There are tons of conversations regarding how to prevent mobs from spawning in your house. There are also tons of ideas for mob-proof, unconventional 'doors'. My question is: how can you prevent mobs from spawning in an existing doorway (iron or wooden door)?
I have a house built with bottom-half slab floors and redstone torches for lighting. Everything in the house is built to prevent mobs from spawning by providing no available blocks upon which they can spawn. The only thing that's been frustrating me is whether it's possible to have a doorway that mobs cannot spawn in; as mobs can spawn on the block upon which a wooden of iron door is placed.
So far I've had to place normal torches near doors to prevent this, but I wonder if anyone has experimented with this idea and come up with anything that works.
The trouble is you cannot place doors on transparent blocks. Unless there's one I don't know about (I think I tried them all.)
No, you're right. This is the same reason there's no way* to spawn-proof minecart tracks in the nether besides placing blocks (transparent, so you don't suffocate) directly above the rails. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything you can do but light up the place. The requirements for mobs to spawn are an opaque block with two transparent blocks above it. To place a door, you need an opaque block with two empty airspaces (which are transparent) above it Since the door itself is also transparent, and takes up the block space, preventing you from using slabs or liquid to spawn-proof it, the only thing you can use is light.
(*)You can actually spawn-proof a track by filling every single block space at track height with any non-air block for 20 blocks in every direction. While individual mobs can spawn inside non-solid blocks like tracks and pressure plates, the initial pack spawn requires an actual, empty air space. I suppose you could use this same trick to spawn-proof your door: if you sink it down into the floor by a block so that the entire 41x41 square around the bottom half of the door is filled, then no pack ever spawn near enough the door for an individual mob to spawn inside of it. Most mobs spawn near the center of the pack, so even if you don't fill the entire 41x41 square, you can still prevent most spawns from reaching the door. 99% of mobs spawn within ten blocks of the pack center (so a 21x21 square would not make it 100% spawn-proof, but 99% is still pretty good) and 85% within 5 blocks (11x11 square.) You'd also have to leave an opening above the door so you could still fit through.
EDIT: Or just use fence gates. You still have to have a solid block to place them on, but after that you can destroy the block and the gate won't pop off like a door would.
The only suggestion is hafl slab the doorway, and use a fence gate for the door.
I end up replacing some doors with gates for my normal house as zombies were finding a short cut through the house to reach my villager zombie trap. Without the fence gate zombies kept knocking at the door!
It was very annoying.
However the probability of spawning depends on light level, so while a redstone torch does not prevent spawning on blocks next to it, it does reduce the likelyhood of the spawn.
I've used fence gates in many areas of my house (castle) for security, and perhaps thought I was crazy for not being able to figure this out; but the point IronMagus makes is well taken: the same conditions for a mob to spawn are the same conditions for a door to be placed (excepting for light).
What if you didn't use a normal door? A jeb door perhaps? Alternately, if you want to keep your normal door, you could make it impossible for pack spawns to start nearby. When hostile mobs spawn, they choose a single air block and spawn up to 12 mobs within a 41x1x41 box centered around that block. Since doors aren't an air block, they can't be chosen to start the spawning process, but if a nearby block is chosen, a mob can spawn in the doorway. If you fill up every block within 21 blocks of the bottom half of the door with any non-air block, you can prevent mobs from spawning there. This may mean mushrooms, flowers, string, ect.
EDIT- ninja'd
You have a photo album of your castle... I like the look of it, especially the roof. Acadia wood right!
How about a world download somewhere (just the region of the castle not the whole expored world).
My favoriate castle so far is Silwer's Keep v2 (google for it). It is very compact, with secret areas, and lots of rooms, though it was for MC 1.2.5, so has nether portal, enchantes, potions and underground farms, but no books and anvils, villagers, corner stairs, carpets or too many different wood types. I am constantly amazed how small this spacious castle/keep really is.
You have a photo album of your castle... I like the look of it, especially the roof. Acadia wood right!
How about a world download somewhere (just the region of the castle not the whole expored world).
My favoriate castle so far is Silwer's Keep v2 (google for it). It is very compact, with secret areas, and lots of rooms, though it was for MC 1.2.5, so has nether portal, enchantes, potions and underground farms, but no books and anvils, villagers, corner stairs, carpets or too many different wood types. I am constantly amazed how small this spacious castle/keep really is.
I would love to share it... Not sure how to create a file with just the castle, minus the explored (extensively) world around it.
Every surface is made with bottom half slabs. The idea was that I could have atmospheric lighting throughout the chambers and halls without having to worry about mobs spawning.
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Hm... only thing I can think of is to make a piston door of some kind.... There's several ways you could do it, to make the entrance(s) still look fairly stylish, whether a hidden door or something a bit more visible (perhaps you already have secret passages in your castle and you want something a little more accessible?). Anyway, just a thought.
A little off topic, but where did you learn to build castles like that? Any particular place, or just various sources over time?
Hm... only thing I can think of is to make a piston door of some kind.... There's several ways you could do it, to make the entrance(s) still look fairly stylish, whether a hidden door or something a bit more visible (perhaps you already have secret passages in your castle and you want something a little more accessible?). Anyway, just a thought.
A little off topic, but where did you learn to build castles like that? Any particular place, or just various sources over time?
Honestly I just started with a general idea of what I thought a castle should look like, then got around to how a castle should actually function (for the people who live and serve there) and began with a simple layout. I started with building mead halls (I have a few maps with epic mead halls.) I've built a few hundred small castles in minecraft and always found some problem with their fundamental design. A huge help is:
If you haven't seen the downloadable map of King's Landing you should definitely check it out. It's pretty mind-blowing.
Anyhow, a castle should be plotted out with many things in mind beforehand. As a dungeons and dragons dork I can tell you that as much as you can think up ahead of time you'll almost always regret forgetting simple structural considerations later. The best way to start is to think of your castle as a primitive mead hall.. and add on to it.
Leave lots of room underground to add dungeons, tunnels, and secret passageways. Remember that your kitchen staff need easy access to the royal dining hall, your guards need a barracks as well as easy access to the walls, your royal denizens need easy access to their private (and defensible) quarters, your guests need fancy quarters, your dungeons and torture chambers should be out of earshot of the dining hall, the kings throne should be intimidating... even at the cost of expansive vaulted ceiling real-estate, and gardens must be included.
Castles often have layers of retaining walls about them descending from the inner court all the way to the outermost defensible wall. My little castle is far from complete (there's a city that goes around it) but I always try to think about how a practical seat of government might be situated. Above the throne there are royal chambers as well as a residential tower; the towers to the right and left of the royal chamber are reserved for the royal seer (or enchanter) and the royal master of arms.
The entire castle is built with half slab surfaces to prevent mob spawning but some places (such as doorways) require full block surfaces which invite mobs, but have been lit to prevent their spawning.
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Thanks, I'll have to try some of those ideas!
Anyway, here's something along the lines of what I meant with using a piston door. Its the only thing I can think of to have a completely spawn-proof base while preserving the ambient lighting.
one of the problems I had with the first castle in my 9 castle challenge was that mobs were actually spawning on blocks that had a cobblestone wall on it. they would spawn on the part of the block that you can stand on when there is a wall on it, then fall down in behind my walls - though I don't see much use of cobble wall in your build.
I have a house built with bottom-half slab floors and redstone torches for lighting. Everything in the house is built to prevent mobs from spawning by providing no available blocks upon which they can spawn. The only thing that's been frustrating me is whether it's possible to have a doorway that mobs cannot spawn in; as mobs can spawn on the block upon which a wooden of iron door is placed.
So far I've had to place normal torches near doors to prevent this, but I wonder if anyone has experimented with this idea and come up with anything that works.
Ideas?
That would ruin the atmospheric lighting. I'm thinking of something that would work in full-dark.
My Island Adventure - http://www.minecraft...brief-tutorial/
me(red) playing UT2K4 - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
The trouble is you cannot place doors on transparent blocks. Unless there's one I don't know about (I think I tried them all.)
http://imgur.com/pZ47zJt
Since redstone torches aren't bright enough to prevent mobs from spawning my doorways are unsecure.
No, you're right. This is the same reason there's no way* to spawn-proof minecart tracks in the nether besides placing blocks (transparent, so you don't suffocate) directly above the rails. Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything you can do but light up the place. The requirements for mobs to spawn are an opaque block with two transparent blocks above it. To place a door, you need an opaque block with two empty airspaces (which are transparent) above it Since the door itself is also transparent, and takes up the block space, preventing you from using slabs or liquid to spawn-proof it, the only thing you can use is light.
(*)You can actually spawn-proof a track by filling every single block space at track height with any non-air block for 20 blocks in every direction. While individual mobs can spawn inside non-solid blocks like tracks and pressure plates, the initial pack spawn requires an actual, empty air space. I suppose you could use this same trick to spawn-proof your door: if you sink it down into the floor by a block so that the entire 41x41 square around the bottom half of the door is filled, then no pack ever spawn near enough the door for an individual mob to spawn inside of it. Most mobs spawn near the center of the pack, so even if you don't fill the entire 41x41 square, you can still prevent most spawns from reaching the door. 99% of mobs spawn within ten blocks of the pack center (so a 21x21 square would not make it 100% spawn-proof, but 99% is still pretty good) and 85% within 5 blocks (11x11 square.) You'd also have to leave an opening above the door so you could still fit through.
EDIT: Or just use fence gates. You still have to have a solid block to place them on, but after that you can destroy the block and the gate won't pop off like a door would.
EDIT EDIT: Ninja'd.
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I end up replacing some doors with gates for my normal house as zombies were finding a short cut through the house to reach my villager zombie trap. Without the fence gate zombies kept knocking at the door!
It was very annoying.
However the probability of spawning depends on light level, so while a redstone torch does not prevent spawning on blocks next to it, it does reduce the likelyhood of the spawn.
My castle (1.7.4)
http://imgur.com/K1QnY6t
EDIT- ninja'd
You have a photo album of your castle... I like the look of it, especially the roof. Acadia wood right!
How about a world download somewhere (just the region of the castle not the whole expored world).
My favoriate castle so far is Silwer's Keep v2 (google for it). It is very compact, with secret areas, and lots of rooms, though it was for MC 1.2.5, so has nether portal, enchantes, potions and underground farms, but no books and anvils, villagers, corner stairs, carpets or too many different wood types. I am constantly amazed how small this spacious castle/keep really is.
I would love to share it... Not sure how to create a file with just the castle, minus the explored (extensively) world around it.
http://imgur.com/E2SwoTT
http://imgur.com/Axty5My
Here's a few more images from my castle.
Every surface is made with bottom half slabs. The idea was that I could have atmospheric lighting throughout the chambers and halls without having to worry about mobs spawning.
A little off topic, but where did you learn to build castles like that? Any particular place, or just various sources over time?
Honestly I just started with a general idea of what I thought a castle should look like, then got around to how a castle should actually function (for the people who live and serve there) and began with a simple layout. I started with building mead halls (I have a few maps with epic mead halls.) I've built a few hundred small castles in minecraft and always found some problem with their fundamental design. A huge help is:
http://westeroscraft.com/
If you haven't seen the downloadable map of King's Landing you should definitely check it out. It's pretty mind-blowing.
Anyhow, a castle should be plotted out with many things in mind beforehand. As a dungeons and dragons dork I can tell you that as much as you can think up ahead of time you'll almost always regret forgetting simple structural considerations later. The best way to start is to think of your castle as a primitive mead hall.. and add on to it.
Leave lots of room underground to add dungeons, tunnels, and secret passageways. Remember that your kitchen staff need easy access to the royal dining hall, your guards need a barracks as well as easy access to the walls, your royal denizens need easy access to their private (and defensible) quarters, your guests need fancy quarters, your dungeons and torture chambers should be out of earshot of the dining hall, the kings throne should be intimidating... even at the cost of expansive vaulted ceiling real-estate, and gardens must be included.
Castles often have layers of retaining walls about them descending from the inner court all the way to the outermost defensible wall. My little castle is far from complete (there's a city that goes around it) but I always try to think about how a practical seat of government might be situated. Above the throne there are royal chambers as well as a residential tower; the towers to the right and left of the royal chamber are reserved for the royal seer (or enchanter) and the royal master of arms.
The entire castle is built with half slab surfaces to prevent mob spawning but some places (such as doorways) require full block surfaces which invite mobs, but have been lit to prevent their spawning.
Images:
The hall as seen from the throne
http://imgur.com/5rFgRwR
This image shows an arch which also conceals the mechanics of a zombie grinder. The doorframe is the path of the grinder.
http://imgur.com/ffqI0Vh
One of the 4 towers
http://imgur.com/9g2Pk53
The private training room of the master at arms.
http://imgur.com/fwxcc0B
A bedroom. Stairs are used with carpet on top to prevent mob spawning.
http://imgur.com/SHtRnwL
Everything is built with bottom half slabs
Anyway, here's something along the lines of what I meant with using a piston door. Its the only thing I can think of to have a completely spawn-proof base while preserving the ambient lighting.
My Island Adventure - http://www.minecraft...brief-tutorial/
me(red) playing UT2K4 - http://www.youtube.c...h?v=Wz0DnP7wXnU
v