Hey guys,
As everything is pretty much back to normal now, I want to give some more insight on what exactly happened and why the server was down. First of all, I want to apologize for taking this long to make this post (and for the downtime of course), but the last week has been very hectic. My priority has been to fix the server, and there was a lot of bugs that still had to be fixed because of the move. We tried to give the most crucial information through as many communication channels as we have, so people were still able to play while we were working to fix stuff. So, if you're not part of it already, feel free to join our Discord or IRC, you can always reach a staff member there in case of any downtime:
Now, on to what happened. Saturday night, when the server was empty, I tried to do an OS upgrade on the server (where the forum and website also run on), since it was running on a pretty old system. This should have been a pretty straightforward upgrade, and since the test server was already working on the newer OS, I figured it wouldn't be that much hassle. The upgrade went wrong somewhere, and the server couldn't be reached anymore. So, after a while of trying to figure that out, the only solution that was left was to reinstall the server from scratch on the newer version of the OS. That worked, and I even got the SAMP server to start back up, but it wouldn't let any players in. You were able to join the game, but would just time out after a minute. At that point, it was 7am on Sunday, so I decided to go to sleep. On Sunday, I continued to try to figure where the problem was (I'm guessing it's a plugin that wasn't working as it should be, but it would take a long time to figure out exactly which one it is).
At that point, instead of continuing to try to fix that server, we decided to move everything to the test server instead. The test server is already on the updated OS version, and has been running fine. So, we started to set everything back up at the test server instead. That's the reason why our IP changed. We tried to inform as many people through Discord and IRC (and the forums when it was back up), so people who wanted to, could play again. We advised people to connect to
planbserver.com:7777 as we can point that domain to where the server is. In the meanwhile, we have been able to migrate our original IP to the new server, and you can connect back through the original IP. Again,
planbserver.com:7777 should still work, as that's pointing to
37.187.196.107 again (it won't work if you have the original IP in your list as well). I've put in a request to change the hosted tab to the original IP again, I'm hoping it will be changed by tomorrow.
For the rest of this week, I've mainly been busy fixing bugs due to the various software upgrades we had now, and setting everything back up the way it used to be. Most of the bugs were web service bugs (website/CP), so if you still spot a bug, please let us know!
We took a backup right before the upgrade on Saturday night, so there shouldn't be any loss of data (meaning: you won't have lost any stats).
Now, on to the updates. It's been a while since I made an update topic, so you'll notice a lot of these have been in the game for a while.
Changes (/updates):- Added /changename
- You can now use /changename to request a nickname change, so you no longer have to wait for an admin to be around to get your name changed. When you request a namechange, level 5s get notified through a messaging app, and can approve/deny it from there. This means we will be able to handle your requests a lot faster, even when we're not around. You can change the requested name using /changename again, or cancel the request with /cancelchangename. You can use /changename (without name) to track the status of your request, and you will get notified once your request has been handled (it checks every time you spawn or type /changename). Keep in mind you can only change your name once a month (unless it's clan tag changes). From now on, this is the only way to get your name changed, admins can no longer change your name.
- Added interiors: (https://planbserver.com/forum/index.php?topic=3663.0)
- We have made several interiors accessible in the map. In order to make it balanced enough for the game, we made sure each interior has (at least) 3 entrances. You can find the entrances at the green house icon. Following interiors are accessible:
- Las Venturas Planning Department
- Las Venturas Police Department
- Four Dragons Casino
- Caligula's Casino
- Sindacco Abatoir
- Madd Dogg's Mansion
- Jefferson Motel
- Big Smoke's Crack Palace
- If you have suggestions for more interiors and where to place them, let us know! Please note it has to be big enough to for at least 3 entrances.
- Removed anti entry abuse since it's no longer necessary with the new damage system.
- Changed /blockpm: if you have blocked your PMs, you won't be able to send PMs either.
- Changed balancing: the system now checks if the balance after the requested change would be within limits, instead of checking the current balance.
- Fixed ban messages and added ban messages for range bans
- Fixed bug with info messages not displaying (blue messages)
- Tweaked and fixed various weapon-config bugs, such as snipers going through objects, the vending machine bug, DB bug, ...
What's nextRight now, we're working on integration with Discord. So pretty soon, Discord will be an alternative to IRC, and you will be able to talk ingame through there. As for other updates, there's a very long to-do list (see the suggestions section), so we're counting on your feedback to pick some interesting ones to focus on. So, let us know which suggestions you would like to see ingame, and hopefully we can bring this to the game in the next update!
