we're experiencing some downtime at the moment. our host has some technical difficulties (that they didn't forsee) so there's no real telling when we'll be back, but hopefully soon.

in times of sab going down, we do as we always do. and pchat.

join the pchat!

and she's back! still no idea why.

firstly: there are apparently some connection issues today.  people are timing out (me included) and can't access the dune.net website to get any word on what's going down. i'm still able to get into the system files etc though. go figure! anyway, if you're lagging badly or timing out, know it's not just you.

secondly:new area! ronin's new area, the BLACK LAKE is now up and accessable. it's found north of the northern wastelands and leads up to ew ork. ho ho! do you know what this means? DO YOU? it means we're officially ONE area away from someone being able to walk around the world!

check it out for icey cold water and funky fish. :V

as you know, the server is going down today, sunday the 19th, 2007 while the host upgrades.

a lot of people were worried about OH GOD WHAT WILL I DO I PLANNED TO HORSE AROUND SUNDAY AAAAAA so this is the thread where you can swap your contact information (aims etc) and all that.

--some FAQ about the upgrade--
when will it start/finish?
I have no idea. the host wrote an email that said the 19th, and that was all. no times. i'm not sure how long it's going to take. all i know is we SHOULD be back by the 20th.

is our data safe?
yes. aside from the fact that this upgrade shouldn't affect any data at all, i've also backed up player data *just* to be sure in the event something goes wrong. so no worries.

why is it upgrading?
not sure. new gear at the host headquarters, i suppose. this was not a choice on the part of the sabrous immortals. the host just emailed and was like HEY WE'RE UPGRADING HAVE SOME DOWNTIME. so i really can't tell you. :B

so what was the name of that comic where zack licked water off cloud?
this isn't related to the upgrade >O but. if you missed my marvelous reiteration of porn comics and want a copy yourself, it was called LOVE CLOUD.

now. if you try to log into sabrous tomorrow and you find her down, i reccomend you head over to the pchat. while there is no leveling or RP, there is silly drawing and sabrousians. :D

THE PCHAT IS HERE

okay...i'm almost finished with things here in the states and i'll be back home by the start of next week and back to tweaking. i have been making a list of tweaks to do this entire time, plus i found my old folder of maps (and a lot of reaaaaaaaaaaaaaally old sabrous art, from sab0.) and i'm even going to try to salvage what i can of sab0 for amusement value and maybe kick it up one day for everyone to poke around in. but the important part of this message is as follows.

if you ever have issues connecting to sabrous on port 6000, try these ports:
6001
6010
6020

i apologize also for the obscene wait in the conclusion of the catacombs quest. we WILL be finishing it as soon as i get home, i promise.

i figured i'd just make another post to cover this all together since the old one likely got burried on people's friends lists (if you use them).

dune suspects it may have to do with sabrous' port (6000) being a common port hackers make use of. now, this is not to say hackers are coming in through sab. but the number itself rings alarm bells with ISPs and spyware/virus protection software. this could well explain why at random tav and velesti's virus programs yelp about sabrous.  what COULD be the issue is that some ISPs saw frequent connections to 6000 and started to block dune as a matter of 'better safe than sorry'

you shouldn't be having connection problems anymore, though, so feel free to log on

however as a matter of preventing this in the future i'm going to ask the host to set sabrous up on a mirror port that isn't so 'scary' to ISPs. once this is done i'm going to encourage you use that port to connect. 6000 will still remain active, and you can still connect through it, but whatever the new port will be will hopefully have less of a chance of getting blocked. 

for the totally computer illiterate, i shall translate: ( the translation, in a metaphor about turtles )

why no, i haven't got much sleep, why do you ask?

it's come to my attention that some folks are experiencing connection difficulties today.

if you're having problems connecting, try connecting to the following ip: 199.45.236.130 at port 6000

also: there is no sun conspiricy
what are you talking about
it was swamp gas.

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EDIT

mailed the host and also shut down the process and rebooted her entirely.
if you're still having issues, pleeeeease leave a comment here so i know. describe it in the best detail you can.

also try connecting to dune's website (dune.net) and see if you can. if not, make note of it here.

evidently dune also owns wiccan.net (found it when i was searching for their phone number tonight) so you can also try to connect through wiccan.net port 6000 (as shameful as it is). although, it looks like wiccan.net is just a forwarder, so i doubt that'll work.
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SON OF THE EDIT

it appears that people are beginning to be able to log back in now. give it a shot. if it's still failing by tonight, leave another comment. i think maybe enough people complained loudly enough that dune got off their butt and looked into whatever was causing it.

wishful thinking.
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RETURN OF THE EDIT

dune has informed me the problem might just lie in the choice of port sab uses (6000) because it's a common choice for hackers. some ISPs might have looked at 6000 alone and went "HOSHIIIIII-" and started to block dune. i'm going to set us up on a mirror port and we'll see how that goes.