Does this just happen in a few spots, or all over? Ever since version 1.8, Minecraft has been pretty bad about culling issues like this. I have a few spots in some worlds that consistently have a hole in them (even at extremely long render distances), but they only show up when viewed from a certain angle AND distance. This might be due to that, but I'm not sure if the problem is worse on lower render distances. Mojang may be counting on the fog to hide it normally.
It looks like you are seeing into unloaded chunks, which will reveal the sky or void and is unrelated to any rendering issues; the game renders the sky even when you are underground so if there are no blocks in the way within render distance you'll see it (including the sun/moon/clouds/stars):
This is another example from back when I used Optifine to disable void fog, which also disables the fog darkening with depth (does this still happen in newer versions?); either way, the sky itself isn't darkened unless it is night:
However, you can reduce the effect by disabling the day-night cycle (/gamerule doDaylightCycle false) and setting the time to midnight (/time set 18000), which shouldn't matter in a "caves" buffet world, much like the Nether; for example, this is a nighttime view of the cave shown above (I also made it so that if you are below sea level and there is no skylight the sky and fog will be black and the sun/clouds/stars/sunset don't render; however, this requires mods):
Setting it to permanent night is exactly what I was looking for.
But yeah it has caveats (pun intended), in the distance things are now dark blue (I was hoping for pitch black) + stars are visible. Do you have any specific mods in mind that could fix this?
Also, aren't you aware of some mods that take you into giant caves? You're master caver, you might know about this!
Optifine can change the sky, as well as the lightmap (so darkness is actually black), though I don't know of any other mods, mostly since I don't use any myself, other than my own, or play on current versions (I use my own mods on 1.6.4, which includes fixing these issues).
These links may help, I have no experience with using these features though:
https://github.com/sp614x/optifine/issues/4390 (an example lightmap, not sure how well it replicates vanilla. Note that the issue mentioned also affects vanilla. You can find examples of the vanilla lightmap here, though it is different from Optifine's, the vanilla lightmap also changes depending on the time of day)
As far as caves go, the only mod I know of for newer versions that adds giant caves like my own is Quark; you'd also want a world that is more solid ground than the "nether" world type (which is what the "caves" buffet really is, with the terrain being distinct from cave generation), and I'm not sure if it would actually generate caves much above sea level (in vanilla about 5/6 of caves are below y=63, so about half the world height, assuming the same as the "caves" setting, would be mostly solid ground).
There is a dimensional mod called The Caving Dimension that uses mossy cobblestone and 1 of like 11 activator items (diamond, emerald, and aquamarine, plus 6-7 special books corresponding to themed caves) to create portals to various mining dimensions. 3 of these dimensions are basically just themed mines (the first, activated with a diamond, is just floor-to-ceiling vanilla cave generation; the second, activated with an emerald, is an infinite megacavern that makes The Master Caver's giant caves look tiny; the third, activated with a piece of aquamarine, is a flooded combination of the megacavern and vanilla gen.
There are also some cavegen mods that completely replace vanilla cavegen. Worrley's Caves (last I saw it was a 1.12 forge mod) and Yung's Caves (it's available on Fabric) both kinda get rid of the cramped tunnels in favor of larger caverns and ravine-like slashes, with the overall result being a generally infinite cave network.
Mods of the "kitchen sink" variety (ie, they do a little bit of everything) sometimes also add in cave features. Quark, for instance, includes a new cave type called a giant cavern. It's not nearly as large as a TMC cave, but it's along the same lines of thinking. Most tend to just redecorate vanilla gen, however.
the second, activated with an emerald, is an infinite megacavern that makes The Master Caver's giant caves look tiny; the third, activated with a piece of aquamarine, is a flooded combination of the megacavern and vanilla gen.
There are also some cavegen mods that completely replace vanilla cavegen. Worrley's Caves (last I saw it was a 1.12 forge mod) and Yung's Caves (it's available on Fabric) both kinda get rid of the cramped tunnels in favor of larger caverns and ravine-like slashes, with the overall result being a generally infinite cave network.
I assume that "infinite megacavern" is really just a version of the Nether, which is more comparable to extreme terrain with multiple overhangs than a standard cave (i.e. it is generated using terrain noise as opposed to cave generation; in fact, there are normal caves/tunnels present in the Nether). Also, many of these mods don't seem to actually have much variety; I'm not sure how Worley's Caves has 2.4 million downloads since it appears to generate a more or less homogeneous network based on the examples given on its CurseForge page (this is also why I did not mention it, while Quark appears to add to vanilla cave generation). For comparison, TMCW has many different cave structures, not just some giant caves, and even the "normal" caves are enhanced versions of 1.6.4 cave generation (which itself is much more varied than 1.7+):
The area shown is 1024x1024 blocks and includes most of the various types of caves that can be found; the second image shows "special" caves only, as opposed to vanilla-type caves, the third image shows caves only (including larger caves), and the last image is an interconnected caves map, showing that virtually everything is interconnected, if not always very obvious (all areas in green are directly interconnected to a point near the center; the green areas on the other images are areas that are above sea level, if not necessarily breaking the surface):
Of course, I didn't suggest TMCW since few are willing to use a mod for 1.6.4, and a standalone one at that (not even Optifine is compatible with it, the most comparable mod would be Better Than Wolves, if not altering gameplay to such an extent).
Hello.
I tried to play a bit with the cave buffet. The caves are long and due to short render distance, I'm experiencing this graphical glitch:
There should be dark but I see the light. If I approach the light area, it disappears.
Is there any way I can resolve this issue other than increasing my view distance (which causes more lag) ?
Or are there any mods suited for playing inside huge caves that you could recommend me?
Thanks in advance.
Does this just happen in a few spots, or all over? Ever since version 1.8, Minecraft has been pretty bad about culling issues like this. I have a few spots in some worlds that consistently have a hole in them (even at extremely long render distances), but they only show up when viewed from a certain angle AND distance. This might be due to that, but I'm not sure if the problem is worse on lower render distances. Mojang may be counting on the fog to hide it normally.
It looks like you are seeing into unloaded chunks, which will reveal the sky or void and is unrelated to any rendering issues; the game renders the sky even when you are underground so if there are no blocks in the way within render distance you'll see it (including the sun/moon/clouds/stars):
This is another example from back when I used Optifine to disable void fog, which also disables the fog darkening with depth (does this still happen in newer versions?); either way, the sky itself isn't darkened unless it is night:
However, you can reduce the effect by disabling the day-night cycle (/gamerule doDaylightCycle false) and setting the time to midnight (/time set 18000), which shouldn't matter in a "caves" buffet world, much like the Nether; for example, this is a nighttime view of the cave shown above (I also made it so that if you are below sea level and there is no skylight the sky and fog will be black and the sun/clouds/stars/sunset don't render; however, this requires mods):
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Thank you both for the answers.
Setting it to permanent night is exactly what I was looking for.
But yeah it has caveats (pun intended), in the distance things are now dark blue (I was hoping for pitch black) + stars are visible. Do you have any specific mods in mind that could fix this?
Also, aren't you aware of some mods that take you into giant caves? You're master caver, you might know about this!
Optifine can change the sky, as well as the lightmap (so darkness is actually black), though I don't know of any other mods, mostly since I don't use any myself, other than my own, or play on current versions (I use my own mods on 1.6.4, which includes fixing these issues).
These links may help, I have no experience with using these features though:
https://github.com/sp614x/optifine/blob/master/OptiFineDoc/doc/sky.properties
https://github.com/sp614x/optifine/blob/master/OptiFineDoc/doc/custom_lightmaps.txt
https://github.com/sp614x/optifine/issues/4390 (an example lightmap, not sure how well it replicates vanilla. Note that the issue mentioned also affects vanilla. You can find examples of the vanilla lightmap here, though it is different from Optifine's, the vanilla lightmap also changes depending on the time of day)
As far as caves go, the only mod I know of for newer versions that adds giant caves like my own is Quark; you'd also want a world that is more solid ground than the "nether" world type (which is what the "caves" buffet really is, with the terrain being distinct from cave generation), and I'm not sure if it would actually generate caves much above sea level (in vanilla about 5/6 of caves are below y=63, so about half the world height, assuming the same as the "caves" setting, would be mostly solid ground).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
There is a dimensional mod called The Caving Dimension that uses mossy cobblestone and 1 of like 11 activator items (diamond, emerald, and aquamarine, plus 6-7 special books corresponding to themed caves) to create portals to various mining dimensions. 3 of these dimensions are basically just themed mines (the first, activated with a diamond, is just floor-to-ceiling vanilla cave generation; the second, activated with an emerald, is an infinite megacavern that makes The Master Caver's giant caves look tiny; the third, activated with a piece of aquamarine, is a flooded combination of the megacavern and vanilla gen.
There are also some cavegen mods that completely replace vanilla cavegen. Worrley's Caves (last I saw it was a 1.12 forge mod) and Yung's Caves (it's available on Fabric) both kinda get rid of the cramped tunnels in favor of larger caverns and ravine-like slashes, with the overall result being a generally infinite cave network.
Mods of the "kitchen sink" variety (ie, they do a little bit of everything) sometimes also add in cave features. Quark, for instance, includes a new cave type called a giant cavern. It's not nearly as large as a TMC cave, but it's along the same lines of thinking. Most tend to just redecorate vanilla gen, however.
I assume that "infinite megacavern" is really just a version of the Nether, which is more comparable to extreme terrain with multiple overhangs than a standard cave (i.e. it is generated using terrain noise as opposed to cave generation; in fact, there are normal caves/tunnels present in the Nether). Also, many of these mods don't seem to actually have much variety; I'm not sure how Worley's Caves has 2.4 million downloads since it appears to generate a more or less homogeneous network based on the examples given on its CurseForge page (this is also why I did not mention it, while Quark appears to add to vanilla cave generation). For comparison, TMCW has many different cave structures, not just some giant caves, and even the "normal" caves are enhanced versions of 1.6.4 cave generation (which itself is much more varied than 1.7+):
Of course, I didn't suggest TMCW since few are willing to use a mod for 1.6.4, and a standalone one at that (not even Optifine is compatible with it, the most comparable mod would be Better Than Wolves, if not altering gameplay to such an extent).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?