after considerable playing around with a biome-mapping application i have this to show for it - a large’scale biome map of the proposed 1.9 world.
that white box in the middle is 6000 blocks on a side. that’s a lot of ocean. to give some idea of scale, the nether portals on the current server map are around 1000 blocks away from the central nether temple. this being the case, i’m pretty confident that that central cluster of islands should provide plenty of room to work with.
two ice/snow biomes have been found so far, visible here as light teal patches at 1 o’clock and 6 o’clock; they’re around 10,000 blocks away from the spawn point, which is admittedly quite a trek. the southern ice biome looks the most accessible, as it’s directly to the south - easier to navigate to and from, and I’ll probably rig up a similar nether tunnel network as exists on the current map for ease of travel.
on the plus (?) side, every single one of those pinkish islands is a mushroom biome, teeming with mooshrooms. delicious mushroom stew for all!
the server has been reverted to 1.8 for the time being. hopefully everyone got a chance to have a poke at 1.9pre3 and see what it was like.
construction projects on the server have been somewhat in limbo while we await the transfer to a new map for the 1.9 update. to keep things interesting the server is now running 1.9pre3, to give everyone the chance to investigate the exciting new features. you can find the link to the minecraft.jar file here.
there’s a base camp a little way southwest of the spawn point - it has farms, animal pens, a nether portal, mines and an alchemy/enchanting laboratory.
since this is a test map no constructions will be transferred across to the new map. this in mind, feel free to wreak whatever chaos you fancy upon the landscape with no fear of repercussions!
i thought this valley on the new map would be a pretty cool place to put spawnville. it’s fairly close to x:0, z:0, surrounded by mountains, near an npc village, and otherwise quite nicely located.
so i did a dry-run, copying spawnville as it currently stands and pasting it into the new map.
yyyeah, i might have misjudged the scale a bit. spawnville is actually pretty freakin’ huge, taking up almost the entire valley.
so, i’m open to alternative suggestions for 1.9 seeds and/or locations for spawnville. here’s a list of features i’d quite like to see on a new seed:
locally:
- plains for the town itself - just a wide flat area that’s preferably not in a cold biome (you can spot those by the bluish grass). 100x100 blocks should be fine.
- mountains for an impressive backdrop to the town.
- swamp biome within walking distance for the nether temple.
generally:
- oceans to navigate between island landmasses, rather than vast continents and scattered lakes.
- snow biomes for those who want an ice fortress.
- mushroom biomes for access to delicious mooshrooms.
snow and mushroom biomes are not vitally important, and are not guaranteed to be close to the spawn point in any case. from what i’ve seen it’s hit-and-miss as to whether there’ll be a snow biome anywhere within a sensible distance of the spawn point.
you can get the latest 1.9 prerelease file here:
http://assets.minecraft.net/1_9-pre2/minecraft.jar
just replace your existing minecraft.jar file with it, which for windows7 users can be found in the following folder:
C:/Users/YOURUSERNAME/AppData/Roaming/.minecraft/bin/
to revert to current-release minecraft (1.8.1), delete the /bin/ folder and open up the minecraft launcher to get it to re-download the files afresh.
if the more technically-minded of you can work out how to do what this guy has done then please go ahead.
server anthem procured.
Amazing before and after shot of “Spawnville” from within Koboldtopia during 1.8.1! Valiant group effort between myself and 4 other friends during about 2 weeks time. Slow process since we play Survival with no mods allowed, but the sense of accomplishment is fantastic. :)
We’ve halted all progress until official 1.9 is released. Hence the stash of chests near the main gate and wool boundary, as we prepare to move the town to a new seed.
here’s a promising-looking 1.9 map, at 25% scale (so each pixel is 4 blocks). it’s a string of large islands with expansive seas between, there’s a fair range of biomes, and plenty of room to expand. seed is “-157277980” if you want to check it out.
it turns out there are more changes to 1.9 biome/terrain generation than i’d hoped. i’ve loaded up the server map in the 1.9 pre-release to check it out, and can confirm that there are some pretty jarring and unpleasant chunk boundaries between old and new - deserts change abruptly to dirt, sudden cliffs loom in the middle of the sea, and most of the spawn area is now tundra.
on the plus side, using the seed “koboldtopia” in 1.9 pre-release seems to give a pretty nice map with lots of awesome mountains and an npc village not too far from spawn, so it’s entirely possible that we can use that instead. as such, once 1.9 goes live we’ll be changing maps - hopefully for the last time. i’ll do some poking around for potential map seeds, ideally with a good variety of biomes within reach of the spawn point.
in preparation for the transition, please ensure that any constructions you want moved across are marked out with wool blocks, for ease of finding and transferring them to the new map. they don’t need to be entirely surrounded, just blocks on the corners of the area you want saved. surface constructions only, please - rambling tunnel complexes aren’t really feasible to move in a sensible way.
i’ll transfer anything inside the town walls for certain, though not necessarily the deep subterranean features like caves or abandoned mines. basements should be ok. if you have inventory items that you want to keep, please ensure they’re stashed in a labelled chest somewhere in town - stuff in your actual inventory won’t get moved across. likewise the nether temple will also get transferred, though the exit points will probably change to accommodate the new geography.
apologies for the inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.
drat and blast.
turns out the boundaries between 1.8 and 1.9 chunks are not as smooth as i’d like.
i give you… the world!
