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Cyclone Boom

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About Cyclone Boom

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  1. Simtropolis Returns!

    Cyclone Boom replied to CorinaMarie's topic in Simtropolis Recovery Project

    I feel to clarify, there is actually much better news on this front. Long before the site crash, we specifically allowed the Internet Archive to index ST pages. While there may sometimes be crawl failures on certain URLs (typically those with long query strings), we were certainly not blocking the Wayback Machine intentionally. You may have observed the few weeks prior didn't have many pages saved. Aside from this it was actively indexing the site, and still does frequently. I also know some people had been manually indexing pages, which all helped. A summary of what the Internet Archive was able to restore can be seen from this post: Using the automated import, it allowed us to salvage over 6,000 images. We might also be able to find certain STEX files too from prior years, which could be especially helpful in restoring previous versions. These would be saved from the ?do=download URLs which fetch each STEX file.

  2. Sharer HQ: File Sharing Collaboration

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    Adding to the files collections people have kindly shared, @Wiimeiser posted on Discord the files they'd downloaded between June 2024 and April 2026. Here are the Google Drive links to each 7z archive: 2024 Jun 2024 Jul 2024 Aug 2024 Sep 2024 Oct 2024 Nov 2024 Dec 2024 2025 Jan 2025 Feb 2025 Mar 2025 Apr 2025 May 2025 Jun 2025 Jul 2025 Aug 2025 Sep 2025 Oct 2025 Nov 2025 Dec 2025 2026 Jan 2026 Feb-Mar 2026 Apr 2026 This amounts to about 10 GB in total. We may already have a number of these restored by now, but it'll still be worth considering when we get around to sorting previous versions of files. Some of these might be older iterations of files that we'll still want to re-upload later on. It's worth mentioning how previous version restoring will be done using a separate tracker page (which I'll be developing sometime). So for now, I'm just noting if you see any previous versions, please keep track of them in some way. It might be some file names specifically include version numbers, or to look inside the zips for when files were modified. It's also possible that Readme files could contain useful info. Thanks very much to Wiimeiser for sharing these. Also let me know if you'd like to free up space on your Google Drive, as I can get these ported over to the ST server. (Note: Any rep points this post receives I'll switch over to Wiimeiser's account.)

  3. Verifier HQ: File Verifying Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    I've made a couple of tweaks: The With File Claims filter now sorts by entries with the most missing files, so the more useful rows are first. This helps to prioritise files people have claimed to have which need restoring. Any config.bmp files are no longer flagged as duplicates. There were a few map files where this was happening. For partially verifying an upload, the dilemma is it would require quite a significant rewrite of the logic. The system checks that you've downloaded all files on a STEX entry. So as Cori said, the main task of verifying is to make sure each file downloads and ideally opens (not a corrupted archive). Absolutely no worries about testing anything in game. The focus on verification is what's intact and complete, not for quality standards of content. I remember the LEX used to have a "LEX Certified" badge for items, but that isn't the same as what we're doing. Verification is only known from the tracker page, not anything visible on a file entry itself.

  4. Verifier HQ: File Verifying Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    Great! It just occurred to me, and figured it'd help for motivation with seeing the totals increasing when verifying the 1 of 2 files. That seems odd. I presume you've downloaded those files before trying to Verify them? That's built into the system as a prerequisite before the option is available. If a file entry has more than one download, it'll also check that each file has been downloaded.

  5. Verifier HQ: File Verifying Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    I've just added a new filter option: One More Verification This lists all files which only need 1 other person to verify, before becoming Fully Verified.

  6. Verifier HQ: File Verifying Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    /me arrives and sees his secret editing is still in the bag... Originally I thought to not show who'd partially restored files (as in those with file entries, but still missing images). I felt it might cause embarrassment to those who'd be listed, thinking they've only done half the work. But considering what @Kel9509 said about wanting to find items they'd restored, I think that's more important. So yes @CaptCity you're right, and just the naming you saw was after I'd done the editing, while still working on the functional tweaks. To surmise, what I've done now is: Renamed the "Restored By" column and filter to be "Processor" instead. Made the filter list show all the files you've processed, even if not fully restored. It now lists them all per user like so. By the way... Please note as a formal point of order, there has been the addition of a graph to the upper portion of the tracker.

  7. Processor HQ: File Processing Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    Just to note, the system only allows clearing message banners once all recorded downloadable file entries are restored (excluding images). Another quick tip for clearing message banners... Firstly, filter by With Message Banner. This sorts first any which can have banners removed. Then click the corner checkbox: Then click Clear Banner from: And finally the confirmation of how many will actually be cleared: It sure saves a few clicks this way.

  8. Project Info & Updates

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in Simtropolis Recovery Project

    New Server Backup System I'm pleased to confirm that ST now has fully functional daily offsite backups. This means the backed up data is entirely separate from the ST server. Each day the system creates a fresh database export to 2 different storage vaults, and syncs across the entire site files. This includes system files, and everything inside the /objects directory, containing all user uploaded files from the STEX and the site. We've made this work by only copying what's new, so the process is very efficient. If for any reason a backup fails, the process will send us an email, so we can promptly rectify any issues. As of this post, the system has been functioning flawlessly for 5 days. The backup is on a Hetzner storage box, and we're making use of their automatic snapshots feature. This allows us to easily rollback to a previous backup if need be. Additionally, Cori and I will be making periodic local backups of the files, and copying them to external HDDs. We've learned from the mistakes of not having full offsite backups. This now means the future of Simtropolis has rock solid foundations. There's a notable difference:

  9. Processor HQ: File Processing Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    (By the way, I've moved all our posts here to the Processing thread. This one had no replies in yet, so was feeling lonely!) I think initially we can have a new thread where any info about files after Feb 28 can be compiled. These will be the most challenging, since there's no database record of them, and unfortunately the Wayback Machine hasn't archived many ST pages from March or April. A few authors have re-uploaded content since, but we'll have to try and identify any gaps. Perhaps I could develop a slightly different tracker once we have some info. That'll be a big help @CaptCity for the collection of files you downloaded. That will build strong foundations of a files list. Once there are no more missing downloads, at that point it's fine to remove message banners, to make the download button available to click. Images might take longer indeed to fully restore. Longer term the more images we can get added the better, but I think the key is visually communicating what a file is so downloaders are aware. As long as we achieve that with what's seen (for one or several images), that'll be a success I believe. Yeah, that sounds reasonable. The verification can only be completed once there are no missing downloads or images. As Cori said, the idea with the banners is to prevent people clicking Download and running into File Not Found errors. So this way whenever seeing the Download button, it gives confidence it should work. Very much so, and we ought to be mindful about that. While it'd be ideal to restore all images we can, the key is presenting file entries in a well enough way for the downloader to fully appreciate the creation prior to downloading. Of course for many very old STEX files, they only have tiny thumbnail images. I believe that was due to the small file size limit at the time, or perhaps something got lost for the originals? For files which have a main pic but missing thumbnail, it'll be because the Wayback Machine restoration only found one and not both. On entries with a full sized image, I'm inclined to create something to fix those up in batch. So I think for now, best focusing on replacing missing files and full sized images. It might be a future project to add better images to older content. But for sure, one thing at a time...

  10. Verifier HQ: File Verifying Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    @Kel9509 All at your own pace with this, and you (and others) are doing a fantastic job. Slowly but surely we'll get there! The Activity Log has a running list of who verified what, but I just added this to the table: So then it's clear who did the verifying when hovering over.

  11. bugs Simtropolis 9.0.x - Bugs & Issues Report Thread

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in Simtropolis Related

    @Propfam Yes, I created a higher resolution version for modern favicon standards. The original still shows in 16x16 size on browser tabs. Here they are:

  12. Verifier HQ: File Verifying Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    Just adding to what @CaptCity said, you might find it helpful to search for your files using the author box. For example: https://community.simtropolis.com/restoration/stex/?filter=all&author=Kel9509 Then as you have done, it'll allow verifying any files you've downloaded.

  13. STEX Restoration Tracker: Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in Simtropolis Recovery Project

    @nos.17 Thanks, good catch! I've fixed it now: And also on a few other confirmation dialogs which likewise weren't rendering the bold formatting.

  14. Processor HQ: File Processing Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    A little tip for removing message banners... Using the checkboxes on the right side, and then use the Clear Banner option. They'll then be removed in one click.

  15. Verifier HQ: File Verifying Info & Discussion

    Cyclone Boom replied to Cyclone Boom's topic in The Planning Commission

    Yes, that's intentional. Anyone who is part of the Restoration Team (or staff) can verify their own files. Those who restore their own content should have a vested interest, and first-hand knowledge of what should be present. But as Capt said, it does require 2 people to verify before a file is marked as Fully Verified (and at which point it receives the in the list). In the event we need to later revisit a verified file, this can be done after discussing it.
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