Owner
- Joined
- Oct 6, 2004
- Messages
- 10,096
Welcome to HIVE 2
The time has come, the upgrade is finally ready to be used. There is still a lot for us to do, but from here on out we are able to begin using the new system, and continue upgrading things as we go. The site is based on XenForo, a more modern and up to date forum platform. So far, we have rewritten our resource systems, the pastebin, chat and Night Elf theme. While we're very happy with it, if you ask Archian he will cringe and say NO IT IS NOT READY because the theme is not as refined as he would like.
However, I have worked on this upgrade since 2012. The old site is only growing older, and with this becoming more prone to hacks. This has been worrying for all of us, but in the long run it has proven to be useful: development of Hive 2 really sped up as a result of this, and now... Here we are. Today is the day! I, and the rest of the staff, hope you enjoy it.
If you didn't have the chance to look at the beta site, a few things will be new to you. Please read the rest of this post carefully to make the transition as easy as possible.
Resources are something that have changed a lot. You will come across the notion of a bundle. Everything submitted is a bundle. When a resource is uploaded, a bundle is created. Updating bundles allows the resource to be updated, and for more resources to be added. The reasoning for this is simple: now you can submit a model and upload alternative versions, alternative textures, suggested icons and even test maps. Everything will come nicely bundled in a simple, single package. Naturally, though, only things that must go together should be bundled. It is not a method to create huge compilations of things - for this, we still have the packs section.
Additionally, bundles may now have multiple authors (currently, this can only be added by a moderator). This fixes a longstanding issue previously experienced when working with other people or taking over projects. Bundles may have multiple screenshots. Models can be filtered by animation names. On top of this the new wysiwyg editor is available when editing bundle descriptions.
The chat has been updated to use WebSockets. This makes it more robust, and makes the transmission of messages a lot faster. This means we no longer support a browser that none of you should be using anyway: Internet Explorer. We recommend instead using either Chrome, Firefox, or if you absolutely must stick with Microsoft, Edge. This is not the only new addition to the chat, however, as it now also supports multi-user private messaging. It will be a useful feature if you're trying to collaborate with a large group of people! We also have a discord server (a widget will be added to the site shortly) that is useful for voice chatting, and we use this regularly during the game nights we host.
Previously, the BB Code system used to be forgiving when people used [tabs], [TABLE], and [INVTABLE] while overlapping tags. This is no longer the case. You may stumble across some broken posts, or notice that posts you’re trying to make will show up broken. If this happens, please contact us and we will help fix the code. The reason for this breaking change is that the former system actually made it possible to ruin the whole page layout if code was crafted in a special way.
Social groups no longer exist. However, all content has been imported into a forum named “Social Groups”. This was a tough decision for us to make, but it was decided for a number of reasons. Most importantly, the functionality of social groups has been replaced by the ability to create private group conversations.
The pastebin is the same as it ever was, only now it has wysiwyg controls and will eventually remind you when an entry is due to expire.
The time has come, the upgrade is finally ready to be used. There is still a lot for us to do, but from here on out we are able to begin using the new system, and continue upgrading things as we go. The site is based on XenForo, a more modern and up to date forum platform. So far, we have rewritten our resource systems, the pastebin, chat and Night Elf theme. While we're very happy with it, if you ask Archian he will cringe and say NO IT IS NOT READY because the theme is not as refined as he would like.
However, I have worked on this upgrade since 2012. The old site is only growing older, and with this becoming more prone to hacks. This has been worrying for all of us, but in the long run it has proven to be useful: development of Hive 2 really sped up as a result of this, and now... Here we are. Today is the day! I, and the rest of the staff, hope you enjoy it.
If you didn't have the chance to look at the beta site, a few things will be new to you. Please read the rest of this post carefully to make the transition as easy as possible.
Resources are something that have changed a lot. You will come across the notion of a bundle. Everything submitted is a bundle. When a resource is uploaded, a bundle is created. Updating bundles allows the resource to be updated, and for more resources to be added. The reasoning for this is simple: now you can submit a model and upload alternative versions, alternative textures, suggested icons and even test maps. Everything will come nicely bundled in a simple, single package. Naturally, though, only things that must go together should be bundled. It is not a method to create huge compilations of things - for this, we still have the packs section.
Additionally, bundles may now have multiple authors (currently, this can only be added by a moderator). This fixes a longstanding issue previously experienced when working with other people or taking over projects. Bundles may have multiple screenshots. Models can be filtered by animation names. On top of this the new wysiwyg editor is available when editing bundle descriptions.
The chat has been updated to use WebSockets. This makes it more robust, and makes the transmission of messages a lot faster. This means we no longer support a browser that none of you should be using anyway: Internet Explorer. We recommend instead using either Chrome, Firefox, or if you absolutely must stick with Microsoft, Edge. This is not the only new addition to the chat, however, as it now also supports multi-user private messaging. It will be a useful feature if you're trying to collaborate with a large group of people! We also have a discord server (a widget will be added to the site shortly) that is useful for voice chatting, and we use this regularly during the game nights we host.
Previously, the BB Code system used to be forgiving when people used [tabs], [TABLE], and [INVTABLE] while overlapping tags. This is no longer the case. You may stumble across some broken posts, or notice that posts you’re trying to make will show up broken. If this happens, please contact us and we will help fix the code. The reason for this breaking change is that the former system actually made it possible to ruin the whole page layout if code was crafted in a special way.
Social groups no longer exist. However, all content has been imported into a forum named “Social Groups”. This was a tough decision for us to make, but it was decided for a number of reasons. Most importantly, the functionality of social groups has been replaced by the ability to create private group conversations.
The pastebin is the same as it ever was, only now it has wysiwyg controls and will eventually remind you when an entry is due to expire.
