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Armored Core Universe is Upgrading!


Harakiri Tiger

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Please do not worry if parts of the forum lose functionality for now. The entire site is undergoing an upgrade process and that means I have to fix a lot of settings for background features and then I'll move onto fixing the forum bugs. Things like the aesthetical appearance of the board will be handled at the end of this process, so you'll just have to be patient if you don't like the look of things.

 

I will be upgrading and updating the forum tonight and probably all day tomorrow. The whole site will be undergoing full updates over the next few weeks, but I'll maintain focus on the forum for now. I'll try and fix ACU Chat as well once I get background services for the site done, but for now use the link at the bottom of this post and live with the bugs. After the forum and chat are working I'll be updating the Wiki and then finally the Home and Arena pages.

 

I will explain why this happened without notificaton later. Probably later today or tomorrow

 

More information to come soon.

 

 

 

ACU Chat is updated and still works. You can access it (mildly buggy) here: ACU Chat

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  • 2 months later...

Updated a few member settings like software enforced signature limits and also added a navigation button for quick access to ACU Chat at the top of the site. The software enforced signature limits are not retroactive and don't actually enforce all the signature limits posted in the signature limits topic, so some manual action will still need to be taken on that part by administration. Other changes are mostly dealing with forum software and getting ready to get the Wiki accessable again.

 

As a forewarning, I may have to close ACU down for one day to roughly one week sometime soon. One day at least so I can cleanly back up the entire SQL database and FTP server, one week if I decide to get to serious work on the site as that's really the only way I'll put any real elbow grease into it. Either way, when I do decide to do this stuff ACU Chat will still function, so you won't be completely shut out of the site. There is a chance I'd have to turn off ACU Chat during the SQL backup, but that would only be for one to two hours at most. If I do decide to close it down for one week to work on the site with any real conviction, I will probably grab a few of you to help me clean it up during that time to insure as much as possible gets done, then I would do the SQL/FTP backup at the end of that week. This is all on a big if, though. There's a higher chance I'd just go at it solo.

 

Check that out. October 28th was when I first posted this topic. I'm moving along pretty quickly, huh. I still haven't explained why we updated, so I'll try and do that sometime. Hopefully faster than this last update. I'm super lazy, though.

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I adjusted a few more things in the default IPB skin, added a Wiki navigation button, and also re-arranged the navigation buttons a bit. The Wiki has not yet been updated, so it won't work for anyone trying to access it. I'll be making a topic in Board Suggestions later today, hopefully, that will provide links to a few sites that house IPB 3.0 skins. My hope is that some of you will look through the skin selections and recommend some to me. Before we upgraded we had 15 skins, now we have one. That's quite a big difference and I know some of you really don't like the default IPB skin. Anyway, there'll be more on that in the topic dedicated to it.

 

Now for that website update explanation.

 

Back in October, IPS (Invision Power Services) decided they were going to upgrade their PHP and MySQL to a more recent version. IPS is who hosts ACU. Now this is normally a good thing, but we were using relatively outdated software. IPBoard 2.x. Turns out that IPB 2.x doesn't work properly on the upgraded PHP/MySQL software and for us to remain on the IPB version we were on, we'd have to migrate hosts to someone who's using older PHP/MySQL software. It's basically inevitable that just about every major hosting group will eventually upgrade their software, so we'd be perpetually stuck in a state of migration every few months or so. This meant upgrading the forum software was relatively manditory. This part was pretty simple, it was basically something like upgrade or die.

 

The problem is that upgrading the forum software broke integration with a few things like Chat. This meant I had to get the new "upgraded" TuFat FlashChat, which is actually not quite upgraded. Just a bit more polished graphically. It has numerous problems when it comes to integration with IPB 3.x, but we've managed to work around most of it. Though there are still some things that are buggy about it and I doubt I'll ever fix them, if I even can fix them.

 

Upgrading also broke the integration with MediaWiki, so I had to get the new software for integrating it with IPB 3.x. Turns out that software requires an updated MediaWiki software, which in turn requires an updated MySQL/PHP. Kinda like one big loop of events that somehow all works out if you have the energy to just update everything. I had to wait for the IPS servers to update their MySQL/PHP, which happened sometime in late november. That's part of the reason why I've been lazy, but the other part is just cuz I'm very lazy. Gotta do it in the right order, after all.

 

Anyway, all that's left to really update is the Wiki. I just gotta install the new MediaWiki software, then install the new integration software. Takes like thirty minutes to one hour total. It's mostly just time spent waiting for stuff to upload, too. The thing is I want to backup the entire SQL/FTP database (entire ACU site) before I decide to upgrade the wiki as it is somewhat more prone to blowing up during updates than other website software is. Backing up the FTP is easy and doesn't require the site to turn off. Backing up the SQL is a bit more tricky because every time someone posts a line in chat or makes a post on the forum or edits something on the site the SQL updates, and that can cause funky stuff when you're backing up stuff while stuff is changing. That's why I'd likely have to turn off the site for a day to make sure everything backs up safely. The reason I'd turn it off for more than one day is so I can clean up all the spam and other extra stuff like leftover IPB 2.x skin files and such before I backed up, this way I don't back up useless junk. I'll keep you guys updated on any planned site downtimes, though.

 

For those confused about these strange acronyms (SQL/FTP/PHP): SQL is where all our content is stored, such as posts/profiles/wiki pages/chat logs/etc. FTP is where all our software framework is stored, like all the .php and .html files that dictate how the site looks and acts. Since this is a gaming site you can consider it to be like SQL is your save game file and FTP is your game installation. PHP is basically the software that connects the two, it's the language the game is in.

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I have added IP.Board Unlimited, Innovation, and Executive to our list of skins. You can change your active skin by clicking on the "Change Theme" text at the bottom left corner of the forum, next to the "Mark Community Read" text.

 

IP.Board Unlimited is exactly like the default IP.Board skin that we've had since we upgraded with one crucial difference. Members can change the color theme of the skin to whatever they want. The board will remember what they set the color to, so you will always have that color set when you come back and even when you change between skins. To change the color of the IP.Board Unlimited skin look to the right of your navigation bar. There will be a little paintbrush next to the "View New Content" button. You can click that and set your desired color in RGB, HSB, or via Hexidecimal.

 

Innovation is definitely a new skin for ACU. It's a skin with a darker theme and a very clean look to it. Innovation also sports the ability to set your own color theme. The button to change your color theme is in the top left corner of the forum with this skin. It's a little rainbow wheel. Simply click that and you will find the same menu as with the IP.Board Unlimited skin. It also accepts RGB, HSB, and Hexidecimal for color input methods.

 

Finally we have Executive, which is a sort of in-between skin for the light/dark scale. It sports a really sleek look that I think some people might really enjoy. You can't change the color theme of this skin, but I don't think you need to. It's got a nice metalic and professional look to it, which does more than enough.

 

If you come across any bugs while using these skins please message me about them.

 

 

Enjoy!

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  • 2 weeks later...

More updates since the last post.

 

I have fixed Avatars so they display at a larger resolution than before. They were previously limited to 90x90, now they may be as large as 125x150. Their size on the profile page has not changed from default 138x138. Note that the forum uses the image you upload a source image and then resizes it to whatever constraints it needs in different places. Maximum image resolution for source images is 150x150px.

 

I have also fixed chat so that you can now use smilies and smilies will display in front of usernames in the user list as well as in the chatroom. This doesn't mean you can spam them, though.

 

The blog, gallery, and downloads section have been cleaned up and their settings have been adjusted to fit the new forum software. I also updated the blog, gallery, and downloads section to their newest software as they were behind by about six months. Previously the original IPB 2.x to 3.x upgrade had disabled the ability to upload images to any gallery section and had messed with a few of the downloads section settings. Now you should be able to upload images freely (without a watermark too) to the gallery and the downloads section should be working properly. The gallery rules have also been updated and cleaned up and the downloads section now sports a new subsection called "AC Programs" where people can upload any type of AC related programs for your computer such as AC builders, screensavers, full desktop themes, custom made flash games, etc.

 

Friendly URLs for search engines have been enabled to make it easier for ACU to be cataloged in search engines.

 

All member group settings have been brought up to date with the new software. The subscribed members member group has been deleted since the forum software no longer supports subscriptions without the IP.Nexus add-on. Also, custom profile fields have been adjusted. ICQ and Jabber contact fields were deleted and DeviantART/Facebook/Twitter/YouTube were moved into the contacts section and made into links. There is a new section called Network IDs where your gaming IDs can be more easily seen. Arena points were moved into a new field called Special Information and they were reset for all users so they are at 0. Once you have participated in an arena tournament you will have your default 15 points granted to you along with any adjustments from the results of that first tournament. Only people who have actually participated in sanctioned tournaments will have arena points visible on their profile and under their avatar in posts this way.

 

All of the pinned topics in the Board News & Rules sections have been updated so that they accurately represent the state of the site, member group features, and the rules of the site. Be sure to read through them, especially the member groups topic, if you want to stay up-to-date with ACU.

 

I moved the old wiki to a different database since I was unable to update it. It kept bugging out whenever I tried, so instead I did a clean install of the newest wiki version. I then updated it to have all the necessary framework to match the functionality of our old wiki, except now it looks much newer and cleaner. Since then the entire old wiki has been copied over to the new one, so you can consider it a full update of the wiki. The navigation bar for the wiki has been cleaned up and adjusted to make more sense. I've created a part page template as well so we can have individual pages for parts with their full stats now. Action Bastard has already begun work on the new wiki and I too will be working on it in a day or two and updating it with the ACV parts list, starting with the beta parts, then adding the demo parts come the 21st, and finally the full parts list after the game is released.

 

The new wiki has one problem currently. It is not integrated with the forum, so you can't login to it with your forum account. This means no one can edit the wiki unless I specifically create an account for them on the wiki. I will attempt to fix the wiki integration again in the near future, but for now it's going to stay this way since I have other work to do. If you would like to edit the wiki (and I know you well), PM me and I will create an account for you.

 

-------------------------

 

I have added Soc and Revolt to our list of skins for a grand total of six skins available now. You can change your active skin by clicking on the "Change Theme" text at the bottom left corner of the forum, next to the "Mark Community Read" text.

 

Soc (So-sh) is a skin much like Executive in its cleanliness, but instead of appearing metalic it has a much more natural and gentle appearance. Soc offers the ability to set your header image and the fade-in color for that image (top left), but you can't actually change the general theme color of the entire skin. You'll notice that Soc uses a single navigation button to tidy up the top of the forum.

 

Revolt is a dark skin with green highlights that features an interesting power grid theme. You can not change the color theme of Revolt. The skin does offer direct access to the ACU Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter pages in the top right, though.

 

If you come across any bugs while using these skins please message me about them.

 

More skins, new banners, and information on updates to come.

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All forum and subforum descriptions, short descriptions, rules, settings, and permissions have been redone and updated.

 

Also, the AC4 and AC:fA Design subforums were re-integrated and tags were assigned to all of the designs in the reunified category. These tags allow you soft filter the forums to show only specific AC designs sharing those tags and should not be removed. They will become the new method of identifying the game and/or regulation the design was created for across the forum. Only one tag can be used as a topic prefix, that tag should always be the AC game the design was created for.

 

I have updated the calendar for January, especially in regards to ACV. I also added the ACU birthday, ACU grand opening anniversary, and NA AC birthday as yearly recurring events to the calendar as well as the release dates for ACV in North America, Europe, and Japan. I will be adding the Post a Design weeks, ACDCs, and any other events I missed to the calendar later today.

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