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I have two portals into the Nether, we shall call them P1 and P2. They are pretty far apart. I'm standing next to P1 when a Gast knocks it out with a fireball. I traverse the Nether and leave via P2. In the overworld, I return to P1. On this side it is still active, so I go through. When I appear in the Nether, I am in an active portal that is 1 block north and one block west of the dead portal (P1). The Nether basically created a second portal next to my original one (P1) to bring me in. The net gain is 15 Obsidian I don't have to make with water and lava source blocks!



Is that supposed to happen? I just thought it would reactivate my original portal P1 or that the Gast blast would have deactivated the portal on both the Nether side and the Overworld side.





Also, can hostile mobs spawn at any light level in the Nether or are there limits, ergo can I make it bright enough to prevent Gasts from spawning near my base?

Yes, I believe that is what happens unless you reactivate the nether portal yourself and leave via it (i.e. bringing a flint and steel with you into the Nether (I actually keep one in a chest beside the portal). Also, I do believe that light has no bearing on any of the mobs spawning in the nether.

1.) Portals have always behaved this way. This is how you farm Obsidian.

2.) Blazes and Wither Skeletons can be stopped, but the other three spawn in any light.

Thanks guys! It is most definitely a great way to farm Obsidian. I had never seen that before.



As for the spawning, do blazes and wither skeletons spawn on Netherack or just Nether Brick?

With the way our Nether is, they'll probably spawn wherever they feel like it.

I would like to farm Wither Skeletons if possible as I've killed a score of them and have only the one skull to show for it (and I've no desire to glitch my way to the top of the Nether).

I just connected and roofed in two paths from the fortress that are across from on another. It provides a fair amount and works a lot better than the nothing that spawns above the Nether.

According the the Wiki on the Nether, Wither Skeletons (and Nether Wart) can only generate in a Nether Fortress, yet I have seen both generate in places that are not at all a Nether Fortress. I am assuming the Wiki is wrong (at least as it pertains to the XBOX360 version)

I remember discovering this by accident a while back when a friend went through the portal and then we threw a bucket of water at it which extinguished it. Upon returning another portal appeared as you said. You can keep repeating this and produce as much obsidian as you want. It's much easier than going down to your local lava pool with a bucket of water and eliminates any risk of lava damage for the unwary or unsuspecting!

I find it a pathetically slow way to get obsidian...compared to using water on the massive lava lakes on Y12. If you leave the water down as you mine, there is 0 risk of lava damage and you don't lose any of the obsidian either. Just pour the water on the edge of the lake and let it fan out and start cutting. As the obsidian pops, the water instantly turns the next layer down to obsidian. Once you've mined out a block or two, pick up your water and pour it right in the "hole" left by the blocks you've taken. It will spread out sideways as you mine the adjacent blocks. If you're worried about mobs sneaking up on you, just quickly erect some dirt walls around the area you intend to mine. In this way, I can gather a stack of obsidian almost as fast as the pickaxe will cut it. Beats repeating the travel time to the nether and back hands down.

Yeah...but it's all you have in a Superflat survival.

I myself have Haste+V mined a lot of it in my world, and it's fairly fast--beats using either portal to mine them.