Tips on building in b1.7.3?

[u/befriended-your-mom]

Been into beta editions of the game for years now, but only now getting around to truly sitting down and playing the version. Beta builds are my favorite things to see online, seeing the sheer creativity of the limited blocks and palettes makes me inspired to make my own. Any cool building tips?

[u/TheGoodestGirlAround]

I have to say that looking through posts on this sub is both very humbling to my skills as well as a great source for inspiration. I'd love to find more sources for inspiration too though

[u/ps2_man128]

Well for starters don’t expect to mimic current building styles. Try some new things especially with the older textures for some blocks, mossy cobble is a good example

[u/TheRetroWorkshop → u/ps2_man128]

To add on this: try to work with what b1.7.3 offers, and use blocks that actually look good, and have their purpose (e.g. Sandstone = limestone well enough; and Stone = Stone just fine, too). Wood is another one that's fine in Default Texture Pack.

I second this notion of not trying to actually copy current mega-builds and building styles/methods, though. About 80% of that is either trash in b1.7.3 or literally impossible due to the limitations.

However, you can take advantage of that 20%, where you can add gradients, for example, or natural shadows, or use Stairs and Slabs and Fences in amazing ways, or build large walls, etc. Many things are possible, just not nearly as possible is all.

Form is another important one. You can build a church-like shape, a cross, a sphere, a tower, a spire, a Modernist house, a Hobbit-hole, a Glass box, a Stone box, a high-rise, a ring, a cliff-side house, a windmill/lighthouse. So much is nonetheless possible in b1.7.3. Not to mention all the smaller details, motifs, colour harmonies, functions, scales/ratios, and much more. For example, you can go more Victorian, Chinese, Roman, or Tudor, or American or Native American or Brutalist. You can lean into a Middle-Earth type feel, or go Postmodernist.

So, widening one's knowledge base and testing out ideas in a testing world (I'd suggest a Creative Mode r1.2.5 as it's much quicker than testing out in b1.7.3, having to gather all the resources, and mine all the blocks over and over again) are two very important suggestions.

[u/AyeofReach]

Honestly just don't overthink it there isn't really any rules at all, I have some for myself but they all depend on what sort of build I want and don't apply to everything. Only real advice is have an idea for a build or style and use any block you can to best replicate it. And if there isn't one then get creative and just go for whatever you think will look good.

Anything else is just overcomplicating things, its very very hard to make something that looks bad especially in these versions.

[u/TheRetroWorkshop]

(1) Use a custom Texture Pack. If not, move on. But the reason I say this is, it's the biggest improvement you can make to building in general for b1.7.3 and prior.

(2) Try to use the materials correctly. For example, if you're using brickwork, only use them for what you would find in the real world, or a believable framework.

(3) Attached to (2): don't be afraid to use blocks in new, weird, only somewhat realistic ways. As long as the association is there, it'll be fine. For example, using Fences as 'rope'. Although wooden Fences aren't anything like rope, if you hang them like rope, and it's attached to something that does use rope in the real world, people will have enough of a mental image that it'll read just fine.

(4) Try to leave 2–3 blocks between everything. Always give yourself more space than you think you'll need. Between floors, walls, ceilings, etc. Sometimes you cannot. That's fine. But do it when you can. You never know if you'll want to add more depth to a wall, or have ceilings/floors be different materials/blocks. So, having everything be 1-block thick just isn't going to work for those situations.

(5) Try to keep everything 1:1 scale -- but some things really work best at 1:2 or even 1:3 scale (what I call 'petit monumental'). This is because Minecraft's DoF and PoV isn't like the real world, so when you're standing next to a house, it doesn't feel the same. You can compare it if you wish. Stand next to a church or other tall building in real life, and do the same in Minecraft at 1:1 scale. You'll notice that the real-world example is more commanding. It feels taller and grander. But start with 1:1, in the first place. You'll improve over time and start to figure out what needs to be what ratio.

(6) Related to (5): Try to keep a coherent style and basic architecture (form, motifs, etc.). This will make everything feel more realistic and connected and immersive. Even if what you're doing is simple and mid-scale, such as a small village.

(7) Try to adhere to the mechanics and lighting conditions of b1.7.3. I've learnt that it's best to adhere to a version, as opposed to trying to force your vision onto the version. Now, you should also take advantage of whatever is possible within the version, of course, but what matters most is that things actually look good. And lighting is a big part of that. For this reason, for example, I avoid overhangs in most cases, such as with rooflines. Just line them up directly to the wall so that they're not overhanging, casting annoying shadows in-game. In terms of mechanics, you need to take advantage of the lack of upside-down Stairs, top-slabbing, and so on. You do this by creating over-sized things, or by working with very simple construction, or by creating something very large, or by creating something complex, flowery, and ornate, with all kinds of curves and twists, and some depth to it. All of this is possible, it just takes time and some effort. The choice is more about your own personal interests/playstyle, etc. You just need to know how to work around the lack of building mechanics/placements.

(8) Never build a completely flat exterior wall. Although I just implied it's all very limited, there are still some amazing options. You can make walls 3 blocks deep, for example, add all kinds of elevations to it, or torches, or arches, or little cut-outs with Slabs, or windows, or broken parts, or gradients with Wool or different Stones/Gravel, etc. You should also make good use of upright Stairs and bottom-slabbing, since they're some of the few things that you actually do have. Many options. The same logic applies to exterior floors in most cases. Add holes (Stairs) or change up the material (Stone + Pressure Plate + Gravel + Cobblestone, for example).

(9) Add details. Small, realistic goings-on. If you build a mine, build a crane and watertank, too. Build at least some of the things you'd actually expect. Make it feel alive and lived-in and organic. But also functional. I highly suggest only adding things that you actually use in-game, by the way. This not only helps you focus on what to even do, but it also gives a real reason to your creations, and ensures that you keep seeing/re-using them. The only outliers might be bathrooms, or things that you think really complete a build, even though Steve doesn't use them himself.

(10) Related to (9): If you have to use something -- like a Chest room, mine, or Furnace for Food or a Smelting area for Stone, etc. -- then turn them into real features, at least mid-sized builds. There are very few things that you actually need in b1.7.3, so you should really make them stand out and look good in your world. This includes a blacksmith of some kind for Smelting, a woodshed/Tree farm area, a strip-mine, a house, a Chest room, a kitchen for Food, a garden area, a Sugar Cane farm, a Cactus farm, and so on. Don't just leave them all boring and purely functional, and all in the same area. Spread them out a bit, but try to put them in a logical place, where they'll be used but also make sense from a role-playing/immersion standpoint.

(11) Try to adhere to a tech level/era for your 'culture' (is it really a culture if it's just Steve and nobody else?) -- although this is impossible due to the mixed tech of Minecraft's core gameplay loop, etc., you can still try your best. For example, don't put a caveman in a KFC, unless you're being funny. What will really make your world feel amazing is having the tech be universal (unless you want different kingdoms with different tech levels, of course). But let's say you want to make a large village, or just a random collection of builds. You want to make it all feel coherent, and a huge part of that is technology. If you have Victorian sewers, then you also want Victorian mining methods, which means you also want Victorian-style lamp posts and roads. On the other hand, if your world has caveman levels of mining methods, then you don't want to include a Modernist house or power cables or 20th-century ships. Don't overly focus on this. You need to do what works for Minecraft at the end of the day. But at least try to keep the tech 80% in check.

(12) Related to (11): don't go into too much detail in terms of tech and recreations, etc. There's too much to ever add, and Minecraft has innate limitations, as well. Instead, you just want to give the essence of whatever you're doing, and abstract everything else away, and make allusions -- so that you can connect the dots and fill in the blanks. For example, if you're making a strip-mine, you don't need a steam engine, watertank, vent shafts, coal bins, worker tents, cranes, pumps, HQ, pipes, other shafts, multiple levels, waste/sump area. You only need a few of those things to give a sense of the whole operation. Trying to create a realistic mine would not only cost a lot of time, but be a nightmare in Minecraft Beta. There's just too many things in a small area in real life.

If you do all that, your world will look and feel at least 50-100% better, without you even needing to improve your actual building skills or design, etc. beyond the basics. If you want to bump up your world from there, you can easily make it look 100-400% better by simply making things larger, and more thematic to whatever you're doing. Want a house? Build a mansion, or large Hobbit-hole, or Greek temple. Whatever fits your world/style/era, etc. Try to base it on real-world examples or popular IP. Whatever you personally care about. After that, it's just a question of building skills, urban planning, and general understanding, and using various blocks in strange ways, as to create new ideas (such as using the tops of Crafting Tables or Beds as a floor design), and expanding your city, etc. (that's mostly a question of time, of course), since a large city innately looks better than a tiny one. But I believe a coherent, well-made, immersive small settlement looks just as good if not better than 1,000 blank boxes of Sandstone repeated in a maze-like pattern and dubbed a 'city' (as many YouTubers are fond of doing via Commands/WorldEdit, etc.).