I like the portal bug/problem and personally wouldn't mind if Notch keeps it the way it is.
I like fixing portals manually, it is either really easy or really difficult to fix each individual portal. The problem area has to be dealt with in it's own way and it adds a unique challenge that, to me, is fun to overcome.
But maybe i'm alone in thinking this way...
[b]This is what the problem is and how to fix it, sort of...
[/b]
I have fixed more than 15 portals, so far... the vast majority of mine have not worked the first time and i've become really good at fixing them, i thought I'd share my methods.
So far i have a 100% success rate and i've had almost every problem possible.
I hope this helps at least 1 person.
[b]The basics:[/b]
1. The Nether correlates to the surface world with an 8:1 ratio. (1 chunk = a 2x2 area.)
2. Building a portal on the surface will spawn a portal in the Nether (after you activate or use the portal)
3. Building a portal in the Nether will spawn a portal on the surface (after you activate or use the portal)
4. 8 blocks on the surface = 1 block in the Nether. = 8(1)
5. The surface and the Nether share the same cardinal directions.
6. You maintain your direction when you enter the Nether.
7. The correlation spots only change as you move horizontally through either world. you can freely change the elevation of your portals in either world and it will maintain its correlation spot in the other world.
8. The minimal distance between [b]perfectly aligned portals**[/b] is 16 blocks on the surface, 1 block in the Nether, which is 16(1)
[b]**[/b]If portals are not perfectly aligned i recommend [b]at least 80(10)[/b] 80 blocks on the surface, 10 blocks in the Nether as recommended in my example. For the best results I suggest [b]at least 128(16) because there seems to be a 1 portal per Nether chunk (16x16 area) limit, further testing required.
[b]The Problem[/b]
You build a portal on the surface and name it Portal A.
You enter portal A and get a loading screen: “Entering the Nether”
The game looks "down" at the correlated spot in the Nether but it is unsafe for a portal,
[b]The problem is because it does NOT build Portal B![/b]
In this example it cannot build it because a mountain is in the way.
The game finds the nearest safe place to create a portal, which is 10 blocks north, and it is named Portal C.
The Nether loads and you are standing inside of portal C.
You don’t realize the problem yet, to you it appears that everything went smoothly.
You step back into Portal C, you get a loading screening: “Now leaving the Nether”
The game looks "up" at the correlated spot for Portal C which is exactly 80 blocks north of your original portal, it is safe and the closest spot, so it creates a new portal. Portal D.
You load back on the surface in portal D, 80 blocks north of Portal A.
Portal C and D are connected as entrance/exit, but Portal A only acts as an entrance to Portal C.
[b]How to Fix.[/b]
You need to build Portal B!
The first thing you need to do is find out where Portal B needs to be built in the Nether by measuring the distance between Portal D and portal A.
In this example they are 80 blocks apart.
[b]Divide by 8.[/b]
[b]For long distances, 100+ blocks, simply count how long it takes to cross that distance and divide by 8[/b], this is approximately how long it will take to walk to Portal B's spot in the Nether.
Enter Portal D facing in the direction of Portal A.
When you load in the Nether you will be facing the direction in which the obstruction exists.
Remove the obstruction.
[b]- If it is a wall/mountain you will need to dig out a space for a portal.
- if it is a lava lake you will have to build a platform
- If it is lava fall you will have to divert the falls.[/b]
with the obstruction cleared count 10 blocks and build portal B
When you enter portal B the game will look at the surface and find Portal A.
Portal B and portal A will now function as 2 way portals connected to each other.
You can now destroy both Portal C and Portal D if you don’t want them.
I didn't have this problem on my one-and-only portal, but I just wanted to mention that I rarely see a post describe a problem and its solution so completely and clearly.
Thanks.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
TNT HATES racism.
Maybe it will help if you whine about it some more.
This is essentially how I fixed up my own portals back when I was first exploring the Nether. I'm still not 100% sure they're in exactly the right places, but they work both ways and don't seem to be making extra portals, so that's enough for me.
This is a really good explanation and demonstration of how to fix them up, though. Hopefully it'll help people fix up their portals too.
Incidentally, another useful tip is that the vertical distance doesn't matter. So once you've managed to work out where your portals need to be, you can move them directly up or down in either the Nether or the surface world as needed. (Build the new ones one at a time and make sure they're working properly before you destroy the old portals.) I've used this trick to put my Nether portals into a protected underground corridor -- and it also means that I can enter my sea-level base portal, walk a short distance along a level corridor in the Nether, and be transported to my near-bedrock mining zone. (A drop pool would have been faster, but my mining zone is quite a fair distance away as well.)
2. Building a portal on the surface will spawn a portal in the Nether
3. Building a portal in the Nether will spawn a portal on the surface.
As far as I can tell, these statements are incorrect or incomplete. Portals spawn either on activation ( ) or when you first travel through one. I'm not sure which. If a portal frame is already placed in the proper location on the other side, then the portals will just link, and no portal generation takes place.
Good job on the guide. It's a simpler explanation than others I've seen. I also like portals the way they are now.
As with others, I think your diagrams and explanations are first-rate - thanks!
I also support your conclusions, my opinion is that portals work pretty much as intended. It's not really that difficult to make them work, and the key is establishing a safe landing location in the Nether.
This is essentially how I fixed up my own portals back when I was first exploring the Nether. I'm still not 100% sure they're in exactly the right places, but they work both ways and don't seem to be making extra portals, so that's enough for me.
This is a really good explanation and demonstration of how to fix them up, though. Hopefully it'll help people fix up their portals too.
Incidentally, another useful tip is that the vertical distance doesn't matter. So once you've managed to work out where your portals need to be, you can move them directly up or down in either the Nether or the surface world as needed. (Build the new ones one at a time and make sure they're working properly before you destroy the old portals.) I've used this trick to put my Nether portals into a protected underground corridor -- and it also means that I can enter my sea-level base portal, walk a short distance along a level corridor in the Nether, and be transported to my near-bedrock mining zone. (A drop pool would have been faster, but my mining zone is quite a fair distance away as well.)
Absolutely correct!
Vertical placement does not matter. I have moved a portal from the very top of the Nether all the way down to the lava lake level and they still link up perfectly fine.
2. Building a portal on the surface will spawn a portal in the Nether
3. Building a portal in the Nether will spawn a portal on the surface.
As far as I can tell, these statements are incorrect or incomplete. Portals spawn either on activation ( ) or when you first travel through one. I'm not sure which. If a portal frame is already placed in the proper location on the other side, then the portals will just link, and no portal generation takes place.
Good job on the guide. It's a simpler explanation than others I've seen. I also like portals the way they are now.
You are correct!
It is only after you light/enter the portal that a new portal is created in the other world.
I would love to know how to fix the problem that I currently have. Which is any portal I make takes me back to the last portal that was made in the nether. I walked literally 30 mins in one direction in the real world, created a portal and when I enter it once again I am sent back to the last portal that was created in the nether. It is kind of cool because I can always get back to my base, but it almost kind of sucks because I can never use a portal in the nether to go anywhere in the real world other than my base.
I would love to know how to fix the problem that I currently have. Which is any portal I make takes me back to the last portal that was made in the nether. I walked literally 30 mins in one direction in the real world, created a portal and when I enter it once again I am sent back to the last portal that was created in the nether. It is kind of cool because I can always get back to my base, but it almost kind of sucks because I can never use a portal in the nether to go anywhere in the real world other than my base.
I will create a diagram for you.
I've had to fix that problem many times, it's the same basic problem with an extra twist.
I've had to fix that problem many times, it's the same basic problem with an extra twist.
That would be awesome.
I tried destroying some portals but it didn't really work. I didn't want to destroy the portal in the nether because I had spent 2 days making a minecart system to it.
I've had to fix that problem many times, it's the same basic problem with an extra twist.
That would be awesome.
I tried destroying some portals but it didn't really work. I didn't want to destroy the portal in the nether because I had spent 2 days making a minecart system to it.
Please excuse my laziness but i didn't have to create a new picture for this explanation.
This is your situation.
Everytime you create a new portal (portal D) it just links back to your Portal B.
Here is how to fix.
Find out where your game wants to make Portal C, in this picture it is marked with an X.
You have no choice but to build Portal C yourself in the Nether.
1. Count the distance between Portal D and Portal A, in this case you said it was 30 minutes away.
2. Divide by 8, 30/8 = 3.75 minutes.
3. Face the direction of Portal D
4. Enter Portal A, walk 3.75 minutes and build Portal C.
I can tell you right now there is an obstruction in the way. Since it is 3.75 minutes wide it is probably a lava lake or a pretty massive mountain.
Clear the obstruction, build Portal C.
Time the distance between your new portal C and portal B, it should be exactly 1/8th the distance between A and D in the same exact direction.
Updated "the Basics" with a new rule of thumb, the minimal distance.
8. The minimal distance between portals is at least 80 blocks on the surface, 10 blocks in the Nether as in my example, but for the best results I suggest at least 128 blocks between portals on the surface, and 16 blocks distance in the Nether. There seems to be a 1 portal per Nether chunk (16x16 area) limit...
I've had portals work with less than 16 blocks between them in the Nether, but i believe they were in their own Nether chunks.
To avoid frustration make sure there is at least 16 blocks in between your Nether portals, 128 blocks in between your surface portals.
Smaller Nether distances as close as 2 blocks away are theoretically possible but unlikely to work unless you can see where your chunks are with a map editor and avoid building Nether portals within the same Nether Chunk or juust get lucky with your placement.
For example: Building a portal in the center of a Nether chunk will restrict any portals from working as 2 way portals within 8 blocks in every direction, building on the edge of a Nether chunk will restrict 2 way portals for 1 block in one direction and 16 blocks in another direction.
If you can find out where your Nether chunks are you could possibly build portals with only a single block in between them but this is just a hypothesis for now.
Stick to 128 surface blocks, 16 Nether blocks between portal for worry free portal placement.
I just now tried your guide, and it worked without a flaw! Now I've got to redo my portal room in celebration of a functional portal!
I do have one little tip for lazy people: MC edit. Select one block of portal A (referring to the guide) then fly over to portal D (the duplicate portal created on the surface), and select a block there, too. I don't use MCedit very much and don't know how to do anything fancy, but it gave me a little prompt that showed the dimensions of the selected area. For me, it was 60x160 (WxL.) Divide those two numbers by 8 (7x20 for me), and then build the portal in the nether in the corresponding area. If your portals are far apart or separated by rough terrain, this will make it easier to count.
If your width was 1 (assuming you selected the same block in both portals; I selected the lower right in both to be sure), then your nether portal will be directly behind the misplaced portal. If there IS a width, then it gets slightly more annoying. It's easy to build a few blocks out in one more direction, but you have to pay attention to orientation. To help with this, it's going to be in an either dangerous or unsuitable area, but it's best to simply pay attention to the direction you're facing. It's helpful to know that you come out of a portal facing the same way you entered it in
I just now tried your guide, and it worked without a flaw! Now I've got to redo my portal room in celebration of a functional portal!
I do have one little tip for lazy people: MC edit. Select one block of portal A (referring to the guide) then fly over to portal D (the duplicate portal created on the surface), and select a block there, too. I don't use MCedit very much and don't know how to do anything fancy, but it gave me a little prompt that showed the dimensions of the selected area. For me, it was 60x160 (WxL.) Divide those two numbers by 8 (7x20 for me), and then build the portal in the nether in the corresponding area.
If your width was 1 (assuming you selected the same block in both portals; I selected the lower right in both to be sure), then your nether portal will be directly behind the misplaced portal. If there IS a width, then it gets slightly more annoying. It's easy to build a few blocks out in one more direction, but you have to pay attention to orientation. To help with this, it's going to be in an either dangerous or unsuitable area, but it's best to simply pay attention to the direction you're facing. It's helpful to know that you come out of a portal facing the same way you entered it in
Awesome!
My goal of helping at least 1 person has been accomplished!
My goal of helping at least 1 person has been accomplished!
You've helped more than one person, Addicted. I've spent probably the last 8 hours torturing myself with portals, but I'm finally getting a handle on things now. I think the geographic variability of the Nether is the real problem, not the portals themselves.
I'm working on a tutorial for how to integrate Nether portals with dougbenham's TeleportSigns mod. I'm a bit of a Stargate geek, and my theory is that Notch basically has the same problem that the Ancients had in that series; namely, that the Stargate addressing system was not sufficiently fine-grained enough to allow site to site transport on anything smaller than a planet. Gate addresses represented a single planet; two gates on the same planet caused problems.
In the Stargate scenario, however, there was a solution to that problem; the Rings. The Rings were able to perform site to site teleportation, on a single planet, similar to the teleporters in Star Trek. The TeleportSigns mod is analogous with that here.
So my system is going to revolve around each Nether chunk/128 overworld block representing a "planet," or what I'd call a Local Teleportation Zone, or LTZ. Only one Nether portal can exist per LTZ, but within each LTZ I'd use TeleportSigns. So people can have instant teleportation within an LTZ with the mod, but move from one LTZ to another quickly via the Nether. Another analogy you could think of would be impulse engines for short distances (TeleportSigns) as opposed to warp/hyperdrive for large distances. (The Nether)
Groups of LTZes (say, four, for 512 blocks) could then be referred to as RTZes, (Regional Teleportation Zones) and linked via their own signs in the Nether, with the Nether's own coord system. In this way, extremely large volumes of Minecraft space could eventually be charted, organised, and travelled through very rapidly.
Notch's idea with the portals has been good, as far as it goes, and he has given us a needed piece of the puzzle, in terms of the macroscopic or regional scale component; but we have also needed a microscopic and much more precise component as well, which is where TeleportSigns comes in.
Just as Nether portals by themselves are an incomplete solution, however, there are two major reasons why doug's mod alone cannot be used.
a} The Nether is on a different coordinate system to the overworld. I entered in overworld coordinates for a Nether sign, and found myself suspended over an ocean of lava for a few seconds, before dying the proverbial horrible flaming death. :wink.gif:
b} I'd propose a gateroom for each LTZ, with a library of signs containing addresses within that LTZ lining the walls. Addresses would likely reach a sufficiently large number per LTZ, that they would have to be stored within each LTZ; attempting to simply have a single master list of LTZ addresses somewhere would quickly become completely unmanageable.
I think, however, that this combined system could work extremely well.
I like the portal bug/problem and personally wouldn't mind if Notch keeps it the way it is.
I like fixing portals manually, it is either really easy or really difficult to fix each individual portal. The problem area has to be dealt with in it's own way and it adds a unique challenge that, to me, is fun to overcome.
But maybe i'm alone in thinking this way...
[b]This is what the problem is and how to fix it, sort of...
[/b]
I have fixed more than 15 portals, so far... the vast majority of mine have not worked the first time and i've become really good at fixing them, i thought I'd share my methods.
So far i have a 100% success rate and i've had almost every problem possible.
I hope this helps at least 1 person.
[b]The basics:[/b]
1. The Nether correlates to the surface world with an 8:1 ratio. (1 chunk = a 2x2 area.)
2. Building a portal on the surface will spawn a portal in the Nether (after you activate or use the portal)
3. Building a portal in the Nether will spawn a portal on the surface (after you activate or use the portal)
4. 8 blocks on the surface = 1 block in the Nether. = 8(1)
5. The surface and the Nether share the same cardinal directions.
6. You maintain your direction when you enter the Nether.
7. The correlation spots only change as you move horizontally through either world. you can freely change the elevation of your portals in either world and it will maintain its correlation spot in the other world.
8. The minimal distance between [b]perfectly aligned portals**[/b] is 16 blocks on the surface, 1 block in the Nether, which is 16(1)
[b]**[/b]If portals are not perfectly aligned i recommend [b]at least 80(10)[/b] 80 blocks on the surface, 10 blocks in the Nether as recommended in my example. For the best results I suggest [b]at least 128(16) because there seems to be a 1 portal per Nether chunk (16x16 area) limit, further testing required.
[b]The Problem[/b]
You build a portal on the surface and name it Portal A.
You enter portal A and get a loading screen: “Entering the Nether”
The game looks "down" at the correlated spot in the Nether but it is unsafe for a portal,
[b]The problem is because it does NOT build Portal B![/b]
In this example it cannot build it because a mountain is in the way.
The game finds the nearest safe place to create a portal, which is 10 blocks north, and it is named Portal C.
The Nether loads and you are standing inside of portal C.
You don’t realize the problem yet, to you it appears that everything went smoothly.
You step back into Portal C, you get a loading screening: “Now leaving the Nether”
The game looks "up" at the correlated spot for Portal C which is exactly 80 blocks north of your original portal, it is safe and the closest spot, so it creates a new portal. Portal D.
You load back on the surface in portal D, 80 blocks north of Portal A.
Portal C and D are connected as entrance/exit, but Portal A only acts as an entrance to Portal C.
[b]How to Fix.[/b]
You need to build Portal B!
The first thing you need to do is find out where Portal B needs to be built in the Nether by measuring the distance between Portal D and portal A.
In this example they are 80 blocks apart.
[b]Divide by 8.[/b]
[b]For long distances, 100+ blocks, simply count how long it takes to cross that distance and divide by 8[/b], this is approximately how long it will take to walk to Portal B's spot in the Nether.
Enter Portal D facing in the direction of Portal A.
When you load in the Nether you will be facing the direction in which the obstruction exists.
Remove the obstruction.
[b]- If it is a wall/mountain you will need to dig out a space for a portal.
- if it is a lava lake you will have to build a platform
- If it is lava fall you will have to divert the falls.[/b]
with the obstruction cleared count 10 blocks and build portal B
When you enter portal B the game will look at the surface and find Portal A.
Portal B and portal A will now function as 2 way portals connected to each other.
You can now destroy both Portal C and Portal D if you don’t want them.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
Thanks.
Maybe it will help if you whine about it some more.
I'm sick of my portal bringing me back a brisk jog away from my base.
Let me know if you need any more help, I'm not sure if i've included all relevant information or not.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
This is a really good explanation and demonstration of how to fix them up, though. Hopefully it'll help people fix up their portals too.
Incidentally, another useful tip is that the vertical distance doesn't matter. So once you've managed to work out where your portals need to be, you can move them directly up or down in either the Nether or the surface world as needed. (Build the new ones one at a time and make sure they're working properly before you destroy the old portals.) I've used this trick to put my Nether portals into a protected underground corridor -- and it also means that I can enter my sea-level base portal, walk a short distance along a level corridor in the Nether, and be transported to my near-bedrock mining zone. (A drop pool would have been faster, but my mining zone is quite a fair distance away as well.)
So linking this in the FAQ... many people would benefit from this! :biggrin.gif:
As far as I can tell, these statements are incorrect or incomplete. Portals spawn either on activation ( ) or when you first travel through one. I'm not sure which. If a portal frame is already placed in the proper location on the other side, then the portals will just link, and no portal generation takes place.
Good job on the guide. It's a simpler explanation than others I've seen. I also like portals the way they are now.
I also support your conclusions, my opinion is that portals work pretty much as intended. It's not really that difficult to make them work, and the key is establishing a safe landing location in the Nether.
Absolutely correct!
Vertical placement does not matter. I have moved a portal from the very top of the Nether all the way down to the lava lake level and they still link up perfectly fine.
I will add this into the basics.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
You are correct!
It is only after you light/enter the portal that a new portal is created in the other world.
Added this into the basics.
Thank you.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
The Real Mindcrack- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAgKV0orNvE
Minecraft Mindcrack Let's Play - http://www.youtube.com/user/GuudeBoulderfist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I will create a diagram for you.
I've had to fix that problem many times, it's the same basic problem with an extra twist.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
That would be awesome.
I tried destroying some portals but it didn't really work. I didn't want to destroy the portal in the nether because I had spent 2 days making a minecart system to it.
The Real Mindcrack- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAgKV0orNvE
Minecraft Mindcrack Let's Play - http://www.youtube.com/user/GuudeBoulderfist
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Please excuse my laziness but i didn't have to create a new picture for this explanation.
This is your situation.
Everytime you create a new portal (portal D) it just links back to your Portal B.
Here is how to fix.
Find out where your game wants to make Portal C, in this picture it is marked with an X.
You have no choice but to build Portal C yourself in the Nether.
1. Count the distance between Portal D and Portal A, in this case you said it was 30 minutes away.
2. Divide by 8, 30/8 = 3.75 minutes.
3. Face the direction of Portal D
4. Enter Portal A, walk 3.75 minutes and build Portal C.
I can tell you right now there is an obstruction in the way. Since it is 3.75 minutes wide it is probably a lava lake or a pretty massive mountain.
Clear the obstruction, build Portal C.
Time the distance between your new portal C and portal B, it should be exactly 1/8th the distance between A and D in the same exact direction.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
I've had portals work with less than 16 blocks between them in the Nether, but i believe they were in their own Nether chunks.
To avoid frustration make sure there is at least 16 blocks in between your Nether portals, 128 blocks in between your surface portals.
Smaller Nether distances as close as 2 blocks away are theoretically possible but unlikely to work unless you can see where your chunks are with a map editor and avoid building Nether portals within the same Nether Chunk or juust get lucky with your placement.
For example: Building a portal in the center of a Nether chunk will restrict any portals from working as 2 way portals within 8 blocks in every direction, building on the edge of a Nether chunk will restrict 2 way portals for 1 block in one direction and 16 blocks in another direction.
If you can find out where your Nether chunks are you could possibly build portals with only a single block in between them but this is just a hypothesis for now.
Stick to 128 surface blocks, 16 Nether blocks between portal for worry free portal placement.
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
I do have one little tip for lazy people: MC edit. Select one block of portal A (referring to the guide) then fly over to portal D (the duplicate portal created on the surface), and select a block there, too. I don't use MCedit very much and don't know how to do anything fancy, but it gave me a little prompt that showed the dimensions of the selected area. For me, it was 60x160 (WxL.) Divide those two numbers by 8 (7x20 for me), and then build the portal in the nether in the corresponding area. If your portals are far apart or separated by rough terrain, this will make it easier to count.
If your width was 1 (assuming you selected the same block in both portals; I selected the lower right in both to be sure), then your nether portal will be directly behind the misplaced portal. If there IS a width, then it gets slightly more annoying. It's easy to build a few blocks out in one more direction, but you have to pay attention to orientation. To help with this, it's going to be in an either dangerous or unsuitable area, but it's best to simply pay attention to the direction you're facing. It's helpful to know that you come out of a portal facing the same way you entered it in
Awesome!
My goal of helping at least 1 person has been accomplished!
viewtopic.php?f=35&t=93046&start=30
You've helped more than one person, Addicted. I've spent probably the last 8 hours torturing myself with portals, but I'm finally getting a handle on things now. I think the geographic variability of the Nether is the real problem, not the portals themselves.
I'm working on a tutorial for how to integrate Nether portals with dougbenham's TeleportSigns mod. I'm a bit of a Stargate geek, and my theory is that Notch basically has the same problem that the Ancients had in that series; namely, that the Stargate addressing system was not sufficiently fine-grained enough to allow site to site transport on anything smaller than a planet. Gate addresses represented a single planet; two gates on the same planet caused problems.
In the Stargate scenario, however, there was a solution to that problem; the Rings. The Rings were able to perform site to site teleportation, on a single planet, similar to the teleporters in Star Trek. The TeleportSigns mod is analogous with that here.
So my system is going to revolve around each Nether chunk/128 overworld block representing a "planet," or what I'd call a Local Teleportation Zone, or LTZ. Only one Nether portal can exist per LTZ, but within each LTZ I'd use TeleportSigns. So people can have instant teleportation within an LTZ with the mod, but move from one LTZ to another quickly via the Nether. Another analogy you could think of would be impulse engines for short distances (TeleportSigns) as opposed to warp/hyperdrive for large distances. (The Nether)
Groups of LTZes (say, four, for 512 blocks) could then be referred to as RTZes, (Regional Teleportation Zones) and linked via their own signs in the Nether, with the Nether's own coord system. In this way, extremely large volumes of Minecraft space could eventually be charted, organised, and travelled through very rapidly.
Notch's idea with the portals has been good, as far as it goes, and he has given us a needed piece of the puzzle, in terms of the macroscopic or regional scale component; but we have also needed a microscopic and much more precise component as well, which is where TeleportSigns comes in.
Just as Nether portals by themselves are an incomplete solution, however, there are two major reasons why doug's mod alone cannot be used.
a} The Nether is on a different coordinate system to the overworld. I entered in overworld coordinates for a Nether sign, and found myself suspended over an ocean of lava for a few seconds, before dying the proverbial horrible flaming death. :wink.gif:
b} I'd propose a gateroom for each LTZ, with a library of signs containing addresses within that LTZ lining the walls. Addresses would likely reach a sufficiently large number per LTZ, that they would have to be stored within each LTZ; attempting to simply have a single master list of LTZ addresses somewhere would quickly become completely unmanageable.
I think, however, that this combined system could work extremely well.