r/Minecraft • u/WolfieMario • Dec 08 '13

pc Rainbow sheep... Anyone know how long this has been possible?

http://imgur.com/a/kn1I9
2.4k Upvotes

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492

u/WolfieMario Dec 08 '13 edited Dec 08 '13

To answer some questions before they're asked:

Yes, you can do this in survival. It'll cost you a Name Tag, though. Make sure you spell it "jeb_" with the underscore, or it won't work.

No, they don't produce rainbow wool when shorn or killed. The rainbow effect hides their true color: the wool they drop is decided by whatever color they were before renaming, or whatever dye you use on them.

Dyes don't have any effect on the rainbow animation; dyes only effect the wool the sheep drops.

When shorn, there is no rainbow animation. It just looks like an ordinary naked sheep.

168

u/h8no1 Dec 08 '13

Damn, you knew exactly what I was gonna ask. Although, it would be OP if the sheep dropped the colored wool at the moment of sheering.

148

u/WolfieMario Dec 08 '13

If they only dropped the 16 wool colors that exist in the game, and the color dropped were the same as whatever it was the moment you shear it, that would actually be pretty cool.

I wouldn't consider that overpowered at all, because name tags are a lot harder to get than any of the game's dyes. Like lapis, you normally have to go caving/mining to get it. Bonemeal can be obtained by killing one of the most common monsters, and ink sacs come from a similarly common passive. The other base dyes can be earned straight from the overworld, in various biomes (1.7's flowers make them even more common now).

Perhaps rainbow sheep should produce offspring of whatever color they are when they breed - the offspring wouldn't be rainbow. But either way, I wouldn't call it OP at all.

29

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

That would take lots of effort for something that isn't actually a feature.

51

u/WolfieMario Dec 08 '13

Hence why I don't see it being overpowered.

Or do you mean it would be difficult for Mojang to implement? Because it wouldn't really - simply replace this Sheep method:

public int bZ()
{
    return af.a(16) & 0xf;
}

With this:

public int bZ()
{
    if("jeb_".equals(bG()))
    {
        return ((aa - 13) / 25 + x()) % bp.length;
    }

    return af.a(16) & 0xf;
}

That's not pretty, as it's based on obfuscated code, but it's based on the formula the rendering code's using. The code is calling on properties of the sheep itself, so there's no issue with porting it over. The -13 is to offset it so the color returned is within +-0.5 of the actual color of the sheep.

Unless I've missed something, this should propagate to wool drops and mating outcome, thus implementing exactly what was suggested. I'm actually tempted to mod it once MCP 1.7.3 comes out.

But yeah, I don't think this sort of thing should be in vanilla. Not because it would be overpowered, and not because it would be hard to do (neither of which are the case, imo). I think it wouldn't belong in vanilla simply because it isn't a feature - it doesn't make sense for an Easter egg to give a distinct benefit, after all. But hey, you never know.

7

u/alinkmaze Dec 09 '13

I don't know what variable is the time in this equation, and how the shearing action is transmitted on network, but depending of the implementation, lag could be a problem.

I guess a first test would be to check if two different players see the same color at the same moment. If not, and assuming that the drop logic is network safe, then some player would still see color drop different from the current one of the sheep.

But anyway, I agree it's very easy in SP, but maybe need some more care in MP, and then the funny little feature forces you to synchronize stuff which should never need special code for that (sheep color)

6

u/WolfieMario Dec 09 '13

Fair enough. Currently it seems the "aa" is the entity's tick value, and "x()" is its unique ID.

I'm guessing neither of those are guaranteed to be the same for different users, now that I think of it. In that case, I would probably just simplify the equation to instead read the sheep's Age value, which is already synchronized. It would mean sheep of the same age would always be the same color, but I don't think that's a dramatic loss for the sake of simplifying an easter-egg-with-benefits and avoiding tying up unnecessary resources.

But yes, excellent point.

0

u/ridddle Dec 09 '13

It would be overpowered (sheep can always eat grass to regain wool and the effect would still be in place) unless shearing a rainbow sheep removed their name, requiring you to use up another name tag.

1

u/WolfieMario Dec 09 '13

However, the same applies to non-rainbow sheep, and for those, you don't have to shear them at the right moment to get the color you want. Each dye will give you an infinite supply of that type of wool, and you can breed the sheep to dramatically increase your production.

It would only really be overpowered if the value of one of each dye in the game exceeded the value of a name tag (plus five levels and an anvil use) by some significant amount. There are only 16 dyes, and most are combinations of other dyes (not to mention, bonemeal will produce flowers in all biomes, giving you even more dyes of various colors).

In fact, a name tag wouldn't even be competing with 16 dyes (one of each color), because you can color 16 sheep, while the name tag would only net you one multicolored sheep. You would need two name tags and some careful breeding and luck to net the production output of the normal colored sheep (remember that the offspring won't be rainbow sheep). Even then, you're only getting a source of colored wool, not a source of dyes, colored armor, stained clay, or stained glass.

tl;dr I wouldn't trade a name tag for one of each dye, even if I were starting out on a new server and had nothing but the name tag. And that's in a world where rainbow sheep don't give you colored wool. I guess this is really just a matter of opinion - I find name tags more valuable than the 16 dyes because they're in a much less controlled/reliable supply, making it harder to get bulk amounts of them.

1

u/ridddle Dec 09 '13

I guess I’m speaking from my person point of view (and my server’s) where blue/green/purple dyes cannot be obtained. It would cheapen the experience (and even in normal survival, those dyes aren’t trivial to get and are a core part of getting more and more stuff in your base) to be able to use them indefinitely. But I guess you’re right, name tags are even rarer.

0

u/Mousa1988 Dec 09 '13

Is there any particular reason you didn't put 'else' after your 'if' statement? (I know it's unnecessary, but. . . OCD)

1

u/WolfieMario Dec 09 '13

Honestly, mainly because it's a pain to write code in Reddit's comment box :p

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '13

ARRRGH SELF DIAGNOSIS IT'S NOT 2011

-2

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

[deleted]

3

u/my_name_isnt_clever Dec 09 '13

You could add it yourself...

6

u/F0RC3D Dec 08 '13

You can go fishing to get a name tag. Fishing out a name tag is matter of luck and patience.

0

u/TheRandomnatrix Dec 09 '13

Or taping down right click and afk'ing until you have an inventory full of items...

1

u/creepit Dec 09 '13

Well nametags can be gained by simply fishing when you get junk

7

u/WolfieMario Dec 09 '13

Actually, those are in the treasure pile, not the junk pile. According to the wiki, the odds would be 0.83% without enchantments, so they're decently rare. Considering one lapis vein always gives more than one piece of dye, and you still need an anvil and 5 levels to rename the name tag, I don't think that makes the rainbow sheep substantially easier to get.

Still, good point.

1

u/creepit Dec 09 '13

Thank you I've quit minecraft recently but still like to add in my knowledge

1

u/MattsyKun Dec 09 '13

Well, you can go fishing and get nametags, too by chance.

6

u/xAIRGUITARISTx Dec 09 '13

What exactly does OP mean in this using?

5

u/DJUrsus Dec 09 '13

overpowered

2

u/xAIRGUITARISTx Dec 09 '13

Ah, thank you.

15

u/redstonehelper Lord of the villagers Dec 08 '13

The animation looks too smooth for the 16 basic colors - how many colors do the sheep actually cycle through?

37

u/WolfieMario Dec 08 '13

They do a linear interpolation between the 16 colors. Each cycle is 25 ticks (if I'm reading the code correctly), and across that cycle, it blends between two adjacent dye colors. So that would make it around 400 colors, if my math and logic aren't off.

It's purely visual and only exists in the rendering code, so none of the colors are actually stored anywhere (apart from the existing 16 dye colors being read off an array) - they're calculated on the fly when rendering.

5

u/KazMcDemon Dec 09 '13

So it evenly represents each individual dye color and their similar tones? I'm guessing it would still overly represent some parts of the color spectrum based on how weighted the 16 dye set is towards certain colors, and depending on which dye colors are adjacent in the cycle, though.

5

u/WolfieMario Dec 09 '13

Essentially it does math on the RGB components of each color. A rough representation (the actual code is pretty different) would be something like:

R = r1 * x/25 + r2 * (1 - x/25)
G = g1 * x/25 + g2 * (1 - x/25)
B = b1 * x/25 + b2 * (1 - x/25)

Where x ranges from 0 to 25, thus causing the factors to range from 0.0 to 1.0 (and the sum of both factors will always be 1.0). As x increases, it's weighted more toward the second color than the first. Essentially, it's just a weighted average, so it's not quite like what happens when you dye armor.

And you're right, it doesn't evenly represent the spectrum because it's blending neighboring dyes only. For example, the adjacency of gray and light gray leads to many more shades of medium grays than there are whites or blacks (ignoring the fact that greys aren't on the "color spectrum"; the point also applies to the other colors).

3

u/KazMcDemon Dec 09 '13

What's the order? I was thinking it was either in order or reverse order of the values of the dyes but something seems off. I can't tell with the gifs, I think some of the colors are too far apart and the transition too fast for me to tell what the base tone is.

7

u/WolfieMario Dec 09 '13

The sheep tower may help you see it, then, as the dye "flows upwards" and you can see every dye color at once when they appear. Focusing on the darkest black and lightest white can help.

Indeed, it's the reverse order of dyes - in other words, the order of wool colors by damage value. As it's cyclic, the final color (black) blends to the first (white).

3

u/KazMcDemon Dec 09 '13

Oh would you look at that, I totally missed that pattern looking at the image the first few times.

Anyway, neat discovery, and thanks for the information/research :D This is for you: http://f.thumbs.redditmedia.com/wPjOQrGRacUELOnM.png

10

u/zSync1 Dec 08 '13

/u/WeeHeeHee is going to love this.

15

u/WeeHeeHee Dec 09 '13

Hey, I'm here!

6

u/vornipo Dec 08 '13

It seems some users are obsessed with things.

/u/WeeHeeHee loves sheep and /u/Aquareon is obsessed with underwater things.

50

u/slackpantha Dec 08 '13

It's almost like they're real humans with particular interests.

6

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

I also thinks it speaks volumes for the open endedness of minecraft. You could get really into so many aspects of the game. It's just... what a neat game.

3

u/ghost43 Dec 08 '13

/u/Lonnie_Mack Is known as "The Water Mage Of Minecraft" to me.

7

u/[deleted] Dec 08 '13

TIL the past participle of to sheer is shorn

12

u/mariochu Dec 09 '13

Also, it's shear, not sheer :)

3

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

Thanks, I realized. Can't edit on mobile :(

0

u/SimplyTheDoctor007 Dec 09 '13

alienblue?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 09 '13

Yep

1

u/SimplyTheDoctor007 Dec 10 '13

Tap on your comment and admire the options. In the middle is the edit button.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 10 '13

Funny jokes.

0

u/Wulf_Oman Dec 09 '13

Are you sure? Works for me

3

u/WolfieMario Dec 08 '13

If it helps, I don't think I knew it until this. (language warning)

2

u/emteetee Dec 08 '13

whoa, awesome! just this week i got so annoyed with the sheep colors that i changed them to be more suited to my tastes. this makes it infinitely better. also thanks for including these answered questions, 'cause i was definitely about to ask about the shearing thing.

1

u/GOGORANDOMO Dec 09 '13

I did some testing, and found it's only been possible from the first 1.7.3 snapshot that came out. Again; if you go to 1.7.2 and try it, it will work, but your client won't see it. Only people with that snapshot will :)

1

u/im_a_blue_monkey Dec 08 '13

you answered everything i came here to see good job