Hello everyone,

It is with great pleasure that I bring you MultiChat 1.8 - which I like to call the "Unity" update.

I call it this because it is an update that does more to bring all your servers together and makes MultiChat better than it ever has been before.

Firstly, this update is the first step towards full MultiChat support for MySQL and SQLite. It would be too dramatic to go from no SQL support to suddenly using it for everything, so this update implements support for MySQL and SQLite on the MultiChatSpigot and MultiChatSponge parts of the plugin. This means that your nicknames can now be synced across all your servers if you wish using MySQL, this includes between Spigot and Sponge servers!

The remainder of the MySQL and SQLite support for the rest of the plugin should follow in v1.9. This is the "trial" so to say, to iron out any creases before we roll it out everywhere.

For a very long time, Sponge support has lagged behind Spigot support in the plugin, and with this update I end this inequality! All of the previously implemented nickname features present on Spigot are now present on Sponge too. This update essentially brings Sponge up to speed with the Spigot version of the plugin to make sure all your servers work together seamlessly, especially now nicknames can be synced between them!

There are a host of new features available in this update and I present the changelog below:

• Added support for MySQL and SQLite for MultiChatSpigot AND MultiChatSponge
• Added MultiChat Database Manager to be used across all parts of the plugin
  
• Nicknames can be synced across multiple Spigot and Sponge servers using a MySQL database
• Added migration command to convert from file based storage to SQL
• Added "Proxy Execute" function that allows Proxy commands to be executed from Spigot & Sponge
• Added privacy options to config.yml to disable logging for private messages, staff & group chat
• Added config option to allow new player welcome messages to be displayed privately or broadcast or both
• Added minimum length for nicknames in both Spigot and Sponge
• Added permission to bypass nickname blacklist (multichatspigot.nick.blacklist/multichatsponge.nick.blacklist)
• Improved the local and global commands to allow direct messaging with /global [message] etc.
• Can now add aliases for local and global in the config.yml like /g and /l
• Re-built file based nickname storage in Sponge
• Added more advanced name management system to Sponge (the same once that is used in Spigot)
• Added colour and format permissions to Sponge nickname command
• Added special characters permission to Sponge nickname command
• Added max length to Sponge nicknames and override permission
• Added realname command to Sponge
• Added username command to Sponge
• Added French Translation for all config files (Thanks to Nogapra! If any of the translations are wrong then it is my fault as I had to make some last minute tweaks!)
  
• Fixed an issue where chat control settings, mute, freeze etc. would not apply to local chat
• Fixed a potential deadlock that could occur if lots of players were online at once
• Fixed an issue that stopped the MultiChat local format working when no_global was enabled
• Fixed a bug that prevented the MultiChatExecute command working with Sponge
• Many other minor bug fixes

If this update has not brought the feature you were looking for, then feel free to contact me on our Discord, or open up an issue on GitHub for it! Chances are it is already on my to-do list, and I hope that 1.9 brings full MySQL support across the board, as well as a possible overhaul of chat channels etc. to give you the ability to define your own channels and more.

Now for the important bit. The update instructions!

IF YOU DO NOT FOLLOW THESE INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY THEN YOU RISK CORRUPTING YOUR FILES

Firstly, as with any update, BACKUP all your files! I cannot stress this enough. Particularly your nickname data files if you intend to migrate to SQL... Just in case anything happens to go wrong! I have tested everything a lot, and so has the MultiChat community, but there will always be bugs introduced with new features.

The Wiki will now be the place to go for update instructions, so please follow this link to get to the 1.8 update guidance: https://github.com/MultiChat/Development/wiki/Updates#updating-to-v18-from-v175

Other than that, I just want to wish everyone well in these strange and unprecedented times. I hope that you are your familes are healthy. Make the most of this infinite online community to maintain contact with your friends across the world.

I am of course, still as busy as always, but I will try to make the most of being stuck at home during this situation, and who knows, v1.9 may come sooner than expected.

I am trying to keep on top of all the support messages coming through, but MultiChat has gone from being a small staff chat plugin for 1 server, to being used on over 300 bungeecord networks controlling over 2000 individual spigot / sponge servers. I am happy that so many of you are making use of the plugin, but unfortunately I am still only one (very busy) person. So I thank the community for helping me out with providing support where required, particularly stw222 who has served as the Discord "community support" guru lately! If anyone else wants to be listed as a "community support" helper on discord, then all you need to do is keep being active on there and helping out as many people as you can. I will notice, that I can guarantee.

Thanks as always for using MultiChat, and I will give you as many more features and updates as I can as soon as possible!

~ Revilo