Minecraft

[judge alba]

i'm been trying to find an option to run the game offline with out having to unplug my router but i cant seem to find one.

every time i run the game i get get told java has run out of memory?.

hangon just relised i've got a 32 bit version of java and my machine is a 64bit would that be the problem?

[TheGodBen]

Judge Alba wrote:

---

every time i run the game i get get told java has run out of memory?.

hangon just relised i've got a 32 bit version of java and my machine is a 64bit would that be the problem?

Probably. I had the same problem a few months ago, but back then I used to crash to a black screen every 20 minutes or so because Notch didn't add the warning about memory until 1.6 (I think). I had somehow installed Java 32-bit when I got a new harddrive last year and replacing it with Java 64-bit stopped the problem.


On an unrelated note, yesterday I downloaded the Earth map, where 1 block is equal to 1 nautical mile, to try it out and it was 3.5GB when uncompressed. The biomes are a little screwy due to ice forming, which means that a large swathe of the North Atlantic is now an ice-sheet.


(Image rotated to put north at the top.)

I set out to cross the Atlantic last night and it took me 9 minutes to reach Newfoundland. Then the game started lagging like crazy, so I had to stop.

[Hoser]

Anyone else notice that anything semi-flammable (read: wood) goes up in flames for no reason now in the Nether? I've had a wooden drawbridge on my castle for realtime months, miles away from any lava or fire, and while walking from my portal to my castle came upon it's smoldering remains. Same with all the steps nearby....and no, I play in peaceful generally (I like to build more than fight, though I turn it on and hunt sometimes.)

[Robert Maxwell]

I haven't touched the Nether in a long time since I've been playing on my server. That sounds pretty evil, though.

[Hoser]

I've been using the Nether to explore the surface world, I walk a long distance in the Nether and plunk down a portal to see what's on the other side. Sometimes I find something really neat, I'm actually hoping to eventually discover a portal near my furthest (and largest) base.
Side note: Today I found out that the new created areas in old maps do spawn grass. I warped well north of my explored territory and mapped into an island full of grass.

[TheGodBen]

The only wooden things I have placed in the Nether are doors, but I put down a woollen carpet in my Nether hub and that hasn't caught fire even though wool is more flamable than wood. Actually, now that I think of it, I don't think I visited the Nether since 1.6.4, but I can't see Notch adding that to the 1.6.5 patch. At least, I hope not.

[Hoser]

Hm I hadn't tested wool. The door on my castle didn't burn as well, or the new hatch. Wooden steps or the bridge made of wood blocks and fencing did. Maybe I'll put another wood wall somewhere else and see what happens. After all, my forest is still there, and it's beside enclosed burning netherrack torches.

Another fun thing I just learned today, water destroys minetrack ramps and curves. Accidently had a spill near the top of a ramp to my mine (that was slated to be removed anyway)....I picked up the water quick, but the wave went to the bottom and wiped every track out.

[Owain Taggart]

TheGodBen wrote:

---

On an unrelated note, yesterday I downloaded the Earth map, where 1 block is equal to 1 nautical mile, to try it out and it was 3.5GB when uncompressed. The biomes are a little screwy due to ice forming, which means that a large swathe of the North Atlantic is now an ice-sheet.


(Image rotated to put north at the top.)

I set out to cross the Atlantic last night and it took me 9 minutes to reach Newfoundland. Then the game started lagging like crazy, so I had to stop.

3.5GB?? Wow, that's huge. The problem with the current map system is that it's just too low res for it to be close to useful. I made a map and then was wandering around town with it trying to map it and I couldn't recognize anything on the map unless it was huge like Robert's arena. I like the mechanics of the system though. I think it's brilliant. But unfortunately I don't think the low res is something a zoom feature would fix. It makes me wonder why Notch bothered to make a map feature if it was going to be like that. Now, if we could take the maps and put them up on our walls as unique wall hangings, that'd be cool.

I'm also disappointed that maps don't work in caves, which honestly is probably the place where people would find it useful the most.

[Jadzia]

If maps were rendered in isometric, I think that would be better.

[Robert Maxwell]

Owain Taggart wrote:

---

3.5GB?? Wow, that's huge. The problem with the current map system is that it's just too low res for it to be close to useful. I made a map and then was wandering around town with it trying to map it and I couldn't recognize anything on the map unless it was huge like Robert's arena. I like the mechanics of the system though. I think it's brilliant. But unfortunately I don't think the low res is something a zoom feature would fix. It makes me wonder why Notch bothered to make a map feature if it was going to be like that. Now, if we could take the maps and put them up on our walls as unique wall hangings, that'd be cool.

I'm also disappointed that maps don't work in caves, which honestly is probably the place where people would find it useful the most.

This is why I don't think the map feature is very useful. It's kind of neat but there are so many better ways to map your world. There was once a mod that put a top-down minimap in the corner of your screen. That was actually useful. I don't see myself ever having a use for the in-game maps.

Yet another half-baked Minecraft "feature." Maybe Notch should try working on stuff that's useful or, better yet, fix the damn bugs.

[TheGodBen]

Is everyone happy now?

Owain Taggart wrote:

---

3.5GB?? Wow, that's huge.

Yeah, I think it caused the game to lag when launching just by being in the saves folder.

The problem with the current map system is that it's just too low res for it to be close to useful. I made a map and then was wandering around town with it trying to map it and I couldn't recognize anything on the map unless it was huge like Robert's arena. I like the mechanics of the system though. I think it's brilliant. But unfortunately I don't think the low res is something a zoom feature would fix. It makes me wonder why Notch bothered to make a map feature if it was going to be like that. Now, if we could take the maps and put them up on our walls as unique wall hangings, that'd be cool.

My whole village is just a group of grey and brown blobs. My bridge and walls don't even show up on it.

I'd say that maps have a use in the game, but they'll never be a replacement for a detailed third-party mapping program. They'd be useful early in the game to help get your bearings, and they'd be useful if you built your base far away from spawn and can't rely on the compass to find your way home. Being able to place them on walls would be perfect.

Robert Maxwell wrote:

---

Yet another half-baked Minecraft "feature." Maybe Notch should try working on stuff that's useful or, better yet, fix the damn bugs.

He spent the last month fixing most of the bugs, and he spent the last few days fixing the most recent bugs. He's far from perfect, but hes doing okay.

[Cutter John]

I dunno, the maps work well enough to guide you back home should you take a wrong turn out in the wilderness. But yeah, not much use for finding specific features. I wonder if some clever modder/texture maker might find a way to increase the resolution?

GodBen - I have to give Notch props for taking care of bugs in a fairly prompt manner. I think its just the way he just tends to add features in a random, half-assed sort of way, then just seems to forget about them. Wolves, the Nether, Achievement, that sort of thing. They're good ideas, but they only seem half finished.

[Jadzia]

Cutter John wrote:

---

I have to give Notch props for taking care of bugs in a fairly prompt manner. I think its just the way he just tends to add features in a random, half-assed sort of way, then just seems to forget about them. Wolves, the Nether, Achievement, that sort of thing. They're good ideas, but they only seem half finished.

He may not have a full design in mind. He may implement an idea when he thinks of one. Sees how it adds to the gameplay and how the community feel about it, before determining how to perfect it, or deciding whether it's worth perfecting at all.

[Owain Taggart]

Jadzia wrote:

---

He may not have a full design in mind. He may implement an idea when he thinks of one. Sees how it adds to the gameplay and how the community feel about it, before determining how to perfect it, or deciding whether it's worth perfecting at all.

I can certainly see that, as there are lots of features that seem abandoned or have lots of potential but aren't there yet.

Yeah, actually a mini-map at this resolution I think would be far better, because at least then the resolution it's at would make sense. But a whole map? It feels too much like a wasted potential. I mean, I can understand why he did so in terms of the nature of the game and how everything else is in relation, but some rules are just meant to be broken. It's one of those ideas that likely sound better on paper.

Ben, what's that you're holding? Looks like a shield.



So, 1.6.6 is out now. Among the changes:

• Added a new use for bonemeal
• Changed the material of glowstone from “glass” to “stone”. This means you need a pickaxe to get resources from it
• Made glowstone drop more loot
• Made the recipe sizes for creating cloth blocks and glowstone blocks smaller (2x2 instead of 3x3)
• Re-introduced unlimited FPS, renamed the option again
• Fixed beds not working very well at all in SMP
• Fixed destroying a boat spawning the player too low, causing them to sometimes fall through the ground
• Boats float up to the surface quicker
• Boats falling down into water lose their vertical momentum very fast
• Removed Herobrine

Oh and apparently the new use for bonemeal is to be able to repopulate areas with grass patches.

[TheGodBen]

Cutter John wrote:

---

GodBen - I have to give Notch props for taking care of bugs in a fairly prompt manner. I think its just the way he just tends to add features in a random, half-assed sort of way, then just seems to forget about them. Wolves, the Nether, Achievement, that sort of thing. They're good ideas, but they only seem half finished.

You'll get no argument from me, I think that he should have spent the next few updates after the halloween update working on adding new things to the Nether and the new biomes, but instead he worked on multiplayer and he has barely addressed the Nether since. At least biomes have gotten some love over the last few months, what with the new trees, weather and long grass, but I still think they need unique mobs. Perhaps they're coming in the adventure update.

And maps definitely still need some work. He promised that you could set their zoom level, but he threw that out at the last minute because it was bugged, and he suggested that they would be wall-mountable, which I'm still hoping for.

Owain Taggart wrote:

---

Ben, what's that you're holding? Looks like a shield.

...

Oh and apparently the new use for bonemeal is to be able to repopulate areas with grass patches.

Actually, that was the original suggestion he thought was a good idea, but he didn't do it. Instead, using bonemeal on grass creates an area of long-grass with the possibility random flowers. In the picture, I'm holding bonemeal and showing off my new patch of long grass.

Now I just need to update my mob trap to get more bonemeal, it only half-works now because glass next to water no longer sucks mobs down.