Of the UHCS and SMP

So, as you may know, some things have happened with the UHCS that I'm not completely sure about. I know that the original admin just kinda stopped coming around. Long ago he stopped hosting UHC games, but recently he's been just MIA when it comes to the UHCS. Many people didn't like this. Honestly it didn't bother me.
Part of the reason I liked the UHCS is because of the people, but a lot of them left, I'm sure they all had their reasons. They still played the games, but I think the idea of a survival server with the UHC mod on, although unique, was a pain. I even felt it, but kept playing there, trying to build on what I was doing.
Originally the server was hosted somewhere that sucked balls. horrible lag, all the time. A group of us chipped in money to get hosted by a new company that was supposed to fix the problems, but it didn't seem to help. I threw in like $25, and I think in total we got like 150-200 to host the server for many months.
I blame the plugins, I think a lot of the grief protection cause blocks to re-appear and threw out more lag than it should have and would just cause the game to stutter all the time, every few minutes you'd be stopped on the track for 15 seconds while in a railcart, or the last 5 blocks you broke would re-appear. It made doing anything a pain.
Not long before 1.4 hit, there were periods when the server was down for DAYS with no one around to fix it. And then of course 1.4 hit and because the server was running bukkit it wouldn't be updated until bukkit did.
With the update to 1.4 there was talk of people who wanted to keep playing together, the community is still there, just not on that server. A new vanilla snapshot server popped up. The Minecore server. This server is much more restrictive on who gets in, and only someone who is suggested by an active player can even apply to be added to the whitelist.
There were a lot of complaints about the UHCS this addressed, some people hated how easily new people were added to the whitelist. Personally, I didn't care as long as they were cool folks. What I missed was the continuity of the server.
The Minecore server is great, I've had some really good times with the folks on there, but I don't plan on recording anything on there, just going to be there for fun. I might throw out some footage occasionally or appear in other people's videos, but it won't be a regular thing.
After Minecore popped up, the people who were new and active on the old UHCS started talk of clearing the place out, starting over fresh. Not sure exactly what came of that beside that the last time I tried logging into the UHCS, I was denied (not whitelisted anymore) on the server I helped fund, even though it's going by another name, Mumblecraft, in the MotD. Honestly, I don't mind. It seems that the old world that was there (which I assume has been erased from that specific server), was moved off to another one, under a different admin.
I was contacted by that admin before the move, asked if I wanted to join and I gladly said yes. Seems the server is up, but I'm not on the whitelist. I'm sure it's just something that was overlooked, I haven't bothered bringing it up to the admin because I'm not too worried. I put a lot of work into my builds on the server, but I really wasn't too attached to them.
Again, it's more about the community. There's a lot of crossover between the two, the New UHCS and The Minecore Server. Most of the people I really got on with are on the Minecore server. There are other things outside of normal survival play we do together. So in the end, to me, it isn't a big deal. I'm just glad I can share my minecraft experiences with you guys.
All of this is one of the main reason I've picked back up with Mining with Munchmo. That server I control, I don't have to worry about some admin closing it down, wiping the world, griefers, etc. Sure, I'm mostly alone there, which sucks, but I have community in many other places, so I'm happy.

I'm sure there's a lot that I've missed or not covered here. You might even have some questions, and if you do, please feel free to leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer 'em.

A new style of post-production

So, with this next video, I'm trying something I've never done before, and the video is still rendering, so I really don't know how well it will turn out, but I would really like feedback about whether it was any good or if I should try something else.
I have seen other people do something similar, and it seemed to work pretty well in their videos, so I thought I've give it a try to spice up the less interesting portions of my hardcore series. I have to record the whole thing anyway because you never know when I could die, so I thought I needed to find a way to incorporate all the less than awesome footage into the episodes without boring my viewers.
Obviously this won't happen too often, but I figure I'll need to branch mine from time to time and I might decide to build something big (like a mob farm in the sky or something). If this works out well enough I will start using this style in future videos, and not just hardcore.

A few things

One, I'd like to apologize for the lateness of Mining with Munchmo, but I had a long weekend at work, so I didn't have as much time as I would have liked to get videos put together.
Today I should be recording another special video for you, although I'm not exactly sure how it will turn out. My son wants me to play in his Hunger Games series, and so I will, and I will record it, but I'm not sure how the footage will be, or even what being part of the games involves.
I will definitely get a new Meandering put up on time this week. And I will keep up with Hardcore, although with the new Avidcrafter server I won't be pushing out as many hardcore episodes as I was. I do think I'm going to try something a little different in the next hardcore episode though, and see how that goes.
On an unrelated note, EA released another video showcasing the GlassBox game engine that was built for the new SimCity. I absolutely cannot wait for the game, it looks so unbelievably awesome. If you're interested in checking out the video, click here.

Voting closing soon

It's Wednesday again and time to get your votes in for this week's episode is almost over. I've got another video uploading now, hardcore is going well so far. Keeping one video a day isn't as hard as I thought it would be.
Tomorrow I'll get the newest Meandering up, and will keep filling in the week with Hardcore. Saturday you should get a new Mo' Angels 'n Creepers, and Monday should be another Mining with Munchmo. I might even get a special up on Friday if they release the new version of Minecraft tomorrow.
Until then, keep playing!

Well, that's ok then

So, the Youtube uploader is being dumb. It won't upload a video at all in Firefox, but in Chrome it is uploading, but not showing any progress at all. Because of this, I was at least able to get the two videos I had out there. So you can be happy to have a new Mining with Munchmo and a new Mo' Angels 'n Creepers.
I've also got a new episode of Hardcore uploading now which should be available to you guys a little later today, and I am going to see if I can get a new video up every day for the next week or two.
On a side note, Bukkit still hasn't got a Recommended build for their server yet, so I'm still in 1.1 in Mining with Munchmo, but I'm keeping with 1.2.3 for Meandering and Hardcore. I haven't found a reason to update Mo' Angels 'n Creepers yet, so that's still at 1.0.
Also of note, we might have a new version of Minecraft this week per Jeb's tweet. This can be a good or bad thing, might mean it will take even longer for Bukkit to get an RB out for the server, but it'll also hopefully fix some of the glaring bugs in 1.2.3.

1.2? 1.2.2? 1.2.3!

So the newest version of Minecraft has been released! First thing I did was install the Minecraft Profile Manager. This tool is a great way to keep multiple versions of Minecraft installed and running. I used to use many different users on my computer, one for each of the versions of Minecraft I was running. But now I can just have a single icon I click and choose whether I want to play my modded version of 1.0, or 1.1 for my Bukkit server, or 1.2.3 for my vanilla server.
And just like I said I would, I started my new Hardcore season. Boy, if the season keeps going the way it has, it will be a short one. I think I'm going to record my hardcore more than once per week, maybe fill in the gaps between the other shows, so 2 or 3 episodes every week. If this season does end soon, I plan on starting up another one right away, but I think the newest patch to 1.2 is going to really help me survive a bit longer.
I'm nearly done with the spider farm, it has been a huge project and I'm glad it's finally almost over.

Alas, the end is here!

So, Marooned in Minecraft episode 10. Yeah, that was a bad idea. I spent sooo long working on that spider farm, and almost had it working the way I wanted. Then I just had to go and venture into the nether. I really could have done it all bit smarter, but at least now I've learned stuff for my next hardcore adventure. I really did enjoy playing in this world and am sad to see it go, but am looking forward to starting a new one.
I've learned a few things with that spider farm too. I got really frustrated with how the spiders wouldn't stack up for me, until the very end. Watching Etho's videos, his never seemed to have a problem, but mine kept backing up in the feeding tube, which is why I changed the way it worked. I think there's something about using glass where they gather too, which helps them stack on top of each other.
I figure some of you might be interested in downloading the world I was playing in, I backed up a copy of it before every play session, so below you'll find a link to the world as it was before this video.
Download world

A new year brings a new video

Sure, this one might be later than you'd like, but I got it done! So what do you get to see? Well, I rebuild my wheat farm because it was just too ungainly, so now it's a bit more automated. I wanted to try something more challenging, so I built one that only used a single water source block. That is, one source block that is used for both the water that keeps the dirt farmable, and is also used to harvest the wheat. It took me a while to design the structure to work, but in the end, I'm happy with the results.
I also moved my chickens, they're now in a new kind of pen which makes it easier for gathering the eggs. This will also mean I'll be eating more chicken too, since it'll be a lot easier to make chickens.
My sugarcane farm is also a bit more organized, only using one water block for every 4 plants, although I think I might have enough to finish all my bookshelves. I'll have to get to making those soon too.
I also planted some melons, realized I didn't need pumpkins as much as I wanted melons, so the pumpkin patch is gone for now.
Video behind the cut.

Marooned, E04

So, the next episode of Marooned in Minecraft is ready to upload! I ended up having to split it up into two episodes again because I just couldn't fit it all into a length I felt good about. The episode starts off fairly slow until I find a nice little surprise waiting for me! I was completely taken aback when I saw the opening of an abandoned mineshaft right down there in that ravine. And it shocked me even more to realize that I have found such easy access to a cave spider spawner! And, because of that, a new project is underway. One that has already taken me nearly 10 minecraft days, and will take many more before I'm done with it. The worst part is, after all that work I put into it, I nearly died a couple times, which would have totally destroyed the world I was working in. Below the cut you'll find a current map of my world and the video.

Back on Track

So, now that the Star Wars: The Old Republic beta is over, I've got a couple of weeks until I can start playing the game. Of course, I've also still got WoW, and a friend of mine convinced me to check out DC Universe. Oh, and I'm still in the Tribes: Ascend beta. But, even with all that, I'm still making time for Minecraft. I know it's been a while since I've posted or put up a new video, but worry not! I've recorded some more footage, so you can look forward to a new episode of Marooned! This video has me doing some mundane work around the island and some exploring until I come across something really cool, and then I set to work! You'll have to wait until the video is up to find out what it is! I will tell you there was a moment when I was afraid this might be the last episode in that series!

Marooned in Minecraft E03

So, after a weekend with no uploads, and over a week of no updates to this blog, I've got a new Marooned in Minecraft for you. This video covers days 7, 8, 9 and 10. I decided I did not like the style of narration on this series, so it's no longer in-character. I had a hell of a time gathering the animals for my pens, but I'm glad to be able to breed them. I didn't get quite as much done as I would have liked, but for now I think the area around my house is mostly safe. I do fear that I got hit with the peaceful bug, since I didn't see a single hostile mob while I was playing, so next video I'm going to have to make sure I start with a hard world before I go into hardcore and start recording. Next time, I think I'll also have to start punching grass to gather more seeds, cause that wheat field is taking an awful long time to grow.

Marooned, E02

So, I'm encoding the second episode of Marooned as I type this. I have to admit, I'm still not exactly sure where I'm going with this series, but the second episode wasn't nearly as harrowing as the first. A lot less chance of totally losing it. I did film this in two segments (although, only a very small portion was actually filmed in the second segment). And, if you pay close enough attention, you can see that I did update to 1.9 pre-release 4. I'm getting a little bit more comfortable with the narration style, but I'm still not sure if I like it.
I've decided that this series will be more of an exploratory series. Since I've been talking so much about finding out where everyone is, and where I am and what happened to me as the character, I have good motivation to actually explore the world. Also, with it being in 1.9, it'll give me a good reason to go places I might not otherwise, to see some of the new content out there. I figure too, since I'll be exploring I can keep posting and updating the world map on this blog so people can share in my adventure, and maybe they can also post and give me direction in what they'd like to see.
Video and map after the cut.

Marooned in Minecraft

My new series has started! I was able to record it all yesterday, but I didn't get a chance to put it together till today. Took me three tries. For some reason, it hung during the encode the first time, so I had to put it all together again, and then left a whole bunch of extra footage I didn't mean to. The third time it was finally ok.
This is my 1.9 PR3 Hardcore survival series. Right now, it's just about surviving, but as time goes on (as long as I don't lose) I'll need ideas and suggestions as to what you the viewers would like to see in this series.
Video behind the cut

Full of fail

So I tried to start my new Hardcore Survival Let's Play series last night, but it was horrible. I used a seed I had heard about as being a good survival island seed, but I ended up spending the first 10 minutes swimming from island to island looking for one with trees, and that does not make good video. I think this is for the best though, cause my commentary sucked anyway, and because of that I came up with a new idea I'm going to use for this series. I can't tell you what it is, but I hope to get some video tonight. I can't promise to be great, but I can promise to try to be!

Coming Soon

Just want to share with you guys what I've got coming in the future. It appears they've put out a second pre-release of minecraft 1.9 so I'm going to start a survival series in hardcore mode (bugs and all) in that. Once the official release happens, I'll obviously update to that (and beyond probably). I've also got the idea of doing a couple other series. One would be survival island (maybe I should do the hardcore mode, as the survival island? It would make it even more hardcore!) I also want to do a series on a new world (SSP probably, or a private world in my SMP server) just walking, exploring the world and finding nifty new places. I think I'm going to wait to make that my official 1.9 world though. Ok, so that's what I'll do, we'll have the official 1.9 world on the server be the start of my new Meandering with Munchmo series. Keep the Mining with Munchmo series in the world in 1.8. And create a 1.9 (PR2) surival island hardcore world. What should I call that one? Any suggestions?