Well, the title is pretty self-explanatory, I'm not really sure if this is the right spot for this type of thread, but it seemed close enough.
I'm semi-new to Minecraft, I picked it up for the Xbox due to my lady love "coercing" me into it. In these types of games however, I lose my purpose pretty quickly, that said, I had to find something that would challenge me to keep me playing. So I found "Redstone", and quickly realized that the game had a lot of creative potential that was just waiting to be used and abused.
To the point, I understand the basics of redstone. The most complex thing I've created was one of those XOR switches, where you have an iron door with two switches, both opening/closing the door at anytime without overlapping each other or anything, with the wiring all underground. Now it's great that I was able to make this, however it was in large part due to youtube video's being used for reference.
Even now with the XOR door made, I still don't completely understand how the actual XOR design with the blocks and curcuitry works in theory. I understand what the function of it is, but how exactly the pieces flow together in the order they do is what stumps me.
After finishing the XOR door, I tried moving on to a lavafall arrow dispenser trap. Now I was able to get it working, but I couldn't get it working how I wanted, and with the wiring the way it was, it made absolutely no sense to me as to how it was working. Basically if I had to do it again from scratch, chances are it wouldn't work the same.
Long story short, redstone reminds me of a programming class I once took, where you need to visualize what you're trying to build and plan it out before you actually do it, otherwise you're doomed to have mistakes and errors all over the place. However I lack the knowledge with minecraft related redstone to do just that.
What I could really use is someone who's experienced with redstone and that sort of thing, who could not just teach me how to build a specific type of redstone structure, but who could help me understand all the little things so that I have the knowledge to build anything (to a certain extent).
If there are any 360 minecraft players who have the know-how when it comes to redstone and would be willing to impart some of that knowledge onto me, it would be well received on my end.
My best tool for my redstone creations is the wiki. I will come up with an idea of what I want to do, then break it down to its most basic parts, then refer to the wiki to find out what kind of logic gate I will need to use to accomplish the one task for the one basic part. Then I string them all together, cross my fingers and hope it works. Which leads to my second best tool for redstone wiring - trial and error, lol.
Check out some of this guys videos, He's got millions of views and he specializes in redstone. His videos help you learn and in some he shows tutorials for practical uses of the applications
Though I find when I watch youtube vids, a ton of them use "pistons" in their creations, and the 360 version doesn't have those "yet", which is rather troublesome.
CNBMinecraft is my source for all redstone logic gates haha.
Honestly though, nothing will teach you more about redstone than trial and error.
I've learned so far that there are two major parts to understanding redstone; how the different redstone parts actually interact with their surroundings, and understanding of logic gates.
If I were you, I would work on very basic things. If you must refer to the internet to learn how to build something, try your hardest to understand how it works.
Another good exercise may be to attempt to build basic logic gates on your own. Maybe start with something simple, like a not gate, and then move on to more complex things such as and gates and or gates.
Just as slackathor said, a useful way to build a redstone creation is to plan it out. As yourself what will need to be accomplished. Then ask yourself how the switches will need to work together to give you the desired output.
For example, if you were trying to make a lighting system that turned on by stepping on a pressure plate and then turned off by again stepping on the pressure plate, you would think to yourself:
Hmm, well I'll need to pressure plate to maintain a signal to the lights, otherwise they'll just turn off when I step off the pressure plates.
You would then know that you need an RS NOR Latch to maintain the signal.
You would then realize that stepping on the pressure plate will turn the lights on, but not turn them off, so you would have to wire your off switch to the pressure plate. To do this, you would have to create an and gate that would require both for the pressure plate to be pressed, and the RS NOR Latch to be on. The and gate could return a signal to the off part of the RS NOR Latch, thus resetting the redstone circuit.
I'm sure you'd run into more issues building this or other projects, but you could just continue along these same concepts adding in logic gates and other circuitry where they are necessary until all the kinks have been worked out.
I'm semi-new to Minecraft, I picked it up for the Xbox due to my lady love "coercing" me into it. In these types of games however, I lose my purpose pretty quickly, that said, I had to find something that would challenge me to keep me playing. So I found "Redstone", and quickly realized that the game had a lot of creative potential that was just waiting to be used and abused.
To the point, I understand the basics of redstone. The most complex thing I've created was one of those XOR switches, where you have an iron door with two switches, both opening/closing the door at anytime without overlapping each other or anything, with the wiring all underground. Now it's great that I was able to make this, however it was in large part due to youtube video's being used for reference.
Even now with the XOR door made, I still don't completely understand how the actual XOR design with the blocks and curcuitry works in theory. I understand what the function of it is, but how exactly the pieces flow together in the order they do is what stumps me.
After finishing the XOR door, I tried moving on to a lavafall arrow dispenser trap. Now I was able to get it working, but I couldn't get it working how I wanted, and with the wiring the way it was, it made absolutely no sense to me as to how it was working. Basically if I had to do it again from scratch, chances are it wouldn't work the same.
Long story short, redstone reminds me of a programming class I once took, where you need to visualize what you're trying to build and plan it out before you actually do it, otherwise you're doomed to have mistakes and errors all over the place. However I lack the knowledge with minecraft related redstone to do just that.
What I could really use is someone who's experienced with redstone and that sort of thing, who could not just teach me how to build a specific type of redstone structure, but who could help me understand all the little things so that I have the knowledge to build anything (to a certain extent).
If there are any 360 minecraft players who have the know-how when it comes to redstone and would be willing to impart some of that knowledge onto me, it would be well received on my end.
Thanks!
This thread bores me.
@slackathor - Aye, I know the trial and error part well, all too well, I'll check out the wiki more in depth though, thanks!
http://www.youtube.com/user/CNBMinecraft?feature=watch
Though I find when I watch youtube vids, a ton of them use "pistons" in their creations, and the 360 version doesn't have those "yet", which is rather troublesome.
Honestly though, nothing will teach you more about redstone than trial and error.
I've learned so far that there are two major parts to understanding redstone; how the different redstone parts actually interact with their surroundings, and understanding of logic gates.
If I were you, I would work on very basic things. If you must refer to the internet to learn how to build something, try your hardest to understand how it works.
Another good exercise may be to attempt to build basic logic gates on your own. Maybe start with something simple, like a not gate, and then move on to more complex things such as and gates and or gates.
Just as slackathor said, a useful way to build a redstone creation is to plan it out. As yourself what will need to be accomplished. Then ask yourself how the switches will need to work together to give you the desired output.
For example, if you were trying to make a lighting system that turned on by stepping on a pressure plate and then turned off by again stepping on the pressure plate, you would think to yourself:
Hmm, well I'll need to pressure plate to maintain a signal to the lights, otherwise they'll just turn off when I step off the pressure plates.
You would then know that you need an RS NOR Latch to maintain the signal.
You would then realize that stepping on the pressure plate will turn the lights on, but not turn them off, so you would have to wire your off switch to the pressure plate. To do this, you would have to create an and gate that would require both for the pressure plate to be pressed, and the RS NOR Latch to be on. The and gate could return a signal to the off part of the RS NOR Latch, thus resetting the redstone circuit.
I'm sure you'd run into more issues building this or other projects, but you could just continue along these same concepts adding in logic gates and other circuitry where they are necessary until all the kinks have been worked out.