I was wondering about possibly overriding drops of mobs with all the stuff that JAS seems to be able to do it felt like it might be possible. Not sure if thats harder.
Not currently possible. Technically I could make it add drops on entity death, but currently I cannot forbid regular drops from happening. It might be possible in the future.
Of couse there is the question of if that functionality should be part of a spawner.
ok, sorry to be back with more noob questions so soon but I'm wondering what the best way is to get creepers and slimes spawning only underground.
Setting their creature type to UNDERGROUND.. Would this work ok for monsters without additional parameters or problems?
or using the !sky tag?
Also (ultra-noob question approaching), the !sky property tag requires the !spawn tag, doesn't it? Or have I totally got this wrong?
So, would it look like S:Creeper=MONSTER-true{!spawn:!sky} ..?
Also (ultra-noob question approaching), the !sky property tag requires the !spawn tag, doesn't it? Or have I totally got this wrong?
So, would it look like S:Creeper=MONSTER-true{!spawn:!sky} ..?
Am I on the right track here?
Yes, they are property tags, and thus require spawn OR !spawn to be parsed. This allows the tag to be reused for spawn or despawning. The difference between spawn and !spawn is subtle but powerful.
With spawn the entity is assumed to be able to spawn and when it encounters a valid property value (i.e. light > 10 and its daytime: light is 15) it disables the spawn. Thus the property restrict the category.
With !spawn the entity is asssumed NOT to be able to spawn and when it encounters a valid property value (i.e. light > 10 and its daytime: light is 15) it enabled the spawn. Thus the property restrict the category.
To Make an entity only spawn underground you could.
do {spawn:sky} which means spawn anywhere, except if it can see sky. (Thus underground).
OR
do {!spawn:!sky} which means don't spawn anywhere, except if it can NOT see the sky. (Thus underground).
About to start using this mod and test it out. Was wondering if there is any pre-made settings for Mo' Creatures and Twilight Forest already out before I start making my own adjustments to the config file or if anyone is willing to share.
Either will work.Under the hood UNDERGROUND and sky are both just identical LOS sky checks. No real difference.
This gives me an idea: I should add height property tags.
Wow you really are on a roll. That would be awesome. Think vultures and other sky type creatures and also slimes and other deep underground types. And thank you for getting back to me so fast. Really appreciating the support.
About to start using this mod and test it out. Was wondering if there is any pre-made settings for Mo' Creatures and Twilight Forest already out before I start making my own adjustments to the config file or if anyone is willing to share.
This gives me an idea: I should add height property tags.
I secretly thought about suggesting this a couple weeks ago, simply because Spawn Rules did it. I personally have no major need for it atm and didn't want to burden Crudedragos with extra work. Still, I am impressed yet again!
About to start using this mod and test it out. Was wondering if there is any pre-made settings for Mo' Creatures and Twilight Forest already out before I start making my own adjustments to the config file or if anyone is willing to share.
Here's my config for Vanilla w/Mo' Creatures using ExtrabiomesXL. I also use a number of other mob mods, and pick and choose which I want in case of duplicate mobs (rabbits, bears, etc). For example, I only have Mo'Creatures bears spawning in jungles because I like pandas, but I prefer Project Zulu bears for the others. http://pastebin.com/2BPwJUh2
Note that's an old version config (0.2.0) but should work. I'd let it rebuild to the new format first, then start making changes.
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The config files are your friends! Get to know them, and shape your world!
is that how it needs to be to add another tag? What I'm trying to do is get a creep to despawn if he happens to spawn in a cave and then waddle out into the open.
is that how it needs to be to add another tag? What I'm trying to do is get a creep to despawn if he happens to spawn in a cave and then waddle out into the open.
Yes, that is exactly right.
For the despawn you probably want
{despawn:!sky} i.e. despawn anywhere, unless I can not see sky.
or more 'clear'
{!despawn:sky} i.e. don't despawn at all, unless I can see sky.
This is somewhat related to those questions I was peppering you with on the Project Zulu thread, but I thought they might be more appropriate here. I'm trying to recognise which mods are using the Mod Entity IDs and which are using Global. Then I noticed this Just Another Spawner bit in my logs.
Is it the case that it's the entitys with names with a "." in, such as "LOTR.Sauron" that are Mod Entity IDs, and the ones that are a single word that are global?
Yes. It's technically <modID>.<entityName>. I should mention that I don't know if "." is strictly speaking forbidden to be used in the entity name itself (which hypothetically could produce "LOTR.Two.Sauron")
Hurrah! OK, that's a result. Now I know which mods I should probably remove in order to improve compatability and reduce strangeness. (And get Thaumcraft and Ars Magica working properly)
Goodbye Chococraft and Atum, ... I'll miss you.
Are mod entity IDs harder to do? What would be the reason everyone isn't using them? Just not knowing about them? I've probably pestered enough people today without asking folks to go rewrite their mods.
The declaration is only slightly longer. 2-3 lines instead of one if I recall right.
Not knowing would be a good reason. Changing the entities could remove them from old worlds (though this should be able to be circumventable if desired via nbt edits).
My name is Gurrok, and I approve these messages. Seriosuly though, if mod authors are serious about their work, they should be willing to make these changes. I'm certain many will be receptive to this information.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The config files are your friends! Get to know them, and shape your world!
Feel free to join in the pestering! I left a post on the Thaumcraft thread. Will see how that goes.
I'll post in Atum. I really like that mod and want to see it become big. Compatibility is important in achieving that.
EDIT: I think this information would be well-suited to be added to the Mob Spawning Observations thread too, as entity ID conflicts will inevitably cause incorrect spawn situations. Perhaps a list of mods using global Entity IDs and if they can be configured?
A Novice's attempt to use and review Just Another Spawner
Early this morning I decided I was tired of fighting with the Custom Mob Spawner that comes with Mo Creatures and decided I wanted to give this mod a try as I have been enjoying the Mob Spawning Observations topic and have great hopes that this will allow me to edit mob spawns by biomes.
Initial Fumblings
I currently have 9 mods that I am using. McCrayfish's furniture mod, Better Farming, Biomes O Plenty, Custom Mob Spawner (because I have to), Custom NPCs, customStuff, mapwriter, Twilight Forest, and Mo 'Creatures (MoC)
Along with Just Another Spawner, I decided to install Project Zulu Complete 1.0.3.3 because I've read good things about it in the Mob Spawn Observations Topic.
Out of the gate, I backed up my server, and then added the two new mods. I ran the server so that the .cfg files would generate, powered it down, and dug into the files. First, I changed the Empty Vanilla Spawnlists and Gamerule doSpawning Off on start to true and then restarted the server and then logged in.
Immediately, I noticed that all of the excess mobs from MoC were gone. There were some small clumps of Vanilla mobs (wolves, sheep, etc) but I'm guessing that's the Chunk Spawn stuff I read about. Ok, so it seems to be correct. They are all set to false in the livinghandler of Vanilla.cfg after all, so it makes sense. Now to test some spawns, I changed the vanilla.cfg livinghandler for the Mo Creatures Bear entry from false to true, changed some of the spawnlistentry biomes to have their weights changed to 50 (specifically the biomes that are present in the immediate area), saved it, and fired the server back up.
Hmmm. No bears. I fly around on creative mode, visiting the different biomes, but still no luck. I shut the server down and revisit the .cfg files. I notice that all of the bear entities have their minimum weight set to 0, still. Well that seems lower than the "bear minimum" (ah ha), so I change it to 4, giving me a Bear=70-4-4-4 entry for the biomes and try again.
Zipping around in flight, I still have yet to see bears but I'm undaunted. Perhaps I'm just not seeing them. I change a bunch of the Creature settings (BigCats, Birds, Fox, etc etc) to true and edit the Biomes for the Highland. After restarting the server, I still fail to see mobs.
I put the server aside for now, and move over to my main computer and start an SSP game to explore whether it I am having a server issue. Following the same initial .cfg editing I did before (or so i thought, see further below), I still fail to see any spawns. Certainly, I am doing something wrong, or missing something, but what?
Next, I decide I need to see if it is a mod issue. I remove all of my mods (other than JAS and Project Zulu) and all of my config files. I let new config files generate, and then edit both those mob related world settings to false again. I start up the world and do another fly around. I don't see any of the Project Zulu mobs, but that makes sense. I haven't changed them to be true yet.
But then, I hear a screech and note there is an eagle flying overhead. A little more thorough an examination of the area, and I see a few isolated Eagles here and there. I get confused, so I look at the Project Zulu .cfg files. Ok, Eagles are ambient and they are set to false. In some of the biomes, they have values.
So, I get to wondering about this. In the .cfg files, the Editable format description for livinghandler says:
I would have thought that ShouldSpawn of True would mean it would spawn, while false means it would not. Perhaps I have it backwards or I did not read the wiki properly. I decide to revisit the server, keeping my weight numbers the same, but changing the "trues" i placed in the living handlers back to "false" to see what happens.
Alas, no mobs and I'm a little more confused. Everyone else is enjoying JAS so it clearly works, so what am I doing wrong? One of the things I note, is that my server [INFO] [JAS] Messages feel a little different, like something is missing. I stop the server and again change bear back to True and watch the server start up log files
I notice that with the bear living entity set to true I am getting the "Adding SpawnListEntry Bear of type CREATURE" messages for all of the biomes. So, I'm thinking that true does need to be set -- but why was I getting eagles on SSP? I let the server run on its own for awhile and revisit my SSP game (after again removing all the mods/cfgs but JAS and Project Zulu), flying around some more. I spot some frogs after a bit, in a swamp I hadnt previously investigated.
Well frogs and eagles are both appearing. I imagine if i give it enough time and search, ill find other things. I still wonder why they show up when the livingentity handler is set to false, tho. I do notice that my GlobalProperties.cfg spawnlist emptying and gamerule doSpawning off are both set to false, unlike my server's. I might be seeing the frogs and eagles on the SSP because the vanilla spawners are making them, maybe? I change these to true and restart my SSP.
After a lot of wandering, i run into a crocodile/alligator. Just one, but I do find him. I also still run into chickens and other assorted vanilla mobs. I am again baffled as the living entity handler is set to false for alligator. Why am I seeing him?
At this point, I've decided I need to completely re-read all of the Mob Spawning Observations posts and the JAS Wiki again as I clearly am being a bigger blockhead then a minecraft zombie. I want to be able to use this mod and I want to be able to give glowing reviews of it as MInecraft would really benefit from a spawn editing mod created by an easily approachable person. I'm not giving up on JAS but it's clear I don't know enough yet to use it right.
Initial Fumblings
Out of the gate, I backed up my server, and then added the two new mods. I ran the server so that the .cfg files would generate, powered it down, and dug into the files. First, I changed the Empty Vanilla Spawnlists and Gamerule doSpawning Off on start to true and then restarted the server and then logged in.
Immediately, I noticed that all of the excess mobs from MoC were gone. There were some small clumps of Vanilla mobs (wolves, sheep, etc) but I'm guessing that's the Chunk Spawn stuff I read about. Ok, so it seems to be correct. They are all set to false in the livinghandler of Vanilla.cfg after all, so it makes sense. Now to test some spawns, I changed the vanilla.cfg livinghandler for the Mo Creatures Bear entry from false to true, changed some of the spawnlistentry biomes to have their weights changed to 50 (specifically the biomes that are present in the immediate area), saved it, and fired the server back up.
By default, it doesn't have anything to true as you notied. The Mo'Creatures disappearing is odd. I'd be interested if you observed other smilar with other mod mobs.
True == shouldSpawn. (Make sure the creature type is not NONE as well). Weight is chance to be selected compared to other entities, not chance to spawn. With only bear enabled it wouldn't have mattered. THe other spawnlist entries are autogenerated to make it easier to import everythings default settings. (Instead of login in multiple times as you enable entities for spawning.)
Hmmm. No bears. I fly around on creative mode, visiting the different biomes, but still no luck. I shut the server down and revisit the .cfg files. I notice that all of the bear entities have their minimum weight set to 0, still. Well that seems lower than the "bear minimum" (ah ha), so I change it to 4, giving me a Bear=70-4-4-4 entry for the biomes and try again.
Zipping around in flight, I still have yet to see bears but I'm undaunted. Perhaps I'm just not seeing them. I change a bunch of the Creature settings (BigCats, Birds, Fox, etc etc) to true and edit the Biomes for the Highland. After restarting the server, I still fail to see mobs.
Creatures types only have a chance to spawn every 400 ticks. Mo'C bears despawn as well if I recall. It's not unusally you would't be able to find them. Creatures were designed for persistent entities, very slow building, but last forever. Also, historically, creatures have depended on chunk spawns which as you had already loaded the server you wouldn't see. All the other categories spawn rate is every tick.
I put the server aside for now, and move over to my main computer and start an SSP game to explore whether it I am having a server issue. Following the same initial .cfg editing I did before (or so i thought, see further below), I still fail to see any spawns. Certainly, I am doing something wrong, or missing something, but what?
The above would still be relelvent, though you should see something. If you open you log, it should be printing whenever it spawns something and its location.
Next, I decide I need to see if it is a mod issue. I remove all of my mods (other than JAS and Project Zulu) and all of my config files. I let new config files generate, and then edit both those mob related world settings to false again. I start up the world and do another fly around. I don't see any of the Project Zulu mobs, but that makes sense. I haven't changed them to be true yet.
But then, I hear a screech and note there is an eagle flying overhead. A little more thorough an examination of the area, and I see a few isolated Eagles here and there. I get confused, so I look at the Project Zulu .cfg files. Ok, Eagles are ambient and they are set to false. In some of the biomes, they have values.
So, I get to wondering about this. In the .cfg files, the Editable format description for livinghandler says:
I would have thought that ShouldSpawn of True would mean it would spawn, while false means it would not. Perhaps I have it backwards or I did not read the wiki properly. I decide to revisit the server, keeping my weight numbers the same, but changing the "trues" i placed in the living handlers back to "false" to see what happens.
Alas, no mobs and I'm a little more confused. Everyone else is enjoying JAS so it clearly works, so what am I doing wrong? One of the things I note, is that my server [INFO] [JAS] Messages feel a little different, like something is missing. I stop the server and again change bear back to True and watch the server start up log files
Yes, as you realized, true == should be able to spawn.
I notice that with the bear living entity set to true I am getting the "Adding SpawnListEntry Bear of type CREATURE" messages for all of the biomes. So, I'm thinking that true does need to be set -- but why was I getting eagles on SSP? I let the server run on its own for awhile and revisit my SSP game (after again removing all the mods/cfgs but JAS and Project Zulu), flying around some more. I spot some frogs after a bit, in a swamp I hadnt previously investigated.
Well frogs and eagles are both appearing. I imagine if i give it enough time and search, ill find other things. I still wonder why they show up when the livingentity handler is set to false, tho. I do notice that my GlobalProperties.cfg spawnlist emptying and gamerule doSpawning off are both set to false, unlike my server's. I might be seeing the frogs and eagles on the SSP because the vanilla spawners are making them, maybe? I change these to true and restart my SSP.
After a lot of wandering, i run into a crocodile/alligator. Just one, but I do find him. I also still run into chickens and other assorted vanilla mobs. I am again baffled as the living entity handler is set to false for alligator. Why am I seeing him?
My first guess would be that you forgot to enable the empty spawn list option for vanilla in the SSP world; such that chunk spawning is still occuring. Chunk spawnign only occurs for newly generated chunks. If you don't see a [JAS] spawn message for these random entities you're seeing, then it is not JAS that is spawning them. I assume CMS is disabled somehow, I just clear the spawnlist on world start, if somthing else fills them up they'd still function.
I would play with monsters/ambients's first, anything but creatures to get the "hang" of it so you know your not crazy. Creatures have this tendency to be persistent and thus you'll not be seeing spawns.
Thank you for your thorough reply, I will do some more attempts shortly. I thought I would bring the following to your attention tho:
In the GlobalProperties.cfg, if i change B:"Debug Mode" = true to false, the server produces Fatal errors during the transition from SERVER_ABOUT_TO_START to SERVER_STARTING. It catches a java.util.MissingFormatArgumentException: Format specifier 's' from JustAnotherSpawner.
Don't know if I need Debug Mode to be true (setting it to false I have no problems) -- I'm kind of fumbling around but I assumed that having the debug mode on would give me additional information.
I am using Forge 5.1.8.611 ---> Last time I tried to use the latest Forge build, Mo Creatures died. I had to sacrifice my Bibliocraft mod (Armor stand crash bug) and keep at this build (Last one DrZ says Mo Creatures is tested on).
Thank you for your thorough reply, I will do some more attempts shortly. I thought I would bring the following to your attention tho:
In the GlobalProperties.cfg, if i change B:"Debug Mode" = true to false, the server produces Fatal errors during the transition from SERVER_ABOUT_TO_START to SERVER_STARTING. It catches a java.util.MissingFormatArgumentException: Format specifier 's' from JustAnotherSpawner.
Don't know if I need Debug Mode to be true (setting it to false I have no problems) -- I'm kind of fumbling around but I assumed that having the debug mode on would give me additional information.
I am using Forge 5.1.8.611 ---> Last time I tried to use the latest Forge build, Mo Creatures died. I had to sacrifice my Bibliocraft mod (Armor stand crash bug) and keep at this build (Last one DrZ says Mo Creatures is tested on).
Yea the "idea" behind debug mode is to print a ton of crazy additional lines of data. Though most of the information that is useful (such as creature spawns) is still being printed in normal (not to be the case forever, probably). Forge build wouldn't be the issue here. It'd be a case of me not providing enough arguments into a debug message ouput. Thank you for reporting.
If I have "Do chunk Spawning" set to false on all living types in CreatureType.cfg, livinghandelr set to false for each Creature, ambient, monster, and watercreature in Vanilla.cfg and ProjectZuluCore.cfg, and "Empty Vanilla SpawnLists" and "Gamerule doSpawning off" set to true -- what should I be experiencing in SSP? My assumption is that I should not see any creatures spawning at all. Is this so?
Also, does it take these settings time to kick in? I ask because in earlier tests, I was getting spawns... but after a point, when i started new SSPs, I finally got to the point where new games I created did not have new mobs. After a lunch and lawn work break, I've returned for more testing and my new world has both pigs and giraffes wandering in it after a complete minecraft restart -- which makes me wonder if there's some kind of "need to wait for the effects to kick in" sort of thing going on here.
Follow-up: I sat in that world (night is safe, because no monsters spawn at the moment) while typing up the previous question. I returned ten-fifteen minutes later and created a new world. No mobs. Created four more worlds in sequence and again, no mobs. Completely turned off Minecraft, restarted the .exe and created a new world. As soon as it's done, I hear "oink" and I have a pig next to me! Wacky. Wait a little bit, save and quit (but not leave) Minecraft, no mobs. For several more restarts, still no mobs.
So, if i am testing on a server and constantly restarting to test for changes, perhaps enough time hasn't passed to make things spawn? If I edit the config files, do I need to restart the server for them to take effect?
I know, lots of questions! But I'm excited for this mod.
If I have "Do chunk Spawning" set to false on all living types in CreatureType.cfg, livinghandelr set to false for each Creature, ambient, monster, and watercreature in Vanilla.cfg and ProjectZuluCore.cfg, and "Empty Vanilla SpawnLists" and "Gamerule doSpawning off" set to true -- what should I be experiencing in SSP? My assumption is that I should not see any creatures spawning at all. Is this so?
Also, does it take these settings time to kick in? I ask because in earlier tests, I was getting spawns... but after a point, when i started new SSPs, I finally got to the point where new games I created did not have new mobs. After a lunch and lawn work break, I've returned for more testing and my new world has both pigs and giraffes wandering in it after a complete minecraft restart -- which makes me wonder if there's some kind of "need to wait for the effects to kick in" sort of thing going on here.
No waiting. The global configs are read any time Minecraft is started. The world specific configuration files are read from any time you enter a world.
Remember when you create new worlds the settings are imported from master.
Thank you for your thorough reply, I will do some more attempts shortly. I thought I would bring the following to your attention tho:
In the GlobalProperties.cfg, if i change B:"Debug Mode" = true to false, the server produces Fatal errors during the transition from SERVER_ABOUT_TO_START to SERVER_STARTING. It catches a java.util.MissingFormatArgumentException: Format specifier 's' from JustAnotherSpawner.
Don't know if I need Debug Mode to be true (setting it to false I have no problems) -- I'm kind of fumbling around but I assumed that having the debug mode on would give me additional information.
I am using Forge 5.1.8.611 ---> Last time I tried to use the latest Forge build, Mo Creatures died. I had to sacrifice my Bibliocraft mod (Armor stand crash bug) and keep at this build (Last one DrZ says Mo Creatures is tested on).
That seems like an old version of Forge, and what's the terms of the armor stand crash (placing certain armor on it, etc.)? Also, which MoC are you using? I ask because I've had success with all of these mods running in both 1.4.7 and 1.5.1 SSP and SMP, though likely not the same versions you're using.
I have yet to try the backported 1.4.7 MoC, simply because so many mods have updated to 1.5.1 it seemed kind of moot. It is quite generous of DrZhark to do the backport though. I have no experience with JAS after 0.2.0 yet (please don't hurt me Crudedragos ), because that version does everything I need it to do atm but will eventually update (promise!)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
The config files are your friends! Get to know them, and shape your world!
Not currently possible. Technically I could make it add drops on entity death, but currently I cannot forbid regular drops from happening. It might be possible in the future.
Of couse there is the question of if that functionality should be part of a spawner.
Setting their creature type to UNDERGROUND.. Would this work ok for monsters without additional parameters or problems?
or using the !sky tag?
Also (ultra-noob question approaching), the !sky property tag requires the !spawn tag, doesn't it? Or have I totally got this wrong?
So, would it look like S:Creeper=MONSTER-true{!spawn:!sky} ..?
Am I on the right track here?
Either will work.Under the hood UNDERGROUND and sky are both just identical LOS sky checks. No real difference.
This gives me an idea: I should add height property tags.
Yes, they are property tags, and thus require spawn OR !spawn to be parsed. This allows the tag to be reused for spawn or despawning. The difference between spawn and !spawn is subtle but powerful.
With spawn the entity is assumed to be able to spawn and when it encounters a valid property value (i.e. light > 10 and its daytime: light is 15) it disables the spawn. Thus the property restrict the category.
With !spawn the entity is asssumed NOT to be able to spawn and when it encounters a valid property value (i.e. light > 10 and its daytime: light is 15) it enabled the spawn. Thus the property restrict the category.
To Make an entity only spawn underground you could.
do {spawn:sky} which means spawn anywhere, except if it can see sky. (Thus underground).
OR
do {!spawn:!sky} which means don't spawn anywhere, except if it can NOT see the sky. (Thus underground).
Wow you really are on a roll. That would be awesome. Think vultures and other sky type creatures and also slimes and other deep underground types. And thank you for getting back to me so fast. Really appreciating the support.
there's this post by Gurrok that helped me. http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1753435-14715-just-another-spawner-jas-v050/page__st__20#entry21872705
He doesn't have Twilight, I don't think but Mo'Creatures is included in the vanilla.cfg
I secretly thought about suggesting this a couple weeks ago, simply because Spawn Rules did it. I personally have no major need for it atm and didn't want to burden Crudedragos with extra work. Still, I am impressed yet again!
Here's my config for Vanilla w/Mo' Creatures using ExtrabiomesXL. I also use a number of other mob mods, and pick and choose which I want in case of duplicate mobs (rabbits, bears, etc). For example, I only have Mo'Creatures bears spawning in jungles because I like pandas, but I prefer Project Zulu bears for the others.
http://pastebin.com/2BPwJUh2
Note that's an old version config (0.2.0) but should work. I'd let it rebuild to the new format first, then start making changes.
S:Creeper=MONSTER-true{!spawn:!sky}{depsawn:sky}
is that how it needs to be to add another tag? What I'm trying to do is get a creep to despawn if he happens to spawn in a cave and then waddle out into the open.
Yes, that is exactly right.
For the despawn you probably want
{despawn:!sky} i.e. despawn anywhere, unless I can not see sky.
or more 'clear'
{!despawn:sky} i.e. don't despawn at all, unless I can see sky.
Yes. It's technically <modID>.<entityName>. I should mention that I don't know if "." is strictly speaking forbidden to be used in the entity name itself (which hypothetically could produce "LOTR.Two.Sauron")
The declaration is only slightly longer. 2-3 lines instead of one if I recall right.
Not knowing would be a good reason. Changing the entities could remove them from old worlds (though this should be able to be circumventable if desired via nbt edits).
If you seek to point them in that direction I would recommend the source I referenced earlier http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1417041-mod-entity-problem-updated-with-forge/page__st__140#entry18822284
My name is Gurrok, and I approve these messages. Seriosuly though, if mod authors are serious about their work, they should be willing to make these changes. I'm certain many will be receptive to this information.
I'll post in Atum. I really like that mod and want to see it become big. Compatibility is important in achieving that.
EDIT: I think this information would be well-suited to be added to the Mob Spawning Observations thread too, as entity ID conflicts will inevitably cause incorrect spawn situations. Perhaps a list of mods using global Entity IDs and if they can be configured?
Early this morning I decided I was tired of fighting with the Custom Mob Spawner that comes with Mo Creatures and decided I wanted to give this mod a try as I have been enjoying the Mob Spawning Observations topic and have great hopes that this will allow me to edit mob spawns by biomes.
Initial Fumblings
I currently have 9 mods that I am using. McCrayfish's furniture mod, Better Farming, Biomes O Plenty, Custom Mob Spawner (because I have to), Custom NPCs, customStuff, mapwriter, Twilight Forest, and Mo 'Creatures (MoC)
Along with Just Another Spawner, I decided to install Project Zulu Complete 1.0.3.3 because I've read good things about it in the Mob Spawn Observations Topic.
Out of the gate, I backed up my server, and then added the two new mods. I ran the server so that the .cfg files would generate, powered it down, and dug into the files. First, I changed the Empty Vanilla Spawnlists and Gamerule doSpawning Off on start to true and then restarted the server and then logged in.
Immediately, I noticed that all of the excess mobs from MoC were gone. There were some small clumps of Vanilla mobs (wolves, sheep, etc) but I'm guessing that's the Chunk Spawn stuff I read about. Ok, so it seems to be correct. They are all set to false in the livinghandler of Vanilla.cfg after all, so it makes sense. Now to test some spawns, I changed the vanilla.cfg livinghandler for the Mo Creatures Bear entry from false to true, changed some of the spawnlistentry biomes to have their weights changed to 50 (specifically the biomes that are present in the immediate area), saved it, and fired the server back up.
Hmmm. No bears. I fly around on creative mode, visiting the different biomes, but still no luck. I shut the server down and revisit the .cfg files. I notice that all of the bear entities have their minimum weight set to 0, still. Well that seems lower than the "bear minimum" (ah ha), so I change it to 4, giving me a Bear=70-4-4-4 entry for the biomes and try again.
Zipping around in flight, I still have yet to see bears but I'm undaunted. Perhaps I'm just not seeing them. I change a bunch of the Creature settings (BigCats, Birds, Fox, etc etc) to true and edit the Biomes for the Highland. After restarting the server, I still fail to see mobs.
I put the server aside for now, and move over to my main computer and start an SSP game to explore whether it I am having a server issue. Following the same initial .cfg editing I did before (or so i thought, see further below), I still fail to see any spawns. Certainly, I am doing something wrong, or missing something, but what?
Next, I decide I need to see if it is a mod issue. I remove all of my mods (other than JAS and Project Zulu) and all of my config files. I let new config files generate, and then edit both those mob related world settings to false again. I start up the world and do another fly around. I don't see any of the Project Zulu mobs, but that makes sense. I haven't changed them to be true yet.
But then, I hear a screech and note there is an eagle flying overhead. A little more thorough an examination of the area, and I see a few isolated Eagles here and there. I get confused, so I look at the Project Zulu .cfg files. Ok, Eagles are ambient and they are set to false. In some of the biomes, they have values.
So, I get to wondering about this. In the .cfg files, the Editable format description for livinghandler says:
I would have thought that ShouldSpawn of True would mean it would spawn, while false means it would not. Perhaps I have it backwards or I did not read the wiki properly. I decide to revisit the server, keeping my weight numbers the same, but changing the "trues" i placed in the living handlers back to "false" to see what happens.
Alas, no mobs and I'm a little more confused. Everyone else is enjoying JAS so it clearly works, so what am I doing wrong? One of the things I note, is that my server [INFO] [JAS] Messages feel a little different, like something is missing. I stop the server and again change bear back to True and watch the server start up log files
I notice that with the bear living entity set to true I am getting the "Adding SpawnListEntry Bear of type CREATURE" messages for all of the biomes. So, I'm thinking that true does need to be set -- but why was I getting eagles on SSP? I let the server run on its own for awhile and revisit my SSP game (after again removing all the mods/cfgs but JAS and Project Zulu), flying around some more. I spot some frogs after a bit, in a swamp I hadnt previously investigated.
Well frogs and eagles are both appearing. I imagine if i give it enough time and search, ill find other things. I still wonder why they show up when the livingentity handler is set to false, tho. I do notice that my GlobalProperties.cfg spawnlist emptying and gamerule doSpawning off are both set to false, unlike my server's. I might be seeing the frogs and eagles on the SSP because the vanilla spawners are making them, maybe? I change these to true and restart my SSP.
After a lot of wandering, i run into a crocodile/alligator. Just one, but I do find him. I also still run into chickens and other assorted vanilla mobs. I am again baffled as the living entity handler is set to false for alligator. Why am I seeing him?
At this point, I've decided I need to completely re-read all of the Mob Spawning Observations posts and the JAS Wiki again as I clearly am being a bigger blockhead then a minecraft zombie. I want to be able to use this mod and I want to be able to give glowing reviews of it as MInecraft would really benefit from a spawn editing mod created by an easily approachable person. I'm not giving up on JAS but it's clear I don't know enough yet to use it right.
Thanks much for the hard work!
By default, it doesn't have anything to true as you notied. The Mo'Creatures disappearing is odd. I'd be interested if you observed other smilar with other mod mobs.
True == shouldSpawn. (Make sure the creature type is not NONE as well). Weight is chance to be selected compared to other entities, not chance to spawn. With only bear enabled it wouldn't have mattered. THe other spawnlist entries are autogenerated to make it easier to import everythings default settings. (Instead of login in multiple times as you enable entities for spawning.)
Creatures types only have a chance to spawn every 400 ticks. Mo'C bears despawn as well if I recall. It's not unusally you would't be able to find them. Creatures were designed for persistent entities, very slow building, but last forever. Also, historically, creatures have depended on chunk spawns which as you had already loaded the server you wouldn't see. All the other categories spawn rate is every tick.
The above would still be relelvent, though you should see something. If you open you log, it should be printing whenever it spawns something and its location.
Yes, as you realized, true == should be able to spawn.
My first guess would be that you forgot to enable the empty spawn list option for vanilla in the SSP world; such that chunk spawning is still occuring. Chunk spawnign only occurs for newly generated chunks. If you don't see a [JAS] spawn message for these random entities you're seeing, then it is not JAS that is spawning them. I assume CMS is disabled somehow, I just clear the spawnlist on world start, if somthing else fills them up they'd still function.
I would play with monsters/ambients's first, anything but creatures to get the "hang" of it so you know your not crazy. Creatures have this tendency to be persistent and thus you'll not be seeing spawns.
In the GlobalProperties.cfg, if i change B:"Debug Mode" = true to false, the server produces Fatal errors during the transition from SERVER_ABOUT_TO_START to SERVER_STARTING. It catches a java.util.MissingFormatArgumentException: Format specifier 's' from JustAnotherSpawner.
Don't know if I need Debug Mode to be true (setting it to false I have no problems) -- I'm kind of fumbling around but I assumed that having the debug mode on would give me additional information.
I am using Forge 5.1.8.611 ---> Last time I tried to use the latest Forge build, Mo Creatures died. I had to sacrifice my Bibliocraft mod (Armor stand crash bug) and keep at this build (Last one DrZ says Mo Creatures is tested on).
Yea the "idea" behind debug mode is to print a ton of crazy additional lines of data. Though most of the information that is useful (such as creature spawns) is still being printed in normal (not to be the case forever, probably). Forge build wouldn't be the issue here. It'd be a case of me not providing enough arguments into a debug message ouput. Thank you for reporting.
Also, does it take these settings time to kick in? I ask because in earlier tests, I was getting spawns... but after a point, when i started new SSPs, I finally got to the point where new games I created did not have new mobs. After a lunch and lawn work break, I've returned for more testing and my new world has both pigs and giraffes wandering in it after a complete minecraft restart -- which makes me wonder if there's some kind of "need to wait for the effects to kick in" sort of thing going on here.
Follow-up: I sat in that world (night is safe, because no monsters spawn at the moment) while typing up the previous question. I returned ten-fifteen minutes later and created a new world. No mobs. Created four more worlds in sequence and again, no mobs. Completely turned off Minecraft, restarted the .exe and created a new world. As soon as it's done, I hear "oink" and I have a pig next to me! Wacky. Wait a little bit, save and quit (but not leave) Minecraft, no mobs. For several more restarts, still no mobs.
So, if i am testing on a server and constantly restarting to test for changes, perhaps enough time hasn't passed to make things spawn? If I edit the config files, do I need to restart the server for them to take effect?
I know, lots of questions! But I'm excited for this mod.
Yes.
No waiting. The global configs are read any time Minecraft is started. The world specific configuration files are read from any time you enter a world.
Remember when you create new worlds the settings are imported from master.
That seems like an old version of Forge, and what's the terms of the armor stand crash (placing certain armor on it, etc.)? Also, which MoC are you using? I ask because I've had success with all of these mods running in both 1.4.7 and 1.5.1 SSP and SMP, though likely not the same versions you're using.
I have yet to try the backported 1.4.7 MoC, simply because so many mods have updated to 1.5.1 it seemed kind of moot. It is quite generous of DrZhark to do the backport though. I have no experience with JAS after 0.2.0 yet (please don't hurt me Crudedragos ), because that version does everything I need it to do atm but will eventually update (promise!)