Forum Upgrade

[WQ Coordinator]

While this kind of topic typically wouldn't make the cut for being posted in this forum, due to issues with the last time we upgraded the forums, I figured it would be worthwhile to let everyone know our plans. This change probably won't have any impact on most of you, so if you're not all that interested in phpBB or the nitty gritty details of the forum, you don't need to bother reading further.

Right now, the WolfQuest forum is using an outdated version of phpBB. What that means is we can't ask the phpBB support forum for advice if any forum issues arise, a whole slew of spammers are getting through our outdated SPAM prevention, and there are other improvements and bug fixes (to the forum software) that we can't take advantage of.

So hopefully this week or next, we're planning on upgrading the forum to the latest available version. What does that mean for you? If all goes well, the only change you may notice is a slight difference in the forum colors. (We are currently using three forum style templates, most of which will not be compatible with the new forum version, but there are some templates created specifically for the updated version of the forums that look very similar to what we're currently using.)

If things don't all go as planned, however, the forums may be down for a few days or your login to multiplayer games may no longer work. The last time we upgraded the forums, a password code associated with the game was 'broken' and everyone who had logged into the forums was not able to log into multiplayer games until they downloaded an update to the game that included a fix to this problem. We hope this won't be the case this time, but we do want people to be aware of what may happen when we make this change.

Please note: this forum upgrade was planned into our timeline for game development, and should not affect the release date of Episode 2.5 (which is still anticipated to be released before the end of 2011). Once I have a more definite estimate for the release of 2.5, I'll include it in a development update in this forum, but at this point, we can pretty much guarantee the episode will be released before the end of 2011, and hopefully well before then.

All in all, we don't anticipate this change to have much of an affect on regular forum users, but I wanted to at least mention what kinds of things may happen when we do make the switch. If you have questions about the forum upgrade, you can definitely ask them, though for the most part, we won't know what will happen until we make the change (which again, is anticipated to be this week or next), so we'll all just have to see what happens.

[Larkarl]

Now, will this upgrade potentially improve upon the forum lag problem? I know that usually has more to do with servers and forum traffic, but is it possible?

Aha, hopefully this will go smoother than the last time it was updated. I remember that; it was much silliness.

[-x- Silvie -x-]

Now, will this upgrade potentially improve upon the forum lag problem? I know that usually has more to do with servers and forum traffic, but is it possible?

Aha, hopefully this will go smoother than the last time it was updated. I remember that; it was much silliness.

That's what I was going to ask. x) I certainly hope it does.

[Koa]

Yeah, will it improve the lag problem? Good question Lark.

Nice to hear about an upgrade though. (;

[Zethra]

(I'm curious about the same thing)
This is interesting news. Well, I hope everything goes well with the forum upgrade, having that happen I'm sure would be a real doozy(and cause quite a bit of chaos). Though, understandable as it is. Thanks for informing us about this.

[Alpha Female]

Thanks for letting us know Cana.^^
Hopefully things will run smoothly this time. =3

[NightlyH]

YES! A forum upgrade is much needed! If I remember correctly, when I upgraded my site (not my pack site) to the new phpBB everything was smooth and neat! I also love the forum colors so I cant wait to see that. I sure hope that fixes the lag and such. Oh well, I sure hope the game multiplayer does not go down. That would be a bummer

[Cenetri]

I'm glad to hear that we'll be getting a forum upgrade, though, if these colors don't work, I'll definitely miss them. I've gotten pretty used to the forum by now, and I'm growing slightly excited if it is revamped in any way. Colors, text, whatever, it'll be fun to have a slight change here or there, just to experience something a bit... different.

I'm glad that this will improve the quality of the forums, if there is to be any problems. Asking for assistance from the phpBB would be nice if there were any major issues, so I'm glad that this'll be taken care of.

I think that we can all handle a possible delay on the forum/game. I'm sure it will be worth it in the end, considering that certain problems that could arise now can be prevented. Thanks for the update - I would have been confused without it. c;

[dustydawn]

Thank you for posting this, Cana! :3
I hope things will be a lot different.

[WQ Coordinator]

Ah, the question of the year. Yes, it is possible the upgrade will improve server performance. We've tried to determine the cause of the lag, and while forum lag is typically caused by too many people loading too many pages, this obviously isn't the sole cause of our lag here, because it happens even when only a few people are online. So the next possible cause could be from problems with the forum itself. And judging by the fact that whole forums have completely disappeared and the User Guides and THH forums are on the fritz now, that could be a strong possibility. Whether these issues will be fixed with a forum upgrade, well, your guess is as good as mine, but it sure doesn't hurt to try. It would be absolutely stellar if the forum upgrade solved the lag issues... that's one major thing we're hoping for. But we can all cross our fingers and see what will happen.

[Larkarl]

I see; thanks for answering. I really hope all or most of the forum's current issues are fixed. The lag especially. [It took me 15 minutes to load in this topic.] I'll be crossing my fingers and toes, haha.

[Kivia]

Well I'll definitely be crossing my fingers as well; I really hope this helps solve some of these forum issues as of late. =3 Should be nice to at least be updated, so I'll be looking forward to it~

lulz, and yes, it took me quite a while just to load this page as well, as Lark mentioned. x3

[Croix]

I supposed WQ does need an update ^^ I'm starting to get tired of waiting for all the pages to load >.>
Hopefully everything goes well!

[goldenwolf1]

hopefully it will solve the lag it take ages to load some thing :3

[NightlyH]

Ok, I sure hope it does ^^. I guess we wont be able to find out until we try the upgrade. The thing I am scared of is what if it makes things worse! Like, if the forums just cant take the upgrade and crash all together (just like upgrading linux o3o)! But that is the worst that could happen and I just hope everything goes as planned ^^