Who Are We?






What are you doing here?
We have a real site as of 3-3-2012!
Trust us, it looks and feels better there!
MCDen @ Mine-Craft-Den.com




































































Other than just another random creative and survival server, we aim to do things differently than other servers dare: Allow and Do more than those pesky instructions say.

Join us on our server either by the game itself, or in Dynmap. We are running MineCraft 1.4.7 with Craftbukkit/Spigot and Spout. Spout Craft is Optional, But Preferred.

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Friday, December 28, 2012

More people seeing this? I better clean things up!

Since it looks like more people are visiting the blog, I should be less lazy with managing it. I'll begin work on redoing the Plugins page so all can see what we are using and look up details of the plugin better.

I will try to do more work on the how-to pages as well.

Please note: With the update to MC 1.4.6, there are many bugs that has come around. One bug that has been fixed, but still effects what it has done in the past is DiabloDrops. When you find a Ruin with items in it, like a DeathSword, the older ruins will not be fixed with the vanishing item bug. Newer Ruins will be fixed and will have the auto regen effect enabled.

I have seen a nice steady number of players on the server, along with a number of new people joining. We are still adding in new Denpatrol members that we can trust. KenosHybred has been very helpful in helping them. The active players, DeathTrain and ImGuidedKilla has been helping a lot.

I do apologize that I don't seem to be on much. There is many times that I am on, but I am hidden. No offense to all that wishes to show me this and that, but with everyone asking questions and wanting to show me stuff, it distracts me from getting other things done. I have ADD, and when I get distracted from what I'm motivated to do, I don't usually return to finish it for a while. Example: The big red building at MCDen town? I was in the works of a Functional Hospital.

The creations and hard work of all the players, I like what I see and how it's done. FluffySheeps (z?) has been keeping to himself and been making his own materials to make the castle just outside of MCDen on the West (North on Dynmap) side of MCDen Town. It looks really great. At his current rate, I might do something special just for him.

I have disabled access to the creative world until I can fix the gamemode inventory separation issues. I did try staying with WorldInventories, but every time the server starts up, everyone's inventory was reverted back to before 1.4.6. I will be looking up a new plugin for inventory separation. Anyone currently in the Creative world will lose their Survival Inventories upon reentry when I re-enable the portals.

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Date Decided: 27/28 Update to MC 1.4.6

I have decided to update the server to MC 1.4.6 on Thursday/Friday, Dec 27/28. I have these two days off from work. I am doing trial runs to find the combination of Spigot, Spout, and related plugins to run on the server.

As for the related Inventory issue that I have been worrying about. I have come to a decision. I will be disabling the Creative World Between Sunday, Dec 23, for two weeks. Doing so will force all players to who are active but play in the creative world to force log in to the survival worlds.

When I go to update the server to MC 1.4.6, I will disable WorldInventories plugin, the plugin that keeps player's inventories separated between groups of worlds, mostly keeping Creative and Survival Inventories separated, and Temporarily WhiteList the server. WhiteListing the server will help keep people out while we make certain nothing is broken and cause players major issues. Sorry, not letting anyone exploit stuff. This will also ensure no one loses their items. How? If all active players between Sunday and the time I update the server to MC 1.4.6, they will log in with the same inventory and data they head on the last login.

What about the players who were not active this week? As long as they stay calm and mature, and give me some time, I can look up their player data and read it. Then set the player on a clean slate and begin 'giving' them the items. I will not be 100% exact, such as durability. But I will do my best to give the player the base item with the same enchants. For books on the other hand, that part is easy, last I knew, it was like giving myself regenerated maps. '/i map:15' would give me one of the 9 maps of town MCDen.

How should one request their proper inventories?
- First, make sure your character's inventory is empty so you don't lose anything you need. I will update your inventory when I'm on and have time and you are offline. It's easier to work when the player's data is not being used.
- Then ask in one of three ways:
  1. Send me a message via /mail ingame. '/mail write LigerXT5 Could you set my 1.4.5 inventory please?'
  2. Comment below asking with your EXACT ingame player name.
  3. E-mail us asking with your EXACT ingame player name.
Will XP, Money, Health, Hunger, and spawn location be effected?
- If you were in the creative world when you last logged out and you join in after 1.4.6, all but your money will be reset. Money is managed by a different plugin entirely.

I'm not sure if I covered everything. Comment, e-mail, or ask me ingame if you have a concern.

Bottom line: Anyone Raging due to lost of inventory after the update and not asking what happened or reading the info above will be ignored by staff, or if lucky, will be suggested to read the highlighted text above. There is a notification ingame stating to read this page and everyone has been warned. If someone complains about a terribly ran server or terribly managed plugins, I will personally ban them. I have stated time and time again. I manage the server in my free time as a hobby. I have trouble trusting people as it is to allow FTP/SSH access to help.

Continue reading if you are wanting to help.

I and three other admins has access to the FTP/SSH. RIky is on Christmas break with family, currently skiing. JollyGG is managing work and family with his life right now and cannot help. Which currently leaves me with all the control work to do. I have been teaching a new staff member that has been slowing working his way up the ranks. I will be teaching him how to access the server via FTP and SSH soon.

We are looking for other people we can add to staff. If players do not show proper interest in helping, we will not add them. Requesting to be staff without proving it to us without asking will be looked down upon. What's the right way? Simple, Don't ask, show. Not much simpler than that. KenosHybred is a perfect example. He joined the server, was mature and helpful to new players as they joined. After about a week, we asked him if he would like to be part of the staff. He has gone from member, to DenPatrol, to Moderator, shortly will be Admin. We have a few other DenPatrol players, one or two I have thought about promoting soon to Moderator.

Do you want to help us outside the server without donating money? Sure, just don't advertise on other servers. It's a rule on our server about No Advertising, I don't want people spamming other servers and making us look bad by contradicting our rules. Mention us on forums and sites. Help make some banners we can use on our server listings (such as those used in VOTE linked in the Navigation bar above). Inviting more people will help a lot!

Update Proccess For Server

If you have not read our first post (previous to this) about the server updating, it might help clear up some stuff.

I've been getting the server prepared to run 1.4.6 by using a temp server on my computer. Many plugins do break due to CraftBukkit's API changes. As stated before, rTriggers is broken. Spout in general is going on as normal now it seems.

Another plugin I am worried about right now is WorldInventories. It work on 1.4.6, with it's newest update, but the file conversion has a problem. Any and All items that has unique data, such as enchants, lore, custom names, even books with data, will not transfer and the player's inventory will NOT be transferred. This is a huge problem since we use DiabloDrops. The only work arounds at hand is:
  1. Do the conversion proccess and update each player's inventory manually. Pain in the neck for admins as we will have to read the data file and give each item to the player. Easier said than done, I've looked, trying to give a pickaxe with a custom name, enchants and lore in a command is not easy.
  2. Before we update our server, all players places all their inventories in a chest (not ender chest) before they log out. A player's health, hunger, and XP bars will transfer with no issues. Much easier, but may have issues with players later on that do not know what's going on.
I would rather we follow step two. Not because I'm lazy, but it would cause a lot less stress and annoyance between players and staff. I have looked for other plugins that does what WorldInventories does, and there are a number, but haven't noticed any that would convert from WorldInventories to their style, which means using a new plugin, players may lose their inventories.

Edit: Just found an update to rtriggers. Looking into it now.

Friday, December 21, 2012

Delayed Update and Spout

There has been many things going on the last few days. College has ended for Christmas Break for me and things has gotten fairly slow. I've been trying to enjoy my break for a while before things start to get heck-tic.

Why haven't we updated to MC 1.4.6? I'd love to play with the fireworks as much as the next, but two things has come up that I will not update until the issue is fixed.

The spout crew has been having issues with CraftBukkit about a recent change. It looks like the situation has been cleared up, but I'm not going to be certain until I see the CB for 1.4.6 working nicely with SpoutPlugin and SpoutCraft. We will also not update our server until a working build of SpoutCraft. We usually give about two to three weeks after an update before we update without spoutcraft. This give the spout enough time to work on what they need to update. Also give players time to get their stuff fixed for the update without spout if it comes down to it.

Update on the paragraph above:
After reading some posts on their forums today, it is stated SpoutPlugin DEV for MC 1.4.6  is out. The leaves SpoutCraft for 1.4.6, which is currently in the works as I type this. If we can get the server updated and using both SpoutPlugin and SpoutCraft, I will, with help from others, begin work on a light show in the sky. Will have to be made in a separate world for creative mode.

Another issue, a plugin I have spent a lot of time customizing, rTriggers. Without this, many features on our server will break, from /rules to the macro commands many staff use to get things done and look up stuff to take care of issues. We also use rTriggers to override many commands to do more stuff and stop players from being able to do certain things. I do have a plugin as a backup to install if we absolutely cannot use rTriggers anymore.

There may be many other plugins who has not updated yet.

For those who updated their clients as soon as they were asked, you need to learn patience. We have warnings ingame stating not to update your client. You have some choices. Either use SpoutCraft or downgrade your MC client.
Spout.org
Downgrade to MC 1.4.5

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Christmas Break!

Finals are over for the most of us, sadly many of us will not be nearly as active on the server for the next 2-3 weeks. I plan to at least be idling more on the server, though I may not always look like I'm there.
I know I haven't been on the server as much the last week, mostly due to Finals and my birthday Tuesday. This weekend I'm scheduled to work a fair number of hours, so most likely Monday I'll be more active again. Though I'm not sure about Monday night as some friends that are staying in town will probably want to keep the Monday Game Night routine.

We are making changes to the requirements to join the server. As we are allowing a number of under 16 players, we are enforcing the Maturity portion. The plan is simple. Player joins, reads and agrees to the rules, passes the simple rules test, then put on maturity trial for one-two weeks. Once the player has not caused any annoyances to other players and staff (examples still to come to base off of), they are full member. Both Maturity trial and Full Member will have the same permissions. The only limits is access to Skylands and Creative World.

As many has bluntly stated, the current /wild area looks terrible. I plan to remove it's world guard protection after making a new, better, Newb Land Safe Zone. I had set a new location at /wild2, but after a couple trial and error runs with setting up a way with world edit, the idea went down the drain. Originally, I was going to set up the world guard region, then save the whole area (1024x1024) as a schematic. Nope, caused the server to run out of memory, even when trying to do it in quarters.
New idea! Either we set up a separate world or just remove the whole safety start. I'm starting to lean towards the remove the whole safety start area. Then set up a Tutorial world on using and testing plugins so players can try them out safely and explanations.

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Server access went away, again...

While doing some work on the server (rebuilding this and that to make things look nicer and presentable), I suddenly lost connection to the server. By lost, I mean no possible way to access it, even the minor web pages won't load, no ssh, no ftp. I do hope we don't have the same issue as we did before.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Christmas Holidays

As it's about Christmas time, I really haven't thought of what to do for this holiday month. If I could, I'd set some chests around the tree for players to get free random items. DDChestRegen does it upon command once, not per player. So, I have been thinking of reducing prices of the Donation Tiers, except tier 5.
Tier 1: $2, Tier 2: $6, Tier 3: $10, Tier 4: $20. Thoughts?

I've gotten the idea of setting up minigame areas with the use of DDChestRegen, if I can set a timed regeneration per chest. Just a recent thought, no details yet.

I have set up MCDen in a new layout, though still under construction. This is to help a lot of FPS Lagg issues. FPS Lag is still noticeable around the saucer, when we thought it was just the signs. The rearrangment to spread out all the stores helps the FPS in the area, but under the saucer, I still get around 80+FPS while around out of town I get as high as 300+FPS. I'm still trying to figure this out. Might be the black market causing the issues. We already plan to relocate the Black Market elsewhere. We are planning to place the Green House Stores in a new location. it will be in the area of /warp oakwoodfarm (warp name to change later). This should help keep some of the FPS lagg from the glass and water out of town as well.

SpoutPlugin and SpoutCraft seem to be running fairly well on the server now. If you use spoutcraft and would like to join with it, great! Open your spoutclient, don't log in just yet, click the grey gear and select 1.4.5 and Dev Builds. Save, login and you should be able to join the server. Note: Occasionally a new Dev Build Update breaks or causes funny issues. Just change from Dev to Custom, click  Deveoper and select a Build one less than the newest. Doesn't work? Go to the next oldest. After a few builds and still can't start or use SpoutCraft properly, check Spout.org's forums and see if something is up, or even ask if you can't find an answer.

I do want to thank you all who has donated to the server in the last couple weeks. The server is set to be running for the next year when pay time rolls around. By this time, we should either have enough money earned to pay another year, or a possible slot increase to 20. If you don't want to donate, tell others about the server, or even vote for us from time to time on the server lists in the VOTE link in the navigation bar above. I do plan to set up some kind, don't know how, a referral system. If you brought in a friend, and they say you brought them, you would receive a some kind of reward. This is all that I've thought about, not sure how or what kind of rewards yet.


Last, if anyone has wondered, the reason I seemed to have stopped making posts here, is due to the simple fact that I don't think many people bother to read or visit the server's site. It's either I post the info ingame some how, or talk about it on the facebook group. If you read the posts and visit fairly often, please make yourself known. Make a comment to let me know.

Monday, December 3, 2012

So they want a goal? We'll give them a goal!

Edit: News added below instead of new posts. 12-3-2012 3:10pm cst

So a lot of people join the server expecting a guideline, a goal, and end-game feature to work toward. There has been ideas.

Nation vs Nation: Simple and to the point. Idea was to divide the main world in half, left is one nation, right is another. If anyone from the left joined the right, they were prone to PVP warfare; same vise-versa.

Town vs Town: Towny at it's core does not allow this, though it is doable. Problem is, I rarely see anyone that deals with PVP. It's either players join and team up and help one another (nothing wrong with that), or some players wait for the owner to leave and sneak in and attempt taking what's not protected. If a player were to go rouge and go PVP hostile, taking advantage of the warmup/cooldown timers and dynmap, players complain, a lot.

New idea, put the monsters to some good use. Let's say we make a large, very large, as in 1024x1024 blocks large. Extremely tall and maze like inside. I know this is dreaming big, but wouldn't players work to team up, get tools, weapons, ammo, and armor just to be able to fight their way in and defeat the boss or find greater loot? If we were do something as such, there would have to be at least one or two worlds. Why? For something like this, I'd like to customize how the area is effected by plugins. Constant night, possible increase in chance of dropped loot (DiabloDrops), and use of MV Adventure plugin. MVA allows a world to reset itself after a amount of time after the last player leaves. Not sure what would be done about a final boss. Might make a small world just to fight the Ender Dragon.


I just like the idea of keeping it simple. Join a server, free of restrictions, no "have to do this or that" other than the basics; joined players have to read, agree and take the test of the rules, do something to make money to buy stuff from stores and keep up the area protections such as Towny.

Edit: Due to some issues, Questioner is installed, When invited to a town or nation, the player will be asked and requested to use /accept or /deny. The only issue I can think of is a conflict with /tpa's accept command. I'll see what I can do to fix this...