CLAN NEWS

NEWS 27/08/09

SERVER RANKS & INFO
You will be glad to know that 8U’s server is now ranked in top 20% game servers on GameMonitor.com. They monitor over 200000 servers for about 90 games from around the world. Our TF2 server is also ranked in the top 25% TF2 servers and today it just entered the top 30% servers for the UK.

Overall Rank: 34204 / 206412
Game Rank: 1415 / 5480
Country Game Rank (UK):193 / 695

I think that this is a huge achievement for 8U; especially coinciding we have only had the server for last than 20 days. This really shows how well the server is being managed and proves that people are enjoying themselves and are returning to our server on a regular basis.

So I’d like to say thank you to everyone who plays on the server and let’s see if we can the server ranked even higher. Top 1000 TF2 servers by next week? I think we can do that!

8U YouTube Channel!
Yes you need read that right. I got a compliant on Wednesday morning about how we don’t have a YouTube channel, which apparently all the clans have! Now I’m not one to complain much, but I thought you guys were happy and pleased with all things I’ve set for you lot over the last 4 months e.g. the website/forum, the Steam group, the Facebook group, the Gmail account and Photobucket account to manage the forum, the Ventrilo server, the TF2 Server, register the server and the clan on GameMonitor.com, Gametracker.com & Clan Base.com. Obviously I’ve been letting the side down, sorry!

The channel is called “the8U” and James, (eletric20v) has already supply us with a nice little video tutorial about how to use the hat mod on our server. If you got any videos, (clan matches, machinma you have created etc.), which you wish to load up onto there, than please leave a post on the forum and then one of the senior admin can get the video from you.

RYDER CUP EVENT
I’ll admit we did have some problems last Saturday for the 8U’s Ryder Cup Event. Let me assure you that we will sort these problems out for the next event will is scheduled for the end of October. By the way the Old World Team won, but because of the problems of the New World being short on numbers, (some people forgot to turn up!), I’m prepare to call it a draw.

JOBS FOR THE ADMIN
From next week, I’m taking more backseat position with the 8U. I need to free up some of my time to concentrate more on other areas of my life.

I now feel that the admin can now take care of the day-to-day running of 8U. Each week, (probably on a Sunday), I’ll post on the forum a list of jobs which I expect the admin to either complete or to work on. Some of these jobs will be on-going and will take weeks to complete e.g. website building, improving the server etc. Some jobs will only take a short time to do.

I also expect them to find the modders, graphics artists and web builders in the clan; I’m sure there are people willing to help us out.

CLAN LOGO & PICTURE COMPETION
All entries for the clan logo will have to be submitted by the 1st September. We only want a concept really as any final logo will go through many changes and versions.

https://eighthunderworld.forumotion.com/screenshots-artwork-picture-competitions-totos-tattoo-parlour-f4/logo-competition-t4.htm

The Picture Competition will end on September 25th I sorry to say we have no entries whatsoever, even though a TF2 T-shirt, a mousepad and a poster are the prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd place!

If got to be in it to win it!

https://eighthunderworld.forumotion.com/screenshots-artwork-picture-competitions-totos-tattoo-parlour-f4/picture-competion-2-t145.htm

SERVER INFO - CLAN EVENT - HLSTATSX
Well we didn’t get into the top 1000 TF2 severs this week, but that doesn’t mean it will not happen in the very near future.

I would like to announce that we are going to be having a weekly clan event which is open to the public as well called “Orange Wednesday” (working title). We going to load different 5-6 mod maps onto the server and we want you guys to join us and try out these maps and tell us on the forum, which you like playing and which ones you didn’t, with the popular maps being added to the map rota.

The event will start 8pm UK time and will continue to on till 8am the next morning, so that give our North America members the chance to join and play if they can’t join immediately at that time. I’m going to post a list of the mod maps for each Wednesday’s event on the forum every Sunday evening with all the links you need. Thus giving you plenty of time to download and install them.

If you like to take part then please ensure you download and install the maps for that week before the event! Don’t download them through the server on the night for various reasons. If you have any problems with installing the maps, then tell us on the forum and we will help you out.

We still need denotations for the server and I know many will be glad to hear that in the next few weeks we will be getting HLstatsX loaded onto the server, but please be patient with us on this. As HLstatsX takes a lot of setting up to make sure it’s working right.

CLAN SCRIM
Jack is arranging a clan scrim for next week against =KA= on our server. Details are yet to be finalized, but we will keep you posted once they get back to us. Plus we will tell you when the server will be out of bounds if you are not taking part on that day. Jack says he doesn’t need anymore people for the team, but if you are interested or wish to join the clan/scrim team then please get in contact with him. As the team have their own Steam profile page now and we would people who would like to be part of the team to join that as well.

http://steamcommunity.com/groups/8uscrimteam

CLAN LOGO & PICTURE COMPETITION
The clan logo competition has now ended and in the next week or so we will decide on a concept from the entries and then work on it to get a final version done.

https://eighthunderworld.forumotion.com/screenshots-artwork-picture-competitions-totos-tattoo-parlour-f4/logo-competition-t4.htm

The Second Picture Competition will end on September 25th and I’m sorry to say we have no entries whatsoever, even though a TF2 T-shirt, a mousepad and a poster are the prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd place!

Come on! If got to be in it to win it!

https://eighthunderworld.forumotion.com/screenshots-artwork-picture-competitions-totos-tattoo-parlour-f4/picture-competion-2-t145.htm

SERVER INFO - MORE USE & DONATIONS

The clan has started to use the TF2 server less often and we need as many people on it as possible throughout the day and night. We were crashing through the rankings during the first 3 weeks of having the server, but we have stall at around the 1300 mark. We can get this server well within into the top 1000, which for us is a huge achievement, but we need you guys to get on there and to bring in your Steam friends.

We also need donations for the server quickly, as I can not continue to pay it out of my own pocket for much longer. Details on how to donate are on the forum or ask an admin to point you in the right direction to the PayPal page. If you can’t use PayPal, then contact me through Steam and you can post me a check instead. So if you like the server and want it to continue then please give as much as you can. We only need 10 people to give £5 ($8.5) per month and that will cover both the TF2 and the Ventrilo server.

Unless the first server get into the top 500 servers for TF2 (currently at 1314/5422)and the first server is all paid off for the year, then a second server (which hopefully is to be based in the US) is out of the question.

HLSTATSX COMMUNITY EDITION
Hopefully this should be up and running the next 2-3 days. We will let you now when it’s all loaded up and working right, plus we will give you the details of the webpage so you can check your stats.

ORANGE WEDNESDAY
Last Wednesday’s clan event went really well and the people who took part enjoyed it, despite a few technical problems that we had. Some of you may of notice that a few new maps have been loaded onto the map rota, (Moonwalk, Redfort & Cruise). Please try these maps out on the server as Moonwalk and Redfort are really made maps and as we got the fast downloader working now on the server, and it will only take 20-30 seconds to download each map through it.

Details and the maps for this week’s Orange Wednesday event will be posted on the forum later on tonight in the beneath thread, so please check it out and tell us if you would like to take part.

https://eighthunderworld.forumotion.com/clan-news-events-day-of-the-dead-festival-f2/clan-event-orange-wednesday-t187.htm

CLAN SCRIM
Last night’s match against =KA= was a well played match and the 8U team showed some amazing skill and team work. We won cp_granary 4-2 and cp_well 4-0, so there was no need to play a third map. I’d like to congratulate the whole team for winning the match. I’m sure Jack is setting up the next scrim right now, so we will keep you posted.

PICTURE COMPETITION - PRIZES ON OFTER!
I’m going to extend closing date of the Second Picture Competition, which will now end on November 27th and I’m sorry to say we have no entries whatsoever, even though a TF2 T-shirt, a TF2 mousepad and a TF2 poster are the prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd place!

Come guys/girls; don’t let these prizes past you. Check out the thread for full details.

https://eighthunderworld.forumotion.com/screenshots-artwork-picture-competitions-totos-tattoo-parlour-f4/picture-competion-2-t145.htm

CLAN SERVER

Orange Wednesday
Last Wednesday’s clan event went really well again, (if not even better than the last one!). Everyone loved the Left 4 Dead inspired No Mercy map which is now on the map rota. Please check it out on the server, as it’s awesome!

Change to the event, instead of Orange Wednesday being only a 12 hour, we are going to make it a 24 hour event, starting 12am on the Wednesday morning. The change is so that everyone can try the maps out in their own time and there isn’t a mad rush an hour before the event starts. Next week’s maps will be posted on the forum this Sunday as always.

Clan Match
We are scheduling a clan match next Saturday, which is only open for the North America members of the clan, so if you are interested then contact Jack & Stio, but we’ll keep you posted in the next few days.

Donations
We also still need donations for the server quickly, as I can not continue to pay it out of my own pocket for much longer. Details on how to donate are on the forum or ask an admin to point you in the right direction to the PayPal page. If you can’t use PayPal, then contact me through Steam and you can post me a check instead. So if you like the server and want it to continue then please give as much as you can. We only need 10 people to give £5 ($8.5) per month and that will cover both the TF2 and the Ventrilo server.

PICTURE COMPETITION - PRIZES ON OFTER!
I’ve extended the closing date of the Second Picture Competition, which will now end on November 27th. There is a TF2 T-shirt, a TF2 mousepad and a TF2 poster are the prizes for 1st 2nd and 3rd place!

Come guys/girls; don’t let these prizes past you. Check out the thread for full details.

https://eighthunderworld.forumotion.com/screenshots-artwork-picture-competitions-totos-tattoo-parlour-f4/picture-competion-2-t145.htm

SOME CHANGES AROUND HERE!!!

Benjamin: "How would you feel about making a change?"
Garth: "We fear change."

VENTRILO TO MUMBLE
If you like them or not, a few changes are happening around 8U at the moment, with the main one being that we have now changed our voice server from Ventrilo to Mumble, which has a far better sound quality for speech. If you used our Ventrilo server, then please install Mumble and connect to the new 50 slot server which has been supplied to us kindly by Chlech.

Full details are here on how to install and connect. Mumble’s main site can be found here. If you have any problems in installing Mumble or connecting then please connect Jack (Clan Team Leader) or Jamie (Chief of Staff) for help.

Everyone should be on Mumble now and the Ventrilo server has now been mothballed and only to be used as a backup in emergencies e.g. if the Mumble server ever goes down.


SLOTS DROPPED FOR TF2 SERVER
The reason why we have change the voice server is because we are trying to cut costs as VAT in the UK is likely to hit 20% by July and the current state of the world’s economy isn't looking too good at the moment. As from 12th June our main TF2 server will be a 24 slots and we believe this will also help with lag issues. The match server will be unaffected and no changes are planned whatsoever. With these savings we will be putting them back into 8U and might be able to get another game server in the near future.

UPDATED MOTD
I've amended the "Message of the Day" image on the main server, as some of the info was out of date and made the necessary changes for the voice server details. It also now list the new gmail address for 8U and the website url. The match server name and IP has been added as well. Generally the overall look pretty much the same, it just some of the content has been changed and should upload to your screens about a two-thirds faster as I manage to compress the file down quite a bit.

OLD


NEW


VOTE SCRAMBLE PLUGIN
I've been getting complaints about not having this install, so now it is. To start a vote to scramble the teams, open up chat box and enter !votescramle. The vote is only successful if 65% of people vote in favour and a vote can only take place every 3 minutes to cut down on spamming. For Admin, there is a votescramble option in the admin menu. Go to server commands and to the second page to select it.

Unlike the default scramble command in TF2, which scrambles teams but resets the time of a map. This plug-in solves this problem by taking the value of the time remaining in a map when the vote is called, stores it and if the vote is successful will change the value of time left of the map to its original value before the scramble.


GOOGLEMAIL TO GMAIL?
Some explaining on this one! Some people (i.e. everyone outside the UK) have wondered why our main e-mail address is 8underworld@googlemail.com instead of gmail.com. The reason for this was a five year dispute that meant Google was not allowed to use the name Gmail in the UK. In 2005 a company called Independent International Investment Research claimed it had used "Gmail" first. Google claimed at the time that the settlement IIR asked for was "exorbitant" and dropped the name. Within a year of launching the free e-mail service in the UK, Gmail became Google Mail.

While early users in the UK received a gmail.com address, all subsequent new accounts were given the suffix googlemail.com and as I registered the email account just over a year ago, we got a googlemail address. But now Google has given them a sh!t load of cash to end the problem (good for them) and has given us the option to change, so we have!

So we are now 8underworld@gmail.com, which is 20% less characters for you to type and will save 60 million keystrokes a day! (Always thinking about “Repetitive Strain Injury" and your health here at 8U). If you send anything to the other address we will still receive it as the account will used both address now and our account settings and details have remain unchanged.

YOUTUBE VIDEO: 8U vs. FA
Our match against Falcon Army was the first time we used SourceTV on our main server. This has meant Electric20v (James) our Digital Media Officer has been able to make several videos from the three best players POV on the first map we played against them which was cp_granary.

The first video is a ‘menu video’ and by clicking on any of the three options available, you can watch any of the three POV videos and also see the pwnage Falcon Army suffered at our hands. On the three POVs videos (Jackko, Cur1y’s and Andyscarecrow) there are links to each other video and are in sync with one another when playing.

Unfortunately we don’t have any footage from the later stages. I won’t go into details why, but we mess up technically on that one, sorry. Won’t happen again, but I can tell you 8U did won every subsequent round during the event.

Like to say a big thank to James who has spent nearly five days doing these 4 videos and undertaking a huge task and done it to such a high quality. So please don’t forget to rate, comment and subscribe.