I've been playing survival mode for a while now and decided to have a go at something creative while waiting for the 1.8 adventure release. *queue excessive drooling - rivers! mineshafts! ENDERMEN!* I decided on a castle (oh yay, how original :sleep.gif:) because it seemed like something simple for a first major build, but I wanted it to be realistic so I went for a recreation of an existing castle - albeit one that's in ruins - Rochester Castle.
I am trying to keep it fairly historically accurate but I'm not exactly a historian so a lot of it is guesswork and lots of looking stuff up on wikipedia.
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DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE
Rochester Castle Map
(Download, unzip and copy created folder into you Minecraft savegame folder.)
NOTE
This map was made to be used with a specific texture pack.
It is a 32x32 texture pack and will require a HD fix.
If you do not use this texture pack the map will look terrible with sandstone, sponges and redstone appearing in very strange places.
NOTE
This texture pack will NOT be suitable for playing normal Minecraft as many of the normal textures have been completely changed. (For example, the furnace is now a set of drawers and redstone is some dirt texture.) See the texture pack section below for a link to the texture pack from which this was customised.
Hopefully it will all work - post if there are any issues.
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Subject: Rochester Castle
A Norman Keep built in the 12th Century. It is the tallest Keep in England and one of the best preserved of its kind. Mods used: Zombe's modpack Texture Pack: Heavily edited version AdderCraft (32x32).
Exterior
This is the gatehouse entry to the outer bailey.
The incomplete defensive ditch is to the right.
The Keep (exterior)
The Keep (interior)
Great Hall: The great hall was located on the first floor of a Keep. It was usually the most decorated and luxurious area where the lord dined with his attendants and held social events.
Lord's Appartments
Chapel
Gallery
Basement: The ground floor of the keep was a storage area for all the things needed for maintaining the keep and its inhabitants.
Ley Tunnel: The existence of ley tunnels (or escape tunnels) is much debated. Although there are examples of tunnels beneath castles, churches and manors, their purpose is usually unclear. The one I made here is unrealistically long and I will probably reroute it. (I wanted it to come out at the water's edge. :tongue.gif:)
Garden
Although I could not find any reference to Rochester having a pleasure garden prior to the 19th Century - I decided to put one in anyway because it would look pretty boring otherwise. Theres only so much grass I can take...
I wanted to put in a labyrinth (just to the left of the tree) but there was not much room left in the inner bailey so I had to make it pretty small. (note: This is a labyrinth, not a maze. A labyrinth only has one route from start to finish. A maze has many different ways for you to get lost and were not popular until later centuries.)
Outer Bailey
The outer bailey was where the lords servants, craftsmen, soldiers and other domestic people lived and worked. It was surrounded by a defensive wall and was sometimes (as is the case here) seperated from the inner bailey - a private and even more protected area where the keep was located and where the lord lived.
This outer bailey contains a chapel, a great hall, smithy, stables, barracks and a small farm.
Chapel (exterior)
Chapel (interior)
Barracks (exterior)
Unlike today's barracks, Norman barracks were not large building where lots of soldiers stayed and trained. Norman Lords did not have permanent armies. Their armies were made up of people drawn together in times of war. The barracks were appartments where knights loyal to the lord stayed. Sometimes the knights were housed in the keep.
Barracks (interior)
Great Hall (exterior)
Great Hall (interior)
Blacksmith
Farm: While a majority of farming was done outside the walls of the bailey, I have included a small farm in the outer bailey to be used in times of siege - and because it looks cute.
And finally some nice scenic shots...
Sunrise
Sunset
I love wintery biomes :smile.gif:
Hope you enjoyed :smile.gif:
Please send my way and ideas you have to make Rochester Castle better or even any ideas for new builds. (It's kinda addictive this creativity thing...)
Also, let me know if the pictures are too big or if there are too many... I'm new to this posting thing.
WOW...your attention to detail is astounding. This is so so so so cool!! Love the great hall and the garden. I'm also very impressed with your research and attempt to stay historically accurate. (Am also not an historian but your discriptions make it sound like you know what you're talking about!)
I definitely like the idea of continuing to add to this historic site with a cathedral...though I know how it gets when you start a huge project and get bored adding to it...if you're looking for a totally different project you could find a more modern building/complex to replicate within viewing distance of the old one...the contrast of modern and historic would be pretty interesting.
Thanks for sharing your creation. It's very inspiring!
wow amazing dude you should add a map download also can you upload your texture pack i like the look of it
When I've completed it I will set up a map download and a texture pack download. The map really only works with this specific texture pack because I have made sandstone into stone, furnaces into drawers, etc. I might set up my normal texture pack (which looks pretty much the same) for public download sometime soon.
I've actually been to Caerphilly Castle castle myself. My main memory is being followed around by a group of Welsh school kids asking me to say "Kangaroo" in an Australian accent. XD
Out of the three places you mention, I think Caerphilly and Dunster are the ones. Coch looks amazing but Minecraft does not do circular structures so well... or rather - I don't. :tongue.gif:
...you could find a more modern building/complex to replicate within viewing distance of the old one...the contrast of modern and historic would be pretty interesting.
I quite like that idea! :smile.gif: Any suggestions?
When I've completed it I will set up a map download and a texture pack download. The map really only works with this specific texture pack because I have made sandstone into stone, furnaces into drawers, etc. I might set up my normal texture pack (which looks pretty much the same) for public download sometime soon.
ok hey want me to upload that map to my server so i can help you on it?
The first one that comes to mind is the Tate Museum...it'd definitely provide for some serious contrast!!
Train stations also tend to have some cool designs...like the one in Amsterdam...or Boston's south station...I can't really think of one that really stands out at the moment though.
Absolutely fantastic. I started building the Tower of London a while ago but gave up. There's a lot of circular structures, and not a whole lot of information that I could find.
But, if you want a challenging project, I'd recommend that :smile.gif:
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alright nwhen your done can i use this on my rpg server with credits to you?
Sure you can.. but again - either everybody on the server would have to be using the custom texture pack or I would have to make a version that works on any texture pack. Won't look as good but I guess I can do that for you. XD
Ok... that's the last post I can do for a while until I have 2 more approved posts... whatever that means. :ohmy.gif: Anyone know how I can get posts approved? Can't find anything about it in the forums.
I'll reply to the rest of the comments as soon as I can. Sorry guys!
Sure you can.. but again - either everybody on the server would have to be using the custom texture pack or I would have to make a version that works on any texture pack. Won't look as good but I guess I can do that for you. XD
Ok
ill make it work i got world edit ill world edit some stuff into other stuff lots of stuff lolz
Absolutely fantastic. I started building the Tower of London a while ago but gave up. There's a lot of circular structures, and not a whole lot of information that I could find.
But, if you want a challenging project, I'd recommend that :smile.gif:
Hmmm.... Tower of London would be a difficult build. Its huge (if you include all the accompanying buildings) and yes... it has quite a few circular towers, etc.
I did some googling and managed to find a bit of info... schematics of floors, layouts, models and the like. I strongly encourage you to restart the build. I would be very interested to see how it goes. :smile.gif:
I think slabs would do better as those thingys on the walls protecting the archers.
I originally had slabs for the thingys (they are called crenellations btw), but they were too small. If you look at Rochester Castle, the crenellations are quite large so full blocks I think are more accurate.
Slabs though were what I tried first. Great minds think alike. :tongue.gif:
English isn't my 1st language so I don't really know all the words that aren't commonly used in conversations. Anyway, I didn't really look for the pictures of the actual castle you were building so I wasn't aware they made 'em that high. I just suggested slabs since they tend to look better on the castles I make (though I made castle out of my imaginations rather than actual castles so far)
Don't worry. I had no idea what they were called until I started this build. :biggrin.gif: I'm sure I'll probably never hear the word again. It's not like I'll be at a party where someone comes up to me and asks... "Sooooo... how are your crenellations going?"
I've been playing survival mode for a while now and decided to have a go at something creative while waiting for the 1.8 adventure release. *queue excessive drooling - rivers! mineshafts! ENDERMEN!* I decided on a castle (oh yay, how original :sleep.gif:) because it seemed like something simple for a first major build, but I wanted it to be realistic so I went for a recreation of an existing castle - albeit one that's in ruins - Rochester Castle.
I am trying to keep it fairly historically accurate but I'm not exactly a historian so a lot of it is guesswork and lots of looking stuff up on wikipedia.
------
DOWNLOAD NOW AVAILABLE
Rochester Castle Map
(Download, unzip and copy created folder into you Minecraft savegame folder.)
NOTE
This map was made to be used with a specific texture pack.
It is a 32x32 texture pack and will require a HD fix.
If you do not use this texture pack the map will look terrible with sandstone, sponges and redstone appearing in very strange places.
Rochester Castle Texture Pack (32x32)
(Download and copy into your Minecraft texture pack folder.)
NOTE
This texture pack will NOT be suitable for playing normal Minecraft as many of the normal textures have been completely changed. (For example, the furnace is now a set of drawers and redstone is some dirt texture.) See the texture pack section below for a link to the texture pack from which this was customised.
Hopefully it will all work - post if there are any issues.
------
Subject: Rochester Castle
A Norman Keep built in the 12th Century. It is the tallest Keep in England and one of the best preserved of its kind.
Mods used: Zombe's modpack
Texture Pack: Heavily edited version AdderCraft (32x32).
Exterior
The Keep (exterior)
The Keep (interior)
Great Hall: The great hall was located on the first floor of a Keep. It was usually the most decorated and luxurious area where the lord dined with his attendants and held social events.
Garden
Although I could not find any reference to Rochester having a pleasure garden prior to the 19th Century - I decided to put one in anyway because it would look pretty boring otherwise. Theres only so much grass I can take...
Outer Bailey
The outer bailey was where the lords servants, craftsmen, soldiers and other domestic people lived and worked. It was surrounded by a defensive wall and was sometimes (as is the case here) seperated from the inner bailey - a private and even more protected area where the keep was located and where the lord lived.
This outer bailey contains a chapel, a great hall, smithy, stables, barracks and a small farm.
Chapel (interior)
Unlike today's barracks, Norman barracks were not large building where lots of soldiers stayed and trained. Norman Lords did not have permanent armies. Their armies were made up of people drawn together in times of war. The barracks were appartments where knights loyal to the lord stayed. Sometimes the knights were housed in the keep.
Blacksmith
And finally some nice scenic shots...
Sunrise
Sunset
Hope you enjoyed :smile.gif:
Please send my way and ideas you have to make Rochester Castle better or even any ideas for new builds. (It's kinda addictive this creativity thing...)
Also, let me know if the pictures are too big or if there are too many... I'm new to this posting thing.
Thx
Le_Adder_Noir
I definitely like the idea of continuing to add to this historic site with a cathedral...though I know how it gets when you start a huge project and get bored adding to it...if you're looking for a totally different project you could find a more modern building/complex to replicate within viewing distance of the old one...the contrast of modern and historic would be pretty interesting.
Thanks for sharing your creation. It's very inspiring!
When I've completed it I will set up a map download and a texture pack download. The map really only works with this specific texture pack because I have made sandstone into stone, furnaces into drawers, etc. I might set up my normal texture pack (which looks pretty much the same) for public download sometime soon.
I've actually been to Caerphilly Castle castle myself. My main memory is being followed around by a group of Welsh school kids asking me to say "Kangaroo" in an Australian accent. XD
Out of the three places you mention, I think Caerphilly and Dunster are the ones. Coch looks amazing but Minecraft does not do circular structures so well... or rather - I don't. :tongue.gif:
I quite like that idea! :smile.gif: Any suggestions?
ok hey want me to upload that map to my server so i can help you on it?
Hey, thanks for the offer but I've almost finished it. :smile.gif:
alright nwhen your done can i use this on my rpg server with credits to you?
Train stations also tend to have some cool designs...like the one in Amsterdam...or Boston's south station...I can't really think of one that really stands out at the moment though.
But, if you want a challenging project, I'd recommend that :smile.gif:
Click on my signature to get taken to my Profile, from where you can see my Posts and other Details!
Sure you can.. but again - either everybody on the server would have to be using the custom texture pack or I would have to make a version that works on any texture pack. Won't look as good but I guess I can do that for you. XD
Ok... that's the last post I can do for a while until I have 2 more approved posts... whatever that means. :ohmy.gif: Anyone know how I can get posts approved? Can't find anything about it in the forums.
I'll reply to the rest of the comments as soon as I can. Sorry guys!
ill make it work i got world edit ill world edit some stuff into other stuff lots of stuff lolz
Hmmm.... Tower of London would be a difficult build. Its huge (if you include all the accompanying buildings) and yes... it has quite a few circular towers, etc.
I did some googling and managed to find a bit of info... schematics of floors, layouts, models and the like. I strongly encourage you to restart the build. I would be very interested to see how it goes. :smile.gif:
I originally had slabs for the thingys (they are called crenellations btw), but they were too small. If you look at Rochester Castle, the crenellations are quite large so full blocks I think are more accurate.
Slabs though were what I tried first. Great minds think alike. :tongue.gif:
Don't worry. I had no idea what they were called until I started this build. :biggrin.gif: I'm sure I'll probably never hear the word again. It's not like I'll be at a party where someone comes up to me and asks... "Sooooo... how are your crenellations going?"
Haha... I wish I could be there. I can could talk about crenullations for two whole days! *drool*
OT: Wont change my opinion, but did you get the materials by hand?