Someone at school a couple days ago told me that they weren't able to log into BOL recently, and then today when I actually tried to test something new, I wasn't able to connect either. So, I reset the server and, lo and behold, it works again! It was a minor problem with the log files getting too big after server neglect for a few months, so I'll have to recode that soon. But, back to the server, a side-effect of resetting the server is that the npcs have all gone into hiding (they don't exist anymore). So, when I upgrade the server I'll have to create a better way to save and load npcs. So, enough of that. The moral of the post is that the server works again, snowballs can be thrown, and npcs are still waiting to be recreated (which by the way is something you can do).
Now as for actual updates: I'm still working on one but I haven't been able to put much time into it for a few reasons. One, and this is a big one, is that I lost the installer for Visual Studio so I have yet to get it working on the good computer. Two, and this equally as big, I'm currently playing a free trial of WoW, which I know is a sin but I thought would be good to do eventually to have a better sense of what BOL needs to accomplish. Three, there are a lot of other games that I haven't been able to play forever, and it's taken me about a week to settle down. Though, I still haven't looked at Oblivion.... Maybe I'll hold off on that for another week. If your all very lucky I'll have finished an update for tomorrow, which involves graphics, animations, and fireworks. That's all I can say for now, hopefully everything works out.
-Mark