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Is it possible to make grass appear deep underground by having a single block of sunlight reach dirt? Or does grass have to actually form next to a grass block?

Melissia wrote:Is it possible to make grass appear deep underground by having a single block of sunlight reach dirt? Or does grass have to actually form next to a grass block?

Grass grows adjacent, above, or up to (i think) 3 blocks below. So if you want grass underground, you have to make dirt stairs and wait for it to grow, then remove the dirt stairs.

biccat wrote:
Remember the South/West rule.

If you use texture packs that doesn't help. It's also relatively difficult to see many of those indicators underground, and most of the reason I want a true-North compass is in order to dig tunnels between observation towers that I constructed independent of one another.

dogma wrote:If you use texture packs that doesn't help. It's also relatively difficult to see many of those indicators underground, and most of the reason I want a true-North compass is in order to dig tunnels between observation towers that I constructed independent of one another.

Just a suggestion. I normally find distance more of an issue than direction, it's not hard to carve straight lines, but I'm not interested in counting squares from A to B, especially if it's several thousand meters.

The compass is wonky because you're so close to your spawn point, it's like trying to use a compass at the North Pole. If you went sufficiently far enough from your spawn point (2-3 days walking in the nether), it would work well as a true-north compass. There may be other complications with this strategy.

I agree that it would be nice to have some additional reference points, or some sort of in-game mapping tool. I keep getting lost in the cave system under my fortress and have to dig up through the ocean.

The way I suggest it is that you build a fort on your spawn point and then branch from there, so the compass always leads back to the spawn point fort.

Best use I can think of it anyway.

I got told about something where you press F3, and select "y", and it tells you what layer you're on, and that lava is normally found around layer 12. When I press F3, I can't select y. How do you select it?
and how do I find lava? I've dug to rock bottom and around there for a while with no caves or lava.

Do you see the X Y and Z coordinates? That's the location on a 3d axis.

Like this:

x: -18.15275
y: 72.62004
z: -4.3026296

The Y is the height. X and Z are respectively north/south and east/west.

I'll second a true north compass. When I went on my exploration journey the compass was ok so long as I was a day's walk from my spawn.

The problem is that if you build far away from your spawn its of limited use.

well, that wasn't bad. A short 5-minute mining trip rewarded me with 38 blue dye (lapis lazuly or something like that), 3 diamonds, 10 gold and 38 coal. And lava.

I just made a cactus trap for spiders trying to drop off of my roof, and watched a spider impale itselfon the cactus.

Minecraft is the only place you could gain some sort of sick pleasure from watching that hahaha

Might have to make one myself to be honest.

It's really easy to do, because spiders take up two blocks width.

hmm...when I first started there were LOTS of creepers...now there's about 2 that I can see each night, in the distance.
can other monsters get killed by cacti impalement?

Any mob which blunders into a cactus can get killed by it. Cactus traps may not be as elegant as a lava guiotine but they do work.

I don't knwo if impalement is "elegant" or not, but it IS incredibly awesome symbolism.

How do you set up a cactus trap to kill skellies and zombies but still let the items flow through?

Tyyr wrote:How do you set up a cactus trap to kill skellies and zombies but still let the items flow through?

You can't get it 100% due to the items flying in a random direction on death but a grid of cacti with one spacing between them should work fine.

I'm gonna see if I can find a cave...I've just spent close to an hour trying t get out of a hole...I went into the nether, and apparently a portal was randomly generated in my game, so I exited there. I had a feather. I arrived in a cave deep underground, managed to climb out- in the sea. I've just built my way back. phew.

shrike wrote:I'm gonna see if I can find a cave...I've just spent close to an hour trying t get out of a hole...I went into the nether, and apparently a portal was randomly generated in my game, so I exited there. I had a feather. I arrived in a cave deep underground, managed to climb out- in the sea. I've just built my way back. phew.

I always build a mini watch tower (or just mark down the XY coordinates on a sign) when that happens.

I just wasted so much TNT blowing a hole to bedrock, it was totally worth it, now if only I could figure out how to get the screenshots on here...

Tyyr wrote:
The problem is that if you build far away from your spawn its of limited use.

And difficult to find if you die.

I have lost at least two separate towers due to death.

Wow...I've just found 47 redstone, 64 flint, 3 diamong and 68 coal in about 2 minutes...

corpsesarefun wrote:You can't get it 100% due to the items flying in a random direction on death but a grid of cacti with one spacing between them should work fine.

So if I space it out like this:



I should get all the mobs? I may back this up with a good old fashioned lava guillotine just to be safe.

dogma wrote:And difficult to find if you die.

I have lost at least two separate towers due to death.

So just how big is your save file?

well i have finished my lava tower, it goes from celing to bedrock and i have started using the lower floors as the beginning of my mining.

i think ill make a compass and go exploring

Pictures? I think it would look pretty cool.

dammit. I was mining in the nether for the yellow dust stuff and I fell into lava. Now all my iron, gold, diamond, dye, wool, tools, armour and equipment are in a lake of lava. back to square one.

Always empty your pockets when going to the Nether.

Or I suppose whenever you leave your base. Don't need to drag around all that gold and diamonds everywhere.

Tyyr wrote:Always empty your pockets when going to the Nether.

I took my tools and stuff to mine, but I forgot I had diamonds and gold. I just salvaged them, took them back...and got shot by skeletons while heading back to my base. In the sea. Dropped it all. Can't find anything but my iron hoe and axe.

corpsesarefun wrote:

Tyyr wrote:How do you set up a cactus trap to kill skellies and zombies but still let the items flow through?

You can't get it 100% due to the items flying in a random direction on death but a grid of cacti with one spacing between them should work fine.

Yeah, it's pretty much the same spacing as you' use for a cactus farm, only you have a wall at the end with a 1x1xwhatever hole at th ebottom for resources to flow through. Preferably just 1x1x1 if you do your water right.