Currently, some dyes in Minecraft are much harder to obtain than others. Of the 7 "primary" dyes that cannot be crested by combining other dyes, it's easy to get red and yellow (and also blue) from flowers, black from ink, white from bones, and blue from lapis. However, green and brown are much harder to get, as they can only be obtained from cacti and cocoa beans respectively, which if you're unlucky require venturing thousands and thousands of blocks to find a desert or jungle or waiting until a wandering trader has those items in stock. This seems absurd, just to be able to dye things green or brown.
The Solution
I propose being able to craft raw ores, which currently are only useful for smelting into ingots, into dyes (as well as some other items), as minerals have historically been used as a source of pigments.
Charcoal would be crafted into black dye, as charcoal has frequently been used as black pigment
Raw copper would be crafted into green dye, as malachite (an ore of copper) has been used as green pigment
Raw iron would be crafted into brown dye, as various iron-bearing minerals have been used for red and brown pigments
Raw gold would be crafted into yellow dye, as gold has sometimes been used for yellow pigments
I think this shows a bigger issue with the game if you have to travel "thousands and thousands of blocks" to find even basic resources; this was absolutely not a problem before 1.7, I had access to cocoa beans and cacti right at spawn in my first world, and otherwise such biomes are usually only a few hundred blocks away:
Another vanilla (biomes) world, with a desert to the north and jungle to the south of spawn (where my base is):
Even modded worlds which have many more biomes than modern versions have mostly had jungles and deserts within the spawn chunks (400x400 blocks), and I added more types of deserts (the second world has a "quartz desert" and a "tropical swamp" biome with small jungle trees; player-grown trees will also generate with cocoa beans in these biomes:
This world was more of an exception but still not "thousands and thousands of blocks" (except for my first world I've mostly stayed within 1600 blocks of spawn), with a jungle still only 2 biomes to the southwest (spawn biome, winter forest, jungle) and a desert 3 biomes to the south (spawn biome, winter forest, volcanic wastelands, desert), another desert is just beyond the jungle:
Note that a level 4 map is 2048x2048 blocks and spawn was just to the west of 0,0 so the deserts were well under 1000 blocks away 9teh closer one would be just south of the gray area near the lower-center of the left side). I also came across the jungle and desert to the southwest very early on as they were on the way to a stronghold (otherwise, I only explore by caving; strongholds are also much further away in newer versions so the chance of encountering a biome would be hgher):
Of course, as seen by all the other changes since 1.7 Mojang expects you to to explore far and wide to find things, and the impact on playstyles is obvious (everybody always complains about how common structures are but they never actually changed their base frequency, it is all due to changes in biomes, which are generally much larger and thus more likely to have a structure, and playstyles).
I do agree; it is strange that Green especially is so much harder to get when, well... there's Greenery everywhere. Certainly something else could turned into it.
I do agree; it is strange that Green especially is so much harder to get when, well... there's Greenery everywhere. Certainly something else could turned into it.
I should note that I would support some alternative; maybe even have brown dye be crafted by combining orange and black (since brown is just dark orange), or make cactus able to grow on more blocks and add them and/or new variants to more hot/dry biomes (they aren't exclusive to deserts, in fact, some species even grow in rainforests).
I was kind of thinking leaves could somehow be used for it maybe.
When I started that particular world where I had to go so far to get cactus, I remember looking the recipe up and expecting leaves to be a possible source for green dye and it wasn't.
With how common villages are, if they had made a profession like a painter that dealt with dyes that would be another help, but that would need retroactively added, and it would lose its effectiveness if villages ever got more rare (which I think they should be).
So maybe using leaves or something else Green would work.
I can certainly feel your pain here. I wanted to use green and brown dye in a world, but I was completely surrounded by snowy biomes. Thankfully cactus can be found in Igloo basements, but I had to wait for a Wandering Trader to sell me the brown dye.
The Problem
Currently, some dyes in Minecraft are much harder to obtain than others. Of the 7 "primary" dyes that cannot be crested by combining other dyes, it's easy to get red and yellow (and also blue) from flowers, black from ink, white from bones, and blue from lapis. However, green and brown are much harder to get, as they can only be obtained from cacti and cocoa beans respectively, which if you're unlucky require venturing thousands and thousands of blocks to find a desert or jungle or waiting until a wandering trader has those items in stock. This seems absurd, just to be able to dye things green or brown.
The Solution
I propose being able to craft raw ores, which currently are only useful for smelting into ingots, into dyes (as well as some other items), as minerals have historically been used as a source of pigments.
My suggestions: Enhancements - Throwable Fire Charges - On Phantoms and Elytra. Also check out The Minecraftian Language. This signature is not here to waste your space.
I think this shows a bigger issue with the game if you have to travel "thousands and thousands of blocks" to find even basic resources; this was absolutely not a problem before 1.7, I had access to cocoa beans and cacti right at spawn in my first world, and otherwise such biomes are usually only a few hundred blocks away:
Another vanilla (biomes) world, with a desert to the north and jungle to the south of spawn (where my base is):
Even modded worlds which have many more biomes than modern versions have mostly had jungles and deserts within the spawn chunks (400x400 blocks), and I added more types of deserts (the second world has a "quartz desert" and a "tropical swamp" biome with small jungle trees; player-grown trees will also generate with cocoa beans in these biomes:
This world was more of an exception but still not "thousands and thousands of blocks" (except for my first world I've mostly stayed within 1600 blocks of spawn), with a jungle still only 2 biomes to the southwest (spawn biome, winter forest, jungle) and a desert 3 biomes to the south (spawn biome, winter forest, volcanic wastelands, desert), another desert is just beyond the jungle:
Note that a level 4 map is 2048x2048 blocks and spawn was just to the west of 0,0 so the deserts were well under 1000 blocks away 9teh closer one would be just south of the gray area near the lower-center of the left side). I also came across the jungle and desert to the southwest very early on as they were on the way to a stronghold (otherwise, I only explore by caving; strongholds are also much further away in newer versions so the chance of encountering a biome would be hgher):
Of course, as seen by all the other changes since 1.7 Mojang expects you to to explore far and wide to find things, and the impact on playstyles is obvious (everybody always complains about how common structures are but they never actually changed their base frequency, it is all due to changes in biomes, which are generally much larger and thus more likely to have a structure, and playstyles).
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?
The lengths I went for Teal wool!
I do agree; it is strange that Green especially is so much harder to get when, well... there's Greenery everywhere. Certainly something else could turned into it.
I should note that I would support some alternative; maybe even have brown dye be crafted by combining orange and black (since brown is just dark orange), or make cactus able to grow on more blocks and add them and/or new variants to more hot/dry biomes (they aren't exclusive to deserts, in fact, some species even grow in rainforests).
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?
I was kind of thinking leaves could somehow be used for it maybe.
When I started that particular world where I had to go so far to get cactus, I remember looking the recipe up and expecting leaves to be a possible source for green dye and it wasn't.
With how common villages are, if they had made a profession like a painter that dealt with dyes that would be another help, but that would need retroactively added, and it would lose its effectiveness if villages ever got more rare (which I think they should be).
So maybe using leaves or something else Green would work.
I can certainly feel your pain here. I wanted to use green and brown dye in a world, but I was completely surrounded by snowy biomes. Thankfully cactus can be found in Igloo basements, but I had to wait for a Wandering Trader to sell me the brown dye.
Wait, really?
I'm not sure if that would have helped me then, but it's good to know now.