I don't like Hell, can I go somewhere else?

Question

I just opened a nether portal for the first time, and I must say, it's not a very good location, a sort of narrow trench/cavern thingy without any obvious clues as to which direction is "out".

I'm not willing to simply move my overworld portal (due to dilation it is unlikely to have much of an effect, anyway), and was wondering if there was a way to force minecraft to generate a new personal Hell for me to explore (hopefully one that doesn't involve me stuck in some wall!).

Answer

The safe answer

Assume the following:

• $MINECRAFTDIR is the path to the Minecraft directory containing your custom data: texture packs, saves, etc.
  • Mac OS X: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
  • Linux: ~/.minecraft
  • Windows: C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\minecraft.
• $WORLDDIR is the name of the world directory (e.g. World3).

The Nether region information is stored in $MINECRAFTDIR/saves/$WORLDDIR/DIM-1/: if you delete the region folder within, Minecraft will regenerate the Nether.

The first time you delete it, you might see significant changes (especially after a terrain generation update like 1.8 or 1,9), but if you do nothing and delete it again, you'll notice nothing's changed. That's because the Nether and the real world share the same seed: the first delete just resets the Nether back to its original state (or its new state when the terrain generation code changes) and, since the seed doesn't change, any subsequent deletes do nothing.

So unfortunately, you can't create a completely new Nether while keeping the same regular world intact. But you can at least wipe your Nether clean or have it use the new terrain generation code after a major update.

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The Oh-God-You're-Messing-With-The-Forces-Of-Nature answer

It's possible to replace your current world's seed with a new one which, when combined with the instructions above, will create a completely new Nether. I have no idea about the long term implications this will have on your real world, but it should only affect new chunks, not existing ones.

To do this, you'll need a level.dat editor that lets you record and change your current position and export your inventory. I used InvGrid to do this.

Note: this likely awakens the old gods, so be sure to backup your world folders before doing this.

1. Create a new world, and either enter a seed or randomly generate a new one.
2. Save and quit out of Minecraft.
3. Open InvGrid, and select your original world.
4. Under the Misc. tab, note your current position (and spawn point, if you want to keep it, although it's not that essential now that you can reset your spawn point with beds)
5. Export your inventory, as you'll be wiping it out shortly.
6. Save and quit out of InvGrid.
7. Use the safe answer instructions to delete your world's Nether region (tee-hee).
8. In your world's folder, delete level.dat.
9. Copy the level.dat file from the new world you created in step 1 to your curent world's folder.
10. Open InvGrid and select your world again.
11. Set your position to what you recorded in step 4.
12. Import the inventory you exported in step 5.
13. Save the world and quit InvGrid.
14. Whisper dark incantations and sacrifice whatever live animals you have to appease the old gods.
15. Open Minecraft and your world.

You should now have a completely new Nether: at least, it worked on the worlds I tested.

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How can I keep monsters out of my nether regions?

Question

In order to find myself some nice lapis lazuli and get away from my current base, I'm building a little tunnel in the Nether to allow me to get into the midst of some fresh chunks fairly quickly.

I have a nice little stone house, but as Ghasts and zombie pigmen can spawn at "any light level" in the Nether, how do I keep them from popping up in my Nether regions where I don't want them? Will they even spawn on "foreign" blocks (e.g. those that aren't Netherrack, slow sand, etc.)

Answer

You don't have to worry about Zombie Pigmen (they are, after all, neutral mobs until provoked).

Ghasts can safely be kept out by restricting yourself to not using any of the 4x4x4 (or larger!) areas that they need to spawn. Keep a tight ceiling, and you'll be fine.

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Can ice blocks placed in the nether be used to produce water?

Question

The smp server I play on has a general "don't cheat, but feel free to exploit" rule. This means no using /give to spawn water blocks for placing in the nether. However, our admin recently installed the monsterhunt mod and made ice blocks one of the prizes for first place. So, do ice blocks placed and broken in the nether produce a water source, or do they just evaporate like using a bucket of water?

Answer

Yes, ice blocks do leave behind a water source when broken or melted in the Nether (unless broken by a Creative mode player).

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Why has my Nether portal brought me back some where mysterious?

Question

After feverishly mining my minimal 10 blocks of obsidian I made me a portal to the Nether. I thought to myself, 'Sweet, something new. This should be fun.' I wanted to jump in immediately but to be safe, I emptied my inventory of everything other than a sword, armor and a pick ax.

I got there and noticed it brought me to a cave. I knew I'd need some torches so I turned around and re-entered the portal and... I have no clue where I am but it's not the portal I entered in?!?!

What happened and how can I get home? I don't have a map because, as I mentioned, I left all my goods at my home base before going to the Nether. Now I'm stranded. How does this happen and how can I easily find my home base? Should it be close by? I tried to enter the portal in the Nether from various directions but that didn't help. I keep popping up in the overworld somewhere other than near my home but I can tell it is at the same location each time I go back to the overworld.

I'm lost... and I'm starting to feel cold. Can somebody help?

Answer

Hit F3 to see your coordinates, and head for coodinates x=0, z=0. That will take you to somewhere near your initial spawn. From there you should be able to find your way home.

Or, chop down the tree you mentioned, build a chest, and put all your equipment in that chest. Hit F3, write down your co-ordinates, and die. You will respawn at your last bed or spawn point, after which you can find your way back to the chest with your stuff. This will leave you in the same spot that are now, but now you'll know the way back to your base.

Or, if you're really stuck, use a map program like Tectonicus to create a map of your world, and use that to find your way home.

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Can anyone identify the mods in this video?

Question

I saw this video the other day http://youtu.be/dejTmLIHmoE?t=4m

and the guy seems to have some pretty cool mods and skins going and I was wondering if any one had any clue what they were.

some features include:

• a different nether, based on sky islands and dungeons.
• lots of different animals, including sharks, cats, sky whales and some crazy blobs things
• other "humans"
• he seeems to have trained and named a dog.

Answer

These are the following mods I believe you saw

Tameable animals

Farmcraft

Sky Islands

Aether Mod

Other "Humans"

Humans+

Different animals

Mo' Creatures

Hope this helps.

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Can mobs go through portals?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Can creatures follow me through a portal?

I'm wondering if mobs can go through portals, to the neither. That way, I can make a portal in front of my house and have the mobs/zombies/creepers go through it and I wouldn't have to worry about the creatures destroying my house.

Answer

From Minecraft Wiki's page on portals:

If a mob from the real world enters a portal, they will float in the portal as if it was water. Mobs cannot use portals to teleport to the Nether, however they can walk through them.

To sum it up, unfortunately you cannot build a portal to prevent mobs.

If you are playing single player, you can install the Portal mod (which is not in anyway related to the Nether Portal, but the game Portal), you can use an Emancipation Grill, and literally wipe out mobs (including Creepers), at the cost of wiping your inventory.

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Is the Nether infinite?

Question

If I were to mine bloodstone upwards or downwards, left or right in one direction, would I hit bedrock, or would I keep on going? What would happen?

Answer

From Minecraft Wiki's page on The Nether:

... Under the Lava ocean, there is a layer of Nettherack¹ and Bedrock on the very bottom. Similarly, the very top of the Nether is Bedrock.

¹ Or Bloodstone

Basically, going up or down either way leads to Bedrock.

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How far away do portals need to be so that they don't go to the same place?

Question

I'm playing on a SMP server and am trying to use the Nether to link up all my disparate bases around the world. Note in the below, A is Overworld, B is Nether.

I started with one portal (A1, thus spawning B1 in the Nether), and then created another portal a ways away in the Nether (B2), hoping it would be near the main area all the other players congregate. It (A2) was pretty close to where I wanted it, but not exactly. I then created another portal a short distance away (A3), which was where I was hoping A2 would land. I then went somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 squares away from where I initially built A1 (in the opposite direction of A2/A3) and created another portal, A4.

One would think A3 and A4 would create B3 and B4 on the Nether side, respectively. However, A4 linked to B1, and A3 linked to B2. The weird part is, A1 is further from A4 than A1 is from A3.

I hope that made any sense. My question is:

How far away do portals on the Overworld map need to be from each other in order to spawn separate portals in the Nether? Or, what are some ways to ensure a new portal won't link to an existing one?

Many thanks.

Answer

Just make sure there's at least a 1025 blocks distance between your overworld portals:

Likelihood of 2 overworld portals linking to the same nether portal - Normal World portals that are within 1024 distance of each other on either X or Z axis are almost always going to link to the same Nether realm portal on initial construction because 1024 translates to a distance of 128 in the Nether Realm, and the game checks for existing Portals within 128 "radius" around the destination (the 257x257x128 box).

(Minecraft Wiki)

You should also note that, in SMP prior to 1.6, portals were bugged for quite some time and needed server mods like Bukkit in order to work. Ask your admins/operators, there may still be some Bukkit plugin running on your server handling the Nether.

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