Minecraft to Overhaul the World with 1.7 Update

[IanDavis]

Minecraft to Overhaul the World with 1.7 Update

The updated world generator will make more realistic environments with fewer oceans.

Minecraft has been a work in progress for its entire existence. Even though it's reached and surpassed the official 1.0 release, new features regularly trickle into the jagged little land. In the current version, the many different terrain biomes are often placed awkwardly next to each other, with deserts randomly juxtaposed against arctic tundra. Meanwhile, massive oceans interrupt the typical brick-breaking gameplay and force players to either avoid them or slowly sail through. In a [a href=https://mojang.com/2013/08/minecraft-world-generator-update/]blog update[/a], lead developer Jens Bergensten talked about how Mojang's planning on overhauling Minecraft's world generator to make the blocky landscape that much more interesting to explore.

Jens mentioned three specific issues that he intends to address: oceans being too large, uneven biome placement, and lack of variation. To fix that, Mojang's overhauling the code that generates the maps. Future Minecraft worlds should have far less oceans, logical biome placement, and alternate configurations of those biomes for variety. The picture to the right is the new 1.7 biome map. For comparison, [a href=https://d1y0oqfyli6x95.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/overviewMap.png]this[/a] is the previous map.

Small tweaks to Minecraft's world generation system can create noticeable borders between new and old terrain, so Mojang is overhauling all at once with the upcoming 1.7 update. Along with the new terrain maps, players can also expect new biomes, new rare and uncommon biome variations, and new flowers and trees to look at/harvest along the way.

Source: [a href=https://mojang.com/2013/08/minecraft-world-generator-update/]Mojang[/a]

Permalink

 

[lacktheknack]

Wow. I like this muchly.

Finally, finding a snow biome won't be pure hit-and-miss.

 

[Steve the Pocket]

I hope this brings back the smooth in-between gradients that they had before the adventure update. I missed that.

 

[vallorn]

Do you hear that? That is the sound of a thousand server admins crying out in pain because Mojang updates tend to be an absolute nightmare to update with if you have any number of plugins.

 

[Denamic]

That's odd. There's been multiple posts already, and none of them has been filled with unbridled hatred for notch.

I look forward to this. I always hated the damn oceans.

 

[Tiamat666]

Instead of reducing ocean size, maybe they should make the oceans more interesting!

Underwater biomes, creatures, caves, sunken ships, treasures, big titted mermaids, and Cthulhu!

 

[RandV80]

Instead of reducing ocean size, maybe they should make the oceans more interesting!

Underwater biomes, creatures, caves, sunken ships, treasures, big titted mermaids, and Cthulhu!

I agree here. While the biome placement needs to be fixed the oceans create a sense of 'continents' which leads to a more realistic world feeling.

Perhaps what they should do is go the Civilization route and give you a few different options for world generation.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

Do you hear that? That is the sound of a thousand server admins crying out in pain because Mojang updates tend to be an absolute nightmare to update with if you have any number of plugins.

Oh I'm used to all the plugins breaking by now. What's really going to get me is my users either wanting to roll a new map for the new features or not wanting to roll a new map due to having cool bases on the current one

 

[Tartarga]

I'm hoping they nerf the Jungle biomes a bit as well, it seems like every 9 out ten worlds I create I spawn in a huge Jungle that seemingly goes on forever in every direction.

 

[Zombie_Moogle]

Do you hear that? That is the sound of a thousand server admins crying out in pain because Mojang updates tend to be an absolute nightmare to update with if you have any number of plugins.

Oh I'm used to all the plugins breaking by now. What's really going to get me is my users either wanting to roll a new map for the new features or not wanting to roll a new map due to having cool bases on the current one

Amen; had to rebuild my jungle tree-house mansion & my loft below the frozen lake a few times cuz my users wanted to see what emerald was like or smthn

But hey, it's all part of the fun

 

[Covarr]

The picture to the right is the new 1.7 biome map. For comparison, this is the previous map.

These are examples of biome maps, dependent on the world's seed. No two maps will be the same.

P.S. Thanks

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Deserts next to snowy plains isn't unheard of, I just wish there were middling biomes of all combinations to join biomes together. Seeing two biomes clash together is what breaks immersion.

For example:

http://www.meteoclub.gr/images/stories/zeus/weather_extremes/desert-snow.jpg

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Less endless fields of water I must traverse? That's a plus!

 

[scw55]

Do you hear that? That is the sound of a thousand server admins crying out in pain because Mojang updates tend to be an absolute nightmare to update with if you have any number of plugins.

Oh I'm used to all the plugins breaking by now. What's really going to get me is my users either wanting to roll a new map for the new features or not wanting to roll a new map due to having cool bases on the current one

Amen; had to rebuild my jungle tree-house mansion & my loft below the frozen lake a few times cuz my users wanted to see what emerald was like or smthn

But hey, it's all part of the fun

This is one reason I gave up with multiplayer Minecraft.
Yeah, I enjoy showing off my work to other people... but I don't enjoy other people deciding to erase what I've "achieved" because of a content patch. It's rather demoralising.
It's like when my dad would randomly wipe my family's computer and I'd lose a shed tone of various saved games...

 

[McMullen]

It sounds like Mojang is still not really coming around to the idea of any sort of customization. Continent frequency should be adjustable, not hard-coded; it would be simple to implement (just give the user an ability to input the bias, brightness, or contrast of the noise generator). Some people want pangea, some want continents, some want an endless archipelago. Ideally we could have multiple noises composited with each other to give all three types on a large scale.

That's really what I'd like most, just some simple world gen parameters to tweak. Max and min height, terrain frequency, temperature and precipitation, and such like. Doesn't have to be Dwarf-Fortress level editability, something Civ-like, as mentioned above, would be fine.

 

[Quazimofo]

It sounds like Mojang is still not really coming around to the idea of any sort of customization. Continent frequency should be adjustable, not hard-coded; it would be simple to implement (just give the user an ability to input the bias, brightness, or contrast of the noise generator). Some people want pangea, some want continents, some want an endless archipelago. Ideally we could have multiple noises composited with each other to give all three types on a large scale.

That's really what I'd like most, just some simple world gen parameters to tweak. Max and min height, terrain frequency, temperature and precipitation, and such like. Doesn't have to be Dwarf-Fortress level editability, something Civ-like, as mentioned above, would be fine.

Agreed. Personally I liked the bigass oceans. That's what oceans are. Big.
Also it gave a sense of significance to setting sail across one. Takes quite some time to go there and back so you really must prepare. Mostly though, I just love water effects. Rivers, streams, waterfalls, ponds, lakes, oceans. Love 'em.

However, I can also see how some people would prefer to not have to build the land for their massive projects, and so I get wanting to have higher land-frequency. And more logically placed.

So yeah, ideally we'd have options for both to satisfy everyone.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Will there be less huge ass cave systems under every inch of the map?

I'm sick of never having any secure area to build on because there is always a sprawling labyrinth of death right below my idyllic village or fantasy castle. I dunno, there's something a lot less friendly and accessible to the cave systems and frequency that you used to get, where you could build a dwarven fortress in the side of a mountain without accidentally intersecting a million dark caverns that you need to completely brick up or else you get the freaky 'dark space nearby' noise spammed at you or zombie groans/spider squelches etc.

I know it's a picky complaint to say minecraft has too many caves, but sometimes I just want a more solid land block to build on, not necessarily without caves, but less complex, more like original minecraft cave systems.

 

[rasputin0009]

Wow. I like this muchly.

Finally, finding a snow biome won't be pure hit-and-miss.

I can't spawn anything but snow biomes. It's like they know I'm Canadian, and won't let me escape!

 

[Dr.Awkward]

does the mean less of those ridiculous ravines as well? And fewer cases of "LETS STUFF ALL THE UNDERGROUND STUFF INTO ONE SPOT!" where it ends up being a barely navigable mess?

 

[lacktheknack]

The picture to the right is the new 1.7 biome map. For comparison, this is the previous map.

These are examples of biome maps, dependent on the world's seed. No two maps will be the same.

P.S. Thanks

It's probably the same seed sent through the generator twice, once with the old code and once with the new.