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

[EvermoreHD]

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.
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So is a dual 1.6/1.7 support CA Hub definitely not going to happen? D:

 

[Gustav Mahikano]

I also can't really believe that only 3.2% of users use 1.6 w/ Optifine. Just curious, how do you even know this?
Anyway, I'm not really having any major problems with the servers at the moment so I don't think abolishing 1.6 is urgent or anything.

 

[cf918]

Against the decision, but I definitely see the other side of the argument. Going to miss 1.6.4
Also, I am not sure if the calculations were off but I am seriously appalled by the fact that the percentage is that minute, it almost seems as if there had to be some sort of error in the calculations.

 

[MCSG_pro011]

Nooooo. This is a bad decision! I have been playing on 1.6 with Optifine as playing without it makes my game lag terrible. I'd rather have a laggy connection, but a good frame rate, rather than having terrible connection and frame rate, but as they say,"You can't please everyone"

 

[cf918]

Not sure if I mentioned this in the post, but this is not a final decision yet. We're still actively looking into the issue, as the last thing we want to do is drop 1.6 support without a stable OptiFine.

I feel that many of the top players that I've spoke too and been in contact with use 1.6.4, and not only do I strongly feel that 1.6.4 should not be dropped at this point, but even whenever the optifine for 1.7 comes out, I still strongly feel that 1.6.4 should not dropped, due to the amount of players who heavily rely upon it to play.

 

[arsenal]

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.
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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.

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 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 once we go 1.7 only. AS/CA hubs coming around the same time we go 1.7 only.

Do it now!!! The rubber band effect has cause me to die some many times when getting chased, and has caused me to let so many players get away!!!

 

[Upperbyte]

Do it now!!! The rubber band effect has cause me to die some many times when getting chased, and has caused me to let so many players get away!!!

I hate the rubber band effect as much as you do.

 

[WertQuadNine]

Really unhappy about this :/
All my mods are 1.6, and don't work with 1.7...
I guess it's for the best doe

 

[wertea]

Really unhappy about this :/
All my mods are 1.6, and don't work with 1.7...
I guess it's for the best doe

Ermm if they are not used in multiplayer than that shouldn't matter as you can use multiple profiles. Unless of course you mean optifine.

 

[omridan13]

Why not make 96.8% of servers 1.7 and 3.2% 1.6? Then everyone is happy

 

[EvermoreHD]

Why not make 96.8% of servers 1.7 and 3.2% 1.6? Then everyone is happy

I don't know if you're joking or not but
that would be impossible, as the dual support is completely dependent on the Hubs.

 

[Ava]

Just an update, we're trying an update to our dual protocol support tonight to see if it alleviates any of the issues.