This mod seems interesting, though I had some problems getting it to work with Optifine. When I install Optifine in Minecraft and then this mod, I find that water is completely invisible. I've not tried installing them in the other order yet, but I do find this to be a big downer for this mod.
Something else that I'm not sure if it's a bug or not but it seemed like it to me:
When I was trying to make some charcoal, I set up my little firepit and wood surrounded completely by dirt. Each of my little wood piles were completely full of wood figuring this would give me the best chance of getting as much charcoal as I could get. While I waited for that to finish burning I went and did other things, checking in on it every now and then.
When it finally finished though I saw that my pile of stuff had exploded at some point and bits of wood were laying all about on the ground and some of the dirt was gone. Being quick I gathered up everything I could and put the wood into new stacks around my fire pit thinking that it had failed, and that perhaps a creeper exploded or something near it. When I got all my wood positioned though I opened up the fire interface getting ready to throw some wood in it, when I found I had all sorts of coal in it.
Now you might say that the scattered wood is normal, but the reason I consider this a possible bug is that I was still able to create all the full stacks I had originally. There was literally no break down of the wood, thus getting me charcoal for practically nothing but time.
Anyways I am really looking forward to seeing how this Mod progresses.
Hey, how did you get the water shader to work with forge and it's mod? I tried if and it totally broke my game.
As I say, it's important that you follow the install instructions for each one. I don't remember what the correct order is, but I can recheck what I did tomorrow. For now, here is a screen shot of Industrial Craft working with the Water Shader thanks to this patch...
(Ok so ya Industrial Craft isn't DOING anything in that screenshot other that having some of it's blocks chilling next to some water, but I assure you that if they were wired up they would work just fine.)
My standard design is a 5x5 area, made of cobblestone or smoothstone if I so desire, with the second row glass panes (except next to the door, for security) and a second story, ladder is usually right next to the door inside to go up and down. First floor contains bed, a chest and crafting table. Second floor contains 6 furnaces, basement contains chests, and as I expand a second basement level becomes a minecart hub.
This one is actually 6x6, but hey, whatever. The ladders are spiderproofing as there is access to the roof, and there is a wheat farm out back.
While it is impressive for it's ability to have a 360 view of the landscape, and is nice that it has multiple levels, and only uses materials that are easy enough to get in the start... it really doesn't do much for the breaking the box or visually impressive for me. Don't get me wrong, here I'm fully aware that the current state of my starter house design is "Box with stairs for roof" but that's what I'm trying to get advice on how to get away from for my starter home.
Also something that's bothering me visually about your design is that either your first floor has a low roof and you can't jump at all, or your second floor has low windows and you can't look out them easily.
make some stairs for roofing. Kinda hard to put it in words for the exact procedure without pics..D:
BAM
Stairs for a ceiling. Specifically out of cobblestone, as I consider smooth stone not a good material for a starter house. If I'm baking up smooth stone, then I should be using that to make a cooler project. Don't mind using cobblestone to make stairs though.
Also, I figure if one is lucky enough to start at the corner of a couple of biomes, that using logs from two different tree types is fair game for a starter home.
As for the advice to use cobblestone where I put the dark logs, that's a fair suggestion, but only if I didn't use cobblestone steps for the roof. I think it would mess things up if I had cobblestone above and below.
Also in regards to the advice to use a higher rez texture pack... Clearly I'm willing to use texture packs, but I'm also using a number of mods, so a texture pack that would require me to reinstall all my mods so that I can use hi-rez textures is not a good option right now.
I should also mention, that even though I only show shots of the outside of my ugly starter homes, I need help with the insides also. At the very least, I put in every starter home I create a double chest, crafting table and a furnace. If I can find sheep then I put in a bed also. However, now that I'm starting to experiment with that golden ratio stuff, I'm not sure where to position things, because if I go with the smaller ratio of 5x8 then things seem cramped inside (because as I say, it feels more like a hallways to me than a room), and with 8x13 I feel like my "room" is a touch large and needs to be divided up somehow, but I'm not sure how.
Also I understand it's important to make a house look less like a box, and more like something interesting. As I say, I'm not good with this whole, make things look good so any advice you might have really is welcome.
So I've been playing Minecraft for sometime, and I've never done a truly epic build. That though is not what I'm asking about today. What I was hoping for is some advice on building an aesthetically pleasing starting house.
So this is what I used to do to build a starting house:
1) Clear out a 7x7 area of ground (mainly through cutting down trees so I have building material.)
2) Build walls within that area (So the outside is 7x7 and the inside is 5x5.
3) Put a door smack dab in the middle of one of those walls.
4) Put a roof on so I have an inside area of 3 high.
5) Toss a crafting bench, a couple of chests, a furnace, and a bed inside.
6) Put in some torches so it's nice and cozy.
YAY starting house done.
Ugly starting house really. I hate it. I mean, sure I can make it look a touch better by breaking out holes for windows but that doesn't improve things all that much. So every time I create a new world I try to adjust things a bit so my very basic starting house is just a bit more visually appealing.
For instance, instead of putting the door in the middle of one of the walls, I shift it over one square. The corners of the house I replace with tree trunks. Now with panes of glass being in the game, I try to get a sand a bit earlier than I would otherwise, just so I can put in some windows.
So now I end up with a house looking a touch better, but still fairly ugly.
I've tried to do experiments with the roof to try to make my roofs more interesting, but for a first night I am content with a flat ugly roof. I am not content with an overall ugly house though.
I recently learned that the VoxelBox uses the Golden Ratio in many of their builds, so I've been trying to figure out how to use that in regards to a starter home. Problem with that, is that if I build a house that has an outside size of 5x8, I feel that the inside is a bit to small at 3x6. It feels more like a hallway than a room. If on the other hand I try to build a simple building that is 8x13 (inside 6x11), I feel this is stretching my resources a touch to thin for my first night.
The other problem is the height of the building. While my 5x5 building might look ugly, at least it looks the right height at 4 blocks tall (3 blocks inside). The Voxel guys suggest though a height that matches the golden ratio and demonstrate how much that helps the inside for decorating. But my problem is, because I haven't really figured out how to make a good starting roof, from the outside my starting buildings just look off.
So that's pretty much where I'm at right now in trying to get a starting house that looks good. admittedly, these three images are a touch misleading, as I do try things like putting a cobblestone ceiling on my buildings to try to break up the oddness that I feel from looking at the building as it is now.
So I'm wondering what others do to get their starting houses to look good? Keep in mind that resources are limited. While it might look nice to have some kind of colored wool roof with a slope, you aren't likely to have enough wool (let alone the colors you want) on your first few nights. And I know you could live in a cave while you gather resources so you can make a nice home instead of building a home you are unhappy with, but that's hardly appealing.
We are talking basics here. You've got access to wood, cobblestone, and perhaps some sand to make some windows. We aren't talking about making a mansion, but a basic home that would be pleasing to look at. Also keep in mind that as it's the start of a new world you need to either go get some coal or use wood to make charcoal. So things like smooth stone (and lots of windows) would be in limited supply.
I'm also fully willing to build one thing, and then pull down part of it to improve upon it. What I'm looking for though, is that at the end of any given day that it look at least decent (or else I may as well be living in a cave), and still functional to keep monsters out. The goal is not to make a house that is improved to perfection, but to a point where you can still say it's a starter home but now it's time to move out so you can work on more interesting projects. (So yes, while I'm willing to spend a day gathering resources so that I can improve the house, I'm not likely to use colored wool to make a fancy carpet for the inside of my starter home, as 1) colored wool really isn't a starter material, and 2) I would want to save that stuff for a more interesting project)
I know this challenge is to be done without mods, but I think an interesting version of this map would be one that is set up to work with Equivalent Exchange. All it would take is to put three blocks of iron ore in the island and a single block of redstone. Then the map would work the same for anyone without EE, but someone wanting to play it on EE could in theory expand that little island into a whole world by transmuting stone into other materials.
edit add: Though I suppose you would need a couple of glowstone blocks also.
So I got curious and I decided to do a little test regarding this patch and a few of the mods out there. This was instigated because I noticed a couple of mods changed there wording a bit.
Here's what I saw: Optifine is now compatible with Minecraft Forge. Because Forge is required for such mods as Industrial Craft and what not, I figured I would check to see if with the help of this patch I couldn't have fancy water in my Industrial Craft + BuildCraft World.
My findings: As long as you install everything in the right order this patch lets you use Water Shader and Forge together, and going a step further IC and BC didn't cause any problems when I added them into the mix. Or I should say they didn't cause me any game play problems. It seems that the oil from BC uses code connected to the way water renders, meaning that oil becomes transparent and wavy like water. Yet when the fancy graphics are turned off... the oil stays fancy while the water returns to normal. Hey though, that's nothing really to do with this patch, and a small price to pay to be able to have fancy water in an Industrial Craft + Build Craft World.
I recreated the spreadsheet, but it doesn't appear to be able to handle all numbers. For example, I tried to find characters for the seed -8017520964209081205, but I get a bunch of errors instead of numbers on the first line. I'm not sure if this is a limitation of Excel's number range, or the function.
It's been awhile sense I even looked at the original information I gathered about how numbers and words work for seeds, so I'm not sure with what exactly excel had problems. However, I did notice at a glance a human error in your number.
The number -8017520964209081205 has no Seed Word. Just a reminder, but the lowest number with a seed word is -2147483648
One of the "words" that will give you the lowest seed words can give is Gycxg@
I hope this has helped with any confusion you might have had, though I suspect it's raised other questions. Feel free to ask, and I'll try to answer as best as I am able.
I am trying to record a time lapse building project, and while I know that I could have the cameraman be the builder. However, I would prefer to set up a cameraman to stand in one place to record what the builder does. In an ideal world I would have the cameraman run on the same computer as the builder, but because of the way Minecraft is set up there are problems with this plan.
The main problem being that as soon as the cameraman's window looses focus the menu comes up and the screen darkens. Clearly not a good recording environment. So the basic solution to that was to edit the texture pack so the menu doesn't show up (or perhaps the inventory). The problem is of course that the screen still darkens (and if I try the inventory route, the cameraman shows up).
Ok time for a more advanced solution, and the first thing that comes to mind is to use two computers. I don't like this idea though because that means I need to either enlist someone else's aid or get a second computer. I would rather do this all myself though because I can then record whenever I want and don't have to worry about someone else's availability. Getting a second computer for the soul purpose of doing a recording also doesn't seem cost effective.
So if anyone else has any ideas or tips, I would be glad for them.
So I've decided to explore this map a bit so I can further tempt you into using this seed. As I've strongly hinted there is a secret to be found, if you can reach that distant beach.
Also as people have mentioned there is a massive cave system opened to the surface on this tiny little island. I decided to explore that cave system, I was able to find another secret. But that's sort of vague isn't it? I mean do I mean that I found a catch of diamonds? Do I mean that I found a monster spawner? Surely I can provide a better clue than it's in the cave. Well, I absolutely can provide a better clue. I'll even provide a few of them.
This second secret is related to the first secret. That's a clue as to it's location if you have a map, as well as what it is.
For a better clue as to what it is, I will inform you that it is something you would have never found before 1.8 (for that matter the first secret is also something that wouldn't have been able to be found before 1.8)
I found it without digging tunnels. I think I opened up a whole one area because of a single dirt block that was in the way. And I'm fairly sure that it really wasn't in the way, and that I was just being lazy.
I was in creative mode and was flying through the tunnels. I don't recall what turns I made or how far down I was. That being said I'm fairly sure without the aid of flight that digging and building will be needed to reach some of the ledges and safely descend drops.
Something I haven't had the chance to find out, is if this massive tunnel system connects with any other land. Massive kudos to anyone that can connect to either another island or better yet the mainland, through minimal tunnel digging. That is yes, I know you could bust out a map and use that to find land from the tunnels below. And yes I know that you could dig stairs up as soon as you found land in that manner. But what I would find more impressive is if you found another natural cave exit. Or at the very least found a point so close to the surface that you could hear mobs wondering around above you.
That doesn't sound hard, just time consuming... Yeah, I'm not going to do that that will just take way to long even though there aren't very many islands in a 50 chunk radius to begin with...
Well I assure you that if you've remained on the starting island all you've done for this map is finish your first challenge. Once you reach the beach you can see in the distance, you'll be at your second challenge. What is the second challenge? Well you should get to that beach and explore the land. There are a couple of things about that land you can find out fairly quickly once you reach it. Once you've found those things out it should be apparent what your new challenge is.
Of course once you've reached self sustaining status, you've pretty much finished all real challenges any map offers. After that it's all just exploring at that point.
So I suppose the challenges that exist for any island survival map are the following:
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Something else that I'm not sure if it's a bug or not but it seemed like it to me:
When I was trying to make some charcoal, I set up my little firepit and wood surrounded completely by dirt. Each of my little wood piles were completely full of wood figuring this would give me the best chance of getting as much charcoal as I could get. While I waited for that to finish burning I went and did other things, checking in on it every now and then.
When it finally finished though I saw that my pile of stuff had exploded at some point and bits of wood were laying all about on the ground and some of the dirt was gone. Being quick I gathered up everything I could and put the wood into new stacks around my fire pit thinking that it had failed, and that perhaps a creeper exploded or something near it. When I got all my wood positioned though I opened up the fire interface getting ready to throw some wood in it, when I found I had all sorts of coal in it.
Now you might say that the scattered wood is normal, but the reason I consider this a possible bug is that I was still able to create all the full stacks I had originally. There was literally no break down of the wood, thus getting me charcoal for practically nothing but time.
Anyways I am really looking forward to seeing how this Mod progresses.
0
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As I say, it's important that you follow the install instructions for each one. I don't remember what the correct order is, but I can recheck what I did tomorrow. For now, here is a screen shot of Industrial Craft working with the Water Shader thanks to this patch...
(Ok so ya Industrial Craft isn't DOING anything in that screenshot other that having some of it's blocks chilling next to some water, but I assure you that if they were wired up they would work just fine.)
0
While it is impressive for it's ability to have a 360 view of the landscape, and is nice that it has multiple levels, and only uses materials that are easy enough to get in the start... it really doesn't do much for the breaking the box or visually impressive for me. Don't get me wrong, here I'm fully aware that the current state of my starter house design is "Box with stairs for roof" but that's what I'm trying to get advice on how to get away from for my starter home.
Also something that's bothering me visually about your design is that either your first floor has a low roof and you can't jump at all, or your second floor has low windows and you can't look out them easily.
0
BAM
Stairs for a ceiling. Specifically out of cobblestone, as I consider smooth stone not a good material for a starter house. If I'm baking up smooth stone, then I should be using that to make a cooler project. Don't mind using cobblestone to make stairs though.
Also, I figure if one is lucky enough to start at the corner of a couple of biomes, that using logs from two different tree types is fair game for a starter home.
As for the advice to use cobblestone where I put the dark logs, that's a fair suggestion, but only if I didn't use cobblestone steps for the roof. I think it would mess things up if I had cobblestone above and below.
Also in regards to the advice to use a higher rez texture pack... Clearly I'm willing to use texture packs, but I'm also using a number of mods, so a texture pack that would require me to reinstall all my mods so that I can use hi-rez textures is not a good option right now.
0
Also I understand it's important to make a house look less like a box, and more like something interesting. As I say, I'm not good with this whole, make things look good so any advice you might have really is welcome.
0
So this is what I used to do to build a starting house:
1) Clear out a 7x7 area of ground (mainly through cutting down trees so I have building material.)
2) Build walls within that area (So the outside is 7x7 and the inside is 5x5.
3) Put a door smack dab in the middle of one of those walls.
4) Put a roof on so I have an inside area of 3 high.
5) Toss a crafting bench, a couple of chests, a furnace, and a bed inside.
6) Put in some torches so it's nice and cozy.
YAY starting house done.
Ugly starting house really. I hate it. I mean, sure I can make it look a touch better by breaking out holes for windows but that doesn't improve things all that much. So every time I create a new world I try to adjust things a bit so my very basic starting house is just a bit more visually appealing.
For instance, instead of putting the door in the middle of one of the walls, I shift it over one square. The corners of the house I replace with tree trunks. Now with panes of glass being in the game, I try to get a sand a bit earlier than I would otherwise, just so I can put in some windows.
So now I end up with a house looking a touch better, but still fairly ugly.
I've tried to do experiments with the roof to try to make my roofs more interesting, but for a first night I am content with a flat ugly roof. I am not content with an overall ugly house though.
I recently learned that the VoxelBox uses the Golden Ratio in many of their builds, so I've been trying to figure out how to use that in regards to a starter home. Problem with that, is that if I build a house that has an outside size of 5x8, I feel that the inside is a bit to small at 3x6. It feels more like a hallway than a room. If on the other hand I try to build a simple building that is 8x13 (inside 6x11), I feel this is stretching my resources a touch to thin for my first night.
The other problem is the height of the building. While my 5x5 building might look ugly, at least it looks the right height at 4 blocks tall (3 blocks inside). The Voxel guys suggest though a height that matches the golden ratio and demonstrate how much that helps the inside for decorating. But my problem is, because I haven't really figured out how to make a good starting roof, from the outside my starting buildings just look off.
So that's pretty much where I'm at right now in trying to get a starting house that looks good. admittedly, these three images are a touch misleading, as I do try things like putting a cobblestone ceiling on my buildings to try to break up the oddness that I feel from looking at the building as it is now.
So I'm wondering what others do to get their starting houses to look good? Keep in mind that resources are limited. While it might look nice to have some kind of colored wool roof with a slope, you aren't likely to have enough wool (let alone the colors you want) on your first few nights. And I know you could live in a cave while you gather resources so you can make a nice home instead of building a home you are unhappy with, but that's hardly appealing.
We are talking basics here. You've got access to wood, cobblestone, and perhaps some sand to make some windows. We aren't talking about making a mansion, but a basic home that would be pleasing to look at. Also keep in mind that as it's the start of a new world you need to either go get some coal or use wood to make charcoal. So things like smooth stone (and lots of windows) would be in limited supply.
I'm also fully willing to build one thing, and then pull down part of it to improve upon it. What I'm looking for though, is that at the end of any given day that it look at least decent (or else I may as well be living in a cave), and still functional to keep monsters out. The goal is not to make a house that is improved to perfection, but to a point where you can still say it's a starter home but now it's time to move out so you can work on more interesting projects. (So yes, while I'm willing to spend a day gathering resources so that I can improve the house, I'm not likely to use colored wool to make a fancy carpet for the inside of my starter home, as 1) colored wool really isn't a starter material, and 2) I would want to save that stuff for a more interesting project)
0
edit add: Though I suppose you would need a couple of glowstone blocks also.
0
Here's what I saw: Optifine is now compatible with Minecraft Forge. Because Forge is required for such mods as Industrial Craft and what not, I figured I would check to see if with the help of this patch I couldn't have fancy water in my Industrial Craft + BuildCraft World.
My findings: As long as you install everything in the right order this patch lets you use Water Shader and Forge together, and going a step further IC and BC didn't cause any problems when I added them into the mix. Or I should say they didn't cause me any game play problems. It seems that the oil from BC uses code connected to the way water renders, meaning that oil becomes transparent and wavy like water. Yet when the fancy graphics are turned off... the oil stays fancy while the water returns to normal. Hey though, that's nothing really to do with this patch, and a small price to pay to be able to have fancy water in an Industrial Craft + Build Craft World.
1
It's been awhile sense I even looked at the original information I gathered about how numbers and words work for seeds, so I'm not sure with what exactly excel had problems. However, I did notice at a glance a human error in your number.
The number -8017520964209081205 has no Seed Word. Just a reminder, but the lowest number with a seed word is -2147483648
One of the "words" that will give you the lowest seed words can give is Gycxg@
I hope this has helped with any confusion you might have had, though I suspect it's raised other questions. Feel free to ask, and I'll try to answer as best as I am able.
0
The main problem being that as soon as the cameraman's window looses focus the menu comes up and the screen darkens. Clearly not a good recording environment. So the basic solution to that was to edit the texture pack so the menu doesn't show up (or perhaps the inventory). The problem is of course that the screen still darkens (and if I try the inventory route, the cameraman shows up).
Ok time for a more advanced solution, and the first thing that comes to mind is to use two computers. I don't like this idea though because that means I need to either enlist someone else's aid or get a second computer. I would rather do this all myself though because I can then record whenever I want and don't have to worry about someone else's availability. Getting a second computer for the soul purpose of doing a recording also doesn't seem cost effective.
So if anyone else has any ideas or tips, I would be glad for them.
0
0
0
Also as people have mentioned there is a massive cave system opened to the surface on this tiny little island. I decided to explore that cave system, I was able to find another secret. But that's sort of vague isn't it? I mean do I mean that I found a catch of diamonds? Do I mean that I found a monster spawner? Surely I can provide a better clue than it's in the cave. Well, I absolutely can provide a better clue. I'll even provide a few of them.
Something I haven't had the chance to find out, is if this massive tunnel system connects with any other land. Massive kudos to anyone that can connect to either another island or better yet the mainland, through minimal tunnel digging. That is yes, I know you could bust out a map and use that to find land from the tunnels below. And yes I know that you could dig stairs up as soon as you found land in that manner. But what I would find more impressive is if you found another natural cave exit. Or at the very least found a point so close to the surface that you could hear mobs wondering around above you.
0
Well I assure you that if you've remained on the starting island all you've done for this map is finish your first challenge. Once you reach the beach you can see in the distance, you'll be at your second challenge. What is the second challenge? Well you should get to that beach and explore the land. There are a couple of things about that land you can find out fairly quickly once you reach it. Once you've found those things out it should be apparent what your new challenge is.
Of course once you've reached self sustaining status, you've pretty much finished all real challenges any map offers. After that it's all just exploring at that point.
So I suppose the challenges that exist for any island survival map are the following: