ns2hub - for the community

Argathor

<div class="IPBDescription">articles, forums, streams, devtracker and more</div><!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><div align='center'><!--sizeo:5--><span style="font-size:18pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->ns2hub - Everything NS2<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--></div><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
It's about time I made this fully public as we approach the release of the game we all love. I still have fond memories of NS1 and I am excited by the potential of NS2. I believe that what UWE represents as a developer deserves dedication and love, for that (and of course, for my own experience) I am creating ns2hub, which I hope will one day be the community site that NS2 and UWE deserve.

<!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo--><a href="http://ns2hub.com" target="_blank">http://ns2hub.com</a> - New NS2 Community Site<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--> (sponsored by <a href="http://ns2servers.com/" target="_blank">NS2Servers.com</a>)

<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->What is it all about?<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
ns2hub has been created with the intention of providing visitors with as many ways to enjoy Natural Selection 2 as possible. NS2 is also a game that benefits more from the social bonds between players. I will always be striving to find ways I can strengthen and promote the social side of NS2 and provide more ways to experience the game.

<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->How does it help me?<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
<ul><li><b>Live Streams</b> - The site tracks anyone streaming NS2 and displays it. This way you can check anytime you fancy watching some NS2.</li><li><b>Developer Tracker</b> - It currently tracks twitter and all the developers forum posts, this will be expanded to cover news posts and facebook soon.</li><li><b>Clan Services</b> - Anyone starting a clan, or clans interested in the service can get a private forum at ns2hub, their own mumble chat channel and access to a server for practice and matches (US Central for now- thanks to NS2Servers.com, I will expand this in the future). <i>If this interests you, see below for more detailed information.</i></li><li><b>Forum</b> - Give feedback, discuss problems, suggest services, chill out, the forum is there for you to discuss anything you want.</li><li><b>Articles</b> - While sparse at the moment, ns2hub will be filled with articles covering all aspects of NS2. Following the competitive scene, general news and annoucements, interviews, modding, mapping, etc. You can also let people know what you think about the articles by commenting (forum account required).</li><li><b>Voice Chat</b> - If you need somewhere private to chat or simply want to relax and socialise with fellow players our 100slot Mumble server is there for your use.</li></ul>

<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Is that it?<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Most definately not, I have big plans for the future already and will be expanding the feature set constantly through my own ideas and those of the community. If you have any ideas, suggestions and/or feedback I would love to hear it. I am planning a database to track youtube/twitch/etc videos, screenshot gallery, public servers, tournaments, some reincarnation of my duplex maps/mods database and much more.

<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->How can I help?<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
There are many ways to get involved and help ns2hub. Some large things like writing articles (on any aspect of NS2) and streaming gameplay. You can also promote the community by taking part in discussions on the forum and voice chat, and in the future on public servers. Your ideas, suggestions and feedback are also very important to the future of ns2hub, I can happily develop this site but I am reliant on the ideas and feedback I get to improve the quality of the experience for users. There are also smaller ways you can help, by putting links to ns2hub in your signatures here, using the site and mentioning it to others.

<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->What else can you do?<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
If you are part of the NS2 community creating or entertaining in any way and think there might be some way I can help you do that, feel free to contact me. The NS2 community is fantastic and I will always help to support it where I can.

I hope that you find ns2hub useful and enjoyable and I look forward to supporting and encouraging the NS2 community with ns2hub. If you have any feedback, in the form of abuse, bugs, ideas and suggestions I would love to hear from you. I would also like to point out, that I am aware I give the developers a hard time sometimes (I love NS2 and them, which leads me to having high expectations) this is a fantastic time for them to get revenge!

<i><b>** On a final note I would like to thank Zeikko for helping me with troubleshooting problems while developing the site, Tempest for the NS2 server through sponsorship from NS2Servers.com, Grissi for being my 'ideas' man and all the people that have helped me test the sites features (too many to name). **</b></i>

Further information...

<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Mumble Chat Server<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
Server: chat.ns2hub.com
Port: 64738
Client Download: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/mumble/files/latest/download?source=files" target="_blank">Latest Version</a>
<i>If you are interested in a private channel for any reason let me know.</i>

<!--coloro:#00FF00--><span style="color:#00FF00"><!--/coloro--><!--sizeo:3--><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:100%"><!--/sizeo-->Clan Services<!--sizec--></span><!--/sizec--><!--colorc--></span><!--/colorc-->
So you are interested in our Clan Services? Let me give you some more information.

<b>Forum</b> - As a Clan Leader you get moderator access to a private area of the ns2hub forum which only you (plus your clan members) can see and access. Each member of your clan will be part of a membergroup just for your clan, which you can control access to. The forum software used is Small Machines Forum (SMF) and ns2hub.com is hosted on a powerful Dell dedicated server, it is the only site/service that will ever be hosted on that server. This ensures you have a fast, efficient and reliable forum.

<b>Chat</b> - As a Clan Leader you will get administrator control of a channel on our Mumble server, allowing you to move people to/from your channel, create/remove sub-channels and mute people. Your clan members will get automatic access to join this channel when joining the server through an access token (password).

<b>Match Server</b> - You also have the ability to book and use an NS2 server for practice and matches. It is running top hardware (from NS2Servers.com) and will give US clans a fantastic server to play matches on. I will be expanding this to other regions as soon as possible and adding public servers. <i><b>** Thanks to Tempest and NS2Servers.com for sponsoring us with this server. **</b></i>

If you are interested let me know on the ns2hub forums or ideally contact me on steam, my name is <b>Arga (ns2hub)</b>.

I hope that through this we can help to support the NS2 competitive community as it grows after the official release of NS2 and build a strong foundation of the ns2hub community.

If you managed to read all of this thread, congratulations! I think that is it for now, I will add more later if I realise I missed something out. If you noticed any errors please let me know.

RockyMarc

Awesome great work Arga!! Page looks great, will be bookmarking that at home :)

Grissi

Awesome job Arga, will definitely be keeping an eye on it. Keep it up :).

Argathor

Im currently changing the URL rewriting (to remove the id number from urls, so /article/cool new article/ instead of /article/965/cool new article/), so there might be some broken links on articles and categories for the next hour.

I think I have finally corrected the URLs that I import into the Dev Tracker, from now on links in quotes etc should correctly take you to the official UWE forums.

GrapeVine

Nice, looks very classy and I like how the menu items are easily accessible at all times.

peregrinus

Great site, very useful. Bookmarked it :)

Argathor

Thanks guys!

I have added an RSS feed (needs more work formating it), thanks to the email pointing out it was not working! <a href="http://ns2hub.com/article/feed/" target="_blank">http://ns2hub.com/article/feed/</a>

I have changed some of the URLs so they are cleaner and am working through the page titles, meta tags, etc. Im also adding the ability to query NS2 servers, in anticipation of having more servers.

Working on several new articles with a range of people, if there is anything you would like to see let me know. Once the competitive scene picks up a bit I will do a weekly roundup.

Argathor

Now that events (like cups, tournaments, etc) are starting to (hopefully) become more frequent I am going to put up an event tracker on ns2hub. It will have its own page, show the next upcomming events on the home page and have a detailed page for each event.

If you can think of any other useful functions please let me know!

Cat-Poker

<!--quoteo(post=1981426:date=Sep 21 2012, 11:49 AM:name=Argathor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Argathor @ Sep 21 2012, 11:49 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1981426"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I have added an RSS feed (needs more work formating it), thanks to the email pointing out it was not working! <a href="http://ns2hub.com/article/feed/" target="_blank">http://ns2hub.com/article/feed/</a><!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Added to my Google Reader! Looks great, thanks!

Argathor

Ive been talking to Ryne and XeiZ tonight and they raised some interesting suggestions for displaying streams and I wanted to get some more feedback.

The general idea is that some streams (currently the ones focusing on competitive/event streaming: Hugh, Ryne, Blind) would get a 'featured' status which could either mean they get a slightly different visual display or they appear at the top of the list.

In some ways I like the idea of drawing attention to the streams that are focusing on streaming big events in good quality, as they are great for viewers and promoting the game. However, I am also weary of showing favouritism.

XeiZ also suggested a system where these streams are tagged featuring during the events they are streaming. This is certainly possible too. Let me know what you think!

Dghelneshi

I wouldn't mind either of these options. I don't think there will be a lot of drama concerning the "featured" status.

The problem with the second option is that it has to be manual and will become very tedious for you.

Industry

You could honestly just rig it to track viewer count. When it passes a certain threshold it will become featured.

GirTurkey

Visited today and got to see 4 matches between nxzl and exertus, quite surprised and pleased. Keep up the good work ns2hub!

peregrinus

Yup me too. I go to ns2hub as often as these forums now.

RisingSun

Great resource, registered =)

Argathor

<!--quoteo(post=1982643:date=Sep 25 2012, 12:53 AM:name=Dghelneshi)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Dghelneshi @ Sep 25 2012, 12:53 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1982643"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->I wouldn't mind either of these options. I don't think there will be a lot of drama concerning the "featured" status.

The problem with the second option is that it has to be manual and will become very tedious for you.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Yeah, ideally the more simple and automatic it is the better. I hope there is no drama, I really don't want to treat difference streamers different. I do see value in making some streams stand out more atm, as the quality and matches they stream is much greater. I have, for now, made the official account and Ryne/blind set as featured streamers, due to their quality streaming and coverage of competitive matches / events.

I have changed the sidebar streams list to reflect their featured status (let me know what you think!) and will see how this works for a while. If im going to stick with this I will look into replacing the graphics with something more NS2. I need to make a major adjustment to the list on the main streams page to support this, so that should come tomorrow.

Argathor

<!--quoteo(post=1982645:date=Sep 25 2012, 12:56 AM:name=Industry)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Industry @ Sep 25 2012, 12:56 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1982645"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->You could honestly just rig it to track viewer count. When it passes a certain threshold it will become featured.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Part of the reasoning to make them stand out was due to their coverage of competitive matches and events, ontop of the quality of their casts.

As it stands the top streams by viewer count already stand out (they are top of the list), so making them featured automatically might not have much effect.

Argathor

It is great to hear you guys are finding the site useful, I hope I can continue to expand on that!

I have just discovered a problem with the Dev Tracker, which highlights another site wide issue. The tweets give me a date in my own timezone it seems, but the forum posts are giving me US times. This means that its showing things in the wrong order from time to time.

This is a much wider issue on an international community site. I display dates a lot, how should I display them in a way that everyone can understand? The options I have considered so far:

1) Pick one timezone and stick to it?

2) Store one time, convert to the users local timezone to display (I guess this is possible?)

3) Pick a different timezone every time, just to confuse everyone!

Any suggestions?

RockyMarc

<img src="http://memecrunch.com/meme/4K7/use-all-of-them/image.png" border="0" class="linked-image" />

Number 2 sounds the best, but if not possible I would go with numbero 1.

Dghelneshi

<!--quoteo(post=1982696:date=Sep 25 2012, 04:26 AM:name=Argathor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Argathor @ Sep 25 2012, 04:26 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1982696"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->2) Store one time, convert to the users local timezone to display (I guess this is possible?)<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Definitely possible via GeoIP and a good option if you want to put the time into it.

Argathor

I think option 2 is a winner. I have the site tracking the users timezone as we speak, I might need to add a dropdown for if something goes wrong or people want to change it. This will make it into the site, I just need to now pre-convert every date before showing it on the site... *shakes fist at dates*.

Zeikko

<!--quoteo(post=1982696:date=Sep 25 2012, 04:26 AM:name=Argathor)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Argathor @ Sep 25 2012, 04:26 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1982696"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->This is a much wider issue on an international community site. I display dates a lot, how should I display them in a way that everyone can understand? The options I have considered so far:<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->

Convert them to UTC and output this to the HTML and use Javascript to check the local timezone of the browser and convert the timezones appropriately.

Argathor

<!--quoteo(post=1982773:date=Sep 25 2012, 09:45 AM:name=Zeikko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeikko @ Sep 25 2012, 09:45 AM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1982773"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Convert them to UTC and output this to the HTML and use Javascript to check the local timezone of the browser and convert the timezones appropriately.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Thanks Z, I am in the process of doing this. I am now collecting all the dates in GMT format and once I am sure that is working correctly I will begin changing them to the users local timezone in javascript.

This is perfect for the events list too, as it will make it easy for people to know when it begins (even if it is halfway across the world).

Zeikko

There should be a javascript library available to convert the timezones automatically like the timeago.js you are using. I can't remember any right now though. I'm sure Google does. It's easy to write it on your own too though. I'm not sure if there are some cross-browser issues or fallback mechanisms the libraries use though.

Argathor

<!--quoteo(post=1982834:date=Sep 25 2012, 01:38 PM:name=Zeikko)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Zeikko @ Sep 25 2012, 01:38 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1982834"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->There should be a javascript library available to convert the timezones automatically like the timeago.js you are using. I can't remember any right now though. I'm sure Google does. It's easy to write it on your own too though. I'm not sure if there are some cross-browser issues or fallback mechanisms the libraries use though.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I think I have got the code needed now, I was storing dates/times in many different ways in my database so im going to leave it a little while to make sure I am now storing dates consistently (and correctly). Then ill add the local time display in!

Argathor

I have added a rough event tracker, which currently shows on the sidebar of the homepage, letting you know about the upcomming NS2 events. I watched the dev Q&A today and thought perhaps there is a way I can display those on there too...will see about that!

The site may have issues tonight, as I am replacing the user system (which currently manages access to the pages- so will no doubt break things when I first begin removing it), so if you notice some funky stuff going on my appologies and it should be fully working again by tomorrow!

Argathor

The last few days have seen many bug fixes and improvements. A lot of the information on pages, especially the sidebar, now updates constantly on-page, without refreshing.

I have also just added an <a href="http://ns2hub.com/article/26/Interview:%20GorgeCraft%20and%20Mod%20Beans%20Q&A%20with%20Andy%20%27SoulRider%27%20Wilson/" target="_blank">interview</a> with the creator of GorgeCraft and Mod Beans, check it out for an insight into the world of modding in NS2.

Argathor

Despite a horrible battle with dates, times and timezones I think I am successfully converting most dates to the users local time now. I still need to change the dev tracker over and integrate it where I am using the timeago feature (6 hours ago, etc). I am almost there though!

<b>Events</b> - <a href="http://ns2hub.com/events" target="_blank">http://ns2hub.com/events</a>
Just giving an update, I have added a dedicated events page to the site. It now shows the next 5 events in the sidebar, and has tabs for future and past events on the dedicated page. Clicking on an event takes you to a short page with a brief description of the event and links to any official site and forum thread. The events page itself also has a featured event at the top, picked at random from all future events currently listed. I will add as many events as I can, as and when I see them, but if you have an event and feel it should be on the site let me know!

<b>Streams</b> - <a href="http://ns2hub.com/streams" target="_blank">http://ns2hub.com/streams</a>
The livestreams have changed a bit, the sidebar widget showing the 5 streams with the highest viewers now has a 'featured' graphic for the current quality competitive casters (the official channel, blind and Ryne). I am changing the main streams list soon, which will allow me to display the featured casters there too!

<b>Articles</b> - <a href="http://ns2hub.com/articles" target="_blank">http://ns2hub.com/articles</a>
I have added a few interesting articles. You can now read about the UWE teams adventures aboard the USS Clog in the Faster Than Flight universe, read an interview about modding with SoulRider and learn about Duplex in an interview with its CL.


Thanks to Blind, Ryne, swalk, SoulRider, Rencio, Elodea, Zeikko, Dghelneshi and many more for their feedback and bug reporting!

blind

Awesome to see this site grow every day!

Argathor

Another update...

I have started adding in caching for various items, this is most visible with things like the featured event and stream, as they are calculated once every 15seconds so although its random it will only change every 15secs. I hope that this combined with a dedicated server will ensure the site still loads fast and responds well hoever many viewers we get.

I am starting to think and plan for release, I have a nifty countdown clock ready and waiting for a release date to count down to and I am creating an article 'The ns2hub Survival Guide' or something similar. I would like to fill it with the most interesting, useful and exciting stuff to help new players get into, understand and most of all enjoy the game

I would love to heart peoples ideas for what could go into this survival guide. What do you think people need or would find useful/fun when they first start playing?

Ill start:

<ul><li>Links to funny videos like the recent OAG video (love you guys!).</li><li>List of essential food/drink to survive the first gaming session.</li><li>Short description of weapons/upgrades (what is adrenaline, etc).</li><li>Brief breakdown of the general aims of each game when playing Marine/Alien.</li><li>Tips for certain weapons/lifeforms.</li><li>List of all the known well performing servers for each major area? EU/EU/AUS/more?</li><li>Links to useful sites and what they are for: Nanogrid, ns2stats, ENSL, etc.</li></ul>

I really need your help to make this good though!

Industry

One thing I'd like to see for the dev tracker if possible is the inclusion of the Avatars on forum posts. It makes it very easy to pick up on who posted it and also cues the viewer in immediately that the source is from the forums rather than twitter.