News and Info about changes and updates to MechSpecs.com Mon, 16 Mar 2026 02:48:31 +0000 Mon, 16 Mar 2026 02:48:31 +0000 MechSpecs.com https://mechspecs.com/forums/mechspecs-news-and-info.254/ Mon, 25 Dec 2023 23:22:23 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-holidays.18765/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-holidays.18765/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard May your trees be min-maxed and optimized to utilize their full tonnage of ornaments!

-Excalibaard]]> Tue, 24 Oct 2023 00:05:51 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/new-forums-added-im-back.18658/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/new-forums-added-im-back.18658/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
Sorry for my recent absence and the slow deployment of forums for the new mechs! I hope you're all enjoying the new variants and weapons that have been released!

I've updated the forums to the War Emu release. If you find any discrepancies, feel free to let me know!

Also: since Smurfy's site has been officially taken down for a long time now, I've removed the link from our NavBar.

Happy min-maxing!]]> 2 Sun, 25 Dec 2022 22:51:38 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-holidays.18512/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-holidays.18512/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
Happy holidays from the MechSpecs team!


ps... don't forget to earn your free mech!​]]> Wed, 16 Nov 2022 21:28:29 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/503-errors-smurfy-servers-unavailable.18389/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/503-errors-smurfy-servers-unavailable.18389/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
Some threads have been giving 503 errors recently. This is because they used code from Smurfy's site, which has been inactive for a while, and apparently the servers have now been shut down. Therefore, all builds that used Smurfy's mech cards are unavailable as of now.

There's not an easy fix for now. I'd like to recreate them, but that is a huge undertaking, and only the legacy MechDB v1 has mech cards. The newest version of MechDB doesn't yet support them, and the API doesn't seem to be accessible publicly for a solution of our own.

Just letting you know that we're aware of the situation, and will try to resolve it ASAP.


EDIT:
It seems the outage was temporary, and Smurfy cards are back up! Here's to another year of mech build sharing!

EDIT 2:
Down again. This time it seems more permanent. I don't think we'll be able to restore the old builds on the site.]]> 2 Wed, 22 Jun 2022 16:29:29 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/crusader-forums.18383/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/crusader-forums.18383/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
https://mechspecs.com/forums/crusader.843/]]> Thu, 06 Jan 2022 20:55:54 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/breaking-mech-cards-update.18058/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/breaking-mech-cards-update.18058/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
I've also added (long overdue) the missing Stalker and Phoenix variants, thanks to a post by SniperFury. I noticed I accidentally wasn't getting notifications for the Suggestions, Bugs and Feedback forum, these have been reinstated. If you encounter a bug or anything missing, please post there, or tag me on discord.

UPDATE: The cards have been fixed from what I've tested. I ran through the list of 'links that should be replaced with media embeds', and found one that I had accidentally broken, when trying to add MechDB 2 conversions to the site. This caused the entire plugin to crash, as it looped through the entire list of possible matches. This should be resolved now, very...

Breaking Mech cards -- UPDATE]]> Sat, 01 Jan 2022 11:24:36 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-new-year.18054/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-new-year.18054/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
This site turns 10 years old this year (as does MWO if I'm correct). Thanks for sticking around, and best wishes for the new year! May the c-bills be paid and the salvage be bountiful!]]> 3 Fri, 17 Dec 2021 23:05:54 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/legacy-mechdb.18042/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/legacy-mechdb.18042/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
MechDB released v2 a while ago, and I've silently updated the link to reflect that in the past. FYI: v2 is https://mwo.nav-alpha.com , v1 is https://mech.nav-alpha.com . However, I've re-added a link to the 'old' MechDB v1.

I did this because it's not clear when MechDB 2 will support mechcards (the iframes / build summaries that automatically replace a MechDB 1 or Smurfy link). These mechcards are pretty important for the ease of browsing the forum. The two systems are not compatible (MechDB 2 uses a different database), so we'll have to wait until K2B - the developer of MechDB - adds support in the new version. With the legacy link you can still easily go to the original mechlab and either build there, or import the mwo export code from your game / MechDB 2 to generate a mechcard.

In the mean time, you could maybe donate to MechDB in order to support K2B's work, keeping the theory...

Legacy MechDB?]]> Tue, 07 Dec 2021 21:24:11 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/added-rewards-variants.18027/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/added-rewards-variants.18027/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
Happy speccing! ]]> Fri, 09 Jul 2021 23:59:29 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/spammer-influx.17837/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/spammer-influx.17837/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
We're having an ongoing attack by spam accounts. Our spam prevention system is catching the majority (approx 500 per day atm), but some will slip through the cracks. I will look into measures to prevent any more from getting through. If you see any suspicious messages please notify me or other staff. In the mean time I'll periodically remove new accounts by bulk and going through if any seem suspicious. This might result in an accidental removal of new legit accounts.

Cheers,
XCal]]> Mon, 05 Apr 2021 19:54:57 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/smurfy-mechlab-down.17568/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/smurfy-mechlab-down.17568/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
-----

As you may be aware, Smurfy's mechlab since a few days gives a 503 error - service unavailable. I have not been informed with the details, but this influences a LOT of build on the forums. Sadly, this is something that is out of my control.

As people in suggested in this thread it might be a temporary outage as they (finally) update the database, as a similar outage has been reported in 2018.

We'll see when/if smurfy gets back up, and probably make some MechDB alternatives otherwise. We can use the webarchives of smurfy (courtesy of @Remover of Obstacles for posting these here) in the mean time

Cheers,
xCal]]> Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:14:35 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/new-moderator.17411/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/new-moderator.17411/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
I've appointed the ever-diligent @Shock as a moderator, in anticipation of new announcements for MWO. Also because he's an expert at spotting spam threads/posts

Cheers,
Xcal]]> Fri, 23 Jul 2021 18:40:26 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/spam-messages.16986/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/spam-messages.16986/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
We've recently been hit with a few (strangely topical) spam messages that have gotten through the spam filter. If you notice any weird links in a thread, please use the report button to bring it to the mods' attention. And don't copy/paste the links, of course.

Thanks!
Xcal

EDIT: I've found out that the report button has been broken. This hasn't been reported, because the report button is broken. Feel free to @ or DM me on the discord for now instead, as long as it's related to spam or other urgent forum-related issues, until I get the button working.]]> 4 Thu, 26 Dec 2019 00:23:59 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-holidays.16869/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/happy-holidays.16869/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
The MechSpecs team]]> 2 Sat, 14 Dec 2019 23:22:48 +0000 https://mechspecs.com/threads/mw5-forums-open.16843/ https://mechspecs.com/threads/mw5-forums-open.16843/ invalid@example.com (Excalibaard) Excalibaard
I've also reshuffled some other forums around, mostly organising all general discussion forums around the same hub. This includes the benefactor forums, which are now subsections of their respective main forums. I've added "spoiler" thread prefixes so you can talk about anything story-related. I hope you will use it

The forum is getting a bit bloated, so I'll start to look for a way to properly separate the different games' builds ( and maybe open up a place for legacy MW2, MW3, MW4 builds too). If you've got some background in PHP, webhosting, or databases and are willing to...

MW5 forums open!]]>