Survival 4

Survival 4
Camp Husky, the first Spawn of Survival 4
Server World
Type	Survival Multiplayer World
Opened	1st April, 2020

Survival 4 is the fourth era of Survival Multiplayer worlds on the Dogcraft Server. It was launched on the 1^st of April, 2020, succeeding the Survival 3 world, bringing with it the update to Minecraft 1.15: The Buzzy Bees, a new Dogcraft.net website and a total reset of Dogcraft Dollar balances, claim blocks and previous purchases. Survival 4 also marked two other major changes: A move to dedicated server hardware and the first Survival season to have multiple "sub worlds" with the addition of Beagle and Husky. The Survival 4 worlds were supported through two major Minecraft releases - to 1.16 on 24^th July 2020 and to 1.17 on 28^th August 2021.

Husky & Beagle

See also: Camp Husky (spawn), Camp Beagle (spawn)

Unlike all prior Survival worlds, there is no single Survival 4 world. Rather, there are two interconnected worlds for players to build and explore on; "Husky" and "Beagle". Both worlds have different seeds as well as separate Nether and End dimensions and can be freely traveled between. They each have their own maximum player cap, at 55 players each. Both world spawns follow the same summer camp theme. However, although they are separate worlds, player data is shared between the two. This means that player inventories (including mob eggs), armour, experience, levels, advancements, potion effects and Ender Chests are shared between the two worlds. The Nether dimension in each world was reset as part of the update to Minecraft 1.16.

Announcement & Release

After over a year and a half, some players began raising questions as to the longevity of the Survival 3 world, as it was on its way to becoming one of the longest lasting worlds on Dogcraft. However, poor performance following Survival 3's update to Minecraft 1.14 and the poor chunk-loading behavior that brought with it built anticipation for an update to the next version, 1.15.

On the 14^th of March, 2020, it was announced by Head Moderator  Scooberson that the Dogcraft Server would be updating and that after that Survival 3 would soon be ending to make way for a Survival 4 world as a result of the need to transition to new hardware. Some details about the new world were revealed, such as the removal of the world border and the fact that it meant a total reset of claim blocks, purchases and DCD balances. It was also announced that Survival 4 would update to Minecraft 1.16 upon the version's release, meaning that the nether would need to be reset to allow for the new generation.

Player reaction was largely positive to the announcement, with the majority welcoming the upgrade. Some players were upset about the removal of all claim blocks and player balances, however unlike the transition from Survival 2 to Survival 3, players were optimistic thanks to the advanced notice given by leadership and much better organisation.

Addition of Beagle

"We are going to open a second world that is an extension of this current world." simply_simon_

Survival 4's opening day was heavily plagued by various lag and chunk loading issues caused by the strain of over a hundred players on launch. These issues were such that many considered the server unplayable for the first few days. Several plugins were disabled throughout the following week, and player numbers began to drop slowly, to around an average of 70. Many aspects of the server improved significantly, especially chunk loading and mob spawning, and it was widely noted that the new hardware was performing better than the old given the circumstances. Nevertheless, the server was still not an ideal experience, and crashes became very frequent at the end of the first week, as did persistent issues with warps.

An announcement pertaining to the situation was made by former Head Moderator  simply_simon_ on the 7ᵗʰ of April. The announcement detailed the planned solution to the various lag issues. A second overworld would be created and would function as another dimension, with inventories, ender chests and experience levels all retained when teleporting between the two. This would allow Minecraft, a 'single threaded' game, to be run across two single threads, one computing a separate overworld each. The new overworld would feature it's own nether and end dimensions which can also be teleported to from the other nether and end. Chat and 'Tab' screens would be shared, as would moderating tools. The new overworld would be called Camp Beagle, and the original renamed Camp Husky, in reference to the camp style spawn builds they have. Beagle would launch on the 11ᵗʰ of April, the same day as a player cap would be placed on the server for the first time, of 55 (plus five extra spaces for moderators) for each Camp.

Features

A number of new features and changes were added alongside the transition.

• Claim blocks could now be purchased directly in-game using the /buyclaimblocks command, for 2DCD per claim block.
• A new homes plugin was added, and then replaced with a similar but slightly more straightforward custom version.
  • Players could now set homes publicly, allowing anyone to travel to them.
  • All players could now set infinite homes, a change from the previous progression system.
• Mob eggs, a feature that was available during Survival 1 and some of Survival 2 saw a return, allowing players to have a chance of "capturing" mobs by throwing an egg at them. It was later removed during the update to Minecraft 1.17.
• A new Shop Chests plugin allowing players to sell and buy goods, which was later used in conjunction with a Slab shop
• Return of the Dynmap; a live overhead map of the world also featuring real-time player locations and claimed areas on the map. After some months, it experienced occasional blackouts and was later disabled for performance reasons.

Maturation

As had become customary, the player count on during the Survival 4 era stabilised after it's first few weeks and was somewhat similar to the previous Survival 3 for much of 2020. During 2021, numbers slowly decreased, and had dropped relatively low by the 1.17 update. By the middle of 2021, it was commonly said that Husky was the more active of the two worlds. Despite the expansion to home accessibility with the addition of public and universal infinite homes, transport and infrastructure networks maintained a high status and became further entrenched. The Survival 4 era, in large, saw the descent of cities from their place as one of the cornerstones of Dogcraft culture, and they generally struggled to gain the hype of previous eras. Official and player-run events became more frequent, with smaller official activities in addition to live player-run events providing much colour to the community.

Closure

Speculation throughout the player base pertaining to the closure of Survival 4 was regular in the leadup to the release of Minecraft 1.17, and then again before the release of 1.18. On the 3^rd of January, Headmod  Scooberson announced in advance that the update to 1.18 would be the start of a new set of worlds on the Dogcraft Server, and that the existing Survival 4 worlds, Husky and Beagle, would be closed. General reception to the announcement was almost universally excitement. A further announcement on March 1^st confirmed that Survival 4 would was planned to close on March 14^th, 2022.