It's that time again...

[Koobie]

it all started with https://www.massassi.net/levels/files/2177.shtml
thank you so much Brian for creating the best modding community in the world

[Koobie]

Hey Brian
I rewrote Massassi in Python
Take that, Elon Musk

[Koobie]

I hacked you through your foot! lolkopter

[Koobie]

Мы покорим звёзды

[Nikumubeki]

In any case, whoever's gonna take over the site should finally overthrow JKE from the permanent LOTW position with Backup Base

[SMLiberator]

what do you mean it's always been backup base

[Brian]

From another thread re: jkhub:

So awesome!!!!!!!!!!! We should definitely figure out a way to get regular backups of this stuff. I'm working on a rewrite of Massassi (almost done) and I think I'm going to put all the file downloads, screenshots, programs, etc., up on S3 in a public-readable bucket. That way even if Massassi ever goes down at least people will have had a chance to mirror/archive it (regularly, if desired).

I enabled s3 as storage backend in my new django-based massassi app and the whole thing slows to a crawl It took over 13 hours to upload the ~8GB of files up to linode's s3-compatible object storage. And maybe it's because it's hosted in NJ and I'm closer to the west coast, but loading pages that have images loading from linode's object storage is too slow as well. I guess I could experiment with actual s3 but I've previously had good luck with linode. And amazon's interfaces for this stuff are so odd, disjointed, confusing, and needlessly complex.

Does anyone know if there's a way to make a public s3 bucket "browseable" via a web browser like old apache index pages? Right now the bucket is public but it just returns xml when you access it, you have to know the full resource name to get the actual files.

Maybe I need to consider linode's block storage instead.

[Nikumubeki]

You know, removing the TODOA TC downloads (and the unlinked original TODOA download lingering in the directory) would reduce that filesize

[Brian]

One or two files don't make a difference. And actually as I move to the new system any zip file that's on the filesystem but not registered as a level won't be imported. But the real issue is just per-file http request latency and transaction time. We have a few thousand levels to upload, plus about 2 screenshots each, plus a thumbnail for each screenshot and there's a few second overhead for every single file. Really annoying.

Hopefully also once this new system is out you'll be able to more easily submit / edit files. In any case we will at least have a decent admin interface so staff (I guess it's just me anymore) can edit stuff.

[Thrawn[numbarz]]

Had I known about this the last time you have it up I probably would have moved mountains to take it over but I'm over all of that. Discord seems to have mostly killed the forum now as well. You've done an admirable job and I can't blame you at all at this point.

Wait...we have Discord?

[saberopus]

We do! I sent you a PM w/ the invite URL. Not sure if those are susceptible to bots joining or whatever if posted publicly.

[Overlord]

Can I get that Discord link too? Been a bit since I popped back in and did today to see this thread.

Also thanks for all the years of work keeping the site alive Brian! It's always been nice to load up the site and see its still here even almost 20 years later.

[Gebohq]

Me three, please!

[Zloc_Vergo]

I would also take a Discord invite pls

[saberopus]

Sent some PMs to y'all.

[Brian]

Maybe there should be a sticky at the top where people can request access.

[Baconfish]

I might need that too.

I'm pretty sure I've been on it before but I'm not entirely sure what discord actually is and there's nothing there when I log in.

[saberopus]

Gotcha.

[Brian]

One or two files don't make a difference. And actually as I move to the new system any zip file that's on the filesystem but not registered as a level won't be imported. But the real issue is just per-file http request latency and transaction time. We have a few thousand levels to upload, plus about 2 screenshots each, plus a thumbnail for each screenshot and there's a few second overhead for every single file. Really annoying.

Hopefully also once this new system is out you'll be able to more easily submit / edit files. In any case we will at least have a decent admin interface so staff (I guess it's just me anymore) can edit stuff.

On a whim I tried actual amazon s3 (instead of linode's "compatible" version). It took ~1h to upload everything (vs ~13h on linode). And page load times are fine. Now working on unifying the "static" output from the other project (mentioned in another thread) and we should be having a nice new massassi in a couple of weeks.

[Jodo_Kast_BHG]

Wow, thanks for everything, Brian! I haven't been here in a while. It would be sad to see it disappear. Even though whenever I return I usually don't post much, if at all, it's always fun to see the banter and the jokes that are literally ancient in terms of internet years (I see dflt.mat pops into my head...). I also love downloading old levels and just running through them, even though I have nobody to play a game with! I hope something works out with handing the site over. I would offer to help, but my experience ends with Intro to Comp Sci sophomore year...

[SithGhost]

On a whim I tried actual amazon s3 (instead of linode's "compatible" version). It took ~1h to upload everything (vs ~13h on linode). And page load times are fine. Now working on unifying the "static" output from the other project (mentioned in another thread) and we should be having a nice new massassi in a couple of weeks.

Have you checked out CloudFront at all? If I recall correctly, it can take the content in your S3 bucket and cache it to servers that are closer to users, as well as some other fancy stuff. If you're hitting limitations with the static web page support by using just an S3 bucket, or do become concerned about load times, it might be worth a look.

[Brian]

Yes I've seen it. I'm a little worried about taking on responsibility for payment when I have no idea how much it will cost ahead of time. Right now I'm planning to just use S3 for holding the levels/screenshots, all the other stuff will still be on a server I control.

[SithGhost]

Yeah, pay-as-you-go can be a little intimidating. If you end up needing it, maybe it will possible to estimate additional CloudFront costs after you have a few S3 billing statements.

[Alan]

Maybe there should be a sticky at the top where people can request access.

nah just keep this bumped tbh

Sent some PMs to y'all.

hit me daddy

also i gotta be honest, the fact this ancient forum is running better than most websites made in the past idk ****ing decade or so is impressive

[Ni]

I'd like a discord invite as well.

[saberopus]

Gotcha x2.

[Northsky]

I'd also like a Discord invite. I'm a long time forum reader from around 2001?

[Nikumubeki]

Any news on the handover?

[Nikumubeki]

(Not to mention the TODOA - Edition of Magnitude post on the front page )

[burrie]

Ach, if we're handing out Discord links, can I get one as well?

[Nikumubeki]

There's a standing one on the JkGfxMod Steam guide https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfil...?id=1778723490

[Brian]

Any news on the handover?

I have flip-flopped a couple of times on whether I really want to do it. I decided to continue the plan to modernize the back end and actually rewrote all the dynamic stuff using python/django. It took less time than I expected but at this point I need to do the sysadmin-type stuff like bringing up a new server, install/configure everything, set up backups, etc. I haven't made time to work on this in the past month or two but it is on the list.

[Nikumubeki]

Alright, thanks for the update. It's good to know - now that the Trump Thread has been transplanted elsewhere (and disregarding the burst in posts recently - which followed almost a month of no posts at all), I'm the only one checking both these forums and massassi.net every single day.

[Darkjedibob]

I still check the forums every day

[Nikumubeki]

ONE OF US ONE OF US

[Brian]

Sorry you're checking the main page every day I should implement RSS so you can at least add it to a reader (so you get notified of new posts rather than having to check every day).

[Nikumubeki]

Oh no, that wouldn't be fun anymore

[Alan]

I have flip-flopped a couple of times on whether I really want to do it. I decided to continue the plan to modernize the back end and actually rewrote all the dynamic stuff using python/django. It took less time than I expected but at this point I need to do the sysadmin-type stuff like bringing up a new server, install/configure everything, set up backups, etc. I haven't made time to work on this in the past month or two but it is on the list.

do it in Ruby for the swag points

[SF_GoldG_01]

I don't have the time to take over or contribute to this (I work 60-80 hours a week), but if we get something organized, I'll gladly make a donation towards it's upkeep for all the fun it's provided over the years.

That being said, I would like to make the following recommendation:
The company that I work at uses a, Nest.js / Nuxt.js with Composition API (all in TypeScript) tech stack for all our projects (with whatever other dependencies may be needed, using AWS for all hosting needs, but I don't have any deployment experience, just development). From my experience with other tech stacks (PHP frameworks), this is the easiest tech stack to work with, and we've developed projects much larger in scale and complexity than anything on here. I recommend rewriting masssassi using this tech stack for the long run.

[Goit]

I'd like a discord link too please!

Thanks Brian for all of your hard work over the years.