Fixes in Server Code 2013-09-28

As you might have found out we had another restart yesterday.

Most of the changes for this restart are under the hood: this was a Server Code release. Meaning the server's software was changed but not the content. Hence user-facing changes are minimal, but we'll outline below what's relevant.

The restart didn't work as smoothly as expected but we are working hard on fixing all the issues which turned up.

Currently known bugs that affect players:

None

Other bugs:

GM logs are now full-buffered (faster) instead of line-buffered.
Admin documentation is wrong.

Fixed bugs:

Problems with startup speed (possibly not new, fixed anyway).
Guildbot wouldn't start.
Some accounts and storages with corrupted items were deleted.
You can turn every direction except right.
Inability to trade, except when naked.
Warp bug related to the new Orum/Waric quest.
Elemental bonus/malus not applied to magic.
Update stats from the new CDN.
Script bug with Kylian and checkweight.
Drop order was wrong.
Rossy caves now notice when you win fights.
Fix an incorrectly marked assertion, which could fail.

If you encounter any more bugs or problems please report back immediately. Post on the forums http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17729

A big behavioural change has been made to the Login Server From now on the login name is case sensitive, this means it matters whether you write a capital letter or not. e.g. if you registered an account name Test, and always logged in as test, this now no longer works. You have to log in as Test. If you forgot how you originally registered your account, and cannot log in, please checkout the forums http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17737.

Please be aware that these code changes were necessary to move the game forward. The server was formerly very hard to work on or modify. This update goes a long way to fixing that and will allow the developers to bring you new and exciting things in the future.

We are very sorry for the inconvenience. We have been working as hard as we can to fix all the issues above.

-TMW Development Team

Astral Magic Extension 2013-09-14

We have a small content release today. A witch in Tulimshar has found some daunting spells for mages who are experienced in Astral Magic. Talk to her about that. Maybe she is willing to teach you.

With this update, we have added some minor bugfixes for the Waric script, Bluepar sprite and Wicked Mushroom sprite.

-TMW Development Team

Announcing Code update - Introducing Dark Magic 2013-09-03

First, a technical announcement. During a future restart, TMW will start requiring your username to exactly match the case that you signed up with.

Previously, this was enforced erratically, and led to people losing access to their accounts. If, after the update, you are unsure of the case of the account and have already tried lowercase, UPPERCASE, and TitleCase, please contact o11c or Frost.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled content news.

Today we have introduced two new pieces.

First of all, the Orum extension is finished. Orum and his master Waric have set a new base to mess with Sagatha. Seek them out! They hide somewhere in the Caves north of Sagatha's Forests.

Someone has seen a few new spells being used. No one is yet sure what exactly it is but a dark aura has been percieved somewhere north of Hurnscald. Find it! Maybe you can gain something useful!

Last but not least we have to announce bad news for the project but good news for her: Jenalya has, after finishing the Orum extension, resigned from her position as Lead Content Developer. We dedicate this news to her and wish her only the very best for her future. She contributed beyond words and her leaving will leave a spot we will have to work hard to fill. Wushin and tux9th took over as Lead Content Developers and give their best to bring quality content to you, like Jenalya did.

-TMW Development Team

Wushin overhauled caves, Ferry now goes to Nivalis 2013-06-29

This release brings a few new additions to the game:

Wushin overhauled the desert caves with an awesome new cave tileset. Also the sewers below Tulimshar are now accessible. Make sure to check them out!

Malivox took the occasion to stop camping in the desert and moved into a small house south of Tulimshar.

Frozenbeard has expanded his ferry service in Nivalis. You can now go between Nivalis and the other major docks both ways. Proper docks for Nivalis are being worked on.

With a ferry now serving Nivalis, Dyrin will send you somehwere else in Kaizei instead, away from Nivalis.

As usual there are also a lot of smaller fixes and changes. Thanks to everyone who reported issues and helped fix these things!

-TMW Development Team

Double Exp and Drop Weekend 2013-06-07

This weekend we're temporarily doubling both the experience rate and the drop rates for all monsters, to give the chance to recover from the rollback we had due to filesystem corruption.

There are also some bug fixes and new content:

The craftsmen of Tulimshar have finally moved to the renovated Forge at the Northern Market, so the Wizard's Inn is back to offering a calm stay for visitors.

In the woodland area the mysterious Evil Obelisk which summons beings from the astral plane for the mundane price of gold has drastically reduced its demands.

On the technical side, in case of network congestion, you will no longer be kicked with an invalid packet error.

- TMW Development Team

Server Crash and Rollback 2013-06-05

We had a server crash, and had to restore everything from offline backup.

34 hours were lost, from about 17:30 (UTC) on 4 June to about 03:30 on 6 June. This affects the game, the forums, and the wiki.

We're going to set up hourly offsite backups of game, forum, and wiki data so that future outages are less painful.

-Frost

Small Bugfixes 2013-04-28

We're having a bugfix release today.

The main areas that have been fixed are Brodomir's PvP Cave and Orum's quest, both in the caves below Hurnscald.

Additionally, there were a lot of small fixes on maps, spelling and grammar, and more.

We'd like to thank all the people who reported issues and helped testing!

-Jenalya

Easter Event and Miley's Hero 2013-03-21

Today we have a content release.

As always there are a number of bugfixes, but also two new quests.

One of them is an annual Easter event created by Pjotr Orial. It lasts from March, 22th to April, 25th, and can be repeated every year. Watch out around Hurnscald for some hidden Easter Eggs!

The other quest is about the admiration of a little girl in Hurnscald that sees you growing from an inexperienced adventurer to an impressive hero. Backstage, this was also about a great community effort. veryape conceived of the idea for this quest and was able to make it happen with the help of many people who were assisting with the graphics, scripting, spell checking, testing and giving valuable feedback.

Lastly, Brodomir's cave under Hurnscald has been made easier for attracting fighters from all over the world.

-Jenalya

Server move 2013-03-09

As of this Saturday, March 9, TMW moved to a new host. This means there was some downtime, starting at 16:00 UTC.

Most work was done in 1.5 hours, with a brief shutdown later. DNS settings may take a while to propogate.

For more information, see http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17126

-the TMWC

Source of Tales won the LPC 2013-02-18

This is a really exciting news entry!

Congratulations to our sister project Mana (http://manasource.org) on winning the Liberated Pixel Cup (http://lpc.opengameart.org/content/code-judging-is-in).

The project can be found at http://www.sourceoftales.org/news.html and the irc channel at irc://chat.freenode.net#sourceoftales.

We will undoubtedly experience an influx of both ordinary players and potential developers since we were linked as a related project.

As a developer, it is my goal and expectation that new players can figure things out on their own. After all, I once did - though there wasn't as much content back then (I feel old ...).

As for new contributors, they will necessarily need to coordinary with us, the developers. We're always in need of pixel artists, have great capacity for quest writers, and currently have need for a bit of web development and people crazy enough to touch insides of the server code.

Be aware that people have different time zones and busy schedules, so it may be a while before anyone responds.

Now, the links:

Server coding: irc://chat.freenode.net#tmwa

Everything else: irc://chat.freenode.net#themanaworld-dev

Forums: http://forums.themanaworld.org/

-o11c and Jenalya

ManaPlus - new official Client 2013-01-31

ManaPlus Support

We have decided to support ManaPlus as an official client alongside Mana. In fact, since there will likely be no more releases of the Mana client that supports TMWA (this server), there will inevitably be a time when ManaPlus becomes the only supported client.

Mana 0.6.1 will continue to receive some support until October 2013. We have no plans to specifically break compatibility with Mana, but new features may not be available.

For older clients (whether Mana or ManaPlus), there will be different levels of attempted support, depending on exactly how old it is:

* Less than 6 months old: will not crash or behave erratically. * Less than 2 months old: will behave expectedly, but might not support all features. * Last 2 releases: will do everything, correctly, on the main server. * Last release, or even git, may be required on the test server.

Of course, if a particular client release is buggy, we may not be able to support it at all.

For more details, see http://forums.themanaworld.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16867.

ManaPlus is available at http://manaplus.evolonline.org/

-o11c

Content Release January 2013 2013-01-26

This release brings a huge amount of small fixes and changes, including fixes of several spelling and map errors, which were reported by players. Thanks for that!

There are a few new things nevertheless: New characters won't have to start their adventure in underpants anymore, and Doug in Dimond's Cove discovered that the lamps in his room wear off after a while.

-Jenalya

Illia first appearance December 2012 again

A new peninsula has magically raised from the depths, south of Hurnscald. A witch seems to be the source of this strange phenomenon. Why is she here, and what does she want?

Further on the west, Lora Tay is willing to accept new challenges to prove once more her skills.

Christmas 2012 December 2012

Santa and his helpers have returned to Santa's residence near Nivalis to prepare for Christmas. Among the helpers, the preparations are moving smoothly as they should. The reinboos are excited this year since there will be a change within their team! But not everything is working out as planned.

Halloween 2012 November 2012

Halloween has passed and several cities celebrated this event. It seems the farmer Oscar just came back from a long journey in one of these cities. Probably he will have exciting things to tell.

East Expansion October 2012

The roadblock to the north east in Argaes was finally lifted and parts of the road were reconstructed. But there is still some work left until the connection to Port City is done. In the Woods you can find a guy who lives alone, seeking seclusion. Be careful not to disturb him. He is very vicious.

The smith's apprentice Peter does good progress in mastering his handcraft and learned some new techniques.

New Dress September 2012

Agostine is well known for his magnificent winter clothes, but he always dreamed of creating something truly exquisite, something noble...

An old veteran has set up camp in the caves below Hurnscald after a life full of hardship and battle. He may be old now, but he surely didn't lose his interest in the art of combat!