As I am sure you are all aware, MineCraft 1.9 has been released. As with all previous releases, we will be beginning our process of testing the new update as well as confirming that our various plugins work on the new release. This will take some time, but our plan is to keep this thread up to date with our progress.

For those that have not been around for a previous major MC Release, there are several things we need to do before we can upgrade to 1.9. Below you will find a general list of the steps we take prior to upgrading the server to a new release.

1. Create a 1.9 Test Server and ensure that the 1.9 Release functions properly

2. Add our current plugins to the 1.9 test server and determine which plugins continue to work and which plugins are broken by the update.

3. Ensure that all Critical Plugins are operational. We will not go live unless several key plugins are fully operational. These plugins include Land/Block Claims (GriefPrevention/LWC/WorldGuard), Block Logging (Prism), Permissions (zPermissions), AntiCheat, Inventory Management (MultiInv), Ban Management (LiteBans/MCBans), World Management (Multiverse/WorldBorder), Economy (CraftConomy/Vault), Home Management (Essentials) Misc Other Plugins/Libraries (ProtocolLib, TuxTwoLib). If some of these plugins show no indications of being updated or are discontinued, then replacements will have to be evaluated and implemented.

4. Evaluate Medium Priority Plugins to determine which have been updated and are operational and which are not. These include plugins that are a major part of the server but are not required for us to go live. This includes plugins like Minigames, Mob Arena, Mall Shops, ModReq, MCMMO, Mob Disguise, Ranking System, and Voting. We will still update to 1.9 without these plugins, but we would prefer to have them working before we update.

5. Test/Update remaining Low Priority Plugins as they update. These plugins are some of the cosmetic items that dont really matter much and will be updated with the lowest priority. These things include Build Contest Plots, Disco Armor, Quests, Kits, etc. If any of these items show no signs of being updated or are discontinued, then we will make a determination on whether the plugin is needed or not and will either remove the plugin or find a replacement.

Additionally, to help track our progress on this project, I will keep the below up to date. Also an added disclaimer, the Test Server is for the Admins and select other staff to perform testing ONLY. We will not invite players to the test servers, so please do not ask to join it.

Test Server:

1.9 Test Server Online: Done
1.9 Version Operational: Confirmed Working

Critical Plugins:

zPermissions: Confirmed Working
Grief Prevention: Confirmed Working
LWC: Confirmed Working
Prism: Discontinued
CoreProtect (Replaces Prism): Confirmed Working
Anti Cheat: Updated (Again) - Appears to be Working
LiteBans: Updated - Confirmed Working
MCBans: Testing - Appears to be working
Multiverse: Updated - Testing - Appears to be working
HeroChat: Updated - Confirmed Working
MultiInv: Updated - Confirmed Working
CraftConomy: Updated - Confirmed Working
Vault: Updated - Confirmed Working
Essentials: Updated - Confirmed Working
WorldGuard: Confirmed Working
WorldBorder: Confirmed Working
ProtocolLib: Updated - Confirmed Working
TuxTwoLib: Updated - Confirmed Working

Medium Priority Addons:

Minigames: Updated - Tested - Not Working
MobArena: Not Tested
MCMMO: Updated - Appears to be working
EZRanks: Not Tested
ReportRTS: Not Tested
Mob Disguise: Tested - Not Working
UltimateVotes: Not Tested
BetterShops: Discontinued
EchoPet: Not Tested
Mythic Mobs: Not Tested
Citizens (NPCs): Updated - Confirmed Working
MyWarp: Confirmed Working
boosCooldowns: Not Tested
ecoDrop: Not Tested
Skript: Not Tested

Broken Addons:
VirtualPack - Not Functioning - Replace
Lighting Effects - Not Functioning
Holographic Displays - Not Functioning
MysteryCrates - Discontinued
BetterShops - Discontinued - We will replace this, and we think we can get it working for 1.9 solely to let players empty their shops.

Bump. I've updated the listings with my findings:


Critical Plugins:

LWC: Confirmed Working
Multiverse: Updated - Testing - Appears to be working
Essentials: Updated - Confirmed Working
ProtocolLib: Updated - Testing - Very Buggy
TuxTwoLib: Updated - Confirmed Working

Medium Priority Addons:

Mob Disguise: Tested - Not Working
Mall Shops: Tested - Not Working
Citizens (NPCs): Tested - Not Working
Chat: Tested - Not Working
MCMMO: Tested - Not Working
Minigames: Tested - Not Working


Broken Addons:
Lighting Effects - Not Functioning
Holographic Displays - Not Functioning

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Just wanted to take a moment to update everyone on what is going on.

Our testing is going very well and a lot of our critical plugins have been confirmed working. This is very good as it means it wont be long before we can go live on 1.9.

Just a few things to keep in mind.

2 of our critical plugins have not been confirmed working yet (Anti Cheat and HeroChat). Both of these plugins are very important and we cant go live without them. The developers of these plugins are still active and are working on 1.9 updates currently so it is only a matter of time before these get updated and fixed. In fact, as of this morning both addons have updates that we will be testing. If all goes well then we can move forward with our process of updating the server to 1.9.

Some other things to note: There are several plugins that have been confirmed as broken on 1.9 so some features that are currently available on the server may be unavailable for a period of time while those plugins get updated or replaced.

As it stands now, the Minigames Plugin is a major plugin that is currently broken. So unless that gets fixed before we go live, arenas and parkour wont be available when we update to 1.9. These features will be brought back as soon as they are fixed, but we wont have any estimate as to when they will be resolved. So please understand that some major features may be absent for a little while after we update to 1.9.

Some other things that are currently confirmed broken on 1.9 include:

Arenas (All arenas except Mob Arena)
MCMMO
The Mall
Mob Disguise
Disco Armor
VirtualPack (Virtual Chest/Furnace/Brew Stand/etc). This plugin wont be coming back, we will find a replacement but it will likely be a virtual chest/backpack plugin and wont include virtual furnace/brew stand/etc

Finally, the voting system is likely going to have to be modified. One of the biggest hits we took on the 1.9 Update was that our MysteryCrate Addon is broken and discontinued. MysteryCrate was the addon that gives you the crates when you vote and lets you pick a random crate for random reward packs. So we are going to have to make changes to the voting system (unless we can find an equivalent plugin of course). We dont know what those changes will be, but we will let you know once we decide.

MCMMO will be missed :'(

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It isn't gone forever, just until they update it

[ Post made via Android ]

Another Update, We were able to get all of our critical plugins to work with 1.9, however the anti cheat isnt quite ready yet. The developer for the anti cheat is working on fixing a few remaining issues which are important. Once those issues are resolved, we can start looking at upgrading the main server.

You also may have noticed that a lot of the Medium Priority plugins have not been tested yet. We have not been putting too much effort into testing these plugins except for a few that are more important (like Minigames and MCMMO). Some others of these are just very difficult or impossible to test on a test server (Like EZRanks). Just a reminder that we can still go live without the Medium Priority Plugins, many of these will be tested once the main server gets updated since the plugins are already configured there.

Finally, please be patient with us during this process. When we do upgrade the server to 1.9, there WILL be issues and it will take us some time to sort them out. Additionally there will be plugins that are turned off either until they can be replaced or until they are updated. Some of these might not be noticable, and others might be extremely apparent.

There are a couple major things to announce:

1. As mentioned earlier, MysteryCrates is discontinued and as a result our voting system is going to have to be adjusted and changed. There is a possibility that we can replace MysteryCrates with another Crate plugin that we are looking at. But if that doesnt work out then we will have to change the voting rewards. More info on this soon.

2. Our Shops Plugin (BetterShops) is discontinued. With the help of another developer from another server, we were able to get our hands on a working 1.9 version, however there is no longer any support for the plugin and the recommendation from the dev that helped us out was to get off of BetterShops and replace it with something else. We are going to follow through with that, but that means that everyone needs to empty their shops. You can do this now before we update the server, and we will install the temp 1.9 BetterShops update when the server updates with the sole purpose of letting players empty their shops. After a yet to be determined period of time, those shops will be emptied by staff and the plugin will be removed. We are currently evaluating replacements for player shops.

3. VirtualPack is finally getting removed. We have had issues with this plugin for a long time and have tried to work around them with not so great results. The biggest issue with VirtualPack is that the virtual chest feature is kinda buggy and sometimes loses items, we were able to fix this for a while, but the issue keeps returning and is still there in 1.9. Additionally the plugin isnt getting much support so the chances of these things getting fixed is pretty low. The problem is that there is no other plugin that can replace everything VirtualPack does (namely the virtual furnaces and brew stands). Keeping this plugin isnt an option though, due to the issues I just described, so we will remove VirtualPack and replace it with a Virtual Chest Plugin (which we feel was the best feature of VirtualPack anyway), so players will be able to have virtual chests to store items in, and access to a virtual workbench .... but no options for virtual furnaces and brew stands. We will do our best to fill the hole left behind by the loss of virtual furnace and brew stand in the ranking system.

4. Finally, as a teaser, we have been working on an addition to the ranking system for quite some time and my hope is to bring it live shortly after we update to 1.9. I dont want to give too many details because the plugin hasnt updated to 1.9 yet so I dont want to promise anything until we are sure the plugin will be available. But suffice to say we will have a way for players to obtain spawn eggs for monsters and animals, unlockable in the rank system (similar to how pets are unlocked). These eggs will also be sell-able in your player shops and overall should be a very exciting addition. More details on this soon, once we have a working 1.9 version of the plugin.

Here is yet another update.

We are getting very close. The latest build of the Anti Cheat is significantly better than the previous ones and seems to be mostly working. There are a couple other issues that are yet to be fixed with the anti cheat, but the bulk of it appears to be working properly. We are going to do some final testing to ensure that everything is up to par. If everything goes well, we should be able to start the upgrade process soon.

We dont have a set upgrade date yet, but we will try and keep everyone updated with our progress and our plans. Once the upgrade begins, the server will likely be unavailable for several hours while we tweak plugins and such and get everything operational.

We appreciate the updates, thanks Sharrq

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Aaand More Update.

At this point we pretty much have everything we need to be able to update the server to 1.9. The only thing we are currently waiting on is for Silver and I to both have time to sit down and go through the upgrade. I would expect an update sometime in the next 1-2 weeks.

Once again, there will be bugs once we update the server, so please be patient and report any issues that you come across so we can get them fixed. Additionally some plugins will not be working once we update to 1.9. We will bring them back once they have 1.9 compatible versions.