AlphaCentauri2.info down?

[Volsang]

I used to visit that site from time to time. They hosted some really good unofficial SMAC(X) patches, including Yitzi's patch and Thinker mod. Now the site seems to have some technical problems.

Does anybody know what's happening to them?

 

[ZombiVoziKombi]

I've been wondering the same thing. I don't know much but it doesn't look good. AC2 was last successfully crawled by archive.org in late October '23. This is right about when I last saw it up, but already then it was usually down. At least one semi-regular user here is connected to the site and I asked them over DM what was up, but got no reply.

My guess is that whichever bunch of enthusiasts had been maintaining AC2 had moved on and didn't succeed in passing it on to a new group. I saw a comment somewhere on these forums to this effect -- iirc, that the site had new admins who were overwhelmed. That's as much as I could figure out. I also saw users here bemoaning it as lost for good. I hope they're wrong.

As for unofficial patches, some of the better maintained ones are at GitHub. Here's Scient's, with links to others - PRACX, Thinker, SMAC-in-SMAX are all there. I couldn't find Yitzi's, and since it had already been abandoned by Yitzi I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Volsang]

@ZombiVoziKombi , thanks for the info. GitHub repositories are fine though I still regret the vanishing of another good community site. As an old-school gamer and Internet user I still prefer going the old ways, like traditional sites, and not modern things like Discord and other of that ilk.

 

[ZombiVoziKombi]

Makes two of us. I'm down with GitHub as a long-term code depository, but Discord - while accessible and user-friendly - just donates all the community's comms to a non-transparent corp. I do hope one of the currently active Civ sites will get hold of the AC2 data and host them, even if as an archive.

 

[Quintillus]

Tagging @Buster's Uncle , who runs AC2. It does seem that while the main site is up, the forums are currently down, reporting "Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later."

Based on this thread, there were some technical issues last summer, but it sounds like they were resolved. I don't have any more insight than that, but hopefully Buster's Uncle does.

And I agree, forums are much superior for hosting long-term information than Discord. The latter may be fine for finding someone to play a multiplayer game with, but all the user creations from over the years deserve a proper, longer-term place to live such as a forum thread.

 

[Solver]

BU is aware of the situation but not much he can do. The server hosting AC2 is out of disk space and also needs a software upgrade to prevent automated attacks. It's possible to bring the site up briefly but it will go down soon after - there's currently little that can be done in the way of a solution unless BU gets hold of a tech guy.

 

[Axis Kast]

I've asked BU previously if he would be open to receiving donations to support the site since it absolutely provides a service that people value. Solver, would that be likely to help matters?

 

[Solver]

I wouldn't wish to speak on his behalf but that might help in terms of at least paying for a better hosting solution - getting a bigger drive for sure would help. However, I understand it that the main problem is the lack of a technical person. BU himself is not a techie, he can handle the day to day stuff but he can't maintain a server. So when a server breaks or needs an upgrade, he needs someone else to handle it, and I believe BU has been unable to reach the AC2 tech guy for a while now, which is the root of the problem. I helped him brief the site back online briefly a few months ago but saw in the process that it needs more work for a long-term solution.

 

[ZombiVoziKombi]

What's the server architecture, and where is it physically? Please feel free to DM me - I used to work in software & while my experience with web server administration is minimal, I can ask around. I could also chip in a bit for the drive, but more importantly it looks like there'd be enough interest in the community to crowdfund any necessary technical upgrades, and that the real issue is the lack of a skilled admin.

 

[Axis Kast]

Thanks, Solver. I'd like to know more about how we might be able to marshal support from interested community members. I hope Zombi can also assist with what seems to be the bigger part of this equation. Gratitude to him as well!

 

[Solver]

I have no idea where the server is physically, but the site runs on a tiny, presumably virtual, instance that's about what you get with a minimum-cost hosting package from a decade or so ago. From what I know of it, it'd run better on a six-dollar DigitalOcean droplet but again, that would require someone to take care of things.

I'll mention this thread to BU when we talk, which we occasionally do.

 

[ZombiVoziKombi]

Thanks, Solver. I'd like to know more about how we might be able to marshal support from interested community members. I hope Zombi can also assist with what seems to be the bigger part of this equation. Gratitude to him as well!

I'll try but my contacts are old, few, and scattered. It'd make sense to announce to the Civ/AC community-ies that AC2 needs an admin and see if anyone steps up.

 

[Blake00]

Such a shame to see this great old site down. Buster's Uncle put his heart and soul into that place so he must be immensely frustrated with this situation.

I've been wondering the same thing. I don't know much but it doesn't look good. AC2 was last successfully crawled by archive.org in late October '23. This is right about when I last saw it up, but already then it was usually down.

Cheers for posting that.. the link on the front page backup to the forums fails but it looks like they're backed up too and I seem to be able to get into some sections and threads.. however nearly all navigation fails unless I keep removing "PHPSESSID=bar9fo85sr6j53g7ferhqvjk77&" out of the addresses which is rather annoying but so far I've been able to find lots of things that were mostly snapped in 2023 thankfully.

Working link examples after removing the gibberish..
Forum:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230328023245/https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?action=community
Section:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230912055303/https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?board=13.0
Thread:
https://web.archive.org/web/20230912062741/https://alphacentauri2.info/index.php?topic=20959.0
.

 

[DanteMartinez]

I'm a cloud engineer and would be happy to help both with the technical work and potentially hosting. If you can connect us I would like to help get this content back online.

 

[ZombiVoziKombi]

I'm a cloud engineer and would be happy to help both with the technical work and potentially hosting. If you can connect us I would like to help get this content back online.

That's fantastic! Yes I was quite sure there'd be someone with the necessary skills on CivFanatics - rather than me pestering homies from 1-2 decades ago, scattered across 2 continents - which I'd have done, but this is much preferred. Thank you!!!

Tag @Buster's Uncle @Solver

 

[Buster's Uncle]

I've accepted - message sent, fingers crossed.

 

[Ozymandias]

If you dig through the old Apolyton thread hard enough, you can find his Faction Mods in individual postings, e.g. https://apolyton.net/forum/other-ga...reation/233574-more-smaniac-faction-makeovers

EDIT - Sorry, main thread: https://apolyton.net/forum/other-games/alpha-centauri/ac-creation

EDIT 2 - https://apolyton.net/forum/other-ga...c-x-scenario-repository?p=8845397#post8845397 ; (Not sure whose they are; scroll all the way down) - https://apolyton.net/forum/other-ga...c-x-scenario-repository?p=8845402#post8845402

-Oz

 

[Solver]

I've accepted - message sent, fingers crossed.

You're great!

 

[Buster's Uncle]

I am?

 

[Solver]

You are, you know I like you - and in this case, your commitment to keeping the content online is really something