Before I go and build an elaborate automated rail to a far-off town, do minecarts still stop when out of sight? I remember that the last time I tried to send chests/animals (a couple years ago) via minecart a long distance that the minecart lost all momentum - I am assuming once they hit an unloaded chunk?
Everything stops once a chunk is unloaded. If it's unloaded that means it doesn't even exist as far as the game logic is concerned, so NOTHING can happen in an unloaded chunk. I recall one time I was chopping some trees far away from my base. When I went back to that same place 2 months later there was a floating log, and the leaves hadn't decayed yet. So for two months, the chunk was unloaded and nothing happened.
Yup. To reduce load on the computer the game pages chunks in and out of memory by saving them to disk when they are out of range, so nothing happens in the chunk until you return to the area and the chunk is loaded back into memory. The exception would be spawn chunks which remain loaded as long as the player is in the overworld (and you aren't using a mod that unloads them, like Optifine with Smooth World turned on).
Check out a video on youtube by SimplySarc on chunk loaders. I think the one I mean is called "Super Chunk Loaders". I've been using this trick ever since 1.7.2 to have an elaborate automated rail to a far-off town.
One detail: the hoppers must have an item in each of them for the trick to work (ever since one of the 1.7 updates).
One other warning: minecarts (and other entities) can get glitchy. Every once in a while a minecart won't load properly when it's chunk is loaded, and they will block other minecarts (ever since 1.9), but they'll be invisible so you can't fix it. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with that one. Quitting the game and reloading worked last time.
Also, the minecarts shouldn't "stop" when hitting unloaded chunks, they just "pause". They still *should* have momentum and move again once the chunk is loaded.
Everything stops once a chunk is unloaded. If it's unloaded that means it doesn't even exist as far as the game logic is concerned, so NOTHING can happen in an unloaded chunk. I recall one time I was chopping some trees far away from my base. When I went back to that same place 2 months later there was a floating log, and the leaves hadn't decayed yet. So for two months, the chunk was unloaded and nothing happened.
That's interesting to know.
Finally a post that isn't from 2012 or 13 that I can comment on without necroposting.
Also, the minecarts shouldn't "stop" when hitting unloaded chunks, they just "pause". They still *should* have momentum and move again once the chunk is loaded.
In my experience (playing on 1.6.4) that is the case; I've transported villagers back to my main base over distances of 2,000 blocks or more without any issues with them stopping in the middle of the track; I'd push them into a minecart (part of my normal transportation system between bases, used for transporting myself) and run after them; since they move much faster than I can sprint they soon go out of render distance (entities render at a shorter range than chunks do), then to the edge of entity processing chunks (which are 2 chunks less than render distance; in 1.6.4 this is always 8 chunks because the server's view distance is always 10 chunks) - but always ended up at the other end (my tracks actually have several stops but each segment is long enough for them to go out of active chunks; they are basically straight sections of 32 normal rails for every powered rail with minecarts being stopped by unpowered rails at the ends).
Before I go and build an elaborate automated rail to a far-off town, do minecarts still stop when out of sight? I remember that the last time I tried to send chests/animals (a couple years ago) via minecart a long distance that the minecart lost all momentum - I am assuming once they hit an unloaded chunk?
As dropped items don't despawn in unloaded chunks, I assume all entities in unloaded chunks freeze, including minecarts. That's how the game's coded.
Everything stops once a chunk is unloaded. If it's unloaded that means it doesn't even exist as far as the game logic is concerned, so NOTHING can happen in an unloaded chunk. I recall one time I was chopping some trees far away from my base. When I went back to that same place 2 months later there was a floating log, and the leaves hadn't decayed yet. So for two months, the chunk was unloaded and nothing happened.
Yup. To reduce load on the computer the game pages chunks in and out of memory by saving them to disk when they are out of range, so nothing happens in the chunk until you return to the area and the chunk is loaded back into memory. The exception would be spawn chunks which remain loaded as long as the player is in the overworld (and you aren't using a mod that unloads them, like Optifine with Smooth World turned on).
Check out a video on youtube by SimplySarc on chunk loaders. I think the one I mean is called "Super Chunk Loaders". I've been using this trick ever since 1.7.2 to have an elaborate automated rail to a far-off town.
One detail: the hoppers must have an item in each of them for the trick to work (ever since one of the 1.7 updates).
One other warning: minecarts (and other entities) can get glitchy. Every once in a while a minecart won't load properly when it's chunk is loaded, and they will block other minecarts (ever since 1.9), but they'll be invisible so you can't fix it. I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with that one. Quitting the game and reloading worked last time.
Also, the minecarts shouldn't "stop" when hitting unloaded chunks, they just "pause". They still *should* have momentum and move again once the chunk is loaded.
That's interesting to know.
Finally a post that isn't from 2012 or 13 that I can comment on without necroposting.
In my experience (playing on 1.6.4) that is the case; I've transported villagers back to my main base over distances of 2,000 blocks or more without any issues with them stopping in the middle of the track; I'd push them into a minecart (part of my normal transportation system between bases, used for transporting myself) and run after them; since they move much faster than I can sprint they soon go out of render distance (entities render at a shorter range than chunks do), then to the edge of entity processing chunks (which are 2 chunks less than render distance; in 1.6.4 this is always 8 chunks because the server's view distance is always 10 chunks) - but always ended up at the other end (my tracks actually have several stops but each segment is long enough for them to go out of active chunks; they are basically straight sections of 32 normal rails for every powered rail with minecarts being stopped by unpowered rails at the ends).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?