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Naggie
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We're back online!

Post by Naggie »

And so we're back online!

It took just over 50 hours to get everything done. And it was a lot to be done. Everything you see in the skin style is made from scratch, every phpBB file is freshly installed and didn't exist three days ago, and the scripting language of the entire server has been updated. I am pretty much exhausted at the moment, and will soon go to bed and sleep for a day or so, but first I'd like to write this message and hope you guys let me know when you find something which is a bit odd.

All the posts, threads and profiles were saved before I took the site down. I.e. the database. I then took a full back-up of the entire file system on the server (just downloading that takes a couple of hours). With a completely clean server I got me a fresh directory of phpBB, the latest version, and put it where it belonged. Then came the tricky part; getting the blue and white normal skin style to look like the old we used to have. Since they had done quite a few updates even on the style side, I couldn't just upload the old skin (some 100-ish files). I had to take them, file by file, and read them through, line by line, and find the corresponding place for each code snippet in the new style scheme. That kept me busy most of Saturday.

With the skin created, I started going through the old add-ons we used to have. Some haven't had an update in several years by their developer, and I decided to skip almost all of them. I installed the Portal, as I like how it looks and introduces the community. But getting that thing working properly and looking the way I want isn't an easy task. I still have some minor details to take care of, mainly due to the fact that the data from the portal was not saved, so things such as the link list to other communities will have to be recreated. I also took the liberty to add a paypal donation box, since I haven't been a part of the Warhammer hobby for about two years now, but I'm still paying for this entire party. With my own finances going down the drain I don't know how much longer I can keep Asrai.org alive by myself.

Style completed, add-ons installed and tweaked, it was time to try and hook up the old database and see if everything crashed down on me. It didn't. I had to run a couple of updates to get the database version synchronised with the file system, but things seemed to plane out very nicely. With the database and file system up-to-date I got quite a few notifications saying that the server-side scripting language was not going to be supported in the future releases of phpBB. So I had to fix that and upgrade the PHP version through the webhosting company. I suspected that would kill the site completely, but it worked after a little while. With that all sorted, it was time to get the system settings in order and start preparing for the move out of my testing area.

- - - - -

The new skin style is called "Aeliaria", and you may need to go into your User Control Panel and change the style from prosilver to Aeliaria. I have not yet found a way to force everyone over to this style. It used to be such a method, but can't find it anymore.

There are also some new features which I have not yet created suitable graphics for. Such as the icon for reporting a post or the icon for warning a user (I suspect only Council of Elders can see that one). I will try to create something for those, but not right now.

Also, I found out that our WebChat for IRC had stopped working (even before the server died). Very odd, but I decided to remove it completely from the system and the skin style. If I remember, I will try to find a more suitable solution and implement it.

The portal link list will be fixed once I have a decent knowledge of what sites we can link to. Which sites are still active out there? Since I'm not a Warhammer player anymore, I'd appreciate your help to get me these links.

In the portal I will also try and add a link to the LEAF in the top left-side box, the main menu.


If you find other things which are different compared to the old forum, let me know. I need about 5400 beta testers of this new creation I've built =)

Regards,
Naggie
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Benigno
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Benigno »

Good work! :)
The forest has many eyes as leaves.
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Shandrakor
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Shandrakor »

Thanks for the site upgrade Naggie, and all your hard work!
Well, my ideas for the next book turned out to be a bust.
But it was still fun working on something of this scale.
For those who care:
http://www.asrai.org/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=22620
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Cyndra
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Cyndra »

Thanks very much and good work :thumbsup:

Cyndra
Those who defile our glades will feel the swift wrath of the Asrai

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Kojibear
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Kojibear »

A big thanks from me too :nod:
Ryric
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Ryric »

Good work, sir.
Overmind
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Overmind »

How do you change the skin in the control panel, I've been through the blasted thing five times and cannot seem to find it.
My dream for 8th ed Wood Elves: Less need to use Trees, elves get better, less need for me to have a Lord Mage. Not the most realistic, but hey we've got to have wishlists eh?

ALL HAIL TREE MAMMOTH!
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Naggie
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Naggie »

You need both ftp access to edit the files, and be a full admin to change the style. Well, you can edit the style directly in the ACP, but it's quite hard to see what you're doing then.

ACP -> Styles (one of the tabs at the top)

~ Naggie
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Beithir Seun
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Beithir Seun »

Overmind wrote:How do you change the skin in the control panel, I've been through the blasted thing five times and cannot seem to find it.
I assume you want to change skins in the UCP (rather than actually *edit* the skin in the ACP which, obviously as you're not an Admin, you don't have access to...)

The short answer is; you can't. Everybody on the site is now using the "Aeliaria" skin, and there are no other options available. The reason you can't find the option is because it's not there :) You used to be able to select different skins when we were using the Dark Forest style, but evidently with the new upgrade that's no longer possible at present.
Carrot and Stick ~ Beithir's Blog
Overmind
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Overmind »

Naggie wrote:
The new skin style is called "Aeliaria", and you may need to go into your User Control Panel and change the style from prosilver to Aeliaria. I have not yet found a way to force everyone over to this style. It used to be such a method, but can't find it anymore.
That was the source of my confusion. I know how to build a skin, I've been an admin before. :D

Although I must say I can't seem to tell the difference, however thank you, and good work Naggie for keeping the forum running. :nod:
My dream for 8th ed Wood Elves: Less need to use Trees, elves get better, less need for me to have a Lord Mage. Not the most realistic, but hey we've got to have wishlists eh?

ALL HAIL TREE MAMMOTH!
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Naggie
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Armies I play: Druchii and Asrai. Elves for the win!
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Naggie »

Yeah, I finally found the option to force everyone to the new skin. If your skin is not white and blue, you're at the right one =) The new skin, Aeliaria, is as close to the old skin as I could make it. I doubt anyone will really know any difference.

~ Naggie
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Naggie
King of the Woods
Posts: 6709
Joined: 21 Jun 2005, 03:27
Armies I play: Druchii and Asrai. Elves for the win!
Location: Stockholm, Sweden
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Re: We're back online!

Post by Naggie »

It has come to my attention that different forms of an ego search yields some errors.
For instance, hitting the link "View your posts" under the banner, or the "View new posts (xy)" from the portal will give you some messages saying that the username you're searching for has too few characters. But as far as I can see, the links work and the result is correct. We just get some extra error messages.

I will look into this and see if I can sort it out, but as it seems to be an error in the software (the php system) I do not know if I can fix it.
14 June to 14 July
14 June to 14 July
~ Naggie
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