I have some bad news, which I'm pissed off about most of all. The company hosting our server has apparently just upped and quit with the owner running off with 93,000 dollars.

I could care less about this if it weren't for the fact that the last backup I made was right after the hacking incident. If I can't get the server files, everything done since then will be lost. And that hurts quite a bunch of people, especially Darkhoodness who has been working his ass off on Rupture Farms.

This really, really, really, really sucks and I'm doing my best at getting back the server files at least. Sorry guys. :(

Update: Apparently the servers have already been confiscated by the parent company, meaning we probably can't get the files back. FUCK I'm pissed!

EDIT: Havoc posted.

Who was your host? And you really should've backed up every week at least like we suggested.

If you can't get the files back, I'll have to think about doing RF all over again... Maybe I'll cheat until I get the shell back the way it was, and even then that's a lot of work... A lot has changed on the server in 3 weeks. There's no way I'm mining all that damned stone again.

Maybe I'll stop altogether and concentrate simply on the adventure aspects of 1.8.

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Original post:

Apparently I can't connect to the server - Not sure how long it's been down for, this is the first time I've tried since late yesterday evening. Temporary glitch or is it down for a reason?

While I'm posting here, I'll say that last night I started work on project Nether Rail in preperation for 1.8, building in the opposite direction of all the other portals in existence. How far away in the Nether will the new portal need to be from the main one in order for it to spawn people into an entirely new area?

I'm also considering building a railway to ferry people to the Genesis portal from a room inside the main base, similar to what I've done to RF's own mineshaft, rather than have them walk through that labyrinthine of tunnels and ladders each time.

This is becoming increasingly frustrating, not only because we lost a month of server progression, but also because I had told myself to make monthly backups after the hacking thing last time. The next backup was scheduled for the 30th... I'm feeling like the biggest idiot alive right now. Goddamnit.

Okay, this has made me a pessimist.

EDIT:
Can't you contact the parent company and ask them for your files back?

Servers have been reclaimed already so there are no files to speak of anymore.

Well, that's the end of that. What a way to treat their paying customers by deleting their data. Fuck sake.

So then. What happens now? We find a new host for 1.8 then start where we left off a month ago, or start all over again?

Maybe next time you should do weekly backups. And also give access to the server to someone else so they also can make backups just in case you forget to for some reason.

(also, can I have a copy of the old SMP sever files? Maybe you can upload them to Rapidshare or something.)

Yeah no problem.

And yeah, learning experience I suppose. Sucks non the less. A lot was built in that month, shame to lose it all. Even bigger shame to discard everything we built since we started. On the other hand, a fresh start could also be interesting, I suppose. We'll see what the others say, I'm too pissed off right now to think clearly anyway.

I haven't played in at least a month, so I guess I've lost substantially less than everyone else.

I could go either way - keeping some of our past work sounds nice, but at the same time I'm really loving the sound of starting afresh when 1.8 hits, this time with a big group of survivalists ready to build anew.

Are you fucking serious!

I think a little bit of me just died.

Havoc, we've all suggested that you take frequent backups...
I mean really.. one month? I thought youd be backing up weekly or something. I'd say even a weekly back-up is too little, but that's just me being a bit OCD about it.

Having had 6 months of security classes, I understand how important backups are, and how important safety of servers are. But then again, you're not really a company or anything :p

Honestly.. I think all this gives us right to cheat and regain whatever we lost <.< ... Otherwise I think Im also quitting playing... If there's something I hate, it's doing the same work twice... And I spent quite a few hours mining and gaining lots of resources recently that I was going to use for stuff. No way am I doing that again. It really kills the fun... x_x

Sigh... Well i dunno... I suggest everyone gets compensated. Unless the majority is willing to just do it all over again. I dunno. I just know that personally, i am not willing to do the same work twice(this has been a reason for me quitting a few games in the past).

Its kinda weird... Seeing an example from the books happen right in front of my eyes.

Anyway Im sorry this happened. Things like this makes me really want to put voodoo curses on people(yea I know that's childish).

EDIT: ah you know what? Screw it... I have no problem mining everythign again x_x I wont stop playing minecraft, so whatever...
Though I DO think we should allow Edd to use cheats to regain his lost material. I also think we should try and find a day and help him rebuild RF.

Starting again does sound intresting but I just can't stop thinking about what we've lost.

1 month ought to have been enough and had I seen coming that this asshole would up and leave overnight I wouldn't even have kept the server there to begin with. You put a certain degree of faith in a hosting company. The only reason for me to do daily backups is if I suspect the host might screw me over any day, and like I said in that case I would leave ASAP. This was sudden, no warning at all. Didn't even get an e-mail or anything. Server just went POOF.

Also, in my own defense, 2 days before the scheduled backup is about the worst time this could have happened, obviously.

Anyway, don't think I'm not kicking myself in the head right now because I'm just at pissed at the situation and myself as anyone else here. We all had substantial time investments in our little world and it sucks to lose it. Doesn't mean we have to go around pointing fingers.

But havoc... Nomatter how you look at it... One month simply isnt enough. SO much gets built in a month, that really, a backup would only really be useful for max a week after it was done. After that, the backup becomes extremely outdated.

Either way... I suppose I like the idea of starting a new world instead of going back to the old one.... Doing everything twice just seems boring and tedious... with a new world, we can keep exploring a bit limited until 1.8 comes out, and things will seem less pointless. That's just my opinion though.

Well if you had faith in the company that hosted the server, you wouldn't feel that strongly to back it up.

I wouldn't start feeling bad and blaming youself cause you didn't back it up Havoc, Its the companies fault.

on a rather depressing note, i was going to post some pictures of 2fort that i've been working on all week....yeah..

._. What to do, what to do.....

We actually lost our entire server at roughly the same time as you, perhaps we have the same host? I dunno. Seems fishy.

Well we can start again from 1 month ago right?

I have lost 2fort, DH has lost parts of RF, Havoc lost his new house...thing he was making outta Sandstone and...well a lot more i can't think of.

I'll be building RF again on Single player with INVedit. Then releasing it as a multiplayer adventure map. It'll have a future outside the OWF server then, and more people will be able to see it.

I suggest we start again after 1.8 comes out, and if Havoc posts up the old server files on somewhere like Rapidshare then we all get to keep an out-dated memento of what we once made together. But that's up to everyone.

I mean I'll be able to build you guys a much more efficient infrastructure for starters - Maybe even a bi-directional track so that we don't crash into each other. :D

Also Castle Pyke v 3.0 will be a lot different... I'll base it on the second castle I built this time. Or maybe I'll build something else entirely now that I have better building experience.

1.8 will be out after november.... I don't really wanna wait that long ._.

Barad Splat Dur and the Mountain House, to name a few more buildings now lost. But it's not worth lamenting for long. I mean, we can still appreciate the fun we had building or helping others building these things. I certainly did enjoy these projects and the interaction that went along with them.

I find the prospect of a completely new world very interesting. For starters, we wouldn't have to walk for ages if we wanted to see the content 1.8 will reveal to us. Also, all of us building a common base (before the inevitable branching out and getting separated from each other), with a large entry hall, and individual rooms for all of us, just randomly piled on the base of the building and resulting in a rickety-looking tower is quite an interesting image in my mind.

Apparently it'll be after August.

Suppose we can start again now once we find a new host, and spend a month building a huge-ass base together, which does sound very fun, then branching out from there after 1.8. People will have to resist the urge to explore until after that though. Would this work?

Unless we want to wait for 1.8, I don't think we have much choice ;)

Fuck, this is shit news. Like really shit. Anyways, I have no problem because 1) I didn't lose much and 2) I was looking for an excuse to start all over again.

Yea I think this is a good solution :p I think I'd be spending my time mostly underground anyway, minding for delicious Lapis.

Starting over also provides some interesting possibilities for a decent main base design, instead of the underground tunnels and watch tower that was our current Genesis :p

As an admin, Havoc, I suggest building a block of holding cells for misbehaving members for the new server. Multiple boxes of obsidian with torches where you can spawn said miscreants.

It would add that "don't do it again" feeling to it.

Thats..... mean. :p

Depending on how significant 1.8's changes are, resisting the urge to explore might not be enough.

I'd be quite happy to wait until 1.8 because I'm rather bored with 1.7 already and haven't been playing much anyway.

Or, if no one else wants to wait, we could also start over again after 1.8 is released.

That was the stepping stone I provided you all with. Where would you all be without that hole I bore into the side of that hill which eventually grew to become Genesis Station?

But otherwise, yes, we'd need an awesome main base if we ever start over from scratch.

Whyyyyyyyy??? This is shit news, and I'm entirely pissed off to hear it. And it's just so sudden... Gah! Part of me is still hoping this is a trick. I honestly do like the idea of starting all over for 1.8, but that's so far away, and won't stop me mourning the loss of a lot of work.

I guess what annoys me the most, apart from the jerk that ran off with all the money, is that the parent company couldn't even be arsed to return people's files to them. That's just fucking shocking.