Hey folks!
It's been a good while since I last posted a big update, but you can reset that counter to 0 days now.

There's a lot to go over, so let's start with a changelog and then go over some notes.

Changelog:
(get yourself a beverage of choice, there's a lot to unpack)

• Rewrote documentation: Now contains more details, more articles, more examples and less of a pain in the butt to use. You can also contribute to articles since they are served from Github. Visit it at https://help.openaudiomc.net/
• Errors and tips: Staff now receives warnings in chat when a sound failed to play for them. It contains what went wrong and where so you can easily debug problems to see why your sound isn't working (which is much more useful then the useless "Media created" message you used to get as feedback) (this can be disabled in the config)
• Region mixing: Regions can now be mixed. They used to be stuck at 100% volume, but executing /oa region edit presents you with a GUI where you can select one of the regions on your current location and change their volume, so they'll never overpower other sounds or drown them out.
• Audio options: Media commands already supported Options, but these are now easier to use. They'll give more meaningful feedback if you configured them incorrectly (telling you what else you need to enter) but are also more forgiving towards common mistakes. Documentation and example can be read here: https://help.openaudiomc.net/#media
• Audio mixing: We aren't done yet with the cool new media options. You can now also add a volume tag to any of your played sounds to change it's volume (on a scale from 1 to 100%, default is 100%) to properly mix your audio.
• Speakers: Speakers were pretty cool already, but they just got a whole lot cooler. Right-clicking on any speaker (new or existing) open the Speaker GUI that you are used to, but it now has an extra button to toggle its mode between 2D and 3D. 2D is the usual way that you are used to, but toggling it to 3D will make the speaker run in surround sound and not only change its volume, but also it's stereo panning based on your relative location. This also means you can now hear multiple speakers of the same source (so when used in surround, you can hear all nearby speakers instead of just the closest one). More information can be read here: https://help.openaudiomc.net/#speakers
• Philips Hue: Hue got some minor improvements (lights will now update faster)
• Speaker and Region performance: got a big boost, old unused speakers will automatically get de-activated and everything now runs multithreaded. (has the side effect that speakers which got removed with worldedit may take up to 30 seconds before also being removed from OpenAudioMc). So in short, more speakers (a few thousand), less lag (which is more better)
• Messaging: the response messages you get with the openaudiomc admin commands are 100% less trashy, with propper color formatting and feedback. (prefixes but also telling you how many players got effected by play/stop commands etc)
• Bug fixes: Older versions were prone to have audio corruptions with slower internet connections (sounds refusing to go away because they love you oh-so-much), but they'll now get yeeted when they have to. (aka, a better experience)
• CORS: Sources with invalid CORS headers will now be handled by a content proxy, enforcing propper SSL and other restriction settings. (lower response times for 3D speakers, and less fuss)
• Permissions: permissions got boosted and are now properly documented here https://mindgamesnl.github.io/OpenAudioMc/permissions.html (both for bungeecord and spigot)
• MEDIA-API-Callbacks: This feature is only useful for developers (as of now), but you can now get callbacks whenever a sound ended for a client. Super useful for when using your own show orchestration
• TrainCarts fixes: resolved issues with the traincarts hook (read more here https://mindgamesnl.github.io/OpenAudioMc/traincarts.html)
• Stability: Here's the usual notice saying in a vague way that the stability of the platform got improved. There's a lot to say about it, how I spend days optimizing connections and the network balancing but since that's propper nerd shit ill just keep it short and say its faster and more stable because that's all you really care about.
• Storage: users with less stable servers had complaints about their changes not being saved (speaker settings, speakers themselves, or regions) but OpenAudioMc will now save all of its current settings whenever your world saves.
• Multi world support: some of you who were having problems with multi-world plugins now have to cry less in corners since openaudiomc now waits with loading speakers/regions until their respective world got loaded.
• Privacy and rules: wrote up this document, just to be clear https://github.com/Mindgamesnl/OpenAudioMc/blob/master/LICENCE_and_PRIVACY.md

As you have read, a lot of work went into this update.
I want to thank 56738#9296 (he's in the OA discord) a ton for helping out with some of the math behind speakers and bringing a lot of useful feedback that got implemented in this update.

Also want to thank Package - VACANT FUTURE#5291 for his help testing a beta build and the support in the discord.
A lot of work went into this update, spending all the free time I had for weeks on end and it got to me at some points, but he was always in the discord keeping the spirit up and being awesome.

Show them some love in the discord when you have the time!

As for myself, I really poured my heart and soul into this update and hope that you guys will love it as much as I do. Many days and nights have been spent into this enormous update and polishing everything to make it the best it can be. Now that that's all out of the way, I can finally take my full night of sleep again. Take a virtual hug, since I'm thankful to have all of you during these times of isolation. You deserve some love too.

As always, donations are welcome, but please don't feel forced to.

Have a wonderful day, and I genuinely hope this news and update made it that little bit better.

I'll see you all in the next one.
~ Mats, Mindgamesnl