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Pinball Nirvana is NOT going to shut down...


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#1 StevOz

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Posted 16 January 2016 - 03:12 AM

I'm posting this here as Pinball Nirvana was the longest running VP forum and historically one of the oldest VP sites. At the very least is/was very much a part of VP history, whether you cared for the site or not.

 

This post is of my own making and I was not asked to do this or is this post endorsed by anyone other then myself, I just felt the announcement should be aired to the wider VP community.

 

http://www.pinballni...6807#post106807

 

 

 

Well, it's a sad day that I have to announce this but now it's unavoidable.

I no longer have the time to devote to the site and the php version that the site runs on is going to be removed from the hosting company's servers very soon. I believe the End Of Life date is January 19th, I've previously tested upgraded versions of the php and everything breaks, we were also forced to upgrade the php back in October of 2014 and the only reason it's been running since then is because php error reports were turned off back then.

I think February would have marked the 13th year of me being involved with the site and it's been a labor of love but everything must end sooner or later. For those wondering about IRPinball which is also hosted by me, the hosting was paid up for 2 years (for PN and IRP) last year, so it will continue to run until the hosting expires in January 2017.

My sincere Thanks to everyone that made the site successful!
Jon

Edited by StevOz, 16 January 2016 - 03:13 AM.

Files I have uploaded here...

 

http://www.vpforums....ownloads&mid=34


logoshort.gif


#2 rascal

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Posted 16 January 2016 - 02:04 PM

Pinball Nirvana was one of the main pioneers in the virtual pinball scene. There is sure a lot of history at that site. All the way back to almost the beginning. Its a real shame that its closing up. I hope it gets archived somewhere and upgraded and uploaded somewhere else. Preserve pinball history should also include preserve virtual pinball history.

 

I'll miss it.


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#3 Ike Savage

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Posted 16 January 2020 - 08:17 PM

Just for the record, there's more to this story.  JPH (the site owner) and Shiva managed to get things sorted out after that announcement, and the site in fact continued on for another four years.  Until today, that is.

 

Same issue has popped up once again, i.e. the PHP version that PN's version of vBulletin uses has once again been removed by the web server, as of today.  Unfortunately, this time around it doesn't look like there's any way to upgrade or modify the vB version to stay compatible with the PHP version now supported by the server.  This was probably inevitable, given that vBulletin was basically abandoned as of a couple years ago by the company that originally bought it from JelSoft, way back in 2009.

 

In theory there's some possibility of salvaging the situation again, but it looks like it would be vastly more work this time around.  Indeed, it might not even be possible with the resources available.  So the site is down as of this moment, but will probably be able to make a temporary fix in the next day or two to get back online for a couple more weeks.  But after that, if the main issues aren't resolved, that would probably be the end for good ol' PN.

 

A little backstory-- Pinball Nirvana has been pretty much the Net's premier site for pre-VP9 resources for many years now.  It went up maybe a year or two after the original VPF & ShivaSite went up, back around 2001 or so.  It's chockablock with early and middle-period VP history, including loads of fascinating originals that didn't get converted to VP9 or VPX, mainly due to authors not staying in the scene long enough to do so.

 

Anyway, just thought it was worth an update.  I'd love to see original authors in particular grab some of the cool, creative tables made in earlier years in the hopes of gaining some inspiration, or simply to enjoy playing them in VP8.  Stuff like Minigolf, Quidditch Madness, the Doom series, Monkey Island, Reactor & Billiards Emulator [shameless plug].

 

Btw, IRPinball is still up as of the moment, and some of that stuff can be found there (plus more).  No idea what happens to IRP going forward, but it's another ancient VP site also run by JPH.  So there's that.


Edited by Ike Savage, 16 January 2020 - 08:21 PM.


#4 The Loafer

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Posted 16 January 2020 - 09:45 PM

It was a good site, sorry to hear it may be gone for good

#5 GeorgeH

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Posted 16 January 2020 - 11:26 PM

The posting that StevOz found was dated 01-08-2016.  I think Ike Savage posted the history behind it.  

 

A posting does say that the site will shut down on Thursday 1/16/20.  The posting says that they have to upgrade to a new version and they are not sure when they will be back.

 

https://pinballnirva...ead.php?t=14382



#6 Albert

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 12:20 AM

Pinballnirvana... well, a strange site to say the least.

 

Vpforums in 2018:

 

tc2.png

 

 

One year later (yes, 2019 - no joke!) on Pinballnirvana:

 

tc1.jpg

 

 

Who needs such a piece of shit which looks exactly like the worst tables of the VP8 ages - one year after the Loserman76 release? (This was a rhetorical question, so don't answer.)



#7 gtxjoe

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 01:25 AM

Let us know if PinballNirvana need any money to get the site back up. I will donate.



Albert, you make it sound like VP authors are not welcome..,

#8 StevOz

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 07:43 AM

Who needs such a piece of shit which looks exactly like the worst tables of the VP8 ages - one year after the Loserman76 release? (This was a rhetorical question, so don't answer.)

 

Obviously you are simpilton whom has little, if any idea of how VP tables are created, that POS is certainly far more advanced than anythng you have contributed, nice logos BTW...


Edited by StevOz, 17 January 2020 - 08:13 AM.

Files I have uploaded here...

 

http://www.vpforums....ownloads&mid=34


logoshort.gif


#9 vogliadicane

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 09:27 AM

Thread was renamed to Pinball Nirvana is NOT going to shut down...

 

https://www.pinballn...807&postcount=1



#10 Armyaviation

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 09:50 AM

Albert, check yourself.  Tables are not everything.  There are sites that have good tables, some have mostly backglasses and pinball nirvana has something that no other site has. and when you figure out you need one of them you will second guess your comment, big time! And you will!



#11 Ike Savage

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 02:26 PM

Pinballnirvana... well, a strange site to say the least.
 
Vpforums in 2018:
http://vpforums.org/imghost/84/tc2.png

One year later (yes, 2019 - no joke!) on Pinballnirvana:
http://vpforums.org/imghost/84/tc1.jpg

Who needs such a piece of shit which looks exactly like the worst tables of the VP8 ages - one year after the Loserman76 release? (This was a rhetorical question, so don't answer.)

 

That Loserman table is truly amazing, and I can understand your POV.

That said, it's sort of like walking in to an antique store and expecting the latest technology. I think the more useful way of looking at PN is as a sort of museum / oldies shop.
 
Plus, from what I've seen of the VP9 & VPX originals (and even modern machines), there's very little that can approach the sheer creativity and accomplishment of some of those early originals.  Not that it's a contest or anything; I just think they're fun to see, and it's fun to check out VP's roots, so to speak.
 

 

Thread was renamed to Pinball Nirvana is NOT going to shut down...
 
https://www.pinballn...807&postcount=1

 

THat was the one from four years ago, yeah? However, the latest 'closing' thread was posted above.
 

 

Let us know if PinballNirvana need any money to get the site back up. I will donate.

 

That's very kind of you!

In fact, it sounds like the problem is not so much money, as necessary expertise in migrating that vB package to a modern format, such as XenForo, particularly the downloads system.  Anyone interested in lending their 2¢ is welcome to follow the latest closure link...


Edited by Ike Savage, 17 January 2020 - 02:27 PM.


#12 BobAlbright

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Posted 17 January 2020 - 04:27 PM

Sad to hear. I used them quite a bit


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#13 rockhouse

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Posted 28 January 2020 - 05:40 PM

Pinballnirvana... well, a strange site to say the least.

 

Vpforums in 2018:

 

tc2.png

 

 

One year later (yes, 2019 - no joke!) on Pinballnirvana:

 

tc1.jpg

 

 

Who needs such a piece of shit which looks exactly like the worst tables of the VP8 ages - one year after the Loserman76 release? (This was a rhetorical question, so don't answer.)

in you opinion and how many tables  have you made 



#14 htamas

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Posted 28 January 2020 - 06:02 PM

By the way, the site IS down and has been like this for a few days now:

Attached Files



#15 templarjh

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 05:41 PM

I still play a lot of those older ones >_>



#16 Moneybag

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Posted 29 January 2020 - 11:09 PM

In fact, Albert took an aweful example. I liked the contribution of the ancient machines from the 1930's (in VPX!) and the stuff from pbbecker very much.

Hope they'll manage the fix.



#17 KPinball75

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Posted 30 January 2020 - 06:15 AM

Looks like they are back online as of 30 minutes ago or so. 



#18 rockhouse

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Posted 30 January 2020 - 01:11 PM

not here :bye2:



#19 R_L

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Posted 30 January 2020 - 02:43 PM

Looks like they are back up with new layout 

:love39:

 

:love39:

 


Edited by R_L, 30 January 2020 - 02:51 PM.


#20 Ike Savage

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Posted 30 January 2020 - 05:17 PM

By the way, the site IS down and has been like this for a few days now:

 

Yes, JPH seems to have defied his own earlier expectations, and managed to successfully migrate to XenForo, keeping the attachments and most of the downloads.  Pretty awesome, indeed!

 

Looks like status updates will be posted here:

http://www.pinballni...e-status.14395/

 

(Btw, like Stevoz, I don't speak for PN.  I'm basically a 'power user' over there.)