Anyone playing Minecraft anymore?

[wonderlust]

They posted this today. Sounds like fun!

Each of the operators (nacho_duck, Qbist, Blkdragon71 and Bigtoad) has placed a number of chests about the map. These chests each contain a variety of prizes. The chest placement generally follows these guidelines:

Chests must be in plain sight on the surface.
Chests will have signs with them declaring that they are part of the Treasure Hunt.
Either the x or z coordinate, as shown by F3, will be at least 1000, so the chests will not be close to spawn.
Chests can be in a ravine, or under an overhang, or high up on a cliff, but they will be within a few blocks of sunlight if not in direct sunlight.
No chest will be underwater or underground. No digging will be necessary.
Chests will be in unoccupied areas.
The chests will be locked. You will need to tell an op you found the chest to get the contents.
If no operators are online, use /mail to send a message to one of the operators, and leave a sign of your own by the chest with your name on it. Use /cprivate to lock your sign so other players can't remove it. (HawkEye will tell us who was first if another player tries to place a sign.)
No player may claim more than one chest in a 24 hour time period.

[Snarky_Kong]

I just started again because of this thread. After setting up a pretty solid base, and getting ready to go out and find a stronghold I find out that my whole world is 256x256 and surrounded by deep ocean forever in each direction. The internet tells me that happened after a patch a while ago and you needed to start a new world to get around it. I'm probably done with this game for a long while.

[Phatlewt]

Sorry to hear that. I've never heard of that bug. Fortunately, world corruption is quite rare.

[Agent Foxtrot]

Wonderlust, I just wanted to say thank you for introducing me to VanillaCraft. When I came in, someone immediately came to me and tossed me iron armor. Then someone else came and tossed me a complete set of iron tools, melon, wheat, bread, and pumpkins. As I found my building area in the northern snowy forest biome, another new guy (GreenNeo1) joined in and since we were on TeamSpeak, started helping me on my project, a treehouse city. Maybe you'll come check it out when we're done? Thanks again.

[wonderlust]

Originally Posted by Agent Foxtrot

Wonderlust, I just wanted to say thank you for introducing me to VanillaCraft. When I came in, someone immediately came to me and tossed me iron armor. Then someone else came and tossed me a complete set of iron tools, melon, wheat, bread, and pumpkins. As I found my building area in the northern snowy forest biome, another new guy (GreenNeo1) joined in and since we were on TeamSpeak, started helping me on my project, a treehouse city. Maybe you'll come check it out when we're done? Thanks again.

This makes me so happy!! Sometimes 5 people join at once and the OPs are spread thin, but I'm really glad you got set up right away. I donate when I can, and they give great rewards. It was fun to return after a long absence - all the boys were eager to show me their homes and projects and they were jaw-droppingly clever! I'd love to see your project too. I'm actually reading a book partially set in a treehouse city.

I stumbled onto a fabulous location in my new solo world: I'm positioning my house right on the intersection of 3 biomes plus a river. When it storms I see rain out the front window and snowfall out the back window! When I step out my front door, the view is grassy and mountainous, with strange curved and floating landforms. Immediately behind me is Taiga biome, plenty of snowy dark wood trees, and to one side is a large desert. A river runs just behind my house, out to the ocean, and a massive cavern is below me, already open to the surface. It's resource heaven, and the biome diversity tickles my funnybone.

If I get lonely, I go to my other world where I'm squatting with the Testificates. I've thoroughly baby-proofed their village split by a dangerous ravine and am looking forward to the next patch when they have children!

I get most frustrated by not having a knack for home floorplans, such as how to divide up the large space, where to put stairs and halls, and how to furnish the spaces. I spent some time looking online last night, but most of the projects were too grandiose for what I need, or else mock-ups of real-life houses, not what I'm interested in.

[wonderlust]

LadyoftheLake, I came across this video of a guy turning a ravine into his home, and I thought of you and our ravine-taming.

[Agent Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by Lady of the Lake

I would love to see pictures of this!

Lady, I haven't been ignoring you. I have been in a building frenzy in SMP (survival multiplayer) and just need to go in to singleplayer and take pictures.

[buckgully]

I've been sucked back in, mostly thanks to this thread and my strange OCD completionist streak - I'm trying to get all the achievements. I started a new world, since there had been so much stuff added since I last played I was worried I might not get everything to spawn.

I totally lucked out and randomly ran across a mine/fortress complex under a town I'd turned into a remote base. I also eventually found a nether fortress. It took forever, and involved plunging into lava more times than I can count, but I finally found one.

Actually, at this point the hardest achievement is the 'ride a pig off a cliff' one. I seem to suck at getting pigs to go the way I want them to.

I also need to kill enough endermen to get 10 more ender pearls. That's not going to be easy.

[wonderlust]

What's everyone doing since the update? I started a new world to see what it's like, and spawned next to a village and right near a jungle. I did a lot of hacking to move through it before realizing that I could climb vines that were attached to a block. I didn't explore enough to spot a cat yet, though.

I found a dungeon with skeleton spawner right near the village where I'm squatting, so I spent last night watching YouTube videos to learn how to make a mob grinder to gather bones and arrows (and xp).

[Agent Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

What's everyone doing since the update? I started a new world to see what it's like, and spawned next to a village and right near a jungle. I did a lot of hacking to move through it before realizing that I could climb vines that were attached to a block. I didn't explore enough to spot a cat yet, though.

I found a dungeon with skeleton spawner right near the village where I'm squatting, so I spent last night watching YouTube videos to learn how to make a mob grinder to gather bones and arrows (and xp).

I was playing VanillaCraft every night until the update put everyone on a temporary map with no items. I wonder if it's back to normal yet.

[Yorikke]

I started a new world to try to find and tame a couple of ocelots. Haven't found them, but I spawned at the intersection of Jungle, Swamp, and Desert. Pretty nice spot, actually.

Joe

[buckgully]

I spotted an ocelot and pulled out a fish to try to tame it, and just when it started coming close, BOOM! a creeper blows me up. Haven't seen another one since. Skeletons and zombies are pretty useless in jungles, but the creepers dropping from treetops more than make up for it.

[Lady of the Lake]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

I get most frustrated by not having a knack for home floorplans, such as how to divide up the large space, where to put stairs and halls, and how to furnish the spaces. I spent some time looking online last night, but most of the projects were too grandiose for what I need, or else mock-ups of real-life houses, not what I'm interested in.

I have this frustration regarding building homes as well! And always with the redoing as you need to move the whole thing just one block over. The stuff I'm trying to emulate are like these, but even the smallest of these are so much work for me.

(I had found a seed that spawns you near a mushroom biome, so I am tempted to just live there...all the mooshrooms you can milk, and you don't need a house because bad guys can't spawn there!)

Originally Posted by wonderlust

LadyoftheLake, I came across this video of a guy turning a ravine into his home, and I thought of you and our ravine-taming.

I liked it! He's definitely working away on that ravine, with big plans! On my ravine, I'd heard some mobs way up near the ceiling of the ravine, and made a wall stairs up to them which then crossed over into two other huge ravines. Too much for me so I went back to CIV V for a few days. I'll come back to it!

Originally Posted by Agent Foxtrot

Lady, I haven't been ignoring you. I have been in a building frenzy in SMP (survival multiplayer) and just need to go in to singleplayer and take pictures.

No worries, and thanks for thinking of me! I'd like to see any building plans just to see what other people are doing, (and so that I can blatantly copy it).

Originally Posted by wheresgeorge04

I started a new world to try to find and tame a couple of ocelots. Haven't found them, but I spawned at the intersection of Jungle, Swamp, and Desert. Pretty nice spot, actually.

Joe

I lucked out and found jungle biome on my main world close to my main base, I headed to the portion of the map I hadn't hit yet and a jungle spawned. I then got two ocelots! They are rather cute.

Originally Posted by buckgully

I spotted an ocelot and pulled out a fish to try to tame it, and just when it started coming close, BOOM! a creeper blows me up. Haven't seen another one since. Skeletons and zombies are pretty useless in jungles, but the creepers dropping from treetops more than make up for it.

I ran into two creepers when I was stalking ocelots in my jungle as well! On the plus side once I'd gotten my ocelots home, they noticeably drove a creeper away from my dock. I plan on having tons of the furry buggers.

[Lightnin']

Originally Posted by Lady of the Lake

(I had found a seed that spawns you near a mushroom biome, so I am tempted to just live there...all the mooshrooms you can milk, and you don't need a house because bad guys can't spawn there!)

By the way- you know those big, red-and-white spotted mushrooms? You can't attach ladders to their stalks... but you can replace the stalks with white wool, and build a floor inside it... and you've got a mushroom house. It's tiny, but kinda neat- there's just enough room for a bed and a workbench.

[Lady of the Lake]

Originally Posted by Lightnin'

By the way- you know those big, red-and-white spotted mushrooms? You can't attach ladders to their stalks... but you can replace the stalks with white wool, and build a floor inside it... and you've got a mushroom house. It's tiny, but kinda neat- there's just enough room for a bed and a workbench.

I didn't know this, that is neat!

[wonderlust]

Originally Posted by Lightnin'

By the way- you know those big, red-and-white spotted mushrooms? You can't attach ladders to their stalks... but you can replace the stalks with white wool, and build a floor inside it... and you've got a mushroom house. It's tiny, but kinda neat- there's just enough room for a bed and a workbench.

In Beta, around 1.8-ish I made a house inside a red mushroom, with ladders on the stalks and windows looking out. I wonder if this is a recent change not to allow them. I like your idea about using wool. Or maybe I used wool, and I just forgot. Sounds likely.

Lady, I'm glad you posted the link to modern homes. With wool as abundant as grass now, white blocks seem appropriate for the modern style. I need to look around some more on that site. I just wish the default glass block were more transparent. Hmm, I bet that would be easy to modify myself! ("I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it."- William Faulkner.)

[buckgully]

Last night I enchanted a diamond sword and it wound up with knockback, fire aspect, and sharpness. Only took two or three hits to kill an Enderman, and they were on fire after the first hit, so it was easier to keep track of them in the dark. After that, getting to "The End" was pretty easy.

Also, when pigs die from fire damage they drop already cooked porkchops.

In regards to the end:

SPOILER:

I spawned on an obsidian platform a very long distance from the only land, and the dragon knocked me off to die in nothingness moments later. I lost my awesome sword and a bunch of other good loot. I died several times while building a bridge to the land so I could do battle. Don't go into the end for the first time with anything you wouldn't mind losing. Also, bring lots of cobblestone.

[wonderlust]

Originally Posted by buckgully

Last night I enchanted a diamond sword and it wound up with knockback, fire aspect, and sharpness. Only took two or three hits to kill an Enderman, and they were on fire after the first hit, so it was easier to keep track of them in the dark. After that, getting to "The End" was pretty easy.

Also, when pigs die from fire damage they drop already cooked porkchops.

In regards to the end:

SPOILER:

I spawned on an obsidian platform a very long distance from the only land, and the dragon knocked me off to die in nothingness moments later. I lost my awesome sword and a bunch of other good loot. I died several times while building a bridge to the land so I could do battle. Don't go into the end for the first time with anything you wouldn't mind losing. Also, bring lots of cobblestone.

What's fun is that your game sounds nothing at all like my game! So many ways to play.

[Yorikke]

Originally Posted by buckgully

Also, when pigs die from fire damage they drop already cooked porkchops.

I may have dreamed this, but I seem to recall knocking an animal into lava, and it dropping cooked meat. Pretty cool.

Joe

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by wheresgeorge04

I may have dreamed this, but I seem to recall knocking an animal into lava, and it dropping cooked meat. Pretty cool.

Joe

Yes, this also works with cows & chickens. One time I was having WAY to much fun running around with flint & steel setting the ground under animals on fire.

Please don't tell PETA.

[Lady of the Lake]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

Lady, I'm glad you posted the link to modern homes. With wool as abundant as grass now, white blocks seem appropriate for the modern style. I need to look around some more on that site. I just wish the default glass block were more transparent. Hmm, I bet that would be easy to modify myself! ("I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it."- William Faulkner.)

Yeah, I do like the look of all white homes as well! I wish you well with modification!

Originally Posted by Foggy

Yes, this also works with cows & chickens. One time I was having WAY to much fun running around with flint & steel setting the ground under animals on fire.

Please don't tell PETA.

This reminds me of how I inadvertently killed my wolf! He was helping me fight near my home. I have blocks of burning netherrak spaced around, and then it was: ''Why did you run into that? Where is my water bucket? Oh no!'

[wonderlust]

I've been having trouble with various mobs. First, my Testificates could do nothing but cram every last one of themselves into the same phone booth-sized house, all day long. Sounds of opening and closing the door went on all day. I figured out that those cacti I had removed, the ones they kept suiciding on, were serving a population control purpose, so a few strategically-planted cacti did the trick. They're back to their jobs of Observing again, and I'm hoping they'll make babies soon. I just hope my pet wolves don't die from cactus stings.

Then I realized that in my world travels, I'd never come across a single cow. In fact, I hadn't realized that the re-spawn rate of animals had drastically changed from when I played in beta. I had been merrily killing the over-abundant pigs in hopes of cows spawning in their place. D'oh! So today I ranged far and wide to find a swamp, and lo! A cow! Just one, so I had to leave it there. Then I led a few pigs to the area I'd cleansed the day before, and bred them to each other in hopes of creating a more stable wild population of meat.

I don't like the idea of creating pens of critters and then slaughtering them. I'd rather hunt the wild populations as I need the meat, but I can't figure out what "best practices" contribute to wildlife conservation in this game. Kill one/breed one could be ridiculously time-consuming. I'm not even sure that bred animals remain in the wild -- do they de-spawn when you leave the chunk?

[Agent Foxtrot]

Wonderlust, I haven't seen you on VanillaCraft yet. Are you doing singleplayer right now?

[wonderlust]

Originally Posted by Agent Foxtrot

Wonderlust, I haven't seen you on VanillaCraft yet. Are you doing singleplayer right now?

Yes. Is the server updated now? I'll try to poke my head in today. I'd like to see your project.

[Agent Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

Yes. Is the server updated now? I'll try to poke my head in today. I'd like to see your project.

The server is 90% updated. They're still having trouble with the Creeper repair plugin, so they've disabled Creepers for now.

My project is about 60% complete. Can you wait to see it just a little bit longer? I'll give you a personal guided tour before the Grand Opening!

[Tristan]

I have to put some thought into this. See, I have played off and on since Alpha.

But, like a bad person, I have played illicit copies. But now, my daughter has a legit copy and I would like to see her playing with her brotehrs in MP.

So I have to debate paying for it. I had always intended to do so, but stuff came up and then I lost interest, while my children never did.

How much does the game go for these days?

[wonderlust]

I think it's $26.95. Compared to all the games now with in-game content purchases that nickle and dime you into the poorhouse, it's a great savings to buy a game once and own it forever, with nothing more to buy. As you can tell in this thread, there are so many ways to play it: in Creative mode, as an rpg, as a virtual world, solo or multi-player. And then there are mods that can completely change the content.

AgentFoxtrot, I'm happy to wait for the unveiling!

[Phatlewt]

Is it appropriate to post a "oooh, look at my creation and tell me I'm great!" in this thread, or should I actually have something to say?

[Yorikke]

Originally Posted by Phatlewt

Is it appropriate to post a "oooh, look at my creation and tell me I'm great!" in this thread, or should I actually have something to say?

Go for it.

Joe

[Keweenaw]

Found this server the other day. Some people building Westeros from the Game of Thrones.

http://fireandicemc.com/

108.60.192.57:25592

Pretty cool place to look around.

[wonderlust]

I can imagine The Wall taking a lifetime to build, even in Minecraft!

[mlees]

Hi. Just paid my 26 bucks for this game.

I can't harvest trees for the wood, nor any terrain blocks. My punches seem to do no damage. I can, however, kill the critters with my punches. Please advise.

How do you split a stack in your inventory?

Thanks.

[Snarky_Kong]

Originally Posted by mlees

Hi. Just paid my 26 bucks for this game.

I can't harvest trees for the wood, nor any terrain blocks. My punches seem to do no damage. I can, however, kill the critters with my punches. Please advise.

How do you split a stack in your inventory?

Thanks.

1) hold down the button.
2) right-click

[mlees]

Originally Posted by Snarky_Kong

1) hold down the button.
2) right-click

Thanks!

[wonderlust]

This series of short videos by Yogscast is the very best introduction to how to play. It's a little outdated now, but essentially still great. These guys unintentionally launched Minecraft into the stratosphere.

[Yorikke]

I spent a few Minecraft-days clearcutting a bunch of Jungle, looking for Ocelots. On the latest trip, bam! tamed three, though one disappeared! Happened across a herd of about 5 of 'em, all spawned on recently cleared Jungle.

Joe

[Least Original User Name Ever]

I haven't touched this game in forever. I should probably hop on to see what's new.

[Agent Foxtrot]

Wonderlust, my project is done. Are you going to be around tonight?

[Yorikke]

Butch and Trudy, and new kitten Lisa:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...-11_093655.png

Joe

[wonderlust]

Originally Posted by Agent Foxtrot

Wonderlust, my project is done. Are you going to be around tonight?

I'll try to pop in. Congratulations!

Originally Posted by wheresgeorge04

Butch and Trudy, and new kitten Lisa:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...-11_093655.png

Joe

Zomg I want! I explored a jungle area but never saw an ocelot, darn it. I was mostly tree-walking.

Why did you clear-cut your jungle? That seems awful!

[Yorikke]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

I'll try to pop in. Congratulations!


Zomg I want! I explored a jungle area but never saw an ocelot, darn it. I was mostly tree-walking.

Why did you clear-cut your jungle? That seems awful!

Just as an illustration, I copied the seed into creative mode, and flew into the air for this pic:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...-11_115854.png

I only cut the front area of the jungle - the four-5 large trees closest to the crosshair at the center of the picture. The rest of the jungle extends far into the distance.

EDIT : I went into my actual game, and made a tall column, and took a pic of what the area looks like now, from about the same vantage point:

http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/n...-11_120708.png

Incidentally, I have found that while I love looking at jungle, I hate hacking through the leaves to get anywhere...

Joe

[Agent Foxtrot]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

I'll try to pop in. Congratulations!

Thanks. There's a very high likelihood that I'll be on at 9pm EST tonight.

[mlees]

Does anyone have any recommendations for a website that has building plans/schematics/parts list for nice looking above ground lairs?

My googling only brings up player screenshots.

Minecraft has reawakened my fear of the dark. (Full of Grues, doncha' know.)

[Lute Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by mlees

Does anyone have any recommendations for a website that has building plans/schematics/parts list for nice looking above ground lairs?

My googling only brings up player screenshots.

Try Minecraft "floor plan".

[mlees]

Originally Posted by Lute Skywatcher

Try Minecraft "floor plan".

Thanks, I'll poke around some more.

I'm finding this game really addictive. I dug down (making a spiral staircase, even installing "stair" blocks) until I hit Obsidian, but I can't mine through that. I notice the little smoke puffs warning me that there's lava near by. Heh.

I'm building my first sprawling hilltop castle, but I want a good manor house for it. (I can't believe how much resources this is eating up!)

Damn creepers blowing holes in my construction doesn't help matters either.

I seem to have been placed at the edge of an area were frost builds up on the ground, and lakes freeze. (It seems to be right next to a jungle biome, too.) Will crops grow in this area, or do I need to plant them in a warner area?

[wonderlust]

Originally Posted by mlees

Does anyone have any recommendations for a website that has building plans/schematics/parts list for nice looking above ground lairs?

My googling only brings up player screenshots.

Minecraft has reawakened my fear of the dark. (Full of Grues, doncha' know.)

Planet Minecraft is full of schematics and screenshots. I think you need to use a mod to read the schematics. You can also download maps (worlds) containing the builds.

[mlees]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

Planet Minecraft is full of schematics and screenshots. I think you need to use a mod to read the schematics. You can also download maps (worlds) containing the builds.

Ok, thanks!

Edit: I can plant wheat and make bread. Can I make an animal farm? (Say, a pig farm?)

[Yorikke]

Originally Posted by mlees

Ok, thanks!

Edit: I can plant wheat and make bread. Can I make an animal farm? (Say, a pig farm?)

Yes. Make fenced pens. If you have a piece of wheat in your hand, animals will follow you anywhere. Lure two to a pen. right click on each animal (in multiples of two animals), with wheat still in your hand. they will start to nuzzle each other, and a baby will appear. After a while, the baby will grow to adulthood, and can reproduce. Adults can reproduce every 5-10 minutes.

A great recource

Breeding colored sheep is fun.

Joe

[mlees]

Originally Posted by wheresgeorge04

Yes. Make fenced pens. If you have a piece of wheat in your hand, animals will follow you anywhere. Lure two to a pen. right click on each animal (in multiples of two animals), with wheat still in your hand. they will start to nuzzle each other, and a baby will appear. After a while, the baby will grow to adulthood, and can reproduce. Adults can reproduce every 5-10 minutes.

A great recource

Breeding colored sheep is fun.

Joe

Wow! Thanks!

[Phatlewt]

Originally Posted by wonderlust

Planet Minecraft is full of schematics and screenshots. I think you need to use a mod to read the schematics. You can also download maps (worlds) containing the builds.

You can use (and make) schematic files without modifying Minecraft. There's third-party programs for this such as MCEdit.

With MCEdit, one can download a building like <shameless-self-promotion>this skyscraper</shameless-self-promotion>, and drop it into your own city.