Zombie pigmen won't bother you if you don't bother them. Other than that, I think if you use half slabs to build bridges, they won't spawn on that. But really, just ignore them.
For long bridges over lava, I do like to cover them to prevent ghasts from blasting me off the side.
Zombie pigmen won't bother you if you don't bother them. Other than that, I think if you use half slabs to build bridges, they won't spawn on that. But really, just ignore them.
For long bridges over lava, I do like to cover them to prevent ghasts from blasting me off the side.
yeah well i rather hate it when they spawn inside my base and give me a scare lol
not to mention blocking my way and we end up engaging in some pushing contest
Well you could try the half-slab idea, or another transparent block, like glass. Pigmen spawn at any light level. Having a floor of stained glass in a nether base sounds pretty cool, really. The disadvantage is you also cannot place rail and a few other things on transparent blocks. I'm sure you could work around that though.
They generally will not spawn on top of upside down slabs if what you want is a walk path.
Are you absolutely certain?
Mobs usually can spawn on upside down slabs and stairs.
Why not just use right side up slabs since they definitely stop spawning?
Pigmen spawning on rails used to be a right pain til they fixed it in 1.9. I have 3-4 minecart stations in the Nether, plus a few other small builds, and i always use half slabs or glass or a mixture of both for the floor. Pigmen can still wander in from elsewhere so make sure the areas are enclosed and you provide yourself with a metal door for access. If the door is exposed externally to things like Ghasts (whose fireball can destroy door i think) just protect the door with a short 2 block wide tunnel about 6-7 blocks long, and place two columns of single blocks one on one side, on on the other side of the tunnel, min 3 blocks apart, to act as a kind of baffle so you can zig-zag to the door, but Ghasts cant get a direct line of sight of the door ...
Carpet is an easy solution to mob spawning (double carpet even blocks enederman teleporting), but carpet is flammable so don't place it near lava. I have some of my nether tunnels carpeted. Lower slabs also work (mobs definitely can spawn on upper slabs). Right side up stairs and path blocks should prevent spawning as well. Transparent blocks, like glass and leaf blocks are yet another option (glass over lava is a cool looking floor). Redstone or rails on top of full blocks will also prevent spawning in recent versions.
If you do get a pigman in your base you want to dispatch, without the others going agro, drop a couple blocks of gravel on his head (gravel, sand or concrete powder should work, but gravel is abundant in the nether). In the overworld I have my portals fenced off or in sealed rooms to keep any pigmen that spawn under control. In one of my worlds I have a 25 block drop onto hoppers in front of my portal to keep pigmen out of my base. It's the world's slowest gold farm, but it works (trapdoors allow me to easily access the portal when I need to).
Ghast fireballs don't break iron doors, as long as the door is placed on a block that won't break (don't place them on netherrack). Ghast fireballs will break the buttons, levers or pressure plates controlling the door, so I usually have several buttons around the door.
If you need to use spawnable blocks (vs bottom slabs, glass, etc) for the floor you can:
⊕ ignore the neutral pigmen (and scrupulously avoid ever striking them, including deflecting ghast shot)
⊕ render the block tops non-spawnable (buttons are a cheap non-flamable alternative to carpet) and keep any pigmen out
⊕ make the space too small for pigmen (carpet works as pigmen are 1.95 blocks tall, as do pressure plates and trapdoors – and a floor of trapdoors will increase your speed at the cost of more quickly draining your hunger bar)
As far as how I build passages, I generally make four wide tunnels – two high in the center and with gutters creating three high sides; ie.
B B B B B B
B A A A A B
B A A A A B
B A B B A B
B B B B B B
These just run through the upper levels of the netherrack (just below the start of the bedrock) and get expanded to ice roads / rails or something decorative if I find I'm making enough use of them. (I just ignore pigmen as they tend to be rare at this level; endermen are rare and not much of a threat by the time I go into the nether.)
I also will have tracks across the nether roof between major developed areas.
(For door design at the end of a tunnel, something akin to Japanese spirit walls of iron bars with a roof or the same extending back to the tunnel mouth a few out to each side blocks ghast shots, but allows observation.)
A cheap, early game idea is to make small rooms off the tunnel protected by fence gates (which pigmen can't operate and ghasts won't be able to shoot). You can then retreat to one of these, kill pigmen across the gate, wait long enough for them to become peaceful, and proceed. [Also functions as a form of slow gold farm.]
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Carpet is an easy solution to mob spawning (double carpet even blocks enederman teleporting), but carpet is flammable so don't place it near lava. I have some of my nether tunnels carpeted. Lower slabs also work (mobs definitely can spawn on upper slabs). Right side up stairs and path blocks should prevent spawning as well. Transparent blocks, like glass and leaf blocks are yet another option (glass over lava is a cool looking floor). Redstone or rails on top of full blocks will also prevent spawning in recent versions.
If you do get a pigman in your base you want to dispatch, without the others going agro, drop a couple blocks of gravel on his head (gravel, sand or concrete powder should work, but gravel is abundant in the nether). In the overworld I have my portals fenced off or in sealed rooms to keep any pigmen that spawn under control. In one of my worlds I have a 25 block drop onto hoppers in front of my portal to keep pigmen out of my base. It's the world's slowest gold farm, but it works (trapdoors allow me to easily access the portal when I need to).
Ghast fireballs don't break iron doors, as long as the door is placed on a block that won't break (don't place them on netherrack). Ghast fireballs will break the buttons, levers or pressure plates controlling the door, so I usually have several buttons around the door.
Thanks i will use lower slabs instead
And guys i dont understand why you all are using glass for the floors? Is there a specific reason for it? and arent you guys afraid that ghasts would destroy it at certain angles lol?
Are you absolutely certain?
Mobs usually can spawn on upside down slabs and stairs.
Why not just use right side up slabs since they definitely stop spawning?
I may have used the term wrong. What I meant is slabs taking up lower portion of block.
And guys i dont understand why you all are using glass for the floors? Is there a specific reason for it? and arent you guys afraid that ghasts would destroy it at certain angles lol?
We're talking about floors inside bases or tunnels. Places that are secure from ghast blasts. You wouldn't use glass floors for bridges (well, not normally, but there are ways to do that).
I always use glass to protect from ghasts and still see the scenery over lava oceans. Using carpets or slabs keeps pigmen from spawning, and rails do, too, if its a one-block-wide space.
I always use glass to protect from ghasts and still see the scenery over lava oceans. Using carpets or slabs keeps pigmen from spawning, and rails do, too, if its a one-block-wide space.
+1. This is exactly how I do it as well. Makes it easier and a bit prettier to look at.
Im having trouble building "paths" in the nether.
its completely covered and made out of cobblestone. Problem is sometimes i enter the nether to find zombie pigmen in them
What am i supposed to do to protect these passageways and paths? Preferably a cheap and easy way thanks xD
Zombie pigmen won't bother you if you don't bother them. Other than that, I think if you use half slabs to build bridges, they won't spawn on that. But really, just ignore them.
For long bridges over lava, I do like to cover them to prevent ghasts from blasting me off the side.
yeah well i rather hate it when they spawn inside my base and give me a scare lol
not to mention blocking my way and we end up engaging in some pushing contest
Well you could try the half-slab idea, or another transparent block, like glass. Pigmen spawn at any light level. Having a floor of stained glass in a nether base sounds pretty cool, really. The disadvantage is you also cannot place rail and a few other things on transparent blocks. I'm sure you could work around that though.
Since 1.9 mobs shouldn't spawn on rails, so you could just replace the transparent blocks with solid ones where you place the rails.
Just testing.
They generally will not spawn on top of upside down slabs if what you want is a walk path.
If you build railway, you can put glass panes or upper half slabs in blocks above rails. Lets you ride rails but not enough room for pigmen.
Use half slabs, carpets, rails, or glass.
Are you absolutely certain?
Mobs usually can spawn on upside down slabs and stairs.
Why not just use right side up slabs since they definitely stop spawning?
Just testing.
Pigmen spawning on rails used to be a right pain til they fixed it in 1.9. I have 3-4 minecart stations in the Nether, plus a few other small builds, and i always use half slabs or glass or a mixture of both for the floor. Pigmen can still wander in from elsewhere so make sure the areas are enclosed and you provide yourself with a metal door for access. If the door is exposed externally to things like Ghasts (whose fireball can destroy door i think) just protect the door with a short 2 block wide tunnel about 6-7 blocks long, and place two columns of single blocks one on one side, on on the other side of the tunnel, min 3 blocks apart, to act as a kind of baffle so you can zig-zag to the door, but Ghasts cant get a direct line of sight of the door ...
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Carpet is an easy solution to mob spawning (double carpet even blocks enederman teleporting), but carpet is flammable so don't place it near lava. I have some of my nether tunnels carpeted. Lower slabs also work (mobs definitely can spawn on upper slabs). Right side up stairs and path blocks should prevent spawning as well. Transparent blocks, like glass and leaf blocks are yet another option (glass over lava is a cool looking floor). Redstone or rails on top of full blocks will also prevent spawning in recent versions.
If you do get a pigman in your base you want to dispatch, without the others going agro, drop a couple blocks of gravel on his head (gravel, sand or concrete powder should work, but gravel is abundant in the nether). In the overworld I have my portals fenced off or in sealed rooms to keep any pigmen that spawn under control. In one of my worlds I have a 25 block drop onto hoppers in front of my portal to keep pigmen out of my base. It's the world's slowest gold farm, but it works (trapdoors allow me to easily access the portal when I need to).
Ghast fireballs don't break iron doors, as long as the door is placed on a block that won't break (don't place them on netherrack). Ghast fireballs will break the buttons, levers or pressure plates controlling the door, so I usually have several buttons around the door.
If you need to use spawnable blocks (vs bottom slabs, glass, etc) for the floor you can:
As far as how I build passages, I generally make four wide tunnels – two high in the center and with gutters creating three high sides; ie.
B B B B B B
B A A A A B
B A A A A B
B A B B A B
B B B B B B
These just run through the upper levels of the netherrack (just below the start of the bedrock) and get expanded to ice roads / rails or something decorative if I find I'm making enough use of them. (I just ignore pigmen as they tend to be rare at this level; endermen are rare and not much of a threat by the time I go into the nether.)
I also will have tracks across the nether roof between major developed areas.
(For door design at the end of a tunnel, something akin to Japanese spirit walls of iron bars with a roof or the same extending back to the tunnel mouth a few out to each side blocks ghast shots, but allows observation.)
A cheap, early game idea is to make small rooms off the tunnel protected by fence gates (which pigmen can't operate and ghasts won't be able to shoot). You can then retreat to one of these, kill pigmen across the gate, wait long enough for them to become peaceful, and proceed. [Also functions as a form of slow gold farm.]
Thanks i will use lower slabs instead
And guys i dont understand why you all are using glass for the floors? Is there a specific reason for it? and arent you guys afraid that ghasts would destroy it at certain angles lol?
I've never been moved to put a base in the nether, but I have to say ghasts in current versions don't seem as hostile as they used to be.
edit - If it's a concern, one could always put stone down, then glass on top of that.
I may have used the term wrong. What I meant is slabs taking up lower portion of block.
We're talking about floors inside bases or tunnels. Places that are secure from ghast blasts. You wouldn't use glass floors for bridges (well, not normally, but there are ways to do that).
I always use glass to protect from ghasts and still see the scenery over lava oceans. Using carpets or slabs keeps pigmen from spawning, and rails do, too, if its a one-block-wide space.
+1. This is exactly how I do it as well. Makes it easier and a bit prettier to look at.
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