Apples, your posts are sometimes hard to read. The last one was perhaps a bad example, as the main reason it doesn't make sense is that the post to which you responded has been removed. However, some of your posts have taken me more time to understand than it would take you to quickly read it over and make sure it reads as it is meant to. I do it several times with every post I make (and often make revisions even after it is posted), because the internet is *hard* to communicate on - things get read the wrong way all the time. I really appreciate your input on this thread and to the mod, so don't take it as an insult to you (from me or Pelirow), as it is in no way meant as that, but if you *can* make your posts a bit more reader friendly without stress on your end, it would be appreciated by me as well.
As for the Netted Screen, it just seems too ... diverse, for my liking. It has too many unconnected uses.
Pelirow, Azradun, regarding other mods with reachable weapons: that is good to know, it is doable. Which means I am more likely to be able to work it out (it is a lot easier to do something with the mindset of "it can be done"!).
But there is bad news, everyone: My laptop has a death wish. I am hoping that the hard drive is salvageable, at least in part. I am unable to code until I get stuff off the harddrive, and it won't be for a while until I know how much (if anything) I've lost ...
Ok i will try to be more legible, for some reason i dont use that much puncuation when i am on the ipad.
Done with that business. On to the netted screen, what if you used the netted screen for seperating items, but for combing items you used some kind of shaker. It may help if maybe different functions of it were seperated
Mmm, thinking about the netted screen as is, it's used in three setups. It seems if it keeps one of its current functions, keeping it for the washi or the iron scales seems most reasonable? I think some sort of shaker-type block like Apple suggested sounds reasonable for making the iron scales, and the netted screen feels right for the washi. Some sort of compressor block could do for combining the sand and iron blocks?
Hope you manage to recover your hard drive contents, I know the feeling.
EDIT: I remember now. Mine & Blade: Battlegear was one of the mods I was referring to previously; the other is Balkon's Weapon Mod.
The best way is to have a dedicated pendrive for most important projects. I am using this plus an external USB drive, which behaves sometimes... very interestingly Once it just malfunctioned and refused to cooperate almost for an hour. And I had 200 GB of backups there - fortunately it started to behave, but I won't look at it the same no more.
I have a 260GB external hard-drive (when my old laptop died, I took it to pieces and salvaged the hard-drive to save what I could. Turned out the drive was fine, so I made it an external one). I just never get into the habit of plugging it in and letting it back stuff up.
Have you gotten a chance to check out the 1.4.4 code? It seems to be a super-easy update similar to 1.2.4 to 1.2.5 with a few more minor changes, Hope it doesn't give you any extra work!
Have you gotten a chance to check out the 1.4.4 code? It seems to be a super-easy update similar to 1.2.4 to 1.2.5 with a few more minor changes, Hope it doesn't give you any extra work!
Did I even have a mod out in 1.2.4? I seriously cannot remember what version JW&A came into existence ...
For what it's worth, I am coding again. There is a lot of stuff I want to see if it can be done before I make decisions. As in, there is a lot of stuff I have planned for the future, which will affect some of the early stuff, and I'm not big on changes to how early stuff works ... But we are getting ever closer to something resembling a release. However, the first release will probably be rather small compared to some of the stuff I'm currently working on. I'm really rather excited about it :D.
Yay(!). Are they going to fix their fix for stuck items at any point? It's just so horrid, it needs to go.
EDIT: I also forgot. My laptop has decided to have a stroke (as a result of it being "fixed"). It won't start all of the time, and instead reverts to a black screen with beeping galore (it's not a beep POST code). It seems some of the keys like to stick sometimes. Compressed air helped a lot. It also happens occasionally when using it (though it doesn't crash it) - it will seem to press the Fn, f1 and f5 keys all at once, without me pressing any of them. It's rather distracting, especially when trying to test something in MC and your PoV changes ...
Haha! Hahaha! 40 minutes trying to work out why something wouldn't work ... I'm an idiot ...
Anyway.
I really dislike the new soul system. Anyone have any suggestions?
Old system
Brief Overview:
Kill cultured mobs, collect the spirits that appear on death in vials, or face the consequences. Put the spirits into soulsand to power the infuser.
Pros:
Spirits look nice.
Cons:
Different Infused SoulSands look cheap and tacky side by side. It was alright when it was just the one ...
New system:
Brief Overview:
Kill cultured mobs and collect spirit (which cannot be seen) in a "culture stick". Set up a bunch of blocks, and use the culture stick to spawn a portal-like-thing which changes colour a lot. Use this to power the infuser.
Pros:
The scrying pad (working name for the portal-like-thing which changes colour a lot) looks awesome.
Cons:
Too much faffing about.
The scrying pads are too ... good looking ... They make Minecraft look crap. Which spoils the immersion.
I just don't like it.
Any alternative systems? It's really something that is holding me back a lot. There's not much left to do for a first release once I get a spirit/soul system I like sorted ...
I'm using a texture pack and many mods. Some of the mods are not in my texture pack, so some items look like crap in my better looking textured minecraft.
If the problem is that it's too good looking, then for some people, they should only make a crappy texture for your mod.
I'm using a texture pack and many mods. Some of the mods are not in my texture pack, so some items look like crap in my better looking textured minecraft.
If the problem is that it's too good looking, then for some people, they should only make a crappy texture for your mod.
No, because *I* don't like it. And as you can see, it's not the only reason I don't like it. And it's not that it's too good looking ... It doesn't fit in Minecraft. I need a third system. I have half an idea for a system that might work ... But it needs more thought. So that's why I've opened it up here ...
Well, you can always store souls in a hand-held item
That will be similar to how Klein Stars in old EE2 worked. This way, you'll avoid texture problems alltogether.
The other way would be just an infused sphere over soul sand, with different colors, like in old JWA for 1.2.5. The soul sand would be plain soul sand, but the color of the sphere above it would determine the culture infused. It's enough in my opinion
Hrm ... If i went along the lines of keeping it as an item, but that you put the item into the infuser ... That could work ... And it would mean I could bring back the spirits proper ...
Alright. After the Egyptology essay gets done, I shall look into it.
For now, I must resign myself to the reign of Amenemhet III ...
If the new cultural block is "too good" for your tastes, then I concur with Azra. Keeping the original CI block with the neat little orb over it and normal soulsand under it sounds like a nice compromise, and just have the orb change colors for the different cultures.
Good luck! Seems like once you have this soul collection issue cleared up, you have a definite plan of proceeding towards a first release.
If the new cultural block is "too good" for your tastes, then I concur with Azra. Keeping the original CI block with the neat little orb over it and normal soulsand under it sounds like a nice compromise, and just have the orb change colors for the different cultures.
Good luck! Seems like once you have this soul collection issue cleared up, you have a definite plan of proceeding towards a first release.
Hmm, I've just re-implemented the old way (at least, as much as you describe). It needs something else. Remember that I'm planning several things requiring you to mix cultures, &c ... Hrm. I really want the Ancestral Infuser to be much more of a focus, too ...
Heh, looking at my plans, I wanted a release out by now. I lost a lot of enthusiasm for most things in my life not long ago, including the mod - Stuff came up, and it wrecked me. But I'm back, with full enthusiasm, and yes, I am nearing a release. I just want to get the AI right when I do ... I want it to be so much more ...
One system I considered was making it work similar to the enchantment table - surround it with stored souls. But I fear that people will mark me as a TC3 ripoff ... Even though I had the idea before I saw TC3 phials!
Speaking of which, it's been live for, what, 40 minutes now? I need to play it ... Was gonna spend all my downtime on the mod this weekend. Damn you, Azanor!
Ok. My plans for the first release of the mod have changed a bit. I'm taking some stuff I've already done, out. And I want to put other new stuff, in. I've decided to go ahead with the plan outlined above, despite concerns people will label me a TC3 rip off for it, because, quite frankly, it is an idea that was inspired by vanilla before I saw anything of TC3, and one that I was playing around with in various different ways right back when I first added the Ancestral Infuser.
What I'm going to do is release the mod with all of the starting cultures in, as opposed to my original plan of releasing just Japan (with about as much content as JW&A), and the start of Egypt.
What I'm also going to do, is reduce the amount of Japanese content, so that there is roughly an equal level across the 5 cultures. This means that, to start with, you won't really have all that much to play with, as it will largely be just resource gathering/starting farms &c.
However, this means a number of things:
i) I will be able to better balance the Japanese items with other cultures, as I have been trying to tweak some of the higher items to fit with my line of the mod, which I have done really rather badly so far, largely due to not having implemented (or fully decided on) higher up items in other cultures
ii) CultureCraft will feel better balanced from the start (seriously, the last little playthrough I did this weekend really felt like it was JW&A with added Egypt ... Not what I want for CC)
iii) You guys will have stuff to play with sooner rather than later. Which also means that I am more likely to code more often, as I won't want to leave people with a surplus of materials with nothing to do with them!
As for the AI thing I was going on about (above), it's basically surrounding the AI with bottled soul, and then telling it which cultures you want to draw from. It was, originally, what I had planned for the AI, but my coding abilities weren't as strong back then. Having looked at the code again, I actually think it's rather easy given what I've learnt the past few months of code scanning. As I said, it may get a few knocks for looking like a TC3 rip off with the phials and stuff, but that's definitely not what it is, and I think I'm comfortable enough with the knowledge that I know that, so I can take a few hits if people try to get me down about it. This system also means that my plans for much later in the mod (crossing cultures) is rather obvious in how it will work. Of course, the AI will need to be upgraded at that point, but that's in the future.
Enough rambling. Time for a maths lecture. Then I'm gonna try and code some stuff. Not making any promises, but I hope to have the first version of CC released before I go home from uni (15th).
Well, TC3 doesn't have any exclusive rights for phials anyway And I've seen many things similar to TC3 golems beforehand, so it's not 100% pure innovation in itself. I wouldn't worry about critics then.
What does matter is that the mod has a distinctiveness to it that differentiate it from others.
Mmhmm, I know, I hear ya. I am just in awe of TC3 right now. I mean, wow. I don't think I can release what I was planning to next weekend now I've seen TC3 ... Hrm ...
Well, TC3 doesn't have any exclusive rights for phials anyway .
True, but turns out I don't need them. In a stroke of what I can't decide was either Genius or Madness, I decided on a much better container for souls than vials.
Of course, I didn't like the Infused SoulSand in many colours. But, what happens if you take soulsand, and put it inside something with a face, so that it can then hold the glistening souls?
That's right. Jack O' Souls! And a cow. Forget the cow, it's looking in awe/disgust. Again, I can't decide.
Put a pumpkin above soulsand in the craft grid to get the one to the left of the vMC pumpkin, the attack with souls for the others. The ones with souls do give off light, but not as strongly as Jack O' Lanterns.
Anyway, thought I'd share that ...
EDIT: Does it need soulsand inside or not? Thoughts, people?
1. How's the coding been since Dec 3rd?
2. I think you're thinking too literal. Why have it all soulsand? Sure, it works well with the japanese culture, but why not have "soul containers" unique to each culture?
I was thinking along the lines of: [()=block data value]
Sandstone (24:1) for Egypt
Lapis (22) for Norse
Ice (79) or Netherrack (87) for Mayan
Emerald (133), cactus (81), or leaf block (18) for Greek
Could have a custom metadata block for each of those that starts out kinda dull and sorta grayish and turns the culture's color as you add more of that culture's souls to it.
just a thought.
-snip-. In case you didn't know, I enjoy snipping when I quote.
1) December 3rd ... *scrolls up* Ah, yes, the time I sort of splurged!
I am making progress.
But, for reasons illustrated ... somewhere ... with the release of Thaumcraft, it's hit me quite hard how ... less ... my mod is :P. So I'm trying to work out what to release, when.
I probably won't get anything out by the 15th. Because, due to Thaumcraft, I just want to ... tweak the stuff just that little bit more.
2) I probably am thinking too literally; I'm a very literally minded person. But those are stories for over a pint of beer, not on a public forum.
However, I think that you are underestimating the brilliant fun to be had of chucking bottled souls on the floor near Jack O' Souls, and watching their faces light up (literally).
If they all use the same block to store, they literally race to fill it up. It's actually quite entertaining to have a Jack O' Soul library, and watch them slowly convert.
Though I did actually think something quite similar to the "increased colour", but decided against it due to the method I took.
Oh, and if you are still unsold on Jack O' Souls, here's why they are so great:
-The need for SoulSand means I know the player has been to the Nether.
-The need for pumpkins means actually finding pumpkins, and, probably, the growing of them, considering the number you can use ...
-SoulSand is sand with souls in it. Where better for cultured souls to be trapped?
-Pumpkins also have some sort of magical soul quality. They transform snow and iron into living beings!
-snip-
Oh, and if you are still unsold on Jack O' Souls, here's why they are so great:
-The need for SoulSand means I know the player has been to the Nether.
-The need for pumpkins means actually finding pumpkins, and, probably, the growing of them, considering the number you can use ...
-SoulSand is sand with souls in it. Where better for cultured souls to be trapped?
-Pumpkins also have some sort of magical soul quality. They transform snow and iron into living beings!
The above is true. I hadn't thought of it that way. Please, do continue! I have read the entire forum topic until now, and will continue to enjoy your updates. I will (hopefully) very much enjoy playing your mod whenever you release it.
The above is true. I hadn't thought of it that way. Please, do continue! I have read the entire forum topic until now, and will continue to enjoy your updates. I will (hopefully) very much enjoy playing your mod whenever you release it.
Haha, yay for my reasoning! It's some sort of way of making it tie in with the MineCraft Lore :P. Thanks for the support, and I'm impressed by your reading :P.
Yes, it can use the soulsand (the reason for having visitted Nether is good and sound). Plus the more uses for soulsand, the better. It's too much underused anyway.
Also, while I see why you want to add more stuff to the mod when you view it in comparison with Thaumcraft, please don't. Your mod is distinctive, and frankly I don't like everything the new TC3 has (even in its current 25% functionality). I understand inspiration, but it's often better to do something your own way than to imitate.
Ok, enough "wisdom" (if I was truly wise, I wouldn't need those antidepressants anyway:P).
Why thank you, as always, Azradun, for your support. Yeah, I'm not imitating TC3, but rather - whether you like what it adds or not - it is very polished, despite only being 25% functionality, and it's that level of polish that I want xD.
As for the Netted Screen, it just seems too ... diverse, for my liking. It has too many unconnected uses.
Pelirow, Azradun, regarding other mods with reachable weapons: that is good to know, it is doable. Which means I am more likely to be able to work it out (it is a lot easier to do something with the mindset of "it can be done"!).
But there is bad news, everyone: My laptop has a death wish. I am hoping that the hard drive is salvageable, at least in part. I am unable to code until I get stuff off the harddrive, and it won't be for a while until I know how much (if anything) I've lost ...
I really should start doing regular backups ...
Done with that business. On to the netted screen, what if you used the netted screen for seperating items, but for combing items you used some kind of shaker. It may help if maybe different functions of it were seperated
Hope you manage to recover your hard drive contents, I know the feeling.
EDIT: I remember now. Mine & Blade: Battlegear was one of the mods I was referring to previously; the other is Balkon's Weapon Mod.
I have a 260GB external hard-drive (when my old laptop died, I took it to pieces and salvaged the hard-drive to save what I could. Turned out the drive was fine, so I made it an external one). I just never get into the habit of plugging it in and letting it back stuff up.
Did I even have a mod out in 1.2.4? I seriously cannot remember what version JW&A came into existence ...
For what it's worth, I am coding again. There is a lot of stuff I want to see if it can be done before I make decisions. As in, there is a lot of stuff I have planned for the future, which will affect some of the early stuff, and I'm not big on changes to how early stuff works ... But we are getting ever closer to something resembling a release. However, the first release will probably be rather small compared to some of the stuff I'm currently working on. I'm really rather excited about it :D.
Yay(!). Are they going to fix their fix for stuck items at any point? It's just so horrid, it needs to go.
EDIT: I also forgot. My laptop has decided to have a stroke (as a result of it being "fixed"). It won't start all of the time, and instead reverts to a black screen with beeping galore (it's not a beep POST code). It seems some of the keys like to stick sometimes. Compressed air helped a lot. It also happens occasionally when using it (though it doesn't crash it) - it will seem to press the Fn, f1 and f5 keys all at once, without me pressing any of them. It's rather distracting, especially when trying to test something in MC and your PoV changes ...
Anyway.
I really dislike the new soul system. Anyone have any suggestions?
Old system
Brief Overview:
Kill cultured mobs, collect the spirits that appear on death in vials, or face the consequences. Put the spirits into soulsand to power the infuser.
Pros:
Spirits look nice.
Cons:
Different Infused SoulSands look cheap and tacky side by side. It was alright when it was just the one ...
New system:
Brief Overview:
Kill cultured mobs and collect spirit (which cannot be seen) in a "culture stick". Set up a bunch of blocks, and use the culture stick to spawn a portal-like-thing which changes colour a lot. Use this to power the infuser.
Pros:
The scrying pad (working name for the portal-like-thing which changes colour a lot) looks awesome.
Cons:
Too much faffing about.
The scrying pads are too ... good looking ... They make Minecraft look crap. Which spoils the immersion.
I just don't like it.
Any alternative systems? It's really something that is holding me back a lot. There's not much left to do for a first release once I get a spirit/soul system I like sorted ...
If the problem is that it's too good looking, then for some people, they should only make a crappy texture for your mod.
No, because *I* don't like it. And as you can see, it's not the only reason I don't like it. And it's not that it's too good looking ... It doesn't fit in Minecraft. I need a third system. I have half an idea for a system that might work ... But it needs more thought. So that's why I've opened it up here ...
Hrm ... If i went along the lines of keeping it as an item, but that you put the item into the infuser ... That could work ... And it would mean I could bring back the spirits proper ...
Alright. After the Egyptology essay gets done, I shall look into it.
For now, I must resign myself to the reign of Amenemhet III ...
Unfortunately, he doesn't appear on my list of Egyptian Kings I have to write about ...
I'm running out of time ...
MUST FIND SOMETHING!
Good luck! Seems like once you have this soul collection issue cleared up, you have a definite plan of proceeding towards a first release.
Hmm, I've just re-implemented the old way (at least, as much as you describe). It needs something else. Remember that I'm planning several things requiring you to mix cultures, &c ... Hrm. I really want the Ancestral Infuser to be much more of a focus, too ...
Heh, looking at my plans, I wanted a release out by now. I lost a lot of enthusiasm for most things in my life not long ago, including the mod - Stuff came up, and it wrecked me. But I'm back, with full enthusiasm, and yes, I am nearing a release. I just want to get the AI right when I do ... I want it to be so much more ...
One system I considered was making it work similar to the enchantment table - surround it with stored souls. But I fear that people will mark me as a TC3 ripoff ... Even though I had the idea before I saw TC3 phials!
Speaking of which, it's been live for, what, 40 minutes now? I need to play it ... Was gonna spend all my downtime on the mod this weekend. Damn you, Azanor!
What I'm going to do is release the mod with all of the starting cultures in, as opposed to my original plan of releasing just Japan (with about as much content as JW&A), and the start of Egypt.
What I'm also going to do, is reduce the amount of Japanese content, so that there is roughly an equal level across the 5 cultures. This means that, to start with, you won't really have all that much to play with, as it will largely be just resource gathering/starting farms &c.
However, this means a number of things:
i) I will be able to better balance the Japanese items with other cultures, as I have been trying to tweak some of the higher items to fit with my line of the mod, which I have done really rather badly so far, largely due to not having implemented (or fully decided on) higher up items in other cultures
ii) CultureCraft will feel better balanced from the start (seriously, the last little playthrough I did this weekend really felt like it was JW&A with added Egypt ... Not what I want for CC)
iii) You guys will have stuff to play with sooner rather than later. Which also means that I am more likely to code more often, as I won't want to leave people with a surplus of materials with nothing to do with them!
As for the AI thing I was going on about (above), it's basically surrounding the AI with bottled soul, and then telling it which cultures you want to draw from. It was, originally, what I had planned for the AI, but my coding abilities weren't as strong back then. Having looked at the code again, I actually think it's rather easy given what I've learnt the past few months of code scanning. As I said, it may get a few knocks for looking like a TC3 rip off with the phials and stuff, but that's definitely not what it is, and I think I'm comfortable enough with the knowledge that I know that, so I can take a few hits if people try to get me down about it. This system also means that my plans for much later in the mod (crossing cultures) is rather obvious in how it will work. Of course, the AI will need to be upgraded at that point, but that's in the future.
Enough rambling. Time for a maths lecture. Then I'm gonna try and code some stuff. Not making any promises, but I hope to have the first version of CC released before I go home from uni (15th).
Mmhmm, I know, I hear ya. I am just in awe of TC3 right now. I mean, wow. I don't think I can release what I was planning to next weekend now I've seen TC3 ... Hrm ...
True, but turns out I don't need them. In a stroke of what I can't decide was either Genius or Madness, I decided on a much better container for souls than vials.
Of course, I didn't like the Infused SoulSand in many colours. But, what happens if you take soulsand, and put it inside something with a face, so that it can then hold the glistening souls?
That's right. Jack O' Souls! And a cow. Forget the cow, it's looking in awe/disgust. Again, I can't decide.
Put a pumpkin above soulsand in the craft grid to get the one to the left of the vMC pumpkin, the attack with souls for the others. The ones with souls do give off light, but not as strongly as Jack O' Lanterns.
Anyway, thought I'd share that ...
EDIT: Does it need soulsand inside or not? Thoughts, people?
2. I think you're thinking too literal. Why have it all soulsand? Sure, it works well with the japanese culture, but why not have "soul containers" unique to each culture?
I was thinking along the lines of: [()=block data value]
Sandstone (24:1) for Egypt
Lapis (22) for Norse
Ice (79) or Netherrack (87) for Mayan
Emerald (133), cactus (81), or leaf block (18) for Greek
Could have a custom metadata block for each of those that starts out kinda dull and sorta grayish and turns the culture's color as you add more of that culture's souls to it.
just a thought.
1) December 3rd ... *scrolls up* Ah, yes, the time I sort of splurged!
I am making progress.
But, for reasons illustrated ... somewhere ... with the release of Thaumcraft, it's hit me quite hard how ... less ... my mod is :P. So I'm trying to work out what to release, when.
I probably won't get anything out by the 15th. Because, due to Thaumcraft, I just want to ... tweak the stuff just that little bit more.
2) I probably am thinking too literally; I'm a very literally minded person. But those are stories for over a pint of beer, not on a public forum.
However, I think that you are underestimating the brilliant fun to be had of chucking bottled souls on the floor near Jack O' Souls, and watching their faces light up (literally).
If they all use the same block to store, they literally race to fill it up. It's actually quite entertaining to have a Jack O' Soul library, and watch them slowly convert.
Though I did actually think something quite similar to the "increased colour", but decided against it due to the method I took.
Oh, and if you are still unsold on Jack O' Souls, here's why they are so great:
-The need for SoulSand means I know the player has been to the Nether.
-The need for pumpkins means actually finding pumpkins, and, probably, the growing of them, considering the number you can use ...
-SoulSand is sand with souls in it. Where better for cultured souls to be trapped?
-Pumpkins also have some sort of magical soul quality. They transform snow and iron into living beings!
The above is true. I hadn't thought of it that way. Please, do continue! I have read the entire forum topic until now, and will continue to enjoy your updates. I will (hopefully) very much enjoy playing your mod whenever you release it.
Haha, yay for my reasoning! It's some sort of way of making it tie in with the MineCraft Lore :P. Thanks for the support, and I'm impressed by your reading :P.
Why thank you, as always, Azradun, for your support. Yeah, I'm not imitating TC3, but rather - whether you like what it adds or not - it is very polished, despite only being 25% functionality, and it's that level of polish that I want xD.
And that last line is flawed logic