Sorry for not posting in a long time but life has been busy.  Just had a few things to say and I'll leave you to it.

There are many chapters in the story of how DNS came to be.  This is one of the more real ones.  Last year on January 18th 2016, DNS lost one of its founding members,  Brandon Woofenden.  Maybe better known to our users as MCwizard111.  He fought a very short battle with cancer.

Now a little history before I speak about Brandon.   When the pack started it was myself and d3adstorage all by our selves working on the pack.  I was invited to work on a project.  It was a mod list database,  something that wasn't around at the time that was, for the most part, a good idea.   The crew doing the grunt work was very small.  It consisted of myself, Kenny, bigougit, and mcwizard111.  The project died down as they do.  Mostly because I stole the crew to  work on DNS.  For the longest it was Kenny, Brandon, and myself sitting in the irc or teamspeak working away at DNS.  Developing new ideas, and creating mods that were needed for the pack at that time.  I spent many hours over the next 2 years working and hanging with Brandon. 

At the time we started working together I believe he was about 16.  Still just a kid.  I on the other hand was much older and we spent  a lot of our time talking about life and what he should try to do with it.  I know he had some rough home life.  His family was by no mean well off and resources were limited to him.  But I tried to coach him for a few interviews he was going on and try to council him when he didn't get one.  I don't want to go as far as saying I thought of him as my kid or I was a father figure, but as a friend that need watching out for.  he seem unsure of himself and very tame when I met him and I watch him grow into a pretty cool young man who wanted to take care of himself and his family.

I've only ever trust 2 other people with DNS, Iamomicron and Mcwizad111. No one else had ever seem to understand what I was doing and my vision for our users and the pack itself.  Brandon was there from pretty much the beginning and work nonstop to help me and our users get as much enjoyment out of this game as they could.  He built mods, launchers, installer and our first website.  Our old forums that many of our users posted to was all built by him.  Steven and I put together that actual site ( which is no big deal to some) but we knew nothing about putting together a forums database and Brandon figured it out and maintained them for years.  Many of the things he worked on are not in use now as we moved on to other services that made all our lives easier with less maintaining, but I wont forget what he did to get us where we are today.   DNS would still be a thing today even if Brandon had not have been a part of it, but I don't see it being where we are today without his help.  I may have given up on it a long time ago.

In the middle of 2014 I found out I was going to be a father again and that's when I stepped away from DNS.  Many of you know this.  I want to be the best husband and farther I can be and that doesn't leave a lot time to play and work on games.  Sucks I know but its how I wanted to do it.  Then in Feb of 2015 my son was born and pretty much dropped off the internet.  I lost touch with Brandon at that time.  He himself was getting into the real world and working a job trying to make money and start his life.  We tried to stay in contact through Skype, talking every few months here and there.   We had this thing with starting a conversation by saying "Hey, you still alive?"   Id say it to him and him to me.   That was the last msg I sent him on Jan 20th 2016.   2 days after he had past away.  Im not sad that I said it, cause it was our thing, but I am sad that I will never get an answer...............

In Oct of 2015 he was diagnosed with cancer after going to the doctor to see what the pain under his arm was.  Turned out to be something serious.   It only took 3 months for him to reach the end of his journey from that point.  Life is short and there are things in the world that make it even shorter very fast.  His presence will always be felt with DNS.  Many of you have been helped by him either directly or indirectly and don't know it.  It weird how it works now.  Someone you never met in person can still mean a lot to you.  I wish I was there during that time for him but I didn't know,  he never told me he was sick. Ill miss my DNS brother for a long time. 

Rest easy brother.

So I figured it was time to talk about a few things, some of this is dns related and some of it is personal.  I havent been around as much the last few weeks and its only going to get worse.  For those that dont know My wife and I are expecting a baby boy in a few days.  Actually we will be going to the hospital on monday the 23rd and inducing on the 24th.  Of course I have known about this and have been planning for it.  

Over the last year I have lost interest in minecraft and most games in general.  I dont know if Im just getting older and moving away from gaming.  Or Im just bored with it. Theres not to much i havent done in gaming and cant find anything I really like anymore.  This was the reason I retired as maintainer of DNS.  With the way the community has become I think DNS has grown to its fullest.  I know in the very close future I will not be here to keep it going.  I have handed DNS off to Iamomicron but I feel that his real life has become to busy for him to maintain it.  And thats ok. I understand that. I have no plans to take it away from him or give control to another.  Im simply saying that i guess Im retiring from being the head of DNS_Inc.  I have no more desire to push this pack as I once did.  I have decided to step away and let whatever happens to the pack, happen.  If it becomes the biggest pack ever then great, if it dies out then it dies.  I would hate to see that as I love this pack and have spent so many hours working on it. 

Im not real sure what all I want to say here.  I just want to thank everyone that has made these past three years great and the many many many friends that have come and gone.  Its time for me to take the next step in my life and concentrate on my family.  I will of course be around.  Many of you know how to get a hold of me outside of minecraft and please use those methods.  Who knows, maybe I'll be able to be around more then I thought.  But we will see.

Im very nervous for what the next few days brings.  Im not the god type and dont really believe in that sort of thing.  But if you do keep my family in your thoughts.  My wife and my kids are my world.  Without them there is no reason for anything. I just want them safe and healthy.  And I know you guys will be with me in spirit and thank you for that.  Hope to see you all real soon and have a good day!

~with much love
Madcock

I want to thank everyone that has made this year for DNS great.  All our new and old users are still as awesome as ever!  And we at DNS_inc look forward to another year of serving you guys with loads of minecraft goodness.  So from my family to your's, please be safe and have a awesome time with your families and friends these next few days.

And to my DNS staff,  thanks so much for all you have done for me this year and I really really love yo faces.

And now for my favorite christmas thing ever

So its been a minute since I posted anything so heres whats been going on.  

On Monday DNS will releasing a new pack called DNS' Toaster Edition.  This is much smaller mod pack.  It will take the place of the Diet DNS pack.  This pack is still a smaller pack, but it also runs a few mods that are not in the normal pack.  So we can get a feel for what you like and dont like.  This will be a semi-public pack meaning that once you start the launcher you will have to type in toaster in the top left side of the launcher.  Once you have entered that in once it will be in your pack list forever.  

We are also still working on the 1.7.x version of the pack.  its pretty close to being done,  but with 1.7.10 out now we dont know if we are going to release for 1.7.2 or wait.  that should be decided very soon.   So keep your eyes open for that. 

I know i retired from making DNS but I am still into running DNS_Inc.  This is the company I started that owns and manages DNS techpack.  While Im not just maintaining the packs I am still working on other ideas and projects around minecraft and other forums of entertainment.  So also keep them peepers open for those to come to light one day. 

as a side not I will releasing episodes of our drunkin portal 2 run over the next few weeks.  was a lot of fun and we did stream the whole thing.  Give it a look on Monday on my YT channel for a good laugh.

On a personal note, looks like Im about to have many many changes in my personal life.  I have no idea what kind of effect these will have on my gaming life but we will all have to see.  If your a religious type keep me and my family in your talks with the almighty.  We could use the help.  Its nothing bad for the most part.  But we are talking some gambles with our future and they could pay off big.  I will explain more once the time comes.  But since you guys are the best community I have ever seen I know you will send me good will thoughts all day long.  Love your faces and will talk to you all soon

~madcock 

I bought the madcock83.com domain today.  Since Im going to be massively famous one day I thought I better go ahead and grab it while I could.  Since most of my antics wont be directly affiliated with DNS_Inc or the DNS Techpack anymore I will start posting my news, if any here.  First and for most  Make sure to come check me out on our podcast tomorrow @ http://www.twitch.tv/nerbnetdaily   Its a starter so we need those follows but more importantly we need you to watch so when we talk something is heard.  Its all tech from every end of spectrum and just plain nerd news.

Anyways let me know what you think of the site and I will try to change it up from time to time.  Im enjoying my time away from the pack and have started many other things.  But DNS will always be my baby and I do miss it a little.  Love you guys and see ya soon. 

Since Im getting a ton of requests for a DNS update I will say it here.   I have version 6.1.7 pretty much handled.  BUT there are some problems.  Two pretty big bugs Im working out.  One of them is a world breaking bug and it needs to be fixed before it goes out.

And YES the new version of thaumcraft will be in it  and NO I wont just release a dns update with just thaumcraft updated.  I couldn't even if I wanted to cause there are a few things that depend on the api version that's in the new TC update.  So I would have to update many mods to.  Just be calm it will be handled and released soon.  I think I have found fixes for both the bugs that are bothering me now.  At the very least pin pointed which mod is being the bitch and killing worlds.

When I get back home I will start on it again, was up till 3am last night working on it.  You could see it as early as tonight but I doubt it unless everything just falls into place.

thank you
mad

What the hell is TG4 you ask.  Well some time ago I made a map very much like the original ftb challenge map.  Truth be told I had the idea for the map well before ftb ever did one.  But it was a rough idea and I kept it on the back burner as I thought no one would play it or it wouldn't be possible to make.  FTB did it and beat me to it fair and square.




Anyways enough mods have been updated or built for 1.6.4 that it was again possible to make the map.  Im hoping its bug free and playable.  My test runs through it seem to work.  There are many ways to complete the map and it might be harder or easier depending on how you play it.  It is challenging and will take up some time to get done.  I hope you enjoy it and feedback is always welcome.




Here is a link for all info about said map

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1161299-164modsdns-techpack-the-great-4-x6-survival-map-v14-now-with-more-minecraft/




Right now its IS available through the DNS techpack v6.0.9.1  If you already have that version installed just click reinstall and it will show up in the optional mods list and you can download it.

Make sure it is done downloading BEFORE you click "I've download mod" or it will make you do it again.

This is one of the two projects I was talking about getting done over the Christmas break.  the other will be along shortly as now I have some time to get it up on the website.  In other news I have another long project I am thinking of doing and working out now.  Its not a DNS project but more personal.  Will give more news on that when its closer

First off happy holidays to all of you that celebrate them.  From my family to yours Merry Christmas and all that.

Now this is mostly a personal message.  I wanted to let everyone that care about whats going on with me.  

Im sure some of you have notice me not being around alot lately.  I want to ensure everyone Im not quiting or leaving.  Im kinda taking a break.  All of a sudden minecraft isnt interesting me as much anymore.  It seemed to happen over night.  Im not saying, by any means, Im done with it.  Just taking some time away from it.  I have not talked this over with anyone from the team.  To them im just not around as much.  Its just this time of year.  I am married with a large family.  I spend alot of time visiting them this time of year.  I am also taking the rest of my vacation time that i have left for the year this last week of December. This time will be spent with family and doing some stuff that keeps me from sitting in front of this computer.

I have many things I want to get into.  Some of you last week saw the new computer build I did,  I have always wanted to build computers.  Im finally finding my self in the position to do it.  I did another last night.  I also find I dont like the office setup I have.  Thats why last night my wife also bought me a new large L shaped desk.  From this I decided Im going to redo my office.  This is going to be a large ass undertaking.  Also meaning my computer will not be up 24/7 like it is now.  This all is what has my attention right now.  And I tend to focus on one thing and bust ass on it.  Thats what I have done with DNS for the last year.  To look at DNS from when it started to now is amazing.  How far its come. Just wow.  Thats cause of its fans and just hard work.  I want to say its all the fans and thats a very important part.  But a massive amount of work has gone, and still goes into this pack.  And because of that work Im happy knowing that for the time Im away the pack is in good hands and I can afford to take some time.

Really in short dont worry about me.  Most of you probably dont even know how I am and thats fine.  But for those that do care.  I will return.  I can still be reached on the forums, irc, and skype (for those that have it)



As for my team, I want to thank you guys for all you have done this year.  And what a year its been.

MCWizard
ShadowChild
Vydax
The work you guys have done is what makes DNS a standard for other pack to look up to.

IamOmicron - My right hand man,  awesome dude!  I would of stopped doing this a long time ago with you.

And Darkhax that I want to say something a little special about:

for those that dont know, I dont take donations for DNS.  But at the same time its not free.  I pay the costs myself and have no problem doing so.  In December it was time to renew our domain and server.  We as a team talked about it and I said I will pay it.  Darkhax sent me some cash through paypal and never even told me.  I never check that thing and just saw it yesterday.  He had sent it middle of Nov!  Dark and I have never seen eye to eye on almost anything,  and as many times as we "fight" about stuff I like having someone with a completely different outlook on things beside me.  Helps me to see the other side.  But with all that a side him throwing me some money to keep DNS going show what a true friend to the pack he is.  And you should all thank him!!



I have two other things Im working on right now DNS/Minecraft related.  I will finish them by the end of this week and will have them out to you guys soon.  They will be awesome.  More to come on these soon!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyways happy holidays everyone and I thank you for the great year and cant wait to see whats in store for next year!

WOW, yesterday was a busy day.  All the changes to site to get you guys the links took alot longer then I thought.  Stupid drupal didnt want to do what i asked it to and I never got the links to the launcher from Ryan and thought that I could just pull them from their site.  But that didnt work.  Looks like atlauncher uses java or javascript for their site (cant remember now).   But we had to write a little script to grab the download links and that took a second to organize.  But other then all that stuff everything went great.

The launcher seems to be working for alot of people very well.   Judging from how many times its already been installed and the number of compaints its working perfectly for almost everyone.  I think this will do many things for the pack and its users and hope you love it as much as I do.

Now the pack is released on the launcher with the 6.0.2 version that was released a week or two ago.  I did this on purpose so that the move over to the launcher from standard minecraft would be less of issues with the current pack instead of a whole new update.   v6.0.3 is super close to being done, basically is, and will be availible in the launcher very soon.  and you will get to see how the updates will work from now on.  It will be super simple to update.

Now i have already had some people asking if we will keep using the old installer and pack for the normal launcher and what not.  This has ot been decided yet.  for the 6.0.3 update i will put up one more download up for people to do as they please.   BUT after that if it get posted it will be a simple .zip.  In it will be all the stuff you need to move over to .minecraft folder and a copy of forge for that version.  Users will have to install it their selves.  IF we keep adding those files up thats how it will be done.

But other then that I hope you enjoy the new launcher and show some love to the atlauncher team for all the work making said launcher.  and on my end thanks to iamomicron most of all for all the help with setting up the pack on this launcher,  been an amazing help from the start.  And vydax for the dns icon for the launcher and MCWizard for the capes that now work with optifine and no one has to worry about that shit anymore.

Love yo faces and talk to ya next time.

I have some MASSIVE news for you guys, though I can not annouce it yet.......

Something really big for the pack is comig very soon.  Everyone on the DNS teams is exicted about it and thinks everyone, team and users, will get a lot out of it.  I cant wait to show you and hope the hard work and months of planning will pay off and you can see our (and others) very hard work.

Love you all and stay