Connect at tangent.dune.net port 8789

For further updates, goto www.equestriandawn.com

Monday, December 26, 2011

BLOG OFFICIALLY DEPRECATED!!

Thanks to some very generous Equestrians, there is now an actual, honest-to-pony www.equestriandawn.com on the internet.

There's a forum, and useful information pages, and basically everything this blog was supposed to do (and more).

So, with that said, goto www.equestriandawn.com from now on.

Also, keep an eye on the in-game BBS which was implemented. That will probably have even faster updates, being held within the MUSH itself and all.

--Scribus

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Downtime Rescheduled

The scheduled downtime has been rescheduled for 7:00 PM Eastern.

It is still expected to last 15 minutes, and the MUSH should be back online automatically.

--Scribus

Server Downtime - October 27, 2011

Here's the paragraph exactly as it was eMailed to me:

"We will be performing server maintenance on Thursday, October 27th at 12PM Eastern Time. The expected downtime is approximately 15 minutes."

The MUSH should auto-restart as soon as the server is back online.

--Scribus

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Update (mostly) Successful!

Equestrian Dawn is now running PennMUSH 1.8.4p7

Unfortunately, we seem to have lost ANSI on the channel tags, and the view is (yet again) wonky. The color, I'm not sure about, but the view can be fixed with the following commands:

@wrap me = 80
@set me/wrap = visual

Hopefully, these issues will be resolved early in the day.

I apologize for the inconvenience.

--Scribus

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Server Update - October 17th

Monday, October 17th at 0100 AM Pacific the server will be updated to the latest version of PennMUSH. It will be unavailable for play at that time. I'm not sure how long it will take; hopefully less than an hour. Ideally, much less than an hour. Further information will be available on the blog and RDN. Thank you.

--Scribus Caballus

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Server Downtime - August 11th

I received an e-mail from our hosts stating that...

"[They] will be performing server maintenance on Thursday, August 11th at 12PM Eastern Time. The expected downtime is approximately 15 minutes."

If all goes according to plan, the MUSH should be back up and running automatically.

Unfortunately, there is a slight chance that any work done (rooms built, descriptions added or changed, new characters created, etc.) may not be saved before the shutdown. It shouldn't be a problem, but please try to be mindful and finish your business before 12 PM Eastern.

Thank you!

--Scribus Caballus

Friday, July 29, 2011

Character Race/Species

I want to stress that I am not calling anyone out or placing blame on any player, administrator, or character.

That said, there appears to have been some issue with characters of non-standard races in the MUSH. I'll be the first to admit that I haven't been as actively involved as I could (and should) be - which is why we have wizards. I trust them, and I feel that everyone should. That said, I'm not hiding behind them - if there's an issue, I may not be in-game often, but I do follow my eMail.

I think that this problem has two causes. First, I never instituted race rules. I had not expected any problems, and figured that things could be dealt with as they come to light. I still prefer this approach - I'd rather have more liberties than fewer, and a laundry list of rules and restrictions (let's be honest) tends to get ignored or forgotten. Second, everyone has a different idea on what they want to do. This variety is part of what makes the roleplay experience so rich. Unfortunately, it will also lead to disagreements, which in turn can become conflict.

Which brings me to the best solution I can think of. I am the founder of Equestrian Dawn, and technically the head administrator, but I do not want to be the dictator. I want everyone to think of this as "our" MUSH, not mine. That means that we should all keep in mind a spirit of co-operation and be considerate of what others may want or believe. We should keep in mind the possible far-reaching effects of our actions, and try to keep the MUSH fun and inclusive for everyone involved. We should be prepared to compromise, and to accept - or even embrace - everyone's differences.

That said, I don't want to institute "rules." I will lay down a guideline, however. I hope everybody finds these fair and even-handed, and that they understand that I'm trying to keep things fun for everybody.

The closer to the show (and related official materials), the better. Some gaps exist within the series, and sometimes it even conflicts with itself. In that case, I think MST3K phrased it well - "It's just a show, I should really just relax." The most important thing is that we all enjoy ourselves.

I hope this resolves peacefully, and without heating emotions any further than they have been, and I apologize for problems which have already arisen.

--Scribus Caballus

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

An update? In my blog?!

This is preposterous!

Anyways, this is your Captain addressing to our beloved users for the first time. For those who don't know what am I talking about I'm Captain_Julian, better known as Fimbulwinter, your adorable dictator.
But this isn't an introductory post; I'm here to notify you of all the new commands that we've implemented and that some of you have already been using, so prepare for a really long post:

+who: Takes no parameters, and shows you all the non-dark connected players in the world, as well as some information about them.

+whois: It takes no parameters, and it shows you some info about the players in the same room as you; it works as a local +who.

+beep: You can send sound alarms to other players to get their attention, if they  are set up to receive them. You can also receive alarms if your client is sound-enabled. You can use +beep/help to learn how to set up and use this command

+hoof/+info: These are two names for the same command, which many of you may already know as "+finger", and it's purpose is to show some information about a player. If you use it without parameters or you use it on yourself (+hoof me) it will show your info just as others will see it. If you use it on other player (+hoof <player>) it will show you their info, simple as that. You must input the name of the player (no dbref and without prepending '*'), or an alias. I'll explain the attributes you must set in a while.

+laston: You must pass a player name as a parameter, and it shows you the last time that player logged in and if it's still connected. If the player isn't connected, it shows for how long they were last time. There's currently an issue about not showing the information correctly when using it on a player that has logged in for the first time.

+watchfor/+wf: This command lets you keep a list of friends and warns you when they log in or log off. This behaviour is still not implemented though, so currently it's only purpose is to keep a record of your friends. I'm planning on fixing this sometime soon, as well as making it to send a friend request to the other player, which he can accept or reject. It's uses are: +wf to see a list of your connected friends; +wf/list to see a list of every friend, with a (D) prepended to the friends that aren't currently connected; +wf <name> to add a player to your list (you must use their name, no dbref and no prepending '*'); +ws !<name> removes a player from your list, with the same rules as the above. This command is a work in progress and it could change a lot, so maybe you'll want to wait before using it.

There's also an IC flag that will be visible when someone uses +who or +whois and which you can use to show your status to other players. To set yourself IC you do @set me = IC, t oset yourself OOC you do @set me = !IC

And now, the new attributes. These will be shown when someone +hoofs you and you have to set them manually if you want to share that information with other players, though we're planning to set some of them automatically at some point. It is important to notice that all of these fields (excepting the last one) refer to your character, not to yourself. To set an attribute type @<attrib> me = description. You can set the following attributes:
alias, race, age, sex, body, mane, eyes, cutie_mark, background, accessories, residence, occupation, office (you probably wont' have one but still), cnotes (character), pnotes (player).
Alias and sex are standard MUSH attributes, so you can do help @alias and help @sex to learn about them. Note that when you do +who and +whois it shows the first letter of the sex of the character, which means that if you see an 'M' it could mean "Mare" or "Male"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now that I'm allowed to edit the blog, you can expect more frequent and shorter posts.

Saturday, May 28, 2011

Out-of-Character Commands

+OOC and +OOCP (for out-of-character speech and out-of-character poses, respectively) have been successfully implemented.

If you're going to do extended chats while out-of-character, it would still be preferable to keep it in an appropriate @chat channel, or find an <OOC> room.

But, for short messages, like planning a scene, +OOC is the way to go.

--Scribus

Friday, May 27, 2011

Old server down

The old Equestrian Dawn server is down, and with it the old website. All information is now on this blog, including connection info.

Reminder, the server has changed to tangent.dune.net but the port remains 8789.

--Scribus Caballus

New server up

The new server is up at tangent.dune.net port 8789.

In addition, I will be less involved than I have been. The reason for the server move was conflict at my home, where the old server had been, and this conflict has reached far enough that I'm also going to be without an internet connection for some time - at least a month, possibly even two or three.

I have an Android with Verizon, unlimited data, but its connection is slower and less reliable. Much of the responsibility has been passed to Fimbulwinter, and you can reach any and all team members at equestriandawn@gmail.com.

Thank you all for everything, and I'll see you around Equestria.

--Scribus Caballus

Server transfer started

The final backup has been done, and the server transfer is beginning.

For some reason, I feel this to be appropriate. May just be me getting sentimental over shutting down my home server.


Thursday, May 26, 2011

Test server transfer complete

The testing server has been successfully transfered.

The new address for the live server (the one you've all been playing on) will be tangent.dune.net port 8789


Tomorrow at about 1145 AM Pacific, the game database will be saved and transfered, and hopefully the transfer will be complete by noon. Notice will be given in-game, and the old server will be left up for a few hours with notice of the move.

Thank you all for your patience through this.

--Scribus

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Hosting acquired

A new host has been found & the plan arranged.

This will change how you log in.

As soon as I know the new URL and port number, I will let you know in advance. The switch itself is still scheduled for noon Pacific on Friday.

Hopefully, this will all go over without a problem.

--Scribus

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Server Move

The Equestrian Dawn server will be moved at approximately 1200 noon pacific on Friday, May 27th.

More details will be posted as they become available.

--Scribus

Friday, May 20, 2011

Back online

Equestrian Dawn is back online.

Apologies again for the inconvenience.

--Scribus

Downtime report

I cannot remotely access the server.

It will be down until I can get home from work & fix it in person.

--Scribus

Server Downtime

We are suffering unanticipated server downtime.

I hope to be able to remotely troubleshoot the problem, but if I am unable to fix it, it will be up to six or eight hours until I can have immediate physical access to the server.

I am also looking into other, more-reliable hosting options.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and my apologies for the inconvenience.

--Scribus

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Spam problems

I'm not sure why, but Yahoo has started to send MUSH-related e-mails into my spam folder.

I've set up a filter, which hopefully will rectify the problem.

I apologize for any trouble it may have caused.

--Scribus

Friday, May 13, 2011

Character application clarification

The best way to apply for a character is to email scribuscaballus (at) yahoo (dot) com. The equestriandawn (at) gmail (dot) com address is a shared account for the administrators..

If you're having specific in-game troubles, you can @mail or @page a listed Wizard. There's a signpost in Ponyville Town Square (look Wizard Directory) if you don't know who to contact.

Apologies for any confusion.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Wizards

I've got a team together. So far, we're doing a lot of crunching on the development server, trying to get it ready to replace the beta (current live) server. I'm also looking into hosting offsite, as my ISP seems to be ... not the best.

Now, on to specifics, after the break...

Friday, May 6, 2011

OOC Rooms Created

Technically, they were assigned. The River's Edge Inn - Tavern is an OOC and Age Restricted room, while the Common Room is all-ages OOC.

If you're having any trouble getting into the Tavern (and you're 18+) then send an e-mail with your character name & birthday and we'll get that sorted out ASAP.

--Scribus

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Thoughts & plans

I'm aware that the current system is not without its issues. It is, after all, a beta. I am, however, not willing to accept this as an excuse for an inferior product.
So, I'm looking to gather opinions on what to do with the current beta server while the development server is shifted to the foreground of the development process.
My two thoughts are as follows: 1) Leave it as is. 2) Strike it down significantly & reduce it to something more like a "talker" - A login room leading to an IC room, an OOC room, and maybe one of each for age-restricted chat.
Poll on the sidebar, specific thoughts below.

--Scribus

Monday, May 2, 2011

Inaugural Post

Welcome to the development blog for the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic MUSH, "Equestrian Dawn."

There's not a whole lot to be announced, except that this here blog exists and that I really didn't want it to be sitting here with a blank stare on its face until there was newsworthy news.

--Scribus Caballus