New VeteranWorld Kits

I have changed the VeteranWorld daily bonus kits based on player feedback, their are now three separate kits as follows:

Veteran Bonus Kit:

• 1 x Infused Flight Essence
• 2 x Small Coin Stack ($100 in total)
• 1 x Mystery Block
• 1 x Hop And Pop Parachute

Donator Bonus Kit:

• 2 x Infused Flight Essence
• 4 x Small Coin Stack ($200 in total)
• 1 x Mystery Block
• 1 x Hop And Pop Parachute

VIP Bonus Kit:

• 2 x Infused flight Essence
• 1 x Large Coin Stack ($250)
• 1 x Mystery Block Plus
• 1 x Hop And Pop Parachute

Enjoy!

Version 1.3.0 Released!

Main changes in this version:

• Flight stone overhaul.
• 3 New VIP Blocks added.
• New texture for mystery blocks (similar to before, but orange rather than purple).
• Reaper tweaks; slight speed & damage reduction, spawn chance reduced by 10%.
• Damned Warriors no longer spawn in deserts.
• Brown Mushlings now spawn 10% more often in swamps.
• Damage Indicators alerts tweaked based on player feedback.
• REI's minimap large map toggle changed from X to V to accommodate new mod. 
• Tinkers Construct Hammers/Excavators  no longer break multiple blocks, instead they break blocks at 150% the speed of an equivalent pickaxe/shovel* (fix for logging etc).
• New mods added Toggler, Dynamic Sword Skills & Backpacks.

*This is actually an even bigger increase than it sounds as the standard multi-block function of Hammers and Excavators slowed the block breaking speed to 40% of an equivalent pickaxe/shovel. I still have some testing to do but I am planning to increase this a little more in the next update.

For full details see the Technic Platform changelog.

This update is mandatory and is required to join the server!

Here's some details of the Flight Stone update...

Basically I've rewritten the Flight Stone code to use a potion effect, that way you get a timer showing how much flight time you have remaining and should fall to your death less often!

Things you'll want to know:

• Normal Flight Essence will apply the effect for 1 minute and Infused Flight Essence for 10 minutes, the same lengths they gave before. 
• As long as you have fuel in your inventory a new one will be used up 0.5 seconds before the last one runs out so that you continue to fly uninterrupted!
• When the Flight Stone is on your hotbar the timer will remain showing and will stay on 0:00 if you don't have the potion effect activated, you can get rid of the timer by moving the Flight Stone into your main inventory when not using it.
• Your Flight Stone must still be on your hotbar at all times when flying or the potion effect will not work!
• If you teleport to a world where flight is not allowed the potion effect will be removed.
• It uses a beacon style potion effect so the particles are barely visible, to prevent them getting annoying!

New Mod; Backpacks!

This mod adds secure backpacks, here's the main things you'll want to know;

• They can be recoloured by placing a vanilla  dye item into them and right-clicking it.
• They can be upgraded, a total of 3 times each (maximum storage is 4x9 slots), by crafting a Backpack Pouch, putting it inside the backpack and right-clicking it.
• They can be renamed by placing a sign into them and right-clicking it.
• They can be nested inside each other and opened from within each other.
• They can be cloned by right-clicking them with an Eye Of Ender, cloned bags share a name and contents.
• Bags of the same colour do not share inventory, you can have two bags the same colour with different contents.
• They can be placed by shift-clicking and used just like chests (hopper compatible).
• They have a built in load/unload system (open the backpack and press the 'Apostrophe' key) and can be set to automatically replace items on your hotbar when they run out and/or only accept certain items from hoppers etc.
• They have a built in permission system (open the backpack and press the 'P' key) so you can make them private, limit them to just your friends, and even make it so other players can view but not change the contents!
• If you loose a backpack you can craft a 'Backpack Restorer', right-clicking this will allow you to turn it into any of your previously owned backpacks (contents can be previewed).

Thanks to Tatankore for the suggestion!

New Mod; Toggler!

This little mod allows you to easily toggle Sneak, Run, Sprint & Jump, simple!

Thanks to CedarPoint2 for the suggestion of adding sprint toggle!

New Mod; Dynamic Sword Skills!

This mod adds trainable sword skills that can be used in PvP as well as against mobs;

• Skill orbs drop randomly from mobs and you get a free 'Skill Orb Of Basic Technique' when you first join, just right-click to use the orb.
• Press 'P' to see what skills you have and learn how to use them.
• Compatible with all standard swords, including those from mods (Metallurgy etc), however Tinkers Construct swords are not coded in the normal way and so are not compatible.
• Allows you to be the ninja you always wanted to be!

This was requested by several players so thanks to all of you!

Enjoy!

Scheduled Downtime

The server is down for maintenance as follows:

1. Full backup/clone - Done.
2. Upgrade to DiggyVerse 1.3.0 - Done.
3. Test 1.3.0 changes - Done.
4. Make server config changes - Done.
5. Test server config changes - Done.
6. Clean out old logs and data - Done.

The client update will be released as soon as the changes have been tested.

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: 30/03/15

Started:  09:00 am (UK)

Finished:  11:45 am (UK)

Update: Downtime extended by 45 minutes as testing is taking longer than expected.

Update: The server is now back up and running!

Texture Pack 1.1.4 Released!

A new version of our BDcraft texture pack has been released, version 1.1.4.

Changes:

This version adds around 300 improved textures for the Chisel mod, various people over at the BDCraft forum have worked on these new textures and whilst some of the changes are quite subtle they really do make a difference, many of the blocks including the obsidian variants have been completely redone and have to be seen to be appreciated!

Another four Natura textures have been replaced after having being redone by Linyor, it's a relatively small change but they do look much better!

Various textures added in preparation for the DiggyVerse 1.3.0 release.

Click here to download the full DiggyVerse texture pack

Players who already have the texture pack can download a small upgrade patch rather than re-downloading the entire pack, just drag the contents of the patch into your existing 1.1.3 texture pack and you're ready to go:

Click here to download the 1.1.3 to 1.1.4 upgrade patch

Enjoy!

Scheduled Maintenance

The server will be down for maintenance tomorrow as follows:

1. Full backup/clone.
2. Upgrade to DiggyVerse 1.3.0.
3. Test 1.3.0 changes.
4. Make server config changes.
5. Test server config changes.
6. Clean out old logs and data.

Please note: The 1.3.0 update involves a large number of changes, with tweaks to DiggysMobs & DiggysStuff, a custom patch for Tinkers Construct, config tweaks for 3 mods and 3 new mods being added (all based on player feedback / requests), testing will therefore take longer than usual, I will update here if we encounter any issues that mean I need to extend the maintenance time and will release the texture pack and client updates asap (hopefully before the server is actually back up).

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: 30/03/15

Est Start:  09:00 am (UK)

Est Finish:  11:00 am (UK)

Diggy's Retreat Takes Shape

What with studying taking up so much of my time at the moment I don't get to play as much as I'd like  (looking forward to my hours going down on the 3rd of June!) but I'm pretty happy with how my Veteran World island retreat is coming along...

Front of the main building, I was lucky enough to find a nice little island mostly surrounded by bamboo forests, I still have more than 9 stacks of bamboo left over just from clearing the island!

I've started decorating indoors, not much yet but getting their, I took some time out yesterday to add a little dock for fishing, at some point the plan is to try and catch one of every fish type! 

The garden and chocobo pen, thanks to DigginChickin for the purple chocobo eggs ;)

Pretty much vegetarian at the moment, between the berry bushes and honey from the hive I'm doing pretty well for food, although I also have quite a few fish stashed in a chest!

I finally started work on the basement, decided to gather materials from the nether for my Tinkers smeltery, I think the colour fits my build better.

Remember we pay $250 for every screenshot we use,

it's always fun to see what you guys/gals are up to!

New Command - /mvs

I've set up and added permission for the command;

/mvs

This allows you to teleport to the spawn of the world you are currently in, the command is enabled in all worlds and for all ranks but is disabled when in minigames (for obvious reasons!).

It has also been added to the 'Commands' page.

Enjoy!

Diggybrines Realm - Promised Land Portal

Now that a couple of players have made it to the Promised Land a

portal has been added to the adventure world, Diggybrines Realm...

Enjoy!

Wacky World Generation

Well this is an interesting one...

Yep, that's a slime island that has generated inside a giant redwood!

Remember we pay $250 for every screenshot we use,

it's always fun to see what you guys/gals are up to!

VIP God Stone Additions!

I have made a change to the VIP God Stone, based on player feedback it can now repair Parachutes, Ripcords and AutoActivationDevices!

I will also add a list to the 'Donate' section of the website within the next couple of days detailing exactly what can be repaired by the VIP God Stone.

Enjoy!

Natura Redwood Trees - Update

Treecapitator can now be used to cut down Giant Natura Redwoods again!

I have tweaked it a little so that a maximum of 20x8 blocks (not including leaves) can be cut down at a time, this applies to all trees but from our testing only Redwood trees are big enough to be affected by the limit. To clarify the maximum, it is 20 blocks up and 8 blocks across.

Even with this limit you may experience a small amount of client lag when cutting one down (depending on your computers specifications and internet connection), but this limit should prevent other players being affected unless they are within a very small distance of you.

Enjoy!

Jabbawokkey Reaches Promised Land!

Jabbawokkey has become the second player to reach the Promised Land!

It takes some serious work to get the staff required to open the portal, 

including defeating a wither and finding some of the rarest

ores in the world...

Congratulations!

Remember we pay $250 for every screenshot we use,

it's always fun to see what you guys/gals are up to!

Friday The 13th Creepiness!

Today is the second Friday the 13th in as many months and things have got a little creepy on the server, look out for randomly spawning loot (and grab it quickly if you see it!), random lightning and other creepiness going on!

Version 1.2.9 Released!

Changes in this version:

• Tweaked Ectoplasm Block and Reaper spawning.
• Improved Flight Stone dimension detection (now more efficient).
• Tweaked EnderCreeper, drops 20% more exp, 5% faster & 25% higher follow range.
• Secret Rooms Mod; Fixed language file issue.

For full details see the Technic Platform changelog.

This update is mandatory and is required to join the server!

Enjoy!

New Additions To Diggybrine's Realm

Some new additions have been made to the adventure world, Diggybrine's Realm!

I don't want to give all the surprises that await you there away but Diggatha Raine's souped-up witches hut might be worth a visit if you have extra Miniature Hearts or Ghast Tears that you'd like to get rid of! Some pretty weird noises were coming from underneath that place though!

Natura Redwood Trees

Just to confirm, growing or cutting down Natura Redwood trees does not have any kind of negative impact on the server, any disconnects experienced by players nearby are simply due to the connection between their server and client or the client computer getting overloaded by the number of block changes.

I have done some testing and found that with a reasonable internet connection (seemingly 10Mbps+ is fine) and a fairly decent computer growing them shouldn't be an issue for players. 

As for cutting them down the drops combined with the block changes is a lot more client intensive and for some reason this is a lot worse when Treecapitator is involved, overloading players a considerable distance away. 

I have therefore disabled Treecapitator for this tree type, however the Tinkers Lumber Axe can still be used. This essentially eliminates the chance of disconnecting nearby players, although again this does depend somewhat on internet connection speed and the players computer.

If you do experience disconnect issues when cutting down a Natura Redwood, just use a less powerful Lumber Axe to reduce the number of block changes and drops, it will take a bit longer to cut it down but at least you wont have to keep reconnecting!

2000 Runs!

The modpack hit 2000 runs this morning!

Thanks to everyone who has played so far and especially those that have contributed with its development or towards hosting fees!

Tinkers Construct Knapsacks

Unfortunately I have had to ban the Knapsack item from Tinkers Construct.

I did not take this decision lightly, their is no other option. The problem is that it can be used to take items into minigames, bypassing the separate inventory system and allowing cheating, for example by taking a parachute into parkour. 

The crafting of knapsacks has been banned with immediate effect and trying to remove an already fitted one will result in it being confiscated.

If you are currently using a knapsack do not try and remove it, player data files will be scanned within the hour and if you leave the knapsack in place it will be removed safely, returning the contents to your inventory. You can however safely remove items from your knapsack before this happens if you wish.

Just to remind everyone, you can still use the Ender Link to access your Ender Chest from anywhere and use Doggy Talents dogs and Chocobos to carry extra inventory with you.

Update: In the end only 6 players actually had Knapsacks with anything in them so not a big deal loosing them, I may look at adding some kind of backpack or portable inventory system to DiggysStuff in the future though if enough people feel it would be a useful addition.

Veteran World Is Open!

Veteran World is now open!

Spawn is near the top of a giant redwood giving you a choice of ways to get down, you can parachute off using the free daily Hop And Pop parachute, jump and aim for the water surrounding it or go down the very long (70+ block) ladder!

Unlike the main world Veteran World doesn't have Biomes 'O Plenty, this means that biomes like the GrowthCraft Bamboo Forest and world generation such as Chococraft Gysahl Greens and Natura trees are abundant and much easy to find!

The world is much smaller than the main world and as the name suggests it's restricted to Veteran rank players and above only, meaning it's much less likely to need resetting in the future.

Veteran World also has its own set of PS blocks:

"Veteran Home" - 81x81

"Donator Home" - 101x101

"VIP Home" - 121x121

These stones have all the same flags available as Small & Large Homes in the normal world.

The stones are available along with more information and FREE kits at the world spawn.

New Command Available In Upgrade Store!

The command /firework is now available to buy in the Upgrade Store at spawn!

Using this command you can easily edit the color/s, fade, shape and effect of fireworks, details have been added to the 'Commands' page.

To purchase this command you must be Resident rank or above.

Enjoy!

Version 1.2.8 Released!

Changes in this version:

• Fixed Tinkers Construct smeltery death message.
• Fixed balkons weapon mod death messages.

For full details see the Technic Platform changelog.

This update is mandatory and is required to join the server!

Enjoy!

Version 1.2.7 Released!

Changes in this version:

• Updated DiggysStuff to 1.5.6 (was 1.5.5): transmutation recipe update.
• CraftingTablePlus replaced with patched version of Project Bench (1.8.0DV).

For full details see the Technic Platform changelog.

Unfortunately due to a major bug with CraftingTablePlus which was unfixable it was necessary to remove it, however, with what I learnt from it I was able to patch the abandoned mod that inspired it, Project Bench. 

I have set the ID's to match so that the blocks will be replaced automatically when the chunk next loads and functionality wise my patch should mean you don't even notice the difference. So this is essentially just a name change. 

You will need to re-download the texture pack or apply the most recent patch again for the x64 texture to work with it due to the change in mod name.

This update is mandatory and is required to join the server!

Enjoy!

Texture Pack 1.1.3 Released!

A new version of our BDcraft texture pack has been released, version 1.1.3.

Changes:

This version adds around 150 improved textures for the Natura mod, Linyor has done a great job on these new textures with items like berries now looking far better, see below for some examples of the improved textures!

Click here to download the full DiggyVerse texture pack

Players who already have the texture pack can download a small upgrade patch rather than re-downloading the entire pack, just drag the contents of the patch into your existing 1.1.2 texture pack and you're ready to go:

Click here to download the 1.1.2 to 1.1.3 upgrade patch

Improved berry bushes!

Improved clouds and Imps! 

Enjoy!

Changes To Donation Perks

I have made some changes to the Tip Package as well as Donator & VIP Perks today as follows:

Tip Package:

• Now only includes 1 x Essence Stone (was 2).
• Now includes 1 x Flight Stone.
• Now includes 8 x Infused Flight Essence.

Donator Package:

• Now includes 1 x Flight Stone.
• Now includes 16 x Infused Flight Essence.

VIP Package:

• Now includes 2 x Flight Stone (always good to have a spare!).
• Now includes 32 x Infused Flight Essence.

Players who have already donated will also receive these extra items!

Version 1.2.6 Released!

Changes in this version:

• Updated Infernal Mobs to 1.4.4 (was 1.4.3).
• Updated Vending Block Mod to 1.1.1 (was 1.0.10).
• Updated DiggysMobs to 1.2.9 (was 1.2.8).
• GrowthCraft Fishtraps: Catch rate slowed by 50% based on player feedback.

For full details see the Technic Platform changelog.

The DiggysMobs update makes the following changes:

• Sandman: 'Rare' drop changed from emerald to clay based on player feedback.
• Damned Warrior: Drop changed from saddle to bottle o' enchanting based on player feedback.
• Slenderman: Teleport range and damage increased slightly based on player feedback.

This update is mandatory and is required to join the server!

Enjoy!

Scheduled Downtime

The server will be down for maintenance tomorrow as follows:

1. Full backup/clone - Done.
2. Test some server config changes - Done

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: 02/03/15

Started:  09:30 am (UK)

Finished:  10:40 am (UK)

Update 10:00: Estimated finish time reduced by 15 minutes as backup completed faster than expected!

Update 10:40: The server is back up and available!

Scheduled Maintenance

The server will be down for maintenance tomorrow as follows:

1. Full backup/clone.
2. Test some server config changes.

Scheduled Downtime:

Date: 02/03/15

Est Start:  09:30 am (UK)

Est Finish:  11:00 am (UK)