Zedwork

Is it allowed to use the World Downloader mod on Zz to back up our builds? I'm just a little data paranoid and like to have local backups of anything I've spend a significant amount of time on, which now includes Zz

I understand that the mod can be used to cheat (e.g. using x-ray on the local copy), but my personal feeling is that a sense of security in our hard work would outweigh any potential for abuse. Besides, I hear it is possible to detect behavior resulting from x-ray use, e.g. an impossibly high diamond:stone ratio.

Thanks!

World downloaders aren't allowed as people may use them to have an unfair advantage over others.

Aw ok. In that case may I suggest a change in policy? Surely legitimate use by the many outweighs illegitimate use by the few. That's just my opinion.

hypehuman wrote:Aw ok. In that case may I suggest a change in policy? Surely legitimate use by the many outweighs illegitimate use by the few. That's just my opinion.

But the Guardians can't monitor what you check in your singleplayer world with the map of the Server.
If they were to allow it, they won't be able to monitor everyone to see if they tried to find ores with the world they downloaded. Maybe I phrased it wrong, but I think you get what I meant.

Hm, I see your point. I just feel that the benefit of being able to back up one's own work outweighs the drawback of some people trying to cheat.

If I am able to download my builds, it will enable me to continue pouring parts of my soul into Zedwork without worrying that those parts of me might get lost forever. That is important to my peace of mind, especially recently with the ping issues I've been having. Even though I'm sure Zed is capable of resolving it, the anxious part of me worries for my work. And what if — perish the thought — something happened to Zed?

The cheating potential can be mitigated by an algorithm that detects when players are digging straight towards ores that they should not be able to see, or by detecting if a player has mined an unreasonably high number of ores relative to stone. This detection method is based on the behavior of a player who has ill-gotten knowledge, and does not depend on knowing how the user found out this information (e.g. by using an x-ray mod, or by downloading the world and then examining it offline).

In principle, I believe that banning a tool is almost never the right solution. It's better to punish those who commit a crime with the tool (if possible) rather than punishing everybody, even those who would use the tool for good.

Just the offchance, but perhaps you could get Zed to world edit save a schematic?

Then you have a permanent file.

heck, he could even modify it to remove all ores (after the schem has been initially saved of course)

Oh, that's an interesting idea! Like a server-side plugin from which you could request a periodic backup? Then it could verify that the area you are downloading is yours, and maybe it could even omit everything that's not visible to the naked eye (in case you are trying to cheat to find something other than ores, or you built something out of diamond ore lol).

I can confirm the world downloader mod is not allowed.

I can also assure you that I maintain regular backs which are stored off-server. Backups are taken during every server reboot. This, in addition to a block change logging plugin, means it is very unlikely for any of your significan buikding projects to be lost.

In the unlikely event I ever close Zedwork, or reset the world, I will make an effort to allow you to download your builds.

Thanks for taking good care of our world. Are there others who have access to the backups in the loathsome event that you are unable to restore them yourself after a server issue? Sorry, this is just the sort of question that keeps me up at night.

Lady can restore your builds using the block logs in-game. I am the only administrator with access to the complete server backups. I've been maintaining the backups for years, but I haven't really needed to restore from them since pre 1.7. Mincraft is very stable these days, most of the times I've restored Zz's backup has just been testing the backups are still running properly.