New Server Video!!!!

Alo peoplez!!
Long time no see, I've been at work aggressively mapping out more of Spawnington.  More on this perhaps in a later post, but for now there's a nice new visual treat for you to enjoy!  :)

One of our newer players, Iallipekul, has created a server video of his own, highlighting some of the features of the Big Sister server and getting in some rather contemporary shots of Spawnington (thank goodness I've been adding to it lately).  XD

There is also a very professional section towards the end of the video detailing how to join, although this is through the main forum.  If you have an Minecraft Forum account, we also have a page there you can use for application processing:

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/2310157-162-big-sister-gulliver-minecraft-server-whitelisted-forge/

Thank you so much Ialli for making this video!!  Everyone else, please check it out and ping some nice words of encouragement his way.  :)

Happy Easter... Egg Hunt!!!

Alo people!

Happy Easter!! :D
We're celebrating the occasion with a massive and fun little egg hunt that InvisibileDragon, Keegwi and Shadow were wonderful enough to organize!  With over 20 locations spanning all across the server world, you're bound to come across some marvelous sites that you may have never known existed! And all accessible from the Transit Hub, so you can return whenever you want!  :D

Head to the New Easter Island now (second floor of the Transit Hub), and be prepared for a security check and pat down by its military guards at the border.  Scary, huh?  :)

Go to the town square and pick up a riddle that will help reveal the town and location of the easter egg.

Each egg represents one city, village or tourist site accessible via the Transit Hub -- first try to guess the city, then try to guess the specific building its referencing.  Be sure to read it carefully and feel free to discuss amongst yourselves either in-game or on the forum, in try DaVinci Code style.  :)

The Easter egg will just be a decorated chest with a spawn egg inside -- take this back to the Easter Island shop, and if Invisi is present she can exchange it for a cool Easter surprise!  Only one main prize per person (many will enter, few will win), but consolation cheese prizes can be awarded after Easter to those who manage to solve any unclaimed riddles.  :)

Last but not least, Easter Island has a traditional-style Easter hunt for those not looking forward to a world tour...

But bats are cool I guess, so,... yeah... :P

Anyway, have fun!

And don't forget to use Dynmap to help: http://bigsister.mcserver.ws:8123/

Did You Know...

...That 4 out of 10 Big Sister players have never visited an imported biome?

How did I come up with that statistic?  Magic!  *snort snort*  XD

But yes, while I think most people have at the very least popped in and out of Monster Island, most may not realize that some additional biomes have been added even after that big job.  And why wouldn't they, if I haven't even blogged about them yet, do a combination of work, fatigue, the update to Gulliver v0.14.2, or my newfound fascination with ancient grains.  :P

But I'll very quickly recap the latest additions to our lovely server [with the lovely CayCay serving as the photo model]...

The Ice Spikes Biome!!!

Another gorgeous land hailing from Minecraft 1.7.x, minus the packed ice.  Also the reason we very nearly lost Spawnington, Riverside and Zardenmuiden, but let's not dwell on that awful episode in our lives. ^^;

Anyway, if a giant glacier doesn't suit your fancy, try a landscape riddled with gigantic or miniature icy stalagmites -- and a couple of really awesome ice caves.  :)

The Sacred Springs Biome!!!

Or technically more of an island, since I only imported a tiny little thing that was easy to work with during a time I was especially tired and had no patience for an overland merge.  XD

Anyway, Biomes O' Plenty players will recognize the very majestic high cliffs, bountiful waterfalls, endless coverage of green shrubbery, and ENORMOUS trees, probably almost rivaling some of the Twilight Forest trees in sheer size.  :)

Given its size, though, this is mainly just a taste of what such a biome has to offer.  One day I'll import a properly-sized Sacred Springs biome somewhere on the land.  ^^

The Pirate Biome!!!

Well okay, it's not a "real" biome, I just call it that to sound cool.  Even so, this is a very historic import as it marks the first time we've successfully imported structures from the Better Dungeons mod.  In some ways, structures are easier to import than whole biomes, as they don't necessarily cover a large surface area... but even so, they do have their trickiness.  I very nearly imported them all with a huge gash in the middle of the ocean.  :P

There may still be treasure held by the swash-buckling pigmen pirates, but don't count on there being a lot as some people who pay special attention to Dynmap have already stopped by for some looting.  :D

Big Sister Updated to Gulliver v0.14.2!!!

Good news everyone!

After a successful 3-day test period on Little Brother, where it's been tested, validated, and bug-reported, we are now comfortable to say that Mion's Gulliver Forged v0.14.2 is now ready for primetime!  It is now loaded into production, and so you will need to update to the latest version of Gulliver Forged to log into Big Sister... but not to worry, as installation is simple....

• Download Gulliver Forged v0.14.2 .
• Double-click on it to launch the installer.
• Leave the installer at "Install Client"
• Press OK.
• Launch Minecraft -- and set the profile to "1.6.2 Forge871 GulliverForged" if it's not already selected.
• Hit Play.
• ????
• PROFIT!!  :D

That's all you need to do, and if you've already tested it out in Little Brother, you should be all set. Enjoy your bat-riding!  :D

Gulliver v0.14.2 Released!!!

Alo people!  :D

I am very pleased to announce that availability of Gulliver v0.14.2, a super maintenance update for the current version of Gulliver for Minecraft 1.6.2 that fixes a lot of long-standing bugs, while introducing a couple of awesome new features.  :)

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1112856-162mlforge-gulliver-the-resizing-mod-v0142-april-5-changing-your-perspective-of-minecraft-over-900000-downloads/

Probably the most significant is that tiny players can now lead bats while riding them, allowing for non-creative players to fly freely across the world at their leisure!  It's not the fastest flying in the world, but it's plenty exciting nonetheless, and quite the game-changer if you ask me.  Aside from new modes of transportation, this also opens up the possibility for bat racing, bat airport,  bat delivery services, and of course the ever infamous...

Of course this is still for Minecraft 1.6.2, but not to worry as Mion is simultaneously working on the 1.6.4 version -- a lot of the work done behind the scenes for this update lays the groundwork for easier future updates to 1.6.4 and eventually 1.7.x.  The proof is in the ease of installation -- using the installer automatically set the game up properly in my profile, and it can also be used to VERY EASILY set up the server environment as well.  :D

So for the time being, I've temporarily suspended Little Brother's April Flavor (Pixelmon is buggy anyway), and loaded Little Brother with a test world using Gulliver 0.14.2.  Not wanting to make just any old boring Minecraft vanilla world, I also loaded it with the Dream Land map by TheTripping Kangaro0, which is sure to spicen up your testing with a very gorgeous, fantasy setting:

Near the spawn point you'll find some size changers, in addition to a little shack to provide you with all the necessary gear to test out the latest changes right away.  There is an easter egg made by me hidden in the area, kudos who those who can discover it. :P

As for what to test, here are the major changes to look out for:

• The mod download is now an installer, so the same point-and click method used in my AutoInstaller Guide to install Gulliver Forged applies here too.  It's the easiest Gulliver yet! :)
• Tiny players who hold onto a bat with a string will now be able to guide them as well, use forward and backwards to move them, and your mouse cursor to point them in the direction you want.  In addition, tiny players will not awaken sleeping bats.
• Normal players will be able to do the same with giant-sized bats, albeit with a lead rather than string.
• Naming a bat will semi-tame it, in that it will hover-stalk you for a while so long as you hold your string (or lead) in-hand, or glide nearby it with paper.  Once it loses line-of-sight with you, however, it will behave like a normal bat and fly away.
• There are a couple of improvements with Gulliver interaction with horses -- tinies will now be able to tame horses by feeding them rather than breaking them in.
• If you've tamed a wolf, you can ride and guide it without holding string.  Bear in mind that this is slow, and won't stop your wolf from acting like... a wolf sometimes [and you thought pigs were easily distracted].  :)
•  There may be more new pointy weapons (carrots?), so try them out. ^^
• Tinies now take fall-damage much closer to the ground (3 blocks), so watch those steps.  On the flip side, dismounting entities like villagers or horses should be a lot smoother now if you're holding string or a lead.
• Something interesting may happen when you eat a certain food item for the first time (although TBH, this could be a long-standing feature, and I just simply never noticed). XD
• Many of our prior devastating bug fixes should now be addressed -- as a Giant, try adding horses to everything, including other players and minecarts (or vice versa).  Do your worst in an effort to try and crash Little Brother!  :D
• Review the Changelog, it may contain something I [very probably] missed. ^^'

And as always, if you see something, say something!

This is a new release with very new features and an updated underlying codebase -- if something is not working unexpected or you encounter a bug, PLEASE report it on Mion's thread.  Or if you're not comfortable, let me know or post it on our forum (the Little Brother "Panic Button" section), and I can forward to Mion later.  But to help her validate this release and make it ready to be incorporated in Big Sister, we have to test test test!  :D

Lastly, take note that the latest installer modifies the existing 1.6.2 Forge871 GulliverForged to run Gulliver v0.14.2, meaning that if you leave it as is, you will not be able to log onto Big Sister because it will not require Gulliver v0.14.1.  To regress to the previous version to play on Big Sister, simply Edit the profile, and choose the 0.14.1 release in the Use Version dropdown:

Likewise, if you want to get back to testing on Little Brother, or want to explore that Dream Land some more, OR this is already the future and Big Sister is now running v0.14.2... then simply switch the Use Version back to 0.14.2, and you're all set!  Easy peasy!  :D

And that's all I can say about that.
Happy testing, and don't forget to be awesome!  XD

Gotta Catch Them All!

Hello all.

I am pleased to announce the availability of the [real] April Flavor for Little Brother!
I'm not a Pokemon fan myself, but having gone through the mod I do have to admire the vast amount of effort that went into making such a large and polished mod.  Plus we're also including Custom NPCs in this as well to help with town-keeping, and THAT mod can pretty much let you create your own adventures.  :)

Anyway, here are the details of this month's flavor:

• Pixelmon and Custom NPCs are the only two mods this month, though we may add more during the course of the month
• The map is an original vanilla world auto-generated by the server
• AudreyAwesome, InvisibleDragon and Lizeli9 will be joined by Spookster1, the April Monthly Moderator.
• There will be no demolition day and rules will be decided during the course of the month.

For Installation:

1. Download Pixelmon 3.0.4 (the non-DRM version):
   http://pixelmonmod.com/
2. Download Custom NPCs for Minecraft 1.6.4:
   http://www.kodevelopment.nl/minecraft/customnpcs/downloads/
3. Copy all the mods listed above to your minecraft/mods folder.
4. The Forge version is the exact same 1.6.4 version we used for the February flavor -- if you no longer have it, you can install the version recommended by the Pixelmon page.  Load the game using its profile and enjoy!

Good luck and have fun!
And remember the Pokemon creed... if you ever have a problem in life, just let a little monster slave confront it for you, lol.  :)

Yes... We... CRAZY!!

Hello people!

So we had votes!  Votes for the April Flavor of Little Brother!  :D
And you all voted for...

PIXELMON?!!!  D:

Nah, that's gotta be a mistake!  XD
I'm sure what you meant to say was....

CRAZYCRAFT!!!!!!!!!

There we go, that's more like it!  56 mods of pure crazy and insane goodness!  :D

Download the CrazyCraft Launcher today...!

http://voidswrath.com/newwp/crazy-craft/

...and log into Little Brother for giant squids, crazy trees, and other general knick-knacks from the state of insanity! 

[And yes, it has Orespawn] XD

Rupees Reinstated As The Server Currency!

Hey hey!

Well this is awkward!  I woke up this morning with an epiphany... Cheese as money is really really lame!  What was I THINKING?!!  XD

So I figure I should follow the advice of the Ancients, and reinstate the Dravics' Rupee as the official server currency once again!

Who needs that smelly ol' liquefied cow juice anyway?!  In fact, later today we will organize some raiding parties to bust up all the existing Cheese shops and ATMs throughout the world -- and when it's done and our economy is in utter ruins, we will take out a 15 billion Rupee loan from the IMF that will come with severe austerity measures that will ruin all life, merriment and fun on the server.

But hey, at least I'll be rich!  :D

Mine Little Pony Added to the Big Sister Server!

It's not enough that Mojang has made us all villagers today, we really should kick it up a notch (pun intended!).  :P

Henceforth, Big Sister is not just a Gulliver server anymore,... no siree, now we're also a MINE LITTLE PONY server as well!! Because seriously, who wouldn't want to trot around town as a giant mega pony?  ;D

A guide will be written next year to help with installation of this mandatory mod -- in the meantime, do your best to make sense of the really awful instructions on the mod's website. Liteloader, pffft!  XD