It's been a while since I've added games to the Vizzed Market. I still have a lot of game codes to add. Maybe I'll add some every Friday for the rest of this month.

Today I've added over 200 Steam Codes for 50+ Steam Games and DLC.

For a list of games added:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=94586&page=16#1399754

I've implemented some extra security to the site. A hacker discovered a few exploits 2 months ago, and was kind enough to show me what the exploits were, and how to fix them. If you're reading this hacker, thanks again, and feel free to email me or contact me if you notice anything else.

If anyone notices any issues with the site that started occurring after this update, please let me know ASAP so that I can fix it.


Securing the Inputs
I've updated the script that analyzes and cleans any data that gets inserted into the database. I also updated the headers of the site.


Securing the Passwords
I've updated the site's password encryption. The old was very outdated. The new one makes it so much more difficult to crack a user's password.

NOTE: User passwords will only use the new encryption after a user changes their password (and for new users). So, I highly recommend everyone update their Vizzed password at some point, if you want to ensure your account is more secure. I'll eventually make an alert that reminds each user to change their password.


HTML Cleaner
I'm utilizing HTMLPurifier for most input that involves HTML. This analyzes any HTML that gets submitted to the site, removes anything that might be potentially malicious, and also fixes the HTML if there's anything broken. Inputs that would utilize this include Posts, various profile editing, etc.

This also allowed me to eliminate the z tags that sometimes get placed into various thread titles, posts and other sections of the site.


Questions? Feedback?
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104561

Let's welcome back SonicOlmstead as a returning Admin for the first half of 2023. Along with him is deggle, who will be joining the admin rank for the first time.
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104554

The Winter Tour de Vizzed discussion thread can be found here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104549


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 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

It's time to elect the 2 users who will be admins of the site in 2020 from July - December. You can vote for 2 Admins. They're listed below, click them to see their application:

Allysa8th

SonicOlmstead

deggle


Here's how this works

Respond to this thread with up to 2 users you think would do a great job. The more users you choose, the less weight your votes have. So if you feel really strongly about someone, then vote for just 1 user.

Here's what determines the weight of your vote

The weight of a vote depends on the user and how many votes that user makes. Users who have a high rank, been around for a long time, and have a high post count, will have a vote with more weight. This is fair because those users should have a bigger impact on the results since they're more familiar with the community and have a higher reputation compared to someone who just registered with the single purpose of altering the results.

Here's the formula for figuring out the weight of your vote:
User Level * Power Level

And if you have multiple votes, it'd look like this:
(User Level * Power Level) / Vote Count

The User Levels can be viewed from their profile and also next to their posts to the left. A User Level is based on how long a user has been here and how many posts they have.

Here's the numbers that represent each Power Level:
0 = Newbie
1 = Normal
2 = Trusted
3 = Elite
4 = Site Staff
5 = Local Mod
6 = Global Mod

Rules
-Can't vote for yourself
-Can't vote for more than 2 people
-Posts with negative ratings will be investigated and potentially ignored

Voting ends on Monday, January 2nd.


Be sure to submit your votes to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104547

I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas



7 Days of Vizzed Christmas
You'll all be rewarded a nice Christmas gift when you come to the site on Christmas (server time). Additionally, you'll be rewarded a random amount of Viz for each day that you come to Vizzed from the 25th until the end of the year, the '7 Days of Vizzed Christmas'. Be sure to visit the site each day to claim your random Viz gift!



Christmas Games in the Retro Game Room
The Retro Game Room has 40+ Christmas games. You can find them all here:
//www.vizzed.com/playonlinegames/index.php?sort=best&search=Christmas&searchBy=theme



Christmas Video Game Music Stream
I'll be streaming Christmas / Wintery themed video game music 24 hours a day from tonight until Christmas is over. You can find the stream here:
https://www.twitch.tv/videogamemusicradio


Christmas Video Game Music
I put together a big playlist of Christmas themed and Winter themed video game music:
https://www.vizzed.com/videogamemusic/playlist.php?id=4



Retro Christmas Game Montage
A few years ago I put together a video highlighting 12 Christmas games (non hacked):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcbh8UIMMj8



Any questions, comments or feedback? Or do you simply want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas? Do so in this thread.
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104542

2022 saw a pretty big decline in my activity due to various health problems I've experienced over the past year, and also due to my IT job consuming a lot of my time and mind. In order to get a lot accomplished on the site, I pretty much had to take time off from work. 2022 was the least active I've been in over 15 years With that being said, I did accomplish a few things, which includes:

-Launched an RGR Plugin Update that allows games in the RGR to be playable with the plugin again!

-Updated the Screenshots feature and fixed some issues that it had

-Began Development on a New RGR Experience for mobile devices and game consoles, which will hopefully launch in January of 2023

-Introduced EmulatorJS (browser emulation) to the RGR, which supports more systems, supports netplay, and works better for some people for some game systems

-Fixed various bugs and issues throughout the site

Although this site is turning 18 years old, Vizzed has been around a lot longer. There were 2 previous Vizzed Boards, the first starting in late 2002. But the anniversary that I find more significant, which is coming in just a few months, is the 20 year anniversary of Vizzed.com! Vizzed.com was founded on March 3rd, 2003. I plan to put together an anniversary video of some sort, similar to this one, but with more emphasis on the site itself, and with more stats and graphs, and maybe with more of a narrative. If anyone is interested in making a cameo in that video, be sure to let me know



You can find all of the awards and additional information here
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104519

Vizzed Board turns 18 years old on December 6th, so you guys have a little more than 2 weeks to vote for whoever you think deserves any of the awards below. Voting will end on December 5th and the awards will be given out on December 6th. There are 25 awards you can vote on, 20 user awards and 5 thread/post awards.

You can cast your votes here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104508

You can now use the RGR Plugin again as you could in the past. All you need to do is download this new installer (RGR Plugin 2022+ Update). Make sure you already have the RGR Plugin installed first. This updater has its own flash supported web browser built into it (Firefox Portable 42). So when you go to play a game in the Retro Game Room, the updater launches the game in Firefox Portable 42.


Instructions
The RGR Plugin is no longer supported with modern browsers, so that's why you need to install both the RGR Plugin and the RGR Plugin 2022+ Update.

1. Download and Install the RGR Plugin
If you don't already have it installed, download and install it:
VizzedRgrPlugin-2.41.msi

2. Download and Install the RGR Plugin 2022+ Update
After you've installed the RGR Plugin, download and install this:
RGR Plugin 2022+.msi

Note: The installer might get flagged for not being secure, and that's only because it's new and hasn't been installed on many computers yet, so it might give a warning due to not having any information about it. If a windows security window comes up, just click More Info and from there, you can choose to install it anyway.
Note 2: Do not update the Firefox Portable that comes with this installer, otherwise the games will no longer work since updating it will remove Flash from the RGR Plugin. If you do accidentally update it, just reinstall this.

3. Restart Your Computer
You'll need to restart your computer after you've installed the RGR Plugin and RGR Plugin 2022 Update. If you already had the RGR Plugin installed and just recently installed the RGR Plugin 2022 Update, you'll still need to restart your computer.

That's it! Go and enjoy playing any of the 40,000+ retro games in the Retro Game Room. All of the RGR Plugin related features should work.


I apologize that it took so long to get this updated. I started a fundraiser 1 1/2 years ago and finally got this out. This is mostly due to Tom Gibson (RGR Plugin developer) not having the time to continue working on it, so I spent months searching for other developers, and every time I went to hire someone, they would end up not being able to do it. Eventually Tom G. returned to continue work on it, so we all owe him a huge thanks for doing this for us.

I also want to thank everyone that donated toward this 1 1/2 years ago. There was a lot of financial support, and I couldn't have been more grateful for all of that


If you have any questions or feedback, post them here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104450

For the past few days, there was an SSL issue with playing some games for some browsers. This issue is resolved.

All SSL related issues have been resolved and the updating of the SSL certificates for all Vizzed domains is complete.

I'll be updating the site's SSL Certificate today, so there might be some downtime.

If you have any comments or questions, let me know in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104444

Everyone is welcome to apply to both the staff and mod teams! You may find a new hobby, or even something about yourself while helping contribute to the site.

The staff apps hosted by EX Palen, can be found here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103549

The mod apps hosted by me, are found here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103555

Here are two additional threads by EX Palen that can answer questions you may have on why you should and what being staff entails.

Why should I be Staff (also somewhat valid for mod):
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103551

Staff FAQ:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=103550

Let's welcome back SonicOlmstead and Allysa8th as admins. Since deggle decided to not compete for the admin positions this time, those 2 both get to continue their efforts for the remainder of the year.

If you want to welcome them back, you can do so in this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104341

The Summer Tour de Vizzed discussion thread can be found here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104299


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 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

As a way to utilize the Caves and Cliffs updates, which were recently updated on our Vizzed.co Minecraft server, I created a new world on our server named Clohygeous. This new world is our first Creative world with Generation.

Competition
Build the best "anything" in the Clohygeous. The portal to the world can be found in the hub. Everyone has full Creative powers and flying abilities in that world. You can present your submission in the form of a video (which you should upload to YouTube) or screenshots (which you may upload to Vizzed).

Vizzed Minecraft Server IP:
Vizzed.co





Rules
-Up to 5 submissions per a user (this also includes structures you've teamed up on)
-Minecraft Staff may compete and I may compete
-Please separate your submissions with 1 submission per a post
-You may work with others on a submission (you'll then split the earnings)
-No command blocks
-When showing off your submission, you cannot use any resource packs (but you may use shaders)


Prizes
1st = US $50 or 100K Viz
2nd = US $25 or 50K Viz
3rd = 25K Viz

If me or one of my kids win, who may also compete, then the cash prizes would be awarded to the people who took 2nd and 3rd place. In other words, no matter what, I'll be handing out $75 worth of prizes to Vizzed users that are not me or my kids (unless those Vizzed users choose Viz instead of a cash prize).


Additional Prizes
Minecraft Competition Winners will get a trophy added to their profile (which they'll eventually be able to display and show off), they'll get added to the Hall of Fame page and they'll also have a Minecraft Trophy icon next to their name until the next Minecraft competition (as a way to show that they're the reigning champion).


Tips
-To increase your chances of winning, do a video instead of screenshots.
-Show a before and after so that people can see how much you did.
-Claim your land so that no one else can modify your creation.


Competition Ends
July 1st

Competition Starts
Now


For information on the Vizzed Minecraft Server, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=102313


I'm hoping this is the return of our Minecraft Server competitions! So be sure to participate and help spread the word of this competition so that we get enough participation for me to justify hosting these every month again


If you have any questions or feedback, post them to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104268

My development time is very limited these days, so I figured this might be a good opportunity to open up the doors for a few users with PHP skills to help develop stuff for Vizzed. Users will be given limited access to the site functions and variables, but they'd be free to create mostly whatever they want.

You would do your coding right here on the site and I'd even give you your own database. Here's a preview of what the PHP Developer Center looks like


Please note, you would not get paid for doing this. This is just for users who want to help out the site or want to utilize / expand their PHP skills. You wouldn't get access to the actual site's code, but you would get access to a lot of useful variables. You also wouldn't get access to the site's main database but you'd be given your own database. These restrictions are to prevent any accidental or intentional harm to the site.


Features include:
-Access to over 30 variables, which include name of the logged in user, details of the logged in user, page information, and more!
-Supports Javascript and CSS
-The ability to collaborate with other "qualified" users
-Full customization over your pages, including the ability to change the page name, description, etc.
-Full stats about your pages, including page views, who viewed it, full logs, who is currently on it, etc.
-Earn Viz and CP when your pages are used
-Your own database
-And lots more


Requirements:
-Must be an Elite Users or a Trusted User who has been on the site for over 5 years and has at least 1000 posts
-Must have decent PHP skills (please provide examples of things you've done)
-Tell me what ideas you might have and why you would like to be a PHP developer on Vizzed


There's a limited number of users that I'm willing to promote to PHP Developer, so be sure to apply right away if you're interested.

Be sure to respond to this thread with your application:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104263

Something I've wanted to do for a while now is change the color scheme of the site. Keep in mind, I'm not talking about the layout of the site, that'd be too much work. I'm talking about the colors used throughout the site and the background images.

I've made attempts in the past to modernize the look of the site but I've always had users fight back. I think now is the time to do it though since the site needs to have a more visual appeal to new people. The current theme would always be available as a selectable theme.

As far as the color scheme goes, what are complaints that you or others might have about it? What are you suggestions? I know a common complaint is that the site is sometimes hard on a user's eyes and I'm not sure if it's because it's light on dark or if it's the greens contrasting with the blues. Either way, any feedback would be great.

Here's something I've been working on. Let me know if this is any better or if you have any suggestions to it:
Vizzed 2022 Theme

With that new theme, the background color is actually not part of the background image, allowing me to easily change the color (or perhaps dynamically, similar to what was seen in the 2022 April Fools prank).

If you have any ideas or suggestions, please don't hesitate to suggest them here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104231

For more information, refer to this thread:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104222

I updated the version of Minecraft that we use on the Vizzed.co server from 1.16.4 to 1.18.1! It's been well over a year since we updated our Minecraft server. It's been equally as long since we last updated most of the plugins.

To join our Minecraft server, join this IP:
Vizzed.co


You can find the Vizzed Minecraft directory here:
https://www.vizzed.com/minecraft/


If you have any questions, or want more details on what plugins were updated, go here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104180

Vizzed went down over 2 days ago for unplanned reasons. I had contacted Hostgator and they said it would take up to 48 hours for the server to be brought back online. Here's what they had to say:

"It would appear that your server encountered an issue when it was rebooted due to the newest kernel installed being corrupt. I was able to get the server back online by booting into the older kernel installed on the server, then reinstalling the new kernel.

The server is now running and the services all appear to be running with out any issues. This issue you encountered is not a common thing, and just a random failures that can happen rarely."

If you have any questions or feedback, let me know here:
https://www.vizzed.com/boards/thread.php?id=104159