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Minecraft Speed/Optimization Guide V 2.3_4 Updated on April 20 [I need cheetos]

how to speed up fps slow computer bad computer cupcakes laggy

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#1

Posted 27 May 2011 - 09:00 PM

If something is in bold or a different color, it's probably important.


If you have any tips suggest them and I'll check it out. If it works I'll add it to this post and give you credit for the suggestion. And I know it's a long read, but it's to make sure you don't mess up and you partially understand what's going on. Making Minecraft faster is easier said than done.

*I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGES OR UNFORESEEN SIDE-EFFECTS THAT HAPPEN TO YOUR COMPUTER BY FOLLOWING THESE TIPS, BUT I WILL HELP FIND A WAY TO FIX ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS.*


These are put in order from least difficult to hardest. Table of content Don't - Have any other programs open.
Spoiler

Don't - Leave your laptop unplugged.
Spoiler

Do - Play on "fast" and "tiny" graphics, use Advanced OpenGL!
Spoiler

Don't - Use texture packs bigger than 16x, which is the default resolution.
Spoiler

Do - Defrag your hard drive!!
Spoiler

Do - Use ReadyBoost!(windows only)
Spoiler

Do - Give minecraft more/less memory!
Spoiler

Do - Update LWJGL!
Spoiler

Do - Disable indexing services on Windows XP!
Spoiler

Do - Download the newest Java.
Spoiler

Do - Mod your Minecraft.
Spoiler







---The following are all possible ways to fix lag. But some have reported reduced FPS after this. Be sure you always have a way to revert back if it decreases FPS.---



Possibly - Play offline!
Spoiler

Possibly - Change minecraft's screen size
Spoiler

Possibly - Set javaw.exe priority to high.
Spoiler

Possibly - Set windows to best performance.
Spoiler

Possibly - Download JRE7, the beta version of the new java.
Spoiler

Possibly - Use Ramdisk if you have 2 gigabytes or more of ram.
Spoiler

Possibly - Update your graphics driver.
Spoiler

Possibly - Follow these steps posted by Lost-Ninja.
Note: Only if you have 2 or more hard drives. You MUST make sure it is in fact a second hard drive and not a partition, other wise this won't do anything. I don't know if this is only for 64 bit or for 32 bit as well, if you want to try go ahead.
Spoiler


Possibly - Install a Linux OS!
Spoiler








From ThatCanadianGuy's Guide

Spoiler

FAQ


Q. I get a blackscreen after I modded minecraft, wtf dude?
Spoiler

Q. I heard of a program called gamebooster that turns off non-critical programs in the background, should I use that?
Spoiler

Q. I can play fine for 30 minutes or even an hour but then Minecraft lags like crazy no matter what I do, why?
Spoiler


Q. I have a Nvidia/ATI card and everything else runs fine except Minecraft. Huh?
Spoiler

Q. Do you have any other resources to help me?
Spoiler

Q. How do I open my .minecraft folder?
Spoiler

This is mine on single player. Before: Regular day - 5 FPS (Yes my computer is a netbook, so it's that bad) Good day - 9 FPS Biggest FPS spike seen - 14 After: Regular day- 12 Fps Good Day - 16 Fps Biggest FPS spike seen - 27 Optifine and linux are what boost mine the most.

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Results will vary between computers. Some will increase fps by little, some may even quadruple fps. Post your results after using these tips! Post what tips you used and how much the helped/hurt you to improve this guide.


Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#2

Posted 29 May 2011 - 01:55 AM

What are versions? A documentation of every change done. An _X signifies a small change, like moving something to a different section, modifying a paragraph, etc. A .X is changed when a new tip is added or removed. And the first number will change when something like a complete overhaul is done.

Guide Version History:
20 April 2012 V 2.3_4 Added links to 2 new launchers. Fixed some more broken things. Also I need tacos... Doritos tacos (4/20 jokes btw)
27 Mar 2012 V 2.3_3 [partial] To fix it I had to delete all the quotes. Sorry all that helped. I'll find a way to reinsert them one day.
27 Jan 2012 V 2.3_2 Fixed somethings in linux os possibility.
18 Jan 2012 V 2.3_1 Fixed some things with the help of LordKitsuna.
25 Dec 2011 V 2.3 Merry Christmas! Added in readyboost, changed bat file code so they give better performance, and specified you can right click the minecraft.exe to run off the Nvidia card.
6 Nov 2011 V 2.2 Added possibly playing offline. Edited custom launcher(and changed it giving minecraft more/less memory) and modding minecraft. Better described what meta-inf does, A LOT better.
26 Oct 2011 V 2.1 Added donate button (please give?), added defrag hard drive, got rid of links to thatcanadianguys post since it seems he deleted his account. General spell check. Added a bit more reasons as to why minecraft might be ion black screen in the FAQ, and added an awesome new banner. And fixed texture pack list. Now only has low res packs (but jehkobas pack is still mentioned, because jehkoba is cool.)
18 Oct 2011 V 2.0_4 Edited adjusting for best performance, vid added. Edited custom launcher, browser users you're no longer discriminated against!
24 Sept 2011 V 2.0_3 Specified step 3 on nvidia is not necessary. Changed full screen tip to screen size tip.
23 Sept 2011 V 2.0_2 Edited Nvidia, modding, and custom launcher things a bit.
20 Sept 2011 V 2.0_1 Basically completely re-did the custom launcher, yay modified clients!
15 Sept 2011 V 2.0 Since it's so different from initial release it's been changed to 2.0! Actually useful table of content added. Tip about playing on full screen added. Edited Nvidia faq, video and alt route to settings added. 2 alternative bat files for custom launcher added. Spell checks.
9 Sept 2011 V 1.9_3 Linked two other anti-lag guides in the other resources FAQ.
5 Sept 2011 V 1.9_2 2 new texture packs added to the list. Edited the Nvidia card FAQ a bit for clarification of things.
4 Sept 2011 V 1.9_1 Changed some things for easier reading. Error fixes. Added note the custom launcher can be dangerous. Changed the nvidia card FAQ so you don't have to go to a different thread, and so other java games will work too/you can use a custom launcher if you wish.
31 Aug 2011 V 1.9 Added disabling indexing.
26 Aug 2011 V 1.8 Added in the Nvidia card faq.
20 Aug 2011 V 1.7_4 Edited the texture pack list. Got rid of Tronic pack as it is outdated.
17 Aug 2011 V 1.7_3 Changed the fast and tiny do a bit to clarify about framerate and eyes. Quick spell check through guide.
16 Aug 2011 V 1.7_2 Changed the play on fast do to play on fast and use opengl. Noted the custom launcher is an odd little thing.
15 Aug 2011 V 1.7_1 Added a list of simple texture packs in the texture pack don't
14 Aug 2011 V 1.7 Added Quote from ThatCanadianGuy's post. Edited a few things.
12 Aug 2011 V 1.6 Added LWJGL do.
29 July 2011 V 1.5_1 Switched around javaw.exe and system performance, as javaw.exe is faster to do. Did a bit of cleaning on plugged in laptop, play fast and tiny, and close other programs.
27 July 2011 V 1.5 Put everything in spoiler tags so you don't feel overwhelmed by text. Warned updating graphics driver won't necessarily boost fps. Arranged everything from easiest to hardest. Added the windows performance possibility.
21 July 2011 V 1.4 Put up the remade ISUM video. Added how to find .minecraft in FAQ. Changed custom launcher instructions to point out .minecraft might be in roaming folder. Says that I know it's a long read at the top now.
20 July 2011 V 1.3_1 Noted that custom launcher should only be used on vanilla Minecraft. Updated "mod your minecraft" do since CAF mod is no longer needed/available.
18 July 2011 V 1.3 Changed name from "How to boost fps, the do's and don'ts" to ""Minecraft speed guide". Added A banner ^.^ and a link to ThatCanadianGuy's guide. Edited Linux possibility a bit. Added note that my fps is 10 in the bigger texture pack "don't".
29 June 2011 V 1.2 Added 2 new possibilities and removed caf and optimine links, modified optifog paragraph.
12 June 2011 V 1.1_2 Added table of content.
8 June 2011 V 1.1_1 Added note that the custom launcher may be stubborn to get to work. Moved the "Dust your computer" tip back to FAQ.
5 June 2011 V 1.1 - Moved items around and added the possibility section. Updated links for 1.6_6.
28 May 2011 V 1 - Initial release.


People who have helped make this guide better
If you help me make this better I will put your name here. Message me if you want your name removed.
Frontsalat - Pointed out guide was extremely biased.
Lost-Ninja - Gave a possible trick.
Calinou - Told me about Advanced OpenGl and pointed out a bunch of small things.
BrianTheSwat - Gave me the tip about turning off indexing, and alternative way to get to nvidia settings
lolmastergeneral - Gave tips about full screen
JMC17 - Showed me how to modify clients
ImNotaBogan - Told me that setting the window small might help.
epikal - Told me about a lot of small things, well some not me personally, but the guy's a general badass so he deserves to be here. Also saved me from possibly being banned (see page 7 for details).
HubbaBubba - Pointed out that defragging the hard drive was to hard to find.
TehGritz - Awesome Banner :D
Right_Trigger - Told me about playing offline
streetstar5 - Gave a way of assigning java applets more or less memory
Deadkill - Gave the transparent image and what to do with it.
LordKitsuna - Told me that quite a bit of my information was wrong. Not on what to do but explaining why it worked.

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#3

    furaiz

    Obsidian Miner

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  • Location: Sunny England. Whatever, you know the weather is rubbish anyway.
  • Minecraft: furaiz

Posted 05 June 2011 - 01:52 AM

View PostIronWaffle, on 27 May 2011 - 09:00 PM, said:


Don't - Set javaw.exe priority to high. Many people suggest this but I have never seen this work and just causes a bunch of other negative side effects. If Minecraft really needs the extra memory it will get it from the computer. Just dumping memory into it won't help, and takes away from other programs, slowing them down and possibly even slowing down your computer, which will slow down minecraft, which will completely defeat the purpose of giving it more memory. And it can cause instability and cause Minecraft to crash.




Considering Minecraft is CPU intensive,I'd say it needs all the extra memory it can get.
Priority only changes how 'often' for want of a better word, that the computer will provide additional memory/allow extra cpu usage to go to Minecraft.

Critical System Processes are high by default, but very few processes that your computer will run in the background use a lot of CPU. Most are normal priority by default.

It will not cause instability in the system by increasing the priority of a program/process that you know needs a lot of CPU devoted to it.

Although in the other extreme, setting a program that uses a lot of memory to low priority, will cause lots of lag and slowdown, and just for the program itself. If you did this with Minecraft, I guarantee you would crash a lot more, and this would cause instability.

High priority on CPU intensive programs is the right way to go about reducing problems. Sure, anything in the background will run sluggishly if it's starved of memory, e.g internet browsers. This is why you shouldn't increase priorities when you have other programs running that also need an adequate allocation of memory.

If you're going to be using other programs while playing minecraft, then don't increase Minecraft's priority if you want everything else to run as smoothly.


I should say that reducing the priority of recording programs while increasing priority on Minecraft works perfectly fine. programs such as Fraps 'technically' run in the background. This will boost FPS while recording.

If you have a good computer that runs Minecraft fine, then priority won't do much, if anything for you.

If you have a poor computer, priority will often allow Minecraft to run smoother.

I also remember being pretty much the first person to point out that altering priority did improver performance.. eh it was sometime last year. I dunno if I could dig up a thread that old.

Edited by furaiz, 05 June 2011 - 01:56 AM.

How to create a Minecraft Beta Survival Server

*Also includes basic craftBukkit instructions

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#4

Posted 05 June 2011 - 04:10 AM

View Postfuraiz, on 05 June 2011 - 01:52 AM, said:

It will not cause instability in the system by increasing the priority of a program/process that you know needs a lot of CPU devoted to it.
This I can argue against. When I try doing this on my netbook it doesn't help at all, then it freezes minecraft if I pause it.

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#5

  • Location: Germany
  • Minecraft: Frontsalat

Posted 05 June 2011 - 06:56 AM

View PostIronWaffle, on 05 June 2011 - 04:10 AM, said:

This I can argue against. When I try doing this on my netbook it doesn't help at all, then it freezes minecraft if I pause it.

That's on your computer. Not anyone has the same PC as you do.

Your guide is flawed in multiple ways:

1. You tell people what they can and can't do...you probably want to change that into "try for yourself, see if it has any positive effect".
2. You based the whole guide on your point of view about what should be done to speed up Minecraft.
3. I would suggest Java 7 only to people who want to experiment with Minecraft and know what they're doing, because it's a premature BETA. Can't confirm that Java 7 has any benefits on FPS over Java 6.25
4. How should modding your game, in general, speed up Minecraft?
5. Having other programms in the background running shouldn't be a problem, unless you have 20 programms running at the same time and/or use an ancient system. In fact, I wouldn't recommend to anyone turning of their Antivirus Software, which is running in the background, when playing the game browser based.
6. You don't need to be a technical wizard to change or deinstall your GPU drivers or any other hardware related drivers.
7. If Minecraft starts to lag after 30 minutes, then this is not necessarily related to the overheating of your hardware.

However, it's correct what you said about Optimine/-fog, allocating more memory to Java and that Gamebooster sucks elephant balls.

The video seems to be a holy grail if it does what this guy in the video promises. We'll see if this gets rid of the lag spike I'm experiecing. If so, you get a cookie for showing me the video.
You should read a signature speaking wisdom, support a mod or quoting a cool sentence made by a forum user. In case you don't, then this is because I rarely speak others wisdom, support others mods or quote cool sentences. Stop to believe, start to think. F.Salat

#6

  • Location: Huntington, WV
  • Minecraft: cockyjeremy

Posted 05 June 2011 - 08:35 AM

Nice list.
Just a dude that's into Minecraft that's always looking for new texture packs, mods, etc. :)

#7

Posted 05 June 2011 - 07:48 PM

View PostFrontsalat, on 05 June 2011 - 06:56 AM, said:

That's on your computer. Not anyone has the same PC as you do.

Your guide is flawed in multiple ways:

1. You tell people what they can and can't do...you probably want to change that into "try for yourself, see if it has any positive effect".
2. You based the whole guide on your point of view about what should be done to speed up Minecraft.
3. I would suggest Java 7 only to people who want to experiment with Minecraft and know what they're doing, because it's a premature BETA. Can't confirm that Java 7 has any benefits on FPS over Java 6.25
4. How should modding your game, in general, speed up Minecraft?
5. Having other programms in the background running shouldn't be a problem, unless you have 20 programms running at the same time and/or use an ancient system. In fact, I wouldn't recommend to anyone turning of their Antivirus Software, which is running in the background, when playing the game browser based.
6. You don't need to be a technical wizard to change or deinstall your GPU drivers or any other hardware related drivers.
7. If Minecraft starts to lag after 30 minutes, then this is not necessarily related to the overheating of your hardware.

However, it's correct what you said about Optimine/-fog, allocating more memory to Java and that Gamebooster sucks elephant balls.

The video seems to be a holy grail if it does what this guy in the video promises. We'll see if this gets rid of the lag spike I'm experiecing. If so, you get a cookie for showing me the video.
You make a valid argument.
1. I'll add the try it out note at the top.
2. If it works for me it'll work for others, what I didn't think about was how many it might actually help. So I'll fix some things.
3. I'll point out this is very experimental.
4. By modding I mean only adding optifog.
5. Which is why took out the game booster one. I said having programs open, not in the background, will slow it down.
6. I made sure to point is this is possibly dangerous because if a person who knows very little about their computer decides to replace their driver and something goes wrong they'll be completely lost.
7. No not necessarily but possibility. I'll point that out too.

I highly appreciate your criticism because I want this to be the best guide to help the most people. I'll fix it soon.

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#8

Posted 05 June 2011 - 10:29 PM

View PostFrontsalat, on 05 June 2011 - 06:56 AM, said:

-snip-
Is it better or does it still need work?

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#9

    ighnot

    Tree Puncher

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Posted 06 June 2011 - 09:00 PM

What settings are recommended (not only within the game, but for drivers, OS stuff (like java priority, etc), and the like, if you have a really powerful computer and want the game to look its best? I have some 256x256 texture mods loaded and enough juice in this thing to run the latest triple-A titles like butter, but when it comes to seemingly simple-looking programs like this I found early that the 3-d grid nature of the world and the render limitations of Java brought my rig down a bit-- not 'to its knees' or anything, but some choppiness I really wasn't used to.

So for you people with beefy rigs, what are you running the game at? Another thing-- using F-11 to put the game at full screen is nice and all, but the graphics scale UP and don't really look BETTER, only BIGGER. Anything to be done for this? I've seen some videos on YouTube that show much more detailed textures and such, more than I've ever seen with the mods I'm running, but I don't have a clue what they DID to get that look.

Any help or advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

I'm excited to think what this game's going to be like when it's officially released.

Ighnot

#10

  • Location: Right behind you Iddiot.

Posted 08 June 2011 - 01:07 AM

Um I did all the steps you said for the start javaw -Xmx256M -Djava.library.path=bin/natives -cp bin/minecraft.jar;bin/jinput.jar;bin/lwjgl.jar;bin/lwjgl_util.jar net.minecraft.client.Minecraft username password

But when I try to use it with the shortcut I get... is Windows cannot find "javaw"
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#11

Posted 08 June 2011 - 01:14 AM

View PostThundrag, on 08 June 2011 - 01:07 AM, said:

Um I did all the steps you said for the start javaw -Xmx256M -Djava.library.path=bin/natives -cp bin/minecraft.jar;bin/jinput.jar;bin/lwjgl.jar;bin/lwjgl_util.jar net.minecraft.client.Minecraft username password

But when I try to use it with the shortcut I get... is Windows cannot find "javaw"
Are you sure you typed in your username and password right? And the .bat file is in the .minecraft folder along with the bin and resources folder?

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#12

  • Location: Right behind you Iddiot.

Posted 08 June 2011 - 01:21 AM

View PostIronWaffle, on 08 June 2011 - 01:14 AM, said:

Are you sure you typed in your username and password right? And the .bat file is in the .minecraft folder along with the bin and resources folder?

Yeah I got all my username stuff right and I put it in my .minecraft folder. But Do i have to put it in the bin and resource folders too? Or do I have to make it run as administrator O.o?
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#13

Posted 08 June 2011 - 01:34 AM

View PostThundrag, on 08 June 2011 - 01:21 AM, said:

Yeah I got all my username stuff right and I put it in my .minecraft folder. But Do i have to put it in the bin and resource folders too? Or do I have to make it run as administrator O.o?
Everything should be running smoothly. What operating system do you have? And do you know what version of java do you have?

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#14

  • Location: Right behind you Iddiot.

Posted 08 June 2011 - 01:50 AM

View PostIronWaffle, on 08 June 2011 - 01:34 AM, said:

Everything should be running smoothly. What operating system do you have? And do you know what version of java do you have?

Um All I remember is I have windows vista and no idea what java version =/. Says something on the one of the file names jre1.6.0._02 =/ might be old lol
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#15

Posted 08 June 2011 - 02:06 AM

View PostThundrag, on 08 June 2011 - 01:50 AM, said:

Um All I remember is I have windows vista and no idea what java version =/. Says something on the one of the file names jre1.6.0._02 =/ might be old lol
It should work, this is strange. The current Java is 1.6.26. I don't think updating java would work. Keep trying, sometimes the .bat file is stubborn when trying to start it the first time.

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#16

  • Location: Right behind you Iddiot.

Posted 08 June 2011 - 07:25 PM

View PostIronWaffle, on 08 June 2011 - 02:06 AM, said:

It should work, this is strange. The current Java is 1.6.26. I don't think updating java would work. Keep trying, sometimes the .bat file is stubborn when trying to start it the first time.

Wierd I fixed i by making it a zip file then placing it in .minecraft then using jzip to run the batch while still in the zip file. :blink:
but then if i try to play multi-player I get bad login <_<
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#17

Posted 08 June 2011 - 08:51 PM

View PostThundrag, on 08 June 2011 - 07:25 PM, said:

Wierd I fixed i by making it a zip file then placing it in .minecraft then using jzip to run the batch while still in the zip file. :blink:
but then if i try to play multi-player I get bad login <_<
That is so strange... idk if the username and password is case sensitive... I'll add a note that doing the custom launcher may be buggy for some people

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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#18

  • Minecraft: derek_west

Posted 10 June 2011 - 12:28 AM

the video was a bit off topic at times but other wise a pretty good list.
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#19

  • Minecraft: Lost-Ninja

Posted 17 June 2011 - 10:07 AM

If you have more than one physical HDD (if you only have one (eg a laptop) ignore this), follow these instructions to copy your minecraft installation onto a 2ndary drive. This may improve performance.
1)Find your minecraft install. Default is: C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft
2)On the other HDD make a new directory called Minecraft. eg D:\Minecraft.
3)In that directory create two more directories one called bin and the other called data. So:
D:\Minecraft\bin
D:\Minecraft\data
4)Copy the minecraft.exe that you use to launch the game into the bin directory.
5)Copy the entirety of the C:\Users\<user name>\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft into the data directory so that it looks something like: d:\Minecraft\data\.minecraft\ ((Make sure you copy rather than move as this will give you a backup in case of failure.))
6)Create a .bat file that contains the following text: (To create a .bat file you need to create a text file then change the extension from .txt to .bat.)
set APPDATA=d:\Minecraft\data
bin\minecraft.exe
7)Update any shortcuts you use to launch the game to point to this .bat file.

If you have x64 OS you should get a better FPS/performance running a x64 JRE.

Some evidence suggests that using the JDK also boosts performance (does for me and I have heard other people have had some success with it. (This is the Java Development Kit, it includes the JRE (the normal Java most people have) and shouldn't make things slower but might improve things.

I haven't had any luck getting Optimine & Optifog working with my mods (missing textures) however installing the Lag Spikes of Death patch has made a huge impact on my framerates. Get it here it's a little below the main Optimine/Optifog downloads by the donate button. And modifies the fb.class file. (I think it does something to stop MC saving every 5 seconds but am not sure...)

However while the above have all helped me eke out a fair amount of FPS and remove an awful lot of chug they may not work for everyone.

#20

Posted 17 June 2011 - 08:41 PM

View PostLost-Ninja, on 17 June 2011 - 10:07 AM, said:

-snip-
Nice tutorial. I'll include this in the guide. Does this work for 64bit only or 32 bit as well. Doing the tutorial and using jdk instead of jre. And does jdk use more power then jre. Also do you know if using the beta jdk7 runs the game smoother than jdk6.

Never take the sword or bow off the hotbar!

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