Debunking the recent network instability, AS/CA hub news, and Catching Fire update

[AmyGlitters]

100% for the 1.7 only. Some of the lag I've been getting has been ridiculous and I've been unable to play much ;-;

 

[Ava]

Can you not just drop 1.7? The only reasoning for not doing so, as I recall it, is that you're not going to use an outdated client.
By reverting the servers to 1.6, everyone can play, 3.2% is a small percentage of the players right now, but it's a rather large amount of players; I'm sure people wouldn't cry at the servers being changed to solely 1.6 for lag issues, though possibly the removal of their beloved toggle sprint. However, I can only see benefits from using 1.6:
-Everyone can play
-Dual client lag removed

I'm not sure why this hasn't already come up in the thread, as it's a perfectly viable solution, right?

I want to know the legitimacy of that 3.2%. There seems to be a ton of players on this thread that fall under that seemingly small category.

How was the data collected anyway? Was it by each login or by player ID? Because every single player who plays on 1.6 clients have attempted using 1.7 to see if, with the performance boost 1.7 offers, they can play without Optifine.

Keep in mind that the forum community is a very minute fraction of the in-game community. The reason the number of 1.6 clients is way lower than even I expected was because most forum players know how to downgrade their clients, considering the posts I usually make every Minecraft update. Most players who do not visit the website frequently (the majority of the players on our servers) may not know how to do this; they simply launch their clients and click "Play", leading them to being on whatever version is the newest version. This is one major reason we aren't going to downgrade to 1.6 only; the majority of our players would be left in the dust, not knowing how to connect to our servers.
The data was collected through connections to US, EU, and AU in the past 7 days - there's at least 35 connections on 1.7 for every connection on 1.6 (probably more, as I saw scrolling through the logs).

A bit off topic, but personally, I'd like if OptiFine implemented a plugin message on connect - not so we can ban it (...why, I just don't even), but instead so we can see what percentage of the general population uses it.

 

[cf918]

I want to know the legitimacy of that 3.2%. There seems to be a ton of players on this thread that fall under that seemingly small category.

How was the data collected anyway? Was it by each login or by player ID? Because every single player who plays on 1.6 clients have attempted using 1.7 to see if, with the performance boost 1.7 offers, they can play without Optifine.

Oh, Absolutely, there even seems to be a numerous and growing amount of people commenting on this thread that 1.6.4, and personally, I feel that there is a lot more than 3.2% who's go-to update is 1.6.4, but have tried out 1.7, to see how good it really is.

 

[PackersFan509]

Note: This is NOT a final decision yet. We are still actively looking into the issues, as we want to avoid dropping 1.6 support if at all possible.
​

Hello,

You've probably noticed that ever since we updated to 1.7 back in late October/early November, people have been experiencing a lot more network instability, including random disconnections, timeouts, lag, and a plethora of other issues. We've been looking into these issues over the past nearly 2 months since 1.7 has come out. However, it appears a lot of the issues are actually caused by the dual 1.6/1.7 version support.

Some statistics:

• 96.8% of MCSG players now use Minecraft 1.7
• 3.2% of MCSG players still use Minecraft 1.6

Over the past week, we've also been alerted to the fact that there is a memory leak in the dual protocol version of BungeeCord that we use, which has the potential to cause a lot of this network instability (and lag!); however, we have not, as of yet, been able to identify the root cause. Because of this, we have decided that the best course of action is to drop Minecraft 1.6 support and return to a stable version of BungeeCord sooner than we really wanted to. Ideally, we were going to wait until OptiFine was released for Minecraft 1.7; nonetheless, as Minecraft 1.7 has been out for 58 days now and we have not seen a release, our choices are either to continue waiting for OptiFine and risk the stability and playability of our network and gametypes, or drop 1.6 support and hopefully return to stability as soon as possible.

Here's only a few of our primary reasons for dropping 1.6 support:

• We can update NoCheatPlus to a supported 1.7 version, reducing the rubber band effect for people using 1.7's new sprint mechanism.
• We can update our core network backbone to 1.7, allowing us to fully utilize 1.7's new features (such as the new biomes for use in maps, new chat features, etc.) and fixes.
• Our hub will be able to "talk to" 1.7 servers, meaning when Survival is ready (soon! Antster360), we can add it to the hub.
• We can work on a more stable version of BungeeCord, as the dual protocol version we (and many other major networks) use isn't exactly the most stable version to use - meaning that the random disconnections, timeouts, and lag can likely be fixed

Minecraft 1.7 was not an easy update for any servers to handle, as evidenced by the fact that a supported CraftBukkit version was not released for over a month after 1.7's release. A large portion of the game's code changed drastically, making it difficult for server modifications to update, and even harder for client modifications to update. Within the next few days, we will post a maintenance notice with more information on when we are updating to drop 1.6 support. In the meantime, you may want to upgrade to Minecraft 1.7.4 now if you are still on 1.6.2/1.6.4. <-- This decision is not yet final, and is only being used as a last resort!

Regarding the Catching Fire map/plugin, development has been a bit slow over the past week or two. Most of our developers (myself included) had final exams to deal with, and over the past few days we've been focusing our attention on fixing the network instability issues. We'd rather have our network stable and playable before we release new features. We will hopefully have more details regarding VIP test games (and teasers!) within the next week once we drop 1.6 support.

We're aiming for a release of the AS/CA hubs around the same time we update the rest of our network to be 1.7 only.

TL;DR: We're MAY BE dropping 1.6 support soon and going 1.7 only, so updating now is the best idea if you're still on 1.6. More Catching Fire updates coming soon; same for AS/CA hubs.

Note: This is NOT a final decision yet. We are still actively looking into the issues, as we want to avoid dropping 1.6 support if at all possible.
​

Hello,

You've probably noticed that ever since we updated to 1.7 back in late October/early November, people have been experiencing a lot more network instability, including random disconnections, timeouts, lag, and a plethora of other issues. We've been looking into these issues over the past nearly 2 months since 1.7 has come out. However, it appears a lot of the issues are actually caused by the dual 1.6/1.7 version support.

Some statistics:

• 96.8% of MCSG players now use Minecraft 1.7
• 3.2% of MCSG players still use Minecraft 1.6

Over the past week, we've also been alerted to the fact that there is a memory leak in the dual protocol version of BungeeCord that we use, which has the potential to cause a lot of this network instability (and lag!); however, we have not, as of yet, been able to identify the root cause. Because of this, we have decided that the best course of action is to drop Minecraft 1.6 support and return to a stable version of BungeeCord sooner than we really wanted to. Ideally, we were going to wait until OptiFine was released for Minecraft 1.7; nonetheless, as Minecraft 1.7 has been out for 58 days now and we have not seen a release, our choices are either to continue waiting for OptiFine and risk the stability and playability of our network and gametypes, or drop 1.6 support and hopefully return to stability as soon as possible.

Here's only a few of our primary reasons for dropping 1.6 support:

• We can update NoCheatPlus to a supported 1.7 version, reducing the rubber band effect for people using 1.7's new sprint mechanism.
• We can update our core network backbone to 1.7, allowing us to fully utilize 1.7's new features (such as the new biomes for use in maps, new chat features, etc.) and fixes.
• Our hub will be able to "talk to" 1.7 servers, meaning when Survival is ready (soon! Antster360), we can add it to the hub.
• We can work on a more stable version of BungeeCord, as the dual protocol version we (and many other major networks) use isn't exactly the most stable version to use - meaning that the random disconnections, timeouts, and lag can likely be fixed

Minecraft 1.7 was not an easy update for any servers to handle, as evidenced by the fact that a supported CraftBukkit version was not released for over a month after 1.7's release. A large portion of the game's code changed drastically, making it difficult for server modifications to update, and even harder for client modifications to update. Within the next few days, we will post a maintenance notice with more information on when we are updating to drop 1.6 support. In the meantime, you may want to upgrade to Minecraft 1.7.4 now if you are still on 1.6.2/1.6.4. <-- This decision is not yet final, and is only being used as a last resort!

Regarding the Catching Fire map/plugin, development has been a bit slow over the past week or two. Most of our developers (myself included) had final exams to deal with, and over the past few days we've been focusing our attention on fixing the network instability issues. We'd rather have our network stable and playable before we release new features. We will hopefully have more details regarding VIP test games (and teasers!) within the next week once we drop 1.6 support.

We're aiming for a release of the AS/CA hubs around the same time we update the rest of our network to be 1.7 only.

TL;DR: We're MAY BE dropping 1.6 support soon and going 1.7 only, so updating now is the best idea if you're still on 1.6. More Catching Fire updates coming soon; same for AS/CA hubs.

I can't use Optifine 1.6.4...I guess I'll be patient

 

[mikag35]

Get rid of 1.6 and I leave.

 

[In_Memory]

Yes, 1.6 might be able to live on! I love my 1.6.

 

[Operdasher]

Once 1.7 gets optifine I will leave the 3.2%

 

[cscoop]

So no OF or rods? Nu pls

Rods aren't going anywhere... :/

 

[KYSKILLZ]

Rods aren't going anywhere... :/

yay

 

[cscoop]

I've read through this entire thread, all of the responses. 90% of more are the people still on 1.6 and I understand their reasoning, but honestly.. think about the servers rather than yourselves for a second. They're laggy, there are glitches, the gameplay is literal hell. All of this because we haven't just swapped to 1.7. I understand that you are all used to the 1.6 and you get terrible FPS, but there WILL be an update to optifine. You all just have to be patient for the sake of the server's stability.

 

[EvermoreHD]

I've read through this entire thread, all of the responses. 90% of more are the people still on 1.6 and I understand their reasoning, but honestly.. think about the servers rather than yourselves for a second. They're laggy, there are glitches, the gameplay is literal hell. All of this because we haven't just swapped to 1.7. I understand that you are all used to the 1.6 and you get terrible FPS, but there WILL be an update to optifine. You all just have to be patient for the sake of the server's stability.

I've haven't experienced any game-breaking stability issues, lag, or glitches...

 

[ulthar]

Wow. I thought MORE people would use 1.6 due to Optifine. Guess I'm special