Questions about Minecraft for single player.

[TheSwede]

Hi all,

Thought I ask before possibly buying this game. Been watching some youtube video's about minecraft and it looks fun, just wondering if you need to be connected to a populated minecraft server to play it or can you play it as a normal game on your computer ??

Also, seen that there is some mods to it, is any needed to iron out possible bugs etc, or is vanilla version just fine ?

Thank you for any and all inputs, much appreciated !

 

[Threepwood]

You can play without the internet as single player (or multiplayer with LAN) just like a normal game.

Just load it up and play most recent up to date version.

No need to mod at all to start with (if at all to be fair)




edit: If you enjoy pvp, I might start with 1.8.9 because none of the big pvp servers really work very well with 1.9, can play as 1.9 sure but it makes you easy meat against other players running 1.8.9.. but if not into pvp just start with most up to date version (1.9).

 

[TheSwede]

Thanks for the reply Threepwood !

No, not into the PvP part at all. Just wanted a light game, building some and exploring, sinking an hour here and there when in the mood, from what I seen it seem to be such a game. I just wasn't sure if could be played straight on my own PC since everything I found was about multiplayer gaming.

 

[Raumarik]

You can run some of the mod packs locally without having to build a whole server. FeedTheBeast being one of the better ones to add variety and additional items to the game.

 

[Threepwood]

No worries man, I think you will really like single player minecraft, it will fit exactly what you are looking for.

 

[TheSwede]

You can run some of the mod packs locally without having to build a whole server. FeedTheBeast being one of the better ones to add variety and additional items to the game.

Thanks, had a quick look at this mod but seems a bit to overwhelming to use from the start so just installed Chroma Hills a texture pack to make things look a bit better.

I started a game and dug a little mud hole where I started, just to be safe, next to the ocean and what looks a couple caves around. Done some exploring just around the starting point, but decided to find iron before starting to explore further away, so dug down and suddenly come upon a huge cavern system, now got loads of coal (300+) and iron (around 100, even after done iron armour and sword/pick axe) and found 2 gold ores (plus loads of other material after having digged down in the ground). The cavern still not fully explored though ! Starting to think if I should just leave it or finish exploring it before leaving to explored the surrounding areas.

It's rather addictive though, starting it up to just do an hour or so and suddenly 3 hours past.

 

[Reaper 392]

As a new player to Minecraft you will be quite happy with vanilla for some time. However, if you do decide to install a decent number of mods then the Feed The Beast (FTB) client is probably the best way to go because of how easy it makes adding/removing mods from the provided modpacks.

I'm not very well versed on the adventure side of minecraft modding (I usually go for a mixture of tech and magic), but here are a few mods you may be interested in installing. Most mods are for Minecraft version 1.7.10, but some have made the transition to 1.8.9.

Utility mods:

• NEI (Not Enough Items): Allows you to view recipes and usage for any item.
• NEI Resources: Adds information about where ores spawn to NEI
• WAILA (What Am I Looking At): Provides a tooltip giving useful information about the block you are looking at. WAILA Harvestability and WAWLA are often used with this mod for extra info.
• Inventory tweaks: Useful keyboard shortcuts for item moving, crafting, etc.
• FastCraft: Performance improvements for minecraft. Might not be compatible with Chroma hills though.

Tech mods that fit well with vanilla:

• Iron Chests: Chests with more space in them.
• Storage drawers: Interactive drawers to keep your most commonly used items within easy reach

Adventure/exploration mods (the few that I know and like):

• Twilight Forest: Adds the twilight forest dimension which includes lots of places and dungeons to explore and bosses to fight.
• Mystcraft: Generate your own custom dimensions with many varying features and properties.

There are usually lots of good youtube tutorials on how to use these mods, especially by Direwolf20. Also, there are a lot more mods out there but I didn't want to overwhelm you since you're new to minecraft

 

[TheSwede]

Thanks Reaper 392, had a look through those suggestions and think for now the Utility Mods and Adventure/Exploration mods will have to wait, got to start exploring vanilla some first. I'm still at the starting point, exploring a huge cavern, with others in close proximity.

Might install the Iron Chest mod, looks to be convenient to store all the dirt and sand that is starting to pile up for me.

Got a question for anyone though: As mentioned I found this huge cavern I still exploring, but shuld I keep doing that or move along ? Is there like hidden teasures to be found in caverns or just rock and minerals ?

 

[Spuj]

Got a question for anyone though: As mentioned I found this huge cavern I still exploring, but shuld I keep doing that or move along ? Is there like hidden teasures to be found in caverns or just rock and minerals ?

If you are lucky you may stumble on a dungeon which will have a mob spawner and 2 chests or an abandoned mineshaft which will have chests scattered about amongst other things but the chance of either spawning are relatively low.

You could keep mining down and see if you can find diamonds (you will need an Iron Pickaxe to mine them) however if I were you I would do stuff like start building a base that you can operate out of (get a bed down so you can sleep through the nights and if you die you will respawn at the point you last slept), get some farms going for food, explore the map more etc. Then you can start looking into the more technical side of things like going to the end, automated farms etc.

 

[TheSwede]

If you are lucky you may stumble on a dungeon which will have a mob spawner and 2 chests or an abandoned mineshaft which will have chests scattered about amongst other things but the chance of either spawning are relatively low.

You could keep mining down and see if you can find diamonds (you will need an Iron Pickaxe to mine them) however if I were you I would do stuff like start building a base that you can operate out of (get a bed down so you can sleep through the nights and if you die you will respawn at the point you last slept), get some farms going for food, explore the map more etc. Then you can start looking into the more technical side of things like going to the end, automated farms etc.

Thanks ! Good thing to know that it might be some "treasures" but that they are rare, so will see what I do then.

Yes I have made a little mud hut, with 2 large chests, oven, crafting bench and a bed. That's where I started mining down from, and have another set of chest, over and crafting down at the bottom where I found the cave. Found 2 pcs of gold, loads of Iron, after done armour and worktools with it have a bout 70pcs left. Have some cows and sheeps collected and wheat and some sugar canes done. Basically could say I have a little outpost done where I am right now. Since I am pretty deep, might go to deeper and dig outwards from the cave and see if I strike upon some luck with diamonds etc.

Thanks again !

 

[Spuj]

Thanks ! Good thing to know that it might be some "treasures" but that they are rare, so will see what I do then.

Yes I have made a little mud hut, with 2 large chests, oven, crafting bench and a bed. That's where I started mining down from, and have another set of chest, over and crafting down at the bottom where I found the cave. Found 2 pcs of gold, loads of Iron, after done armour and worktools with it have a bout 70pcs left. Have some cows and sheeps collected and wheat and some sugar canes done. Basically could say I have a little outpost done where I am right now. Since I am pretty deep, might go to deeper and dig outwards from the cave and see if I strike upon some luck with diamonds etc.

Thanks again !

If you are hunting for Diamonds, they only spawn at Y - 16 or lower so you have to go deep down before you find them. Be careful when mining for them as at these levels you run a higher risk of running into lava as you mine so take it easy and be preppared to block any lava you run in to.

A good tip is if you find a diamond vein, mine all the blocks around it first so you can find out how many veins of Diamonds there are (anything from 1-10 veins) and to ensure there is no lava around.

 

[montymint]

my magic level for diamonds seems to be 12

 

[TheSwede]

Thanks for your replies Spuj and montymint, I keep that in mind, especially about the lava being so close to diamonds !

If of interest took a couple screenies of the area, although exploration is part of Minecraft I take it, it's rather difficult (for me) to leave stuff behind, especially the caves which not have been fully explored yet.

Spoiler

Here is roughly where I started the game, part from all the sugar canes, was only a couple down there.

Where I built what I thought would be my temporarily mud hut, the column ontop was just so I could find my way there after running around a bit in the area.

The inside of the hut, just the basics and to the left is the stairs I dug for my first mine, which didn't end up being much of a mine when I stumbled upon the cave.

Which is right here, at level 38 but it's actually deeper then that, forgot to take a screen of it though. The cave spawns to left and right.

This is the right side of the cave, which I explored and as can be seen, it does go deeper.

Left side, still unexplored though. For all I know it might end just right around the corner.

Going back up, as can be seen, it's not quiet as temporarily looking right now though. Wanted arrows mostly but ended up picking up some lambs, cows and pigs as well. Although, still not found carrots so can't feed the pigs.

Where I am standing in the above picture is where I thought I build a proper little house instead of the mud hut, but then a creeper decided to try and sneak up on me and left this.

Seeing how deep it looked I had to carefully walk down and have a look, ended up even lower then the first cave started, at level 32. Just done a quick run through and it looks like another big cavern, so now have two caves to explore.

If this is how the rest of the game is, how do you find time to do any exploration ?!?

And just to finish it of with a night view, rather dark but does show the 2 lava falls not far from my location.

If anyone has any additional tips I be grateful to hear them. I do think I be exploring those two caves, dig down to level 12ish and see if I can find some diamonds then head out one direction and start exploring some though.

 

[Reaper 392]

Might install the Iron Chest mod, looks to be convenient to store all the dirt and sand that is starting to pile up for me.

If you are just looking to store lots and lots of one or two specific items, then Storage drawers, or possibly JABBA, would be a much better bet. The drawers/barrels can only store one item, but they can store hundreds of stacks of that item and you can click on them to store/retrieve the items inside them.

In your situation JABBA would probably be the most useful because the barrels display how many items are inside, whereas storage drawers rely on the tooltips from waila.

If you are looking to store lots of different items then obviously the iron chests mod is the way to go.

 

[ToejaM]

They ever do deals on keys for minecraft? Looking to pickup two copies this month after I finish nights but theyre £20 a pop near enough on the official site

 

[Orcvader]

Another note, you will also be eligible to claim the Minecraft Windows 10 edition from the Microsoft store for free as well, it's not as feature full as the main client, but multiplayer works well with iOS/Android.

 

[haaammit]

Thanks for your replies Spuj and montymint, I keep that in mind, especially about the lava being so close to diamonds !

If of interest took a couple screenies of the area, although exploration is part of Minecraft I take it, it's rather difficult (for me) to leave stuff behind, especially the caves which not have been fully explored yet.

Spoiler

Here is roughly where I started the game, part from all the sugar canes, was only a couple down there.

Where I built what I thought would be my temporarily mud hut, the column ontop was just so I could find my way there after running around a bit in the area.

The inside of the hut, just the basics and to the left is the stairs I dug for my first mine, which didn't end up being much of a mine when I stumbled upon the cave.

Which is right here, at level 38 but it's actually deeper then that, forgot to take a screen of it though. The cave spawns to left and right.

This is the right side of the cave, which I explored and as can be seen, it does go deeper.

Left side, still unexplored though. For all I know it might end just right around the corner.

Going back up, as can be seen, it's not quiet as temporarily looking right now though. Wanted arrows mostly but ended up picking up some lambs, cows and pigs as well. Although, still not found carrots so can't feed the pigs.

Where I am standing in the above picture is where I thought I build a proper little house instead of the mud hut, but then a creeper decided to try and sneak up on me and left this.

Seeing how deep it looked I had to carefully walk down and have a look, ended up even lower then the first cave started, at level 32. Just done a quick run through and it looks like another big cavern, so now have two caves to explore.

If this is how the rest of the game is, how do you find time to do any exploration ?!?

And just to finish it of with a night view, rather dark but does show the 2 lava falls not far from my location.

If anyone has any additional tips I be grateful to hear them. I do think I be exploring those two caves, dig down to level 12ish and see if I can find some diamonds then head out one direction and start exploring some though.

Looks like you're having fun! One tip if I may - always carry a water bucket on your hotbar in case of falls into lava, being set on fire by skellies and also for going down and back out of ravines

I personally branch mine at lvl 11 as that's just above the lava lakes, and diamonds are most common between lvls 5-12.

You may want to think about using a minimap - I see you're using 1.8 so there's plenty out there - I'd recommend Voxelmap. It will map the land as you explore, meaning you will never get lost! Have fun and enjoy exploring

If you ever feel like getting involved with multipler then the server I play on is fairly friendly and also not too busy - http://cooltable.org/minecraft although we are on 1.9.

 

[TheSwede]

Reaper 392 - Thanks, it be one or the other, got to see when I settle down somewhere what I pick.

Orcvader - Thanks, didn't know that, I see if I can do that though my Laptop then, since that has Win 10 on it already.

haammit - YUp, it is fun indeed. And thanks for the tip, I do have a water bucket with me but not on the hotbar though so will make place for it. Still clearing out the caves so not got that far down yet, just doing a bit playing here and there or would done sooner. I'l have a look at the minimap, or I be adventurous and try without to see if I can keep my bearings anyway !

Now, got another question. Can I run Minecraft from both my PC and Laptop, just moving the safe file ? And can it be played without internet connection ?

 

[james.miller]

Yes and yes to your last questions, swede.

Instead of FTB which tends to throw everything and the kitchen sink at you, I'd keep it light with the mods to start with. I'd start with maybe forge, which is a needed for just about every other mod out there to function, voxelmap or xaeros minimap and MrCrayFish's furniture mod which adds a load of useful content

 

[Zethor]

Terraria single player is much better than Minecraft.