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I have wondered if this happens on the 360 version if chunks become loaded and unloaded if your a certain distance away. I have tried to do some of my own research but has proven to be more difficult than expected. Has anyone out there figured out if chunks become unloaded or does the entire map stay loaded the entire time? Also if you can give a few ideas in order to test this theory out it would be more than welcomed.

Quote from Nose_Job_For_a_Cowboy

I've already done the experimenting for you, four months ago. Though some issues have recently been brought to my attention. I plan on some more extensive testing when I have the time.

I seen this post before but couldn't remember the OP. What small tests i've done kind of conflicts with what you found out. Although i will have to set-up better tests. Will let you know if i can discover something new. Thanks for the input. Upvotes FOR EVERYBODY!!! Actually just for Cowboy.

Why do you ask?
When it's all said and done, what difference does it make if they're unloaded or not?

Quote from Geneo

Why do you ask?
When it's all said and done, what difference does it make if they're unloaded or not?

There are multiple redstone contraptions that could be hidden out of sight in loaded chunks working so that you can't see them. You can have farms that span a great distance for people like me. You could have redstone contraptions that span a greater distance than the chunk border like cowboy has. There are multiple reasons why this could be a good thing if it was true and if it is there are also reasons why this could be bad.

I have a theory that some things are kept loaded and others aren't. I've resurrected the thread Nose_job linked to above to test this idea out. I can confirm that restone signal can travel 800 blocks away from you and back with no trouble. My question is more of what will work and what won't work on the end that is far away from you.

This question came up for me in what I was doing here. What I saw in that experiment was that somethings seemed to work and some didn't. Pistons far away from you seemed to be really messed up - blocks would become invisible, piston head would disappear, and other oddities. Most redstone torches and dust seemed to be calculated fine (in terms of on or off) but when I went to the area the graphics wouldn't update until I place a block or broke the line and replaced it. This made for some interesting work.

I haven't tested this yet, but I'm pretty sure wheat won't grow unless you are nearby. I know this is the case on the PC and I have noticed this in my survival world, but I haven't actually tested it to be sure. If the wheat doesn't grow without you present doesn't that mean some things are not "loaded" in distant chunks or could it be something similar to how animals go inactive and mobs despawn when you are far away (which would mean the chunk isn't necessarily unloaded, the wheat just takes a break when you're not around).

Quote from sixstringstrummer

I have a theory that some things are kept loaded and others aren't. I've resurrected the thread Nose_job linked to above to test this idea out. I can confirm that restone signal can travel 800 blocks away from you and back with no trouble. My question is more of what will work and what won't work on the end that is far away from you.

This question came up for me in what I was doing here. What I saw in that experiment was that somethings seemed to work and some didn't. Pistons far away from you seemed to be really messed up - blocks would become invisible, piston head would disappear, and other oddities. Most redstone torches and dust seemed to be calculated fine (in terms of on or off) but when I went to the area the graphics wouldn't update until I place a block or broke the line and replaced it. This made for some interesting work.

I haven't tested this yet, but I'm pretty sure wheat won't grow unless you are nearby. I know this is the case on the PC and I have noticed this in my survival world, but I haven't actually tested it to be sure. If the wheat doesn't grow without you present doesn't that mean some things are not "loaded" in distant chunks or could it be something similar to how animals go inactive and mobs despawn when you are far away (which would mean the chunk isn't necessarily unloaded, the wheat just takes a break when you're not around).

My first initial test was with wheat. I placed a wheat farm some 300 blocks away. Played for about an hour and went back to see that the wheat hadn't grown. I'll try to test this using different things. Also i should note that i'm still in 1.7.

Quote from C4_and_Waffles

My first initial test was with wheat. I placed a wheat farm some 300 blocks away. Played for about an hour and went back to see that the wheat hadn't grown. I'll try to test this using different things. Also i should note that i'm still in 1.7.

It may only keep certain things loaded like redstone. I don't think trees grow either.

I don't believe they do completely unload, since we have the option to turn autosave off completely and the game must have some way of keep track of changes made to chunk until they are actually saved. As I understand it, the people playing on PC do not have the option of turning their autosave off unless they install a mod to override the autosave function.

Quote from sixstringstrummer

I have a theory that some things are kept loaded and others aren't. I've resurrected the thread Nose_job linked to above to test this idea out. I can confirm that restone signal can travel 800 blocks away from you and back with no trouble. My question is more of what will work and what won't work on the end that is far away from you.

This question came up for me in what I was doing here. What I saw in that experiment was that somethings seemed to work and some didn't. Pistons far away from you seemed to be really messed up - blocks would become invisible, piston head would disappear, and other oddities. Most redstone torches and dust seemed to be calculated fine (in terms of on or off) but when I went to the area the graphics wouldn't update until I place a block or broke the line and replaced it. This made for some interesting work.

I haven't tested this yet, but I'm pretty sure wheat won't grow unless you are nearby. I know this is the case on the PC and I have noticed this in my survival world, but I haven't actually tested it to be sure. If the wheat doesn't grow without you present doesn't that mean some things are not "loaded" in distant chunks or could it be something similar to how animals go inactive and mobs despawn when you are far away (which would mean the chunk isn't necessarily unloaded, the wheat just takes a break when you're not around).

Keep in mind that growth ticks have a random factor to them regardless of distance. Sometimes even without bone meal, wheat will grow a tick or two even as you plant it and other times it will take awhile before it even appears to start to grow. Same with trees... I had a habit of planting a sapling on the same spot as the old tree even as I was still chopping away at the leaves. On one occasion, the sapling got hit with a growth tick while I was still standing on the adjacent spot. I took some damage as a great bit oak suddenly grew right next to me and literally appended the still despawning leaves of the smaller tree I had just chopped down. On other occasions, saplings in the same spot of my tree farm can take several Minecraft days to get hit with a growth tick even when I'm staying right in the area of the tree farm the whole time.

i did think about the randomness of the growth. Using a small farm near you and a small farm far away from you might solve the issue.

Two other things I've wondered about. In the PC version, when a player dies their stuff will remain if the chunk is unloaded. If chunks remain loaded in the Xbox game then you have 5 minutes to get your stuff no matter how far or close you are to it!

I've also wondered about whether all chunks are loaded when you load the world or are only loaded as you travel through them and then stay loaded after that. When the game starts it says "loading spawn area". It seems to me that when I stay in one area as I play then the save time is very quick but if I've flown around the world then the save time is a bit longer which would suggest to me that chunks are only loaded as you travel into them.

I'm going to test a few more things on my long redstone line (discussed here). I believe I confirmed that chunks were staying loaded because the redstone, minecarts, tracks, and pistons all worked at a great distance (though their rendering was a bit weird. In those test, however, I had traveled into that area after loading the world. I want to test the same things without traveling into the area so I'll have to set up the test, travel to the distant end of the redstone line where the trigger is, save and exit, reload, and then trigger the test to see what happens. I'll post the findings in the thread I linked to above and link from this thread as well.

Quote from sixstringstrummer

Two other things I've wondered about. In the PC version, when a player dies their stuff will remain if the chunk is unloaded. If chunks remain loaded in the Xbox game then you have 5 minutes to get your stuff no matter how far or close you are to it!

not true, i've tested in creative w/ a full set of diamond tools/armor, went to the opposite side of the map from my spawn point (about 20+ chunks away), flew up to build limit saved and loaded in survival. i fell to my death (obviously), let the game sit un-paused until the controller auto shut down (15 min, tested it before this, over an argument w/ a family member) then i went back, and still got all the items.

Interesting... Do you mean that you left the game sitting at the death screen or you left the game sitting after you respawned? Not sure if it makes a difference but maybe the death screen pauses game time.

I would like to test triggering a dispenser 800 blocks away so that the item falls on a pressure plate and sends a signal back to where I am. That way when I see the redstone stop glowing I know the item has despawned. If the chunks are loaded then this should take 5 minutes. If the chunk is unloaded (or the despawn timer somehow stops - because I believe I've already confirmed the chunks aren't completely unloaded) then the item should remain until I get close to it.

Quote from sixstringstrummer

Interesting... Do you mean that you left the game sitting at the death screen or you left the game sitting after you respawned? Not sure if it makes a difference but maybe the death screen pauses game time.

I would like to test triggering a dispenser 800 blocks away so that the item falls on a pressure plate and sends a signal back to where I am. That way when I see the redstone stop glowing I know the item has despawned. If the chunks are loaded then this should take 5 minutes. If the chunk is unloaded (or the despawn timer somehow stops - because I believe I've already confirmed the chunks aren't completely unloaded) then the item should remain until I get close to it.

sorry for not specifying, i respawned, then let the game sit there... i am unsure if a dispenser would work the same way as the... well. original way... maybe do the dispenser idea, then do a control test where beside the dispenser, kill yourself w/ a full inventory (the method i did works pretty well) just maybe ensure your spawn point is set right where you want w/ a bed beforehand.

I believe I have confirmed that the word does not entirely load when you first load the world. It appears that only about 150 to 170 blocks in any direction get loaded. You can see my test and results in Nose_jobs thread linked above. Sorry, but posting links wit my tablet is a pain so you'll just have to scroll up for the link.

I do believe that once you travel within 150 blocks of a chunk that that chunk is loaded and remains loaded until you exit, but this would require more tests.

Quote from sixstringstrummer

I believe I have confirmed that the word does not entirely load when you first load the world. It appears that only about 150 to 170 blocks in any direction get loaded. You can see my test and results in Nose_jobs thread linked above. Sorry, but posting links wit my tablet is a pain so you'll just have to scroll up for the link.

I do believe that once you travel within 150 blocks of a chunk that that chunk is loaded and remains loaded until you exit, but this would require more tests.

This is all extremely interesting. What I'm wondering is whether blocks outside a certain distance completely unload if you do an interim save (or if the game autosaves) without actually exiting. Would there be a way of testing it from that angle?

Sure. I'll try that soon and let you know. I don't think that would cause world to unload. I've found the phrases when you save and load to be more interesting now. It says "preparing chunks" when you save which I believe means it is saving all the data from explored chunks. That's why the save takes longer if you explored more of the world since you loaded. When you load a world, it says "preparing spawn area" which I believe means it is loading those chunks within a 170 or so block radius from your spawn point. On a save without exiting or auto save, there is no "preparing spawn area" note so I think the world remains loaded.