Simtropolis 7.0 (Dated February 21st)

[Dirktator 2,320]

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Fellow members of the Community!

Simtropolis 7.0 is coming very soon.  We will be doing a massive update of every part of the site, and this will happen in about a week's time.  This thread will be updated with a final date once its known.

Updated Schedule: The site will go offline at 12am EST Monday Februrary 21st.  

• The forums will be the first to return hopefully within the same day.
• City Journals will reappear shortly thereafter.
• STEX will reappear about 1 or 2 days after that.

In order to help you prepare for this impending change, I've put together the Simtropolis Upgrade Survivor's Handbook of Info-stuffs (SUSHI) so you know what to expect before, during and after the upgrade.

Part 1 - Pre-Upgrade Preparedness

Almost everything that's here will be ported over during the upgrade, this includes all your posts, your polls, your private topics, STEX files, and city journals.  However, some things will not be making it over, and here's how to handle them:

1. Signatures

The new system has an entirely new signature management console which also manages signature formating as well as restrictions.  So back-up your signatures as you'll have to recreate them in the new system.  Besides, you'll likely want to update your links.

2. Private Messages

Regrettably, while an attempt has been made, your personal private messages will NOT be carried over.  This is likely going to be very annoying and I do apologize but it is unavoidable. The new board does have a PM system, but the way it handles PMs and Private Topics is very different than how it does currently and an elegant solution could not be arrived at (you'll understand I'm sure once you see how the new PTs and PMs work).  Please use the Export function to save any important PMs locally, and you can restart your convos after the upgrade.

3. User blogs

The user blogs will not be converting to a new system at this time, instead, they will continue to remain precisely where they are.  You will continue to login to your blogs as you have before.  If you are no longer using your blog, I would ask to please take the time to delete it.  A mandatory clean-up of abandoned blogs will occur.

4. Subscriptions

Your subscriptions will be reset, in its place, you will vastly enjoy the extended features of the new "Notifications" system.

That's basically it. As with any major system upgrade, things will be replaced with better things, and I think you will really like the new enhancements.

Part 2 - During the Upgrade

Step 1

Don't panic.  

Step 2

Be patient.

Step 3

Be extra patient.

During the upgrade, the site will go offline for a few hours as the live data gets ported to the new system.  We expect this to last less than a day, but we don't a hard timeline.  However, we will be providing regular updates, so if you wish to keep abreast, follow us, and we'll keep you posted, and you will also know the precise moment when we're back up (so you don't have to sit around hitting f5).

Part 3 - Post-Upgrade Celebrations

Don't panic!  Be patient!  Even though the Admins and staff have undergone weeks of heavy testing, applying fixes, patches and stomping out bugs, there's bound to be some issues at first.

Somethings may not yet appear right away.  You might not see something you once had right away.  Something you liked is different or gone.  Chances are, we know about it, and there's a pretty good chance you'll see it again soon enough or there was a good reason why it had to go.  The key is to Not Panic.  These details will eventually work its way out.

Be prepared for a bumpy few days as the site goes up and down during fixes and optimizations.  If you feel that you must complain during this time, please type _{really really small}.

That's basically it for the SUSHI!  Stay safe out there!

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ADDENDUM:

So... What's new?

For those of you who want to know what some of the enhancements are, here is a very short list of some of the new features I'm sure you'll enjoy.

• Much slicker interface, more streamlined functionality
• About a gazillion new forum features and better ways to do things over the current system
• New and better ways to track your favourite content
• Get notifications whenever stuff you're watching changes, this includes not only forum topics, but CJs and STEX files, too
• Your Personal Profile is now more personal, and is now your own personal social hub
• See what your friends are doing/thinking... see where they are in the site
• One-to-one real-time messaging with anyone on your friends list
• Personal status updates
• New ways to login: Facebook Connect, Twitter Connect, OpenID
• Mobile browsing support for the forums
• City Journal authors get a host of new tools and goodies for their CJs with more enhancements coming
• And there's plenty more you'll discover for yourself

Cheers, folks!

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

This should be fun to use. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all works! Although, I really hope you're not going to change the color scheme too much because it matches my avatar really well...

[TowerDude 2,186]

Looks amazing, I haven't seen the differences between 5 and 6 but this promisses to be good, and I'll be patient and won't panic

[TekindusT 3,809]

Definately, can't wait for it!!!

I registered in ST 5.0, downloaded some stuff and left the site. When I came back, it was ST 6.0 and it had changed so much I couldn't barely tell if it was the same site or not. The upgrade from 6.0 to 7.0 looks very, very promising; specially the social features and connectivity. And of course, the elimination of the PFB...

[kakado_to_save 514]

i have a question... my post (my cj) will not be deleted?

[Kevin 101]

Originally posted by: kakado_to_save

i have a question... my post (my cj) will not be deleted?quote>

Both forum-based and "new-cj section"-based city journals will be preserved... don't worry

[LivingInThePast 364]

I think skins would be nice, with the skins resembling previous versions of ST. Just sayin'

[LivingInThePast 364]

Ooh, nice. The current ST has a way to export PMs, all of them, quickly and easily. Thanks!

[Toothless Stitch 2,901]

This is the first change of Sintropolis I witness.

[9988 428]

Finally, it

[Mikeaut1 261]

This is so exciting!! I've been through several Simtropolis upgrades, but this one is the most exciting for me in particular! There are a bunch of new features coming to the site it looks like! I can't wait to see the new ST 7.0! And thanks to Dirk's SUSHI post, I'm now craving a California Roll & Shrimp Tempura.

[BIWDC 2,296]

Great,Can't wait to see the new Look & improvements.

[Jamonbread 222]

I just peed a little...

[Firebird 40]

This would be the 4th ST upgrade that i'm around to witness, but this seems like the most exciting lol. Thanks for the SUSHI Dirk!

*Begins to hoard all the SUSHI before the other people view this thread* 

I have a question, tho. Will the current smilies be carried over, or replaced?

[Muck308 55]

Good luck with the transition! ST 7 sounds like it will be the best yet. Expect no small typing from me!

[LivingInThePast 364]

Originally posted by: Firebird

This would be the 4th ST upgrade that i'm around to witness, but this seems like the most exciting lol. Thanks for the SUSHI Dirk!

*Begins to hoard all the SUSHI before the other people view this thread* 

I have a question, tho. Will the current smilies be carried over, or replaced?
quote>

Some of the smilies are buggy.  has a black background frame.

I hope they don't get replaced with ugly smilies, which are extremely common.

[Firebird 40]

Originally posted by: LivingInThePast

Originally posted by: Firebird

This would be the 4th ST upgrade that i'm around to witness, but this seems like the most exciting lol. Thanks for the SUSHI Dirk!

*Begins to hoard all the SUSHI before the other people view this thread* 

I have a question, tho. Will the current smilies be carried over, or replaced?
quote>

Some of the smilies are buggy.  has a black background frame.

I hope they don't get replaced with ugly smilies, which are extremely common.

quote>

The smilie background seems fully transparent to me, if thats what you were reffering to. Hmm.

But yeah, me too. Like the ones that game with this new board software in ST6. 

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

I have a question, tho. Will the current smilies be carried over, or replaced?
quote>

The blue face smilies that we all know and love will indeed be coming with us.

After all it would not be ST without them!  

[NMUSpidey 3,956]

Yay for blue smileys!

[Jack_wilds 550]

OK...if I must be patient, standing by Army-style

[SimFox 802]

will it be based on ColdFusion or will it migrate to PHP or something else?

[Skimbo 304]

good luck that everything works well at the first attempt

[un1 41]

Oooh...2nd upgrade I will witness.

[3dpuzzlemaster 20]

This will be my second upgrade witness. I definitely can't wait, but I will be patient and will not panic

I have a question as well:

Will anything else be removed/reset besides the things listed above(blogs, PMs, subscriptions, signiatures)?

I love the blue smilies 

      ...and the ducky and bunny

[Meg 368]

Originally posted by: 3dpuzzlemaster

I love the blue smilies 

      ...and the ducky and bunny

quote>

They are all there.

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Originally posted by: SimFox

will it be based on ColdFusion or will it migrate to PHP or something else?quote>

No not ColdFusion...  and not PHP...

It is...   *to be said in a spooky voice*...

Something Else  

Edit...   and no not vBulletin either...

[Halen Of Dania 350]

question :

will the stex download procedier change or stay sort of the same. This is a big concern to me

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Will anything else be removed/reset besides the things listed above(blogs, PMs, subscriptions, signiatures)?quote>

Avatars.

[Simbourgeois 139]

I have been here for a while, and all the changes have been only for the good! It's great to read that there will be a new version of my favorite web-place (it's more than a simple website, I would say)!

Yours sincerely,

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

[Craig-Abcvs 1,595]

Originally posted by: halenbyname

question :

will the stex download procedier change or stay sort of the same. This is a big concern to me

quote>

The process will be similar, but the software will be different.    All your current files, comments, download stats,  will be preserved.