Changing Times for World #1; My Underground Home

Re-Introduction
World #1 is my very first saved world I kept, and still play on. Before this world I was on another I didn't keep where I was on top of a very high mountain and being Alpha and me being a n00b I didn't know how to get across to the neighboring mountain ledge. It wasn't very far across but I knew i couldn't jump it that high up and not die. So I made a platform across either in dirt or wood to get across, and this gave me the idea for my next world...


The Original World (Overworld):
The idea was to begin a world and make a home on top of a mountain, then built a bridge across to the next mountain, a "Sky-bridge" build another home on top of the next mountain, again make another sky bridge to the next mountain to me, make a home and so on. After doing this three times (Beginning small n000b fort on mountain #1, wooden hut on mountain #2 (Which by my standards today was piss-poor) and finally after a very long cobble bridge to the next mountain (Three times the length of the first wooden sky-bridge), a fort on mountain 3. (Again piss poor by my standards today.) After the second home however I had already started a second world (World #2) which became my main world and was much more interesting and this one. As a result, after building home #3 the second fort, I became bored with this world and left it for 5/6 months.


2011
In 2011, I went back and looked at this world and decided to do something with the huge crater like hole in the ground between mountain #1 and #2 at ground level in the over-world. Already my building style was changing. This huge hole in the ground was a cave system but it didn't gradually go into a cave from the outside like most do today, back in Alpha this cave was as said a huge crater in the ground that went very, very far down! Originally I used this for all my mining resources, even building a temporary home down there (I.E. sealing my self in a cave down there) in-case I got stuff down there/danger from mobs. I had the idea to turn this huge dangerous cave into an underground home. In time (2012 onwards) I made a vow not to change any of the buildings in the over-world as a testament to my n00bness then and n00b building style), I would instead change this huge deep, dark cave into a home. The progress of which can be read on the blog: Here.

The plan started well but trailed off in February 2011 when I started a third world as we had gone into Beta by then. As I have said many times on this blog however, no world stays dead forever. There's always a chance I'll go back with fresh ideas. Back in May 2001 I did go back and have a little look round making a transition from a HD texture pack for this world to Painterly like my main world, world #2. In July 2011 I made another come-back to this project where most of the change took place thanks now to the Painterly texture pack. (Can be read: Here.) The project was very on/off in 2012 (more off) especially with my vow not to quit my main world - world#2 and the massive re-generation project of that world. So that brings us to today. Within the past week and a half I have returned the world and decided to ditch the Painterly texture pack after a few years changing to Misa's Realistic. I know, I keep using this texture pack (Like for my ravine home - not forgotten about just need to find time), but again it was necessary to push me forward to continue this especially as with my main world, I have upgraded it to 1.6.2.

So here is a brand new gallery of old the old areas with Misa's, and a little bit of commentary, thoughts and ideas.

Outside:

Inside

Level #1:

Upon upgrading to 1.6.2, one of the biggest changes needed was the need to customize my home more, for this I realized I would need animal farms within my underground home to continue to be self-sufficient. So the first immediate change is on level #1 at the top, where I changed the hole in the wall that was a dog kennel, to a sheep farm after luring some in and breeding. I have a few colours going, but hope to keep breeding and will eventually have a huge multi-spectrum flock of rainbow sheep! You'll also note I dug into the wall next to it for cows, it's actually quite roomy in there and there's a tunnel off it to the outside world so I can lead more cows in if needed. I still need rooms for chickens and pigs however, and that is where the emergency exit tunnel comes in, off this floor.

For this another big change was to take place including a more natural floor with a gravel path and grass sides, (Which has since grown over since I took these screenshots). I have dug into the walls now and on one side I have the chicken farm and on the opposite side what will be a pig farm once I get carrots!

 

Part of me did regret making the cow home in the immediate level #1 floor after doing this as they could've all been contained along this corridor. On to level #2 however, the kitchen with a view (of the food farms on level #4), and apart from stone-brick steps going to level #3, this really hasn't changed much at all, but here are the pictures anyway.

Level #2: Kitchen

Really must change the ceiling, although I keep saying this for years now!

On to level #3 - the corridor to the "Nice room", but as from this point I will finally stop calling it that and call it what it's going to be - a dinning room.

This are was changed from cobblestone to stone-brick giving a much nicer aesthetic. On to the corridor itself:

Despite how long it took to make these slabs on the floor - I want to change them. I was thinking birch but unfortunately it's rather ugly in this texture pack, so much so I collect birch solely to make sticks with. I'm not sure what I'll do with the floor, a pattern (Or maybe a different edge to the sides and then different inner?) Again sand walls - will change that I like the ideas of the decorative sandstone like on the outside of the level #1 storage area as I really like that. Proper steps are needed too and of course the entire deiling needs doing along the corridor.

On to the "dining room" as it will be.

I have already shifted the right pillar over since to make it more aligned and changed the single door into double doors to compensate.

I want to get rid of the gravel walk-ways for something nice - and again sand walls.. Whatever happens to the corridor outside will most likely reflect this lobby down to the dining room. I have recently changed the stairs down to sandstone however. One thing from painterly I do miss ar e the "Modern Minecraft Living" industrial work place style paintings, as above the entrance used to be a huge Minecraft water-elevatror painting!

I really need to add cakes to that counter on the left again!

I really do like this patterned floor but it had to adapt, the floor-boards need to co in favor of a color the slabs and sand also, must go in favor of wool. OR, i use this floor elsewhere and as it's a dining room - it will be, change it to pure wood. The floor definitely has to go in the upstairs room also, it doesn't make sense that it would continue up there. Come to think of it, I don't even have a "living room" anywhere, maybe this should be incorporated into the level #3 corridor as well?!


Level #4: Food Farms

With the food farms on level #4 I've struggled in the past on how to decorate it especially as the overlooking kitchen is at the top floating and looking over it all:

As you can see in the past it's been a mass of cobblestone, even with the ideas of supporting pillars to the kitchen above, but I just couldn't figure out how to make it look nicer. Come 2013, I ended up changing it to stone-brick and blocking it in with walls:

Glass has since been added to this window.

When I get more oak wood, I'll cover the rest of the water so I can walk around freely and not have to worry about wheat and seeds falling into water.

There will also be a small canopy roof over the initial entrance door as well I think, just to finish it off. Developmentally, there have been quite a few other changes here as well. Behind where I took the above screenshots, I dug into the wall to create a new mushroom farm idea. Originally they were through the above entrance with the brown mushrooms on an upper landing in the dark, and the red mushrooms just of the stairs off it (And the stairs down) leading to the cactus room. I had big plans for those places. So I dug into the wall and put a dividing wall (Temporarily dirt), sealing the new brown mushroom farm in with a door and leaving the red mushroom farm open.

 

The old passage way to the cactus farm off the main stairs inside, formerly for red mushrooms, has been dug out  little more and converted into it's own little room, now housing a small coca bean farm. This forced me to go exploring further than I ever have in the over world, for the first time in a couple of years, to find a new chunk and thus a jungle and coca beans.

On what was the old landing for the brown mushrooms, I have completely cleared it out and straightened the walls for a future potato, carrot and melon farm. Eventually I managed to get a potato of a zombie and so with the help of a stack of bones/turned into bonemeal that I had I begun my mass potato farm. I've still yet to get a carrot, but in the new chunk I did find a ravine, an eventual abandoned mines (And 2 dungeons, zombie and skelly) to get the melon seeds and brink them back. More about that another time however.

Level #5: The Bedroom

 

Nothing has changed here, however, new plans are afoot. I've always known there's been a cave behind the back clay wall for the last few years, but after realizing there was no bathroom, I decided to transform it into an en-suite bathroom! The was a small passage down to a dead end, so I filled that in all the way back up to the level floor to square off the room. It's actually quite a nice little space for a bathroom! The beauty is I'm not bound so if I need to expand I can.

Level #6: Lava Way
(Access corridor down to level #7, the final floor)

Nothing much has changed here, although I have since out a wall to go along side the stair case in picture #1 and boxed in the alcove in-line with the last step. No sense in wasting space. The ground is also being changed to mossy cobblestone. I do have lots of obsidian, so I might change the last block around the lava encasing to it.

Level #7: The Underground home.

 

To the left of these stairs leads up to a small little cave corner which had a natural waterfall coming out of the wall. Last seen in this blog looking like this:

Obviously I fillled in holes and dug one to contain the water, I had no idea what to do with this room however. The reason there's no new pics? I've begun changing the area, especially the room itself and it doesn't mean keeping the water feature unfortunately! More about that next time though.

 

Lots of work to do here. The area off the last picture, behind where I'm stood just leads to a dead end, not sure what to do round there although one area has turned into a strip mine.

 

Like my main world, world #2, I will need an enchantment room, a brewing room, and I have done way more since I started this post so this is just the very, very tip of the iceberg! There is more to come, oh lots more!

1.6 Thoughts

 1.6.2
So in my last post I mentioned that I upgraded to 1,6,2, so I will give my bief thoughts on very aspects.

First off, I love horses being in Minecraft. I do think they could do with a little work but some of the crying that they don't fit Minecraft, break the game-play and much more are ridiculous. Yes they do make riding pigs less of an option now, but the way I look at it is: pigs = to go short distances, horses for long distance. As usual it's all about balance in Minecraft, which neatly brings me on to my next point, Mobs..

There is a very love and hate divide amongst the buff to mobs, I am of course referring to Skeletons and zombie. I love the new zombie hordes, as it makes it more of a challenge. I haven't tried it on hard mode yet where they spawn other zombies, but perhaps I should try a new world for that?! I do take the point that they could balance it over the levels, like from "Normal" upwards and not totally unsympathetic. For a few years zombies have been the weakest mob, like skeletons they got a slight buffer to AI and became clever with corners but it wasn't until 1.6 that the biggest overhaul came, and boy was it needed. Skeletons are not OP IMO, yes knock-back is annoying but if you knew how to fight they are still not a problem if you fall back and use cover, corners and let them come to you and do the work for you. Learn how to evade, if your in a cave going down a water shoot out the side of a wall; use blocks to either stop in or build a two-block wall in front of you to stop yourself and the skeleton. all these things can be avoided to some degree with common sense.

BOAT CONTROLS
They are really not bad once you get use to them. Yes even I prefer the old ways with the WASD keys, but I have actually tried and tried again with the new controls, not just tried it once, cried then go off to the Minecraft forums to make a whiney topic. Here are a few tips to help you. Slowing down - Stop holding the forward button and gently float to the shore hitting shift to jump out before you get near shore, or as you approach the shore, do the former and just lightly tap forward to get to the shore. Turning - using your mouse (If on the PC) really isn't that difficult to turn y'know. you just have to be warery to do it early enough as you won't get the instant turn effect you would with A or D keys. The more people practice the easier it'll get/you'll get used to it.

Due to this post being a lot longer I thought, the world #1 Underground Home new, will be posted next time. =)

THE COMEBACK

I know, I know, it's been a while but I am really going to try and get this blog back on track.

I have been busy, busy, busy in the world of Minecraft, taking the decision to change the texture pack of my original world (World#1, underground home) after a life time of Painterly. Substantial changes to my main world - world#2, continuing my world#3 home total re-built into a modern style, and the big upgrade to 1.6.2.


 

Admittedly , I haven't done much more in the way of my underground minecart system that goes under the ocean (And main bridge) to the church and beyond), however; I have made a BIG PUSH into rejuvenating the apartment block near my home. I built the apartments in September 2011 and after I finished in late October Building it was fine but looking back, very vanilla and plain.

I think the mysterious destruction of the apartments roof pushed me into doing the big renovations. The plan is for new side cladding on the edge of the outside of the building, changing all sand levels to sandstone, a brand new roof to replace the old one, window shutters (trap-doors/hatches), window sills and balconies on the far side facing the ocean/Nether bridge. I am thinking about an extension as well for proper stairs up and down, as well as to stop it being so blocky and rectangular shaped. At first I used stone-brick as the accent block, it looked nice against the snow/sand but the repeating pattern I felt was a little too harsh. So after doing one side, I took it all down again and decided to use spruce logs. It is even more of a contrast but will result in it looking highly decorative. I'm also experimenting with continuing the accent blocks round the front, back and sides as well.

 

 

 

The entrance has also recieved a brand new roof canopy and the sandstone pillars have been turned into marble ones from Nether Quartz.

During the middle of this I decided to just upgrade to 1.6.2, I can live without the water shader as I have done before. Thanks to a YouTube video though I did manage to eventually get the mini-map back and working with the new Dev launcher. I then went off to a new chunk to go and find horses and had quite the adventure!

It took 5000+ Minecraft miles, and despite going around some large oceans wherever I could I did have to cross some. Eventually I found a medium sized isolated island with half a dozen horses and a dozen donkeys! I named it Donkey Island. Here's where the problems began. I brought iron ingots with me for the apple and a saddle I had stored for years, but when I got to the island there wasn't a single tree on the island! I went over to a neighboring island and set up a temporary base inside a hole in a mountain and went back to Donkey Island. On another island I went and chopped down the few tree over there (It was pretty barren there too, and I never got an apple!) and went back to my base area and started planting the sapling trees everywhere. By this time it was getting dark again. Over a period of time kept chopping down trees and replanting trying to get an apple eventually managing to do so and turning a barren area in front of my base full of trees! Finally I managed to tame a horse, but getting it back was a whole new adventure!

I knew they couldn't cross really deep water, but I tried my very best to ride the first horse home, until it turned to night. During my attempt to navigate a horse through a forest, I got stuck and ambushed by skeletons! I left my horse immediately and incase it got hurt and tried to lead them away from the horse to fight them.. When all was said and done, and they were dead, so was my horse. I realized after taming a 2nd horse the only way to get home was through a portal, so after securing a second ride, I sealed myself, and said horse in the cave home in the side of the mountain and went mining. I dug a staircase down into the stone and went back up 5 blocks after hitting bedrock, beginning to strip mine when I eventually hit a corner and lava. I tried the easy way of portal making with making a lava bucket and water bucket back up the top where horsey was (Securing him first from dangers of lava in dirt walls) and began making a portal. However the constant up/down of getting lava got tiresome, so I ended up just mining the Obsidian anyway. After lighting it and freeing my horse I soon found I couldn't ride through and so had to push him through as we both entered the nether. The plan, to build another portal (Having mined extra) in the Nether and hoping it would come out somewhere near my home...

After the portal spawned on a bed of soul/slow sand, my horsey and I traved a little way in the Nether up a couple of embankments and I built the next portal... Just as I was about to light the thing up a Ghast attacked, so I went off and dispatched said mob with my trusty bow and arrow. I don't know what happened to the horse, either the Ghast got him or he fell in the nearby spewing lava fall a little way away. Strike two! I lit the portal disymayed and went exploring, collecting Nether quartz and eventually finding a Nether Fortress. (Which was nearer to me than I realized after I headed off in another direction). There I came across some blaze spawners, a wither skeleton (Dropped nothing) and a few chests, which started with rubbish loot but eventually finding ones with another saddle and 2 iron horse armor! I returned to base and waited for daytime, and eventually tamed another horse.. After going through to the Nether and then pushing my horse through the 2nd portal, we came out a bit nearer home (3000+ miles as apposed to 5000+) but still a long way away, and on top of a Jungle tree!

I had to carefully navigate my horse and myself down and made the long ride home! What an adventure! I made a leash (Have made many more since as spares) and tied him of to a lamppost of fences and Glowstone and begun making stables using the stone-brick from the apartments. I went back to continuing the work on them for a while and only just finished the basic stables yesterday!:

I still have to add the cauldrons of water and more hay bales in each, as well as change the floor to stone, but they're almost done! Will have to go get another soon so I can mate them. Yes, there is the start of a new roof on the apartments already! I began yesterday! Work is really progressing fast! I will also make an inner wall to cover the front decorations (Logs). I'll loose a width length at the front of the living rooms and will have to change the window panes back to glass blocks (Double glazing!) but it will be worth it. These will be made out of colored stained clay and allow for much more optimization and customization inside.

That fountain out the front was also finished a long time ago:

 

During the apartments renovation, I also took some of the lights out of the rooms inside to try and get a zombie villager to spawn inside as when I went mining I found a good deal of emerald to add to my collection. I learned how to create a splash potion of weakness and hope to trap one to change it to a villager so I can trade with it. (As there's no hope of finding a village in this old Alpha world!) No luck yet. I trapped one in my underground mushroom farm but when I went back to heal him, 9"After some of my own - away time healing) he was gone! There's no natural light in there either, just glowstone, to bright for zombies and they melt?! When I get my next horse, I hope to go exploring in the new chunk. Need to find a ravine and abandoned mine as melons are the only farm I don't have and the only place I will find seeds is in an abandoned mine..

Next I will talk more about the 1.6.2 changes and World#1 and the proposed changed to the underground home and general direction of that world.

DUDE, Where's My Roof?!

 

So over the last couple of weeks, I've been quite busy with my main world, well the last week more than anything, but before I get to that, I'll take you back a little time before then when I was on a great hunt for some brown mushrooms.

Previously in my underground farm, (Below the wheat farm on the surface) I went into my separated dark room for growing mushrooms and found - there were none! At the time, some of the walls still had dirt elements in them, and typically an Enderman stole blocks and let the light in. Now being an old Alpha world, I new I would have to travel far to find more brown mushrooms to replant, so I set off on a little adventure. Thankfully I didn't have to go all the way to a swamp as I found a nearby cave, one of the few I hadn't explored still. (After two years!) Found red mushroom, found plenty of Iron, coal and eventually, I found some brown mushrooms naturally growing! After returning I was just to the side of my mountain home approaching the front, when I noticed I couldn't see the roof on the apartment block in the distance!

Naturally I thought this was a render distance thing, but then realized my video settings, as always; were set on "Far". As I drew nearer and nearer my main gates I kept saying why can't I see it, why?! Crossing the boardwalk in the sand outside my perimeter, it began to dawn on me, there was no roof. I ventured up to the apartments, and to the top to the roof; or where it should have been all-the-while thinking this was strange as there were no fireplaces anywhere in the apartments! My only conclusion was - on a previous occasion when there was a great storm, it must have been lightning! (If there is a storm though, there is rain, so shouldn't that have put it out?!)

There's not much left to give you an impression, but it was a stacked roof made out of logs, leading up to a flat sky-light. In a way it's a blessing as that design style for the roof was old, and let's face it; not very good. (Apparently I don't have any close-ups of the old roof on how it use to look, just long shots.) So it will be getting a new roof soon, most likely a pitched spruce staircase one.

I have also begun replacing the old fountain that I knocked down at the front of my home, a very long time ago. After resetting my Nether, I went and collected 7 & a bit stacks of glowstone, and stack of quartz, so now the fountain will be re-born in Nether quartz! (As will the re-modelled bathroom eventually, when I get round to starting it! It's not much at the moment, a very simple design, and is missing the upper "Tray" and blocks from protruding from it, (Not to mention water!)

The one I had planned (Planned in my creative copy of this world) was actually 11 x 9 blocks base, but I didn't have enough space so I've had to minaturize it a bit.

The main news is, however, I've been working crazily this last week on my underground minecart system that replaces the one on the surface! With Phase #1 (Under the ocean),  have completely re-done the floor in stone slabs and laid the rest of the track and added Glowstone from my tip to the nether so it's well lit. I've also replaces the cobblestone dividers among the glass to nicer stone-brick.

 

I still have the walls at either end to sort out and finish the dirt roof with glass, but it's getting there! I had already continued round the corner at the end, (Underground by the shore of the church on the opposite side of the ocean.) ; but so far had only got down the end and a little bit round the corner.

As you can see by the above picture though, I have gone round the corner and gone further, much, much further!

 

 

 

 

All the way past Mount DOOOOoooooom! (In the background)

 

And beyond!

 

Obviously, I've still got a long way to go, and I need to make it pretty;but - I just had some crazy, crazy afternoons recently - watching Minecraft videos on YouTube and just tunneling away!  Had to fill in some holes/trenches on the surface where it previously ran, elevated on blocks of wood, but so far so good! Just finished coming out the other side of the next mountain at the rear of Mount DOOOooooom! I really found watching Minecraft videos helped!

I shall keep you updated!

No progress on the rebuild of my world three yet, or my ravine home.