haloman30

* Updated IridiumSkyBlock from 3.2.3 to 3.2.8 * Fixed most SkyBlock features not being accessible or functioning correctly - Removed Killerteddy

* Updated CUItemSpawn to 1.2.4 * Fixed an issue where Chaotic players were still able to spawn custom items * Fixed Survival resource pack not downloading properly due to a bad hash - Removed Killerteddy

* Updated CUCraftingPlus to 1.2.1 * Fixed an issue where some custom tools/armor would not be damaged properly * Durite Ore will now generate in The End - Removed old CIT-based Durite items from CUItemSpawn - Removed old CIT-based UtilityBlocks items from CUItemSpawn - Removed Killerteddy

* Updated server resource pack to v2.0.0 * Updated CUTeddyBoss to 1.2.2 * Updated CUCraftingPlus to 1.2.0 * Migrated all custom items (including non-public items) to use Custom Model Data instead of Optifine Custom Item Textures (CIT), allowing them to be visible on vanilla clients * Updated all UtilityBlocks items to use the default Minecraft textures (Lava, Water, Fire, Soul Fire, and Redstone Dust still use custom textures) * Updated textures for all Durite items * Updated Teddy's Donation Money texture * Nether Portal item in UtilityBlocks now has a 3D model, matching how the real item would display in earlier versions of Minecraft * Migrated UtilityBlocks commands into CUCraftingPlus * Server resource pack is now only configured to enable in Survival, and will automatically disable in other gamemodes - Removed plugin: UtilityBlocks - Removed plugin: CUEventMeteor - Removed Killerteddy

Howdy, folks! Today is an exciting day for a couple reasons. Most immediately... Durite 2.0 After being inaccessible since the 1.18 reset, Durite is finally obtainable again - with some changes. While the original Durite was cool - it needed some refinements before its return. Previously, Durite was found in craters placed on the surface of the overworld. This was in large part because at the time, we had no way to reliably hook into world generation. This was fine for the most part, but had a couple critical issues: Craters had to be hand-placed by Moderators or Admins, resulting in an uneven distribution of the ore With all craters on the surface, it was easy for Donators to fly around the world, collecting the majority of available Durite Obviously, this had to be changed. Initially there was consideration to placing Durite underground in the overworld, but as part of discussions for both RPG and from a pure gameplay standpoint, the decision was made to have it generate as a normal ore - in the End. Now, Durite is generated automatically with the world. Some of it will be visible on the surface if you're lucky - but the majority of it is buried within the End Stone itself. With it being naturally generating (and generating underground), there shouldn't be any more issues with players being able to have a monopoly on Durite. And for those of you with WorldEdit - don't even bother trying. The custom blocks don't play nicely with WorldEdit and you'll end up turning them into Note Blocks. But wait, what? What do Note Blocks have to do with Durite? Well - that's where we get into why this whole thing took so long. Before we get into that, however, there are a couple other changes with Durite that you'll run into: The /durite extrabreak command is no longer functional - instead, extra-break is now per-item. You can toggle it for a specific tool by holding that tool in your hand, and then right-clicking while sneaking Durite Hoppers are no longer craftable or usable, due to limited interest (old world had exactly 0 hoppers ) Most Durite item textures have been given a minor facelift And with that, let's move on to those Note Blocks - and why you'll notice that Durite Blocks and Ore now have actual block textures now. The Quest for Custom Blocks - CUCraftingPlus The idea of having custom blocks was discussed as far back as when the original Durite was created. Back then, we didn't know of any method to do this - and so we settled for having particle effects on an existing block in order to distinguish them. However, as it turns out, there was always a way to have custom blocks - with custom textures. Not only that, but they'd work without OptiFine. In fact, it turned out that not even the items needed to use OptiFine. We learned about the CustomModelData NBT tag. This NBT tag is why that as of v2.0.0 of the resource pack, OptiFine isn't needed at all - excluding custom armor and elytra. This tag has been around for quite some time, and is able to do everything that the old OptiFine CIT method could - but better. Now, we dont have to hamfist ugly lore tags into an item for it to have a specific function or appearance. Custom items can be fully masked, and display as genuinely unique items. The only giveaway is if you have debug tooltips enabled, you can see the real material underneath. Other than that - nothing. It may as well be a real item. However, that's only half the story. The biggest breakthrough was custom blocks - using Note Blocks. It turns out, you can override many block models based on specific states. Any block which has extra metadata for things such as orientation, powered/unpowered, and so on can be overridden - including Note Blocks. You can override the block model based on any combination of instrument and note - giving us around 400 possible custom blocks we can create. If we really wanted to, we could override based on redstone power state as well to get 800, but this didn't really play nicely from the technical aspect of things - so we settled at 400. This should be more than sufficient, as we also introduced another type of custom block we can create, all based around item frames. Since we can specify the position of a model when placed in an item frame - and since we can now have invisible item frames - we can use this as an alternative custom block method for cases where we might want transparent blocks. All of this knowledge resulted in CUCraftingPlus - a plugin that actually started off based on a very different approach for custom blocks, but evolved into a plugin that acts as the single home for all custom content going forward. This plugin was designed to make adding new content as easy as possible. That way, when an idea strikes - once we decide whether or not it's a solid addition, the process of introducing it is quick and painless. Creating this surrounding infrastructure is part of why this took so long - while I was spending a lot of time trying to piece my finances back together after losing Dad last August, all while also managing a job and dealing with the continuous background stress of knowing that money is uncomfortably tight - getting this massive system for managing custom content just wasn't something that was going to come easy. But now, outside of any bugfixes that will inevitably have to happen now that the plugin is out in the wild, it's done. It's ready for use - and as such, adding new content in the future should be relatively painless. Limitations The plugin does have a few limitations that are virtually unavoidable - this pretty much only impacts donators as they have to do with WorldEdit and item spawning respectively. First off - none of the custom items will be spawnable. Not even by Chaotic. This is because tracking custom blocks/items is a lot more challenging than normal blocks (which itself has its own troubles). Additionally, not all of the items that have been setup through CUCraftingPlus are intended to be public. In fact, most of what CUCraftingPlus is aware of isn't public. Almost every custom item the server has had thus far - Durite, MagicStuff, etc - are present, though in some cases without full functionality. We wanted to make sure everything was accounted for initially as, in time, we'd like to start bringing some of this content back. Plus, with the continued work on RPG, many of those items will be only obtained via quests - so being able to spawn them in kind of defeats the purpose. Additionally - as I hinted at before, WorldEdit fundamentally breaks custom blocks. There is a potential solution to this - and could end up being a requirement depending on if any bug reports come in - but part of how the plugin was designed was to minimize the amount of data we have to store. For most custom blocks, the only data stored is within the state of the Note Block itself. WorldEdit will cause the instrument to change as the material below it changes - and as such, the block will effectively change its material - permanently. Even with the aforementioned potential solution, copy/pasting custom blocks would remain impossible. This should not happen during normal gameplay - if it does, you should report it as a bug ASAP so that I can get it fixed (and give you back the proper materials). 1.19 Survival/Semi-Vanilla Reset Just a quick note on 1.19 - at this time, we do not plan to do a world reset after the update happens. Instead, we'll be expanding the world border to allow for discovery of new terrain. Our current worlds haven't had quite enough time in the limelight, and we really don't want to make a habit of resetting so often. The Future The future overall looks quite bright. We feel that this is a strong first step towards the future of the Minecraft server - and that as we continue to grow our custom content offerings, it'll help us finally have a reason to stand out in an ocean of other servers. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for new additions as the year goes on. For now - have fun with Durite again! As per usual with any new feature, if you run into any issues (particularly cases where custom blocks lose their identity), let me know as soon as possible!

For the time being, MagicStuff features are unavailable. Any existing items will be nonfunctional, and no new MagicStuff items can be obtained. In the event that these items return, their implementation will likely be at least somewhat different - particularly when it comes to creating items at the Altar, as this proved to not be a very intuitive system. Until then, this topic will remain unpinned and for archival purposes only.

Accepted! Thank you for applying, you've been accepted! Enjoy your time here at Chaotic United! For a list of the perks you get for registering, check out this page. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask! Also, please make sure you've read the rules found here and you can vote for us here. Notes:

Accepted! Thank you for applying, you've been accepted! Enjoy your time here at Chaotic United! For a list of the perks you get for registering, check out this page. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask! Also, please make sure you've read the rules found here and you can vote for us here. Notes:

* Updated OpenComputers from 1.6.0.9 to 1.7.5.1290 - Removed Killerteddy

This update includes changes from several days prior. + Added Coal Ore to SkyBlock cobblestone generators with "Ore Generator" upgrade * Reduced Redstone Ore spawn rates in SkyBlock cobblestone generators * Reduced Lapis Lazuli Ore spawn rates in SkyBlock cobblestone generators * Updated CUItemSpawn to 1.2.3 * Fixed an issue in Survival where spawned items would always have a CustomModelData tag set, causing broken spawned items to not stack with spawned items that had not been placed * Fixed /ar not being an alias for /autorank * Fixed /ci not being an alias for /clearinventory - Removed block limits for Hoppers, Spawners, and Pistons in SkyBlock - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added mod: OpenFM * Ink sac can now be crafted from Midnight Black dye, as squid spawning is bugged and is extremely rare - Removed Killerteddy

Man - 11 years. Who would've thought we'd still be here this long? Unlike the past few, I'll be keeping this one a bit brief (or trying to) - so let's cut to the chase. The past several anniversary posts have been more or less the same thing, although somewhat different each time. The common thread is that "THIS year will be year that we finally start to get popular guys!". This year, I'm not gonna tell you that. Because the reality is, I don't know when that year will be. With everything that has gone on (and continues to go on), I can only say that we're slowly but surely getting closer to that goal - but I can't sit here and say that this year, for real this time, will be the year we finally do it. Shifting Focus What I can tell you with confidence, however, is that the past year or so has seen me starting to shift in focus. For quite a long time, I've had a disproportionate focus on the history and legacy of Chaotic United. And while this isn't necessarily an issue - what is an issue is when that becomes the only focus. This is something I've only started to become aware of within the past year or so - which is the realization that most new players simply will not care about the history and legacy of Chaotic United. They won't care about the community, they won't care about the history - they'll care about one thing and one thing only - is the server fun? Is there a decent amount of players online? If not, they'll move on to the next server. It's this key element that I've been missing - and is something that we'll be focusing on further going forward. What I feel we really lack - and have lacked for far too long - is something that makes us unique. Sure, some might say that the community makes us unique - and while that may be true, that alone simply isn't enough. The server itself needs to have something unique and attention-grabbing. Something that makes people choose to play here rather than any other server. Because as it stands right now, most of what we offer can be had elsewhere - with a more lively playerbase and likely a bit more polished than what we offer. This needs to change. And it's going to. Our focus going forward will include branching out into custom content, as well as some RPG elements. Things that can be enjoyed solo or together. In order to build a strong community, we need a strong base for that community to be built upon. Coming Changes Custom Content By far the most significant piece of the puzzle is custom content. But you might be wondering - what does that mean exactly? What counts as "custom content"? In this case, custom content refers to new blocks, items, armors, mobs, and so on. Similar to how Durite introduced a new type of tool and resource, we plan on including other new blocks and tool types - as well as a variety of blocks that can be used to make your builds look and feel a lot more detailed. Some of the ideas we have include: Giving Durite real block textures Copper tools/armor Furniture (chairs, tables, sofas, etc) Additional new ores (and tools/armor to go with them) A whole lot more that we don't want to detail just yet Further on, you'll see some other minor details and changes as various RPG-related features make their way into Survival. One thing that we'd like to clarify is that these RPG features will never become a mandatory feature. The content and features we have planned are largely going to be supplementary - something that you can engage with if you like, but you don't have to if you don't want to. So, if none of this stuff interests you, don't worry - you won't be required to engage with it if you don't wish to. Fixes and Polishing The other major focus is going to be on polishing some of the rough edges seen in some areas of the server. While many areas of the server are more or less fine, there are still some features which don't work as intended, or are unintuitive to use. Some of the existing features that we plan to improve include: Re-implementing the "Play" compass in the Hub Allowing for cross-server teleportation Allowing for cross-server warping Allowing for cross-server nicknames (if possible) Additionally, there are a few features here on the website that we often use for things like bug and suggestion tracking. While in many cases it's better to have this feedback submitted directly through the website, we have heard feedback from some users wishing for an easier way to do this - citing the forums as being difficult to use. And while we do plan to continue making the forums and website overall more accessible, we do have a plan to allow for easier reporting of things like bugs on the Minecraft server. It's actually something that the old CU had as well - a /report command. The idea being that a user can use /report ingame to submit a bug report, and not only can they provide some information ingame, we can also automatically fetch other information that might be helpful as well. For instance, we could store the world, server, and coordinates of a player at the time of a report - which saves the player from having to manually include this in a report submitted online. A similar system could also be implemented for things like suggestions as well, and potentially we could leverage this in other ways, too. Ideally, we'd like to have a fair bit more communication between the MC server and forums, allowing them both to benefit and link back to each other - to help encourage increased usage of both. A Sidenote: Why does progress seem so slow sometimes? Something else I'd like to address is something that comes up a lot - and while for some of you it might not be what you want to hear, it's the reality of how I have and will likely continue to operate Chaotic United. It's no secret that I tend to not be the fastest worker at getting things done - and there's a few reasons for this. The section below is a bit ramble-y. If you aren't interested, feel free to skip over it. If you are interested, however, expand the spoiler below and have a read. I provide a lot of in-depth discussion as to why it is that progress seems to be sporadic in nature, and why that it's likely going to continue being the case. If you're curious as to how I tend to think about things, I encourage you to give it a read. The Next Step So, what happens after all that work is done? Well, the plan is to, once the server itself is in a satisfactory technical state, to begin exploring options for paid advertisement. I don't yet know what that looks like yet - as it could be any number of things. A paid server list slot, paying YouTube/Twitch content creators, something else entirely - I really don't know yet. However, I finally am in a position where I can afford to put some cash on the line to try and kick-start the community - but I want the technical issues to be resolved before I even think about doing that. First impressions are important - so I want to make sure that when the time comes, we're putting our best foot forward. While I tend to end these things like a broken record on repeat, I really do think that this year is the start of something. It has the potential to be the prelude to a new beginning of Chaotic United. I don't know how long it'll take, I don't know to what degree it'll work - but I hope that all of you folks out there can come along for the ride, and join us as we carve this path into the future together - one block at a time. Until then, keep your eyes peeled for future announcements - we've got some big stuff planned.

* Fixed users not having proper permissions for certain Galacticraft commands - Disabled moon portals - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added plugin to hub: ServerSelectorX * Updated HolographicDisplays to 3.0.0-SNAPSHOT (build #206) * Compass item in Hub is now functional - Removed old placeholder items from ItemJoin - Removed Killerteddy

- Banned all Energy Collectors - Removed EMC value of all Energy Collectors - Removed EMC value of all Anti-Matter Relays - Removed Killerteddy

* Ink sac can now be crafted from Midnight Black dye, as squid spawning is bugged and is extremely rare - Removed Killerteddy

- Disabled mod: SoundFilters (as it was deemed to cause too much reverb in too many scenarios, can still be enabled by removing the .disabled extension from the mod file) - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added mod: GalacticraftCore + Added mod: GalacticraftPlanets + Added mod: MicdoodleCore + Added mod: ExtraPlanets + Added mod: Disenchanter + Added mod: Iron Furnaces + Added mod: Ender IO + Added mod: Sound Filters + Added mod: Cosmetic Armor Reworked + Added mod: Nether Portal Fix * NEI will now be set to Recipe Mode by default * Changed IC2 Nuke explosion power from 60 to 0 (Server only) * Changed IC2 Nuclear Reactor explosion power from 45 (Server only) * Disabled IC2 Nuke in IC2 config to 0 (Server only) * Fixed an issue where returning from a Nether portal would sometimes result in being sent to a different location than where the player entered - Removed Killerteddy

* Unbanned TNT (will still not do any block damage) - Banned Anti-Matter Relay Mk1 - Banned Anti-Matter Relay Mk2 - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added mod: Gravity Gun + Added mod: PneumaticCraft + Added recipe for Cloaker Goggles * Updated OptiFine from HD_U_C1 to HD_U_E7 * Server: Unbanned chunk loaders - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added plugin: UltimateAutoRestart * Updated LibsDisguises * Fixed non-administrators being able to WorldEdit in protected worldguards * Each gamemode will now automatically restart every 24 hours around 5AM, 5 minutes apart * Fixed an issue where automatic restarts would not start the server after shutting down * Changed "timeout-time" for Survival from 9000000000 to 90 - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added portal to Hub to Creative spawn + Added Bungeecord plugin: PixelMOTD * Updated server icon (for the first time since 2014 ) * Fixed an issue where the server icon in the server list would sometimes not be displayed * Fixed dynmap not being loaded in Semi-Vanilla, Minigames, Survival, and SkyBlock * Fixed the Nuclear District easter egg in hub not being enclosed inside of a cave * Fixed a sealed door in Hub that would bleed light through when the player was using shaders - Removed Bungeecord plugin: CleanMOTD - Removed Killerteddy

* Updated server list MOTD * Fixed chest in /warp forest in Survival not being accessible * Fixed players being able to modify /warp forest railing in Survival * Fixed some minor issues with Survival spawn - Removed Killerteddy

+ Added mod: Item Physic Lite + Added mod: Pam's Harvestcraft + Added mod: Doors * Rebound MO Android Ability Switch key to fix Tab menu not working * Fixed an issue where players would be disconnected upon joining the server for the first time * Changed default first person body mode to '011' (uses FP body but normal 2D arms by default), all other modes can still be cycled through using F1 * Updated logo design in splash screen - Removed mod: Neat (was causing issues with Weather2 clouds) - Disabled Blood Moon - Removed Killerteddy