Whane The Whip

Looks like it's going to be a great update. I'm especially happy to see that the protective barrier will prevent terrain edits. Is there any chance that the PB will be added to the editor so that DS owners can generate Custom maps for dedicated servers? I'm doing this now and the options that I'm afforded with the editor (mainly with roles) are great options to have for MP in a DS, but the trade off is that I don't get to provide PB's for the players. And thanks for highlighting my Catamaran.

The way I did it, was to generate the DS in the editor, then set a "role" and tie it to the spawn point. With roles you can set additional options, such as starting inventory, starting clothes worn, and a custom role name. If you've tried the official Buccaneers scenario, that is a good example of roles because there are several. There is a trade off though, and for some people this is a big factor, when generating a world using the editor, there is no option to include a protective barrier. On my server though, I think I have a good trade off because 1) you get starting inventory, 2) when you die you don't lose inventory (this is also set using roles). However it's reported that in the next update 0.7, the PB will prevent editing the terrain and painting by others. So players will probably prefer that after the 0.7 update. I'm not sure what I will do with my own DS after that, I'm really hoping that they will add the PB to the editor because that will give DS owners so much more to work with. To reach roles, select the game logic menu in the DS... Then drag it to your map as you would do any logic item. I usually bring it next to the spawn point I'm using. Once you place it, then you can double click it to bring up the options. Note the "death penalty" field, click it for options. This is how I enabled it so that items dont drop on death.

In survival games bases are very common, and sandbox survival games are the type I enjoy the most. Yes griefing is common, but to be fair, 0.63 DS has some nice tools to deal with griefers now. It's not 100% but it makes it possible to run a public DS. I think some people are waiting for 0.7 before launching. I did however grow tired of other issues from public servers, so I started my own DS. So far I've had no major issues, and I've only moderated once, the method I used was to spawn a bear on the offender. I'll avoid banning if I can, I consider it a last resort. Yup, OPC killing is very common. Most players do it to get your death drops. I solved this on my DS by setting it up so that players don't lose their inventory when killed. You can still be killed and I don't have a rule against, but at least you don't lose anything and as more people join, they will eventually be able to see that killing players or offline players wont bring you anything. I also solved the issue with mass harvesting of cotton/flax on my DS by having all players start with some inventory items, including a seed box that contains important seeds like cotton, flax, and rubber, to name just a few. My islands (two, side by side) are also much larger than the explore islands so there is plenty of room meaning its harder to wipe items from the islands, though I will replenish ore if needed. As for the horse, in this case, I daresay you were done a favor. Horse are bugged and can cause issue with your server when they are tamed (unless it's been fixed). I made it a point to kill any horse I found before even launching the DS and I encourage anyone that sees a horse that I may have missed, to kill it.

I've experienced the same thing with marine compositions. Sometimes colors change to white, or black, or both. I assume it's just a bug.

@NitradoUSA "...if you had called 6 hours before close, it would have been before our phone lines open, unfortunately." You are partially correct, I called too early (once). But I called many times. That specific instance was on Monday, because the previous day I called 3x between the hours of 5:30-6:30 and it was a busy signal each time. I also called later on Monday when I realized that your starting hours was 2pm, I had misread it as 2am - you only have 4.5 hours of U.S. phone support. It was still busy. I also called twice on Tuesday at around 5pm, still busy. What is "unfortunate" here is that you fail to consider all of the other instances that I called. "As for your tickets, it looks like you may have accidentally forgotten to add your Login Token to your server." I did not forget to enter my token, it was also set in my .ini file uploaded via FTP. Upon account creation and filling out your form, your host then went into perpetual installation mode in which I got to see "A server installation is running" for hours and yet when I FTP'd to the files, nothing was there. An installation of the server files is nothing more than an unpacking or copying of files, unpacking does not require a need for a token. "We fixed it for you, and are working to make this easier in the future." You fixed nothing for me, when at some point in time the server finally got installed, I then FTP'd my DS save file, my .json file, and my .ini making sure the port matched yours. Upon launching, your service sent my server into perpetual restart mode, the server was restarting about every 10 seconds. I could not even shut it down because after shutting it down, it would keep restarting. The only way I could stop it was to FTP in and delete all of the files. Later, I went back to reinstall (which also gave an error) a default server for communication purposes as a followup to your lack of support. "...we are constantly working on improving our services" To improve, you must be willing to accept criticism. All you have done here is deny it, and spin it. You didn't offer support or solutions until I started posting on social media and I stopped that when I finally received my refund. [EDIT] The issues I breached are not unique, other users have posted about them on your own forums along with posts like "why are there no replies and why does it take so long to get support?"

Hmm, I guess it depends on how you are generating your server. Prior to the update I was able to pull my DS save into the editor after the fact. But as of last night I found that this was no longer the case. (I was doing it wrong - I was placing the save file into the folder while Ylands was still running, ylands must be shut down first) However, I believe you should be able to generate an "Explore" map, then pull that into the editor, drop a cube, log back in and grab the cube, *then* copy the game save over to your DS. With this method you are doing the leg work before publishing. The way I did it was different, I generated my world with the Editor and then dropped a cube for myself, then picked it up in single player mode, then copied the save game over to my DS. With 0.63 I can no longer pull the DS save into the editor (once you have launched the DS) but at least I have the cube which still comes in handy.

I've been hoping for an update that will include terrain protection with the orb too. It's probably my number 1 complaint in MP. The clipping/interaction issue is a problem for sure and one that has annoyed me many times. It took me a while to realize how people were stealing my stuff. But I don't think it can be fixed because I see this same issue in pretty much every game I play. The view clipping is also used by other players to find hidden underground bases, and to find caves and cave systems in order to get crystals. In time there will be "x-ray" mods for cheaters, just like the one that is used in Minecraft and that game has been around for nearly a decade now... still no fix. The work around is to place containers away from walls and doors, the exact distance in blocks, I don't know yet. Or, you could lock every container, except for wicker baskets as they can't be locked. But this is so inconvenient because you have to manually unlock/relock every container you have while using them. This is also an issue for decoration... people can just grab bear rugs for example, or a sword hung on a wall. I get that keys are intended to be realistic in their usage. But sometimes we just need something to be good for game play, I'd rather use a key once on a container, and then have that chest bound to my character so that it is always locked but I can still open it, and without constantly using a key.

Here is a work-around for you. Pull your DS save into the editor, drop a cube next to your character and save it. Then launch your DS and login, pick up the cube next to your person, equip it, now you have creative in DS. Guaranteed to make you feel more like an Admin. EDIT: BTW it looks like we can no longer edit a DS save file after it has been live. This means that you should place your cube in the world before you launch it.

Yup, I've been trying to draw attention to this too. If they added the protection orb to the editor, that would offer a lot of opportunities. I'm not a developer but all that would be needed would be to update the editor... add one item (the PB, that already exists)... then everyone could generate custom MP worlds with all those nifty generation options and provide protection orbs too, not to mention the additional options that are offered through an editor generated MP world. I find that the options available to create a MP world using the editor currently outweight the benefits of the orb. In fact I've seen a couple of dedicated servers (including my own) that are doing this.

Yeah I would love to see animal husbandry in Ylands. I think I read somewhere that as long as there are two each of an animal type on an island then more will spawn. So this has a bit of a practical purpose too (assuming what I read was correct). I've been thinking of transport containers for animals too. If I equip a cube then it feels a little like having a pet because aggressive mobs wont chase you, or run from you (as seen in the screenshots), but it will certainly wander off and do it's own thing. I would love to see practical benefits for having each type of pet. For example, being near a pet polar bear could help prevent you from freezing to death during a blizzard, or a seagull flying around could give a call if it sees something interesting nearby, each pet would offer a unique benefit.

I replied to this comment once before. But 10 days later, my reply is different now. Because now we do in fact have the tools admins need to moderate users. It certainly helps to have a DS. So far with DS_0.63, I've been able to identify two abusive users (out of 15). In one case I plopped a black bear down in front of the user that promptly mauled him to death... a gentle reminder. My rules are fairly liberal. One thing that is common (and that I don't have a rule against) is OPC (offline player character) killing, though I do consider it low to kill other players when they are offline. But on my server there is no reward for doing so.

Thanks for that. I did end up with another host and so far I've had no issues with them. I did however find the site for NFO and I book marked them as a reference to check out should I encounter issues with my new host. Nitrado contacted me today (took them 5 days) and they offered me a few days for free lol, and this was in reply to my last ticket telling them that I want a refund... a few days free for a host that does not work, that's rich. What a ripoff. And they didn't even address any of the issues that I reported, they didn't offer to fix anything, all they did was copy and paste the same message they send to everyone which can be summarized as: "So so sorry, we're keeping your money, we'll give you 7 days for free, but we won't fix anything so you get 7 more days of a broken server." They said that they couldn't reply earlier because they were busy with customers... yeah, everyone is complaining and they just keep taking money.

According to the in-game help, the protective barrier, when active, will protect the plot owner from damage by other players while offline. However on the official NA 4 server I had an activated protected barrier and was within plot while offline and I was still PK'd. When I logged back in on the NA4 server I was even able to catch the name of the person that killed me.

As a side note, If you're thinking of paying for hosting, I would stay from Nitrado, I have had nothing but problems from them since day 1. Simply put, the hosting that I paid for has never worked, their customer service line is a busy signal 90% of the time and the 10% of the time there is an answer, its a recording to call back during business hours, even though all my calls have been within business hours (6 hours before their close). Out of the 5 tickets that I've submitted, Nitrado hasn't responded to a single one and one of them was closed without a reply. I've used hosting services in the past for other games and have never experienced anything as bad as Nitrado. Literally, no one at Nitrado has ever done anything to reply or address my issues, it has been a waste of time and money.

You can also get them from the creator cube... which you would give yourself using the editor (so still the editor lol). Just pull your saved game into the editor and then drop the creator cube next to your character. Log back in to the game then pick up and equip the cube. With the cube you can get access to other unique items too directly in the game without needing to use the editor anymore.

Very nice list. I see a lot of items from my own list addressed. Except one that I thought might make it to 0.7: Protective Barrier - protect from terrain edits. Protective Barrier - added to the editor so that custom MP maps can provide protection too.

Interesting. It reminds me of the some of the old Chinese "floating fortress" ships. Ref:

You could try a catamaran using the ship as the central hull and then craft side hulls attached to it (technically a trimaran). I've seen a version of one but the side hulls were too small imo. Shameless plug: I made a trimaran using the boat:

This is like the other 503 fatal login error others were getting, but it's a 401 for me. I have not had any login issues in the past. output_log.txt output_log_clean.txt

I tried twice just to be sure... worked both times. Thank you.

This has happened to me twice now (I know it's been discussed) on MP servers... logging in again the next day and having to start a new character, even though your other character is still alive and well. Kind of feels weird to kill my doppleganger to retrieve my inventory.

I just tried, no luck. I tried 3x. Launching from windows, launching from steam app, then relogging into steam and trying again. None worked.

Edit: Nevermind, I'm starting a new thread since it's a different error code for me...

1. The color of the text in the title field does not contrast enough with the white background. 2. This little notice below that is constantly appearing in the text box just tends to get in the way, esp when trying to make a small edit. I don't think we need it, pretty much everyone knows that the text box is for entering text and the toolbar options are right there.

Please include the following information in your server name so that when users are browsing the MP list in Ylands, they can find a server more relevant to what they are looking for: 1. Include the location of your server. Filter by region is not good enough. For example, the distance between NYC and L.A. is 2800 miles so there is a difference in performance based on proximity. I can't rely on the region filter alone for the best possible connection. It's easy enough for example to include NYC or L.A. within your server name, or perhaps something like "West Coast" or "US West" for example. 2. Indicate that your server is dedicated. I think the abbreviation "dedi" is fairly known. Also, please stop and start your server at least once every 24 hours. I have found some servers that were running great at first and then slowly start to degrade with lots of freezing, item bugs, and skipped frames (esp at sea while on a ship or boat). You may also consider taking the server offline and removing the dead bodies of players that have not returned, especially at spawn as this seems to greatly delay logging in which also lags the server for all players. Also consider replenishing core mats (clay, iron, cotton/flax) on the starter island, a lack of these items will often send people away. I'm not trying to tell you what to do with your server, but given the current state of the dedicated game, the odds are already stacked against you. If you do these few things then you will probably have a more successful public server.