Hey guys, I'm planning on building a zombie pigman farm in the near future and I have a couple questions from someone who has perhaps done it before.
1. Is there any more efficient way to raise mob spawn rates than half slabbing the entire nether? (since you can't build on top of the nether on Xbox.. . )
2. What kind of mechanism did you use? (I'm planning on using a simple mob tower with pistons and a drop grinder)
3. And did anyone try pushing the pigman into a nether portal and farming the drops in the overworld? (I've seen a video doing this and utilizing the unloaded chunk storage method)
4. If yes to 3 did it work? What sort of numbers did you get when you did it this way vs a traditional nether collection point?
#1, depending on your seed, your going to need either alot of dynamite or half slabs, or both. You really have to work hard in the neither to increase mob spawn rates. Theres so many caves, and worst yet usually at the edges where bedrock layer raiases along the sides are HUNDREDS of spawn spots which are very very difficult to 'remove or fix'. Often these are surrounded by lakes of lava at the bottom so filling in the area is difficult be sure to bring lots of fire resistance potions just in case you fall. But the short answer is no your going to need alot of half-slabs. A cobblestone generator built in the neither should help alot here. Remember mob spawn and despawn ranges.
#2. We used a 'controlled' spawn pad, probably not the most efficient but worked well none the least. Basically they spawn on pressure plates which push them off almost instantly. Tip here is to remember that 'air blocks' are the key to good spawn ratios, only 'fill' things when absolutely necessary instead use a half slab to stop spawning at a location and leave as much air as possible.
#3 as of TU8 which is the last time I played around with zombie pigmen you could not 'push' them into the overworld, I still don't believe that you can, however I may be wrong here. I can't recall the exact version that zombie pigmen could be pushed and even spawn in the overworld, but I'm pretty sure we are not at that version yet.
Hope this helps.
#2Sorry I said a cobblestone generator. I meant a sand generator, in which you will generate sandstone blocks and then from them sandstone slabs. Applogies.
#1, depending on your seed, your going to need either alot of dynamite or half slabs, or both. You really have to work hard in the neither to increase mob spawn rates. Theres so many caves, and worst yet usually at the edges where bedrock layer raiases along the sides are HUNDREDS of spawn spots which are very very difficult to 'remove or fix'. Often these are surrounded by lakes of lava at the bottom so filling in the area is difficult be sure to bring lots of fire resistance potions just in case you fall. But the short answer is no your going to need alot of half-slabs. A cobblestone generator built in the neither should help alot here. Remember mob spawn and despawn ranges.
#2. We used a 'controlled' spawn pad, probably not the most efficient but worked well none the least. Basically they spawn on pressure plates which push them off almost instantly. Tip here is to remember that 'air blocks' are the key to good spawn ratios, only 'fill' things when absolutely necessary instead use a half slab to stop spawning at a location and leave as much air as possible.
#3 as of TU8 which is the last time I played around with zombie pigmen you could not 'push' them into the overworld, I still don't believe that you can, however I may be wrong here. I can't recall the exact version that zombie pigmen could be pushed and even spawn in the overworld, but I'm pretty sure we are not at that version yet.
Hope this helps.
#2
Sorry I said a cobblestone generator. I meant a sand generator, in which you will generate sandstone blocks and then from them sandstone slabs. Applogies.
Awesome, ya thats pretty much the plan and thanks for the help. Half slabs and a controlled pad like yours.
You only have to remove the netherack remember mobs can't spawn on bedrock. Like the user above me stated if your doing it purist survival use half slabs but make sure to make it Ghast proof. If you don't mind "bending" the rules of the survival aspect a little, a good way to spawn proof the nether is with water via ice blocks. You could mine ice with a silk touch pick counting the number of blocks you mine then give them to yourself in creative. Then just clear out the nether of netherack down to where the first layer of bedrock starts then go to a wall and place ice blocks all along the bottom of it and an adjacent wall then break all the ice. It will flow out creating water sources along the whole nether. Just follow it along filling in holes where the water flows down and voila spawn proof nether. If you build your spawner in the exact center of the nether you should be far enough away from the walls that you don't have to worry too much about spawns there.
Just wanted to add at the bottom of your fall chamber surround it with cactus because magma cubes don't take fall damage so I usually let them jump into cactus lol
You only have to remove the netherack remember mobs can't spawn on bedrock. Like the user above me stated if your doing it purist survival use half slabs but make sure to make it Ghast proof. If you don't mind "bending" the rules of the survival aspect a little, a good way to spawn proof the nether is with water via ice blocks. You could mine ice with a silk touch pick counting the number of blocks you mine then give them to yourself in creative. Then just clear out the nether of netherack down to where the first layer of bedrock starts then go to a wall and place ice blocks all along the bottom of it and an adjacent wall then break all the ice. It will flow out creating water sources along the whole nether. Just follow it along filling in holes where the water flows down and voila spawn proof nether. If you build your spawner in the exact center of the nether you should be far enough away from the walls that you don't have to worry too much about spawns there.
Just wanted to add at the bottom of your fall chamber surround it with cactus because magma cubes don't take fall damage so I usually let them jump into cactus lol
Wow, don't even know where to start with this. Zombie pigmen will spawn on the bedrock around the edges of the nether and silk touch doesn't pick up ice yet.
I play hard survival and I like to bait my zombie pigmen. Build a cobblestone pad to protect from ghast and hit a pigman to draw them in. Don't do this near cliffs or you get a bunch dropping down on top of you. And that is my mob trap.
Wow, don't even know where to start with this. Zombie pigmen will spawn on the bedrock around the edges of the nether and silk touch doesn't pick up ice yet.
1st Point: As of 1.2.5 PC version mobs don't naturally spawn on bedrock anymore, wether or not 4J implemented this feature yet or not I always plan my builds around it anyways (slime farms raising the bottom level up one block above bedrock, nether farms etc...) Even if im wrong about the bedrock which i certainly could be, It wouldn't matter anyways because if the drop point/collection/place you stand is directly in the center of the nether (like I stated) the pigmen spawning in the walls will be nil to none due to distance and lack of airblocks present...if your really anal about it you could fill in the spaces but I had great rates by ignoring it. Also filling the gaps in the walls in survival would be a total time sink with little to no benefit.
2nd point:Like a user stated above if you read my post you would see I mentioned creative mode
Thanks for the help guys, I started building it yesterday, its going pretty well. I decided to build it in the corner of the nether (the most open corner possible) up against the 2 walls so that I have less area to half slab (120 block radius around the player would be cut down due to 2 walls not being spawnable outside of it). Only thing is that ya there are a LOT of caves in the nether and the bedrock in the bottom and sides will be a tedious process. Why do you say that the blocks in the walls will not increase rates? I can only assume that it would because it's less area they can spawn freely in the world and thus forces them to spawn in the trap... I could be wrong here?
Anyways its going good so far I will keep checking for advice here, Thanks again guys!
Edit: Do magma cubes spawn in a 2 high area? and how would you prevent their spawning in a controlled mob spawner (pistons behind pressure plates)
We say the places in-between could HURT your rates as mobs will spawn in the little crevices in the wall and not your grinder. On a normal overworld grinder building in an ocean in a corner is a good idea because yes your right about them not being able to spawn there.
However now since you built in a corner in the nether you will have to fill in EVERY single hole in the wall even one block gaps, because magma cubes can still spawn there. Thats why the center was recommended.. As for stopping cubes from spawning, you cant thats why i have cactus surrounding ( not on the drop point ) so eventually the cubes kill themselves after they fall.
Edit: Do magma cubes spawn in a 2 high area? and how would you prevent their spawning in a controlled mob spawner (pistons behind pressure plates)
Yes they can spawn in a 2 high area, and you can't 'prevent' them from spawning. There is a second type of drop that doesn't use 'pressure plates' but instead automates rows of pistons, Built in a kind of 'funnel' like structure, so each set of pistons would continually push the mobs to the bottom center, usually a 2x2 hole, where they will fall and die. However magma cubes won't die from heights, so you need to add a 'second killing' device which will 'crush' or suffocate them. You could also use this same killing device to kill zombie pigmen.
Personally I prefer to kill whatever mobs possible using fall damage because its so fast, the faster you can kill and have that mob respawn again the more loot you pull.
1st Point: As of 1.2.5 PC version mobs don't naturally spawn on bedrock anymore, wether or not 4J implemented this feature yet or not I
Xbox version is still aways away from reaching 1.2.3 let alone 1.2.5. And YES mobs can spawn on bedrock. We had to block up the outer walls to solve and help increase spawn rates as they really really really love spawning on the walls in the neither.
Ya I was aware of the bedrock spawning issue but I would to prefer to do the corner/walls rather than half slabbing and entire 120 radius. As for the magma cubes . . .I have no idea. I have seen that funnel design and it looked alright but I am assuming on xbox that the amount of pistons firing at once in each "wing" of the funnel would cause mass amounts of lag, whereas the random firing of a piston due to a pressure plate is less laggy.
Thanks Cire360 I wasn't entirely sure on the bedrock spawning for XBox, Thanks for clearing that up for me.
OP the design Cire360 isn't really that bad I had one for a blaze farm design, and it wasn't too laggy and that was without me knowing about how to reduce the redstone lag. ( I made a thread which you can find here http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1742135-how-to-effectively-reduce-redstone-lag/ that will help) Cire360's suggestion should work pretty good for you.
If you look up Etho, more specifically his 'blaze' farm. He uses a very similar 'funnel' design, only instead of alternating rows of pistons firing at once he uses pressure plates with pistons. Its ALOT more resource intensive but it does work and won't require a whole row of pistons firing at once. The difference is in his version he begins with an 8x8 area; where you would scale this up to whatever suits your needs. However like I said its going to be alot more resource intensive, requiring many more pistons, pressure plates, and repeaters.
The advantage here if you take your time and design it correctly is that you can use the center of the funnel for additional spawn pads, but would require you to carefully plan the layout so that you can somehow piston them out, as the last thing you want is mobs to 'linger' around in your trap.
I actually have the exact blaze farm in my world too for Blazes. haha
Yeah its a great design.
Also i got thinking another good design is the IRON LUNG by DocM, it does require a whole row of pistons firing in tandum, and works on the principle of a 'shifting' floor. It does work on the XBOX as I have built it. The downside is that eventually you will have a build up of bigger magma cubes which get stuck inside. You could limit that by using half slabs. Anyhow he does have a tutorial for it as well.
Hope it helps, as well sometimes a 'hybrid' of traps works best.
Covering the nether in lava is easier and quicker then using half slabs. In my opinion.
Just fill your inventory with buckets and potions. Just pour the lava everywhere and jump into a lava lake to easily fill the buckets.
In an hours time I probably had a quarter of what I needed done.
It helps to have a slime farm, blaze grinder, and and a good mine first.
That will cover your most basic resources. You can make plenty potions and stone pickaxes for the nether.
And for the one who mentioned a cobblestone generator and the one who mentioned ice. You can't do either..
As far as I know mobs CAN spawn on bedrock, atleast when I started my farm they could. I will have to test that when I can.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I see your thread and I raise you the exact same thread.
Covering the nether in lava is easier and quicker then using half slabs. In my opinion.
Just fill your inventory with buckets and potions. Just pour the lava everywhere and jump into a lava lake to easily fill the buckets.
In an hours time I probably had a quarter of what I needed done.
It helps to have a slime farm, blaze grinder, and and a good mine first.
That will cover your most basic resources. You can make plenty potions and stone pickaxes for the nether.
And for the one who mentioned a cobblestone generator and the one who mentioned ice. You can't do either..
As far as I know mobs CAN spawn on bedrock, atleast when I started my farm they could. I will have to test that when I can.
It was already stated three times that the ice would have to come from creative, and it should still create water in the nether...also it was said more then once that the bedrock spawning was in fact confirmed. Mobs can spawn on bedrock.
The lava is a good idea but please try and read ALL of the posts, as this is the fourth time we have had to say ice comes from creative.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
1. Is there any more efficient way to raise mob spawn rates than half slabbing the entire nether? (since you can't build on top of the nether on Xbox.. . )
2. What kind of mechanism did you use? (I'm planning on using a simple mob tower with pistons and a drop grinder)
3. And did anyone try pushing the pigman into a nether portal and farming the drops in the overworld? (I've seen a video doing this and utilizing the unloaded chunk storage method)
4. If yes to 3 did it work? What sort of numbers did you get when you did it this way vs a traditional nether collection point?
Thanks for the help and happy Mining!
#1, depending on your seed, your going to need either alot of dynamite or half slabs, or both. You really have to work hard in the neither to increase mob spawn rates. Theres so many caves, and worst yet usually at the edges where bedrock layer raiases along the sides are HUNDREDS of spawn spots which are very very difficult to 'remove or fix'. Often these are surrounded by lakes of lava at the bottom so filling in the area is difficult be sure to bring lots of fire resistance potions just in case you fall. But the short answer is no your going to need alot of half-slabs. A cobblestone generator built in the neither should help alot here. Remember mob spawn and despawn ranges.
#2. We used a 'controlled' spawn pad, probably not the most efficient but worked well none the least. Basically they spawn on pressure plates which push them off almost instantly. Tip here is to remember that 'air blocks' are the key to good spawn ratios, only 'fill' things when absolutely necessary instead use a half slab to stop spawning at a location and leave as much air as possible.
#3 as of TU8 which is the last time I played around with zombie pigmen you could not 'push' them into the overworld, I still don't believe that you can, however I may be wrong here. I can't recall the exact version that zombie pigmen could be pushed and even spawn in the overworld, but I'm pretty sure we are not at that version yet.
Hope this helps.
#2Sorry I said a cobblestone generator. I meant a sand generator, in which you will generate sandstone blocks and then from them sandstone slabs. Applogies.
Awesome, ya thats pretty much the plan and thanks for the help. Half slabs and a controlled pad like yours.
Just wanted to add at the bottom of your fall chamber surround it with cactus because magma cubes don't take fall damage so I usually let them jump into cactus lol
Wow, don't even know where to start with this. Zombie pigmen will spawn on the bedrock around the edges of the nether and silk touch doesn't pick up ice yet.
Thats the reason they said to give it to your self in creative
1st Point: As of 1.2.5 PC version mobs don't naturally spawn on bedrock anymore, wether or not 4J implemented this feature yet or not I always plan my builds around it anyways (slime farms raising the bottom level up one block above bedrock, nether farms etc...) Even if im wrong about the bedrock which i certainly could be, It wouldn't matter anyways because if the drop point/collection/place you stand is directly in the center of the nether (like I stated) the pigmen spawning in the walls will be nil to none due to distance and lack of airblocks present...if your really anal about it you could fill in the spaces but I had great rates by ignoring it. Also filling the gaps in the walls in survival would be a total time sink with little to no benefit.
2nd point:Like a user stated above if you read my post you would see I mentioned creative mode
Anyways its going good so far I will keep checking for advice here, Thanks again guys!
Edit: Do magma cubes spawn in a 2 high area? and how would you prevent their spawning in a controlled mob spawner (pistons behind pressure plates)
However now since you built in a corner in the nether you will have to fill in EVERY single hole in the wall even one block gaps, because magma cubes can still spawn there. Thats why the center was recommended.. As for stopping cubes from spawning, you cant thats why i have cactus surrounding ( not on the drop point ) so eventually the cubes kill themselves after they fall.
Yes they can spawn in a 2 high area, and you can't 'prevent' them from spawning. There is a second type of drop that doesn't use 'pressure plates' but instead automates rows of pistons, Built in a kind of 'funnel' like structure, so each set of pistons would continually push the mobs to the bottom center, usually a 2x2 hole, where they will fall and die. However magma cubes won't die from heights, so you need to add a 'second killing' device which will 'crush' or suffocate them. You could also use this same killing device to kill zombie pigmen.
Personally I prefer to kill whatever mobs possible using fall damage because its so fast, the faster you can kill and have that mob respawn again the more loot you pull.
Xbox version is still aways away from reaching 1.2.3 let alone 1.2.5. And YES mobs can spawn on bedrock. We had to block up the outer walls to solve and help increase spawn rates as they really really really love spawning on the walls in the neither.
OP the design Cire360 isn't really that bad I had one for a blaze farm design, and it wasn't too laggy and that was without me knowing about how to reduce the redstone lag. ( I made a thread which you can find here http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/1742135-how-to-effectively-reduce-redstone-lag/ that will help) Cire360's suggestion should work pretty good for you.
The advantage here if you take your time and design it correctly is that you can use the center of the funnel for additional spawn pads, but would require you to carefully plan the layout so that you can somehow piston them out, as the last thing you want is mobs to 'linger' around in your trap.
Best of luck
Yeah its a great design.
Also i got thinking another good design is the IRON LUNG by DocM, it does require a whole row of pistons firing in tandum, and works on the principle of a 'shifting' floor. It does work on the XBOX as I have built it. The downside is that eventually you will have a build up of bigger magma cubes which get stuck inside. You could limit that by using half slabs. Anyhow he does have a tutorial for it as well.
Hope it helps, as well sometimes a 'hybrid' of traps works best.
Problem with me is that my daughter likes to run away with the gold and turn them into gold blocks to build her 'gold house' with, lol.
Just fill your inventory with buckets and potions. Just pour the lava everywhere and jump into a lava lake to easily fill the buckets.
In an hours time I probably had a quarter of what I needed done.
It helps to have a slime farm, blaze grinder, and and a good mine first.
That will cover your most basic resources. You can make plenty potions and stone pickaxes for the nether.
And for the one who mentioned a cobblestone generator and the one who mentioned ice. You can't do either..
As far as I know mobs CAN spawn on bedrock, atleast when I started my farm they could. I will have to test that when I can.
It was already stated three times that the ice would have to come from creative, and it should still create water in the nether...also it was said more then once that the bedrock spawning was in fact confirmed. Mobs can spawn on bedrock.
The lava is a good idea but please try and read ALL of the posts, as this is the fourth time we have had to say ice comes from creative.