Kyp

Either someone was pretending to be me who had access to our source at some point, or my memory has deleted this GitHub. It's not associated with the e-mail I've been using since 2002 or so, primarily, so it's unlikely I made it. At any rate, the source, such as it is, is kept in a private repo that multiple sr. devs here have access to see and commit to, on the subject of things like containerization, well, we're not doing it yet but something we will eventually work on. Right now, we're trying to figure out some things about how the client works and get more access to control it than we've traditionally had; there's a lot of trial and error. We're experimenting with things we can do to the user interface.

Ok didn't know if those were defaults or not, but let me look into and see if there's a setting I may have missed. Maybe see if the logs indicate any reason for the slower response times.

Just going to post this to get a spot for everyone confused about the new format or thinks they've found a bug. Please report it here so I'll know and can look into it. Everything should be fully functional, including the donation component, which was originally broken in the upgrade process. Anyway, let me know if you run into anything weird.

alright, fixed / added a donation component again. It will be a monthly goal I reset with maintenance. This particular adventure is concluded other than maybe trying to create a new theme for us in the future.

Alright, finally got all this done and we're on the latest version. Things look different. Let me know what is good and what is not, if anything. We'll work through it. Donations component was broken by it, so I'll look at getting that upgraded and functional again. At any rate, post here if anything seems busted (other than getting used to new layouts/themes until / if we can commission a replacement)

Ok all maintenance done except for the final major version move. Probably try that tomorrow but it's midnight and says it can break templates. So be warned, logos should remain but you might be reverted to default template if we still had any custom templates in use.

At the time we were just asking it to finalize and look over aux packets for anything we might have missed or left unused, I believe, but right now there's some work towards the graphics and client in order to potentially create some better developer tools (or more at some point)

Correct, the installer doesn't know where you ultimately have installed it. Sometimes people install it in other places, so I did a lot of registry wizardry to try to figure it out, but then the guides that are out there and pinned tell you to set that value. I think Karu may have updated my universal installer at some point, or someone might have; I know someone asked me, so it could have changed, but I don't recall forcing that path because it relies on your E&B installation directory.

I will say this: We have been using some AI to look at some very old issues from around the time we first got a working multiplayer build, but so far it hasn't yielded much from the game client except a few switches that were designed for the 56k internet days and that sort of thing. What i'll say about AI as a whole, however, is don't overestimate it as many business leaders are. The biggest thing that can make it work usefully is not just having it and a monkey with a typewriter who can generate code, i.e., vibe code. Prompt Engineering will become its very own discipline if we insist on this foolishness. You can indeed design great programs, but AI is programmed for a couple of things: Risk Aversion for the company that makes it and following relative institutional norms. It has a general desire to agree with the user to exploit some psychological human quirks that make us like things, the better for someone's stock price, you see? It will *always* take the fastest path to reward, and while it *might* solve a problem, it could create 30000 others. This is where the prompt engineering comes in.

That, e&b.exe is the original updater trying to connect to the EA game servers which are long, long gone.

Hi folks, I'm reaching out to let everyone know that we will be undergoing some major upgrades to the forum software... mostly because the vendor is discontinuing this branch at the end of the year and only providing security updates until then. Part of this upgrade is going to change something for how you guys can get in here at the forums. I am going to give it 7 days from the time of this message, and then test it, but ultimately, to keep it short and sweet, you're no longer going to be able to log in with your Account Display Name. For whatever reason, they decided to get rid of this in the next version. I do not believe this is going to impact the game or any other logins, but we'll cross those bridges when we come to them. I just wanted to give you the time to confirm your own email addresses for your accounts here, since they are tied to your game accounts currently. So get ready, next Sunday I will flip this over so that the current software no longer supports a login via just your name like me entering 'Kyp' but instead your e-mail address and the same password.

Recently, it's mostly just me keeping things safe, running, and the GMs managing the game. Want to get some more down these paths, but right now there's not enough time in the day (for me, at least). We have been doing some toying around with some potential new tools and using AI to help identify some places that could improve some of these long-standing issues. No containerization or anything just yet, though. I have an ambition to eventually release that so that others can try to run their own instances but there would be some prep work to set up what I was describing.

Sorry folks, it is what it is, like I said, as Guest me up there, long work night, and it totally slipped my mind after even letting the discord know earlier in the day that it would be coming, and seeing the GMs made a post for me. in Unfortunately, the kind of place I work, lighting up a VPN would cause legal problems my life probably does not need.

Should be fine now, otherwise i'd recommend taking a vid or series of screenshots as you're walking through the startup and the message being presented (if any).

O ye of little faith. It's up.