New Release! (BTW V3.58)

[Zhil]

Thanks for another update! :)

Now I can stop juggling two jars again.

[SgtChuckle]

-Removed all trace of the juicy stuff I'm working on for the April 10th release, so don't bother looking :)

D: Dangit Flower, why do you have to be so smart? I was hoping that if you updated for 1.2.4 you'd forget to take out your WIP code and I could data-mine to figure out what you were planning....

[FlowerChild]

Thanks guys! I'm definitely feeling a little better about this release today than I was last night. Glad so many people appreciate it :)

D: Dangit Flower, why do you have to be so smart? I was hoping that if you updated for 1.2.4 you'd forget to take out your WIP code and I could data-mine to figure out what you were planning....

Hehe...well, when I started adding the new content I knew I'd likely have to put out a few small releases during the month, so I developed a system of isolating and clearly labeling everything that would need to be ripped out to do that. Even so, I was expecting it to take me longer to do it than it actually did. 10 minutes tops :)

[morvelaira]

FlowerChild: He out-efficients himself.

[Imskel]

Thanks guys! I'm definitely feeling a little better about this release today than I was last night. Glad so many people appreciate it :)

I may just hunt the forums and may have at times posted some stupid ideas but FW I for one would greatly miss BTW if it were to vanish.

[Graphite]

Hehe...well, when I started adding the new content I knew I'd likely have to put out a few small releases during the month, so I developed a system of isolating and clearly labeling everything that would need to be ripped out to do that. Even so, I was expecting it to take me longer to do it than it actually did. 10 minutes tops :)

Not sure how well the codebase for a mod can be shoved into a version control system. You'd be able to just create a separate branch for the secret stuff, then update the trunk whenever needed with the smaller updates. Might even help with the regular updates to the minecraft codebase, now that I think of it.

[FlowerChild]

Not sure how well the codebase for a mod can be shoved into a version control system. You'd be able to just create a separate branch for the secret stuff, then update the trunk whenever needed with the smaller updates. Might even help with the regular updates to the minecraft codebase, now that I think of it.

Nah man, I suspect it would be more trouble than it would be worth. No way I could see automatic merging working with the vanilla changes as they are, and being an individual working on a code-base makes source-control total overkill.

While it's a fairly archaic way of doing things in terms of modern development practices, my experiences early on in my career with manual merging have definitely served me well as a modder. I'm extremely anal about going over code-changes line by line, and while that may result in me taking longer to update than most (at least in terms of time invested), I think it results in BTW having relatively few bugs when MC updates in comparison to other mods.

[Graphite]

As I said, I have no idea how well the (decompiled) minecraft codebase could be put into a version-control system, so I'll defer to your expertise there. I only had my first peek at the code yesterday, so I'm definitely no expert there.

I'm not sure whether I entirely agree about source-control being overkill even for an individual developer. I've had plenty of "crap, I wish I could remember how I did this back then..." moments in my life. Not to mention that comparing the working copy to the trunk can be a very effective way to check whether you didn't make any accidental modifications or left in test-code before committing the next batch of changes. It even tends to help me stay focused, as I will try to get nice clean commits on a per-feature basis (that's a matter of personal discipline though. I tend to get a bit distracted at tim- ooh, a shiny!)

Anyhow, during the time I've played this mod and read these forums, I've definitely come to admire your attention to detail and accuracy both from a professional and personal point of view. As such, I'm inclined to say that you should definitely stick to what works best for you. I was mostly just curious whether you'd even considered the option.

[FlowerChild]

I'm very torn here.

On the one hand, I'm with everyone else here in thanking your for your hard work. I'm filled with respect for your ability to update quickly, identify bugs, code well, and the like. I too squee when you do an update, because even if you aren't adding features yourself, it allows me to use the added features of whatever the latest vMC build is.

On the other hand, I'm greatly saddened by 1.2.4 itself. This has (almost) nothing to do with your update. I simply feel that the different color woods is a horribly implimented feature. It makes me angry, because it's a good idea I want to like, but the execution is terrible and It makes my life harder rather than easier. The fact that only the basic wood block has these colors means that I can't, practically, make use of anything but the standard color wood for all but the most basic of builds. So the end result is not that I have a new freedom of design, but that 3 of the 4 types of trees have become useless to me. This has all the stink of a feature thrown in to appease the crowd, with little thought put into it. New features shouldn't be included in bug-fix releases. They need to be in dev snapshots first.

The "almost" is because Bloodwood giving off-color wood now makes bloodwood far less appealing, for the reasons described. I know it's an aesthetic issue and you don't typically care about those. But If I have an automated bloodwood farm, I'm not going to be able to match the wood that comes out of it with all the other wood-type blocks such as stairs, half-slabs and the various cut mouldings from the saw. Thankfully, I can cut them in half with a saw then glue them back together to get a normal wood block. So thumbs up for providing a way to "de-color" wood. I still think it's less than optimal to embrace this so called feature until it's more mature.

Also, demand for variant colored wood half-slabs and stairs is pretty high, and will almost certainly be pushing a new release soon. The only good that can come out of this is if it also pushes up the block id increase.

Wanted to wake up a bit before responding to this one :)

Yeah, I hear you man. At present, it's at best half-implemented into the game and kinda came completely out of left field. IMO, they should have waited for the increased blockID limit before doing this so they could have done it "right" and provided all the wood-block variants that it really necessitates. As is, it just kinda feels like it was included because they felt obliged to provide some kind of new content with the release rather than just bug-fixes. I have a similar feeling about the new sandstone blocks, like they were really intended to be part of new generated structures that they didn't have time to get in. I even noticed that there's a weird recipe lingering in the game involving 4 smooth sandstone blocks in the crafting grid generating 4 of the same which suggests to me that this is supposed to be part of some kind of greater functionality (I had mistakingly thought that was the way to make the engraved blocks originally). Then there's that weird circular-pattern stone-block that is only useable in creative mode, which is another odd one.

As for all this pushing another release, I sincerely doubt it. News over the past couple of days seems to indicate that they're not planning on releasing anything more until 1.3 along with the server-side of the mod API. Considering that they're only meeting to *plan* what they're going to do there, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised (and am currently expecting) if it takes at least a month for us to see anything new out of Mojang, and even then, I wouldn't be surprised if that release doesn't include the increased block ID limit. They currently seem to be all over the place with regards to what they're working on at any given time, even more so than when Notch was at the helm IMO.

Anyways, perhaps you are right in that I should have held off on coloring the Blood Wood, but hopefully the method you described for decoloring the wood will tide you guys over until Mojang fleshes this feature out further.

[FlowerChild]

As I said, I have no idea how well the (decompiled) minecraft codebase could be put into a version-control system, so I'll defer to your expertise there. I only had my first peek at the code yesterday, so I'm definitely no expert there.

I'm not sure whether I entirely agree about source-control being overkill even for an individual developer. I've had plenty of "crap, I wish I could remember how I did this back then..." moments in my life. Not to mention that comparing the working copy to the trunk can be a very effective way to check whether you didn't make any accidental modifications or left in test-code before committing the next batch of changes. It even tends to help me stay focused, as I will try to get nice clean commits on a per-feature basis (that's a matter of personal discipline though. I tend to get a bit distracted at tim- ooh, a shiny!)

Anyhow, during the time I've played this mod and read these forums, I've definitely come to admire your attention to detail and accuracy both from a professional and personal point of view. As such, I'm inclined to say that you should definitely stick to what works best for you. I was mostly just curious whether you'd even considered the option.

Well, out of the 15 years I spent in the industry, I'd say I spent about the first 5 working on large-scale projects without source control, and the last 10 working with. The thing is, during those first 5 (and the years preceding that as a hobbyist) I developed personal coding practices tailored towards that kind of environment that have stuck with me since (large-scale manual merges will make you real anal about coding standards REAL quick). So, it's just a natural part of how I code now, for me to clearly label any changes I make to a code-base with surrounding comments for example, and probably a ton of other more subtle things that I do along the way to make the manual merging process easier for me.

As a result, I don't think there's a single time during the development of BTW where I've had a "damn it, I wish I was using source control" moment, despite having spent most of my career using it.

From my perspective then, the effort of setting up such an environment for myself seems to far outweigh the occasional effort I have to make to do things like spending ten minutes to copy my source code to a separate directory and rip out the new content I've been working on. Especially since like I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm really a game-developer at heart as opposed to a programmer, and dealing with that kind of setup work just feels like a total drag to me.

As for being able to look back at what I've done for reference, I make copies of the source for every version of BTW that I release, so I actually do have access to that kind of code history should I require it (although I very rarely do). Again, just something that is part of my personal practices that minimizes the need for source control.

Like you said though, it largely comes down to what you're most comfortable with. Without my past experience of working in environments where manual merging was the norm, I'd probably feel very differently about it.

[MoRmEnGiL]

Oh, wow, thanks for the de-coloring tip guys, that is a life-saver! My treefarms always tend to be birch, and while I think I like birch planks the most out of the new ones, there are all the issues everyone has already mentioned above.

I for one will not whine for the half-assed last minute inclusion though. (much).

They are constantly under pressure to give people new stuff, while on the other hand have a ton of work to do on bugs and the api etc. I would not want to be in their shoes frankly, balancing the work load in a way that keeps the players happy is NOT an easy task, and how you compromise is a tough choice.. Sure they could do better, but there are far bigger problems than non matching blocks to worry about.

[obl1terat1ion]

Grats on the update man, great work as always! :)

[orangeweaver]

Oh man ... I think I just broke my save. Forgot to update modloader so I was getting a black screen when loading the map (I always forget to update that as well, damn) so I loaded it up w/ a clean 1.2.4 before loading BTW so all of my BTW related blocks disappeared.

Is there a way to fix that or just use a backup save? I think my last save was quite some time ago, before I got my dung farm going, kiln, crucible, anvil ... etc D:

[rhacer]

Thank you very much FC!

[FlowerChild]

Oh man ... I think I just broke my save. Forgot to update modloader so I was getting a black screen when loading the map (I always forget to update that as well, damn) so I loaded it up w/ a clean 1.2.4 before loading BTW so all of my BTW related blocks disappeared.

Is there a way to fix that or just use a backup save? I think my last save was quite some time ago, before I got my dung farm going, kiln, crucible, anvil ... etc D:

Unfortunately, you're fucked man. Once that data is deleted it is gone forever. Unloaded chunks might not have been affected, but that's it.

I'd recommend ALWAYS backing up save games before updating to a new version or doing anything at all to your .jar.

[TheAnarchitect]

Oh, wow, thanks for the de-coloring tip guys, that is a life-saver! My treefarms always tend to be birch, and while I think I like birch planks the most out of the new ones, there are all the issues everyone has already mentioned above.

I for one will not whine for the half-assed last minute inclusion though. (much).

They are constantly under pressure to give people new stuff, while on the other hand have a ton of work to do on bugs and the api etc. I would not want to be in their shoes frankly, balancing the work load in a way that keeps the players happy is NOT an easy task, and how you compromise is a tough choice.. Sure they could do better, but there are far bigger problems than non matching blocks to worry about.

See, I'm of the opinion that a half-assed new feature is worse than no feature at all, both in terms of gameplay functionality and in terms of appeasing the whining masses. I think we had all of 6 hours of "Woo! New Wood gives me Wood!" before "Why no new wood stairs?" started coming in.

But yeah, Better than Wolves: Compensating for vanilla's half-assedness since 2011.

[orangeweaver]

Unfortunately, you're fucked man. Once that data is deleted it is gone forever. Unloaded chunks might not have been affected, but that's it.

I'd recommend ALWAYS backing up save games before updating to a new version or doing anything at all to your .jar.

Was really worried that was the case. I started panicking when I loaded the field ans my entire hemp field was gone.

I really need to get better w/ backing up my saves, especially w/ how bad I can be when updating things haha. Well it looks like I have a lot of work to do. Going to throw my last save file in and begin digging out a dung farm.

[TheGuy]

I always load up a junk world to make sure it updated correctly so that I don't ruin my real world. But yeah, you should back up as well.

[ct08857]

cant wait for the secret update

[Battosay]

The first thing I do, before starting the Update process, is making a back-up of my saves, and my bin.
I'm sure you'll do that from now on ;)

[MoRmEnGiL]

It's as simple as a rightclick > add to rar every time you stop playing. I keep multiple backups myself, both locally and on my dropbox

See, I'm of the opinion that a half-assed new feature is worse than no feature at all, both in terms of gameplay functionality and in terms of appeasing the whining masses. I think we had all of 6 hours of "Woo! New Wood gives me Wood!" before "Why no new wood stairs?" started coming in.

Eh, as I said, I'm not gonna whine about this one, it is kinda minor compared to delaying the id thing or fixing annoying bugs..

Besides, sometimes when vMC "forgets" some blocks, FC steps in with interesting results, netherbrick style ;] Not applicable for the planks but you get my point.

[orangeweaver]

The first thing I do, before starting the Update process, is making a back-up of my saves, and my bin.
I'm sure you'll do that from now on ;)

Yeah for sure. I'm really bad about remembering to do it but I lost a good week or two of work which is a bummer :(

To be clear to everyone though, I'm not blaming FC or the mod ... I just goofed up the install and am really bad at remembering back ups. From now on I think I will be much better about it though haha. Been working all day on my world and have made a lot of progress.

[DreamsofFury]

As this is just for annoying cats and colored wood I think I will opt for sleep after a long day of work instead of staying up all night and getting to work late lol.

Chances are I will forget it was updated anyways, course this would happen while I'm at work and decide to drop Mo'Creatures as they take too long to update thus me not updating for ages since I love the added "life" in the world....anyone wanna PM me a nice replacement I could use so I can update tomorro?

Good work as always Flower, most sleep I have had to fight to not lose in years.

[mr_spoonylegs]

Hey Flower child....... if we ever met in person...........would you grant me the honor of...............









letting me touch your leg?

[darahalian]

The "almost" is because Bloodwood giving off-color wood now makes bloodwood far less appealing, for the reasons described. I know it's an aesthetic issue and you don't typically care about those. But If I have an automated bloodwood farm, I'm not going to be able to match the wood that comes out of it with all the other wood-type blocks such as stairs, half-slabs and the various cut mouldings from the saw. Thankfully, I can cut them in half with a saw then glue them back together to get a normal wood block. So thumbs up for providing a way to "de-color" wood. I still think it's less than optimal to embrace this so called feature until it's more mature.

TBH, it always felt a little weird for me that you got perfectly normal wood planks from bloodwood, considering what it was and everything. Having the planks that come from it be different than usual is a good thing imo. And since you can create stairs and half-slabs from mouldings and panels etc., you're not really losing too much building potential.