Technic News

All today the Technic team is playing Blightfall.  We're ridiculously terrible at video games, so come by, laugh at us, and talk to us about Blightfall!

http://twitch.tv/sctx

Blightfall's latest version is now ready to download and play in the Technic Launcher!  So grab a friend and install Blightfall version 2.1.0 and get ready to have some fun!  

If you want to play with friends, consider buying a server from our friends at Apex Minecraft Hosting!  Minecraft servers for Blightfall start at $11.99/mo!  

Our Camera feed from cry-pod JA-EXCCS-004-01 is now transmitting live!  Check back in each day to see the latest developments!

In the meantime, the launcher has been updated to version 4.310:

• Added community updates for Polish, Hungarian, and Czech languages.
• Added a community optimization for launcher PNG image resources.
• The launcher's main frame now has a window title. This isn't visible (because the launcher window uses a custom skin) but various things like OBS occasionally list processes by window title.
• Added teaser splat over the discover tab.
• Twitch streaming auth data will now be properly passed to minecraft. A bug was preventing users from being able to consistently stream from Minecraft.
• Some minor changes were made to the way we authenticate users with Minecraft at startup.
• There is currently a bug which causes some users who have not used the Technic launcher since migrating their user accounts to have a hard time logging in from Technic without doing some sort of complicated dance with the vanilla launcher. We believe this minor change will fix that bug, but please alert us if you cannot log in from your Technic launcher.
• The launcher will now delete Technic logs older than one week on startup.

This is a short update, but the only real news is that we're finally ready to start unveiling our packs. We hope you enjoy this teaser, and stop by and tell us what you're up to on IRC, the forums, or Reddit!  See you soon, when we make landfall!

Where are the packs?  Where are they?

We're waiting on a lot of art that we need to be able to finish the first two packs of the summer.  They'll be out just as soon as we can put them out, we're so sorry that everything's been delayed!

Want to See Something Cool?

We added the ability for modpack authors to set RAM and Java version requirements for their packs!  If you're a modpack author who requires Java 1.8 or more than 1GB RAM, you no doubt get a lot of grumpy users sending you crash logs (or more likely, angry messages without logs).  Well, no longer!  If you specify RAM and Java requirements for your pack, the launcher will guide the user toward what they have to do to run your pack, even if that means intalling a new version of java.  So how do you specify requirements for your pack?

Method 1: Solder 0.7.2.0 or Higher

If you have a recent version of Solder, you've already been able to specify requirements, they just didn't do anything before.  Edit a modpack build in Solder to be given the option to specify a minimum RAM and Java version.  Easy!

Method 2: Don't Have Solder, or Have An Older Version of Solder

If you don't have Solder, have no fear!  You can manually add a file to your modpack that specifies RAM and Java requirements.  Add a file called runData (not runData.txt or runData.dat, just runData) to  your bin folder, next to your modpack.jar.  The inside of the file looks like this:

{"java":"1.6","memory":"1024"}

Instead of 1.6, put whatever version of Java your pack requires.  Instead of 1024, put the minimum MB of RAM your modpack requires (remember, 1GB is 1024MB!)  Once your users get that file, their launchers will understand your pack's requirements and enforce them for you! 

Pretty great, right?!

Launcher Changelogs: v4.308

• 2.5GB and 3.5GB have been added as memory options in the launcher.
• The java and RAM requirements specified in Solder 0.7.2 and higher are now respected by the launcher.
• It is now possible to include a runData file with a modpack manually, so that users without solder can add java and RAM requirements to their pack.

A Big Week for the Platform

If you haven't noticed yet, both stats in the launcher and the dashboard feed are back.  The site is also far more performant than it has been in the past.  This is due to a lot of hard work on sct's part, to bring the platform back from the brink.  A lot of big changes have been made over the past two weeks, and it's just like night and day.  We're even planning on re-adding some features that we removed before the platform launch, such as the ability to like feed items from the feed page!  We hope you enjoy the vastly-improved performance.

That's What's New!

This week might seem a bit boring, since you're waiting for new packs, but these improvements are only possible because some of us have finished our work on the Summer of Technic packs and are transitioning back to normal site operations.  It can be tough to see all this work while you're waiting, but this is actually great news for the upcoming packs, so take some time to enjoy these great quality of life improvements and try out some of our trending packs!  It's easier than ever now that RAM and Java requirements are handled for you!

Join us on reddit, the forums, or IRC and tell us how you're filling the hours!

Today, Technic is proud to announce that we are partnering with Apex Minecraft Hosting to bring you the highest-quality servers for all of our official packs, and more!  At Apex, you can find solid, reliable servers with friendly 24-hour support.  

From now through the end of the summer, if you rent a Minecraft server from Apex, you'll receive 25% off the price of your server for life!  That means $11.99/mo for your Tekkit server, or $17.99/mo for your Attack of the B-Team server.  This deal is for a limited time, though, so head over to Apex and reserve your server today.