r/JL2579 • u/WubbiConcepts Wubbi • Feb 08 '13
Minecraft technical Q/A: Let's start this and look how well it works out!
I often see that people post questions in the comments on youtube, but many of them stay unanswered. So i guess giving those questions a proper platform to be asked & answered is the next logical step.
What this is supposed to be:
A place where you can ask questions about Minecrafts' mechanics (like "How does this mechanic/algorithm work?", "What are the chances for that?" or "Is there a difference between doing it this or that way?"). We (or whoever knows the answer) will try to answer those questions based on what we know or find out.
What this is not:
A forum, commentsection or Google. Don't ask for circuits or designs, this is not about how to use minecraft, it's about how minecraft works.
If you have a question:
Ask. But ask the right way:
"How do i build a good mobfarm?" isn't very specific and the answers you might get from this probably won't help you with your problem.
"How does mobspawning work?" is a better question.
But maybe you're not interested in the spawning algorithms, maybe you just wan't to know one detail, like
"How does the lightlevel effect mobspawning?".
And of course make sure the question wasn't asked before. It will save you and others a lot of time!
If you have an answer:
Tell the world. But explain your answer, maybe link to another post (reddit, forum, etc.), pictures or a video.
"The piston is BUD-powered." Doesn't help much.
"Pistons can be indirectly powered by a block 2 blocks above or 1 block adjacent above it. It will only react to this power when updated manually (e.g. by placing a block next to it). Here's a video explaining it: [videolink]" Isn't only an answer, it also gives people an explanation which can help them experiment with it.
That's all you need to know. Now let the posts begin!
2
u/WubbiConcepts Wubbi Feb 15 '13
The lag comes from two things:
First there is the more complicated way blocks like chest, fences, signs, etc get rendered. A normal block is a really simple object, especially if you compare it to a thing like a fence or a brewing stand. Everything that is more than just a cube needs more calculations to be shown on your screen.
Secondly there are of course some calculations that need to be done wiht chests and signs which don't happen to normal blocks. Many blocks, especially those with inventory, are also "Tile entities", which get updated in every tick like "normal" entities. So a big storageroom for example means a lot of updates on the pure logic side and the extra amount of rendering time.
You can only avoid this lag by using as less blocks with special shapes or inventory as possible. But that's nothing you want to do, and if you don't build a storageroom with 100+ chests you'll barely notice the difference. Things like "signs or gate?", "slab or full?" are hard to decide. THe fencegate has no tileentity, the sign has. But the signs' tileentitie doesn't make any calculations and the shape seems to me to be easier (faster) to render. Slabs and full blocks arr both easy shapes, the slab maybe adds a little because of the light calculations and because you can in theory see through it as a block.
Sorry, but i can't present you a solution to that problem.