Modernization Update

Hello all,

With changing times comes changing standards, and in today’s minor update/hotfix we’re modernizing a familiar rifle in GunColony, while also updating various internals of the server to deliver a higher quality experience.

M16A4 RIFLE

The M16A2 has been updated to the M16A4! This variant of the rifle is more commonly used today by various militaries, and it also looks more distinct from the M16A1. No in-game stats were changed.

NEW MAP: SHOOTHOUSE

We needed more modern maps where old Call of Duty maps won’t cut it! Enter ShootHouse – looks familiar?

GUNPLAY MODERNIZATION

We have improved our gun system once again to make our weapons more intuitive and enjoyable to use!

• You will no longer get a sudden snap/shift in viewing angle when aiming in and out of sights
  • The feature was particularly disorienting on sniper rifles, so this could be seen as a sniper buff
• Sway has been reworked to be more continuous and no longer restricted to a narrow cone
• Jumping accuracy penalty has been reduced greatly for all weapons
  • For most weapons this was a 2x reduction, for LMGs ~2.3x, and for pistols 3x
  • This fixes the jarring issue where some guns like snipers and LMGs are insanely inaccurate while sprint jumping, to the point where bullets shoot outside of your screen
  • This also accommodates for faster paced gamemodes such as MineSpades

BALANCE CHANGES

• Groza: all-around nerf to handling
• Tavor X95: slight nerf to handling
• NTW-20: increased aim down sights speed

PVP IMPROVEMENTS

• The amount of maps in the map vote has been raised back to 14
• In MineSpades, when you die, you will now drop all vanilla items excluding cobblestone

MORE HARDCORE WEAPONS

Nylon 66 is fun, but it’s time to learn more Hardcore Weapons if you want to become a memelord!

• Charger 22: 1.5x XP multiplier
• Welrod: 2x XP multiplier

LIGHTING FIX FIX

We have reduced the lag caused by our new lighting propagation system.

• The full lighting pass is done when the map is first loaded
• When the first round begins the map reset is completely skipped as it was unnecessary
• When subsequent rounds begin in COMP, the map reset is performed but without a lighting reset. This should result in minimal lighting glitches since COMP doesn’t have much if any non-transparent blocks being destructible.
• When the map ends, the game now waits half a second before resetting the map; players will have already teleported to the lobby by then, thereby avoiding unnecessary lag and network traffic
• The map reset and lighting operation is now async to minimize server lag

REDIS DATA SYNC SYSTEM

We have added a new Redis system to sync data across servers. Compared to our old method of using BungeeCord plugin messaging, the new system still works when there are no players on the lobby server. This should fix the glitches where a map is shown as being in-game according to the lobby server, when it’s in fact not.

MOB-ARENA ENDLESS FIX

Previously, some mob types (those powered by MythicMobs) did not properly get upgraded by Mob-Arena endless. Now this bug has been fixed, so get ready to see armored ghosts and Ledoots with speed effects in your endless match!

This is just a bug fix, but given how much it affects the difficulty of endless it deserves its own section in the patch notes.

MESSAGING IMPROVEMENTS

• If you earn zero XP the server will no longer bother to send you a message saying “+0 experience”.
• After leaving a Mob-Arena match, you will now get a clickable message to Quick Join another game.
• When dying in PVP, the two lines that are displayed have been condensed into one, like “You were killed by <killer> with <gun>”
• When dying in PVP, the killer weapon will now show the name of any skins equipped on it
• When dying in PVP, the killer weapon’s level is no longer displayed in the message; instead you can see it when hovering over the weapon name
• In Discord #server-chat, removed the message for server started and stopped except for the main server (it was too spammy)

BUG FIXES

• Another attempt at fixing the very long-standing glitch in COMP where the first round ends instantly
• Fixed a glitch where staff could not use staff chat while in a game
• Fixed a glitch where in MineSpades, if a block was broken with a knife or shotgun and another block was placed at the same position, it would sometimes have zero HP and break instantly
• Fixed a glitch where if you join an empty game server, you got spammed with a lot of messages of past game results

Hotfix:

• Fixed a glitch where temporary MySQL database interruptions could cause server freezes
• Fixed a glitch where grenades in MineSpades dealt the full damage to blocks regardless of distance, causing the damage to be much greater than intended

Hotfix #2 10/3/20:

• Fixed a glitch where right clicking caused lag in Essentials/LuckPerms which accounted for most server lag experienced in the past few weeks!
  • This should be give an awesome boost in server performance!
  • Thanks people from the LuckPerms discord for helping me figure this out.
• Schematic system no longer recalculates lighting in the beginning or middle of a match. It only updates lighting at the end of the match when players have already left the arena.
  • This removes the lag problem from the lighting system completely!
  • There may now be *minor* lighting glitches again but nothing to write home about, since they will not accumulate over time unlike before – remember the lighting is still getting recalculated after every match
• Actually tested everything to make sure that MythicMobs are affected by buffs properly in Endless

Hotfix #3:

• Fixed a glitch where in PVP modes other than MineSpades, destroying glass dropped cobblestone
• Removed glitched playlist Hardhat KOTH, because Hardhat is a FFA map
• Fixed a glitch where in MineSpades, you could build outside the normal playable area such that the builds would not be reset at the end of the round
• HE Grenade rebalanced in MineSpades: damage to blocks +170%, radius of block damage -50%
  • This change makes HE more distinct from frag grenades. HE can now break cobblestone in one hit even with the HP buff, making it better at making holes in player-made bases
• The game duration in MineSpades KOTH is now normal instead of doubled, so there is less time to completely destroy the map; in Domination it still remains doubled
• Cobblestone HP in MineSpades has been increased from 160 to 250 to make it more worthwhile to build structures. (Normal stone is 200 HP, so cobblestone being slightly higher makes sense since in vanilla it takes longer to break)
• Cobblestone dropped in MineSpades now lasts 45 seconds before disappearing instead of 5 minutes to reduce lag

Hotfix #4:

• Tried to fix the glitch where you are unable to join PVP when there are already a few players in it
  • Reverted Redis messaging system specifically for PVP servers, as well as other internals, to the state it was in a week before
  • Disabled “disallow proxy connections” option on the PVP servers that was somehow enabled by default on the admin panel; maybe it was thinking that too many players were connecting from the same IP (the proxy)?
• Fixed not being able to fire weapon when looking at some other mobs including donkeys, mules, and llamas
• Fixed a glitch where players could edit blocks in the minigame lobby area

Minor update Oct 4, 2020:

• Fixed glitched/stuck spots on Mob-Arena Graveyard
• Greatly improved the responsiveness of the gun system
  • Gun firing is now async from the main thread and runs at 120 Hz: your gun will fire less than 8 milliseconds after receiving your right click packet, resulting in near-optimal latency
    • Expect response times to be around 70 milliseconds faster than previously
  • Gun sounds and muzzle flash are now played at regular intervals making them much more realistic
  • The rate of fire of your gun is no longer affected by lag. This takes the server’s gameplay fluidity to another level!
  • The delay of reload sounds is now much more accurate when scaled by magazine modifications (accurate to 1/120 of a second instead of 1/20)
  • The realistic speed of sound delay of sounds is now much more accurate
• Another attempted fix at the PVP join glitch
• Removed MCCore from game servers since it is a dependency which is no longer used, and it added significant lag upon player joining
• /gamerule setMobSpawning false lol

Hotfix Oct 6, 2020:

• Prevented DiscordSRV from using the MySQL database from game servers, this fixes a large lag glitch that plagued MobArena and sometimes PVP as well
  • It will also reduce the number of MySQL connections to help alleviate the PVP join glitch
• More attempted fixes at the PVP join glitch
  • Increased MySQL thread pool of custom plugin from 4 to 9 (one thread is now dedicated to global data)
  • Reduced MySQL timeout from 10 to 2 seconds (in the event that a packet loss happens, it won’t lock up the thread as much)
• Added debug logging to help fix the PVP join glitch
• Added debug logging to help fix quests tracking issues