Minecraft Forums

Quote from Cynips»

What can you do when you are billionaire that you can't do when you are already (multi)millionaire?

Personaly, I think I will wait some times and see where this is going before I keep continuing my pack. Plus, the disappointment makes me lose a little of motivation...

Absolutely! The interest alone on his millions would be eye-poppingly large. Does make one wonder what you would do with so much if it wasn't about the money! Perhaps he intends to give to charity or start some kind of foundation. I can only think that a supposed quiet programmer, who doesn't like the limelight, has only stored up even more problems for himself with that kind of wealth.

Quote from Deepblue686»

I guess I'm not the kind to jump to the worst conclusion and abandon ship just like that. (I love the reactions, some seem almost suicidal)
As far as we know, it might just mean that Microsoft's name pops up next to Mojang's when you start up the game.

It's not like Microsoft up and fired Mojang and took over the project themselves.

We don't know if it'll be for the best or worst, or even if anything will actually change at all.
Nothing has actually happened yet except that Microsoft has ownership of a games developer.

I think it's safe to say that whatever Microsoft do after spending so much, it will be to try to get a return on their investment as soon as possible. The one big difference of course is that as much as they might like to put it out there that they think Minecraft is wonderful and the community is very important to them, as a mega corporation they are ruled by one thing only...end of year profit margins.

This is just as likely to blow up in Microsoft's face as it is to generate goodwill. They do not have a good track record of caring for developers they've bought. Of course they will be treading carefully at first, but over time they will be investigating every means possible to get a return on their investment. If that means sacking the whole Mojang team down the line and bringing in another, they would do it in an instant if they thought it would generate more money or platform market share.

Independent original developers have a personal interest in their creations, mega-publishers just do not...they buy and sell and break up things according to profit and loss and any words they say now are what you would expect them to say. I find it amusing the number of people who are taking recent posts from Mojang and Microsoft as legally binding documents...telling everyone not to worry as MS and Mojang said they won't do this and that. Anything Mojang says now about the future of MC can be taken with a pinch of salt as they don't own MC anymore, and the same goes for any MS executive who will say whatever he thinks his boss, shareholders or audience want to hear...he or she will be somewhere else in the business world when things go down the pan!

Like Cynips, I do find the move very disappointing...the future of Minecraft no longer seems to be quite as unlimited as it did last week. I'm not as confident that modders, artist's and video makers will have the same freedoms in the long term as they've enjoyed to date. I do think the feeling of disappointment being expressed around the net, certainly from the PC community, is not just all knee-jerk 'over-reaction', it's indicative of what we've witnessed large publishers do when they've got their hands on a popular franchise...it's nearly always never meant more freedom, more modifications, more downloads without paying out more money, for less content, with greater restrictions!

Quote from ChooChooGuy»

Hopefully they will allow Searge to finish the MCP and we can have mods for the last Mojang release. I see moving MC to C# but I don't see them stopping resource pack development. I don't think they'll kill modding since that and the resource packs are what make the community so passionate. Microsoft desperately wants to be more relevant in the cloud and this is their way in. Now that the evil duo is gone, we may have some hope.

I've never been part of an acquisition that went well for the employees. I hope Notch takes care of them because M$ won't. And M$ stated they will be making the ROI by the end of 2015, so I see more charges coming, with the first being Minecraft 2.0.

At least we can keep our old versions.

I'll still try to update stuff for my pack for as long as I have the freedom to explore an unlimited, unrestricted Minecraft on my PC, why? Because I'm not doing it for love of success, or money, or popularity, but because I love to build fantastic stuff in what seems like an infinite world.

If Microsoft make any part of Minecraft more limited, due to charge, exclusivity, limited licence, etc, etc. then the magic is gone as far as I'm concerned. When that happens, I'll stick with whatever backup version of Minecraft still works with the textures I've made for use with MCPatcher and just build and build and hope that I can always access my world offline. I'd be genuinely disappointed if I wasn't able to make the odd Youtube vid showing my world off, but I suppose I could always bore the next door neighbor instead!

It's certainly interesting times, but in all honesty I'm not excited about Microsoft owning Mojang.

Quote from The_Fool76»

The ROI will come mostly from the merchandising. You can hardly turn around in any of the big box stores without bumping into a stand full of Minecraft stuff. I'm expecting them to leave the actual game mostly alone and instead to do stuff like a Minecraft Cartoon.

You must have posted this at the same time as my diatribe.

Lets hope it is only that kind of thing. If they want to go all out with merchandise, et al, while allowing things to stay the same for the creative side of the modding community, then that would be the best of both worlds really, although I'm still skeptical, and if things became even more difficult for a simple artist like me to modify with new textures, then it would sadly be the end of the road for me.

If they did the right thing and kept the business open as usual for modders, they would never be short of good material for updates. Now if they'd just do the decent thing and properly recognise and reimburse hardworking modders for anything they officially copied, then it really would be perfect as the enthusiasm and ideas would never stop flowing, but I lost faith in big enterprises doing the right thing long ago. The bigger an organisation gets, the more it cow-tows to those who don't really have any understanding of what makes something so popular.

I'm already out of my depth with all the new ways of randomising block textures and 3d modelling in 1.8. Flip! I installed the latest beta version of MCPatcher for 1.8 last night and was pleasantly surprised to see a lot of things still worked well, especially the new stone, dirt, grass and ore textures I did earlier this year. However, there's quite a few ctm textures that obviously relied on meta info and are now broken, especially the wood stuff like planks, stairs and slabs, but now I can't even understand half the stuff I worked on, nor how to translate it to the new block names. So there'd be little hope for me if MC 2.0 was even more complicated.

I hope I can find some good examples of how to use ctm with all the new nomenclature, if not then I'll just have to simplify the wood stuff to just random textures. It's always the stairs and slabs that get me confused and I've yet to find anything that tells me how I specifically refer to them in the new system with MCPatcher. Any links would be much appreciated...anyone?

I think I need to do a Notch, minus the fortune of course!

Quote from ksheep»

This is more or less what I see happening. I doubt they'd switch Minecraft straight to C#, as that would be quite a bit of work, but I could see them ramping down updates for Minecraft and starting work in Minecraft 2.0 (or whatever they decide to call it), switching to C# or some other language then. As for mods, texture packs, and the like… hasn't Microsoft been fairly lenient in that area? I haven't dealt with their games in a while, but I remember they were relatively open to mods in the past, be it the Age of Empires series, Flight Simulator, or the PC versions of Halo. Of course, things change (I believe that this was also back when EA was a decent company), so it's hard to tell what exactly will happen with the modding scene. If they're smart, they'll leave well enough alone and let things go on as is.

I'm just glad that Mojang wasn't bought up by EA… *shudder*

Hehe! I like the the idea of Microsoft, "ramping down updates", anything to not have to keep catching up all the time. Flippin' heck, I never get the chance to properly try out all the new things that come each update, so although it might not be popular with everyone else, I'd be doin' the Microsoft jig in their honor if things went quiet.

Yeah! EA would be just awful. What a series of disasters they've inflicted on all the games I loved, Simcity, Sims, Spore (which wasn't terrible, but could have been soooo much better) and more. Talk about milking a franchise for all it's worth...until it has no worth left! I still think Microsoft is not far behind though.

Quote from Cynips»

I like the fact that you express with a perfect and sophisticated english my thoughts and what I could have said if I was better in this language...

Oh heck! I'm the least sophisticated person you could possibly imagine, especially when it comes to language and argument! I'm certainly good at waffling on matters I don't really know much about and I'm good at work avoidance! All my waffles are just so much huff and puff really!

I could actually just do with a real edible waffle right now. Mmmm!

Quote from THAREAL_Alexandrowich»

damn, the more i read from you glim, the more i think you,re my "lost brother"! a lot of similarity

What?! You like waffles too?

Quote from TheAuldGrump»

Quote from Cynips�

Hello, Space-X? I'd like to book a ticket, please....

The Auld Grump

Haha! Yes, good point. Wouldn't be my first port of call though...I like my feet firmly planted on the ground...unless I'm in MC in creative mode.

Quote from juliusand1»

This is a little off topic, but I wanted to get your opinion on the results of the Scottish Independence Referendum.

There's too much division and separation going on in the world today, so it's nice when all the nations that comprise the United Kingdom, with such a long and checkered history together, realize that we are better side by side than divided. I think if anything, this referendum made us all take stock of the best aspects of our United Kingdom. So many institutions, discoveries, scientific breakthroughs and great acts of Parliament have been created by learned men and women from all four nations working together, benefiting the Kingdom as a whole, and we have been through so much adversity and history together, that I have always seen us as one nation, I grew up believing that, albeit with rich historical and cultural differences ...differences that make us interesting and amusing...but not in the least foreign or alien.

Things will certainly have to change with regard to more devolved powers to all four countries and not just Scotland, meaning less centralization, which will be a good thing. However, I can't say this any more meaningfully than that I am just very, very glad we are staying together as a United Kingdom...at least for this generation.

Quote from theboss24611»

i want this but its possibly laggy and too much for my computer so can you make this pack in 16x that would be great. oh and show the slime

Here's what the slime block currently looks like...Gasbags made up of slime-soaked canvas:





However, I may change it to something more machine or structural-like to tie in better with it's use with redstone, but in any event I should have some other alternatives. One of those alternatives which is a structural texture will be replacing one of my least favorite stained glass designs...the industrial glass blocks. Here's another look at that new texture:






It still works very well as a pane of glass, minus any opacity there might have been as real stained glass, and as another iron railing or framework. It can still connect nicely in a structural way with all the other stained glass and any other block made of metal.

If you look back through to page 585 you'll see pics of all the new 1.8 textures I've been working on including much work on re-vamping older textures like gravel, dirt, grass, stone and all the ores along with more information.

This makes me think that a little picture round-up of all the new things I did earlier this year, as mentioned above, might be a good idea at this point. Hang on a mo'...

Quote from juliusand1»

The short answer Boss, is no this pack will not be going 16x. But in lieu of Glim's pack, may I suggest "Steamy" by Squid_Emperor. You can find it here on the forums. It's a nice 16x steampunk inspired resource pack. It reminds me of the great Final Fantasy III (or VI depending on how you were introduced to it first). It was the last Final Fantasy game on the Super Nintendo before going over to the Playstation systems. Don't let "Final Fantasy" put you off though, that game had a kind of magi-tech that reminds me of steampunk. I haven't played with his pack yet, so I don't know what version of MC it is built for.

Love that pic!

And yeah, I can't recommend Squid's 16x "Steamy" resource pack enough, and there's a lot of stuff in that pack I wish I'd thought of myself. I think we also share the same world view of Steampunk, as not just being stuck in the Victorian era as a stylistic theme.

.....GSv.16 WIP Picture Roundup!

As I did a lot of work for GS v.16 way back in the first few months of 2014, I thought it might be worth reminding myself as much as everyone else who's interested that even though I've still got a lot to work on for MC 1.8 there will be a lot of other improvements too, once I get things properly working with MCPatcher.


.....GSv.16 New Stone & Grass!





Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11790


.....GSv.16 New Stone Version 2!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11805


.....GSv.16 New Enchantment GUI!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11814


.....GSv.16 New Gravel!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11824


.....GSv.16 New Dirt WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11862


.....GSv.16 New Snow Grass WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11869


.....GSv.16 New Podzol Dirt WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11878


.....GSv.16 New Coal Ore WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11884


.....GSv.16 New Iron Ore WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11894


.....GSv.16 New Lapis Ore WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11898


.....GSv.16 New Gold Ore WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11926


.....GSv.16 New Redstone Ore WIP!



Rest of the pics and further information can be found here:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding/resource-packs/1223223-glimmars-steampunk-v15-hybrid-vast-collection-of?comment=11940


The rest of the latest texture edits are only a few pages back, so if you're still interested a few mouse clicks will satisfy your curiosity, they include:

New Cow mob
New Sheep
New "Automaton Mooshroom Gatherer"
New Iron Door
New 64x Redstone Torch
1.8 Daylight Sensor variations
1.8 Wet Sponge.
All the 1.8 Rabbit Mobs including the killer automaton white rabbit of Caerbannog!


************************************************


Had some time this morning to work on the new iron trapdoor, it's a bit over-complicated at the moment, so I might have to do a few more simpler alternatives. As soon as I'm satisfied with the results I'll post some pics. Hopefully the new trapdoor will inspire me to make a start on the rest of the new doors...whilst keeping my eye out for a finished version of MCPatcher for MC 1.8. Phew!

Quote from THAREAL_Alexandrowich»

oh my dear gods in heaven, these textures are making me all tinkly inside! i am SO itching to use them! glim, you just topped yourself again, mate! its going to be a new era with pack! :3 the iron ore as metal parts and bits as if someone lived there already, are an amazing thought, glim! may you do this with the other ores as well? like golden door knot? or redstone lanterns as redstone ores?
it just feels much better to know that there is/was civilization ^^
im very honest, i realy love the textures so far! "one can not simply descripe the epicness!"

there is a reason why i am into it like that. i am surviving in a world and writing everything i see and do into a book and quill. it feels great having things off of your soul by writing it down, so i made a lil roleplay out of it:

http://imgur.com/a/k5xrB#0
(Imgur may show only 6 pictures but there are 20, use the arrow keys in imgur to switch through all 20 pages)

dont mind the grammar, writing in minecrafts vanilla books is horrible

also: YEY, the signature just fixed itself. the Unmeasurable Divine Power of the Dragons is back!!!

The role play story is excellent!

As regards the ore textures there's a fine line of realism that I'm prepared to tread. I like the idea of leaving some evidence of mining activity, but I don't want to clutter up every cave system with all sorts of paraphernalia. However, MCPatcher, if I remember rightly, allows for depth/height specific mobs and I think this also applies to block textures, so it might be possible to have some evidence of human activity at surface level. The thing is, I've tried to make the new ores natural, but in such a way as they might be used for decoration too.

Incidentally the diamond and emerald ore will probably remain single animated textures for now, but as soon as I can, I will be changing them to random textures that can also be used for decorative purposes in creative mode.

The iron ore was a special exercise, because I don't live very far away from some old iron mines and slate quarries that were still completely open to the public back when I was a kid and I remember camping close by and exploring them with friends (ridiculously dangerous in the light of today's health and safety). So imagery of old rusted tools and machinery, rusted wall fixings and pipes is very much stuck in my head, but these are all things you would expect from an old disused mine. I realized that those same things might not look too much out of place around old parts of a city or factory, so I tried to make the iron ore and rusted odds and ends appropriate. However, I'm not wanting to go down the line of fossilized everyday objects, as I think that would be trespassing on 13thMurder's theme of Anachronism.

It's a tricky balancing act to keep things, flexible and imaginative, but consistent with a sort of believable world with elements of steampunk and retro-machinery. Therefore, what I try to guard against, is making things too cluttered with lots of different random textures just for the sake of variety. If something naturally has lots of variety of form and shape, like flowers and shrubs, then that's fine, but if it's something like an ore, I have to be careful that the variety doesn't lead to abstract situations that don't look right for my theme...again I think I would be trespassing on 13th's world view.

Having said all that, I'm always on the lookout for adding more variety where I can.



*********************************************


I'm glad the picture roundup seems to have gone down ok. Not everyone whose looking in at the moment would have been aware of some of the big changes I'd been working on up to May of this year, and they really were quite big projects, especially the dirt. The problem was that all these big projects were dependent on a working MCPatcher and I wasn't able to work with any of the later snapshot versions, hence another reason for the large gap in progress...besides the obvious problem of my missing finger tip, freezing arm and real life 'survival' gardening.

The new stone textures that Mojang threw into the mix really stirred things up with regard to all the natural landscape textures like stone and dirt...it was a big shake up I'm still recovering from. I'm still a long way from making working vanilla versions of my new MCPatcher random textures (single textures that tile ok), or understanding how to have some limited randomness in my pack for those who don't use MCPatcher. That side of things may only come after I've released a working MCPatcher version of the pack. Fortunately or unfortunately for some, my pack has become inextricably intertwined with MCPatcher.

Quote from Ultrastar»

Ok... I don't know what to do.... I don't think its the wifi, its not a virus, but a corruption in my account that is messing up my downloads...

You're internet provider account?

.....GSv.16 Iron Trapdoor and Coarse Dirt WIP!

I'm still working on some simpler alternative designs for the Iron Trapdoor, but what the heck, I thought I'd show you the over-complicated one.

I also did some easy MCPatcher fiddling about to turn the very randomised normal Dirt into Coarse Dirt, without having to spend an age on making hundreds of new textures to match the complexity of the new dirt. Some time in the future I may add some extra features to the coarse or normal dirt to make them a little more distinct from each other.

As an update, MCPatcher is still broken for me for most horizontal placements of logs and columns, random plants are mixed up on their east/west north/south planes and most of the wood planks are broken, the broken planks are probably down to me still using block ID numbers rather than names. In any event, I'm still waiting for a mostly stable working version of MCPatcher to see what is really down to me to change.






Rest of the pics? Click the spoiler button.