(If you don't want to read the boring background, you can skip the first paragraph)
I'm a 5th grade teacher who has an additional degree in ed tech. My wife and I (she teaches 5th across the hall) play MC at home. The district we teach in has always been anti online anything. We did a great proposal, which we thought they would trash about setting up a MC server at our school for after hours. I thought about me as a kid, and if something like that was available when I went home. Work with my friends, explore, etc. To our surprise, the district loved it. Like I said, we play at home on a lan server I set up, but have some questions (probably dumb ones) when trying to implement a larger server for kids to log into. So, sorry if they are dumb questions, but at least know it's going to end up with a bunch of 10 year olds (some of them already playing MC at home) enjoying and appreciating this experience. We’re buying multiple machines to 1) run the server 2) have stations in the school kids can log into. So at least give a pat on the head for a couple people willing to pay several hundred out of their pocket to build this for a group of great kids.
Okay, down to the tech stuff. And for the record, the machine to run the server we have to build and fund ourselves, that was the deal. And they will let us hook it into their netowrk.I know there is the educational MC edition, but I don't want to use that. There are too many kids who have vanilla MC at home. I should mention, we are at a 'traditional' school in an 'at risk area'. Which means, the families are poor, but they sign their students up for this special school and work with them at home. Good people, good kids, low income but really trying.
After reading and reading, I'm still confused about server side and client side stuff. I could never explain to kids and families how to mod their vanilla MC at home, so trying to figure out what I can do server side. I’m hoping the MC community can point me in the right direction.
The main things I'm concerned about are:
1 - I want to post lessons, things to do. Signs are small. Is there a server side plugin that I can add where students don't have to mod their client where I can post more information? A pop up when they enter an area, a bigger sign, anything?
2 - Is there a server side (I won't keep going on about it, but I don't want to have to have each kid how to mod a client, they’re 10 and the parents can’t help) way to protect certain areas from damage? IE, make blocks in a certain area not destroyable. Just so I know what we can build before the students enter the world. We want to build certain areas, like a Pueblo village, a coordinate grid field, etc. But if one kid out of 100 wants to just bust stuff up….
3 - I know as a MC player they are going to find every place around the spawn and squat. Build stuff. That's what I want. So I'd like to build educational areas out from the spawn. Different social studies habitats, flat fields for building, etc. But, I figure I need to build those areas well away from the spawn so I can leave that alone for individual building. I thought about some kind of teleports to those areas. MincraftEDU edition has those, but again, I don't want to force my kids who already own MC to have to buy a special edition. Is there any way to set up server side mod where if you walk into a certain area it teleports you to another area?
I'll probably post a thousand more questions as this develops and really appreciate the community. I know what this could mean to my kids for now and each classroom I have in the future. Thanks to each and all who helps a goofy teacher (two, me and my wife) develop a game we all love for a group of 10 year olds.
2) what you are looking for is a 'craftbukkit' server, running a plugin like 'WorldGuard' . Vanilla clients connect as normal, but it adds the option to have all the functionality that Mojang leftout/ other people dreamed up.
The bukkit server is a drop-in replacement for the mojang version
3) many many different warp plugins available for bukkit servers
Thanks for the reply.
1) I thought about book but were afraid they could get destoyred.
2) I've played around wiht bukkit, FTB, etc. here at home and ran it fine. Following directions and such. But I'm really not clear on what can be done completely server side so that my kids who have vanilla MC can just connect with no issues. It was one thing setting up lan server here at home and confugiring out clients. But to do this, so that any kid can connect, it confusing.
3) Again, I'm gad to hear there are warp plugins, but I probably need to learn more about how that is done server side. I'm more than happy to read and learn, but if someone could point me in the right direction.
With bukkit and such what I'm worried about is if a system hasn't caught up with the offical vanilla release. Let's face it, 10 year olds aren't going to hold of on updates like we do due to broken plugs\mods..That's why I was sticking with a vanilla client and mods I could do server side.
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- Making an educational (but fun) server for my 5th Grade students -
the vanilla adventrue gamemode can do some kind of block protection, but idk if it can be selective areas only in a world. (i think you have to have the whole world like that - admittedly i know virtually nothing about the adventure gamemode other than it exists :/ )
certainly the warps sound like they could be done in vanilla with commandblocks- but again - i know nothing.
the books AFAIK are written once in a config file somewhere, and named, then called back in once again as required with command blocks.
i hope we hear from someone who knows more about these
just one last note, the bukkit server framework requires that a basic un-modded vanilla client be able to connect. (though i get your point about cutting edge mojang content)
Well, the type of server you're making is, at my radar, kind of easy to make
So I believe you have basic knowledge of plugins and configuring them,
- Warps is very easy, just get a warp plugin and fly over to where you want your players to be teleported and just type
"/setwarp [name of warp]" then if you want players to be teleported there, just ask them to type "/warp [name of warp you made]"
The main focus of permissions, is in the name itself, It lets your players have custom permissions, AKA what they CAN DO and what they CANT DO in game, say You want a player named "John" to only be able to warp and break blocks, but he cant do anything other than that, this is what permissions does for you. it'll be hard to configure at first as i said, but after a few weeks, you'll get used to it and get even interested.
(or, you can ask me to make a custom permissions for you)
- If you typed a book, and want to reproduce it without having the problem of typing it over and over again, there are several plugins out there that can duplicate books that you made.
- Worldguard is the obvious choice to restrict areas, you'll need to install worldedit first, then worldguard
Mind giving us a basic rundown of server specs? and the basic things you want to be done in game? so that we can get a clearer idea of what you want.
Don't hesitate to ask me or other devs on these stuff, after all, that's what McForums is about, helping each other.
I would definitely look into Bukkit. It isn't awfully difficult to work with, and opens up many possibilities.
I have worked with all Bukkit in my time playing MC (almost a year), and have set up 1 server and am currently working on another. Message me or post here if you have any questions.
If you really wish to try and keep the server completely vanilla, you can use the spawn-protection setting in server.properties to protect the land around the map spawn point. Do keep in mind that it can only be done on the spawn point, so you can't choose a random spot on a mountain or something and protect it. The only way you would be able to do that would be to get CraftBukkit, which I highly recommend for your situation since as an educator, you don't want kids to be able to do certain things. For example, most teachers don't like swearing, and I'm sure you don't want your students saying any bad words while on the server. To censor any "special" words that the students might say, you can use plugins like PwnFilter. As mentioned above, you can also use permissions plugins to give yourself fine grain control over what your students can and can't do while on your server. So if I didn't want my students to be able to use lava or use the command /warp, I would use a permissions plugin to make it so they can't, similar to how you set up restrictions on a Windows computer with Group Policy. Bukkit also allows you to make the pop up notifications that you mentioned above. So if I walk into a specific region or I walk on a specific block, a pop up will appear in chat that tells me what to do, where I'm going, etc. With Bukkit, your possibilities really are endless as an educator.
Also, it's awesome that you guys are doing this for the kids
Thanks for the replies and encouragement! That is where I get messed up. I understand servers have plugins and clients have mods. When I configured things here at home for my wife and I, I read and learned what I needed to do to the server and whay I needed to do on each client. My memory is kind of sketchy on what I did, I just know I could never walk a kid (or their parent) through it. Like I mentioned, our school is very low income, but it's an optional program for parents who will help their student at home and want better for them. Everyone works hard, but I hate to say, many of my parents don't have a lot of education. I spend most of my night on email working with parents to help their student. (Don't get me wrong, it's a great thing, they want better for their kids)
I've read about what Bukkit has, but if I decided to go the route of Craftbukkit, would that be completely server side? The kids don't have to mod their client?
Poweruas asked about a rundown of server specs. I haven't built it yet. I build my own PC's, so I'm going to buy the machine out of pocket. I would love some advise on what to buy. I've read a lot of articles on minimum specs, but before I shell the money out of our bank account I want to be sure. I doubt more than 40 would be on at one time, we have 210 5th grade students. But I'm wondering what would happen if they all hit it at one time. I have to give it up to my district, the fact that their letting me do it is great. I just hit some really cool people in out tech department that loved the idea (we're a huge district, we have 90 elementary schools). Their sending a 'team' to meet with me Tuesday to talk about how to get it running on their network which is firewalled out the wazoo.
Is Worldguard server side?
In response to Poweruas asking what I want to be able to do the main things are 1) have the information piece, when kids enter a certain area or click on an information block for it to pop up information on what they are supposed to do there. Again, signs are so small. 2) make sure the things I build in those areas are destoryed by kids or Creepers 3) I'm kind of nervous to build a whole world and then 1.7 comes out, and the whole thing is shot. I don't know enough about how that works so information is appreciated. It will just last for this school year, I'll probably rebuild the world each summer. 4) It would be great if I could have a block that you click on and it takes you to a way off area, then another block to bring you back. I know the MinecraftEDU edition has those. But again, I don't want my kids who already own MC to have to buy another version.
Those are the main things, information, protecting areas and moving kids to a far off area. There are so many plugins it's hard to know which to use.
Thanks again for the help and encouragment. The district folks told me what an undertaking this would be but I pointed out I could always find help on forums!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
- Making an educational (but fun) server for my 5th Grade students -
I've read about what Bukkit has, but if I decided to go the route of Craftbukkit, would that be completely server side? The kids don't have to mod their client?
Yup, completely server side (for most plugins anyway). The kids will not have to download any mods unless a plugin that drastically changes game mechanics is installed, which for what you want to do will certainly not be required.
Quote from lucasbuck2 »
Poweruas asked about a rundown of server specs. I haven't built it yet. I build my own PC's, so I'm going to buy the machine out of pocket. I would love some advise on what to buy.
I don't feel like I can comment on server specs that would be required. I mostly stick to managing the software side of the servers I have taken part in before, however, running a 40+ person server will require more than a basic system. I'd imagine that a system with an i5 or E3-1230v2 etc + 8GB RAM or so would be sufficient, depending on the quantity and intensity of the plugins installed.
Don't listen to me about hardware requirements though, there's a fair chance i'm completely wrong
Quote from lucasbuck2 »
Is Worldguard server side?
Sure is.
Quote from lucasbuck2 »
1) have the information piece, when kids enter a certain area or click on an information block for it to pop up information on what they are supposed to do there. Again, signs are so small.
There are a fair few plugins that offer this functionality. A few that you may like to take a look at are TutorialSigns and ServerSigns.
Quote from lucasbuck2 »
2) make sure the things I build in those areas are (not?) destoryed by kids or Creepers
WorldGuard has the capability to select cuboid spaces and protect them from pretty much anything you want, be it mob damage, TNT, player damage, commands, spawning, teleporting, etc. It also has the option to create child-areas to allow certain players to create and destroy in a certain box that is contained in a protected area.
Quote from lucasbuck2 »
3) I'm kind of nervous to build a whole world and then 1.7 comes out, and the whole thing is shot. I don't know enough about how that works so information is appreciated. It will just last for this school year, I'll probably rebuild the world each summer.
See This (Remember to set your server to take regular backups just in case, being able to roll back easily is something that should not be missed out on)
Quote from lucasbuck2 »
4) It would be great if I could have a block that you click on and it takes you to a way off area, then another block to bring you back. I know the MinecraftEDU edition has those. But again, I don't want my kids who already own MC to have to buy another version.
There is a plugin that teleports players to a random location out in the wilderness with a simple command. If needed, you can even bind the command to a sign so that they only have to right click the sign to be teleported out into the wilderness. To get back to spawn, players can use the command /spawn.
There's also a plugin that lets you create custom menus for commands, information and events as well as pretty much anything else you may need, you may want to check it out. You should also consider adding Essentials as one of the base plugins too. It adds the ability to do a whole bunch of stuff like setting home points, warping, wearing blocks as hats ( ), kicking/banning players from the server, nicknames, + a whole bunch of other neat stuff.
You will also need a permissions plugin to restrict the kid's access to potentially harmful commands & 'griefing'. PermissionsEx & GroupManager are some of the best & easiest to use. (I personally use Pex)
Quote from lucasbuck2 »
Thanks again for the help and encouragment. The district folks told me what an undertaking this would be but I pointed out I could always find help on forums!
We're always happy to lend a helping hand, good luck with the server!
I have been through this many times, and much trial-and-error has occured. That may be something you will have to do, but it isn't too awfully hard. Permissions is something that you should reallyn seriously consider if you are going to be using plugins. Many (at least creative) servers have full rank systems with full permisssions, and it works great to stop some rogue person from joining and griefing the h**l out of everything.
This forum is a community, and we all love to help. Just message me or reply here if you need anything.
I would love to help you set this up for the kids. I am a experienced server owner and developer, I know just about everything you need to set this server up and have it for them as soon as possible, If you would like for me to help please PM me and we can discuss it there.
I really appreciate all the help. I will definately take folks up on any offers to help me set it up. I've been shopping computers. Depending on how I buy, I might get stuck having to use the schools crappy vendor (instead of building myself). But that is if I can use our fundraiser money, otherwise I'm going out of pocket. I'm trying to find ones with 8GB and a fast processor since it looks like it's all just based on one core. If anyone has any friends that might be able to more specifically tell me what to buy that would be great.
I'm meeting with a 'team' from our district tomorrow (they're sending 3 people so that's a good sign). The want to make sure our principal understands the issues of hosting it on our server. Not sure exactly what those are yet.
One quick question while I'm thinking of it. Are minimaps all client side? I setup a lan for me and my wife just to get familiar again with setup (I used to use Yogbox). Wow I miss a mini map (just using vanilla for now). I didn't know if I could do one server side so the kids wouldn't have to install it.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
- Making an educational (but fun) server for my 5th Grade students -
I really appreciate all the help. I will definately take folks up on any offers to help me set it up. I've been shopping computers. Depending on how I buy, I might get stuck having to use the schools crappy vendor (instead of building myself). But that is if I can use our fundraiser money, otherwise I'm going out of pocket. I'm trying to find ones with 8GB and a fast processor since it looks like it's all just based on one core. If anyone has any friends that might be able to more specifically tell me what to buy that would be great.
I'm meeting with a 'team' from our district tomorrow (they're sending 3 people so that's a good sign). The want to make sure our principal understands the issues of hosting it on our server. Not sure exactly what those are yet.
One quick question while I'm thinking of it. Are minimaps all client side? I setup a lan for me and my wife just to get familiar again with setup (I used to use Yogbox). Wow I miss a mini map (just using vanilla for now). I didn't know if I could do one server side so the kids wouldn't have to install it.
Hey there! I love the idea and would love to help. I have been running servers for over 2 years. I will be able to answer essentially all your answers. So, the minimap thing. I see that you are confused on server side, client side. To put this into your mind, anything that would be modifying the client is client sided. That includes adding blocks, GUI's, or making them install something automatically. This is similar to single play mods, were you have to add something to your client. Server sided things are how the server reacts when someone does an action. As long as your not changing something in there client, then it's possible. Now there may be something you could do with a map, but it will be very limited and not very likely you will find it online. Also if you have any plugin questions I will gladly answer them with the best plugin and a guide/wiki if it's available.
Thanks for the input, I thought I was right. It's been a long time since I set things up my house here. Maybe there's an easy way I can look into minimaps for later that they could add at home. I'm sure I could find an installer or something.
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- Making an educational (but fun) server for my 5th Grade students -
I'm trying to find ones with 8GB and a fast processor since it looks like it's all just based on one core. If anyone has any friends that might be able to more specifically tell me what to buy that would be great.
Hi there,
For your server to be efficient with 8 GB of RAM, you should get at least a dual core processor. Obviously, the more cores the better, but I do understand if you are strapped for cash. I personally own an 8 GB dedicated server with an i3 processor... it doesn't work awfully well. if you are going the Intel route, I would recommend a dual-core i5 processor. If you would like to go AMD, I can't really help there as I am not very eductaed in that field.
Hope I helped!
-Hawks
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If my reply helped, press that little green arrow in the corner... It really does mean a lot to me.
Also, feel free to message me with any questions or help you may need.
Good news! (I went so much better than I thought, so I'll try not to ramble, I'm just glad). Bear in mind, we're a pretty big district. 172 schools. So I had no hope in this. Luckily the top guys in the IT department are 1) cool 2) have kids who play minecraft. 3 of the top guys came out to meet with me today. First, we talked about running a desktop in the school. They were worried about the bandwidth, because our school had to hop back to central offices. Then they came up with putting the desktop out at the main office. Then they came up with putting it on their main servers (but central offices charges schools for that). They dismantled our old in school server years ago. Our school network is a virutal network ran on their blade servers back at the main office (I'm not that familiar with blade servers, but they were excited, I was lost, and at this point in the meeting just passing along to you what was said). Their going to set me up as a site admin for my school (I understood that part), let me put MC on one of their blade servers with the fast connection at central office, allocate our school more drive space and 8 GB of ram (only have 2 now). They said they could set it to run on Windows 2008 or Windows 2012 (I haven't used either) and remote desktop from home to set it up. They would open up the port, set up an IP, etc. SO, I'm a little overwhealed. I'll probably be bugging everyone to death. Since it's the school system, I can't just let someone else log into it to set it up, so I hope folks don't mind chatting back and forth.
So, unless I'm mistaken, that sounds a whole lot better than me running a single desktop plugged into my spotty connection in my classroom. I'd appreciate any topics I need to bring up or address with them regarding the setup. Things they need to set, allocate, etc. That way they can do it in one big batch. They seem to want to get it up and testing really quick.
One quick question they asked. I know here at home when my wife and I play, I just use direct connect. I don't bother with the server lists. I think that might be a little easier for them. They asked if MC would only connect with a numeric IP. They offered to resolve the name. (Which, because I'm not that network savy, I assume means you could type in a domain name rather than the numeric IP?) Will that work?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
- Making an educational (but fun) server for my 5th Grade students -
to answer you last point first; yeah it resolves domain names just fine.
the change in the network architecture/topology brings up a few points.
1) in a lan setting you wouldnt have needed to worry about specifying the user access, but having it at the core of a larger vpn/wlan means that you will have to consider who can access the server, when they can, and how you might go about controlling that.
2) with the bandwidth demands, Minecraft is unlike the majority of online games in that it generates far more network traffic than a trivial amount. In the LAN setting this is no issue, as it is not metered, but once you start routing through commercial providers, it may be. You might be a fortunate American for whom bandwith volume is uncapped, but in many parts of the world, the data traffic costs can give pause to the idea of even privately hosted servers amongst friends.
It will be interesting to see being on the cusp of the 1.7 release, how the changes to the netcode may impact this too.
Thanks for the reply.
1) I thought about book but were afraid they could get destroyed.
There are many plugins (that require no configuration unless u want to configure them) that prevent dropping certain items on my server i have one so nobody can drop their diamonds (to prevent them getting on many different accounts to get the kit multiple times) hope this helps with that one im having problems of my own now though lol i cant get the plugin groupmanager to work but you dont want to hear about my problems lol
I got a little more info tonight. The blades are Nehalem (which I saw was recommended) and run 2008r2. They said from the building it's running from, bandwidth wouldn't be a problem. I'm guessing since it will be used after school hours (once the kids are home), it shouldn't be a problem. Not much else should be going then. They are going to set it a 4gb for now, which from his guesstimate, would support 30 players then bump it to 8gb when it gets rolling. You have to give them credit for supporting it with good equipment, I'm sure it will run smoother than a desktop would.
Survivzor mentioned 'you will have to consider who can access the server, when they can, and how you might go about controlling that.' Can't Bukkit or a plugin handle who can access it? I figured it would have a way to use logins\passwords or such for servers. Of course, I never had to deal with that with just a lan.
But like I've said, I'm just not that network savvy. If anyone can give me suggestions on things to tell him he will need to do\setup on the network end to make his job easier, it would be much appreciated. I don't want them getting frustrated with me.
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- Making an educational (but fun) server for my 5th Grade students -
the access control thing was just something to keep in mind as you develop this project
sure bukkit plugins can do the user access control, I was wondering more like how you are going to keep track of lists of usernames with kids from 172 schools. A server for schoolkids hosted on a public IP will likely attract non-school kids, and people from all over the world.
so im thinking that you might want it whitelisted, but then again keeping track of who's who might still be tricky. there can be issues with identity verification when larger numbers of people become involved. (siblings/friends using someones account; stolen accounts etc.)
when its just a schoolbased lan, it makes this a non-issue because its not open to the internet.
I'm a 5th grade teacher who has an additional degree in ed tech. My wife and I (she teaches 5th across the hall) play MC at home. The district we teach in has always been anti online anything. We did a great proposal, which we thought they would trash about setting up a MC server at our school for after hours. I thought about me as a kid, and if something like that was available when I went home. Work with my friends, explore, etc. To our surprise, the district loved it. Like I said, we play at home on a lan server I set up, but have some questions (probably dumb ones) when trying to implement a larger server for kids to log into. So, sorry if they are dumb questions, but at least know it's going to end up with a bunch of 10 year olds (some of them already playing MC at home) enjoying and appreciating this experience. We’re buying multiple machines to 1) run the server 2) have stations in the school kids can log into. So at least give a pat on the head for a couple people willing to pay several hundred out of their pocket to build this for a group of great kids.
Okay, down to the tech stuff. And for the record, the machine to run the server we have to build and fund ourselves, that was the deal. And they will let us hook it into their netowrk.I know there is the educational MC edition, but I don't want to use that. There are too many kids who have vanilla MC at home. I should mention, we are at a 'traditional' school in an 'at risk area'. Which means, the families are poor, but they sign their students up for this special school and work with them at home. Good people, good kids, low income but really trying.
After reading and reading, I'm still confused about server side and client side stuff. I could never explain to kids and families how to mod their vanilla MC at home, so trying to figure out what I can do server side. I’m hoping the MC community can point me in the right direction.
The main things I'm concerned about are:
1 - I want to post lessons, things to do. Signs are small. Is there a server side plugin that I can add where students don't have to mod their client where I can post more information? A pop up when they enter an area, a bigger sign, anything?
2 - Is there a server side (I won't keep going on about it, but I don't want to have to have each kid how to mod a client, they’re 10 and the parents can’t help) way to protect certain areas from damage? IE, make blocks in a certain area not destroyable. Just so I know what we can build before the students enter the world. We want to build certain areas, like a Pueblo village, a coordinate grid field, etc. But if one kid out of 100 wants to just bust stuff up….
3 - I know as a MC player they are going to find every place around the spawn and squat. Build stuff. That's what I want. So I'd like to build educational areas out from the spawn. Different social studies habitats, flat fields for building, etc. But, I figure I need to build those areas well away from the spawn so I can leave that alone for individual building. I thought about some kind of teleports to those areas. MincraftEDU edition has those, but again, I don't want to force my kids who already own MC to have to buy a special edition. Is there any way to set up server side mod where if you walk into a certain area it teleports you to another area?
I'll probably post a thousand more questions as this develops and really appreciate the community. I know what this could mean to my kids for now and each classroom I have in the future. Thanks to each and all who helps a goofy teacher (two, me and my wife) develop a game we all love for a group of 10 year olds.
2) what you are looking for is a 'craftbukkit' server, running a plugin like 'WorldGuard' . Vanilla clients connect as normal, but it adds the option to have all the functionality that Mojang leftout/ other people dreamed up.
The bukkit server is a drop-in replacement for the mojang version
3) many many different warp plugins available for bukkit servers
1) I thought about book but were afraid they could get destoyred.
2) I've played around wiht bukkit, FTB, etc. here at home and ran it fine. Following directions and such. But I'm really not clear on what can be done completely server side so that my kids who have vanilla MC can just connect with no issues. It was one thing setting up lan server here at home and confugiring out clients. But to do this, so that any kid can connect, it confusing.
3) Again, I'm gad to hear there are warp plugins, but I probably need to learn more about how that is done server side. I'm more than happy to read and learn, but if someone could point me in the right direction.
With bukkit and such what I'm worried about is if a system hasn't caught up with the offical vanilla release. Let's face it, 10 year olds aren't going to hold of on updates like we do due to broken plugs\mods..That's why I was sticking with a vanilla client and mods I could do server side.
certainly the warps sound like they could be done in vanilla with commandblocks- but again - i know nothing.
the books AFAIK are written once in a config file somewhere, and named, then called back in once again as required with command blocks.
i hope we hear from someone who knows more about these
just one last note, the bukkit server framework requires that a basic un-modded vanilla client be able to connect. (though i get your point about cutting edge mojang content)
So I believe you have basic knowledge of plugins and configuring them,
- Warps is very easy, just get a warp plugin and fly over to where you want your players to be teleported and just type
"/setwarp [name of warp]" then if you want players to be teleported there, just ask them to type "/warp [name of warp you made]"
- Since most 10 year old kids I believe have played on other MC servers already, this is one aspect that's VERY important, It's called "Permissions" At first, it will be really hard to configure if you're new to the server business, but you can learn how to do it here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1327397-permissions-workshop-solve-permissions-problems-here/
The main focus of permissions, is in the name itself, It lets your players have custom permissions, AKA what they CAN DO and what they CANT DO in game, say You want a player named "John" to only be able to warp and break blocks, but he cant do anything other than that, this is what permissions does for you. it'll be hard to configure at first as i said, but after a few weeks, you'll get used to it and get even interested.
(or, you can ask me to make a custom permissions for you)
- If you typed a book, and want to reproduce it without having the problem of typing it over and over again, there are several plugins out there that can duplicate books that you made.
- Worldguard is the obvious choice to restrict areas, you'll need to install worldedit first, then worldguard
Mind giving us a basic rundown of server specs? and the basic things you want to be done in game? so that we can get a clearer idea of what you want.
Don't hesitate to ask me or other devs on these stuff, after all, that's what McForums is about, helping each other.
I hope I helped you today
I have worked with all Bukkit in my time playing MC (almost a year), and have set up 1 server and am currently working on another. Message me or post here if you have any questions.
-Hawks
Also, feel free to message me with any questions or help you may need.
Also, it's awesome that you guys are doing this for the kids
I've read about what Bukkit has, but if I decided to go the route of Craftbukkit, would that be completely server side? The kids don't have to mod their client?
Poweruas asked about a rundown of server specs. I haven't built it yet. I build my own PC's, so I'm going to buy the machine out of pocket. I would love some advise on what to buy. I've read a lot of articles on minimum specs, but before I shell the money out of our bank account I want to be sure. I doubt more than 40 would be on at one time, we have 210 5th grade students. But I'm wondering what would happen if they all hit it at one time. I have to give it up to my district, the fact that their letting me do it is great. I just hit some really cool people in out tech department that loved the idea (we're a huge district, we have 90 elementary schools). Their sending a 'team' to meet with me Tuesday to talk about how to get it running on their network which is firewalled out the wazoo.
Is Worldguard server side?
In response to Poweruas asking what I want to be able to do the main things are 1) have the information piece, when kids enter a certain area or click on an information block for it to pop up information on what they are supposed to do there. Again, signs are so small. 2) make sure the things I build in those areas are destoryed by kids or Creepers 3) I'm kind of nervous to build a whole world and then 1.7 comes out, and the whole thing is shot. I don't know enough about how that works so information is appreciated. It will just last for this school year, I'll probably rebuild the world each summer. 4) It would be great if I could have a block that you click on and it takes you to a way off area, then another block to bring you back. I know the MinecraftEDU edition has those. But again, I don't want my kids who already own MC to have to buy another version.
Those are the main things, information, protecting areas and moving kids to a far off area. There are so many plugins it's hard to know which to use.
Thanks again for the help and encouragment. The district folks told me what an undertaking this would be but I pointed out I could always find help on forums!
Yup, completely server side (for most plugins anyway). The kids will not have to download any mods unless a plugin that drastically changes game mechanics is installed, which for what you want to do will certainly not be required.
I don't feel like I can comment on server specs that would be required. I mostly stick to managing the software side of the servers I have taken part in before, however, running a 40+ person server will require more than a basic system. I'd imagine that a system with an i5 or E3-1230v2 etc + 8GB RAM or so would be sufficient, depending on the quantity and intensity of the plugins installed.
Don't listen to me about hardware requirements though, there's a fair chance i'm completely wrong
Sure is.
There are a fair few plugins that offer this functionality. A few that you may like to take a look at are TutorialSigns and ServerSigns.
WorldGuard has the capability to select cuboid spaces and protect them from pretty much anything you want, be it mob damage, TNT, player damage, commands, spawning, teleporting, etc. It also has the option to create child-areas to allow certain players to create and destroy in a certain box that is contained in a protected area.
See This (Remember to set your server to take regular backups just in case, being able to roll back easily is something that should not be missed out on)
There is a plugin that teleports players to a random location out in the wilderness with a simple command. If needed, you can even bind the command to a sign so that they only have to right click the sign to be teleported out into the wilderness. To get back to spawn, players can use the command /spawn.
There's also a plugin that lets you create custom menus for commands, information and events as well as pretty much anything else you may need, you may want to check it out. You should also consider adding Essentials as one of the base plugins too. It adds the ability to do a whole bunch of stuff like setting home points, warping, wearing blocks as hats ( ), kicking/banning players from the server, nicknames, + a whole bunch of other neat stuff.
You will also need a permissions plugin to restrict the kid's access to potentially harmful commands & 'griefing'. PermissionsEx & GroupManager are some of the best & easiest to use. (I personally use Pex)
We're always happy to lend a helping hand, good luck with the server!
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I have been through this many times, and much trial-and-error has occured. That may be something you will have to do, but it isn't too awfully hard. Permissions is something that you should reallyn seriously consider if you are going to be using plugins. Many (at least creative) servers have full rank systems with full permisssions, and it works great to stop some rogue person from joining and griefing the h**l out of everything.
This forum is a community, and we all love to help. Just message me or reply here if you need anything.
Also, feel free to message me with any questions or help you may need.
I'm meeting with a 'team' from our district tomorrow (they're sending 3 people so that's a good sign). The want to make sure our principal understands the issues of hosting it on our server. Not sure exactly what those are yet.
One quick question while I'm thinking of it. Are minimaps all client side? I setup a lan for me and my wife just to get familiar again with setup (I used to use Yogbox). Wow I miss a mini map (just using vanilla for now). I didn't know if I could do one server side so the kids wouldn't have to install it.
Hey there! I love the idea and would love to help. I have been running servers for over 2 years. I will be able to answer essentially all your answers. So, the minimap thing. I see that you are confused on server side, client side. To put this into your mind, anything that would be modifying the client is client sided. That includes adding blocks, GUI's, or making them install something automatically. This is similar to single play mods, were you have to add something to your client. Server sided things are how the server reacts when someone does an action. As long as your not changing something in there client, then it's possible. Now there may be something you could do with a map, but it will be very limited and not very likely you will find it online. Also if you have any plugin questions I will gladly answer them with the best plugin and a guide/wiki if it's available.
Hi there,
For your server to be efficient with 8 GB of RAM, you should get at least a dual core processor. Obviously, the more cores the better, but I do understand if you are strapped for cash. I personally own an 8 GB dedicated server with an i3 processor... it doesn't work awfully well. if you are going the Intel route, I would recommend a dual-core i5 processor. If you would like to go AMD, I can't really help there as I am not very eductaed in that field.
Hope I helped!
-Hawks
Also, feel free to message me with any questions or help you may need.
So, unless I'm mistaken, that sounds a whole lot better than me running a single desktop plugged into my spotty connection in my classroom. I'd appreciate any topics I need to bring up or address with them regarding the setup. Things they need to set, allocate, etc. That way they can do it in one big batch. They seem to want to get it up and testing really quick.
One quick question they asked. I know here at home when my wife and I play, I just use direct connect. I don't bother with the server lists. I think that might be a little easier for them. They asked if MC would only connect with a numeric IP. They offered to resolve the name. (Which, because I'm not that network savy, I assume means you could type in a domain name rather than the numeric IP?) Will that work?
the change in the network architecture/topology brings up a few points.
1) in a lan setting you wouldnt have needed to worry about specifying the user access, but having it at the core of a larger vpn/wlan means that you will have to consider who can access the server, when they can, and how you might go about controlling that.
2) with the bandwidth demands, Minecraft is unlike the majority of online games in that it generates far more network traffic than a trivial amount. In the LAN setting this is no issue, as it is not metered, but once you start routing through commercial providers, it may be. You might be a fortunate American for whom bandwith volume is uncapped, but in many parts of the world, the data traffic costs can give pause to the idea of even privately hosted servers amongst friends.
It will be interesting to see being on the cusp of the 1.7 release, how the changes to the netcode may impact this too.
There are many plugins (that require no configuration unless u want to configure them) that prevent dropping certain items on my server i have one so nobody can drop their diamonds (to prevent them getting on many different accounts to get the kit multiple times) hope this helps with that one im having problems of my own now though lol i cant get the plugin groupmanager to work but you dont want to hear about my problems lol
Survivzor mentioned 'you will have to consider who can access the server, when they can, and how you might go about controlling that.' Can't Bukkit or a plugin handle who can access it? I figured it would have a way to use logins\passwords or such for servers. Of course, I never had to deal with that with just a lan.
But like I've said, I'm just not that network savvy. If anyone can give me suggestions on things to tell him he will need to do\setup on the network end to make his job easier, it would be much appreciated. I don't want them getting frustrated with me.
sure bukkit plugins can do the user access control, I was wondering more like how you are going to keep track of lists of usernames with kids from 172 schools. A server for schoolkids hosted on a public IP will likely attract non-school kids, and people from all over the world.
so im thinking that you might want it whitelisted, but then again keeping track of who's who might still be tricky. there can be issues with identity verification when larger numbers of people become involved. (siblings/friends using someones account; stolen accounts etc.)
when its just a schoolbased lan, it makes this a non-issue because its not open to the internet.