[Server] Just Test Tribute (400 Years)

[sorcerykid]

Our fifth annual Easter Egg Hunt kicks off this Sunday, April 5 at noon UTC (7:00am Central). You'll have exactly one week to find all 80 eggs that Nemo has hidden around Spawntown (see map boundaries below). Of course, you can also check the current leaderboard stats by using the /eggs chat command.

Keep in mind that eggs may be hidden anywhere -- even inside houses. However, they are all above ground and directly accessible to players (i.e. they aren't behind any locked doors or inside any sealed rooms).

The top 4 players to find all 80 eggs by Saturday, April 11 will be awarded a trophy!



Also by popular request (mostly of erstazi), Dark Chocolate Blocks have been added to the game. The Dark Chocolate Block is intended to serve as a decorative complement to the Milk Chocolate Block. Kudos to iisu for the initial suggestion!

PS. Due to the Easter holiday, our monthly Finding Nemo Challenge will be postponed until the following Sunday, April 12.

[sorcerykid]

I just completed some major updates to ViaTuner. The /invite command now brings up a formspec with a more prominent invite code.

Stereo panning has also been fixed. And the acoustics processing algorithm received a complete overhaul, incorporatating multiple effects filters as well as a crossover for discrete routing and tuning of low-end and frequences, providing the most accurate and immersive simulation of a real nightclub PA system!

On the web-side of things, the ViaTuner homepage now displays an error message if the audio stream gets disconnected. This should resolve any confusion in the case of dropouts. An automatic reconnect option might be added as well. Please notify me if encounter connectivity issues, so I can adjust the stream settings as necessary.

[sorcerykid]

Winners of the 2026 Easter Egg Hunt!

Congratulations to jesus, erstazi, Luciano_FF, and crisdan. Each of you has been awarded a trophy for winning this year's Easter Egg Hunt. Given that we had a tie for first-place again this year, precedence is given to the first player to find the most eggs. I also fixed the in-game leaderboard so it reflects the correct ranking as well.



Here's a map depicting all of the hidden egg locations around spawntown. How many eggs were you able to find?



Friendly reminder: If you want to display an Easter Egg, be sure to use an item portrait, pedestal, or showcase. Avoid placing them directly as a node, otherwise they may be stolen!

[sorcerykid]

This coming Thursday at 1200 UTC (7:00am Central), the server will be shutdown for 24 hours to commemorate the original "just test" server that went offline on April 16, 2016. I will be using this opportunity to once again complete a full server backup to the cloud. The server should be back online by midday Friday.

[sorcerykid]

I just began work on a complete reorganization of the world directory. I've already archived the hundreds of thousands of player files of dormant accounts. This will not only significantly speed up the daily backup process, but it has already freed up nearly 1.5 gigabytes of disk space (since I'm using a RAM disk, conserving space is always a priority).

Last year I also extended the engine to support logging of mapblock changes. This was intended to facilitate incremental backups, yet I was still performing a full copy of the world directory every night (for what reason, I have no idea). So I've finally updated the backup script to only copy the full map.sqlite database once per week (on Mondays).

Together with both of these improvements, daily backups should now be completed in less than 5 minutes, compared to the usual 30-35 minutes of downtime, which is a dramatic improvement.

[sorcerykid]

Join us this Friday, April 24 as we usher in the new century on JT2!

At the stroke of midnight an extended carillon will play from Lag Memorial Bell Tower, immediately followed by a monster frenzy and pastry explosion. So get ready to make some NOISE because this is the party of the century!

Spawn plaza will also be an open sandbox throughout the day. That means you can build or grief to your hearts content! However, once the midnight hour strikes anything and everything at spawn is fair game, so grab whatever valuables you can!

Phoenix Rising Challenge

The legendary Phoenix makes its triumphant return to the city every 100 years, wreaking havock and destruction in its wake. Those brave enough to vanquish the infernal beast have a chance to score untold riches, including a gold block, a diamond block, or even an ultra-rare Lag Block!

Hare are some additional tips to win big during the Phoenix Rising!

• Lure the Phoenix toward the cache of mystery chests and you could find yourself some hefty loot -- or just a pile of junk.
• The jackpot chest contains a treasure trove of goodies. You should be good and ready when the Phoenix blasts it open.
• Teamwork is key in combat. Do not fight alone, but work hand-in-hand to defeat the Phoenix before it infiltrates spawn.

Festivities will officially kick off at 1200 UTC (7:00am Central Time) on Friday and will continue for 24 hours.