News & Changes 2020

Hello, everyone,

the webdisk will remain in your hands, there is no planning on our part to abandon the project!

Planning

Due to the fact that the OMSI WebDisk is now experiencing a greater rush, the change to a server with a 10 Gbit connection (currently we have a 1 Gbit connection, the web standard - i.e. 10 times more capacity) is being considered, as we expect more rather than fewer bottlenecks in the future.

More information about the server change will be available at a later date, here are some things to be clarified and prepared in advance. As before, the move will be carried out with a lot of planning and preparation, so that you can move "from one day to the next" with little or no noticeable restrictions.

Current measures

To increase stability and performance, we (or our expert miwi) have reduced or limited the download speed to 2 MB/s. You know that I am no friend of this... But this is the only way to prevent total break-ins ("502 Bad Gateway", i.e. TimeOuts). The webdisk is still running sluggishly, but that's all we can do at the moment.

Update from 28.04.2020

Our new server is already in preparation. The new SSD's are supposed to arrive tomorrow, but the 32 GB RAM will probably not arrive until Friday.

So it will most likely come to the server move on the weekend, if everything goes smoothly. Let's wait and see.

Update from 29.04.2020

Yesterday late afternoon we received a written confirmation from Aerosoft that they will keep their word and continue to support us. At the same time they announced that we will soon have a new raffle.

So friends: raise your glasses on Aerosoft!

Without them, it would be completely impossible for us to carry out such an expansion.

P.S.: Thank you-postings are not only allowed, but (for the boss of Aerosoft) explicitly desired!

Update from 30.04.2020

For the download area I have built in a "dead man's switch" which automatically shuts down the download area as soon as the server load exceeds a more critical value (if it falls below this value, the download area is released immediately). So I do not need to do this manually anymore.

Our forum and the wiki, but also the basic functions like the conversation system (PN) are not affected. The best thing to do is to store the internet address of the forum until the server is moved (or you can simply add a /community to the internet address at the back of the WebDisk).

Update from 02.05.2020

As expected and already communicated yesterday - as a precaution - the RAM did not arrive today, yesterday's holiday. So the server can't be finished and brought to the data center, so we can't move this weekend. It will be Monday evening/night or Tuesday at the earliest.

At least I've turned the performance screw a bit more and could still get something out of it, at the same time I've lifted the download speed limit again and increased the limit until the download area is shut down, so that the restrictions become less.

PS: The new domain is not yet clarified, please participate in the topic reboot remove domain.

Update from 07.05.2020

 Umzugstag / Moving day

Future changes and adjustments of the WebDisk

The heavy rush of WebDisk since Sunday, forces us to make some unexpected changes. The "castration" of the MOF was completely unexpected for us, even if it was foreseeable in the long run. That it can go so fast, however, we expected as little as you did.

Therefore we will make some changes here as soon as possible.

Server relocation

Aerosoft already offered their help on sunday to help us adapt to the high rush as quickly as possible. This mainly concerns the necessary server move to one with more performance and much better connectivity, which of course also causes higher costs. The day before yesterday, Aerosoft confirmed that they are very happy to continue supporting the WebDisk and will also pay for the higher server costs. Many thanks to Aerosoft for this, you are helping the OMSI community tremendously.

The server move is expected to take place over the weekend, which unfortunately will also involve a temporary shutdown of the WebDisk. Wörki and miwi will take care of the setup of the new server and also the move, so that it will have as few restrictions as possible for you.

The costs for the new server will be completely covered by Aerosoft. Any donations will continue to be used for future costs (domains, software upgrades, possible plugins). The administrators will not receive any money for their work and will continue to do so on a fully voluntary basis.

In addition, Aerosoft has offered to provide us with some great products from their extensive range, which will be raffled off in the WebDisk. What exactly will be included will be announced by Aerosoft or us, in due course. At the moment the server move has absolute priority.

New rank

Wörki had planned it for quite some time, but due to a lack of personnel he decided not to implement it. Staaken79 had asked in this regard whether some important data could be rescued from the MOF and a reintroduction of the "Omsi experts" would be possible. We administrators briefly discussed this and now we are putting the idea into practice.

The goal is to offer competent support and the best possible help for self-help. With this, mainly modders, map creators and bus builders should get a competent support, so that the start and implementation of your projects gets a solid foundation. This also applies to Repaints, so that the first Repaints correspond qualitatively to the own conceptions or helpful tips, in order to improve the own Repaints still further. However, the Omsi experts are not there to make personal bus adjustments or to create requests for modifications! To support the administrators' work on the forum, the OMSI experts are given their own rank with moderate rights within the help area. In addition, the experts should decide themselves who will rise to the rank of expert and support them in their work.

Changes to the thread conditions

Previously, external download links were prohibited in a thread because the WebDisk has its own download area to share these files with the public. In order to facilitate the move of the own thread(s) from the MOF, a change in the conditions would be necessary, which would have advantages for the providers of the files, but at the same time disadvantages for the users. Since the WebDisk is there for you, we administrators have decided to leave this decision to you. There will be a survey and the possibility to discuss your own thoughts and/or concerns within a certain time frame. This could be the basis for further changes in the WebDisk in the future. For this it is important that all opinions are accepted and that a debate is calm and decent.

Changes in the forum

So far the few areas have been sufficient. This is no longer the case. Therefore we will adapt the forum in the near future, as you would like to have it. But this will take some time, so please wait until everything is settled to your satisfaction. We would also like to rescue all important information about Omsi from the MOF, so that this data is not lost forever in case of a shutdown. A lot of knowledge has been entered there which could be useful for some of you.

In addition, there will be the possibility to change the appearance of the webDisk for you. Wörki has already created some styles and some of them are still being adapted.

For a joyful and informative togetherness,

The team of the WebDisk

News from MAY 03^rd, 2020 - Last preparations & bug fixes

Hello, everyone,

To ensure that the move goes as smoothly as possible, the server environments were quickly brought up to date. Especially noteworthy is the update of PHP from 7.2 to 7.4, which - according to the benchmarks - even brings an increase in performance (even if it's minimal, but that adds up in the end). So much for the motto "Never touch a running system".

Nevertheless, the one or other installed plugin can now cause trouble, because it was programmed according to the old syntax and therefore now has incompatibilities. It already started with the steam login, where the plugin author also failed during uninstallation (thanks again to Ralf_K. - the problem was fixed snappy).

Some of you now have to request a new password who used the Steam-Login (or, if you are still logged in, change your password via Control Center > [User Account] Account Management.

We'd better find all the  bugs now, before the whole forum and WebDisk system including the servers is turned upside down; otherwise something else will blow up in our faces...

Some plugins are already known to have been adapted to the new version of the system ("core") and are incompatible, i.e. they have to be uninstalled first and reinstalled after the system upgrade (in improved and adapted versions). In any case, the whole system upgrade won't be as profound as it was during the "reboot", little or nothing will change in terms of application and appearance.

Now dear OMSI friends, rock the house and report (especially) system errors in the forum WebDisk System Errors & Problems (except for the bizarre editing error, which is well known and for which there is no solution yet).

Completed relocation & innovations as of 08.05.2020

Hello, everybody,

after about 15 hours of work, from Thursday (starting time was about 22:30 ETC) to Friday through the whole night until noon (opening of the WebDisk at about 14:25 ETC), it is finally done: The server is up, it is set up and the WebDisk is running.

First of all, we would like to thank AEROSOFT®, the publisher and distributor of OMSI & OMSI 2 with related OMSI Add-On's. Without their support such an expansion of our resources would never have been possible! When I started the conception of the WebDisk about 7 years ago and wrote the first mail to M+R (i.e. the developers), I never thought that the WebDisk would become such a big project and get such a comprehensive support. It is terrific!

miwi's contribution can't remain unnamed, of course. As always, he stood by my side with the highest professionalism and supported me in all areas where I needed to improve my Latin ... ääh ... my Linux knowledge was at the end. The two of us have slowly developed into a well-rehearsed team.

Our new partner for the server, the dear Ferdl alias tubehosting, must not remain unnamed at this point. He has also made his contribution, because without him the server would not be in the data center and would not be connected. Here are some photos of our server (ours is in the rack below, the upper one with s02).

In addition, TubeHosting is responsive for the very worst emergency in our discord (but also via its own communication channels), so that he can "press" the restart button or scurry to the server if something happens. Such a thing shouldn't happen, but better prepared for all eventualities than being caught with your pants down, right?

As we reported in advance, we are now connected with 10 Gbit and travel much faster, but also the whole hardware is much more powerful than before.

Why did it take so long?

Our old server wouldn't let us go, it was playing stubbornly! It really was constantly coming up with new things, which made it stop doing what it was supposed to do. With patience... and lots of coffee ... he finally couldn't defend himself anymore.

After that, it was time to upgrade the WebDisk to Suite 5.2 and there were some stumbling blocks and obstacles to be cleared. Now we are up to date!

Right now (while writing this post) there are several users online, and there are also several guests on the way (a total of ~350 active users), the old server would have panted here already. To top it all off, I'm even having ALL uploaded pictures recompressed, which is very much on SSD and CPU.

But what do you notice? Absolutely nothing!

What has changed?

First of all: No, not all new functions are included by default.

Global (Core)

1. Like button in reaction system changed. These can also be extended as required.
2. The Steam-Login (including registration via Steam) has returned. You only have to connect your profile to Steam once: Control Center > [User Account] Account Management (bottom of the page). There you will also find - as before - the option to link your account with Discord
3. If you have paired your account with Steam, your profile will automatically list your Steam games and what you played last. Maybe some people discover common interests and find each other outside of OMSI. Your Steam activity is also displayed there, as well as what you are currently playing.
4. Whole user groups, e.g. administration, can be directly pinged or addressed in conversations (only with OMSI-Modder and higher).
5. [Bug] The new style series is slightly scratched due to the update, this will also be fixed with the other known bugs.
6. [Bug] An in-house blue WoltLab style has been secretly installed. After a few adjustments it will be activated for use optionally.
7. [MOD] Added moderation logbook to user profiles. (This way Discord <> WebDisk can be moderately handled together, but also smaller comments about a user can be written down [negative behaviour and other conspicuousness]).
8. There are dozens of changes in the system (source code), but they are hardly relevant for the end user.
9. You can enter a temporary absence (see Control Center > [Settings] Absence). For PNs, there is an optional automatic reply that you are inactive until the set time.
10. The automatic image reduction still does its job. While we used to have the images compressed via API via third party providers, our server now does it locally (via MozJPEG, PNGquant and Gifsicle). If the pictures are larger than Full-HD (i.e. over 1920x1080), they are automatically reduced to Full-HD size and also compressed (file size savings of between 20-90% depending on the picture).

WebDisk (Filebase)

1. The license management has changed for the modders. When entering a new license, there are no more personal licenses, but
   - either the selection of previous licenses,
   - or an own license is linked externally (no discord server channels, the texts must be freely accessible!)
   - or you use the input field for an own license text (whereas the existing licenses cover everything).
2. Besides comments, you can now also write reviews. These are used for evaluation, so that others can potentially see if the download is worthwhile at all.
3. [Bug] Due to the changed files of the WebDisk I had to undo my changes, that the download button did not automatically download the last file when there were several downloadable files, but instead referred to the file overview. The standard is reinstated, just not today.

Wörki thinks it's enough for a start. If you find errors or something is not configured correctly, just report it - as always - in the forum WebDisk System Errors & Problems.

Changes MAY 15^th, 2020

Hello, everyone,

a strenuous week (week 19+20) is over. Here is a rough overview of all the changes:

New features

• [Ranks] The displayed rank can be selected manually (via "Edit Profile").
  An OMSI expert can, for example, be displayed as a blue OMSI modder (provided he or she also has this rank). Basic idea behind this: If you want to take a vacation, you can "disguise" yourself as a regular user (temporarily).
  By the way: AEROSOFT® got its own rank for optical highlighting.
  Notice: As far as you have made use of this function once and then ascend to a higher rank, you have to set the rank yourself!
• [Absence] You can choose to answer when you're absent, with an optional auto-reply that indicates your absence during conversations.
  Please do not use this function for small things ("school", "dinner", "go lay an egg", ...), but for actually longer absences (stay at school, assembly work, further education, exams and preparations etc.)
• [Conversation/Sound] A sound is played during an unread conversation.
  You can change this sound in your Control Center > [Settings] General into two more sounds and also deactivate them. For newly registered users this function is deactivated by default.
• [Thread] Topics can be rated from 1 to 5. (This function is only activated in some forums [e.g. in the upper right corner of a thread by clicking on a button])
• [Thread] Topics can be ignored (see top right of this topic). [Proposal]
• [Conversation] Messages can be marked (for yourself as a reminder) back to Unread.

Returned functions

• [Ticket] Our support ticket system is back.
  The basic idea behind it is to support security-related topics, copyright notifications, account problems etc. etc. "in private".
• [Steam] The registration and login via Steam is back.
  But that's not all: Your profile also shows your Steam status (yes, even which game you're currently playing) as well as your last played and all game titles in your possession.
  You can control what you want to show publicly via the Control Panel > [Settings] Privacy.

Other changes

• [Style] The Team Page has been graphically redesigned.
• [WebDisk] Added several AddOn's to the list "required commercial extensions".
• [Style] Several new styles have been added including a "Dark Mode".
  Style selection is possible via Control Center > [Settings] General or alternatively on the bottom right of each page (directly above Aerofoft & Steam logos) by clicking on Change Style.
• [Profile field] Favourite bus for OMSI and reality included. [suggestion]
• [Profile field] First name can be entered optionally and is displayed in the sidebar of a thread [suggestion].
• [Forwarding] The "You are leaving..."-page can be disabled. [suggestion]
  Deactivation via Control Center > [Settings] General.
• [Fixes] Various bug fixes for reported errors. [see Archive]

...what else?

Various things, both minor bugs (especially in styles, but nothing serious) and wishes/suggestions are still on hold. I just want you to see that there is a lot of work going on behind the scenes, before I take a break from the technical stuff this weekend.

PS:

Due to inquiries á la "How can I do something good for you personally, Wörki" he added the paragraph "Private Obolus zustecken" in his profile. He strictly separates the OMSi WebDisk and his private assets. This should prevent further questions of this kind.

Innovations until 19 June 2020

So much has happened recently that it is almost impossible to list all of it. Nevertheless we try to give an overview here.

Let's start with an important topic, which in our opinion is treated far too intransparent by the manufacturer WoltLab:

Registration with Facebook and/or account linking with Steam

First of all: This does not apply to Discord, it only applies to Facebook and Steam!

The manufacturer (i.e. WoltLab) provides that if the account is linked to a third party (only Facebook and Steam relevant for us), the user can only log in via the third party (OAuth via Steam or Facebook). For this reason, a password is not requested during registration, but a randomly generated password is stored in the database.

You don't know the password and have to use the "Forgot your password?" function once to set a password. However, this password will be overwritten the next time you login via the third party provider!

Since Steam can also be connected later, the login and password will also work! If you have registered with Facebook, you will first have to disconnect your account from Facebook before you can connect it to Steam. However, if you make sure that you don't log in via this third party, you could leave it open as a "backdoor" for an alternative "emergency login"

(At least this will continue until WoltLab may tighten the whole thing even more, but that's not to be expected).

The developer of the Steam plugin will check if he can change it like the discord, so it's a purely optional thing, but not subject to these unpleasant effects with the password.

Security measure: Matching with HIBP database

A connection to Have I Be Pwned (HIBP) has been integrated, so that you will receive an information when registering, logging in and changing your password, if your chosen password is known on the web (possible hacks of third party websites, see list).

Note: No personal data (no nickname, no email address, no password) will ever be transmitted to the service!

Your password will first be converted into a SHA1 hash.

** The password test would be as SHA1-Hash 640ab2bae07bedc4c163f679a746f7ab7fb5d1fa

The first 5 (of 40) characters of the hash are transferred to HIBP. No, this fraction of the hash does not allow any information about the actual password!

** Using the example from above, it would be: 640ab

The server of HIBP now responds with a list that all start with this hash. Now our server compares the received list to see if the hash of your chosen password is included in the list.

If your hash is contained in the list, you will receive a message. This message will not be saved or logged, it is only for your eyes! The system will ask you to change your password, and you will know your password so that you can take this action on other portals/websites.

If the comparison was negative, nothing will happen. The system simply does its job (register, log in or change your password).

New features in the WebDisk

[WebDisk] Repaint-category for the Bremen MAN

[WebDisk] Various missing payware add-ons and repaint categories

[WebDisk] Polygon 400 MMC in Presupposed commercial extensions

[Forum] Added comment possibility for posts (resulting from: handling the screenshot thread)

[Forum] Topics can be ignored (resulting from: Ignore topic)

[Profile] Profile field Favorite map added

Account] The mailbox fill level for conversations is displayed if the quota is 75% (and higher);

via Personal Control Panel > General: "Show mailbox fill level" this can be deactivated.

[2FA] Device verification, a component of two-factor authentication (2FA), can be turned on/off in the Control Centre.

Team] Create a user group: Former team members.

[Team] Creation of a user group including layout for HALYCON.

Profile] If you are not a regular member ("user") of other user groups, you can see it in your own profile.

[Security] Connection to HIBP established.

=> See above paragraph "Security measure: matching with HIBP database".

[Admin/MOD] The reason for the ban is displayed in the profile if someone has been locked.

Note: We also ban users if they are inactive and emails come back due to undeliverability, to prevent future returns. In the ban message we point this out and only request that you contact us, which would initiate the unblocking process. :grin:

[Server] Various updates that have been applied in the meantime.

Bug fixes in the WebDisk

[Donate] When trying to donate, the amount was always reset to the minimum value.

[Global] Hides audio control when a new conversation is received (see "You have mail" - audio is displayed),

resolved globally after reoccurrence (see You have Post Audio - Redisplay)

[Discord-OAuth] The WebDisk could not be connected to Discord. Users with the rank OMSI-Modder and higher get their rank automatically after the connection. (cf. Discord linking)

[Team] New team page: misplaced points corrected

[WebDisk] Restoration of our standard, that in the WebDisk not always the last uploaded or entered download file is downloaded, but if there are several entries, the system switches to the "Files" page, where the user can download what he wants.

(see Single files can no longer be downloaded)

[WebDisk] A critical problem with the database was fixed. Files >2.1 GB could not be uploaded because WoltLab (developer) uses 32bit systems as basis. Our database was changed to 64bit to bypass the database limitation.

(see File upload >2,1 GB)

[Global/BB Code] A problem with the use of boxes (infobox, warnbox, errorbox, successbox) has been fixed.

=> This error can NOT be fixed completely! The mentioned instructions for the trouble-free application in the message thread Set errorboxes must be followed!

[Steam-OAuth] An error in connection with the Steam-Plugin was fixed (from developer sites), whereby the own password could not be changed. Regardless of whether you registered with Steam or not, the system pretended to couple with Steam due to an incorrect database entry. (see Changing the Password)

=> See note "Coupling of the account" above!

[Global] A critical problem with the database has been fixed and precautions have been taken to avoid this problem in the future.

... and the fixing of various other small bugs.

Innovations up to 30 June 2020

New features in the WebDisk

• [Hashtags] Removed the #Tagging function in forum posts (except WebDisk and Wiki). Especiallyin the offtopic areas, it was too often misused for nonsensical garbage, so the tags were removed manually afterwards. The team doesn't want to spend this wasted time in kid's stuff, their free time is limited.

Bug fixes in the WebDisk

• Rights] File format .7z globally enabled, .exe removed. (Message: Attachment file formats)