TBT 3.0 - Coming March 13th Soon Is Now Here!
*New Update - March 21st 6:30 AM EDT*: Due to causing numerous delays and down times, we are postponing the update for now, as explained here. Thank you for being patient through all of this!
*Newest Update - April 3rd 2:00 AM EDT*: We have finished with the main part of the update! Expect more announcements over the next day. Please help us track any issues you may notice here*New Update - March 21st 6:30 AM EDT*: Due to causing numerous delays and down times, we are postponing the update for now, as explained here. Thank you for being patient through all of this!
Hello everyone! We have some information this evening regarding our site update, called TBT 3.0. As announced last month, we will be moving to the XenForo forum software, which will allow us to update and add many features. This also includes a redesign of the forum, which we will show more of today.
Schedule
We will be going live with the update
The forum's data will be converted incrementally, which means that we won't have much downtime on Friday. Instead, we'll start converting it this Tuesday and any new posts you make will be updated right before the switch is made.
One important thing to keep in mind over the next few weeks is that this transition will be a work in progress in many ways. Everything won't be running perfectly smooth right away and some things will need to be adjusted after Friday, many of them in the following week. Some may be longer. For example, the site's appearance will not change with the time of day at first, but we hope to get it finished within the first couple of weeks.
Appearance
Speaking of the site's appearance, let's take a look at what it will actually look like:
We start with the sky, which is now featuring clouds! But these might not always appear. The redesign will allow us to be even more creative with the characters, items, and environments we rotate in the banner.
The tree, grass, and wood patterns are also brand new and more detailed. The board icons are inspired by the new symbol from New Horizons.
The larger width allows us to add a sidebar, where we can feature polls, show new topics, and show other useful information. This sidebar will only appear on the main index of the forum. All other pages such as boards and threads will extend across the page as they do now.
Many aspects of the appearance are still being worked on and, like I mentioned, we will only be starting with the daytime version. More times and seasons are coming soon!
Collectibles
Collectibles are, of course, coming back. The shop system will even have some upgrades, while other parts of it may still be a work in progress.
One change that we wanted to announce ahead of time is that we will be going back to 2 rows of 5 collectibles. Since it was increased to 6, some people have mentioned that they prefer the original way. The new design also works much better with 5 per row, which is why we decided to go back to it.
While we understand that some lineups may be designed for the rows of 6, we think this looks less cluttered and more symmetrical with the rest of the user information. We have also been considering features to adjust these lineups, but this would not be until some time in the future.
It was previously mentioned that some forum add-on items like the avatar width extension will not be used on the new site due to the way the avatars work. Users who own this add-on will be compensated. Fortunately, we will be able to bring back the animated avatar add-on and it's even easier to use than before. You will no longer have to worry about resizing your image before uploading it. Other add-ons may not convert perfectly, so please be aware that they may not work right away and this is another thing that we will work on in the first week. We also have a few brand new add-ons planned that will be added to the shop in the future!
With our new shop system, we will also have a fancy new trading system. This will allow you to send an offer to a user, who can then update the trade with their side of the offer. Once both users agree the trade is completed. More information about this will be posted later in the week.
Overall, the shop and collectible interfaces will change a lot with a mix of great improvements and some elements that will continue to need adjustments.
Usernames and Usergroups
With the new design, a very small amount of the longest usernames may not fit properly or look odd. If this is true for you, we will offer a free username change.
Another change that we wanted to announce ahead of time is regarding our Sages group. As you may know, Sages are retired staff with green usernames. Throughout the years, this has caused some confusion for new members, who expect these users to be staff due to their colored names. This is why we will be removing the special color and the "Sage" name from the retired staff group ahead of the new game's release. We will be replacing it with a different way to signify their contributions as former staff members.
More Information to Come
Friday is not very far from now and a lot will be changing quickly. While it's exciting, it can also be a lot to adjust to, even for the forum staff. We hope you'll keep this in mind over the next few weeks as we transition to the new site ahead of New Horizons' release. Expect more information to be posted this week. Thank you![/B]
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