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ddavison
July 8th, 2013, 00:39
If you see this message, then you are seeing the new server. Since we did change where everything is located, please make sure to let us know if you have any problems.

We tried to make the move as painless as possible to everyone, but it's hard to plan for everything.

-Doug

Talen
July 8th, 2013, 02:23
Looks good so far! (I did get a chuckle out of the equivalent of " if u see this, this is the new server....if you don't see it, let us know.") :p

ddavison
July 8th, 2013, 02:30
Yeah, I know. I almost added a note for people to check that they haven't hardcoded IP addresses in their local hosts file to map fantasygrounds.com to a fixed IP but then I realized it would be pointless to post it here since they would never see the message if they did.

JohnD
July 8th, 2013, 05:13
What are some of the positives we might see resulting from this change?

Tiqon
July 8th, 2013, 05:31
What are some of the positives we might see resulting from this change?

Seems much faster to me, but that could just be me who just woke up, anything seems fast at the moment...

hawkwind
July 8th, 2013, 08:55
are attachements back?

ddavison
July 8th, 2013, 14:04
There won't be much noticeable about the change. We simply had to do it as a security precaution. Attachments should be back and working again now.

Tiqon
July 10th, 2013, 10:30
And I just found that mails about replies dumps down in my spamfilter now they did not do that before(gmail)... So If anyone misses some mails about replies on the forum, look in the spamfilter.

ddavison
July 10th, 2013, 23:29
We also had a couple issues related to product downloads, license key generation and email receipts not working properly. These should all be fixed now and links/emails re-sent, but if you are experiencing any issues, it is probably us and not you. Let us know at [email protected] and we'll get everything sorted out for you.

Thanks,

-Doug

JohnD
July 18th, 2013, 04:32
Is the new version of the message boards going to lead to other functionality/improvements or is the change simply cosmetic?

"You've redecorated... I don't like it."

But... I will learn to live with it.

ddavison
July 18th, 2013, 04:38
The redecoration isn't by choice. The newer version of vBulletin isn't compatible with the older version's themes. We'll need to recreate those over time.

ddavison
July 18th, 2013, 05:16
There is additional functionality too -- such as articles, blogs and a newer "What's New" feed. I have to do some exploring myself to see what all is available now.

Some other cool features:
Youtube video linking
iOS and Android native version (once we deploy those to the respective stores)
Multi-Calendar functionality
Better search engine optimization
improved security
multiple themes for user selection (if we design them)

Leonal
July 18th, 2013, 16:46
Just a notice: The new automatic emails ended up in my Gmail spam folder as I reset my password. I'm guessing it's because it is sent via onlinehome-server.com.

Blacky
July 18th, 2013, 17:13
The redecoration isn't by choice. The newer version of vBulletin isn't compatible with the older version's themes. We'll need to recreate those over time.
Apart from the theme and colors (which I don't have any issues with) could it be possible to get a regular forum layout (ie poster data on the side)?

This fad by vB and a few others about everything horizontal is just a design nonsense (and has been for a few years now). Modern displays are 16/9 or 16/10, meaning vertical space is prime real estate while horizontal space is cheap. On top of that, long text lines are harder to read. And avatars waste more space in this horizontal settings.

Iirc, if you use the official vB theme, it's just a setting somewhere in control panel.

John_Geeshu
July 18th, 2013, 17:23
My apologies if this has already been covered, but I cannot access the Calendar. When I click the link it tells me I don't have permission. Is it down being worked on or do I have to do something different to reach it?

Griogre
July 18th, 2013, 18:14
Not a big deal, but didn't the images on the main page use to spin?
https://i105.photobucket.com/albums/m222/Griogre/SpinLess_zps42d3d8b2.png

Rogad
July 18th, 2013, 19:33
My apologies if this has already been covered, but I cannot access the Calendar. When I click the link it tells me I don't have permission. Is it down being worked on or do I have to do something different to reach it?

+1

Same problem here...

Moon Wizard
July 18th, 2013, 19:39
Were you guys logged into the forums already when you attempted to access the calendar?

We're still working out the issues on the new server and new forums update, so thanks for your patience.

Thanks,
JPG

John_Geeshu
July 18th, 2013, 19:56
Were you guys logged into the forums already when you attempted to access the calendar?
JPG

Yes.

Thanks for all of your hard work. It is appreciated.

Doswelk
July 18th, 2013, 21:15
Is the new version of the message boards going to lead to other functionality/improvements or is the change simply cosmetic?"You've redecorated... I don't like it."But... I will learn to live with it.It's 'orrible! But I am sure we will get used to it...I know it not by choice, but this was what I feared the most :(ARGH! even worse I've lost my lovely green text..... :p

Rogad
July 18th, 2013, 22:22
Were you guys logged into the forums already when you attempted to access the calendar?

We're still working out the issues on the new server and new forums update, so thanks for your patience.

Thanks,
JPG

Thanks - yes I am logged in and get the error..

Rogad
July 18th, 2013, 22:24
I don't seem to be able to edit my posts either :/

Anyway, this is the error :

"Rogad, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:

Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation."

JohnD
July 19th, 2013, 00:47
Lots of dickhead spam all of a sudden though. :/

phantomwhale
July 19th, 2013, 00:54
Lots of dickhead spam all of a sudden though. :/

Yep, just perma-banned two spam bots. Might need to secure registrations better if more get through though :(

Moon Wizard
July 19th, 2013, 01:08
I just turned on Human Verification for all users a few hours ago. I'm not sure what that means, but it seemed like a good thing.

We're still fine-tuning the knobs on the new forum software, and I bet the spammers actually know this version better than the last. Something to be said for using obsolete software. ;)

JPG

ddavison
July 19th, 2013, 03:29
Evidently the default User Registration settings don't require email verification. That has been fixed. What a bad idea. :(

ddavison
July 19th, 2013, 03:43
Hey Blacky,

That's a good idea. Once I get a basic looking theme working well enough, I'll see about spinning off another version that lays it out in an alternate fashion.

-ddavison

sakmerlin37
July 19th, 2013, 04:30
Has anybody else had problems updating? I tried to put in my user name and password and it gives me an error:

HandleUserCookie: Network: HTTP/1.0 500 Internal Service Error.

Blacky
July 19th, 2013, 04:53
I just turned on Human Verification for all users a few hours ago. I'm not sure what that means, but it seemed like a good thing.
Check the details, but that's mainly how you reduce spam. Iirc, vB has several captcha tools, which are more or less useless. But in human verification you can input several questions&answers, which is a simple yet somewhat efficient tool to that effect.


That's a good idea. Once I get a basic looking theme working well enough, I'll see about spinning off another version that lays it out in an alternate fashion.
It seems you found the radio button :)

If I may, I would suggest keeping the default vB theme. Fiddle with the colors to get something SmiteWorks like, maybe a few slight modification to improve ergonomics here and there. But if you look for a all new theme, most are very badly written, and you'll lose a *lot* of time checking them, adapting them, and more important doing maintenance on them.

I can only speak for myself, but I would prefer to see this manpower go to the FG2 software itself :)


Evidently the default User Registration settings don't require email verification. That has been fixed. What a bad idea. :(
Not that much of a bad idea, 99% of spambot can check and use email registration. Nowadays, it's a marketing tool to build customer database, not an antispam tool :)

it doesn't hurt to have it on, but it's not the end of the world if you don't.

Edit : it's not a priority (I'm guessing you'll want something stable first), but as far as I can tell the whole site can be slow (it is right now). vB is slow (it's a giant mess, full of features but you pay the price in resources for that) but one of the easiest way to address that is to put a good opcode cache with enough memory dedicated. After that, a SQL cache is good too. And of course, check that your nginx or apache or whatever is gziping everything it can before HTTP it, and check web UA caching for images css and other mostly static resources (Google page speed will list that for you). I'm sure you know all about it, just a reminder, in case you forgot in the whole update deadline :)

Blue Haven
July 19th, 2013, 15:14
Yuppi a new look...very nice eh eh great work guys ;)

Doswelk
July 19th, 2013, 19:09
Now this is looking nicer, glad to see the smiteworks mail icons back (could not work out what I had or hadn't read with the default ones!)

Blackfoot
July 20th, 2013, 15:22
Is anyone else experiencing an issue with all messages from FG going to spam now?

ddavison
July 20th, 2013, 16:00
We have noticed that the emails now show up as being from "u17043136.onlinehome-server.com". If you whitelist that specific address, it should work until we get it switched back.

Dr_Babylon
July 20th, 2013, 17:06
I seem to be among those who cannot access the calendar. Same issue as others have mentioned with "account may not have sufficient privileges" and "administrator may have disabled your account" response. Not terribly urgent. Just making a note of it.

It all does look very appealing. I similarly voice my appreciation for those who instill form and function.

unerwünscht
July 20th, 2013, 21:44
The facelift looks good, glad to know you guys finally updated to the new more secure VB.

John_Geeshu
July 21st, 2013, 16:05
Update: I can reach the Calendar via the Home page but not through the forum link at te top. Feeling a tad sheepish.

bennis1980
July 26th, 2013, 07:15
There is additional functionality too -- such as articles, blogs and a newer "What's New" feed. I have to do some exploring myself to see what all is available now.

Some other cool features:
Youtube video linking
iOS and Android native version (once we deploy those to the respective stores)
Multi-Calendar functionality
Better search engine optimization
improved security
multiple themes for user selection (if we design them)

Oh please tell me you are working on an Android app for the forum. That would be fantastic!

Blacky
July 26th, 2013, 07:31
Oh please tell me you are working on an Android app for the forum. That would be fantastic!
Why an app? Almost every time, the web page appropriately designed is superior, isn't it?

bennis1980
July 26th, 2013, 07:38
Why an app? Almost every time, the web page appropriately designed is superior, isn't it?

I agree to an extent....

...but...

I find the browser navigation tricky when entering text fields. The cursor doesn't work, copying and pasting is a nightmare and so is scrolling (in the text field - it's fine otherwise). Obviously, if you are posting about your game, you want it to be just right.

Has anyone else found this tricky (I'm using Galaxy S2 with dolphin browser)

Blackfoot
July 26th, 2013, 13:12
Update: I can reach the Calendar via the Home page but not through the forum link at te top. Feeling a tad sheepish.
I think there's a difference between the 'Calendar' and the 'Game Calendar' that are listed at the top of this page. The 'Calendar' seems to be something else that we do not have access to. Use the 'Game Calendar' and you won't have issues.

damned
July 27th, 2013, 11:26
Why an App?
Because an App is appropriately designed for small screens.
Bigger buttons, simpler layout etc.
Yes - you may lose on features but you gain on usability.

Blacky
July 27th, 2013, 11:53
No point in saying again what has been said everywhere in extenso:



https://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18ep4duktbo8opng/original.png


https://gizmodo.com/5984480/no-i-dont-want-to-download-the-terrible-app-version-of-your-website
https://thenextweb.com/shareables/2013/05/12/this-tumblr-says-what-everyone-is-thinking-i-dont-want-to-download-your-app/
https://newcome.wordpress.com/2012/12/29/i-dont-want-to-download-your-app/
And so on… (https://www.google.fr/search?q=no+I+don%27t+want+your+app&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:fr:official&client=firefox-a&gws_rd=cr#client=firefox-a&hs=TY3&rls=org.mozilla:fr%3Aofficial&sclient=psy-ab&q=no+I+don%27t+want+your+app&oq=no+I+don%27t+want+your+app&gs_l=serp.12...0.0.0.146107.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0.. ..0...1c..22.psy-ab..0.0.0.Nk3yG69MRIo&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.49784469,d.d2k&fp=e1b7fb1f27882b&biw=1421&bih=902)

damned
July 27th, 2013, 12:37
as with all things in life - some are done better than others.

unerwünscht
July 27th, 2013, 16:02
OMG! Will someone go buy this for SmiteWorks so they can install it and get people to move on to more important things than mobile apps for the forum! https://www.vbulletin.com/mobile/

Blacky
July 27th, 2013, 16:21
With an appropriate (not great, not über modern not anything but correct, decent, appropriate) CSS design, any website can be viewed on almost any device without any special needs (ie tools, apps, virgin sacrifices, etc.).

It's been several years since I've worked with vB, but I think the current version should have a responsive, object-agnostic CSS design. Paying $199 on top of everything else for a specific design, apps, and whatever, seems like a big unfunny joke to me.

In any cases, it's certain SmiteWorks needs its time to work on Fantasy Grounds, and not spend it on some small minor possible issue especially to come up with a “solution” that will need to be updated and maintained every 6 months at the very least.

ddavison
July 27th, 2013, 19:20
We did buy the mobile app add-on for vBulletin but just haven't published it to the app store and android marketplace yet. I admit that it's a little farther down the priority list for me at the moment.

Macgreine
July 28th, 2013, 03:33
I visit the forums often on my phone. Its not really that big a deal, just have to re-size a bit. But then again mine may be bigger than yours. Ya know?

bennis1980
July 28th, 2013, 08:35
You have to resize the text - yours must be very small!! ... er your phone I mean :p (just kidding)

Anyway, you heard the man, the app is coming but not priority (I presume the priority is FG 3.0). I nearly only use my large ... phone... to access the forums and I've been doing alright and can surely wait.

damned
July 28th, 2013, 08:38
ppl with big ones always talk about how big they are, ppl with little ones always say its not how big but how you use it. so im not going to weigh in on that for fear i may give away more info than i intended too...

unerwünscht
July 28th, 2013, 14:02
are we still talking about phones and tablets?

JohnD
July 28th, 2013, 15:10
Is this a sports show or a funny show because they're not talking about sports.

Andraax
July 28th, 2013, 18:58
Can't seem to search - anytime I try I get a message that my answer to the random question was incorrect - but I never see a random question.

Mellock
July 28th, 2013, 19:19
It should be the very last text box in the "Additional Options" section.
*ADDITIONAL OPTIONS:
->Find Posts
->Sort Results By
->Random Question

Attachments seem to be disabled again, but if you don't find it, let me know and I'll post a screenshot somewhere.

damned
July 29th, 2013, 08:13
random question at bottom of page - not so intuitive...
you answer at bottom pf page even if you are pressing on of the higher up search buttons...

Andraax
July 29th, 2013, 12:54
Yeah, I was using the search box at the upper right corner.

Blackfoot
July 29th, 2013, 17:34
.. NM .. replying to an old post.

Blacky
August 25th, 2013, 19:21
Would it be possible to remove the anti-robot thingie in Search Tools for registered users?

It's a major pain in the butt…

ianmward
September 15th, 2014, 06:36
So... did it ever get rolled out? I looked but couldn't see anything in the app store...


We did buy the mobile app add-on for vBulletin but just haven't published it to the app store and android marketplace yet. I admit that it's a little farther down the priority list for me at the moment.

Moon Wizard
September 15th, 2014, 08:04
We added the Forum Runner extension last year. I'm using it right now. :)

Regards,
JPG

ianmward
September 15th, 2014, 09:38
Thanks. I've bought it and am up and running!

ballan4
September 15th, 2014, 16:43
What app do I need to get?

Nylanfs
September 15th, 2014, 17:46
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.endoftime.android.forumrunner&hl=en
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/forum-runner-vbulletin-phpbb/id362527234?mt=8