Well, you could just wander around until you spot something you think looks familiar. Mostly this will just be a lot of boring running around as you avoid stepping in lava, but by staying out in the open you will hopefully either catch a glimpse of the portal or at least part of the surrounding landscape that you're familiar with. One of the more annoying aspects of the nether, though, is that you can see pretty far but you won't necessarily be able to (easily) get to what you see.
If you have a compass and at least 10 obsidian, you can hop back to the overworld. It may be a much longer walk, but it's probably an easier to navigate one.
As for future endeavors, consider setting up a chest in the nether next to your portal with a crafting bench. Load the chest up with cobblestone, and whenever you enter the nether take a moment to craft up a stack or four of slabs to use as bread crumbs. As you wander through the wilds, occasionally place a slab. If you end up travelling along the same pathway frequently, continue placing slabs. Eventually a defined path will form, and if it's important you can later come back with a proper building frame of mind to finish off the road. When you're done and ready to go back to the overworld, dump the slabs and extra cobble back into the chest.
Without "cheating"? Yeah, what DuhDerp said. If you can remember what the main features we're, that will help (was there a lava lake nearby? Or were you in a cave? Or was there a nether fortress nearby?) I know I always clearly remember what the general area is of my portals. One spawned overlooking a lava lake and was quickly under fire from gasts. The other spawned in a peaceful cave, even without Zombie pigmen! It's like paradise there! There's also the added benefit of being right beside two (three?) nether fortresses, so prtal number two is pretty easy to find if I go wandering off.
If you remember that you were near a lava lake, for example, you could hard-core-parkor your way across the burning landscape like the god of death you are and skim around the banks of various lakes until you find it.
Another tactic is to give yourself some altitude and see if a higher view will reveal your portal.
Or... You could... You know... Die? And respawn? In the overworld? You know, check your coordinates and shoot a few arrows straight up. No lava, no burning to death. Just a good old arrow to the knee. I got lost in the end once. Didn't have anything important on me, so I jumped into the void. Yeah. Just a few suggestions.
Have any coordinates written down for your base or features nearby? Just remember it's an 8-1 ratio so if you have your base written down as (for example) -800, 2400 just head to -100, 300 in the nether and that should get you close if your portal in the overworld was near your spawn...otherwise the others have some good suggestions too.
Both obsidian and flint & steel can be found in Nether Fortress chests and once back in the Overworld it should only take a few minutes to mine the redstone and iron for a compass.
Both obsidian and flint & steel can be found in Nether Fortress chests and once back in the Overworld it should only take a few minutes to mine the redstone and iron for a compass.
Assuming the OP's base was built near spawn.
And you don't necessarily need a flint & steel to light a portal. You can find the ingredients to craft a fire charge, or get a ghast or blaze to shoot your portal. Of if you have something flammable on you, you can place lava and something flammable (like wool or wood planks) next to the portal.
If your base is not near spawn (and you have used a bed at your base), then you could put all of your items in an ender chest and jump into lava. If you don't have an ender chest on you, you can find obsidian in a fortress chest (as Hexalobular said), and kill endermen and blazes to get the ingredients to craft an ender chest.
Do you have enough wood to make a crafting bench and a chest? If so, put all your belongings, including all your armor, in the chest, write down your LOC and then kill yourself.
When you respawn, go back into the nether, write down the portal LOC, then use the LOC of the chest that you wrote down to go find your stuff. Mark the path with torches or cobblestone blocks so you can follow the path back to the portal again.
These are things you should do when you are going to the nether so you don't get lost:
1. Write your portal coordinates down so you can find it.
2. Bring some materials to make an emergency portal in case you get lost.
3. Don't go too far from the portal.
4. Cheat, and get materials for a portal
I would add
5. Leave markers around the portal area - torches or jack'o'lanterns are useful as they show up from a distance
6. Use cobblestone to build a wall or shelter around the portal - more visible from distance
7. Lay a path behind you as you explore (or cobblestone pillars) or every so often leave a sign with a note on it pointing towards the portal
Most people their first portal to the Nether will have been built pretty close to spawn, which is pretty close to 0,0, and in the Nether that's 8x closer to 0,0 ... so just hit F3 and try to get back to 0,0 and look around.
Why are people saying to kill yourself? If you don't have keepinventory on you will lose your stuff!
As several people have suggested, you make a chest to put your stuff in or find a fortress and use a chest there, and write down the coordinates before killing yourself. (or punch F3 and F2 to take a screenshot.)
Then you can come back for it when you're better prepared.
(As long as you're not playing in Hardcore mode.)
quote=TheWesson
Most people their first portal to the Nether will have been built pretty close to spawn, which is pretty close to 0,0, and in the Nether that's 8x closer to 0,0 ... so just hit F3 and try to get back to 0,0 and look around.
Whether the portal is close to x0z0 or not, why would anyone make a portal without knowing the O-world coordinates? And, for that matter, precalculating the "proper" N-world coordinates so as to be able to move the generated N-side portal to have the coordinate correspondence tight enough not to worry about future portals bolloxing the linkages.
RE the breadcrumb trick: three or four cobble (or diorite for even better visibility) in a short gamma [ 𝝘 ] with the bar pointing back 'home' will indicate up to eight directions and survive direct hits from blaze/ghasts.
[One odd 'downside' to using 'white' stone types for bases in the nether is that such can give oneself a bad moment when catching sight of the structure unexpectedly as the color and angularity are similar to a ghast. ]
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7. Lay a path behind you as you explore (or cobblestone pillars) or every so often leave a sign with a note on it pointing towards the portal
I do similar, except I make two high netherrack pillars as there's infinite amounts of it, and set them alight on top. You tend to notice them over flames on the floor. (The torches or jack o lanterns is a good idea though)
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Generally when exploring the nether, I carry an ender chest with me. If I get lost and can't find my way back I stash my gear in it and jump off a cliff. :3
i strayed off without checking the portal oops
hi
Well, you could just wander around until you spot something you think looks familiar. Mostly this will just be a lot of boring running around as you avoid stepping in lava, but by staying out in the open you will hopefully either catch a glimpse of the portal or at least part of the surrounding landscape that you're familiar with. One of the more annoying aspects of the nether, though, is that you can see pretty far but you won't necessarily be able to (easily) get to what you see.
If you have a compass and at least 10 obsidian, you can hop back to the overworld. It may be a much longer walk, but it's probably an easier to navigate one.
As for future endeavors, consider setting up a chest in the nether next to your portal with a crafting bench. Load the chest up with cobblestone, and whenever you enter the nether take a moment to craft up a stack or four of slabs to use as bread crumbs. As you wander through the wilds, occasionally place a slab. If you end up travelling along the same pathway frequently, continue placing slabs. Eventually a defined path will form, and if it's important you can later come back with a proper building frame of mind to finish off the road. When you're done and ready to go back to the overworld, dump the slabs and extra cobble back into the chest.
Without "cheating"? Yeah, what DuhDerp said. If you can remember what the main features we're, that will help (was there a lava lake nearby? Or were you in a cave? Or was there a nether fortress nearby?) I know I always clearly remember what the general area is of my portals. One spawned overlooking a lava lake and was quickly under fire from gasts. The other spawned in a peaceful cave, even without Zombie pigmen! It's like paradise there! There's also the added benefit of being right beside two (three?) nether fortresses, so prtal number two is pretty easy to find if I go wandering off.
If you remember that you were near a lava lake, for example, you could hard-core-parkor your way across the burning landscape like the god of death you are and skim around the banks of various lakes until you find it.
Another tactic is to give yourself some altitude and see if a higher view will reveal your portal.
Or... You could... You know... Die? And respawn? In the overworld? You know, check your coordinates and shoot a few arrows straight up. No lava, no burning to death. Just a good old arrow to the knee. I got lost in the end once. Didn't have anything important on me, so I jumped into the void. Yeah. Just a few suggestions.
Have any coordinates written down for your base or features nearby? Just remember it's an 8-1 ratio so if you have your base written down as (for example) -800, 2400 just head to -100, 300 in the nether and that should get you close if your portal in the overworld was near your spawn...otherwise the others have some good suggestions too.
Both obsidian and flint & steel can be found in Nether Fortress chests and once back in the Overworld it should only take a few minutes to mine the redstone and iron for a compass.
Just testing.
Assuming the OP's base was built near spawn.
And you don't necessarily need a flint & steel to light a portal. You can find the ingredients to craft a fire charge, or get a ghast or blaze to shoot your portal. Of if you have something flammable on you, you can place lava and something flammable (like wool or wood planks) next to the portal.
If your base is not near spawn (and you have used a bed at your base), then you could put all of your items in an ender chest and jump into lava. If you don't have an ender chest on you, you can find obsidian in a fortress chest (as Hexalobular said), and kill endermen and blazes to get the ingredients to craft an ender chest.
Do you have enough wood to make a crafting bench and a chest? If so, put all your belongings, including all your armor, in the chest, write down your LOC and then kill yourself.
When you respawn, go back into the nether, write down the portal LOC, then use the LOC of the chest that you wrote down to go find your stuff. Mark the path with torches or cobblestone blocks so you can follow the path back to the portal again.
These are things you should do when you are going to the nether so you don't get lost:
1. Write your portal coordinates down so you can find it.
2. Bring some materials to make an emergency portal in case you get lost.
3. Don't go too far from the portal.
4. Cheat, and get materials for a portal
kill yourself that always works
I would add
5. Leave markers around the portal area - torches or jack'o'lanterns are useful as they show up from a distance
6. Use cobblestone to build a wall or shelter around the portal - more visible from distance
7. Lay a path behind you as you explore (or cobblestone pillars) or every so often leave a sign with a note on it pointing towards the portal
Suicide
Most people their first portal to the Nether will have been built pretty close to spawn, which is pretty close to 0,0, and in the Nether that's 8x closer to 0,0 ... so just hit F3 and try to get back to 0,0 and look around.
Why are people saying to kill yourself? If you don't have keepinventory on you will lose your stuff!
As several people have suggested, you make a chest to put your stuff in or find a fortress and use a chest there, and write down the coordinates before killing yourself. (or punch F3 and F2 to take a screenshot.)
Then you can come back for it when you're better prepared.
(As long as you're not playing in Hardcore mode.)
Just testing.
quote=TheWesson
Most people their first portal to the Nether will have been built pretty close to spawn, which is pretty close to 0,0, and in the Nether that's 8x closer to 0,0 ... so just hit F3 and try to get back to 0,0 and look around.
Whether the portal is close to x0z0 or not, why would anyone make a portal without knowing the O-world coordinates? And, for that matter, precalculating the "proper" N-world coordinates so as to be able to move the generated N-side portal to have the coordinate correspondence tight enough not to worry about future portals bolloxing the linkages.
RE the breadcrumb trick: three or four cobble (or diorite for even better visibility) in a short gamma [ 𝝘 ] with the bar pointing back 'home' will indicate up to eight directions and survive direct hits from blaze/ghasts.
[One odd 'downside' to using 'white' stone types for bases in the nether is that such can give oneself a bad moment when catching sight of the structure unexpectedly as the color and angularity are similar to a ghast. ]
Personally I just spam Jack-o-Lanterns along my route, they automatically point back the way I came and have good visibility.
True, they don't survive ghast blasts but I just use enough that I'm not left in the lurch if a few get blown up.
Just testing.
I do similar, except I make two high netherrack pillars as there's infinite amounts of it, and set them alight on top. You tend to notice them over flames on the floor. (The torches or jack o lanterns is a good idea though)
Closed old thread
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16yrs+ only
Generally when exploring the nether, I carry an ender chest with me. If I get lost and can't find my way back I stash my gear in it and jump off a cliff. :3
Because of feckless, immature irresponsibility combined with the haste and lack of foresight of the youth?
I know this comment is over a year old, but I have to say, thanks so much, you saved my life lol.