vanilla map cleanup

[Thorin]

Nice little tool, you're having fun learning the MC data structure?

[Tom]

Nice little tool, you're having fun learning the MC data structure?

I don't know that I'd call it fun. The way some things are stored is just stupid, but then again, that stupidity is what allows for some of minecraft's flexibility when they make map changes. Did you know that they didn't increase the size of the data type that stores the block ids? Instead they added another field to the crazy NBT chunk structure that stores 4 more bits per block that you shift left, and then add to the normal block id. It's a weee bit crazy. And a bit of a pain.

Hmm, I'm not even checking for that data at the moment, though I doubt anything uses those added block ids. at least the regular blocks don't. I think though that items (like potions) may, and mods definitely do. Something I need to remember to add support for. It was annoying enough to get it parsing the "damage" values for items. For many blocks, the 4 bits for the damage values on blocks/items is shared between a counter and "additional block type" flags.

That qnbt tool is mainly just so I have more than one real app using the libnbt/libmcmap code, and something to muck around with when I need to massage some level or player data. One thing I want to add is a "inventory" mode that makes it a lot easier to mess with a player's inventory, right now you need to have the item id's and damage values memorized. Oh, and saving support. I just added "editing" support to that tree view, but there's no save function wired up to the ui yet.

Took somewhere around 5 hours to make, including time spent fixing/changing code in the libnbt code to make it more friendly to real use cases.

[Thorin]

So with 1.5 out and us waiting patiently for a Bukkit update, how's your map cleanup tool coming along?

I honestly have no problem switching to creative mode, flying around, and placing, say, a netherrack block in the top left of every chunk that needs saving.  Then you could simply delete all the chunks that don't have netherrack in them, post the map for people to look over, and be done with it all.  We could remove the netherrack, or even just leave it there.

As for the nether, I don't want it blown away, but I want quartz and easy access to glowstone, so...  Mr. A is starting to win me over to the dark side on that one   If you could supply a list of coordinates where there are three obsidian blocks stacked above each other, or even better three nether portal blocks (although that would only find the active ones), I'd be happy to go rebuild the nether portals in the nether and their connecting corridors (likely in a standard grid pattern every X blocks).

[Mr. Analog]

Aw man, it would be cool if we could start playing with the new stuff!

[Tom]

It's going well. It loads and saves NBT files. Have to test it with loading them back into minecraft. Then to write some scanning code.

[Mr. Analog]

It's going well. It loads and saves NBT files. Have to test it with loading them back into minecraft. Then to write some scanning code.

Nice! Looking forward to testing the map out

[Thorin]

I think we have to wait with the new stuff, since we're using Bukkit for our "vanilla" server and thus can't upgrade until there's a stable Bukkit upgrade.

Tom, any news on the Bukkit front?

[Tom]

I think we have to wait with the new stuff, since we're using Bukkit for our "vanilla" server and thus can't upgrade until there's a stable Bukkit upgrade.

Tom, any news on the Bukkit front?

I didn't look till just now, and not very hard. 1.5 is a pretty big update, so we might be waiting for a few weeks or more. Unless they kept up with the snapshots, or got pre-releases from mojang. But yeah, may be a while going on history.

[Mr. Analog]

So... how is this progressing (assuming Bukkit is updated soon).

I mean, I guess I could just spawn a ton of quartz in hehe

[Thorin]

Tom, is this tool something we can help you with?  Mr. A has mentioned he's ready to just dump the existing map and start over so we can get at all the new materials that are supposed to be available.  I don't want to lose all my builds (like that giant airplane!), so if I can help you trim down the existing map, that'd be really nice.

[Mr. Analog]

Just a crazy thought I guess, like make the map downloadable (like the old Tekkit one) and then just refresh the world?

I'd love to get my hands new ores and stuff (like emerald!), I plan on starting some new builds I guess anyway but I want to wait until the new ores are there (I have big plans for Quartz when it's available)

Like quartz decorative blocks look like doric columns which are particularly well suited to Neo-Classical architecture y'know, the kind used in the flying cities of 1912 lol

[Tom]

It shouldn't take too much work. I've just been sidetracked lately. I can probably have something working without too much trouble.

[Mr. Analog]

Awesome!

[Thorin]

Well, you're doing this for free for us so let us know if you need any help with anything.  We're all pretty tech- and code-savvy.  At the same time, we're eagerly awaiting a cleaned-up map so we can go mining for the newer resources!

Also, have we talked any further about blowing away the nether?

[Tom]

Well, you're doing this for free for us so let us know if you need any help with anything.  We're all pretty tech- and code-savvy.  At the same time, we're eagerly awaiting a cleaned-up map so we can go mining for the newer resources!

Also, have we talked any further about blowing away the nether?

I don't really see a point in not just running the same code on the nether as the overworld. Get rid of useless chunks to generate more goodies

But I don't have anything against just deleting the nether. it'd make re-homing the gates on that side annoying though. So just trimming the nether is probably easier.