Xelerus will no longer function from 1st September, 2017 [Edit: Actually it will, but we're replacing it anyway]

New releases and announcements from George and the staff.
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Song
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Before I get started with this announcement, I've got to give a big hat-tip to Wolfy for pointing this out in the regdev forum. They noticed this, and because of that everyone's getting an early warning. I'm making this a general announcement because I know we've still got folks using that old site for mods and their post was only visible to the regdevs.

As you've probably noticed from the title, this announcement is about the upcoming death of Xelerus.

Xelerus operates using a dropbox account to store files and generate links to those files. It has worked very well, allowing the site to remain mostly operational after years without maintenance. However, Dropbox has ended the functionality that allowed this system to work: public folders and links. This ended for basic accounts in March, but will end for all other accounts - including the account linked to Xelerus.de - on the 1st of September. Given that Bimbel has been inactive for many years now, there is no way to update the site to use the new system, if that is in fact possible in the first place.

What does this mean? Well....the worst thing possible, really: All content hosted on Xelerus.de will be permanently lost on the 1st of September, 2017, and no new content will be able to be hosted from that point onwards. Xelerus will, finally, die.

We've anticipated this sort of total failure happening over the years and while we're not really ready for it, we're in a better place than we were a few years back. Historical mods have been previously archived in case of a failure, however I am not aware of when the last archived copy was made. For this reason, and for other reasons which, I think, should be obvious....I advise our community:

-If you have files hosted on Xelerus that you do not have a local copy of, download a copy before 1/9/2017

-If you want to download a mod from Xelerus, do it before 1/9/2017
This should be obvious but, you know. Gotta spell it out just in case

-If you are hosting a mod on Xelerus, seek an alternative hosting solution before 1/9/2017

-If you are willing and able to archive a copy (if you know how to do it, you've probably done it already) of the Xelerus archive, please do so.

-If you are making a mod and getting ready to upload it...maybe don't put it on Xelerus? Find an alternative solution.

-If you are George Moromisato, well I guess it's a good thing you got Multiverse as ready as it is, 'cause we're going to need it pretty dang soon.



That's all from me. Not a pretty announcement and it's certainly the end of an era for the Transcendence community.But we'll come up with something to replace it, eventually. Won't we, George? *sly wink* This announcement should not be taken as a fully accurate post on the technical side of things: I do sociology and tourism science, not IT and web-hosting. In addition my sly remarks regarding the Multiverse system as a possibly replacement should not be taken as official: I'm only a forum moderator. Please take note of any corrections or clarifications issued by George or my fellow (and more tech-savvy) community staff members regarding this matter.
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Aury
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Bumped this to a global announcement
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We could always try using the Transcendence Nexus in the future.

Cabbage Corp is starting to feel kind of lonely over there.
Cabbage Corp, the only mod with cabbages!

Please feel free to submit bug reports or issues related to the Cabbage Corp mod on the GitHub page, the forum thread, in a private message or even on the Xelerus page. Suggestions are fine too.
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Hey, I know I haven't been a properly active member of the community for some time, but I'd like to recommend hosting mods primarily on Github (or possibly Gitlabs). In case you don't know, this is where the Transendence source lives as well.

For those not familiar with git, git is a version control software, which means it keeps track of all your changes over time. With a nice interface like Github (not affiiated with git, just uses it), it's easy to use, and you have release tools (including history, notes, and one-place downloads) and other version-related features which can make the compatibility game (mod version vs game version) much easier.

Public project hosting is completely free (paid tiers can use private repositories), and it's a very reputable company and business. On top of that, downloading your own projects for backup is extremely easy.

Here's an example of a mod hosted on Github (for Kerbal Space Program, but same idea) https://github.com/ferram4/Ferram-Aerospace-Research.

The main thing which would then be needed is a mod index site or app. That may be a good place for what's behind this multiverse "rumor" to step in. Integrating with Github is easy. The project files, specifically the front page README and main download links can be retrieved and integrated into the index view.
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I never played Pokémon , but I Tried to catch 'em all.

I got 127MBs of .zips ( 547 items ) - it's late & past bedtime so I am sure I missed some.
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It's sad to hear that.

Seems we need some replacement for xelerus...
bluesaberist wrote:
Tue Aug 22, 2017 8:47 pm
Hey, I know I haven't been a properly active member of the community for some time, but I'd like to recommend hosting mods primarily on Github (or possibly Gitlabs). In case you don't know, this is where the Transendence source lives as well.

For those not familiar with git, git is a version control software, which means it keeps track of all your changes over time. With a nice interface like Github (not affiiated with git, just uses it), it's easy to use, and you have release tools (including history, notes, and one-place downloads) and other version-related features which can make the compatibility game (mod version vs game version) much easier.

Public project hosting is completely free (paid tiers can use private repositories), and it's a very reputable company and business. On top of that, downloading your own projects for backup is extremely easy.

Here's an example of a mod hosted on Github (for Kerbal Space Program, but same idea) https://github.com/ferram4/Ferram-Aerospace-Research.

The main thing which would then be needed is a mod index site or app. That may be a good place for what's behind this multiverse "rumor" to step in. Integrating with Github is easy. The project files, specifically the front page README and main download links can be retrieved and integrated into the index view.
I'm using mobile phone to connect instead PC, and I can't find download button for all mods in there.
Download Transcendence mods from Reinvented Workbench Project!
Click this link!
EditorRUS
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I've done a complete dump of all xelerus mods as of 23.08.2017 (1007 still available mods out of 1586 signatures)

Download the archive from here: https://mega.nz/#!r9FlnIzD!841GZDL4wJp9 ... eCvtc4mEC0

xelerus_dump.json contains following information: mod's name, description, category, author's name, game version, zip file name, upload date.
Didn't bother with comments, if you need them for whatever reason, use archive.org then.
shanejfilomena
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EditorRUS wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 2:14 pm
I've done a complete dump of all xelerus mods as of 23.08.2017 (1007 still available mods out of 1586 signatures)

Download the archive from here: https://mega.nz/#!r9FlnIzD!841GZDL4wJp9 ... eCvtc4mEC0

xelerus_dump.json contains following information: mod's name, description, category, author's name, game version, zip file name, upload date.
Didn't bother with comments, if you need them for whatever reason, use archive.org then.
385 Mbs. lots bigger then my late night attempt to catch 'em all :)

I will collect this later on the company WiFi.

What I am working on today is trying to catch all the functions because I normally don't use or attempt anything 'fancy' but when I do it's often out-dated & having the function listings from the site to check is usually the first stop in avoiding explosions :)
Flying Irresponsibly In Eridani......

I don't like to kill pirates in cold blood ..I do it.. but I don't like it..
EditorRUS
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shanejfilomena wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 2:53 pm
EditorRUS wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 2:14 pm
I've done a complete dump of all xelerus mods as of 23.08.2017 (1007 still available mods out of 1586 signatures)

Download the archive from here: https://mega.nz/#!r9FlnIzD!841GZDL4wJp9 ... eCvtc4mEC0

xelerus_dump.json contains following information: mod's name, description, category, author's name, game version, zip file name, upload date.
Didn't bother with comments, if you need them for whatever reason, use archive.org then.
385 Mbs. lots bigger then my late night attempt to catch 'em all :)

I will collect this later on the company WiFi.

What I am working on today is trying to catch all the functions because I normally don't use or attempt anything 'fancy' but when I do it's often out-dated & having the function listings from the site to check is usually the first stop in avoiding explosions :)
I've made a simple parser for xelerus.de so everything was automated.
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Ok, so I was investigating xelerus today, and it looks like xelerus was either silently updated a while back (an unknown amount of time ago) to either proxy the mods from dropbox (this is unfortunately still very likely, as the motivation behind it was likely security, the same reason that dropbox is getting rid of the functionality all together. It would not require actually changing any infrastructure, paying for additional storage, and is far easier to implement), or to actually properly host the files (less likely), since the origin of the download now points to xelerus.de not dropbox.com.

However, I would still recommend moving off of xelerus and getting your mods onto other platforms even if this doesn't actually come to pass because everything eventually breaks and needs maintenance (just had this happen at work today even). And its still very very possible (in fact more likely than not, I believe) that the mods actually still are on dropbox and xelerus' server is just acting as a proxy. So regardless of what happens, mods still should be moved off, both just in case and because we need to get to a platform that is actually.. maintained.
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EditorRUS
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Wolfy wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:00 pm
Ok, so I was investigating xelerus today, and it looks like xelerus was either silently updated a while back (an unknown amount of time ago) to either proxy the mods from dropbox (this is unfortunately still very likely, as the motivation behind it was likely security, the same reason that dropbox is getting rid of the functionality all together. It would not require actually changing any infrastructure, paying for additional storage, and is far easier to implement), or to actually properly host the files (less likely), since the origin of the download now points to xelerus.de not dropbox.com.

However, I would still recommend moving off of xelerus and getting your mods onto other platforms even if this doesn't actually come to pass because everything eventually breaks and needs maintenance (just had this happen at work today even). And its still very very possible (in fact more likely than not, I believe) that the mods actually still are on dropbox and xelerus' server is just acting as a proxy. So regardless of what happens, mods still should be moved off, both just in case and because we need to get to a platform that is actually.. maintained.
Strange. When you download a mod, you directly access it by "xelerus.de/mods/ID_modname.zip" which means the files are on the server.
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Aury
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EditorRUS wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:23 pm
Wolfy wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:00 pm
Ok, so I was investigating xelerus today, and it looks like xelerus was either silently updated a while back (an unknown amount of time ago) to either proxy the mods from dropbox (this is unfortunately still very likely, as the motivation behind it was likely security, the same reason that dropbox is getting rid of the functionality all together. It would not require actually changing any infrastructure, paying for additional storage, and is far easier to implement), or to actually properly host the files (less likely), since the origin of the download now points to xelerus.de not dropbox.com.

However, I would still recommend moving off of xelerus and getting your mods onto other platforms even if this doesn't actually come to pass because everything eventually breaks and needs maintenance (just had this happen at work today even). And its still very very possible (in fact more likely than not, I believe) that the mods actually still are on dropbox and xelerus' server is just acting as a proxy. So regardless of what happens, mods still should be moved off, both just in case and because we need to get to a platform that is actually.. maintained.
Strange. When you download a mod, you directly access it by "xelerus.de/mods/ID_modname.zip" which means the files are on the server.
Not necessarily - its very easy to write an nginx proxy (or a proxy in many scripting languages) that lets you handle requests like that and pull a file from elsewhere (such as a different server or a dropbox url)
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EditorRUS
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Wolfy wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 7:43 pm
EditorRUS wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:23 pm
Wolfy wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:00 pm
Ok, so I was investigating xelerus today, and it looks like xelerus was either silently updated a while back (an unknown amount of time ago) to either proxy the mods from dropbox (this is unfortunately still very likely, as the motivation behind it was likely security, the same reason that dropbox is getting rid of the functionality all together. It would not require actually changing any infrastructure, paying for additional storage, and is far easier to implement), or to actually properly host the files (less likely), since the origin of the download now points to xelerus.de not dropbox.com.

However, I would still recommend moving off of xelerus and getting your mods onto other platforms even if this doesn't actually come to pass because everything eventually breaks and needs maintenance (just had this happen at work today even). And its still very very possible (in fact more likely than not, I believe) that the mods actually still are on dropbox and xelerus' server is just acting as a proxy. So regardless of what happens, mods still should be moved off, both just in case and because we need to get to a platform that is actually.. maintained.
Strange. When you download a mod, you directly access it by "xelerus.de/mods/ID_modname.zip" which means the files are on the server.
Not necessarily - its very easy to write an nginx proxy (or a proxy in many scripting languages) that lets you handle requests like that and pull a file from elsewhere (such as a different server or a dropbox url)
It's kind of pointless in this situation, I guess.
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EditorRUS wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 7:49 pm
Wolfy wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 7:43 pm
EditorRUS wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:23 pm
Wolfy wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 3:00 pm
Ok, so I was investigating xelerus today, and it looks like xelerus was either silently updated a while back (an unknown amount of time ago) to either proxy the mods from dropbox (this is unfortunately still very likely, as the motivation behind it was likely security, the same reason that dropbox is getting rid of the functionality all together. It would not require actually changing any infrastructure, paying for additional storage, and is far easier to implement), or to actually properly host the files (less likely), since the origin of the download now points to xelerus.de not dropbox.com.

However, I would still recommend moving off of xelerus and getting your mods onto other platforms even if this doesn't actually come to pass because everything eventually breaks and needs maintenance (just had this happen at work today even). And its still very very possible (in fact more likely than not, I believe) that the mods actually still are on dropbox and xelerus' server is just acting as a proxy. So regardless of what happens, mods still should be moved off, both just in case and because we need to get to a platform that is actually.. maintained.
Strange. When you download a mod, you directly access it by "xelerus.de/mods/ID_modname.zip" which means the files are on the server.
Not necessarily - its very easy to write an nginx proxy (or a proxy in many scripting languages) that lets you handle requests like that and pull a file from elsewhere (such as a different server or a dropbox url)
It's kind of pointless in this situation, I guess.
The point would be to do things like avoiding having to store the files on the server's storage system (as this can be more expensive or have other drawbacks)
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Homelab Servers: Xeon Silver 4110, 16GB | Via Quadcore C4650, 16GB | Athlon 200GE, 8GB | i7 7800X, 32GB | Threadripper 1950X, 32GB | Atom x5 8350, 4GB | Opteron 8174, 16GB | Xeon E5 2620 v3, 8GB | 2x Xeon Silver 4116, 96GB, 2x 1080ti | i7 8700, 32GB, 6500XT
Workstations & Render machines: Threadripper 3990X, 128GB, 6900XT | Threadripper 2990WX, 32GB, 1080ti | Xeon Platinum 8173M, 48GB, 1070ti | R9 3900X, 16GB, Vega64 | 2x E5 2430L v2, 24GB, 970 | R7 3700X, 32GB, A6000
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EditorRUS
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Wolfy wrote:
Wed Aug 23, 2017 7:57 pm
-- Flat is better than nested --
The point would be to do things like avoiding having to store the files on the server's storage system (as this can be more expensive or have other drawbacks)
Then why not simply request files directly from this other server and avoid having to set up a proxy in the first place? It's still technically requesting from "xelerus.de/mods/something.zip", not "someserver.blah/.../something.zip".
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