No trick unfortunately, I wish it was.

Basically, this host apparently rented servers from another company (servers that weren't even suited for gaming, so it appears now, which explains the weird lag we had sometimes). They didn't pay their bills, obviously because the owner ran off with all the money and the servers were taken offline and formatted for reuse. This is pretty common for a hosting company. The parent company only deals with the hoster, not with the hoster's clients. Doing it any other way would be almost impossible to deal with, so I don't blame them.

I just cant see how this can be legal.. Isnt anyone gonna sue their asses?

I don't know, if they find him I'm sure someone will. Then again, it's just game servers. Unless someone has been screwed out of a considerable sum of money, I don't think any clients are going to bother suing this guy.

It's unfortunate but this happens way too often in hosting land. Quick companies that are around for a few months or a year and then pack up and leave, hanging their clients out to dry.

Another reason to BACK UP OFTEN. :P *poke**poke**poke*

BTW the seed http://www.oddworldforums.net/attach...1&d=1311897756 (image 'cause I can't disable vB code) is a damned good seed - Nice flat area of land surrounded by mountains, with a desert, some sea, a forest, and a snowy area all nearby. Consider using it for our next map. I'm using it for the next RF build (the foundations are already complete - It's so much easier with INV edit and peaceful. :D Some of the challenge is taken away though. :( )

There was a lot I'd say if it hadn't already been said, so I'll settle for,

All my work in the Nether, all that glowstone, my underground path and cart rail, my mine and my stuff in the desert...

And with that, I'm done. I tend to look on the bright side when I can, and if nothing else comes of this at least we're all a little wiser about frequent backups (which I haven't done myself for months...)

To be honest I was starting to get a bit bored with what we had in the server, so I like the idea of starting afresh. While I'll probably build some things the same (similar underground lair, glass tower), I think a new start in new environs will give new ideas, and get a bit more life into things, then when 1.8 comes out that'll be helped. I'd say let's start anew now, limit how far we go from the spawn point (no further than to give adequate space for our buildings - no exploring for its own sake) and get to work on making somewhere equally great and with a bit more foresight. A new start will present new challenges from the environment and it should be good, I think. Then when 1.8 comes out we can go on a rampage of exploration.

The only loss I really mourn, that'll be hardest to replicate I think, is Rupture Farms. As for my own stuff, I'm happy to have another go 'round.


EDIT: Just saw DH's post. While chosen seeds are great, I think it'd be better to use a randomly generated seed for the server. That way it's nothing anyone's seen before and it's new and exciting and fresh for us all.

i think that several random seeds could be tried out, and the best one wins :)

That's a nice seed, indeed.

The usernames of myself, T-nex, dripik, Havoc, DarkHoodness and Max the Mug!

Nah, seriously. I do think a totally random seed would be better. That way we have to adapt to a world, rather than choose a world that suits us. Also, if we have a vote or a common seed, everyone will be scrambling for the best spots that they've already found, tested and chosen as their favourites.

To make my point, I've just started playing the gargamel seed recently, and it's really awesome, though I've done little there yet. There are a few spots that I really like, and if Havoc were to build a hotel on one of them I'd be greatly upset. ;)

So a completely fresh start seems to be the preferred option? If we're going down that path, do we still want the server to stay completely vanilla or are there a few mods people would like to suggest we install from the very start?

I would LOVE the rope mod... Its simple and non-intrusive.. And it's exactly what I wanted for a project of mine.

The thing about mods is that when Minecraft updates, we'll have to wait longer for the mods themselves to update. Mods may also become obsolete or permanently broken by official Minecraft updates.

Personally I'd rather the server was kept "vanilla" - While mods are fun, some of them take away the original challenge a little.

Well I agree.... the Mods will maybe even corrupt the game once an update occurs... I suppose we should wait with mods until Notch has created some mod support.

In other news... I tried a new world with seed name T-nex :p the surface is a bit weird... sort of islandy.... or lakey.. however you wish to look at it with some very weird mountain formations. I found a massive cave system that im not done exploring yet... and lots of clay. Meh... but Its pretty annoying cos the surface is so random.

I've been trying a few seeds. OWF Minecraft Server (I think; I'll have to try it again to make sure) has some nice features without being super amazing:









The floating sand arches are cool, because sand can't be placed like that.

My whole house is gone. Fuck.

If we find a new host, we could just dick around with server mods and/or have PVP on until 1.8 gets released. At that point I wouldn't mind starting anew.

Can we re-make the Oddworld Logo?

I would LOVE to help with that.

I have considered making it in full 3D. ^^

I'm not entirely sure how editors like that NVEdit thing work, but if everyone wants to get the infrastructure built again quickly, could the mod spawn a load of useful resources on the surface? Not necessarily everything, but the rare stuff.

I actually think its possible to move a region from a save file to another. Not sure though.

This reminds me of a world editor I saw which was built like MSPaint/Photoshop: http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/...k-in-progress/

I kind of like the idea of using a world editor to build the geography of the spawn point, so as to optimise Genesis 2.0, and then letting Minecraft generate freely as we explore outward.

You can use map editors to save, move and edit in great detail. I don't have any problem if we use this for RF or other structures ported from before, but I think Genesis 2 should be a realtime joint build.

I wouldn't worry much about how the initial starting area would not fit our designs. And I'm all for starting a completely new world, and not recreating the old one's buildings and train tracks and whatnot. If there's anything I like in my playing MC, it's the adaptation to the random world around me and spontaneous building.

Another idea I had for the new server: we could make ourselves a little town, even a city, like many servers do. The initial base could be turned into a town hall, and it would be surrounded with set plots of land, each for all of us to build our first homes on. This, complete with parks, streets, taverns, and possibly a town wall would make quite a neat main base. Of course, everyone would be free to branch out and create their own evil lairs after the town is done. At least it would give us something to do until 1.8, and would keep us from exploring too much of the world for a time. What do you all think?

I like that idea a lot. The spawn area would have to be flatish for that to work effectively though - Building on hills is a pain.

I just dont want the map to be islandy.... if it's islandy, then im the first one to pack up n fuk off x_x

If the new map is island-y, I will personally construct a rabbit warren of evil island lairs.

What your host did was clearly illegal. However, what the 'parent company' did was well within their right. They don't have a contract with you, after all; they don't offer any guarantees to anyone but their client. He breached the contract and they took appropriate action.

Whats the plan for Genesis 2? Are we going to make it outta stone again and the same-ish layout?

I think we should make a town with a central square (with a fountain) a town hall, a railway station, an inn, a watchtower, a windmill, farms, and streets edged with glowstone.

Having our homes close together will make the server feel more homely, IMO.

I can plant flowers and create a beautiful landscape garden with water and mossy cobble. I will buy all your land off you with diamonds that I mine.

I like this idea.

Well goodbye my shitty Netherrack/Cobblestone City and my obsidian layered fortress.

I like the idea of starting over, I was a wee bit disorganized with my first home and location.

I like the town idea. The server as it was right now everyone was all over the place and you could play for days without running into someone. That did kind of suck.

Also, I believe that the server plugin Bukkit that comes with most rented servers also allows you to move the server's spawn point. So the spawn location doesn't necessarily have to be the place for Genesis.

Edit: I'm looking around for a new server host right now, but for this to go on like it's going now I will really, really need donations guys. A lot more people have joined since we started playing and the average 10 to 15 slot server costs anything between 12 and 25 dollars per month, depending on the host.

So once again, donations for the (decent, this time) Minecraft server can be sent to TigerXtrm[at]Gmail[dot]com via Paypal. Anything is welcome, 1 dollar, 2 dollars. Whatever you're willing to spare to keep the server alive. The more donations I get, the longer the server can be kept.