This is a short post to explain the downtime yesterday, and what future plans are to prevent this particular problem again. It all comes down to the 'hostname', or the name that the game client uses to locate our server on the internet ..
First off, a bit of history. When I first opened the IceEE server, at the time I did not want to commit to getting a permanent address on the internet. So I used a service known as a Dynamic DNS provider (we use No-IP.com). The services provided by these companies allow others to locate servers using a fixed name, but with a possibly varying IP address, and avoid the need to register a full and proper domain name.
So our current address is iceee.servegame.com.
However, our server is using the free service, which requires that we confirm the hostname one a month, or the domain name will be de-activated. It is a cunning plan by the provider to force you into getting so fed up of having to do this, you pay them some so you don't have.
This month, although I thought I had confirmed the hostname for the next month, this apparently didn't happen, and so 7 days after I got the reminder, the hostname was turned off, and stopped our players playing!
Our team has grown up since those early days, and we now have our own domain name theanubianwar.com, that we can use for as many servers as we like, with far less danger of the name suddenly becoming unusable.
So, we would like to start moving everyone over to using the new stable hostname :-
scourge.theanubianwar.com
Unfortunately, we cannot automatically update your client with a new hostname. There is also no particular hurry, I will continue to keep 'iceee.servegame.com' active for the time being. However, should this happen again I will not be able to guarantee a timely fix, and I will eventually retire this address (probably when we release TAW).
In order to start using, you have three different ways you can do this. Choose ONE of these :-
1. Download a new client installer.
Download the client again from the Scourge Of Abidan home page here http://www.theanubianwar.com/thescourgeofabidan, and simply re-install it. The next time you launch it, it will be using the new hostname.
This is the easiet option, but means a relatively large download that may be less desireable for some on slower internet speeds.
2. Update your existing installation 'Shortcut'.
If you previously used our client installer, you will have a shortcut that you use to play the game.
Locate the shortcut in your Windows menu, right click it, and select 'Properties'. In the 'Target' field, replace whatever is currently there with the following :-
"[INSTALL_PATH]\Earth Eternal - The Scourge Of Abidan\Spark.exe" http://scourge.theanubianwar.com/Release/Current/EarthEternal.car
NOTE: Make sure you replace [INSTALL_PATH] with the actual location the client is currently installed in. This will vary between different versions of Windows. For example :-
"C:\Documents and Settings\Emerald\Local Settings\Application Data\Earth Eternal - The Scourge Of Abidan\Spark.exe" http://scourge.theanubianwar.com/Release/Current/EarthEternal.car
3. Update your existing .BAT file
If you are still using a client as distributed by Greth for Planet Forever, edit the .BAT file you use to play the game, and change any occurence of iceee.servegame.com to scourge.theanubianwar.com.