07-01-2022, 08:03 PM
Hey, gamers. Welcome back. I understand many of you will have lots of questions, some of which I should be able to answer here, and a lot I may not be able to at all, at least not just yet There is a ton of information to cover, so let's start with what happened, what's currently going on, and what to expect;
In case you weren't aware, on approximately June 8th, Facepunch Studios, the company that owns and operates Garry's Mod, received a takedown notice from an IP holder and was legally obligated to disable the game mode that our server was operating under. This affected not only us, but all Garry's Mod communities from around the world that were also operating servers under the same game mode, and this circumstance would also prevent all new ones from forming or attempting to reform in the future. In fact, Facepunch has already taken down dozens of servers attempting to capitalize on the situation almost as soon as they've opened over the course of the last few weeks. This is a clear indicator that Facepunch will not allow any servers, even ones that are remotely close at all, to open under our old theme and game mode. This also resulted in every single server IP address that was operating under the game mode at the time of the takedown being blacklisted, including our original one. Due to this entire situation happening, we were obligated to disable the website, all of our social media, and otherwise, while we removed all content and or references related to anything regarding the previous theme of our server. The best and most realistic solution was to simply wipe a majority of everything, change what was left over, and start anew, so that's what we've done. That's also why everything has remained closed for so long even after doing a 'soft launch' of the new Galaxy of Magic server that was announced only on Discord around a week ago. At the time of this announcement, however, everything should be reopened to some capacity, including the Steam Group, our Discord servers, Twitter, etc. The IP holder of the theme that our previous server was based on is still actively watching and looking into this situation surrounding Garry's Mod, so we don't expect to be completely out of the clear, nor this to be 'over' just yet. Because of this, it is of utmost importance that we are extremely cautious moving forward with every aspect of the new server (more info regarding the new server to follow below), our website, and every other outlet otherwise. There is a lot more I wish to be able to tell you, but for legal reasons, I cannot. This is the best that I can do for now.
Moving on to the good news and what to expect;
We've just opened a new server titled '[SBS] Galaxy of Magic' that's also operating under a game mode named 'Galaxy of Magic' within the Garry's Mod server browser. To get some of the bad news related to the new server specifically out of the way, we appealed our original server IP address blacklist with Facepunch. Though we had gone through the entire appeal process including an inspection, and it appeared that we had made a sufficient number of changes to the server, it was ultimately decided by Facepunch's legal team that the server IP address would need to remain blacklisted. This is unfortunate, however, we are able to operate this new server on a new IP address. Additionally, all GameTracker stats have been successfully transferred to the new IP address. Our ultimate goal is to make this new server feel right at home. We understand it will look a lot different than before, but the idea is to make sure it doesn't feel very different. Nearly all of the gameplay mechanics are the same. Your progress has remained. Though many have changed, virtually all previous donation rewards have also remained, and we will work to make them just as good or if not better than before. We are hoping to seamlessly transfer factions, their rulesets, and things of that nature to the new concepts and names we've come up with. Due to the fact that SBS is space-themed, we are basing our new server name, overall look, and lore, on Greek Mythology, Astrology, and space in general. It just makes sense for us. With that said, you will notice a ton of references in various names. This includes job names, spell names, class names, and more. The Celestial (the good guys). The Void (the bad guys). A magical galaxy that hosts 'Starbright University of Magic', a prestigious magical university known across many worlds other than just our own. Starbright was founded by the Greek Gods, with the goal of passing down their knowledge of ancient magicks till the end of time. With this concept being so new, and due to the fact that we have complete creative freedom with no bounds to fall within, everything is subject to change in the future. We can build this server on a concept completely of our own, with nearly boundless possibilities. The names and changes we have now were all decided and completed in an extremely time-crunched period, but we are still very happy with this concept as a starting point. Some stuff is still missing, and we have placeholders for other things.
A few notes for custom job owners specifically;
Some custom job models may be in use for standard server jobs as temporary placeholders. We are working as fast as possible to get replacements, and at the time of this announcement, there should be little to none being used for this purpose anymore. Some custom jobs have temporary placeholder names for the sake of keeping them on the server until a new name is decided and approved. Some custom jobs had to be entirely removed either due to names or the designs of the models, or both, and some may have only had one model removed and possibly a name change. A large majority of the custom jobs are unscathed. I will work with custom job owners that had entire jobs or models removed, or had name changes, but I ask that you all remain extremely patient. This alone will be an extremely large undertaking, and there is still so much left to do to get the server back to a point we are completely happy with. If your custom job was changed or removed, there will be an attempt made to allow you to come up with a new name for your job or have previous models retextured. I will not be able to provide entirely new models, however, in virtually any cases related to custom jobs where the model had to be removed and cannot be readded at all. A very small number of custom jobs are also gone entirely and most likely cannot be remedied. Some custom jobs, and other jobs in general, may also be missing previous abilities, such as !rd, spawning cuffs, etc. We are sure some of these things slipped through the cracks due to the enormous number of mechanics on the server that jobs tie into. It will take some time, but we will get back to being more established. If your custom job was affected by any forceful changes that we had to make, please reach out to me at a new temporary email that is specifically for remedying custom jobs that were changed at [email protected].
Let's cover some of the new stuff we added and plan to add soon;
+ As for the website, we've already updated all support guides and threads to reflect our new server name and format. This includes the compendium, which is still a work in progress, that can be found here https://starbystargaming.com/galaxyofmagiccompendium. All in-game commands should be updated at the time of this announcement as well.
+ Part of the update that was coming to the previous server, being a large number of new prestiges, has already been implemented into this new server. If you were previously master prestige, you have the ability to start these new prestiges right away, and get a head start towards the new unlocks that will eventually be added. The overall number of unlocks associated with prestiging has diminished, but we will get back to that number and more as soon as possible. All of this happening has stunted the progress towards having these ready, but we will get back to work on that soon. Additionally, all prestiges after Master Prestige will still have to start over with collecting their spells, however, these new prestiges will be able to collect 5 preselected spells from the 'Prestige Spell Tome' near the prestige board right away. You will still need the level requirement, now called 'Acuity' (uh-cue-uh-tee) to use them, however. All Prestiges after Noble Prestige will no longer result in any spells being lost at all. There are now 21 total prestiges, with Legend prestige being the new max prestige, and you can see those here:
![[Image: EKhb8y6.png]](https://starbystargaming.com/lexasecureimages/https://i.imgur.com/EKhb8y6.png%3Cbr/%3Eshowthread.php|tid=19252|pid=155195)
+ We are also working to scavenge everything else we can that was coming with the planned update, including a ton of new wand models, and a lot of new spells, which we will soon implement as well. There will be around 25 new spells added, and they will be added at some point in the next couple of weeks. The wands will take a little longer due the delay caused by having to revamp the entire server. The spells listing and in-game command has also been updated, which can be found below. The names of the spells may not be final, we just went with the theme to get this out as soon as possible, but this is what we're rolling with for now:
![[Image: iw441e0.png]](https://starbystargaming.com/lexasecureimages/https://i.imgur.com/iw441e0.png%3Cbr/%3Eshowthread.php|tid=19252|pid=155195)
+ Even though we have lost a lot of jobs, especially in the V.I.P. and prestige category, we have added a few completely new jobs with new creatures that no server of ours has seen before. These jobs include and are not limited to; a Phoenix that has healing abilities, new unique flying animations and respawns where it dies, Cerberus, Cyclops, Satyr 'Companion' that assists Celestial forces, and a generic Familiar. We will keep adding new jobs as quickly as possible to make up for everything that's been lost, some ideas being creatures such as Pegasus, Hydra, some form of a Void Companion, etc, and we will keep working on better models for jobs otherwise that are using any type of temporary placeholders. Some other more notable new jobs to mention, the 'Starbright Dean', being the head of the university, the 'Triumvirate', being the head of the 'Galactic Council of Magic' that oversees 'The Celestial' side and the 'Sentinels' that protect and enforce the laws. The 'Void Overlord', being the head of 'The Void' side, the 'Void Disciples', being the followers of the Void Overlord, and the 'Void Captors', being the minions of the Void Overlord and the Void Disciples alike.
+ We are already in the process of creating a new custom map for the server, and I will provide an early concept of the layout below. We will be going for a more 'fantasy' ancient Greek look and feel to this map, but that doesn't mean the rest of the aspects of the server need to follow. It also doesn't mean we have to stick with this at all, as we are open to things changing especially in any future custom maps that we can and will make. Meanwhile, we will be forced to experiment with and the server will run on workshop maps until this map is complete. This is far from ideal, but it's all we have, we hope for only a month or two maximum. We realize that having a map, even if less detailed, that fits all of our needs is going to be far more important than any 'good looking' map we can use from the workshop that doesn't have everything we need. In this case, we are working to get some form of a map out as soon as possible, even if it lacks some details at the start. It's worth mentioning that many elements of this new map will be familiar, including some of the original floorplans, notably the courtyard with the surrounding four main classrooms, the outer walls, the vast flat area for game makers leading to what will now be the colosseum, the world defined boundaries, etc. Measurements and scale from our old map will also be reused here, so the sense of familiarity and utilization of the map will make us feel right at home.
![[Image: 44nYxNb.png]](https://starbystargaming.com/lexasecureimages/https://i.imgur.com/44nYxNb.png%3Cbr/%3Eshowthread.php|tid=19252|pid=155195)
In conclusion for now;
We have now added a new section of the forums titled 'Suggestions Discussion', where you are able to share your suggestions with the community and discuss them. This includes anything you like about the new theme, don't like, or would like to see added or changed. I've already posted a few polls of some of the more important aspects of the server that I feel will be crucial to have your feedback on moving forward, you can vote in those or share your opinions here:
https://starbystargaming.com/showthread?tid=19254 < Scholar Model Concepts
https://starbystargaming.com/showthread?tid=19255 < Dorm Theme Concepts
Absolutely no aspect of the server is set in stone. With this being completely new territory, we are open to taking this where a majority of the community would like to see it go. Even though we are running with the current theme now, it doesn't mean everything has to be or appear Greek, nor does it have to take place in an ancient time period or be or look overly fantasy, we can take this in whatever direction we want. Theoretically, the university could still be standing millions of years or more later after it was built by the Greek Gods, so it could even take place in modern-day with more 'average' and 'modern' looking player characters; or perhaps our lore takes place in an unknown realm, or a realm of which we have a name for. A specific planet, such as earth, or maybe even one that we make up. It literally does not matter and is up to a majority of the community. We have no longer have any 'guidelines' or 'boundaries to follow', so let's make this new concept our own. Some part of me hopes we don't specify some of the details of the lore of the server, ever, for the sake staying of leaving some of the story to be interpreted by the player(s) themselves. To be abundantly clear for a final time; quite literally no element of the server in its current state, whether that being the overall theme, the name, the game mode name, the model types, etc, are set in stone. We are completely open to suggestions and are willing to take this in any direction that a majority of the community would prefer, but we still have to stay away from anything remotely similar to our previous theme as much as possible. There is too much risk at this time to do anything remotely close, and this would all be a waste of time if we try to do anything too similar again, as it could just all be ended again in the blink of an eye. At the end of the day, there were more than enough reasons to just let what happened to be the end of it all. We chose, instead, to at least give this a shot in a new way. We, at the very least, owed that to you all to try. So let's see what happens and what direction you would all like to take this in.
There is certainly plenty of new content for you to indulge in while we continue to work on the server, and while we all mold the server together in a direction we all like. A lot of said content will be getting accustomed and adjusting to the vast amount of changes alone. The goal has been to get this out to you as soon as possible while making sure we have made every necessary change to be able to open a server safely, so please don't expect perfection. There will likely be bugs, things missing, or even stuff that may have been overlooked that needs to be changed. Feel free and please be encouraged to report these things as you discover them in the bug report sub-forum within the new 'suggestions discussion' section.
We hope you enjoy the new server and join us on a new journey to take this server to places we never have before. You can quickly and easily join us by visiting https://starbystargaming.com/play/galaxyofmagic, connecting directly using the new IP address 208.103.169.55:27016, or by finding us in the "Galaxy of Magic" game mode listing within the Garry's Mod server browser. Thank you for playing and see you soon!
In case you weren't aware, on approximately June 8th, Facepunch Studios, the company that owns and operates Garry's Mod, received a takedown notice from an IP holder and was legally obligated to disable the game mode that our server was operating under. This affected not only us, but all Garry's Mod communities from around the world that were also operating servers under the same game mode, and this circumstance would also prevent all new ones from forming or attempting to reform in the future. In fact, Facepunch has already taken down dozens of servers attempting to capitalize on the situation almost as soon as they've opened over the course of the last few weeks. This is a clear indicator that Facepunch will not allow any servers, even ones that are remotely close at all, to open under our old theme and game mode. This also resulted in every single server IP address that was operating under the game mode at the time of the takedown being blacklisted, including our original one. Due to this entire situation happening, we were obligated to disable the website, all of our social media, and otherwise, while we removed all content and or references related to anything regarding the previous theme of our server. The best and most realistic solution was to simply wipe a majority of everything, change what was left over, and start anew, so that's what we've done. That's also why everything has remained closed for so long even after doing a 'soft launch' of the new Galaxy of Magic server that was announced only on Discord around a week ago. At the time of this announcement, however, everything should be reopened to some capacity, including the Steam Group, our Discord servers, Twitter, etc. The IP holder of the theme that our previous server was based on is still actively watching and looking into this situation surrounding Garry's Mod, so we don't expect to be completely out of the clear, nor this to be 'over' just yet. Because of this, it is of utmost importance that we are extremely cautious moving forward with every aspect of the new server (more info regarding the new server to follow below), our website, and every other outlet otherwise. There is a lot more I wish to be able to tell you, but for legal reasons, I cannot. This is the best that I can do for now.
Moving on to the good news and what to expect;
We've just opened a new server titled '[SBS] Galaxy of Magic' that's also operating under a game mode named 'Galaxy of Magic' within the Garry's Mod server browser. To get some of the bad news related to the new server specifically out of the way, we appealed our original server IP address blacklist with Facepunch. Though we had gone through the entire appeal process including an inspection, and it appeared that we had made a sufficient number of changes to the server, it was ultimately decided by Facepunch's legal team that the server IP address would need to remain blacklisted. This is unfortunate, however, we are able to operate this new server on a new IP address. Additionally, all GameTracker stats have been successfully transferred to the new IP address. Our ultimate goal is to make this new server feel right at home. We understand it will look a lot different than before, but the idea is to make sure it doesn't feel very different. Nearly all of the gameplay mechanics are the same. Your progress has remained. Though many have changed, virtually all previous donation rewards have also remained, and we will work to make them just as good or if not better than before. We are hoping to seamlessly transfer factions, their rulesets, and things of that nature to the new concepts and names we've come up with. Due to the fact that SBS is space-themed, we are basing our new server name, overall look, and lore, on Greek Mythology, Astrology, and space in general. It just makes sense for us. With that said, you will notice a ton of references in various names. This includes job names, spell names, class names, and more. The Celestial (the good guys). The Void (the bad guys). A magical galaxy that hosts 'Starbright University of Magic', a prestigious magical university known across many worlds other than just our own. Starbright was founded by the Greek Gods, with the goal of passing down their knowledge of ancient magicks till the end of time. With this concept being so new, and due to the fact that we have complete creative freedom with no bounds to fall within, everything is subject to change in the future. We can build this server on a concept completely of our own, with nearly boundless possibilities. The names and changes we have now were all decided and completed in an extremely time-crunched period, but we are still very happy with this concept as a starting point. Some stuff is still missing, and we have placeholders for other things.
A few notes for custom job owners specifically;
Some custom job models may be in use for standard server jobs as temporary placeholders. We are working as fast as possible to get replacements, and at the time of this announcement, there should be little to none being used for this purpose anymore. Some custom jobs have temporary placeholder names for the sake of keeping them on the server until a new name is decided and approved. Some custom jobs had to be entirely removed either due to names or the designs of the models, or both, and some may have only had one model removed and possibly a name change. A large majority of the custom jobs are unscathed. I will work with custom job owners that had entire jobs or models removed, or had name changes, but I ask that you all remain extremely patient. This alone will be an extremely large undertaking, and there is still so much left to do to get the server back to a point we are completely happy with. If your custom job was changed or removed, there will be an attempt made to allow you to come up with a new name for your job or have previous models retextured. I will not be able to provide entirely new models, however, in virtually any cases related to custom jobs where the model had to be removed and cannot be readded at all. A very small number of custom jobs are also gone entirely and most likely cannot be remedied. Some custom jobs, and other jobs in general, may also be missing previous abilities, such as !rd, spawning cuffs, etc. We are sure some of these things slipped through the cracks due to the enormous number of mechanics on the server that jobs tie into. It will take some time, but we will get back to being more established. If your custom job was affected by any forceful changes that we had to make, please reach out to me at a new temporary email that is specifically for remedying custom jobs that were changed at [email protected].
Let's cover some of the new stuff we added and plan to add soon;
+ As for the website, we've already updated all support guides and threads to reflect our new server name and format. This includes the compendium, which is still a work in progress, that can be found here https://starbystargaming.com/galaxyofmagiccompendium. All in-game commands should be updated at the time of this announcement as well.
+ Part of the update that was coming to the previous server, being a large number of new prestiges, has already been implemented into this new server. If you were previously master prestige, you have the ability to start these new prestiges right away, and get a head start towards the new unlocks that will eventually be added. The overall number of unlocks associated with prestiging has diminished, but we will get back to that number and more as soon as possible. All of this happening has stunted the progress towards having these ready, but we will get back to work on that soon. Additionally, all prestiges after Master Prestige will still have to start over with collecting their spells, however, these new prestiges will be able to collect 5 preselected spells from the 'Prestige Spell Tome' near the prestige board right away. You will still need the level requirement, now called 'Acuity' (uh-cue-uh-tee) to use them, however. All Prestiges after Noble Prestige will no longer result in any spells being lost at all. There are now 21 total prestiges, with Legend prestige being the new max prestige, and you can see those here:
+ We are also working to scavenge everything else we can that was coming with the planned update, including a ton of new wand models, and a lot of new spells, which we will soon implement as well. There will be around 25 new spells added, and they will be added at some point in the next couple of weeks. The wands will take a little longer due the delay caused by having to revamp the entire server. The spells listing and in-game command has also been updated, which can be found below. The names of the spells may not be final, we just went with the theme to get this out as soon as possible, but this is what we're rolling with for now:
+ Even though we have lost a lot of jobs, especially in the V.I.P. and prestige category, we have added a few completely new jobs with new creatures that no server of ours has seen before. These jobs include and are not limited to; a Phoenix that has healing abilities, new unique flying animations and respawns where it dies, Cerberus, Cyclops, Satyr 'Companion' that assists Celestial forces, and a generic Familiar. We will keep adding new jobs as quickly as possible to make up for everything that's been lost, some ideas being creatures such as Pegasus, Hydra, some form of a Void Companion, etc, and we will keep working on better models for jobs otherwise that are using any type of temporary placeholders. Some other more notable new jobs to mention, the 'Starbright Dean', being the head of the university, the 'Triumvirate', being the head of the 'Galactic Council of Magic' that oversees 'The Celestial' side and the 'Sentinels' that protect and enforce the laws. The 'Void Overlord', being the head of 'The Void' side, the 'Void Disciples', being the followers of the Void Overlord, and the 'Void Captors', being the minions of the Void Overlord and the Void Disciples alike.
+ We are already in the process of creating a new custom map for the server, and I will provide an early concept of the layout below. We will be going for a more 'fantasy' ancient Greek look and feel to this map, but that doesn't mean the rest of the aspects of the server need to follow. It also doesn't mean we have to stick with this at all, as we are open to things changing especially in any future custom maps that we can and will make. Meanwhile, we will be forced to experiment with and the server will run on workshop maps until this map is complete. This is far from ideal, but it's all we have, we hope for only a month or two maximum. We realize that having a map, even if less detailed, that fits all of our needs is going to be far more important than any 'good looking' map we can use from the workshop that doesn't have everything we need. In this case, we are working to get some form of a map out as soon as possible, even if it lacks some details at the start. It's worth mentioning that many elements of this new map will be familiar, including some of the original floorplans, notably the courtyard with the surrounding four main classrooms, the outer walls, the vast flat area for game makers leading to what will now be the colosseum, the world defined boundaries, etc. Measurements and scale from our old map will also be reused here, so the sense of familiarity and utilization of the map will make us feel right at home.
In conclusion for now;
We have now added a new section of the forums titled 'Suggestions Discussion', where you are able to share your suggestions with the community and discuss them. This includes anything you like about the new theme, don't like, or would like to see added or changed. I've already posted a few polls of some of the more important aspects of the server that I feel will be crucial to have your feedback on moving forward, you can vote in those or share your opinions here:
https://starbystargaming.com/showthread?tid=19254 < Scholar Model Concepts
https://starbystargaming.com/showthread?tid=19255 < Dorm Theme Concepts
Absolutely no aspect of the server is set in stone. With this being completely new territory, we are open to taking this where a majority of the community would like to see it go. Even though we are running with the current theme now, it doesn't mean everything has to be or appear Greek, nor does it have to take place in an ancient time period or be or look overly fantasy, we can take this in whatever direction we want. Theoretically, the university could still be standing millions of years or more later after it was built by the Greek Gods, so it could even take place in modern-day with more 'average' and 'modern' looking player characters; or perhaps our lore takes place in an unknown realm, or a realm of which we have a name for. A specific planet, such as earth, or maybe even one that we make up. It literally does not matter and is up to a majority of the community. We have no longer have any 'guidelines' or 'boundaries to follow', so let's make this new concept our own. Some part of me hopes we don't specify some of the details of the lore of the server, ever, for the sake staying of leaving some of the story to be interpreted by the player(s) themselves. To be abundantly clear for a final time; quite literally no element of the server in its current state, whether that being the overall theme, the name, the game mode name, the model types, etc, are set in stone. We are completely open to suggestions and are willing to take this in any direction that a majority of the community would prefer, but we still have to stay away from anything remotely similar to our previous theme as much as possible. There is too much risk at this time to do anything remotely close, and this would all be a waste of time if we try to do anything too similar again, as it could just all be ended again in the blink of an eye. At the end of the day, there were more than enough reasons to just let what happened to be the end of it all. We chose, instead, to at least give this a shot in a new way. We, at the very least, owed that to you all to try. So let's see what happens and what direction you would all like to take this in.
There is certainly plenty of new content for you to indulge in while we continue to work on the server, and while we all mold the server together in a direction we all like. A lot of said content will be getting accustomed and adjusting to the vast amount of changes alone. The goal has been to get this out to you as soon as possible while making sure we have made every necessary change to be able to open a server safely, so please don't expect perfection. There will likely be bugs, things missing, or even stuff that may have been overlooked that needs to be changed. Feel free and please be encouraged to report these things as you discover them in the bug report sub-forum within the new 'suggestions discussion' section.
We hope you enjoy the new server and join us on a new journey to take this server to places we never have before. You can quickly and easily join us by visiting https://starbystargaming.com/play/galaxyofmagic, connecting directly using the new IP address 208.103.169.55:27016, or by finding us in the "Galaxy of Magic" game mode listing within the Garry's Mod server browser. Thank you for playing and see you soon!
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