I recently downloaded Minecraft Overviewer to make a map of one of my Minecraft worlds, but I can't figure out how to start rendering a map and their help page is no help at all. Can someone give me a step-by-step as you would a six-year-old?
Man, I hope you use Windows, or this will all be for naught . I only just started using the program myself so I'm no expert, but I can share what I've figured out so far.
First, of course, you have to download the program and unzip it to a folder of your choosing. Overviewer is a command-line application, which means it does not have a graphical user interface (GUI). Instead, you run the program by typing in a command, either directly into the command line ([Windows Key] + [R]) or using a batch (.bat) file. Also, you can specify the options directly in the command line, or you can set one option which is to tell it to look for a config file for the rest of the options. I prefer to use the second method, in both cases, so I use a batch file called overviewer.bat and it looks like this:
overviewer.exe --config=overviewer_cfg.txt
pause
The easiest way to make this batch file is simply to save it as a text file, and then rename it changing the extension from .txt to .bat (if you don't see .txt in the first place, you need to set your folder options to disable "hide extensions for known file types.")
Put this file in the same folder as overviewer.exe, where you unzipped the program, or else you'll have to specify the full path to the executable (e.g. "C:/Users/Bob/Applications/Overviewer/overviewer.exe").
The first line runs the program, and directs it where to look for the configuration file. It doesn't have to be called overviewer_cfg.txt; you can name it whatever you want, but keeping the .txt extension makes editing a snap -- you can just double-click the file to open it.
The second line, "pause," isn't really necessary, it just makes it stop and say "Press any key to continue..." when the program is done, instead of closing the window right away. This is so that if it returns an error message, you have time to read what it says before it goes away.
After setting up overviewer_cfg.txt, you can just double-click the .bat file and let the program run its course. Next, then, is to set up this config file. As above, put this file in the same folder as overviewer.bat, or else you will have to specify the full path ( e.g. "--config="C:/Users/Bob/Documents/overviewer_cfg.txt") There are a lot of parts to this file, so lets go through them one by one. First, you must define one or more worlds:
This defines the worlds and sets the path to the save folder. Make sure to use forward slashes, as the backslash has a special meaning in Python syntax (what this config file is written in.) You might be able to get away with the %appdata% shortcut, but some special characters (apostrophe, at least) might screw it up: if you type "%appdata%/.minecraft/saves/Bob's World" for example, you will get the error "Can't find level.dat in C:/Users/Bob/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft/saves/Bobs World" because it's looking for a folder called "Bobs World" without the apostrophe, which does not exist. [Edit: I haven't tried it, maybe that's what the backslash is for, e.g. "Bob\'s World" to make it look for "Bob's World" instead of "Bobs World". Then again, maybe not; I didn't have any trouble with the apostrophe when I typed out the full path.]
Next, you define the output directory, where the renders will be saved, e.g.:
outputdir = "D:/Temp/Overviewer/Bob's World Renders"
This can be any folder you want -- it will create the bottom-level folder (e.g. "Bob's World Renders") automatically, but the rest ("D:/Temp/Overviewer") must exist already. Several files and folders will be saved to this location including index.html which you will load in a web browser to view the map.
If you want to use custom textures, you can specify the path to a resource pack:
This is your basic render, it will show a map of your overworld with every block lit up. You don't have to put the "rendermode" option, if you leave it out it will default to "normal".
This renders a night-time map of your world, with smooth lighting enabled (or you can just use "night" instead of "smooth_night", for blocky lighting. This renders faster, but doesn't look as good. For daytime lighting you can also use "lighting" or "smooth_lighting" if you want don't want everything fully lit.)
This displays a map of your nether dimension and, so you can see something besides the flat bedrock on top, the rendermode "nether_smooth_lighting" (or "nether_lighting" or simply "nether") will strip off the ceiling so you can see inside.
renders["creativeworld"] = {
"world": "creative",
"title": "Creative Test World",
}
If you don't specify a dimension, it defaults to the overworld, just like if you leave off the rendermode it defaults to "normal".
If you're only rendering one world, you can leave out the "world" flag from the individual renders, and put this line at the top level instead:
world = "survival"
Here is an example config file that I used for my map:
First, of course, you have to download the program and unzip it to a folder of your choosing. Overviewer is a command-line application, which means it does not have a graphical user interface (GUI). Instead, you run the program by typing in a command, either directly into the command line ([Windows Key] + [R]) or using a batch (.bat) file. Also, you can specify the options directly in the command line, or you can set one option which is to tell it to look for a config file for the rest of the options. I prefer to use the second method, in both cases, so I use a batch file called overviewer.bat and it looks like this:
The easiest way to make this batch file is simply to save it as a text file, and then rename it changing the extension from .txt to .bat (if you don't see .txt in the first place, you need to set your folder options to disable "hide extensions for known file types.")
Put this file in the same folder as overviewer.exe, where you unzipped the program, or else you'll have to specify the full path to the executable (e.g. "C:/Users/Bob/Applications/Overviewer/overviewer.exe").
The first line runs the program, and directs it where to look for the configuration file. It doesn't have to be called overviewer_cfg.txt; you can name it whatever you want, but keeping the .txt extension makes editing a snap -- you can just double-click the file to open it.
The second line, "pause," isn't really necessary, it just makes it stop and say "Press any key to continue..." when the program is done, instead of closing the window right away. This is so that if it returns an error message, you have time to read what it says before it goes away.
After setting up overviewer_cfg.txt, you can just double-click the .bat file and let the program run its course. Next, then, is to set up this config file. As above, put this file in the same folder as overviewer.bat, or else you will have to specify the full path ( e.g. "--config="C:/Users/Bob/Documents/overviewer_cfg.txt") There are a lot of parts to this file, so lets go through them one by one. First, you must define one or more worlds:
This defines the worlds and sets the path to the save folder. Make sure to use forward slashes, as the backslash has a special meaning in Python syntax (what this config file is written in.) You might be able to get away with the %appdata% shortcut, but some special characters (apostrophe, at least) might screw it up: if you type "%appdata%/.minecraft/saves/Bob's World" for example, you will get the error "Can't find level.dat in C:/Users/Bob/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft/saves/Bobs World" because it's looking for a folder called "Bobs World" without the apostrophe, which does not exist. [Edit: I haven't tried it, maybe that's what the backslash is for, e.g. "Bob\'s World" to make it look for "Bob's World" instead of "Bobs World". Then again, maybe not; I didn't have any trouble with the apostrophe when I typed out the full path.]
Next, you define the output directory, where the renders will be saved, e.g.:
This can be any folder you want -- it will create the bottom-level folder (e.g. "Bob's World Renders") automatically, but the rest ("D:/Temp/Overviewer") must exist already. Several files and folders will be saved to this location including index.html which you will load in a web browser to view the map.
If you want to use custom textures, you can specify the path to a resource pack:
Finally, you specify one or more renders to perform:
renders["survival"] = { "world": "survival", "title": "Survival Overworld", "rendermode": "normal", "dimension": "overworld", }This is your basic render, it will show a map of your overworld with every block lit up. You don't have to put the "rendermode" option, if you leave it out it will default to "normal".
renders["night"] = { "world": "survival", "title": "Survival Nighttime", "rendermode": "smooth_night", "dimension": "overworld", }This renders a night-time map of your world, with smooth lighting enabled (or you can just use "night" instead of "smooth_night", for blocky lighting. This renders faster, but doesn't look as good. For daytime lighting you can also use "lighting" or "smooth_lighting" if you want don't want everything fully lit.)
renders["nether"] = { "world": "survival", "title": "Survival Nether", "rendermode": "nether_smooth_lighting", "dimension": "nether", }This displays a map of your nether dimension and, so you can see something besides the flat bedrock on top, the rendermode "nether_smooth_lighting" (or "nether_lighting" or simply "nether") will strip off the ceiling so you can see inside.
renders["creativeworld"] = { "world": "creative", "title": "Creative Test World", }If you don't specify a dimension, it defaults to the overworld, just like if you leave off the rendermode it defaults to "normal".
If you're only rendering one world, you can leave out the "world" flag from the individual renders, and put this line at the top level instead:
Here is an example config file that I used for my map:
worlds["Bob's World"] = "C:/Users/Bob/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft/saves/Bob's World" world = "Bob's World" outputdir = "D:/Temp/Overviewer/Bob's World" renders["Overworld"] = { "title": "Overworld", "dimension": "overworld", } renders["Caves"] = { "title": "Caves", "dimension": "overworld", "rendermode": "cave", } renders["Nether"] = { "title": "Nether", "dimension": "nether", "rendermode": "nether", } renders["End"] = { "title": "End", "dimension": "end", }Village Mechanics: A not-so-brief guide - Update 2017! Now with 1.8 breeding mechanics! Long-overdue trading info, coming soon!
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That should be of great use to you.