Strafe has stated that he's willing to do the schematic nonsense again for 1.9, so we'll be starting a new map(s) when that hits. We just need to decide what kind of setup we want before then and what our limits are.
In the meantime, we can look into other alternate worlds (sphere, for example) to give people some experience with them. We can decide as a group which setup that we will go with. I think that once we update to 1.9, we shouldn't need more than four worlds: Main, Nether, End, and Alternate. We don't have a terribly large group of players, so we really don't need to max out our HDD with chunks that people will likely not use.
Also, on the subject of map sizes. I've really been harping on them getting out of hand because I have been storing our backups locally. I don't have infinite HDD space myself, so having 1-2GB of backups each time is rather unnecessary. :ohdear: I mean, we're not thinking of establishing all of the chunks before we begin building, are we?
Now as for the update/transfer itself. Here's the thing about schematics.. I can save them in two different ways:
-Online in real time with the player there for immediate feedback. This method allows me to centralize the saving to my location, which makes placing it much easier and more accurate.
-Offline through MC Edit. Selecting the bounding field is much easier, since I can see through walls and fly through them as well. Accurate placement is completely thrown out the window, and it requires a bit more setup on my part. (uploading, etc.)
The last phase of schematics was a mixture of the two methods. Certain buildings benefited from each method. The only reason that the saving of schematics took me so long (besides the amount of them :V ) is the fact that I was stumbling about the PTM world, making schematics in a quite dangerous environment. Lots of scaffolding was involved. After the saving was complete, placing them was a breeze.. well, the ones I saved online were easy.. :V
I say all of this because I need to know when to begin the next phase of schematics. I will need to work with each player individually, and that is easy with the player live on location. However, that would mean that after we generate our new main world in 1.9, we would need to have the 1.8 and 1.7 worlds as the alternates. This is only temporary until I have completed the saving for the most part. Alternatively, I can save our final backup of the 1.7 and 1.8 worlds and do all of the saving offline, so that the upgrade/new world setup happens all at once. This method means that people will likely get their homes at a little slightly slower rate.. and they will need to tell me where and how big their facilities are.
The latter will likely be the path that we choose whenever we update again, therefore in the mean time, I will need to ask you all for some help on the planning phase. When it came to saving Stuffman's burrow from PTM, he marked the corners of the bounding field for me. I really liked that setup, because that meant that the measurements were handled before by the players themselves. I highly suggest that you guys do this as well, since you guys know your structures better than I do. It's simple: Imagine your facility inside of an invisible 3D barrier shaped like a cube. Place a block at opposite corners of the area. (ie. top-left-near and bottom-right-far) Colored wool works best because you can pick a color that stands out. Make sure that the "markers" are still visible in the world, and not covered up by anything. This method isn't required, but it greatly eases my burden, and ensures that I don't "forget" anything. :V
Once 1.9 hits, we will still have a slight waiting period to make sure that it's stable enough for the transfer. During that time, I suggest that people prepare their properties for the transfer and schematic saving. I would like to save as many of the schematics as possible online during this period. I will still save a backup of 1.7 and 1.8 worlds so that I can access them for offline needs.
Well, this turned out to be a larger post than I had intended..
EDIT- Almost forgot. I do still have the schematics that I have saved from the previous worlds. A few of the structures that have been imported haven't been changed or used since they were imported into this world. The Mushroom Kingdom is the best example of this that I can think of. Therefore, such places won't need to have another schematic created for them.
Anyway, if you guys can establish the bounding fields early for me, then this will go much smoother once the time comes. Thanks!
