Beta 1.2 & Other Things

I've been playing alot of Minecraft lately but not meaning too. I keep going on just to do one little things and spend ages on there.


Take last Thursday, I got home from work very tired and thought, "I'll play Minecraft for half an hour and then go to my Message Board..". Turns out that was the 1.2 update so when I found out about the dyes, the different tree types, water mobs (Squids), I ended up never getting to my forum. I also ended up playing until about 3 in the morning! I love the idea of be able to get dyes and make coloured wool. Do far I have green, yellow, black and light and dark grey wool with 40 green dye (I have a lot of cacti out front!), and 20 - red, yellow and orange dye. I also like the idea of sandstone. And cake. I desperately wanted to make cake! And it's good there's a use for milk at last.


Speaking of sandstone, because the texture pack I use changed the sand texture, my bathroom didn't look as good - wall wise. I just finished yesterday, over some days redoing the walls using sandstone, looks quite different now, but nice.

To make a cake however I needed wheat, and if you remember I destroyed my farmhouse as it became obsolete because of all the mushrooms for mushroom stew I have. So I rebuilt the farmhouse outside where the chicken farm was - which wasn't really working out. With a mixture of glass and stand stone it looks okay but more importantly the crops grow fast. I have found squid on another world but I haven't killed any yet, which I want to do.


I've sealed up the entrance to the very first permanent mines, as I have so many mines now it's not needed. I did start straightening the walls and was going to use the area, but it twists and turns on itself so bad I couldn't see any use for it - so stopped. In the last room that leads to the mine, with the dirt floor, I sealed over where the door was and now use that area as a new places for storage for building materials. (Moved from by my emergency exit.) I moved it because i have done so much mining over the months I have a ridiculous amount of cobblestone! There wasn't enough space by the emergency exit to keep storing new chests. I have almost two double chests full of stacks of cobble it's stupendous!


I have also improved my bridge into the new version2. This came about because I was gonna run a rail-track or mine track from some where to the bridge, up and over it. But, I have made it wider and, originally I was going to go with my idea of having a material come down, diagonally from the cobble pillars on the bridge to the next pillar along, but the pillars would have had to had been three times the height! Anyways it's better just to show than explain.

The old version:

New version:

It looks better - I think, and forms triangular shapes along the side. Which meant when it came to the ends, I had half a triangular shape. So because of the OCD in me when playing Minecraft, I had to make it match and be a full triangle resulting in the much grander entrance up to the bridge. Here are some other pictures of it to show what I mean, plus some alternate day setting pictures:

Also, about a week ago, I came out of a portal - and out of the nether, into a really strange place. This other one came out underground in a very enclosed space! At the time I just went back through but after messing about with "copies" of my world in which I burnt everything down on both worlds, I explored where that portal underground led to.. It led to a lot of underground lava pools and lots of gold and diamond! So after that, I went there legitimately armed with tools, food, ore, torches, benches furnaces, basically everything I need for exploring. This is how I got my armour, I found enough diamond for everything except a helmet. (Just 2 diamond short dammit!) Diamond leg armour, diamond chest-plate, diamond boots.. It's been a while since I had full diamond armour! (Or near full.) Since then though I've had a few accidents whilst passing through the nether and at night, so most of the diamond armour is now knackered, Guess I need to find more again.

The water elevator is also now complete after seeing a video tutorial on you tube and finding a LOT better way to do it than what I was doing. One drawback is, it is visible down my main corridor (Which I'm currently re-decorating with sandstone), but I have made a feature of it. It goes from behind the observation deck with an entrance point down my corridor, all the way down to some very deep caves at many extreme levels below my base. The only problem at the moment is that need some stop off points or I run out of oxygen. I've also improves some trees by chopping them down and using bonemeal on the saplings for insta-trees! Only the stumpy or hideously shaped ones though. On a smaller note, I also changed the floor in my rear viewing room (The one with the waterfall window) and instead of a wool/stone chequered floor, I now have a wool/black wool floor - essentially a white/black chessboard like floor. Looks much better. Still want to do a complete floor with black wool, that would look ace. Just need to find lots of black wool, lots of black sheep. Might take a while. Still need a shit load of more sand to finish of my corridor re-deco and somewhere, make a glass dome...

I think that's about it, It's a long post because I keep doing these things and forgetting to post it up. Plenty of things to be going on with though..

Two New Rooms, Travelling & Improvements

So I made two new rooms, went travelling and have made a few Improvements, but keep forgetting to post. I've made a bathroom extension on the bedroom. When I first took the cobble wall down by the bed, I wasn't sure how much mountain I had left to build with, as a result I've had to cover the interior sand walls on the outside with dirt to hide them - so the walls are double thick and doesn't look two conspicuous on the outside.

Plenty of light and a bath, a working shower - which takes roughly the amount of oxygen once you're in to have a shower. So Shower length = until it hurts! Since this picture though the sand in this texture pack has changed so it doesn't look as good.

I also went travelling as, I know what's a cross my bridge - my church and a big ass island, I know what's towards the back of my mountain base because I come across that was all the time from my spawn point. However, Out the front of my home, over the mountain I have no idea what's beyond my diamond strip mine - so I went to find out. Came across a big sand/stone area with plenty of cactuses, crossed the water a few times, found both types of mushrooms, some nice land - lots of trees and forests. Unfortunately on the way back it was night time and I lost the lot. I couldn't find the stuff when I went back. I did go back however and grab more cactuses, so I know have cacti all over the sand area by my board walk at the front of my home/base.

On my usual way down to the mines where I get lava, there's a pat I pass many times on the way down - it's not flat, but I looked at it and realised it might make a good area for a room as it's quite lofty. I cobbled the floor as a temporary basis and straightened the walls - the latter I regretted given the idea I got much later. For a while I wasn't sure what to make the new room but then had the idea to make it the new location for the portal (Instead of on top of my mountain) and have it as a fake nether room containing the portal room. Netherrack walls and floor, lava, like a small nether. It's small but contained. This room nearly never happened however as I went to the nether and "Just popped in|" to get some Netherrack when I realised I forgot to take flint and three of my portals were out! I was trapped and had to kill myself in the nether. (Not hard with Ghasts!) The idea was to pick up the flint and get my stuff back, but with the portals out - I couldn't use them as transporters to get back quick enough I guess because all my stuff was gone. Including all my diamond tools.

It was then I got down and abandoned the idea, deciding never to go to the nether again. I decided to destroy the portal on top of my mountain, but without a diamond pick it made it tough. I blocked it off, encased it in water, blocked that off when it didn't work - turned it into a stone man statue of epic size, because a floating block of stone looked silly. Encased that with lava with because the way lava falls it didn't do what I wanted, so I used water to stop that, mined it off, and then decided to just blow it up. Despite all the sulphur and sand it only made 9 TNT, that cleared the area and did a little damage to the top of the mountain but the portal was still in tact, but at least deactivated.

One night when I was out, I went to my diamond strip mine and decided to make some new tunnels. I never expected to find diamond again, but I found five! Enough for a pick and a sword! (The later for the first time in ages.) Me being me however that wasn't enough and I went looking for more. Strip mines turned into caves caves went to caves upon caves, lots of lava pools and I did manage to find more diamonds. Enough for the complete set - Diamond pick, axe, shovel and sword, so at last I have the whole set again. I have since got the Netherrack and the room I just over 3/4 done with a new portal as I had some left over obsidian. Also by the store I've created an emergency exit, which sneaks underground to the outside of my base (below the surface) all the way round to the cobble stones that lead to over the mountain to the diamond mine, and out the other side, passing through the outside water trap too. After the boat being really slow I made it double width, as it has water, but now the boat keep breaking up, not sure what's wrong. Maybe it needs to bee deeper as well? Will leave that for the moment.

Nerher Room: (Work in progress)

I also made a few improvements to the main front room and the main corridor. The  main corridorI decided just looked too drab with stone walls and floor, so I used wood to give it a new floor and brighten things up. Made it one deeper to so it had nice depth but had to lower a few corridor doors (to to the areas/or add steps. Looks much better though. The front room came about as I removed the hanging Lightstone as it looked silly. After initially making a one-block shaft up from my front room stone ceiling to the top of the mountain for extra light, it was then I got the idea to raise my ceiling by two blocks. The ceiling is much higher now and the room looks much bigger. I also took the wall with the landscape painting, chest and work-bench back by a block so it's easier to come round the corner when coming from the front doors.

Much higher ceiling, compared to previous posts.

Art Gallery Exhibition: Now Open

Well, I finished off the floors, I think it took at least half-a-dozen stacks of wood and then even more for the frames for the paintings. Even before the paintings went up, the area looks completely transformed to how it did. No more mismatched material walls of Stone, dirt and gravel, it looks amazing when compared to how it used to look a - messy  (But lofty) cavern. I'm kicking myself that I never took before shots though, before I did the walls. Organising and putting up the paintings was fun, every time I go into the Art Gallery now I have to stop at the top of the stairs and just look around to take in how different it is now compared to how it used to be. This was one of the more fun areas to do.

And yes, I am hardly carrying anything on when I took these because I had to re-think my storage area, but more on that in a few posts time.

Art Gallery & Better Light

Ten minutes after I got off Minecraft yesterday taking those pictures, I had a brand new spanking idea for something else to add - an Art Gallery! And I had the perfect place to put it as well - besides the library.

In the library, there's another exit, of which just led to an underground area that had no lava and wasn't very extensive - it just turn back on itself. It used to be full of mobs, (Which made a lot of noise in an area - next to a library, that is supposed to be quiet!) They were taken care of long ago though and the place lit up enough so they wouldn't return, but after that the place, which drops down from the library door, remained unused and empty. Nevertheless, a great - place - next to a library for an art gallery. The only downside was, the walls were a mix of stone dirt and unsightly gravel, all of which needed to look nice being an art gallery. Over the past 2 night a few hours at each time, I have slowly transformed the are, replacing all the walls with cobblestone, keeping the high stone ceilings - although replacing some dirt with stone and evening areas off. Already - even without any paintings yet, it's a MAJOR transformation of the area. I have decided to have a wooden floor like the Library, but I'm going to need a rain forest to cover the floor space!

I personally don't believe in using InDev for single player, but If I did, I would have used brick for the walls to look really nice. Like all my work though, this has to be legit.

I have also decided to use MrMods "Better Lighting & Grass" mod, although just the lighting, so the shadowing on further pictures should be noticeable.

Latest Pictures

ADDITIONS:

• Church (Across the bridge on the opposite Island)
• Full bridge supports to ocean floor bed.
• Sheep Farm
• Incinerator (Inside house)
• Lava Traps (On the other side of the low-security fencing.)
• Floor lighting all along the entire edge of the board-walk
• Double Mob-trap on far mountain outside (Lava trap & water trap)

Ch-Ch-Ch- Changes...

So I haven't posted in a while because I've run out of ideas for my world#2. The only times I've really been playing it is when I've had an idea, but there have been a few small changes. They're just improvements really, that will reflect in the following pictures. First off - the gravel paths. I love this HD texture pack but the gravel has never quite looked right for me, but I used it for paths because silly me likes the sound of gravel under foot when walking on paths. With the new release of the texture pack - it looks better, but I'm not sure I'm ready for using it for paths again yet. Weeks ago, I therefore changed all gravel paths to stone paths.


The second big thing is - low level security fencing. I got this idea because I was round the back of the mountain and I thought, "I always come towards this place when I re-spawn, a nice 1 block cobble wall would be nice.." Which led to the idea of using low-level fencing to secure a new perimeter around the outside of my mountain base/home. So it goes all around from the back of the mountain by the wooden bridge, all around the side of the mountain a good 4 - 5 bocks away from the path, all the way round to the front. Of course I'll always get creepers, skeletons and zombies on the actual mountain but it's proved very good as a perimeter of keeping them out as they naturally can't jump over. There are a couple of gaps to get in and therefore weak spots for them, but on the whole it works.


Lastly - no more farm house, *sniff* The whole farming is nice and making bread, but I have plenty of mushrooms from the nether to make soup and restore 5 hearts as opposed to bread's 2.5(?) hearts. SO it kind of makes farming, growing bread, and that outside farm house - redundant. It was a sad day taking that apart, and for ages I didn't have the heart to take the glass roof down, so it stayed there floating in mid air for a while. Thought it would of made a great floor, but couldn't think of a useful room, and that was also a sore point of the farm house, I tried and tried to think of an alternative use for the room, but just couldn't. Briefly I tried to use the glass roof as a platform and build a creeper monument out of glass on top of it with the roof acting now as a floor or base platform, but that didn't work out either.


Other smaller things: no more door to outside mines, an extra door and rejuvenated stairs has been added, the extra stairs now being in the front room. Lightstone has finished being added to the fountain, though it still isn't lit enough for me - might have an idea for that though. In the rear viewing room at the back of the mountain, that's the high up one with the outside veranda, the skylights are now double width for extra light. Extra torches outside, proper stairs down to mines set #2 (mentioned above) and the struts for the cobble bridge across the ocean, now go down into the water instead of being just attached to the sides and going up.


I have however, run out of ideas. I don't really want to start yet another world, especially as I love this place, but ideas are very low now. Help?


Here are the pictures:


The new security fencing and stone paths

Another little look-out point now thanks to some low-level fencing.

No More Farm House

Back Bedroom Door
The lesser seen back bedroom door, perhaps a few trees and flowers might be in order to freshen it up.

Rear View of back Viewing Room + Veranda

Example of Stone Path

Back Doors to Rear Of Mountain

I don't think I ever posted a picture of the remodeled back area doors, now double doors and symmetrical dirt steps aiding the aesthetic of the wooden stairs. To the left of the stream, the coal in the wall has long been gone and everything squared off and matching - material wise. After an accidental flood, the waterfall was re-done as well, and I have finally just fixed the bottom of the waterfall where the water fills - which was uneven and chunky due to a creeper explosion. I see by the cross hair I need to replace some cobble with dirt though!


Fountain

Dynamic Lighting

I did this with the wooden house in world #1, except it was a window of four glass, it makes for much more dynamic lighting in the daytime. Instead of singluar strips, the skylights are now double width.




Front Room

Same as it ever was, apart from the lightstone in the ceiling to try to get some extra light. That door by the furnace is the new door in the room though, and now leads to the set of mines #2 where the previous door was outside. Had a lot of fun (not), trying to re-do the stairs to join the other ones coming from the other direction.




Until next time.