Most Ambitious Project On World #2 Yet?

Boy did I have to fish around in my albums to find this banner!

Staying with World #2, I was playing around on the creative version of this world and came up with an inspired idea.

I was trying to figure out how to make the stairs/lobby down to the storage area prettier. Once again it has cobblestone - everywhere. It really hasn't changed since Alpha, the only change has been the removal of the furnaces on the way down, the emergency exit and changing the floor from cobble to mossy cobble. So I fiddled around and came up with this nice design using light gray wool walls and stone slabs on the corners. There was only one problem - wool right next too the old lava incinerator = not good!. Thinking ahead of not wanting any avoidable accidents in the future I wondered where I could move the incinerator. It came to me that I could (Perhaps should) start using the cave behind the back wall of my storage area.

In the past there's been a glass wall here with a mob trap for mobs, with an underground section before the glass wall to go down and collect the drops. In the very far past this cave was also another way to the outside, even though it turns back on it'self several times. Until the old lava/water traps were above it on the outside, later replaced by tree farms. I had an idea to start digging the wall to the right back, behind the galley of chests on the right hand side of pictures 1 & 2. I took the wall all the way back to the last chest on the far right towards the iron block. What I created in effect was, another galley on the opposite side of that wall the of the same length creating even more storage space.

The dirt being where the chests will be.

I re-instigated the glass wall again, but only 3/4 of the way along this time, creating a new galley behind it at the start of the cave for the incinerator, and a new home for the infinite water giver. I had to re-do this as creepers kept spawning and blowing up the glass divide - 3 times!

The rest of the space past these two installations is just a cave that winds back on it'self several times:

Up those natural steps:

Before going up said steps, there's also a small cleared out area from long ago, lower down:

The plan is, to knock the wall to the right of the natural steps (In pictures 1 &2) down, up on that flat area, will be the NEW science lab for brewing! (The old one being still damaged by a Creeper. never got round to fixing it.) Where the wall that's coming down is, will be a reception, and behind that wall lower down from one of the winding off area's a storage room for materials (Brewing materials, glass bottles) will be created. Even this storage room although small, will still be more roomy than the last one. To the right of reception as you go through will be a secure and closed off area, leading down to that dark little room which will become - a nether wart farm! (Something I need to research.) here is a little preview from the creative version:

I was really pleased how it turned out on creative, you can't even tell it's a cave any more! I'm not sure if I'll use the iron blocks with the block wool for the floor, as it will be costly, but a black n white floor is a little bit Clichéd. Now I have to do it for legit, on the legit world! it'll take time, and it'll probably raise problems - as I found out when I tried to copy the new look storage lobby/walk-down area in my legit world by legit means, but it'll be well worth it!

Speaking of the lobby/walk-down to the storage area here's how it's going. Again, it was done on the creative version and now it's being down legit, on the legit world:

BEFORE:

AND AFTER:

More slab corners to add, of course.

Awaiting more light gray wool.

This old lab will be sealed off and covered over with gray wool eventually. Note the new window feature to the storage area!Obviously lots of work to do, especially for this new area for the new science lab, storage room and surrounding area in the old cave. If I can do this legit though, and pull it off, it'll be quite the accomplishment!

In the lobby down to the storage area, lots more wool to add, more stone slab corners and completely redoing the ceilings with snow as usual replacing torches with Glowstone, watch this space for more development! Also when Jeb fixed the colored stairs (Actually adding the crafting recipe), this standard Oak floor maybe jungle or spruce wood with matching slabs & steps.

Reminiscing! Old vs New!

This is a very quick post, but I just found this really old picture from alpha, taken from the window of my Observation deck!:

The land outside the window! No watch-tows, no lit beacon or board-walk, no apartment block! I had to re-open Minecraft and take a modern comparison!:

Similarly in the front room!: (With an old HD texture pack though):

Today:

Proper post next time, I just had to share my indulgence of nostalgia!

I'll Never Quit World #2

I mentioned: Here that I made a copy of World#2 and turned it to creative mode and did a "What if" scenario. What if I did continue the world - what would I do with it? What would I do with unlimited resources? Whilst doing this it brought up some practical solutions like finding an area to put stairs to the bedroom rather than keep them outside the mountain home, changing cobblestone to brick, a new staircase route up to the observation deck, church redecoration and much more.


Up until now I haven't posted much about it as I've do it legit on my legit world, as work has been steady but gradual. I did want to share some of the different changes however. One of the changes that I hadn't done on the creative version was opening up the corridor between the front room and the rear of the home.  On that version I just refreshed the decoration in the corridor but on my legit save I have now removed the wall that blocked of the lobby to the library & art gallery and opened up the entire area, turning what was a winding corridor into a very open spaced hallway:


Before:

Creative version:

Current version:

It still needs some extra lighting and more pictures on the wall though, I might also instigate more log beans along the walls.


I also did not like the step sticking out in the hallway leading into the rear viewing room (With the water window) so have made it so there's no step and you can walk straight into the room. By doing this I have had to lower the floor down by one block. The floor was gutted and everything dropped down by one block level. Due to this, I also had to extend the water window down by one block and the glass tank. (Although I may remove that entirely.) In the creative version, I also turned the old mushroom farm into a medical room and build building on top of the mountain, creating a new access corridor.

I haven't decided to do that on my current legit version, I have retained the mushroom farm for now, but have instead refreshed the area with new sand walls and glass blocks to the rear of the mountain, not only giving a nice view to the rear, but allowing extra light in during the daytime and helping red mushrooms to grow. I wanted to remove all the cobblestone, much like the bedroom to create a nicer area. Although I haven't done the same for the brown mushroom section, it's planned.

Original:

The secret door to the brown mushroom farm is still there, but I may be moving this mushroom farm altogether, which would create a new  room potentially. On the creative version I have tried digging underneath the wheat farm outside and have found I can create another large farm directly underneath the wheat farm, if I split this in two I could have the mushroom farm outside. On top of the mountain I have created a small lookout building from the top of the mountain but rather that brick I have used traditional wood and logs with spruce planks inside. The biggest change however, is the surrounding area. The top of the mountain (over the rear lounge) was an all-cobble floor with a fort-esq design wall surround. With my growing hatred of the use of cobblestone, I have transformed the top to a more natural state with new fencing, bonemeal for long-grass and flowers and transformed the top to a more rural garden top area.

Ironically, apart from the new building and fencing this is how the top of the mountain was when I first found this mountain - natural grassy mountain top. Although where the new building is was also a flat top of grass build up.

Staying with the outside, I have also begun the process of replacing the cobblestone stairs outside with a much nicer brick stairs with half-slabs to the side. The last big change has also been at the church which needed a much needed make-over, all the cobblestone walls of the church have been changed to light birch planks with oak log foundations, much in the stylke of an old fashioned wooded paneled US church.  Inside, the stone floor surrounding the red carpet, have been changed to spruce planks also.


Old version:

Current version:

The oak seating backs will be changed to spruce logs, and plans to change the outside wall surrounding the church will also be implemented, at this time it may be a traditional brick wall, but we'll see. Also I moved the stairs down to the dock ,and actually added a platform down there! Before, it was just a bit of wood down there to stand on:

As you'll see though, instead of the stairs going straight down from that wall, you now have to go around the a path by that tree on the right (Left in-game) down to the new waiting area:

Lastly I changed something that has been bugging me since 2010! When I started this world in Alpha 1.2, the height difference was much much different back then, only just having recently changed. The trouble with this is, on top of the mountain near my home-inside-a-mountain were a load of stunted trees that couldn't grow fully because of the height limit:

Well recently, I completely cleared the op of those old Alpha trees and tried growing some pines trees up there:

So not only do I no longer have stunted trees up there, I also have a pine tree farm now. SOme of those old Alpha trees also gave me jungle saplings, so there are a few jungle trees up there. That's all types of wood now, every tree farm.

Epilogue:

The long and the short of it though, is that - whilst making all these changes I have realized I'll never stop playing on this world. I'll never give up on it again, I'll never quit world#2, because I can't. I started it in late 2010 and something about it just compels me to continue it, update it, improve things. I just can't let this world go.

So here's my to do list for #World 2:

• Finish interior furnishing inside apartment block flats
• Finish redecorating spare bedroom/rear lounge.
• Redeco library & finish art gallery re-deco  (Even if the latter takes years!!
• Finish decorating mushroom farm in brown shroom area/or move it to outside underneath the wheat farm. (requires digging out a new room.)
• Change the wall to the church/the gold cross
• Do more to mount doom
• Redevelop old mushroom farm IF I move it.
• Possibly redeco the lobby down to the storage room.
• Finish all changes to steps outside.
• Redevelop & Re-design tavern/pub in Kingdoms mod style.
• Possibly expand area around snow factory with other buildings? (Any ideas?)

So as you can see, plenty to do!

Livestreaming

I know not posted much lately but in the last week I've actually been off work on holiday leave and so have been streaming on Twitch.tv. If you want to look me up, just look for leangreen76 - my name there and pretty much everywhere, and give me a follow!

I made about three videos for YouTube showing some of my worlds, before I just showed World#2 but that was a year ago with a slideshow of pictures. Now I have a microphone I can do commentary, so that's what I've been doing. So far I have made videos of Worlds #1, #2 and #3. I might be uploading video #2 to YouTube today as I want to do an very small update video post as I've done some small changes to World#2 since that video. I also started a hotel using one of the latest patches at the time. This came about because I was talking about how the apartments in world#2 was originally meant to be a hotel but the ground size was too small to do that so I scaled down the idea to an apartment block. So this thought from recording that video led to me starting the hotel in the new snapshot.

I want to thank everyone that came and watched! I am new to this and it's not something I'm used to, it can make me nervous - putting myself, even just my voice out there as I don't have a great speaking voice. However, I gained another 4 followers, so thank-you very much!


Twitch.tv: http://www.twitch.tv/leangreen76/b/321082296


YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/user/leangreen76

The Latest Updates

So there's been quite a few snapshots lately, so as a bit of a filler post I thought I'd share a few of my thoughts.


For the most most part I'm pretty happy with everything, but getting the negative out the way first here's only a couple of things that I ponder upon. Firstly, the "F" key to reload chunks was a great idea but sadly it's been reverted, which is a shame because reloading them so they reload correctly, was a major plus IMO. I was one also, who thought that thought that Jeb meant slabs could actually placed flat on walls, not just on the side, sadly it doesn't appear so. Is Jeb trolling us? Bit of a shame as it is a great idea. And that really is it for the negatives, not much at all.


On the plus, I think the new trip-wire is a GREAT idea! I don't play multiplayer maps but I can see how they will be extremely helpful there, hidden in the dark where they're practically impossible to see. (Making sure you hide the hooks!) I also think they will be good for some security too on SP worlds. I haven't got anything set up currently as I suck at these things, I'm terrible at Redstone stuff even - anything I can get to work with Redstone is considered a minor miracle! The temples continue to be interesting although I've not explored any yet, and villager AI and trading seems to be going from strength to strength.


Boats are definitely better, and fast I noticed too whilst doing a bit of work in my underground home in World#1 recently. (When I had to go travelling for sand. They do seem easier to control and a big improvement, although perhaps a bit too fast now?! I haven't done any experimenting with Emeralds yet, but what do you think - should there be Emerald blocks, even tools?




Kingdom of Animus
Is on hiatus. Basically, the updates were fan updates as the original mod maker disappeared, but now the fan updater has stopped due to pressure. At the moment there seems to be no level #4 Tier, which is what I need to update to. So I can't really do anything at the moment. I did employ 10 archers and scattered about the Kingdom in-case of attack, you never know! I have also made my out of Kingdom home bigger, with a nice birch plank floor. It's about all I can do.




Livestreaming
I finally got a head-set with a microphone and did a few test broadcasts, one on my 1.9.5 world, but I don't recommend watching the highlight as I was still having problems and echoing still. I did find lapis and added 6 more blocks to the bathroom. Not much else has happened.


I may be doing a livesteam - live all-day on Sunday at Twitch.tv. (http://www.twitch.tv/leangreen76), either Minecraft or various PC games I have. No set time yet, but maybe from 10am GMT, all day and night into the wee hours. I will be starting with an old favorite of mine on the SNES, but that's all I'm telling you for now1 You're welcome to go along, but go easy on me as it will be my first ever broadcast.




World#1
Finally with the recent updates, I picked up the underground home again, finally being able to add the sandstone stairs upside down to the arch on the Level #3 corridor. I have also finally updated the Painterly texture pack again finally, with so many things now like books & quills, coloured slabs, coloured wood etc, the update was long overdue. I may make a separate post about this as the new room on level #1 has now become an "above" store room and the old storage shed has been knocked down! :( More on this next post maybe.


That's about all, I've got next week of work so hopefully posts will pick up a bit.