I'm very inclined to agree about some of the path spaghetti, especially since I know you originally designed the path system to blend into the landscape rather than be overbearing. I followed the instructions of your signs in cleaning up some of the paths, and I think it looks much better. If I have a chance, I'll try to help work on some of the partially-built paths as well.

Perhaps there's a spot near the sealed-off entrance to Merth's batcave, behind the second shop?

I have a 2nd origin starting up by central spawn, that bridges over to an area a short distance away. It has a common theme of acacia. I think we might keep that restricted to only that path, rather than making a bunch of branches off of that path, contributing to that spaghetti like structure. I did have the same feeling as well when I walked along some of the paths, so I think we should clear out a few more so it doesnt feel too busy

Read the signs before clearing, though, as I think I've resolved much of it (in words, anyway).

Also, There is a place where the path goes across the water under a stone bridge and then curves out across the lake ... Near that, there is a cave with a path that I requested to be removed. From that cave, there is a tunnel down to where the path goes under the stone (as stated). I can't decide whether I like that connection from the cave to the tunnel. Note though, that I have instructions elsewhere for connecting the (upper) path from that cave to the other parts of the path. ... This is one area that I am OK with having not readily/easily accessible, but that there is a path to it somewhere (if you follow them around eventually).

Also, I found a nice natural "water-slide". You can find by looking for where the path bridges away from the lava-fall (near the large bridge over the lake), and goes into some caves up off the ground. There is a tunnel (I made) which goes through the outer wall (plans to bridge across river from there). Read the signs at that point to see where the "water-slide" is

Also, the paths in the general areas I just mentioned (slide and potentially harder-to-get-to cave) can be developed more if we want them to wind back upward in/around that part of the landscape

EDIT: Tons more changes/additions (some group consensus/approval may be warranted):

I've done partial path-work in lots more areas, including (but not limited to): The NW corner of spawn (spiral stairs up to roofed-forest), tunnel from behind waterfall below station that goes into the big gorge, and marked various places for other small parks. There are now multiple paths leading to the top (we may or may not want them all) and winding up/down/through the different "mountains" of the spawn area. I discovered that the "water-slide" comes out into a cave which opens up into the big-lake area under spawn, and I think it would be AWESOME to make it park-like in there.

There are also more paths leading to where those stairs stretch across the air following the train-tube, and I found some nice spots along the way for little parks way up in the cliffs!

I also put three-ish options for a bridge to the NW corner island-mountain-thing. We should probably choose only one (maybe two). There is ALSO a lower bridge to it, and perhaps we could spiral a path around (or up through) it to get to the top.

I left a LOT of unfinished work, and there are some options floating around. I Think it would be beneficial/necessary for some of us to get a good look at what there is so we can make a collective decision about some of it, since I've now led paths up to different points of the upper spawn area, etc. (follow the paths and the signs, and you'll will find them all).

Thanks.

Lots of epicness in spawn! (:

Built an acacia path from the spawn fountain to a nearby area, featuring big acacia trees! Added an inverted fountain, as well as roots to every tree in the area.







Also, this is Mt.McEtemec. It erupted many centuries ago, and caused volcanic fallout. These are the remnants. (original gigantic tree idea and hanging lights inspired by Abrum)

All signs that are not marking something for building are being removed. All other signs are being marked for removal when the server goes live below:
Code:

-186 165 -192 http://ahelper.users.sf.net/cemetech8.png
-184 192 -171 http://ahelper.users.sf.net/cemetech9.png
under fountain http://ahelper.users.sf.net/cemetech10.png

Thank you very much for tracking these all down, AHelper. In the interest of keeping a clean, professional-looking map for the players, it probably is a good idea to have them all neatened up by the time we're ready to go. Speaking of which, we're inching ever closer, and Shkaboinka continues to work very hard on the biggest remaining necessary project, the paths. Feel free to help him if you have time; as he has said, everything that needs to be done is carefully marked.

I think this water would look better still instead of flowing:

Anyone agree/disagree?

I created it as an inverted fountain and thought it was cool. Kerm thought it was classy (:

Do we have an ETA for public release?

We're certainly getting close, ordelore. Let's review that To-Do list again:

Server: Non-dev build of Craftbukkit. DONE: On Beta 0.2
Plugins: Need:
- Fe (Not updated to 1.7 yet) -> DONE, 1.6.2 version installed
- Vault DONE, 1.7 upgrade installed
- Groupmanager [See Essentials]
- SignShop (Not updated to 1.7 yet) DONE, 1.6.2 version installed
- Towny (AVAILABLE from http://palmergames.com/category/towny-download/towny-dev-build/ ) DONE, installed but not configured
- WorldGuard (Dev build exists) -> Needs WorldEdit first -> http://builds.enginehub.org/job/worldedit/?branch=master and http://builds.enginehub.org/job/worldguard/?branch=master
- Essentials (Not updated to 1.7 yet) -> http://ci.ess3.net/viewLog.html?buildId=5797&buildTypeId=bt9&tab=artifacts ?
Economy: Need to decide on which materials will be sellable and buyable DONE, the prices for each, and the prices of creating towns, upkeeping towns, and buying chunks (plots).
Rails: Need to build stations along four branches. Need to WorldGuard all branches and stations. Need to block building and mob spawns on all stations and rails.
Spawn: Missing features: signshop chests in shop buildings need items and costs, spawn border delineation DONE, cleanup around LTWTTF stairs DONE, more ways out of spawn DONE, some grass that has not grown over dirt DONE, general cleanup of entertainment projects DONE. Cleanup of "clipboard" of rail pieces DONE. Protection of spawn build=deny pending after all building is complete. Disable opening chests in spawn.
Configuration: Setting up groups for new members, members who have visited before, mods, and admins. Turning off PvP inside spawn and rails. Configuring Towny. Mostly still pending

For costs, may I suggest looking at mods like Equiv. Exchange at the EMC cost of things to determine pricing? That way you have an idea on relative costs of things as the EMC values are a pretty good indicator for relative costs of things with crafting taken into account.

Also, since fireworks are a big thing on the server, would you be interested if my CMD block mod added in the /spawn command for fireworks?

KermM, brainstorming should begin about the nether at some point. If it is removed we should at least get a list of things that are needed to buy.

Nether stars -- Should we allow buying heads? (Also, buying heads with specific player heads) Heads are needed to make a wither which is needed to obtain a nether star.

Nether stuff: Nether wart, ghast tear, no glowstone needed, witches drop this, blaze rods, soul sand, quartz. That's about it...

Take a look at the shops, as I already set up items and prices based on my experience. I think I came up with reasonable items and prices, but let me know if you disagree.

Things that still need to be fixed:

Roofed Forest area (NW corner, high up)
- Redirect spiral path to go thru wall and come out along N edge of forest (instead of thru the "room" at S end).
- Make that "room" into a swamp pond / sauna / something?
- Bridge path from N end of forest to the peak at NW corner
- No path thru forest (too small). Instead, make ground flat and more walkable.

Naturally occurring Water slide (outer N stone wall, part-way up)
- Remove path along outer wall going to it from bridge to the south
- - Fix that bridge better
- Connect exit of slide to neighboring cave (it almost connects)
- Smooth it out some (make more "slidable"). Maybe some lights?
- Try to connect entrance of slide to somehwere (perhaps tunnel N and then E to get to cave in cliff over NW lake/pond)

Cave-Park (and connecting caves) (SW corner of NW pond)
- Make park nicer / more park-like, smoothen out & add grass
- Smooth the caves a bit (alternate stone slabs and stone in some places)
- Make openings of cave look nicer / more accessible
- - (one is in cave-park, another in cave-let NW of pond NW of lake under station)
- Improve cave-room behind waterfall (has a square window into waterfall)?
- Convert nearby ravine in lake to waterfall-pit

Remove Spiral stairs going down from grassy area at top of spawn?
- (There is a sign there suggesting a bridge across a small gap)

Large bridge over lake under station
- Add suspension cables or support beams? (That's why I curved it upward)
- Do something underwater with the spiral stairs?
- - (Room under lake with blue glass ceiling?)

Some paths extend out of spawn and must be brought all the way to spawn boundary so can be finished by building out of spawn later:
- Bridge out of E sandstone-wall (leaves spawn halfway across)
- Tunnel into S Sandstone wall (aiming for cave that opens into S desert)
- If these don't reach the spawn boundary exactly, there will be a gap or a wall in the way.

Remove beginnings of tunnels outside SE corner of spawn?

Fill in unused tunnel from path behind E waterfall
- Not the one bridging to the East, but the unused one before it.

Floating torches ... ?

Fill in N side of dirt wall of park near LTWTTF stairs

Replace stairs leading to NE ground with natural grassy switch-backs
- Alternate grass and wood slabs as done near LTWTTF stairs.

Tunnel from cliff-parks to rail-tube:
- Fix to connect nicely (directly?) Between parks.
- Add a door at the rails? Keep or remove connection to rails?

Can towny be disabled for now? You can't change gamemodes.

(I was going to check chests as per your post KermM, but I can't :\ Was going to ask about Magme Cream)

It also does not let you build/modify anything anywhere right now.
Nothing can be done until this is fixed.

I believe that I have fixed this now. Please check if it is fixed.

Also, can we check off my list above as we go thru it?

Excellent idea, will do. In plugin news, a great deal was done tonight:
1) Essentials, Groupmanager, EssentialsSpawn, Towny, SignShops were installed and partially configured.
2) Groups were set up based on the old Survival groups.
3) Buttons to promote users from the Recruit to the Member group were added and debugged.
We're getting there!

Pending permissions/configuration issues:
- Players can use /back Repaired
- Recruits don't start at /warp newbie
- Players can open chests in spawn Repaired
- Make sure outsiders can open town chests + furnaces -> Tested for all important block types

Towns have been tested thoroughly with Abrum, Charles, and Pizza.

TODO:
- Check and test cost of towns and plots Done
- Recruits don't start at /warp newbie
- Prevent creating towns/plots + WG region overlap
- Add rules for spam+advertising Done
- Write rules and tips in normal spawn
- Check firespread and damage in and out of spawn Done
- Disable terrain regen outside of spawn Done

Server: Non-dev build of Craftbukkit. DONE: On Beta 0.2
Plugins: Need:
- Fe (Not updated to 1.7 yet) -> DONE, 1.6.2 version installed
- Vault DONE, 1.7 upgrade installed
- Groupmanager [See Essentials]
- SignShop (Not updated to 1.7 yet) DONE, 1.6.2 version installed
- Towny (AVAILABLE from http://palmergames.com/category/towny-download/towny-dev-build/ ) DONE, installed and configured
- WorldGuard (Dev build exists) -> Needs WorldEdit first -> http://builds.enginehub.org/job/worldedit/?branch=master and http://builds.enginehub.org/job/worldguard/?branch=master Done
- Essentials (Not updated to 1.7 yet) -> http://ci.ess3.net/viewLog.html?buildId=5797&buildTypeId=bt9&tab=artifacts ?
Economy: Need to decide on which materials will be sellable and buyable DONE, the prices for each, and the prices of creating towns, upkeeping towns, and buying chunks (plots). Done
Rails: Need to build stations along four branches. Need to WorldGuard all branches and stations. Need to block building and mob spawns on all stations and rails: DONE
Spawn: Missing features: signshop chests in shop buildings need items and costs: DONE, spawn border delineation DONE, cleanup around LTWTTF stairs DONE, more ways out of spawn DONE, some grass that has not grown over dirt DONE, general cleanup of entertainment projects DONE. Cleanup of "clipboard" of rail pieces DONE. Protection of spawn build=deny pending after all building is complete: DONE. Disable opening chests in spawn.
Configuration: Setting up groups for new members, members who have visited before, mods, and admins. Turning off PvP inside spawn and rails. Configuring Towny. DONE

Summary of still TODO:
- Recruits don't start at /warp newbie DONE
- Prevent creating towns/plots + WG region overlap DONE
- Write Towny guide in normal spawn DONE
- Import and connect the Museum World DONE
- Check Museum World permissions DONE

Final Edit: So I didn't plan to spend 14 hours today working on the Minecraft server (and a little bit on laundry), but somehow we managed to get everything done. I just need to scan for stashes of blocks and chests, and we'll be ready to go public tomorrow!

I lied, actual final edit. I forgot about cheat prevention:
- Configure NoCheat+
- Configure OreObfuscator
- Configure LogBlock
- Switch iConomy to SQL
- Scan map for stashes