Quarter Three – 2011 Newsletter

by Sekh765 on September 10th, 2011

Quarter Three – 2011

Newsletter

Events, New Games, Fun servers, AC Recap, Website Revision

 

Alright, so here we are for another newsletter issue, slightly late but that is to be expected. This time around we are going to talk about some of the upcoming events, server changes, a revision to the main TFP Webpage and other odds and ends, as well as a short recap of the Anthrocon 2011 meetup that took place in June!

 

Upcoming Server Additions

For a long time now, we have been getting requests for both an American server similar to server #3, as well as a server that runs the Saxton Hale and TF2 ware gametypes. Security issues with the former prevented us from running it until recently when those issues were fixed, and the demand for this type of server doesn’t seem to have disappeared in the meantime, so we are happy to announce that in the near future, we should have a new US based “Fun” server up and running, once we can make all the plugins place nice together. What you can expect from this server:

  • Vs. Saxton Hale gametype
  • TF2 Ware gametype
  • More leniant map selection, expect some more goofy maps that you won’t see on other servers
  • 25 – 30 minute map timer, slightly more than 6, but less than 4/5
  • Possibly interesting events being run due to more allowance for dumb experiments

Upcoming Server/Game Events

 

With more and more items and weapons being added to TF2, we get a lot of complaints about how X is unbalanced or Y breaks the game, which may or may not be true. In an effort to make the game more fun for people that think this way, we have announced our next event, happening later this week, which is the TFP Wayback Machine, circa 2007. This event will be run on server #6, and will consist of locking out all items that were not around at the launch of the game in 2007. (Exceptions for Hats and Strange Weapons that are of Default weapons). We will be running this event all weekend, and hope folks enjoy playing old school TF2 like many of us remember from years ago.

We are also intending to run a few more similar events in the coming weeks, and plans have already been made for a “Pre Polycount” event, banning all Player submitted weapons and promotional weapons that were added to the game after the final Valve Class update, the Engineer. Once again, Strange Weapon versions of the time periods items and Hats are not affected.


New TFP Game/Server

As part of our ever expanding, ever hopeful dreams of bringing a long term TFP server to another game, we are once again launching a new server simultaneous to the release of Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad. We have noticed a large number of players have purchased this game, and hope that we will have a server active and playable on launch day. For those that don’t know, RO2: Heroes of Stalingrad is a realistic WW2 FPS, based off the successful Red Orchestra Unreal Tournament mod. The server information will be posted prior to launch and we expect to be running an event on it later that week.

The server will be running Realistic settings, with an exception made for kill notifications if possible. More information on server settings to be posted when it is launched!

 

Minecraft Information

With the upcoming 1.8 patch, many members of our Minecraft community are already aware of the changes coming to the TFP server, but incase you are not aware, here is what you can expect.

With 1.8 the TFP Minecraft server is going to be reset, due to the large number of changes being made to the world engine that require a complete map change to take affect.  Normally Caigan would be here to make sure everything moves smoothly but he is currently away from his computer and won’t be around for a little while. Until then, all players need to be patient while we try to migrate everything properly ourselves and hopefully not break anything in the process.

 

The Furry Pound Website Revision

For a long time now we have had this fancy website, but it is admittedly a little hard to use and not particularly user friendly for the submission of content. In the next month we hope to change all that when we launch the major website and forum revisions currently being worked on by admin-cat Salen. It is our hope that when we launch the new website that our players can submit their own articles to be published on the site, and we can reach a larger amount of our players!

The forums are currently under possible revision as well, which we hope will provide our players with better connectivity with each other. We are investigating a method of allowing our players to connect their forum account directly with their steam account, making it easier for people to find each other, keep track of each other over the forums, and allow new members to be easily invited to the group. The forum changes if they are accepted should be launched a little after the website changes, stay tuned for more information on it!

 

The Furry Pound 2011 Anthrocon Meetup – Recap

Our final topic is the recap of our 2011 Anthrocon Meetup, which was held once again in the Zoo area of the Westin Hotel during Anthrocon last June. In 2010, we had around 28 members show up and hang out with us, which we felt was a pretty good number. This year I am proud to announce we had over 50 members show up, filling an entire corner of the Zoo. The meetup somehow lasted for a full hour of people listening to this Bird ramble about stuff, which I have no idea how that happened but apparently people were entertained. I tried to get our signup sheet to as many people as I could, but I know I missed a few folks, so I apologize! I don’t have a scanner here, but I did take a picture of the final signup sheet with my terrible phone for those that want to see it!

Anthrocon Signin Sheet

We hope to see an even larger turnout next year at the 2012 Meetup, keep an eye out for the big TFP flag which will be making its second appearance!

 

The Future

As TFP gets larger and the interest of our players spreads out, it is hard for us to predict what people will be interested in, like or dislike. We try to make the best guesses we can but we never actually know if something we plan out is going to really connect with people. We hope with the relaunching of our website to be more user friendly and allow for more custom content created by our players that we can find the things people want to play and provide it to them. As always, this community benefits the most from the players in it, who help out the new people (including the furries that have joined us through the new TF2 – F2P system), help keep the servers clean of trolls and other trash, and introduce themselves to the new people who have decided to brave the chatroom or post on the Shout section of the steam page. We thank everyone for continuing to keep this community the best private furry gaming group on the internet and hope that folks will continue to help keep it that way.


 


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Quarter Two – 2011 – Newsletter

by Sekh765 on May 11th, 2011

Quarter Two – 2011

Newsletter!

Replays, Servers and Maps!

 

Hey folks, I think I finally figured out how to make these without stretching to find content. I’m gonna try to make them every quarter or so, unless something super fancy shows up and I need to make one right then. I have a couple different topics to hit on this newsletter, mainly upcoming changes to server 6, various plugin functionality on all TF2 servers, a new TFP server, and information regarding our 3rd annual Anthrocon Meetup!

 

Server Changes and Replay!

 

First things first, we have just finished adding Replay functionality to all our servers! We had to hold off until Valve fixed a bug with Linux servers which prevented us from being able to run it stably, but all is well now and you should be able to record your kills and fails with ease now! Please shoot us a message if something breaks or it starts causing issues so we can look into it!

 

TFP Server #6 Changes

Next are upcoming changes to TFP Server #6, which will be having a overhaul of its current maplist, as well as some plugin additions over the next week. I’ve been trying to keep track of which maps are getting played and nominated, as well as which maps have a tendency to vacate the server when they are voted on, so the following is a list of all the map changes currently being implemented.

 

Maps for Removal – CP_Stag (Not played at all), CP_Wildmire (Most folks consider it unfun), CP_Titan (Broken by the latest Valve Patch) CTF_Casbah (Generally hated), PL_Pharaoh (Considered too large/chokepointy). TC_Hydro (Yea I know. It kills the server, and everyone hates it, so off it goes.)

Maps for Adjustment – CP_Redfort (Now Medieval mode, reduced to 15 minutes max), CTF_Moonbase (Reduced to 15 minute timer), PL_Whalerace (Reduced to 2 full rounds, or 12 minutes, that is about as much as people want of Whalerace)

 

Map Additions – And here are the new maps! I am taking a Cave Johnson approach to maptesting this time around, in other words “We are throwing maps at the wall here and seeing what sticks.” so the maps might be enjoyed or hated, the bad ones will be removed within a week or so. I will list the names here and a link at the end to a forum post with all the download links for those that wish to download it early.

CP_Crossroads, CP_Antiquity, CP_Karst, CP_Teddy, KOTH_Gatehouse (12 minute timer), Koth_Ashville, PL_Salvage, PL_Mesa, CTF_Landfall, CTF_THISISASURPRISE

As well as the return of (limited) Arena maps, in the form of arena_lumbermill, arena_offblast, and arena_hardhat – All set to 12 minute timers with no sitting out.

Download the new maps from this forum post – http://www.hiddendisguises.com/Forums/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=78&p=21042#p21042

Last I am investigating the possibility of adding some fun plugins to #6 which can be triggered by any Admin in your game, including Roll the Dice, which is a popular random gameplay adjusting mod. All fun plugins will be limited to admin triggering them to avoid them becoming stale or taking over the server, and will only last until they are turned off again.

 

TFP Brink #1

With a number of our players picking up Brink, and the games easily set up server configuration, we have recently launched a Brink server for testing to see if folks are interested in using it! The server is located at – 72.22.219.149:27018, which can be entered into either your Steam server browser, or the ingame direct connection option. You might need to leave the port off, so test it either way. We will be scheduling a get together this weekend on the server to test it out with a large group of TFP members, check your events for more info!


 

ANTHROCON 2011 MEETUP!

Alright! Next month is Anthrocon, and for the 3rd year in a row we are going to be having our annual TFP Meetup! I just wanted to remind folks to be thinking of this as they make their plans, and to stay tuned for more information to come later this month on our plans. We are trying to get something new and interesting to happen this year, but we are waiting a bit longer to make sure everything is in place. Stay tuned to the TFP News section once we are ready to make an announcement about the meetup location, time and all that. Hope to exceed last years meetup of 30 people this year!

 

The Future

Nothin fancy this time around, we are just trying to make sure everything is running smoothly and that each valve update doesn’t set the servers on fire with some new broken who-sa-whatsit. We hope to talk with players at Anthrocon this year about the Future of TFP, including games folks are interested, as well as changes they would like to see. Last years meet up resulted in Server #6, which has since become one of the most popular TFP servers we have, so who knows what new ideas folks will have this year!

 

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January 2011 Newsletter!

by Sekh765 on January 13th, 2011

January 2011 Newsletter!

One Year Anniversary!


So here we are! One year after starting my semi-bi-annually-maybe-sometimes newsletter, I’ve made it an entire year! That’s a full year of random information! I am so proud. I hope you folks are enjoying these, or at the very least getting the information you are looking for about the servers! This month we have a good deal of technical and server related information for everyone, since we’ve had some changes and a couple other folks would like more information on the state of various servers. A small upcoming event, and a new server in the works as well!

Upcoming Events:

No exceedingly large upcoming events this month, we just finished up a maptest and those maps that won will be slowly working their way onto the servers. I have a smallish event planned for possibly later this month, but it’s a surprise so I guess you all will have to keep an eye out.


Server Information and Changes


So lets get started on the servers. I’ll break it down into server groups so that it is easier to read and understand.

Server’s #1 is currently down due to damage to the server boxes and a change in location. We do not currently have an ETA on its return, it could be very soon, it might not be for awhile. Until then we encourage folks to use servers #6 and #5, as they are running almost identical map cycles as servers #1/#2. We apologize but Act’s of God are hard to predict. Server #2 was just returned to us today, and has a new IP of 72.22.219.149:27016 please keep us informed on the how well you guys think the new server is running!


Server #4 and to some extent #5 are experiencing lag issues. We are aware of these issues and are attempting to solve them. They are a particularly irritating sort of issue that comes and go seemingly at random, so bear with us as we attempt to lock this down. To this end however, we understand that #4 is possibly the most popular server we have, so we have worked up a temporary solution which is…….


Server #7 is now a Stock server. For those of you that have previously played on #7, understand that it is now an entirely new server. It is in a different, more viable location (Chicago), and is running an alternate map cycle (Stock). Please update your favorites accordingly and try using it when server #4 is inevitably full. It’s new IP address is 74.94.122.126:27015 or you can find it by clicking this here image!


We hope you folks will be patient with us while we work out the kinks in our servers. Remember that we still have servers #6 and #7, which are running optimally, and server #5 which hasn’t really acted up yet, though we are watching it carefully.


As for other servers..


TFP Minecraft Server will be returning to active duty very soon. You all built so much stuff that the harddrive that was storing it started to die. It was unable to save fast enough to be of any use, so sys admin Sumigaki has purchased an entire NEW harddrive just for the Minecraft server. Caigan, the other minecraft admin is investigating the use of mods on the server since Minecraft has now been put into Beta and there are all sorts of interesting mods floating around. Expect more information soon.

TFP Monday Night Combat Server – We are currently investigating the possibility of adding a Monday Night Combat server to our lineup. A large portion of the admins have been playing it together and find it absolutely hilarious. The servers are small and easy to admin, so when the game is finally released in full, we might put up a public server for everyone, I for one would like to not have to deal with the random pubbers so we will see!


Finally as a last little change, we will be changing the MOTD that you folks have seen every time you log into the servers a bit. It will still have TFP’s lovely mascots, but soon it will also have relevant new information such as IP changes, events, etc. We will attempt to make them eye catching enough so that you notice it when we change them, but this way we can inform folks of IP changes to the servers much faster and more efficiently. The rotating advertisement plugin on the servers will be getting an update as well.


The Future!

Sorry for the rather dry newsletter this month folks, but we are working on getting the groups servers repaired so no major events planned for January. I hope to have some more fun things to talk about next time…maybe in February. There’s a major convention coming up in March (Furry Weekend Atlanta) that a number of us will be attending, so we might make a little TFP meeting out of it if folks were interested. Other than that, just keep telling us what you guys enjoy and we will attempt to get it done!

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the-demovixen%e2%80%99s-how-to-offense-on-cp_steel-part-two

The DemoVixen’s How To: Offense on CP_Steel, Part Two

by NikkyVix on November 11th, 2010

Howdy again all, and Happy Binary Day! It’s time for another edition of the DemoVixen’s How To.  This is the second installation of our two-parter from last…forever-ago.

Subjects:
Prologue
Steel Cap D
Steel Cap E

Cold Steel

(BLU Offense, Part II)

When last we left off, your team had just gained C cap and were thrusting into RED’s stronghold to take the last two…wow, this has been a long match.  There’s been a few big updates and a lot of changes to TF2 since then, so while we’ll jump in I’ll try my best to incorporate pertinent new stuff.

With the fall of C, the bridge walkway granting access to E for the less mobile classes is now available, opening the third way to get to D.  RED has less space to work with now, but will be determined to lock out D and E as best they can.

Interior D:  Drawn and Quartered…

fig. a.1

D Cap.  An enclosed, close- to mid-quarter zone where you now have four access points to get in from.  The closer quarters will work for and against you: you’ll have better control of explosions in halls and corridors, but if a fight comes down to CQC you’ll have less maneuvering room.  Concerning enemy Engineers, the most effective places to build a covered sentry will be atop the spawn-ramp stair, on the ground before the spawn facing the point and far entrance, and in the entryway that leads from E.

With the proper cover and quick edging (popping out of cover just long enough to throw a sticky and duck back), these risky positions can be addressed from attack route 1. You might not even need an Übercharge.  Remember however that from the position in figure a.1, you are in the vicinity of the enemy’s spawn room and they can exit it to attack you at any time, so caution is always necessary. Note that RED is vulnerable from attacks coming from the upper spawn door landing leading into D from C, so your preference for attack should be that direction (unless enemy concentration is focused there).  In that case, attacking from the far west entryways (attack route 2) are a viable way to go as they can provide adequate cover and are often a less-heeded threat than the upper spawn landing.  it’s good for getting close as an Übercharged pair, popping out and flinging a few bombs into a crowd that’s competing on the cap, or to get some explosives onto the upper landing to deal with enemies and hardware there.

fig. a.2

Upon taking the point, if you are granted a brief respite from fighting, you’ll need to decide quick where best to place your stickies as a trap.  Respawning enemies, 8 times out of 10, will be coming straight from the upper landing spawn doors, so leaving trap stickies where they’ll be unexpected is a good idea (I’m avoiding situations where one commits spawn camping; opinions vary, but my personal philosophy is choosing to resort to spawn-killing doesn’t teach you much).    The enemy does not have a clear shot at the point from the spawn, so performing a fake out–acting as if you don’t see them coming by not looking at them or acknowledging their maneuvering to attack you–is an effective setup for the bombs placed in the locations in figure a.2.

In the case of the 2 out of 10 who will leave the E-side spawn door and attack D from E (or possibly defenders coming from E), their direct access is the E Entryway.  Sticky-trapping this entry is ideal, but you must be wise in trapping here as splitting stickies between  it and your traps on the upper landing will make both less effective.  Furthermore, the medium health kit in the entryway is there to heal a survivor.

Entering D from E, an enemy will either immediately cut in front of the crates and engage you, or slip behind the crates to round to the other side.  So be prepared for the possibility of attacks from E, the worst case scenario being a Heavy, Scout or Pyro suddenly popping into view at mid- to close range.  Stickies hidden as noted can damage or kill most classes, and having your grenade launcher trained in that direction can put down the wounded and suppress its backup.  Being alone on D cap is a terrible situation, but it’s possible if you are creative with your stickies, conservative of your ammo, and remain observant of the three primary entryways RED will use to come kill you.

If you’re fortunate to survive long enough to score a capture of D, you’ve essentially trapped RED to roughly one half of a room that they have to fight to turn into one whole locked-down room if they wish to survive.  It’s time to push the full of your team into the grinder.

Launch Chamber E: “You Shall Not Pass!”

fig. b.1

E-cap Rocket Chamber: A nightmare for Redmond’s boys to defend from Blutarch’s determined and wily team.  It’s a sweet spot of a cap point to attack.  If there is a sentry in the hall from D to E, you can easily edge it to destroy it.  Barring enemy Snipers across the way and enemy Spies who have the full range of the base to get at you, you have more cover here than most any other cap save for B, and it’s all because of the little sub-ledge that lay just beneath the Engineering deck on RED’s side.  Arrows lead into it from B door and C basement.  This oft-overlooked platform has a slight lip that can allow you to safely chuck stickies up onto the ceiling above the Engineering deck and on top of Engy buildings; three to five spaced about in afoot-wide cluster will be sufficient to kill the Engineer and anything he has built there often times without the Engy or his sentry even being aware.  Talk about convenient!

Furthermore, RED defenders who are swarming a capture point are most likely looking at the B-C joint entryway that is level with the cap itself, expecting an attack from B or even the far A-side access.  Four grenades into a cluster of RED defenders fighting or swarming that cap will make sure that everything there has a bad day.

fig. b.2

But let’s say your team has made a push straight from D into E corridor and, for the time being, owns RED’s landing territory.  This is where you can be the single most important defender for the team, the block from which the enemy must pay hell just to pass.  Take a look: hanging back on the Engineer deck gives you an overlook of the entryway leading into D and any other way RED might come to attack those on the point.  RED attackers cannot use the resupply doors facing E due to the doors locking down when D is capped, so it’s likely they will approach from D.  Sticky-trapping the hell out of the entryway is an excellent way to ensure that RED cannot reach your teammates in time.  Like locking down D, the Scottish Resistance would shine in this situation, but the classic launcher is fine.

You have many options, all more efficient than D’s:  making visible stickies will be a deterrent and cause the enemy to hesitate.  Hiding trap stickies will lull the enemy into rushing the corridor, carrying them right into an unexpected detonation.  Stickies cannot grab the catwalks, so you can roll them to the ends to stick to the landing or the cap itself and be a trap for Spies or other enemies that attack your teammates directly; You’re on the platform to defend them, after all.  The staple of your combat ability is area denial; use it.  If you can coerce a Medic into hanging out with you on the Engy deck, do so, but it’s not really crucial; the Sniper cabin has sufficient health and ammo for you.

Beware of bombs or rockets coming from the sub-level beneath you, and watch out for enemies firing down the hall at you, especially Snipers.  Always have grenades in the chamber in case you need to fire down the stairs or sticky-trap the stairs itself.  One Demo playing gatekeeper can ensure that the BLUs huddled on the point have minimal threat to deal with.

If you cannot afford to play gatekeeper, you’ll need to place your bombs with an eye towards possible avenues RED will attack from.  The little window in the figure is a favored firing spot of Snipers, Heavies, Soldiers, Demomen…it offers nice protection from the point.

That is why it must be sticky-trapped.

If your ‘nade aim isn’t up to snuff to make the hole from the point, leave stickies above and behind the heads of anyone who would stand in that alcove and fire at the point.  Enough to kill a Heavy and with a 1-foot spread to catch more people.  The Engineer deck must not be allowed to be occupied by enemies.  This whole area is a stretch to defend like D is, and taking it by your own against numerous enemies is almost guaranteed to fail.  So be sure to have backup, or at least a Medic to keep you alive while capping.

The key to E is locking RED out of getting firing solutions on the cap, if not out of the room itself.  If you can succeed in this, then cheers, mate: Victory is yours. And thus, the end of this tutorial.  I hope my approaches to Steel help at least some of you, and you can come up with different and maybe even superior tactics for yourself.  It’s all in how you approach a problem, boyo!

Thank you for reading! Next time, we’ll tackle another difficult map as this most versatile class! Feedback for The DemoVixen’s How-To is totally welcome either here or on Niko’s Steam Communities profile page.

- Voop Out

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TFP SCREAMshot winners!

by Sekh765 on November 2nd, 2010

Halloween SCREAMshot Contest

Winners!


First I’d like to thank everyone that entered the contest, we had some really good entries and I was really impressed with everyone who took the time to enter! Second I’d like to thank our 6 volunteer and/or coerced judges! The 3 admins – Jinx, Akita and Austin, and the 3 players, Aznhax, Munch and Rev. Browning, you guys were great!

So now! The winners!


First place – This one really blew folks away with how well it was done, it was very smooth and had a good Halloween vibe to it. First place goes to MASTERFURRYX’s Halloween Engi and Crew!

Second Place – Following that one, the judges decided on Otterwolfy’s scary pyro image! They really liked how simple and to the point the image was, with the good backdrop and the fact that we all know pyro is just a scary monster anyways.

Third Place – Finally, our last screenshot winner goes to Rikes! The final screen shot was selected because…well…what do you think when you see this? Nicely done Rikes, the judges found your image funny enough to be our final winner!

All in all, we had some great entries, but these folks stood out the most to our judges. I want to thank everyone who took the time to enter, you all did great. If folks become more interested in events like this, we might try again come December or New Years!

If you were one of the winners, please contact me at your convenience on Steam, you should know me, I am Sekh, you can find me on the admin list if you haven’t already so we can get you guys your prizes!

Because I was so happy with everyone’s entries though, I would like to extend the prizes to everyone who entered, at least some form of “door prize” for entering. So if you submitted an image at all, shoot me a message on steam!

For those interested in seeing all the entries, I’ve created a rar which can be found here.

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TFP October 2010 Newsletter!

by Sekh765 on October 18th, 2010

October 2010 Newsletter!

Halloween Edition!

So it’s October once again! The month where we’ve traditionally had some of best community events of the year! This year we are trying to bring you the same fun events and mods, but with a couple new things to mix it up, so read on below to find out!


The Haunted Pound!

So every Halloween since TFP was founded we’ve tried to host a Halloween fun event for our players. This has traditionally consisted of running ZombieFort on one of our servers and just goofing off. This year we are expanding our event a bit!

  • Zombie Fort is Back! We are bringing back Zombiefort to be run on server #8 and a yet to be determined secondary server, which we will announce shortly! For those that haven’t played it before, Zombiefort pit’s a small team of survivors against an ever growing Undead Army. This time Zombiefort comes with Perks and special abilities to help the survivors last a bit longer! We encourage you guys to try out the mod, as it’s been a community favorite every year! ZF will be hosted 24/7 on #8, and intermittently on #6 whenever the maps are voted to be played.
  • Halloween Screenshot Contest! So we wanted to try and make this years October event bigger, with something new and interesting for the community. To this end we have decided to hold a Halloween themed Screenshot contest for the community, complete with prizes! Full rules will be detailed below!
  • New and Interesting maps and mods for Alien Swarm and L4D! While we can’t actually host a server for these two games, due to having such a large community and the servers being so small, we can help raise awareness about extremely good maps and mods for them, and give you guys the links to try them out yourselves! This being the scary Halloween event time, we thought these two games fit in nicely, so here’s our list of the best Mods and Maps for these games!

Alien Swarm Maps

Tears for Tarnor

Lana’s Escape

Paranoia Part One
Paranoia Part Two
Paranoia Part Three

Left 4 Dead 2 Maps

Detour Ahead

2 Evil Eyes

Halloween SCREAMshot Contest!

Alright! So this is our big contest we’ve been planning! Are you interested in showing off your artistic talent? Want one of those fancy polycount hats you see everyone wearin’? Then you should try entering our TFP Screenshot Contest! Rules are pretty simple!

Goal: To make the best Halloween Themed in-game Screenshot you can think of! It can be scary, comical, anything you like so long as it involves TF2 or Garry’s Mod!

Media Used: Screenshot must be taken in either TF2 or Garry’s Mod! Going the extra distance for style and setup is preferred! Photo manipulation and other various methods of “arting” up the screenshots are allowed, but we would really like to see what people can do without Photoshop and similar programs!

Submission Rules: ONE (1) Submission per person only, sent to tfpscreenshot@gmail.com.  Each submission received will be given a number which is sent back to the creator, judges will not have the names of who submitted each image, just their corresponding number. Please provide your Steam ID when you submit your image, if you don’t know your Steam ID, use this webpage to get it!

Deadline: Deadline for submission will be the 29th of October, winners will be announced on the 31st!

Judging:  Judges will be selected randomly from 3 admins who wish to participate, and 3 members who wish to participate as well. If you wish to be one of the judges, send me a message on steam and I will add you to the list of candidates. Of course judges will not be allowed to submit an image, sorry!

Since the addition of trading, we can now give out Prizes!

First Place: One Full Polycount Set of the Winners Choice! Including the HAT!

Second Place: One Hat and One Paintcan of their choosing from our supply of donated hats!

Third Place: One Nametag and One Paintcan of their choosing.

We encourage everyone to submit something and try to win the prizes! Other things might show up while playing on the event servers, who knows what we might do!

*     *     *

Upcoming Server Changes

No huge radical changes this month for the how the servers work. I tweaked the maplist on server #6 to reflect the opinions I have been getting from players on some of the maps, so if you play on #6 consistently you might see some of the maps which no one enjoyed are now gone.

TFP Minecraft Server

So we know many of you are anxious about the status of the TFP Minecraft server, since it hsa been down for the last week or so, but I am here to tell you that we are fixing it, and it should soon be up on a separate server than where it was before. Sumigaki is currently in the process of transferring all the relevant files over to a new box and should be hosting it soon! More information to come as we have it!  Also Caigan would like you all to know that asking him about the Minecraft server will result in him bludgeoning you with a Creeper. That is all.

TFP Public Service Announcement

Alright, so we’ve got a few issues we’d like to sort out with folks on the servers, so we’ve made this helpful little section!

  • Trading on the Servers: Please do not join the servers just to spam that you are looking for trades. We’ve set up a lovely trading forum here. If you have to trade in the server, please do it while dead or during setup as to not penalize your team for your wanton trading ways!
  • Glitching: Fun “glitches” and bugs that appear after each patch. We are not in the habit of making announcements every time Valve breaks the game with their latest patch. If you’ve heard of a glitch or bug which allows you to do things way outside of what you are supposed to be doing, please do not test it on our servers. We do not like it when people abuse bugs and glitches on our server, ESPECIALLY if it is a bug which can possibly crash the servers. We do not warn for these things, we assume our players are intelligent enough to not use the glitches on our servers. If we catch you doing things which could be deemed harmful to the servers, you could very quickly find your TFP privileges revoked.  If you simply MUST test the glitches, we suggest other servers for that. :)

The Future!

So next up for us, after we finish the Halloween event should be another maptest. Our last maptest was in June, so we are due to add some new fresh maps to the servers for folks to test out. We are always looking for new maps and ideas, and if you have something you think would fit well with the TFP servers, we encourage you to hit up the forums and submit it to us here! Other than that, we are still seeking new and interesting games to expand into, and should have more information on that next time. Finally, I am offically switching the newsletter over to an every other month newsletter, since that is how I seem to be writing it anyways, and it’s really hard to find cool stuff to talk about EVERY month! We need rest too! Anyways, hope you enjoy the events!

- Sekh the Scribe Burd

Posted in Announcements, TFP | No Comments »

new-ip-for-tfp-3

New IP for TFP #3

by DrJones on September 5th, 2010

Just a little update to say that the new IP for TFP 3# is now: 95.211.15.175:27015

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TFP August Newsletter

by Sekh765 on August 24th, 2010

TFP August 2010

Newsletter!


Lazy Bird of Summer Edition!

Alright, so here we go again! Time for the latest edition of the TFP Newsletter, this month with all sorts of cool information on new servers, upcoming events, and other various bits of information here and there!

-

Upcoming Server Changes:

Alright folks, so if you hang around the main TFP chat for the last few weeks, you’ve probably heard me talking about the changes myself and fellow admin Sumigaki have been trying to get set up on server 6. Last week we launched the server and it’s been getting really good reviews from the people that have been frequenting it, so I encourage everyone to try it out if they have the chance! Details of the various changes that 6 has undergone are below!

  • Server map timer is reduced from 40 minutes to 20 minutes, with a possible final reduction to 15 minutes per map. This allows for faster rotation through the maps, and steam rolls are less frustrating due to the rapid rotation to a new map, and new team.
  • Mix of stock maps (no arena), popular custom maps from the main TFP servers, a few custom maps I’ve chosen myself, and a small number of “fun” maps such as the wacky races and whale race maps from the older server #3.
  • Future addition of a cvar activated members only script such as the on server #5 used to have, to allow for members only nights!

All these things combine to make a rather different style of server from the other main TFP servers.

IP for TFP #6 – 68.232.166.231:27015

P.S. – Silly things can happen on some of the maps, since admins have the ability to choose special maps from a seperate list, such as this video made by Devvy of Munch being “abused” on Pacman – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WB3BlJcyMzM

—-

Our second edition this month is that TFP has gone full International! In the first entry by someone other than myself, the new owner of TFP’s Australian/Oceania server has written up an entry on what his server is about for you folks to read! With this server, we now have a server in almost every major geographic zone from which our players hail from! So, here is Leon, the owner and head admin of TFP #10, the AU server!

“Well TFP’s second (group) anniversary has been and gone and with it came a new TF2 server! All the Aussie furs out there will be pleased to know that TFP’s 10th server is a 24 slot server hosted in Sydney. It is hoped this will provide a place for Oceania and South Asia furries to play with better pings.

So what maps and mods will this server be running I hear you say? Well I’m glad you asked! Presently TFP runs servers of different sorts, some with custom maps and some without. The AU server for the foreseeable future will not be running any custom maps, the main reason for this being that Australian players have internet quotas and players who have gone over their quota would have to wait 20-60 minutes for a custom map to download.

However, to make up for the lack of custom maps, the AU server will be running special weekend events where different server side mods will run on Friday and for the duration of the weekend (For instance the popular presents mod that was running on the opening day). This allows the server to be unique and fun without players needing to wait for large map downloads. On top of this the AU server will run the standard set of mods such as RTV and Scramble etc.

If you have any suggestions or feedback, please poke one of the TFP admins or myself about it, we’d love to hear from you!

With all that being said, Look forward to seeing you on the AU server and hope you’ll have a great time :3

-Leon”

IP for Server #10 – 202.157.179.70:27053

So there you folks have it! The two major server updates for TFP this month! Hope you guys take some time to check out the changes!



Upcoming TFP Events:

No events this month folks, as its a little late to do an announcement for one anyways. However, we will be having our annual TFP Halloween event in October, so look for more information on that soon!




TFP Staff Additions

So, with the addition of new servers and the return to school for many staffers, we’ve expanded the TFP staff again to encompass three new members. In a hilarious stroke of luck, they all happen to be Birds, so my dreams of a bird TFP army continue! Your new staffers are as follows! Be nice to these guys, they are around to keep the servers clean :)

  • Griffin
  • Sparra
  • Jouster

Also, a number of moderators were promoted to full administrator, meaning they are now fully available to answer any questions you have, and help with any problems you have (We do continue to ask, if you have a problem on the servers to record demos and submit them to sourcebans, we’ve received a large number of ban submissions, we do watch these demos you folks attach, and have banned a good number of hackers and griefers with you guys help! Thanks again!)




The Future!

So we’ve been working really hard keeping things running smoothly around here, trying to find new and interesting events for you guys to enjoy, it’s tough trying not to repeat ourselves too much! We are looking into running Randomizer in September sometime, or possibly as part of the October event. Other things are the possible return of Prophunt in the near future, as it was an incredibly popular mod, so that is something that could show up soon as well! Until next month, enjoy the new servers and keep us informed on what you guys want to see! See you…sometime….ish….in September!

- Sekh the Scribe Burd

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tfp-july-2010-newsletter

TFP July 2010 Newsletter!

by Sekh765 on July 3rd, 2010

TFP July 2010 Newsletter!

Special Anthrocon Edition!

Totally not written by a lazy burd who takes forever to get out newsletters.

I don’t want to hear it! Nope! Lazy scribe burd has been in other countries! He has an excuse this time! I swear that I was working the entire 2 month period that there hasn’t been a newsletter, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week! Yep. That is my story and I am sticking to it. So here we are! This is a pretty special newsletter full of all sorts of shiny things, so lets jump right in folks!

 

TFP Goes to Anthrocon!

 

So for those of you that haven’t been paying attention to the Fandom for the last few months, Anthrocon, the largest Furry Convention in the world ended last week. For the second year in a row, TFP has held its annual meet and greet in the Zoo area where everyone gets to chat it up and the admins get to ramble incoherently for an hour, as well as get information on what people think of the servers in person. This year we had a total of 30+ people show up for the meet! That is more than an entire server! We had more people at our little group meet up than many of the panels that are actually in the con guide, and there were many people that couldn’t find us so who knows what the total number might have been! We even had to steal a second table to fit everyone. I have a roll call sheet here that I did after we all wandered off, I apologize if I miss your name, I did this while standing in line for 2’s show so I was playing it by ear at this point.

1. Witchiebunny

2. Jinx

3. Nikkyvix

4. Sekh

5. Cmdr Lost

6. Nynnja

7. Pathia

8. Python

9. Draganta

10. Gavyn

11. A.M. Zinthos

12. Cyferwolf

13. Sivren

14. Matty

15. JousterL

16. Zenny

17. NightFurson

18. Pikacha

19. Tersi

20. Kit Kima (Spy!) (Also probably spelling error!)

21. Stryker

22. Artie

23. Shaggy the Batbear

24. Longshot Coyote

25. Kajiwolf

26. SpyingRedFox

27. Kasi the Kittejackal

Special Guest appearance by Aurafox disguised as Nynn’s phone as well!

I know I missed a few people, once again I apologize, it was kinda crazy that day. Here is the only known photo to still exist of the epic TFP Meet up, We apologize for the blur but it was taken by a scout as they sprinted through our lines yelling need a dispenser here….or something.

That bunny is a SPAH

Next year we are trying to plan something really big and amazing, so stay tuned and as we get closer to that we will release more information on that! It is gonna be awesome!

Among other AC news, TFP member Hali of Firpine a.k.a Matthew Ebel gave an awesome concert on Friday, as someone who hadn’t heard him until then, I highly recommend checking out his webpage, his music is just awesome!

I also only got about 5 admins totally lost in Pittsburgh for about 10 minutes while trying to drive us somewhere! Navigational Burd will find the way! Eventually…..

You folk quite literally wore my voice out by the end of the con, I kept meeting more and more TFP members while wandering around and everyone was just so awesome that I eventually talked myself hoarse, way to go! :P

A final nod to the awesome TF2 Cosplayers that were running around the con, I know a good number of them play on our servers and they had some pretty awesome costumes done, including Radar Nocturn complete with a ginormous solid metal wrench that I have no clue how the Dorsai let him keep that damn thing, but it was awesome none the less. Hope to see all you folk next year!

Upcoming Server Events:

TFP’s Second Birthday and the Return of TFP Fun Server!: Due to popular demand both by players at AC and by you folk on the forums, we have realized just how much people enjoyed the old #3 screw around silly maps server. Also, we realized just how popular server #5 was with its more relaxed atmosphere. To this end we are bringing back this server style permanently by the end of this month in celebration of our second birthday! 2 years and 3000 members have to be right about something! In terms of rules this server will have a complete custom maps list of normal style custom maps (Think maps such as frontier, chaos, etc), as well as its own selection of wacky maps, such as Pacman! The server will have a shorter map timer, a maximum of 20 minutes per map, to alleviate being stuck on maps that a majority of the players may or may not like. We encourage people to send us map ideas, no matter what type of map it is, we promise to look into it for addition to this server. Plugins and the like are subject to change by the time the server comes out but for the most part this should be the final setup. Hope you guys enjoy the new server, expect it by the end of the month!

July Map Removal: Normally these map posts are about testing new maps, getting all sorts of shiny new toys for people to play with on the servers, but this month we are running things a bit differently. It has come to our attention that there are a number of maps on the server which are either just terrible, or kill the server due to their complexity or large download size. To help alleviate this the admin staff have constructed a list of these maps which we will be putting up for vote later today and it will last for 2 weeks, at which point the polls will be reviewed by the admins to see which maps stay and go. I won’t post an entire list here but if you wish to participate in the poll, and honestly, TFP as a whole, you will need to register on the forums at so that you can take part in things like this. The poll will be broken up into two phases over the course of two weeks or so to give people time to read both of them and vote.">so that you can take part in things like this. The poll will be broken up into two phases over the course of two weeks or so to give people time to read both of them and vote.

 

The first poll can be found Here

 

Upcoming TFP Server Changes:

Counter-Strike Server: Due to demand from a large number of players, we have just finished the creation of our very own Counter-Strike Source server! Currently it is running normal CSS, with the full stock map list as well as a large number of custom maps. For the time being we will be running the default game mode, if there is enough demand for it, or the normal game modes do not garner enough players, we will look into the addition of a Gungame server at a later date. For now, enjoy the CSS server safe in the knowledge that annoying children and complete jackoffs will be swiftly hit in the face with a giant damn hammer. Normal server rules apply in terms of behavior of course. We are accepting ideas on the map rotation so if something is terrible and we have it, or awesome and we don’t, friend me and toss me a line!

IP for the TFP CSS Server – 208.115.128.10:27043

Removal of the Bad Company 2 Server: Sorry folks, the server simply wasn’t getting enough use from TFP members to warrant us continuing to pay for it at the ridiculous prices that EA charges. We will have to see what the future brings in terms of this game, if they release dedicated servers which do not require us to RENT the server from them, and instead allow us to host it on our own boxes (of which we have many of excellent quality!), then we will see about bringing this back.

TFP Public Service Announcement:

So we have implemented a new system of Banning people. I tell you all this because the system uses this lovely automated program which allows for players to check our bans, why bans were made, and most importantly, allows for players to mail us demos using the “Submit a Demo” button! This means no more juggling your demos of speedhacker and trying to upload them to other websites for us to review! Now you can simply submit them directly to us with the button at the top! We hope people will record more demos now that its much easier to send them to us!

Among other things that you can do with this handy tool is if for some god forsaken reason you have received a ban from us, you can protest the ban using the “Protest Ban” function. We hope all of you folk never have to use this button, especially after I met so many of you and you were all so very cool, so lets not ruin that ^_^.

Sourcebans can be found Here

 

Members of the Month

The award goes to..

Every single member who came to AC and took the time to either go to the TFP meet up or find a TFP admin/member and talk with them. Seriously, you guys were awesome and made that convention amazingly fun, hats off to all of you.

Honorable mention

On a personal note, This is my newsletter and I can honor who I want! Honorable mention goes to JousterL and Zenny for teaching me how to Rave at the AC dance. Next year I’LL bring the glowsticks!

 

Mailbag Posting

 

Nothing new here, only thing of note in the last month was someone on 4chan attempting to troll the group by posting our the IP addresses for our servers to get them to harass us. Some 200 posts later, we’ve now come to the conclusion that a majority of that thread are all closet TFP players due to the inordinately large number of people telling the original poster to go to hell, or admitting they’ve played here from time to time. Enjoy the servers you guys! :P

 

Banned.

 

Lovely! For one month out of the year when all the Admins are away getting totally drun—I mean, doing our damndest to improve the servers for all players while at AC…. noone does anything extraordinarily dumb and gets themselves hit with a hammer! I love you guys!


The Future!

 

The future seems pretty bright for all of us here at TFP, we had an awesome turnout at AC (Twice what we had last year), the servers are always full of cool and new players, to the point that we’ve had to once again expand our server list to accommodate all of you! Once again I’m probably driving the tech admins up the walls with my constant running around like a madman going, “And then we can try THIS game! And what about a plugin that does THIS on THIS server!” but then again, two years and none of the servers have exploded for any extremely long period of time, so you guys better thank all our tech admins for keeping this place so nice and clean, they don’t get enough credit as is! Again, any ideas you guys have for games, server plugins, group events, advertisements, art, drinks that Sekh can consume at his next con, maps, articles for the TFP website, and anything else along those lines please drop me or one of the other admins a line and we will see what we can do! Hopefully Augusts’ newsletter doesn’t take so damn long right? :D

– Sekh the Scribe Burd.

P.S. I wasn’t aware so many of you guys read this! Thanks for all the nice things you said about it, I never know if people are reading them since its so hard to get comments on it ^_^.

Posted in Announcements, Team Fortress 2, TFP | 1 Comment »

TFP Newsletter 3rd Edition!

by Sekh765 on April 1st, 2010

TFP April 2010 Newsletter!

 

So, after taking a month break because I am a lazy lazy burd, I am back with the third TFP newsletter, with some new updates for the servers, and some possible new games to expand into.

 Upcoming Server Events:

April Maptest: It’s that time again. We are testing a new batch of maps which will be detailed below for possible addition to the servers. We will also be taking note of current maps which are disliked and unplayed and removing them from our rotation. Due to Payload being the most popular game choice for our servers, the new maps will mainly focus on the payload game type.

The new maps are as follows, and can be downloaded from fpsbanana.

 

Upcoming TFP Server Changes:

No major server changes this month, although we would like to reiterate that server #6 has been relocated to America and is a carbon copy of server #4, so it should be seen as a viable alternative when server #4 is full.

 

Upcoming TFP Group Changes:

In part of our ever expanding search for new games for the TFP group to move itself into, we are investigating the possibility of a Bad Company 2 server, since it seems to be gathering a large amount of our members. We will be starting a poll on the forums later which will have multiple options on map types, game types, etc.

Unfortunately, because of EA’s draconian policies on servers, we will have to pay for the servers out of our own pocket, instead of hosting them ourselves (EA doesn’t allow people to host servers, they MUST be rented from EA), we might implement a donation process to donate to the continual upkeep of the server. The rental costs are 30 dollars a month, so we would be implementing a donation process with a maximum donation cap to prevent any single player for paying too much. Donations would only be used towards the payment process for the BC2 server.

Keep tuned to the TFP group announcements for more information regarding this upcoming server.

 

Members of the Month

The award goes to..

Noone! Because I am a lazy burd.

Honorable Mention – Sergeant Silver – For being patient with us on how long it is taking to get the achievement system tested.

 

Mailbag Posting

Sorry folks, no funny bans this month, just depressing ones, see below.

 

Banned.

So. We were hoping we wouldn’t have to make a section for this, and that the Mailbag would be enough to get across some of the folks we had to remove form the servers, but recent issues with permabanned people being accidentally re-added to the group by members who were unaware of their status has necessitated the addition of a section which simply states the banned members, and a brief description of why they were banned. Included in this will be any evidence we deem necessary to reiterate why they are no longer allowed on the servers, hopefully shedding some light on our bans.

Note: These are only permanently banned players. We like to believe that temp banned players will learn from their mistake and we will not post them here.

 

I Need Viagra – Speedhacking

 

[BFC] stone – Anti-furry trolling

 

CandySquirrel – Refusal to follow rules after many warnings. Disrespectful to other players, admins, just about anyone who didn’t fit into his view of the “rules”.

 

Chin Fish – Speedhacking like a madman.

 

Poisonous Mind/Tatterwing – Harassment, Trolling – After being given multiple chances to cease being a violent and extremely negative force on the servers, we have elevated this persons ban length to permanent. Following this, we received numerous messages which simply supported our decision, including threats against the server, the group, and certain admins. In an effort to disprove any rumors surrounding this ban, we present the following sections.

“3:33 AM – [FRAG] Poisonous Mind [busy]: This can work one of three ways.  The admins get their heads out of their asses and actually listen for once, rather than pandering to the people wanking them off.  Second choice, I can do a raid that will actually succeed.  Third choice, and honestly the most fatal to the TFP community, I sow my own seeds there and start breaking the community by taking their members. “

While we do not really care about someone’s opinion of ourselves, especially someone with the above record, we do however take a dim view of blackmail and threats against our players and servers. We present this final quote to cement PM’s intentions to lie and manipulate our player base for her own ends, and hope that we have provided enough information for our players to make their own decisions on our ban.

“[FRAG] Poisonous Mind [busy]: So why didn’t you come to me personally rather than involving Felis?

Kellervo: You always told me to stay out of your drama. :P

[FRAG] Poisonous Mind [busy]: Honestly though, the mask as an annonymous admin helped, seeing as not knowing who you were to begin with let me take the situation in a different light… Honestly, I probably would have tried to manipulate you, just because that’s how I am in these situations.”

 

The Future!

Upcoming things are as above, we will be providing a forum topic and section for the upcoming Bad Company 2 Servers, and investigating larger events for the upcoming summer months. We encourage you guys to send us ideas for server events, and we will see about getting them turned into actual events. Achievements are still under development, technical hurdles have to be addressed before we could declare if we are using them or not. As stated in February, the Randomizer event should be in the works for early May, provided we have the time with finals and end of school work. Hopefully you enjoyed this month’s Newsletter and are interested in the Bad Company server! Stay tuned for more information!

 

- Sekh the Scribe Burd.

Posted in Announcements, Team Fortress 2, TFP, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

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