We're bringing back the Minecraft building competition with help from zanderlex providing prizes!

How it works: Simply get on vizzed.co the Minecraft version 1.16.5 and build anywhere and submit in to the thread below
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103928
Prizes:
10 people minimum
1st place: $10 gaming gift card of choice, $50 in Steam keys, and 200K Viz
2nd place: $50 in Steam keys and 200K Viz
3rd place: 200K Viz
4th place: 100K Viz
If 50 people enter, 1st place gets $25 gift card instead of $10
As long as you build anything, no matter how small, win 10,000 Viz and a steam key if approved.
and the more people enter the better the prizes so feel free to tell anyone you know!

Start date: Now!
End date: October 1st

The factory I've been working at for the past nearly 5 years recently opened up a couple of IT positions and I got one, and I start this week. I had only ever planned on being at this place for a year since that's how long I thought it'd take for the site to pick back up enough for me to generate a full time income from the site again. That of course never happened and 4+ years later I'm still at the same place. More recently I was doing some job searching and considering just pursuing a career that wasn't Vizzed and not long after this place opened up those 2 IT positions, which is something I was hoping they'd do for as long as I've been there.

The place I work at is in town and I've been working weekend shifts this entire time. This allowed me to focus on Vizzed during the weekend and also allowed me to be at home with my kids while they're home schooled or out of school during summer break (I'll be sending them back to public school most likely though). I've got a lot of anxiety in general and driving into an over populated city, which is where all the jobs are nearby (Twin Cities to be exact), just wasn't something I wanted to do so it's awesome that I'll be able to finally be utilized where I work.

The reason they finally opened up IT positions was because a company bought out the company I work for and so the IT guys from the company that previous owned us left and now the new company needs a new team. It's a Taiwanese company and our place makes circuit boards and this is their first factory in the US. They basically want a fresh start on everything and this gives me the opportunity to bring to life all of the ideas and visions I had for the place (those ideas being shot down in the past due to me not having a title worthy to do such tasks). I'll basically be in charge of everything software related. It's going to offer me a lot of opportunity to not only utilize and keep fresh the skills I have but also allow me to further develop those skills.

Anyways, here's how this affects Vizzed. I'll be working more hours than before and I'll also be working primarily during the week. I haven't had weekends off with my family in almost 5 years so I'm excited to have that with them. Because of this, I'll be doing very little development during the weekend and I'll be doing very little development during the week. They're going to allow me to have a very flexible schedule so I'm going to try and have it so that I have 1 day off during the week with that day being the day I work on Vizzed, which will hopefully be Mondays.

In other words, I'll be spending and investing less time on the site. Earlier in the year I was averaging around 25-30 hours on the site, lately I've been investing on average of 20 hours. Now I'll probably be investing 10 hours into the site so I have to make that time count (some weeks might be more). Thankfully I have an awesome staff so they'll definitely save me a lot of time which will help me focus on things that only I can take care of. If the site ever picks back up again, and enough to generate a full time income, I would for sure quit my job and focus primary on Vizzed again but until that happens, I'll have to just deal with spending 10+ hours on the site a week.

There are 2 positives that come out of this at least.

I'll be obtaining skills potentially beneficial to the site which might give me an opportunity to do things on the site or for the site that I wasn't capable of before (you know, maybe I'll develop the skills to make my own RGR Plugin or to be able to work on the current).

The other positive (kind of 2 actually) is that I'll be making more money at my job and this means I'll have a budget to host competitions again with cash prizes (not as big of a budget as in the past but a budget none the less). I eventually stopped hosting competitions due to the lack of participation and the lack of participation was a combination of less traffic on the site (and therefore less interest) and no longer having the budget for cash prizes. So I'll definitely be hosting competitions more often. Having a budget again also means I can invest money into various scripts for the site and also hire people to work on various things.

If you have any questions for me, let me know in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103865

The Summer Tour de Vizzed discussion thread can be found here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103794


Each day there will be 4 Jerseys you can compete for:
Yellow Jersey: Most words in a day
Blue Jersey: Most posts in a day
Red Jersey: Most CP in a day
Green Jersey: Most CP actions in a day


The Hall of Fame page has been upgraded and can be found here:
https://www.vizzed.com/stats/tdv-hof.php

You can find the current Tour de Vizzed results page here:
https://www.vizzed.com/w/tdv.php

Let's welcome SonicOlmstead again as the Admin for the second half of 2021. The other 2 Globals decided not to run for Admin position so SonicOlmstead will be doing this alone (again) for the next 6 months.

If you have any questions or feedback for him, let him know in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103791

Since I've been doing SEO lately, it caused a surge in bot traffic. That bot traffic overwhelmed my logging system which caused some pages of the site and some features to just not work. It took me a while to fix because it took me a while to figure out why parts of the site were suddenly not working. My previous announcement is also related to this same issue.

If you have any questions or comments, let me know in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103754

I'm not sure why it happened but the site's server had an update which caused many pages with errors to not load. Unfortunately there were a lot of pages affected by this, which included:
-All RGR Plugin games (in the popup window)
-PlayStation game pages
-Rom Hack game pages

These are all fixed now. If any other pages stopped working over the past few days, please let me know ASAP in the following thread and I'll get to work right away on fixing them:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103752

I'm planning on doing a Video Game Trivia series on the Vizzed YouTube Channel where I have a series of games (10 for now, but the rest of the videos will probably have 25) that you have to figure out. The answers will be in the captions but not right away. I will be revealing the answers a few days after each video comes out. Some videos will have cash prizes for the first person to get all of the games named correctly (or the person to get the most named correctly when the answered are revealed). I'm hoping to do at least 1 video a week.

Here's our first video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hti-avjpQyM

If you have any questions or suggestions, be sure to let me know in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103737

Here's how you can earn a lot of Viz (up to 20,000 Viz) for 15-30 minutes of your time. If you don't want to do them all, you can skip some or come back to them later.

Helping out really means a lot to me. I really want to pursue YouTube more with my personal channel and my Vizzed channels. It helps draw in traffic to this site and also helps me stay in touch with the Vizzed community.


1. Subscribe to David Auchampach (Davideo7) on YouTube = 2500 Viz
Simply subscribe to the following channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/davideo7

2. Click Notifications Bell on David Auchampach's (Davideo7) YouTube Channel = 1250 Viz
Simply click the Notifications Bell (next to Subscribe button) on the following channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/davideo7
(I only upload a few times a month, so it shouldn't be too annoying)


3. Subscribe to Vizzed Productions on YouTube = 2500 Viz
Simply subscribe to the following channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7lc7r1oTFE-QlRM8nMP0eQ

4. Click Notifications Bell on Vizzed Productions YouTube Channel = 1250 Viz
Simply click the Notifications Bell (next to Subscribe button) on the following channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7lc7r1oTFE-QlRM8nMP0eQ
(I only upload to that channel a few times a year, so it shouldn't be too annoying)


5. Subscribe to Vizzed Gameplay Videos on YouTube = 2500 Viz
Simply subscribe to the following channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/vizzed


6. Like a Video on David Auchampach or Vizzed Productions = 250 Viz Per Video (30 videos max)
Like up to 30 videos on either of the following 2 channels:
https://www.youtube.com/user/davideo7
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7lc7r1oTFE-QlRM8nMP0eQ


7. Comment on a Video on David Auchampach or Vizzed Productions = 250 Viz Per Video (10 videos max)
Leave a comment on up to 10 videos on either of the following 2 channels:
https://www.youtube.com/user/davideo7
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7lc7r1oTFE-QlRM8nMP0eQ


Respond to the below thread letting me know which steps you did. Also be sure to let me know what your YouTube username is so that I can verify you did everything properly. If you don't want people to know your username, then you can send me a Private Message confirming all of this.
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103707

Many of you wanted me to revive the Vizzed YouTube Channel and bring back video uploading. I'm working on the uploading part still but I've already invested many hours reorganizing the Vizzed Gameplay Videos Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/vizzed

The channel has nearly 15,000 videos so there was a lot to go through. I completely reorganized the front page of the channel. I plan to create a trailer for the channel in the upcoming weeks and I also plan to create a new banner. The channel also has nearly 15,000 subscribers which is far more than any of my other channels so I took the advice of a few users and decided to monetize the videos (should help me generate an extra US $200 a month that I can put toward the site).

I created a playlist for every game system that we had videos for and placed all of the videos into their proper game system playlist. This lets you navigate videos based on game system now. You should be able to find the game system playlists on the main page and you can also find them here:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCj85xyNqxw9INbLDfFI3Kqg/playlists?view=50&sort=dd&shelf_id=5

I also created a few extra "special" playlists.

Netplay
Some of my most memorable memories on this site involved netplay. I had so many amazing times streaming + netplaying with users. So I had to create a playlist with the videos showcasing the netplay on Vizzed (some have commentary and some are archived streams), which I've always viewed as being one of the most innovative features in the RGR:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLM7FKqe6ZEFmWypnd9wngAelA-TH8Z17

Vizzed.co Minecraft Server
The Vizzed minecraft server has had a huge impact on so many users of this site. It was a community of its own and many of us recorded various events that took place on that server, specifically the many competitions I hosted. Although the server is still up, it's not nearly as popular as it was in its prime but having this content available can help put into perspective how awesome that community was at its prime, and maybe going through this will make some MC veterans want to come back on to the server:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLM7FKqe6ZEHs0r34De9ePLiDyZR6pm4s

Rom Hacks and Homebrew
Some of the most popular games in the Retro Game Room were the rom hacks. We have one of the biggest selection of rom hacks on the internet and while we no longer can have the Pokemon and Mario hacks, there's still plenty of hacks playable on Vizzed; and that's what made the rom hacks so popular, they were already patched and ready to be played.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLM7FKqe6ZEHKPdkz78yIrHoV_1gPvoow


If you haven't subscribed to that channel yet, please support it by doing so


If you have any questions or feedback, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103701

The Video Uploader on Vizzed stopped working a few years ago after YouTube made an update to their API which rendered most video uploading scripts useless. Many users have requested to have this feature back and while it's currently not possible to bring it back in its original form, I have a solution which will allow "qualified" users to add videos to Vizzed: I would make these users "Editors" of the Vizzed Gameplay Videos channel.

Editors would be able to upload their videos to the channel using the YouTube website. And they would be able to edit their videos using the YouTube Studio interface. You wouldn't be allowed to edit the videos uploaded by other users but you would be allowed to edit and organize all of your own videos including videos you uploaded in the past.

I'm willing to hire 3-5 users
For now, I'm willing to hire 3-5 users and I'll expand this depending on how well this all goes. Simply respond to the below thread letting me know why you want this position and why you're qualified for it. Keep in mind that this is all volunteer work, there is no actual pay for this position but there are a lot of perks to being a staff member on Vizzed.

EXPECTATIONS:
-Upload 3+ videos a month
-Upload 2+ hours worth of videos a month
-Videos should be good quality
-Video titles and descriptions should be editted based on the guidelines that I'll provide
-Should be willing to log into Vizzed at least once a week

ADDITIONAL INFO:
-Your videos can be of any length as long as you meet the monthly expectations
-You can upload more than the monthly expectations
-You can record gameplay of any game, including games not in the Retro Game Room


To Apply
Respond to this thread with your application:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103695

Most of the Nintendo NES games didn't work with the HTML5 emulators. They worked fine with the RGR Plugin but more and more users are using the browser emulation, especially since the RGR Plugin requires a few extra steps to use now days.

NES was the first system to be added to the Retro Game Room (it was called the NES Game Room at that time) and that was 13+ years ago. The games that we used back then weren't the best copies of the games and better copies of the games have been made available on the internet since.

I spent almost a full day going through and fixing them all. I hated to have to prioritize this over all other things but it needed to be done. Most of them should now work fine but if they don't, be sure to let me know in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103691

EDIT: I should've pointed out how many NES games we have on vizzed: 3,447. And I fixed over 2000 of them! (keep in mind that not all of them were broke). Honestly, that was incredibly boring but I stayed pretty focused and did almost nothing else that entire time. Feels good to have that taken care of

Ever since starting a full time job outside of Vizzed nearly 5 years ago, I haven't been able to prioritize reading / responding to my Private Messages. Even before that, I often got behind on my PMs. So as you can imagine, I have years worth of PMs to read and respond to, totalling literally 1000s of PMs. I've usually made it a habit of skimming through my PM inbox and reading the PMs which have titles that seem important but sometimes I've even failed to do that.

While I'm going through my inbox, I will respond to any Private Messages that I receive during this process. My goal is to get caught up by summer 2021 (before it ends anyway). Afterward, I'll begin working on my Notifications. I hope to be caught up with everyone before the year ends. I feel terrible that it's taken me this long but I've been the only developer for many years and development related stuff is time consuming and things have come up so often over the years that I have no other choice but to prioritize coding. Life outside the internet also sometimes gets in the way with various life issues coming up from time to time. And with having a wife and kids, there's only so much time in a week to juggle all of these things (for example, I rarely game and haven't done much gaming in the past 6+ years due to just not having the time).

If you have questions or comments, or if you'd like to see my current progress, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103662

The CD systems in the Retro Game Room should now all work again. This includes PlayStation, Dreamcast, Sega CD, Sega Saturn, Turbo Grafx CD, PC-FX, CDi and 3DO.

For information on how to continue using the RGR Plugin (until we get it fixed), go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103668

In case anyone is still confused as to how you can continue using the RGR Plugin in 2021, I've put together a short video demonstrating what you need to do in order to continue playing the games in the RGR (or until I get the RGR Plugin updated).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evLOVLUjlhw

Questions? Feedback?
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103668

If you've ever purchased any digital codes from me that didn't work from the Vizzed Market since it launched, reply to this thread for a full refund.
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103661

Be sure to let me know what the item was (or items if it was multiple items) and the total amount you spend in Viz. I'll try to get you a Viz refund within a few days.

It doesn't matter how long ago it was, I want to make sure that everyone is properly refunded. Reasons why some of my codes might not have worked include: Code inserted into site improperly, code expired, code hacked and already claimed, etc.

In case it wasn't obvious, yesterday's announcement was an April Fool's joke. I figured I'd better let that be known in case someone did take it seriously and left the site for good. There have been users in the past that have fallen for my annual pranks.

For more information, refer to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103647

Here are a few updates regarding both my low activity lately and the RGR Plugin.


My Low Activity
A few weeks ago I injured my thumb and the surrounding area on my hand. This had made it difficult to use a computer and after seeing a doctor, avoiding video games and computers was necessary in order for it to heal faster. This is why I haven't made many posts lately and also why I haven't been doing very much coding lately. My hand and thumb is making progress and I expect to increase my time on the site next week and should be back to normal the following week.


RGR Plugin
I had hired the original RGR Plugin developer (Tom) to work on doing the updates and he initially backed out after expressing interest and working on it a little. Then he had contacted me weeks later and expressed interest in continuing so I allowed him to continue working on it. Due to his lack of motivation more recently, he decided again to discontinue working on it so I'm back at having to find a developer. Don't worry, I hadn't paid him anything so I still have the budget to hire someone else, which will more than likely be next Monday. If anyone knows of a good developer, I'd be willing to pay them to help out.


If you have any questions or feedback, let me know in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103645

Lifeless Reaper donated US $250 toward the RGR Plugin fundraiser and one of his perks was an announcement.

He wanted me to promote his friend's Twitch Channel
YandeRose

She is currently working on 100% Halo MCC and Borderlands 3 and when she's not on those you can find her chilling on Dead By Daylight. Follow her to know when she streams.

Tom is having some difficulties with the RGR Plugin. These delays are completely out of my control and I apologize for them.

Here's his latest message to me:

---

"Sorry I've been lagging. Still feeling overwhelmed. I've done some more work, but I'm worried I should change approach how I do the code.

I was going to use a program called Websockify to help get this all working, but I'm bummed it gets detected as a virus by AVG and probably other antivirus programs. The AVG popup lets you add an exception to allow it to work, but I worry to instruct your users to do this for all common antivirus software isn't acceptable and I need to do the code without Websockify. I'm thinking the code I have in mind will work decent enough, but it's polling based instead of event based and it may lag a little bit like with the loading progress bar.

What do you think? Is the antivirus exception rule unacceptable?"

---

I had replied and suggested that maybe we embed Firefox version 42 (specifically, the portable version) into the plugin so that when someone plays a game, the game opens up in a window within that version of Firefox since that version of Firefox supports NPAPI, one of the technologies that can help make the RGR Plugin work.

In the mean time, you guys can use FireFox Portable 42 to play the RGR Plugin. It requires no installation. You can get it here:
https://www.vizzed.com/FirefoxPortable_42.0_English.paf.exe

If you have any questions or feedback, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103621