Redcrab's server

[Dragonop]

Mmmh, I dont whant this server to fall, this was my first server, January 2012, what a good time .

[Inocudom]

Don't count the server dead yet! There's still construction going on.

...and finally: Here is that part of the map I saved with sfan5's special client while we where afraid that the server would go down. While that danger has been averted, there's still a lot to gain from exploring the map in singleplayer: You can actually see some of those large structures that have been built on the server (Smokis non-deathstar, Wyverns angel statue, Topywos construction, ...). Some other buildings (especially those of AspireMint) may be enjoyed directly on the server, but it's still easier to look at them when loaded in full from your local storage.

I hope that someone with a fast machine and good graphics card can do one or two short videos showing some of those great buildings! There are also several great towns where an overview might be intresting.

In order to run the world in singleplayer, unzip Redcrab.zip (ca. 100 MB) and place it in your worlds/ folder. Unzip redcrab_game.zip (ca. 2 MB) and place it in your games/ folder. The mapgen is already set to singlenode, so no new blocks will be created (those could lead to mapgen griefing if enabled - at some points of the world, there's only a thin layer recorded).

Please keep in mind that the world file is only provided to players on Redcrab who want to get an overview and explore the map in a way that is not possible on the server itself (loading chunks over network is slow; some buildings are almost invisible due to that). You do not gain the same rights here as you would with open source software as far as the map is concerned! For the liscence of redcrab_game.zip, see the liscences in the individual mod folders. For the map - there's no liscence permitting you anything other than viewing it in your local world and doing videos on it like you could on Recrabs server (if network code would be faster). If you want to do anything else with it, you first need to contact Redcrab and/or the individual builders.

Thanks for Erthome for providing the webspace!

It seems that this post was forgotten. Within it, there is a link to a copy of this server's map that is about one year old. However, as this post states, there is something that everybody must keep in mind:
This server's map is proprietary and all rights are reserved concerning it. You have been warned.
Remember, there is a difference between using open source programs and resorting to piracy.

[rubenwardy]

It's proprietary because licences weren't provided by the builder. Remember fair use, you could host a replacement redcrab server, no one will complain.

[miner65536]

The alt server on 30402 is still up so the machine & hosting looks good. I suppose we have to wait for 10mins of mr redcrabs time to look at why the server isn't starting...

[redcrab]

Sorry Folks...the server is still not responding...we are waiting for Redcrab to see our communications and determine/fix the problem...I check multiple times daily and will post here as soon as I see it return to service -or- hear news from Redcrab.

Sorry for the delay but the server 30401 should be up.

For the info ..
The minetest process monitoring was down .... but I do not monitor the monitoring . Doh!

Enjoy.

[Erthome]

Great News. Thank you sir!

Confirmed -- the Redcrab 30401 Server is indeed working ;-)

[miner65536]

Let the dig continue! Thanks for fixing everything :)

[coffeecrafter]

jeehaw!

again one of the extremly rare lifesigns of mr. redcrab - and another server revival! Thanks a lot

As a truely minetest addict I used the last days to spend some time on another server running on 0.4.10 and same as during my last excursion last year I REALLY miss those new features here. Climbing large trees, cutting slabs with a circular saw, growing seeds (I could even grow coffee beans there man that's amazing!), chasing sheep, ... - I'm again carefully asking myself why not staying there? :-/

I've built so much on redcrab and I don't want to start from all over, but if there's no more hope that this server will ever be updated I'm not sure if I'll stay here forever... I'm against server-polygamy so I won't play on several servers at the same time. I'll see how the server and the situation on it develops in the next weeks & hope for better days

Building is not half the fun if you can't share your stuff or build things together

_____
coffee

[twoelk]

...
server-polygamy
...

I actually think that is one of the interesting ways to get an idea of how different Minetest can be. Although I am a regular to only a few servers, I have visited quite a lot and it has largely broadened my view of how a server can be run and what mods can add or and I am constantly surprised by this, how much a subgame can really change the gameplay.

I have always loved to visit a server to see the sights and marvel at the builds of others, there is so much to see and learn from others.

I must admit though of Redcrab's server I have only seen a tiny fraction although I might have visited a larger area than on most other servers - it is sooooo large ;-)

[Sokomine]

Sorry for the delay but the server 30401 should be up.

Thank you! Please also tell us which attempt at communication finally reached you. It's a bit bad that we have no way of contacting :-( Immediate reply is seldom needed, but perhaps withhin a week...?

For the info ..
The minetest process monitoring was down .... but I do not monitor the monitoring . Doh!

Don't forget to add a monitoring process to the process monitoring the monitoring process :)
The server really ran for a long time without so few maintenance. That's astonishing! So, most of the time, the monitoring works very well.

Trouble is that it might fail. It would be really great if the server could be updated to a newer version of Minetest. Reasons:
1.The server can be in the public list again, so that players will find it. It's more fun if there are other players around!
2. We won't have to keep outdated copies of MT or delete our cache folders each time in order to be able to connect.
3. Floating water and lava would be drawn correct again with new clients. It's no fun right now.
4. The server might profit a lot from recent bugfixes in general (there where plenty!)
5. No more random sand and gravel drop.
6. Very important point: Rollback got improved a lot. It actually works with newer versions!
Of course such an update would have to be done very carefully, and would also have to involve the mods installed. I'd be glad to prepare something, but - there is little point if the next reply that'll come up will take a year.

Especially the random sand and gravel blocks that where dropped by the server and which can't be removed in protected areas annoy me a lot. The areas mod is much nicer in that regard! And it was written with compatibility/an import option for the protection mod used on Redcrabs server in mind. My own markers mod also aims at making protection easier.

I REALLY miss those new features here. Climbing large trees, cutting slabs with a circular saw, growing seeds (I could even grow coffee beans there man that's amazing!), chasing sheep, ... - I'm again carefully asking myself why not staying there? :-/

We'll have to be a bit careful with updates even if Redcrab shows enough signs of life so that anything can be done. A mobs mod might be too demanding. Re-growing papyrus would be a huge gain already...Large trees? Moretrees or what do you have in mind?

I've built so much on redcrab and I don't want to start from all over, but if there's no more hope that this server will ever be updated I'm not sure if I'll stay here forever... I'm against server-polygamy so I won't play on several servers at the same time. I'll see how the server and the situation on it develops in the next weeks & hope for better days

We do need more hope. Redcrab, please take a look! There are still players who'd love to play. It's just a bit of maintenance that'd be necessary.

Building is not half the fun if you can't share your stuff or build things together

That's right. Your buildings are certainly worth visiting. Half of the fun is building something oneshelf, but the other half is to be amazed about the impressive creations of fellow builderes from which one might still learn a lot.

I actually think that is one of the interesting ways to get an idea of how different Minetest can be. Although I am a regular to only a few servers, I have visited quite a lot and it has largely broadened my view of how a server can be run and what mods can add or and I am constantly surprised by this, how much a subgame can really change the gameplay.

That's right. In a way, this server with its low amount of mods installed and (relatively!) few blocks to build with does inspire more creativity in players. But it's also very intresting to take a look at other servers now and then in order to see how they look like. There's a huge variety out there. Redcrabs server is one of the few with impressive buildings, and I'd still say it's the one with the largest amount of them. Landrush and linuxgaming.us are also impressive in that regard, but have much smaller maps.

Even with SilverCrab now existing, it would be great if Redcrabs server could be brought back up to beeing really usable.

[CWz]

a grief by water that i spotted while roaming around the world in motion

[Erthome]

There are some genuine dueling philosophies in play here.

The unparallelled server reliability that comes with using a *truly* stable release with patches and carefully coordinated mods appeals to me greatly, and has inspired me to spend thousands of hours on the redcrab server. There is much to be said for drawing upon one's creativity using whatever is available to build and imagine.

Conversely, when I saw the first 10 point buck ever eying me in Erthhabor near the courthouse it was an almost Arthurian few seconds. It is wonderful to have an array of plants that extends beyond the inert papyrus and scrub brush bush.

From a Moderator's perspective, roll back may work better (I'm taking your word for that Soko because my only experience in SilverCrab so far was to discover that sadly it does not allow the reliable rollback of WorldEdit based changes) BUT having now worked extensively with the Area mod I have mixed feelings. The markers system places an overly constrictive limit on the save size (suitable for first time house builders but not for larger structures or my mainstay which is estate preparation. Hence I end up resorting to the /set_owner and /add_owner commands anyhow. And the recent experience on Silvercrab where all the old protects were suddenly lost at a little over 1100 entries forcing OldCoder to reload the table and myself, other admins and players to redo all of our protects leave me questioning the stability/compatibility of the mods in their present state. (Mark my words, however, the UI with that admin block of yours is infinitely more user friendly than command line coordinates, etc.)

I have to assume that Redcrab's scarcity is a matter of Real Life necessity on his part, so rather than pushing him for time-consuming and player disruptive upgrades, I personally am tempted to beseech Redcrab to delegate some more authority to someone on the server admin side, and to consider setting up (or refurbishing 30402) a sandbox server with a periodic port of redcrab's 30401 where we can experiment in a methodical way with a newer version (if there is anything stable and that does not have known debilitating core bugs) and one at a time choice mods till they are deemed rock solid.

Pipe-dreaming though that may be, it seems the best advice/wish I can offer.

As an aside...the water-flowing issue with newer clients...I find it hard to believe that the newer clients could not (in the worst case) reasonably be made to detect server version and provide backward compatibility. Designing new clients in such a way as to invalidate working legacy servers is a ploy used by Pay software interests to force upgrades and increase sales--this does not seem appropriate to me in an open source community. Just my opinion there obviously.

[stormchaser3000]

wow this server is empty

[Erthome]

The usual regulars for the past year are still the usual regulars. We have each taken some time away to help OldCoder get the Silvercrab server rolling as well. Once again, the Redcrab Server is serving like a trooper. :-)

[uldics]

I know I have had this before. But dont remember the solution if there was one. The world on both Redcrabs 30401 and 30402 is gray. GUI and inventory is visible, anything else is not there. But the coordinates and direction change as I jump and turn. All ok on other servers when tested on few.
System is fresh Ubuntu install with copied .minetest folder from old install, where everything was OK. Both with official repos and the Minetest stable ppa installed. Same hardware, just changed to 64bit from 32bit Ubuntu.
The error message is a bit different than others have posted various places. One time today it was something about cannot load unknown_block.png etc, now just this:
user@computer:~$ minetest
Irrlicht log: Irrlicht Engine version 1.8.1
Irrlicht log: Linux 3.16.0-24-generic #32-Ubuntu SMP Tue Oct 28 13:07:32 UTC 2014 x86_64
Irrlicht log: Using renderer: OpenGL 4.4.12968
Irrlicht log: AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series: ATI Technologies Inc.
Irrlicht log: OpenGL driver version is 1.2 or better.
Irrlicht log: GLSL version: 4.4
Irrlicht log: Could not load texture:
Irrlicht log: Could not load texture:
Irrlicht log: Could not load texture:
Irrlicht log: Could not load texture:
Font size: 8 15
AL lib: (WW) FreeDevice: (0x2551020) Deleting 25 Buffer(s)
user@computer:~$

How do I get everything visible?

[twoelk]

have you tried using an old client version? There might be difficulties with using newer clients on this server as RedCrab does not use the newest Minetest-server version

[Sokomine]

I know I have had this before. But dont remember the solution if there was one. The world on both Redcrabs 30401 and 30402 is gray. GUI and inventory is visible, anything else is not there. But the coordinates and direction change as I jump and turn. All ok on other servers when tested on few.

The solution is to move your Minetest cache folder out of the way, create a new cache folder, and connect. You have to move the old cache folder out of the way (or at least remove those media stored on Redcrabs server) each time you connect.

This procedure is necessary because Redcrabs server runs a version of the game that is several years old, while development is progressing with bugfixes and new features every couple of days. Redcrab sadly does not seem to have time to update his server :-(

Depending on what you're looking for, SilverCrab hosted by OldCoder may be an alternative. It runs an almost complete copy of Redcrabs world and may be used for sightseeing or building, although most players who joined it now seem very young. Erthome does his best to help them to understand the game and construct their first home.

If your goal is to create impressive buildings which other players may actually see and enjoy, VanessaEs servers, Linuxgaming.us, Landrush and the King Arthurs Land server may be alternatives worth considering.

I wish Redcrab would have time to update his server to a newer version of the game so that connecting could be done less stressful.

[uldics]

Yes, thanks. That did the trick :)

[miner65536]

The Server's been up for 44 days or more! I suppose the furnaces have an excuse for being a bit sluggish.. I wonder if any changes done will get saved?

[Erthome]

Soko, did Cactuz give you privs to restart the server or something? I remember between the two of you that you had a way of bringing the furnaces back to life periodically--I'm hoping the way wasn't simply waiting for the auto restart LOL

[Sokomine]

Ups. I had put this tread away for later answering.

No, I'm sorry, I can't restart the server when needed :-( All we can do is wait for the restart script. The last time the server went down was due to the restart script failing. To my knowledge, Redcrab has repaired that.

[miner65536]

The servers been up for more than 10^7 seconds now! Long live redcrab heh

[NetoGames009]

Hello,Redcrab.When the 0.3.1 server is going on air again?

[CWz]

Hello,Redcrab.When the 0.3.1 server is going on air again?

Why play on such an old server? muchless a server with map in such bad condition.

[12Me21]

I came on the server after being gone for a while, and my house is completely gone! :( the stuff around it is there, and some of my tunnels are still intact, but the house itself seems to have reset to the time before I built it!

[miner65536]

Hey it's rebooted, lets get cooking :)

[Sokomine]

It's such a pity that it has become so difficult to join the server. My cache is filled with megabytes of data, while my internet connection is not the fastest. So the only way is to move the cache out of the way before connecting to Redcrabs server.

[CWz]

I use the 0.4.7 client and i don't need to worry about that

[redcrab]

Hello,Redcrab.When the 0.3.1 server is going on air again?

For dinosaur addict ... 0.3.1 is back ... redcrab.suret.net port 30031 still alive ... again ... ;)


Enjoy.

[stormchaser3000]

Hello,Redcrab.When the 0.3.1 server is going on air again?

For dinosaur addict ... 0.3.1 is back ... redcrab.suret.net port 30031 still alive ... again ... ;)


Enjoy.

redcrab: have you found the time to update your current server to a newer version of 0.4?