Omni - the Next Generation?

So for Omni 2.0 or Next Generation:


There's been much talk of a server move/upgrade. For those that don't know there's some operational challenges that as of right now there's only one person who has access to monitor, and update the server itself. This includes that none of the in-game admins (except Mailbox) have full access to the game server.



Its owned by Analog and it seems we've been unable to reach him.
Quettoe owns the forums, and I am guessing the omnipotents.com domain name.



So there's a few questions:


First and foremost, do we continue with the Omnipotents name? This is deferred to the "owners" or the )o( members (Quettoe, Analog, Carpe and others?). I'd say personally I'd love to continue the name and tradition


Second, do we get a new hosted server? Right now, I believe that its hosted by Analog out of the goodness of his heart (and its MUCH appreciated). However, we don't have the admin access that we need for performance tuning, updating maps, unbanning players etc.


Community thoughts?

Originally Posted by {glr}pooty

...
First and foremost, do we continue with the Omnipotents name? This is deferred to the "owners" or the )o( members (Quettoe, Analog, Carpe and others?). I'd say personally I'd love to continue the name and tradition

Second, do we get a new hosted server? Right now, I believe that its hosted by Analog out of the goodness of his heart (and its MUCH appreciated). However, we don't have the admin access that we need for performance tuning, updating maps, unbanning players etc.

Community thoughts?

1. I'm all for keeping the Omnipotents name in some form 2.0 or TNG, but I think we need the original owners blessing for that.
2. Yes, we need a new hosted server because of the access rights limitation we live under now, even if it means ponying up $ to keep it running. The thought that the server could disappear at any moment sucks balls right now.

The thought that the server could disappear at any moment sucks balls right now.

Yes. I do have all the omni content (and much, much more thanks to Binger and others) so that's safe.

if we can't keep the name, we could always be the Spooners!!! bwhahahaha!

The name of the server does not matter.

Omnipotents never had the player traffic that DW had prior to the server merge. Maybe they did in the early days but near 2010, they did not. When OMNI had the MTMU only server and then the ONS regular server, DW was the one that was always packed. Then it 2011, 2012 or so whenever it was when OMNI combined both servers into one, that killed DW.

The name of the server does not matter.

We should call it the Shitstains or the Minimum or Minus 27/4

Originally Posted by Terminator

Omnipotents never had the player traffic that DW had prior to the server merge. Maybe they did in the early days but near 2010, they did not. When OMNI had the MTMU only server and then the ONS regular server, DW was the one that was always packed. Then it 2011, 2012 or so whenever it was when OMNI combined both servers into one, that killed DW.

I remember in the first few years UT was out, it was always DW on top; if you couldn't get into DW you had to settle for OMNI lol. Kinda sad to hear that's how DW died out, I left UT for several years and when I came back I was surprised DW was completely desolate.

Made me wonder what game most of the DW guys migrated to. I remember one guy that always killed me (back when I sucked pretty bad), DW>Danimal, guy was an animal from what I remember.

Did they cross to UT3 / UT4 or something?



I'm impartial to the server name though. It's been around for a long time, but the owner sounds like he doesn't care too much for UT anymore, or giving over the rights to someone else. Sounds like we're buckled down, really limited to what we could do with the server. Creating a new one means money, and depends on everyone that offers to uphold their end every year until they stop. I'm willing to help out, not sure how much is needed though... hopefully not a lot lol.

Depending on your access to the webadmin, Mail, I think there are two options to consider:

1) Branching off: Running it parallel with the original OMNI, but with a different name ("OMNI 2.0", "OMNI Reloaded" or something). Original OMNI would continue to exist. The player base will most likely be split, with some remaining on the original server.

2) Replacement: Retiring the original OMNI, changing the server name in the webadmin to point players at your new IP, and password protecting the original OMNI to cut off any traffic. After a while you can also disable advertising for the original server, so it will no longer show up in the server list. (Or Carpe can attempt to crash it permanently, as he mentioned before.) For this option you could also keep the name, because it is basically just a move. You have a good chance to move the entire player base to your new server.

Can't we just get a new server, call it essentially "Omni - New Server", take the old server offline or leave a join message "hey new server is over here thx" — and leave everything else as is?

Changing names and forums seems overly dramatic and unnecessary. The only issue we have is server access and performance.

Lastly, I don't think we should do anything that would fracture a community that's barely large enough to stay alive (e.g., separate forums)

Originally Posted by {glr}pooty

Yes. I do have all the omni content (and much, much more thanks to Binger and others) so that's safe.

https://www.epicgames.com/unrealtour...s-preservation

And there's this, just in case.

Originally Posted by EmanReleipS

Depending on your access to the webadmin, Mail, I think there are two options to consider:

1) Branching off: Running it parallel with the original OMNI, but with a different name ("OMNI 2.0", "OMNI Reloaded" or something). Original OMNI would continue to exist. The player base will most likely be split, with some remaining on the original server.

2) Replacement: Retiring the original OMNI, changing the server name in the webadmin to point players at your new IP, and password protecting the original OMNI to cut off any traffic. After a while you can also disable advertising for the original server, so it will no longer show up in the server list. (Or Carpe can attempt to crash it permanently, as he mentioned before.) For this option you could also keep the name, because it is basically just a move. You have a good chance to move the entire player base to your new server.

Originally Posted by nautikal

Can't we just get a new server, call it essentially "Omni - New Server", take the old server offline or leave a join message "hey new server is over here thx" — and leave everything else as is?

Changing names and forums seems overly dramatic and unnecessary. The only issue we have is server access and performance.

Lastly, I don't think we should do anything that would fracture a community that's barely large enough to stay alive (e.g., separate forums)

I think splitting the community is a very valid concern. Retiring the current server, changing it's name, and setting a password are probaby not going to happen.



I wonder how analog feels about all this. I'm sure it would be a little sad for him to give up hosting a server that has been part of his life for 16 years but it might actually be a relief for him. Wouldn't it be exciting to have a new server?

Originally Posted by nautikal

Changing names and forums seems overly dramatic and unnecessary. The only issue we have is server access and performance.

Unnecessary maybe but I don't know about dramatic. I brought it up just because it would feel a little weird to have a server with the Omni name that isn't owned by a clan member but I would rather the name continue on. The forum change would only be if the Omni name wasn't used on the new server and Qettoe didn't want the new server using the forum. I'm guessing he'll be cool with it though.


nautikal, it's good to see someone from 2007 still active. Not a lot of us 2nd gen players left.

Hey all,

I've notified Qettoe with a link to this thread.

I'd be sad to see the Omni name go, this place was my "lifeblood" in the early years. But, things change.

Originally Posted by Tater

Made me wonder what game most of the DW guys migrated to. I remember one guy that always killed me (back when I sucked pretty bad), DW>Danimal, guy was an animal from what I remember.
.

Back when you sucked pretty bad... so, yesterday? tell danimal I said hi next time you see/ get owned by him

A few more things and then I'll shut up...

I seemed to have sparked a new conversation about starting a new server and since I don't play anymore I'm feeling a little uncomfortable about that. If things are good enough the way they are then leave it be.

Maybe give analog a chance to weigh in on this (he probably has in the past, idk). I'm sure he'll be back eventually. Someone could send him a message just to let him know his input is wanted and appreciated.

I think it would be right to offer Carpe and analog admin rights on a new server even if it doesn't use the Omni name.

Originally Posted by nautikal

Can't we just get a new server, call it essentially "Omni - New Server", take the old server offline or leave a join message "hey new server is over here thx" — and leave everything else as is?

Changing names and forums seems overly dramatic and unnecessary. The only issue we have is server access and performance.

Lastly, I don't think we should do anything that would fracture a community that's barely large enough to stay alive (e.g., separate forums)

For what it's worth I agree this seems like a reasonable solution.

I think that people just look for populated servers at this point in the game's life, and join whatever's populated. So as long as enough people get the memo that there's a new server and a critical mass of us move over, the rest should follow + slowly get habituated.

It's probably worth it for the currently active admins (pooty, dog, enyo, etc) have full control over the server and don't have to rely on someone who's hard to get into contact with.

Originally Posted by Carpe Diem

Hey all,

I've notified Qettoe with a link to this thread.

I'd be sad to see the Omni name go, this place was my "lifeblood" in the early years. But, things change.

I know Qettoe officially owns the name but if a new server was started how would you feel about it using the Omni name? Also, would you be willing or interested in being the one to host a new server and handling server donations?

I think the real message here is:
1. I don't think any of us, even the non )o( members have any desire to change the Omnipotents name. I for one, like it, and I don't want to see it go.
2. Its really about server access for a couple of reasons:
a. We experience some performance issues, and can't diagnose those without server access to logs, top, server specs etc.
b. Very few have access (Mailbox and Analog AFAIK) to so Server Admin (vs. in Game Admins where we have several) to be able to update settings, maps, mutators, unban etc.


Given #2, I think that's really the biggest deal, and I don't know of anyone who's been able to contact Analog in months, hope all is well there. Mailbox helps when able, but now having a single access point makes things difficult, especially to load/fix maps and figure out some of the performance issues...as I/we have no idea the hardware setup.

Hey guys,

It's pretty sweet to see you guys wanting to keep this going; it literally brought tears into my eyes. We have been online since March 2004 and I have been absent since around 2010 for personal reasons - mostly age-related - I'm turning 50 next year and can't keep up with you youngsters.

Here is the deal: since I'm unable to responsibly attend to daily business or manage the forum, I'm willing to turn over the domain and public forum database to anyone who wants to keep this going. If you guys decide to start fresh, that's also fine with me... keeping the name or not is totally up to you guys - I'll be honored either way. As far as game files, I'll be happy to dump everything I have, mods and maps anywhere you want me to (about 20G of data). What I'm almost sure of, is that by end of spring I'm seriously considering taking this thing down. It's not because it costs money - this shabang costs me less than a pack of cigarettes per month. It's simply because I have been feeling guilty for years for being absent and unable to help you guys get what you expect from a community like this. It does not seem fair... and the guilt lingers.

Given that I'm not going to maintain or keep this community online for long, get together with yourselves and decide what you want to do. If you want to keep the name I'll transfer everything Omni to you and if not then I will be happy to see you start your own omniv2 or whatever you like. It just makes me happy to see you guys here.

so... think it over and let me know. Carpe is the man to run everything by... he's like my brother and without him this place would have never existed for this long. He will get in touch with me and we will do the rest as I'm not really able to keep up with forum posts on timely fashion.

I may not know most of you these days, but I love you as my Omni family. It's been going on for almost 17 years and I'm proud of what we've created together. We helped and supported each other through rough times as we matured and we even had a marriage here... there is so much to be proud of and I'm beyond honored to call every one of you my extended family. It is now your turn to take the reins and steer this in a direction I am no longer capable of.

Q.

Originally Posted by Q

Hey guys,

It's pretty sweet to see you guys wanting to keep this going; it literally brought tears into my eyes. We have been online since March 2004 and I have been absent since around 2010 for personal reasons - mostly age-related - I'm turning 50 next year and can't keep up with you youngsters.

Here is the deal: since I'm unable to responsibly attend to daily business or manage the forum, I'm willing to turn over the domain and public forum database to anyone who wants to keep this going. If you guys decide to start fresh, that's also fine with me... keeping the name or not is totally up to you guys - I'll be honored either way. As far as game files, I'll be happy to dump everything I have, mods and maps anywhere you want me to (about 20G of data). What I'm almost sure of, is that by end of spring I'm seriously considering taking this thing down. It's not because it costs money - this shabang costs me less than a pack of cigarettes per month. It's simply because I have been feeling guilty for years for being absent and unable to help you guys get what you expect from a community like this. It does not seem fair... and the guilt lingers.

Given that I'm not going to maintain or keep this community online for long, get together with yourselves and decide what you want to do. If you want to keep the name I'll transfer everything Omni to you and if not then I will be happy to see you start your own omniv2 or whatever you like. It just makes me happy to see you guys here.

so... think it over and let me know. Carpe is the man to run everything by... he's like my brother and without him this place would have never existed for this long. He will get in touch with me and we will do the rest as I'm not really able to keep up with forum posts on timely fashion.

I may not know most of you these days, but I love you as my Omni family. It's been going on for almost 17 years and I'm proud of what we've created together. We helped and supported each other through rough times as we matured and we even had a marriage here... there is so much to be proud of and I'm beyond honored to call every one of you my extended family. It is now your turn to take the reins and steer this in a direction I am no longer capable of.

Q.

Q, we can't thank you enough for keeping the forum going for this long. But, I can understand your desire to not have to bear the guilt of being an absentee landlord any more. Either way, thanks for stopping in to offer your blessings.

I'm one of the current server admins and told Carpe this before when the forum went down earlier this year, but I'd be happy to host the forum and keep it going as is. I have a web hosting reseller account for my business, so it would cost me nothing but time to host it. It would probably be the easiest thing to do and I'd hate to lose all the history here. I'll send you and Carpe a PM and we can work out the details.