Minecraft Forums

Quote from MineCrak

Rumsey; Here is the code for the Save Format that Nocte & Robinton wrote together for Cubic Chunks. It's from back in July 2011 so it's not exactly the same as CC's format is atm since I heard Robinton say something about tweaking more height-map info into it or something, but it should be largely the same and might help you. Also; feel free to ask Robinton about it directly in his thread, he's always been open about these aspects of Cubic Chunks as he wants people to write other mods and tools that are compatible. :smile.gif:

Alterable Sector Size RegionFile Source Code - by Robinton & Nocte (2011-07-28)

* It's always possible that he updated the contents of that link and kept the same filename. I don't know.

Thanks, that will be useful. There's nothing imminent about this as I've got other work to do, but I do have some, let's say... interesting... data sets to work with.

Quote from Nocte

Mind sharing? I do have an... ... that would work nicely with such data sets.

So the "data set" is actually a bunch of adt, mdx and wmo files, which are formats used by Blizzard for World of Warcraft. The image I just linked was generated by my program, which parses these files and spits out a bunch of "blocks," nominally for the purpose of generating Minecraft maps (which is why I asked about the file formats) but also because it makes really neat pictures.

I've essentially completed the World of Warcraft side of the program, now I'm writing the Minecraft side, which should be a lot easier given how helpful everyone is in the Minecraft community. In the future, I'd like to flag specific textures (e.g. BambooLeaves01.blp) to corresponding Minecraft blocks (in this case, leaves) so that the entire conversion is hands-off from start to finish.

Quote from Rumsey

So the "data set" is actually a bunch of adt, mdx and wmo files, which are formats used by Blizzard for World of Warcraft. The image I just linked was generated by my program, which parses these files and spits out a bunch of "blocks," nominally for the purpose of generating Minecraft maps (which is why I asked about the file formats) but also because it makes really neat pictures.

I've essentially completed the World of Warcraft side of the program, now I'm writing the Minecraft side, which should be a lot easier given how helpful everyone is in the Minecraft community. In the future, I'd like to flag specific textures (e.g. BambooLeaves01.blp) to corresponding Minecraft blocks (in this case, leaves) so that the entire conversion is hands-off from start to finish.

Nice! Please keep us updated on your project. I'd love to see the outcome of that.

And please check out Nocte's Hexahedra Voxel engine. Nocte could really help a lot. He's able to convert Minecraft maps as well as 3D Chunk ultra tall/high maps (Cubic Chunk) into his engine and render them. He knows quite a bit about the subject.

Quote from Nocte

Sounds like a very cool project! Do you already have raw dumps of the voxel data?
(I have always taken the easy way out and relied on binvox to do that conversion. Voxelization is tricky.)

My code is set up to pipe voxel data directly to a Renderer, which (subject to change!) uses the following interface:

public interface Renderer{
public void init(int width, int height, int max_altitude);
public void setTerrainVoxel(double x, double y, double z);
public void setModelVoxel(double x, double y, double z);
public void done();
}

In this coordinate space, z is altitude, y is north/south.

The program attempts to call setModelVoxel() at least once for each 1x1x1 region that intersects the surface of an object, so you can treat the x/y/z values like integer coordinates in a Minecraft world. The extra precision is just to help me determine which voxel is closer to the camera when I'm rendering it in an isometric view.

setTerrainVoxel() is for heightmap data, and should be called only once per x/y coordinate. The Renderer gets to decide what to do with this information (i.e. filling the dirt in below the surface).

The init() method indicates that voxel data is about to be piped to the Renderer, and width/height/max_altitude are the desired output dimensions. Currently, setModelVoxel() is sometimes called for coordinates outside of these bounds, and the Renderer is supposed to ignore them (I might change that).

The done() method is called after all the voxel data has been piped to the renderer. This allows for post-processing to be performed by the Renderer itself.

I already have an IsometricRenderer and FlatRenderer for making images, I'm currently writing a BlockRenderer for generating Minecraft chunks. In the future, this interface will have to change to incorporate different types of material.

evil height limit

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/2553/durotar.png

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e400/null_/Minecraft_World_of_Warcraft/

Quote from Rumsey

evil height limit

http://img59.imagesh...553/durotar.png

http://s43.photobuck...ld_of_Warcraft/

That is fantastic! Great photo's!

Yeah, I look forward to seeing a Cubic Chunks taller version of that. Heck, Starting with the Test 6 version of Cubic for MC b1.8.1 the Nether has also been made 65k blocks tall, heh heh. Actually, there is a patch for Test 5 that adds it too.

Say, does anyone know a way to programmatically refresh the lights in an entire Minecraft world? I'm able to do it with MCEdit but I don't think that will work with worlds that use the Cubic Chunk format. It's also really slow; it's telling me to wait 3 days, and this is a partial render!

"MCEdit [Indirectly] - It cannot yet directly edit Cubic Worlds, However; you can use Robinton's World Save Converter to temporarily change your Cubic world into a ymod world then edit it like that, and when done you would then convert the world back into a Cubic world. - WARNING: Please read the warning about doing this listed in the World Converter's section."

I'm new to both Cubic Chunks and MCEdit, and I was wondering if you could give me a step by step process of how to edit a world in Cubic Chunks on MCEdit? I'm a newbie so I don't understand even the basics, like if I need y-mod installed before I convert to it using the save converter, will installing y-mod after I already have Cubic Chunks installed ruin my worlds? Please help, I'm kind of lost

Quote from Nocte

For sunlight:
- Set every air block above ground (y >= heightmap(x,z)) to intensity 15, all the others to 0
- Write a function that sets the intensity of every air block to max(its own intensity, its brightest neighbor - 1)
- Call this function 14 times

For light sources, start by setting every torch/glowstone/etc block to the corresponding intensity value, and again call that function 14 times.

Do you think it would be faster to use wavefront propagation + a single pass algorithm with a fixed-memory queue? It's basically a fast version of Dijkstra's that runs in linear time.

This doodle kind of illustrates the idea:

http://www.mcs.alma.edu/LMICSE/LabMaterials/AlgoComp/Lab4/grid3.gif

The idea is to never compute anything except the "front" of wavefront, where changes occur. To do this, we add "new" blocks for each iteration to an efficient queue, then propagate from only those points in the next iteration.

If you seed the algorithm with heightmap information, then you never have to evaluate more than a small percentage of the blocks in the world (namely, only those that are "lit"). This is a huge boon if your height limit is very large, since most of it is probably empty space.

Do you have any idea if the current heightmap mods and/or default implementation of Minecraft are doing this?

Quote from Zodorac

"MCEdit [Indirectly] - It cannot yet directly edit Cubic Worlds, However; you can use Robinton's World Save Converter to temporarily change your Cubic world into a ymod world then edit it like that, and when done you would then convert the world back into a Cubic world. - WARNING: Please read the warning about doing this listed in the World Converter's section."

I'm new to both Cubic Chunks and MCEdit, and I was wondering if you could give me a step by step process of how to edit a world in Cubic Chunks on MCEdit? I'm a newbie so I don't understand even the basics, like if I need y-mod installed before I convert to it using the save converter, will installing y-mod after I already have Cubic Chunks installed ruin my worlds? Please help, I'm kind of lost

I'll describe what I can but the one person that I know was doing this a lot doesn't seem to be around anymore.

However; to your other question: No, you don't install ymod in order to do this. Robinton's World Save Converter is stand-alone.

The idea is as I wrote it elsewhere; You use the converter to convert a copy of your cubic world into a ymod world, then try to directly edit it with MCEdit like you would any other world. The person who used to do this a lot did it with ymod 512 high format. I'm not sure how high a ymod world MCEdit will handle, only that MCEdit has been ymod compatible. When you are done editing it you then use the converter to convert it back into Cubic format (make sure it's the same Cubic format version that it was originally). Done.

Just please remember, like I posted elsewhere; The ymod worlds start at y=0, so anything in a Cubic World beneath y=0 will be deleted by the conversion. Raw terrain will be generated down there again whenever you go down that deep again but if you built anything beneath y=0 it will be gone.

Hopefully Robinton will get around to adding y-level map splicing in the future so that the converter can back-up the y<0 layers of your world then recombine it with the top part once you convert it back from ymod format. Better yet would be if codewarrior finally supports Cubic Format directly. :wink.gif:

I hope this helped some. :smile.gif:

Quote from Rumsey

The idea is to never compute anything except the "front" of wavefront, where changes occur. To do this, we add "new" blocks for each iteration to an efficient queue, then propagate from only those points in the next iteration.

If you seed the algorithm with heightmap information, then you never have to evaluate more than a small percentage of the blocks in the world (namely, only those that are "lit"). This is a huge boon if your height limit is very large, since most of it is probably empty space.

Seeding...
Propagating...
Pass 1, 607545 blocks evaluated
Pass 2, 939595 blocks evaluated
Pass 3, 871114 blocks evaluated
Pass 4, 827445 blocks evaluated
Pass 5, 790279 blocks evaluated
Pass 6, 760724 blocks evaluated
Pass 7, 734574 blocks evaluated
Pass 8, 712555 blocks evaluated
Pass 9, 694166 blocks evaluated
Pass 10, 679721 blocks evaluated
Pass 11, 666025 blocks evaluated
Pass 12, 653516 blocks evaluated
Pass 13, 639586 blocks evaluated
Pass 14, 627162 blocks evaluated
2.055 seconds elapsed.

This is fully lighting an entire region file, which is 32x32 chunks, or 33554432 total blocks. The number of "blocks evaluated" by my algorithm after all 14 passes is 10204007. So my algorithm is evaluating less than 1/3rd of the total blocks in the domain, but still lighting everything.

I don't know how MCEdit does it, but assuming it passes every single block 14 times, that would mean it's potentially doing 14 * 33554432 / 10204007 = 46 times more work than it needs to.

The kicker is this: if the chunk height doubles, the standard algorithm has to do twice as much work, but my algorithm requires no additional work. Why? Because it's only evaluating blocks along the heightmap boundary, which will stay approximately the same as long as the terrain is regular.

Here's a screenshot of the results. I know it's actually being lit by my algorithm, because generating the region without computing the lights produces this. As far as I can tell, it's generating the lights correctly, including handling opaque and transparent blocks.

Quote from MineCrak

I'll describe what I can but the one person that I know was doing this a lot doesn't seem to be around anymore.

However; to your other question: No, you don't install ymod in order to do this. Robinton's World Save Converter is stand-alone.

The idea is as I wrote it elsewhere; You use the converter to convert a copy of your cubic world into a ymod world, then try to directly edit it with MCEdit like you would any other world. The person who used to do this a lot did it with ymod 512 high format. I'm not sure how high a ymod world MCEdit will handle, only that MCEdit has been ymod compatible. When you are done editing it you then use the converter to convert it back into Cubic format (make sure it's the same Cubic format version that it was originally). Done.

Just please remember, like I posted elsewhere; The ymod worlds start at y=0, so anything in a Cubic World beneath y=0 will be deleted by the conversion. Raw terrain will be generated down there again whenever you go down that deep again but if you built anything beneath y=0 it will be gone.

Hopefully Robinton will get around to adding y-level map splicing in the future so that the converter can back-up the y<0 layers of your world then recombine it with the top part once you convert it back from ymod format. Better yet would be if codewarrior finally supports Cubic Format directly. :wink.gif:

I hope this helped some. :smile.gif:

Alright so I tried this, but MCEdit just gives me a big blue screen of nothingness when I attempt to run the world I converted to y-mod. Any idea why it's not working?
I got a little confused with the saveconverter readme instructions. I tried copying the level.dat/old/session lock files from the old world to the new world like it says, but that did not work.

http://cursecraft.com/media/kalimdor8bit.png

1450 blocks, that's how tall it is

Quote from Zodorac

Alright so I tried this, but MCEdit just gives me a big blue screen of nothingness when I attempt to run the world I converted to y-mod. Any idea why it's not working?
I got a little confused with the saveconverter readme instructions. I tried copying the level.dat/old/session lock files from the old world to the new world like it says, but that did not work.

The newest version will auto-copy those files by default normally, but I haven't personally tested the newest one with ymod conversion, bugs might lurk. When I get a chance I may do some testing and see what I can find that could help and let you know.

Quote from Rumsey

http://cursecraft.co...alimdor8bit.png

1450 blocks, that's how tall it is

Nice!! :biggrin.gif:

Quote from yamzy

Hi
Very good topic ! thanks a lot.
but i m a bit confused...
Does someone know how to just expand the ceiling limit on the server without the need to install something on the client ?
It seems that ymod and world converter could do that.
could you confirm ?

i have a bukkit server and the players cannot update their cleints.
which tool is the best choice?
i just need to have a ceiling at least 100 higher

thanks in advance for all your future answers

yann

At this time I think your only option would be Spout. I've just recently learned that Spout has added Linear Chunks Higher World support into their mod. They also now have a release for Minecraft v1.1 available. :smile.gif:

I don't know much about it yet but do know that it can give you a world with 256 height or more.

* I'm not certain yet if Spout requires the client-side spout to also be installed for this to work (I suspect they do but I don't know), but if they do then you have no other options (that I'm aware of) as there is no other solution existing that lets you give Vanilla users greater height without them needing to install something client-side. Sorry.


If anyone knows the answer to how Spout handles this and/or if there is another solution then Please let us know!

Quote from bflipped

Here is a video I put together today to explain how Spout (specifically, SpoutCraft) works, with a focus on its extended height capabilities.

Short version: SpoutCraft is its own client/launcher. It natively supports extended height worlds using a linear chunks method. 64/128/256/512/1024/2048 worlds are supported. It also has a built-in version of Optifine and a few other nice tweaks.

Great video! Thanks for making that and showing the Spout Client Height Mod capabilities. :smile.gif:

I still need to learn a little more about the Client vs Server side etc then I will add something in the OP. Due to the disparity of info directly relating to it's Height Mod capabilities elsewhere I may need to put your video in the coming OP Spout section to help people out. :wink.gif:

Nocte ninja'd me. :smile.gif:
---------------------

Jeb has announced possible plan to
Increase Default Minecraft World Height!


From the below stream of tweets and responses I have summarized the following:

• Jeb is seriously considering raising the Default Minecraft World Height, and soon.
• It will likely be raised from the current 128 blocks high to 256 blocks high.
• The Minecraft World Terrain Generator will not be changed, so Terrain will remain at current height.
• The extra space/height added will be open air, likely an extra 128 blocks of air going up.
• You will NOT need to start a new world.
• Jeb will include a Converter so you can convert current 128 World Saves to the New Height.
• Your converted World will not change except that it will have more space above.
• Jeb has been working on this since at least Jan 5th of 2012, see his 2012/1/5 Tweet.

[EDIT_2012-02-09] * More Info from Jeb. Tweets added below in the Tweet section. Pic added below:

• Jeb has Higher World tests running on the volunteer treesquid server that he is profiling. Says it's going well.
• Jeb is referring to the "New World Format". Is this just the basic extension to 256 or a whole new optimized format?

[/Edit]
[EDIT_2012-02-12] * More Info from Jeb. Tweets added below in Tweet section.

• Jeb has essentially confirmed that the "New World Format" he keeps referring to is a more substantial alteration to the current World Save Format than just extending the Height the way fishtaco's Height Mod does.
• Jeb says that the "New World Format" is a part of his upgrading Minecraft to support Modding.
• Jeb says that he will be releasing Documentation for the "New World Format" so that modders won't have to dissect it to understand it.

[/Edit]


Here are some of my current thoughts and predictions regarding this:

• Since it will be Default it should also work for vanilla Servers
• This height increase is certain to be using the current minecraft Linear Chunks, unless jeb has a Huge surprise for us.
• Slower computers will feel a noticeable drop in FPS, unless jeb has found new improvements.
• After many speed complaints Jeb might make 128/256 Option for Worlds, or just drop it.
• Spoutcraft is already capable of Linear Chunk 256 height, and more. So fast update. [Video]
• bukkit is connected with Jeb so I'm sure it will be ready quickly.
• I have tweeted Jeb with some more questions about this.
• Having a 256 Height Option in Default Minecraft would be Great!! :smile.gif:

• More room for Skylands?

Jebs Tweets, Announcement and answers to questions in chronological order (Top-Down) [Click below]
Notch's Reaction:

@notch Markus Persson

- I am terribly excited about how @jeb_ is doing things to Minecraft I was cautious of doing. This is exactly what the game needs now. <3

Jebs originally posted screenshot:


Jebs New Server screenshot:

Quote from bflipped

As of now, you cannot. Robinton's save converter doesn't support whatever save format they're using, but hopefully it will soon.

I'll get onto it as soon as I get my hands on Mojang extended format. :wink.gif:

And s for the write-up, MineCrak!

Quote from Robinton

I'll get onto it as soon as I get my hands on Mojang extended format. :wink.gif:

And s for the write-up, MineCrak!

Thanks!

In fact, I have some updated info regarding Jeb's Height extension added to that write-up. Plus new tweets and another screenshot.

He has a volunteer group server using the taller version of Minecraft in order to test it. He says it's going well.

Jeb also refers to the World Format in a way that makes me wonder whether it's just the extended 256 high format we are already familiar with or if it's an entirely new format?

You should add WorldAndGenerationTweaks to your dynamic height list. It's the only height Mod I found that works with Minecraft 1.1 Single Player with MinecraftForge installed. Just don't go to The End in version 0.4.2.

http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/544429-110100fishtacos-mods-better-caves-fps-height-mod/#height