left around 2:15 this early morning, and on a workday at that! The alarm goes off at 6:00 each morning. Getting up can be horribly painful!

Now, see ya in-game!
noob101

[LazyJ]

Update: Overview maps updated to 2015_06_03.

Nice looking surface home, bdjnk. ;)

Follow bdjnk's Imgur link to see his underground, "Lava Domicile". A lot of careful work to build a glass house under a lake of lava.

Yup, noob, the Minetest addiction is very real and very easy to get into when surrounded by good folk with creative ideas. \o/

[LazyJ]

Update

There has been frustration with cacti not growing.

The 2015_04_27 update to the "official" minetest_game added a little bit of "realism" and required cactus block to be placed vertically (param2 = 0) or else the cactus wouldn't be allowed to grow.

As it turns out, "vertical" isn't the only requirement; the player also has to be facing north when placing the cactus block. If the player is facing any of the other three compass directions when placing the cactus block, the cactus will not grow.

This bit of "realism" caused more frustration than it is worth.

I've commented-out the parts of code that added the vertical and north requirement for cactus to grow and I sped up the growing time a little.

Cactus is now like it used to be and can be placed on its side or rotated with the screwdriver and it will still grow to 4 blocks high (provided nothing else is in those spaces).

[OldCoder]

LazyJ, would you be willing to post the cactus patch?

[Thron]

Some new snaps... WorldBlender "The Road King" hard at work, Halina nice home and just here and there :)




























































The Server To Be
Thron :-)

[WhiteKnight]

LazyJ-
About the beautification project- are areas that were previously protected and are no longer protected available to be renovated? If I'm not clear just say so (I'm not always great at explaining myself). Thank you so much!
-BluAngel

[LazyJ]

@ OldCoder: paramat uploaded a Git commit (f92d49f) to minetest_game that may have fixed the cactus growth problem but I haven't tested it yet. paramat changed the param2 type from:

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

    if node.param2 ~= 0 then
       return
    end

to:

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

    if node.param2 >= 4 then
       return
    end

and

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

while node.name == "default:cactus" and height < 4 and node.param2 == 0 do

to

Your phone or window isn't wide enough to display the code box. If it's a phone, try rotating it to landscape mode.

Code: Select all

while node.name == "default:cactus" and height < 4 do

This may fix it so cacti will grow so long as they are place vertical-up in any of the four compass directions but I'm curious if they will grow if they are rotated vertical-down. It is easier and faster to turn a sideways cactus block with the screwdriver than to chop it with an axe and place it again so vertical-down can and does occur.

Another factor is the default texture of cactus is difficult to determine which way is vertical or not. In HDX or Misa texture packs, for examples, the linear grain of the cactus is very obvious.

On our sever, cacti are farmed for production to use elsewhere. When it comes to growing cacti in volume, sideways cacti are not a concern for players. With that in mind, I just commented out the param2 parts of the cactus growth code so it doesn't matter which way the bottom cactus block is turned, the cactus will still grow vertically to 4 nodes high (so long as nothing is in the way).


@Thron: Thanks for the screenshots. It's good to have a roving photographer to show off some of the neat stuff on our server.

For those of you who don't know, Worldblender is the "Road King" of our server and has done a lot of work creating well planned and nicely designed roads, shoulders and rest areas along the way. Thron's screenshots above show some of Worldblender's work. Worldblender's roads are giving more structure to our server and making it easier to navigate the world. Thron's screenshots are chronicling developments some major developments on the server. Good work, Thron and Worldblender. ;)


@BluAngel: Yup, previously Permafied stuff ("Owned by <playername>") in the southwestern Spawntown area have been depermafied for renovation. If you come across a build, any where else, that looks abandoned, incomplete or griefed, mark down the coords and ask an admin to check the logs to see how long it's been since anyone has done anything with it. Keep a running list for the future; sometimes a renovation project is a nice change of pace.

Our server's world has been around for over two years. In that time a lot of players have logged in, built a shack, and never came back. If a player has been banned or hasn't logged in for 6 months and their build is just a shack or an incomplete pile of cobble, the build is turned over to any established player for renovation, rework, or demolition.

Renovation is keeping as much of the original build's structure as befitting, and fixing, completing, furnishing, landscaping it to make the build look better.

Rework is taking an abandoned built and completely changing it... reworking it into something else.

Demolition is tearing down the build and restoring the land for some future player to use.

Another aspect of Project Beautification is mending several areas of land that have been strip mined or tore-up for materials. It can be something as simple as covering the bare stone with dirt or sand or as complex as landscaping a nice looking park.


@HALINA: You have made a very beautiful home. It is full of good ideas and inspiration for building and landscaping. :) Ok, now for the butchered Google Translate version: Lei ha fatto una bellissima casa. E 'pieno di buone idee e di ispirazione per la costruzione e l'abbellimento. :)