The much-anticipated release of Discovery 4.86 is finally here today! My thanks go to the dev team, especially for their efforts to get this out on a tight schedule, along with each and every person who made this update possible.

Before you can start playing 4.86 with us, you're going to need a freshly installed copy of Freelancer and the update. This can be downloaded via BitTorrent or HTTP links, which you can find at the link below.

More information can be found here, including download details: http://www.discoveryfluk.com/index.php?topic=4543.0

Whilst we have been unlucky in that there have been some delays, the team have delivered as usual, and we have a date (and a trailer)!


I'm sure you'll all be looking forward to Friday, 30th December 2011! Whilst there are no guarantees the team will be able to meet this deadline (although I'm sure they'll try), we are optimistic that the release is just a few weeks away.

Once it is released, we'll try to ensure the update is active and working as quickly as possible, but if it does take time, please be patient. More info will be provided nearer the time, but for now, we'll leave you with the trailer and the promise of gradual changes being implemented to bring the universes closer as we near release day

A number of people in the community have reported a problem with Adaware lately - it deletes the dsace.dll file from the mod. This file is required to play on any servers running with anticheat enabled. If you connect to the server and this file cannot be found, you will be automatically banned from the server. If this is the case, please PM me here or on Skype.

The recommended course of action is to add dsace.dll to the Adaware ignore list, so that it will not be deleted. Another option is to use a different antivirus package. AVG Free would be my personal choice, but other recommendations include Microsoft Security Essentials, both of which are free and non-intrusive, and neither cause any problems connecting to servers as some other antivirus packages do.

If this file has already been deleted from your installation, you will need to restore it from the Adaware quarantine area, or deactivate and reactivate the mod in Freelancer Mod Manager. Instructions for using the ignore list and restoring quarantined items can be found here: http://www.discoveryfluk.com/index.php?topic=4119.0

If you are in need of support, please use the topic linked above.

If you are in-game and an admin is not available, you can now send a PM to the console and an admin will see your message in the Skype channel specifically setup for it. If one of us is online, we will respond to you using the character name you PM'ed us on.

If no-one is available, unfortunately you'll still have to either PM someone on Skype or the forums. Our contact details can be found on our profiles, or on the left of any of our posts (see the Skype icon).

Alternatively, send an email anytime to admin [at] discoveryfluk.com.

Thanks.

It may have taken some time to get done, as we didn't immediately require his services here, but we would now like to welcome DualKatanas to the admin team!

His repeated and consistent RP skills, helpful and positive attitude towards the community in general, dedication to the server and its well-being, exemplary performance and actions have been noticed. As a unanimous admin decision, we have decided to promote him to the rank of server administrator on the server and the forums. We are delighted to welcome him as an addition to the admin team here at Discovery UK, and are sure that he'll make a fine addition to the team.

My congratulations go out to him, and we hope he can keep up his excellent performance for us

First of all, I would like to start off by saying thanks to those of you who have donated to the server fund. Your contributions have not gone unnoticed, and as promised, if you left your forum username, you have been credited in this thread:

Discovery UK Server Fund

I would like to say that we are nearing closer to our total, and when I get myself some more money together (after I stop having to pay real bills), I will order us our new server, and boost the player slots considerably. We've all noticed a rise in the number of players recently, and a lower ping would probably help us a lot with some of our more distant players.

Thanks for all your help in supporting the community so far

Due to the recent climb in player count at Discovery UK, we have been on the lookout for new administrators for the past few months. I would like to mention that many of you have been consistent in your RP, and your interaction within the community. You have been noticed, and I thank you for the excellent show you have displayed. You are a credit to UK, and it is a pleasure to RP alongside most of you. Further information regarding the changes can be found here.

Factions have been looked over and given appropriate tags according to their status. Please check yours and make changes if necessary. PM me or Josh if there are any problems.

Tags are as follows:

[Approved] - Approved by the administration, they are to be contacted if anything needs setting up.
[Pending] - Has been spotted by an admin and put through for approval. If it takes too long to be approved, PM me or Josh on the forums and we'll give it a bump.
[Inactive] - Inactive due to a suspension longer than 2 weeks, or an urgent update is needed. If no action is taken, it's up for grabs.
[Suspended] - Suspended due to inactivity. Once a faction has been suspended for two weeks, it is considered [Inactive] (see [Inactive]).
[Postponed] - Postponed for a specific reason, server is too small is one example, or needs a stronger role-play story. A reason will be provided.
[Denied] - Denied, if denied, look over your request and think why, then fix this if you really want it approved. A reason will be provided.

The KNF, needs to be updated urgently. Not sure what's going on there. KNF updated.

I will need a lot of community input for this to work, so please, when it's up, post there so every faction member is on record. If you don't post your factions, then your faction may be considered as inactive, and it's status set to suspended. To prevent this, please PM me or Josh as soon as possible, or reply to this topic.

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The faction status review thread is now finally complete. Thanks to all of those who submitted their faction rosters to us for inclusion. Factions who had a role-call on the forum will not be required to give us their member names - we've taken them from your rosters or creation requests. If you're not listed on the thread, then please leave a reply at the bottom, and an admin will update it when they get a chance.