The dev for the new version of EBXL is Exterminator Jeff, the creator of underground biomes, and he plans to merge the two. I do hope he keeps a standalone version available for those of us who aren't using ExtraBiomesXL
ExtraBiomesXL vs. Biomes O Plenty vs. ? (for 1.6x+)
- Thread starter Bigglesworth
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I haven't decided yet what will happen to Underground Biomes once EBXL v4 is released. If enough people want it as a standalone then that shouldn't be too hard to do. I hope everyone will give the new version of EBXL a try though as it will be very different to v3. We are completely changing the way world generation works with less emphasis on biomes as a single entity. Instead biome will be just one of a number of factors that influence world generation. Hopefully we'll have a sneak preview to show soon of what we mean!
I was actually searching for you earlier today; looked in MC Forums to see who the mod team/author was (I did this for a number of mods) then searched on twitter for those names. I found BoP's author and TwiForest's this way. So yeah, I would be interested
Sweet here it is https://twitter.com/ExterminatorJef! Now I just need something to say...
teasers about upcoming updates, screenies, generally whatever you can fit into that assinine character limit is all great
teasers about upcoming updates, screenies, generally whatever you can fit into that assinine character limit is all great
Awesome I'm sure I'll get the hang of it! Hopefully there will be a teaser very soon
Followed! I'm really curious how v4 is going to turn out. The only things I've ever really enjoyed about EBXL are the redwood forests because of the large wood textures that are possible, and how the cracked sand looks nice with the red cobble, promoting the idea of searching for both biomes. The concepts being thrown around for v4 sound pretty interesting though!
BoP has even more biomes though, I think. So that will continue to be a problem. See, this is why I think the big hurdle that needs to be overcome isn't quantity or even variety of biomes. Both those are nice, but the biggest thing is distribution. In other words, being able to know "this is a jungle, so there's a higher chance of a desert biome spawning nearby than a snow biome" etc. Or "I'm near spawn, so chances are higher that I'll find normal looking biomes, but if I travel a while, it becomes more likely that I'll encounter totally crazy ones." and so on.
I'm not sure what the barrier is for doing this. I suspect it probably needs vanilla Minecraft to improve its biome distribution first, perhaps?
We're using a custom world generator for EBXL v4 which means doing this is possible. The biggest challenge is figuring out how to do it in the context of chunk by chunk generation. I suppose the obvious thing to do would be to switch the technique that figures out what biome to place from being random to being controlled by a global temperature layer. We are actually using a global temperature layer to create temperature variation within a biome so I think this could also be used to do this. Currently when placing biomes it just randomly chooses a biome so if instead it's only allowed to choose one that has a temperature within an allowed range then this would definitely be possible!
I can't believe I never thought of that!
Okay, if you make biome placement make sense, then I am definitely using EBXL over BoP.
I'm definitely interested in EBXL 4 and would give it a spin when it comes out. I would also be interested in a standalone version of underground biomes (like what we have now
). Also thanks for popping your head in the forums here, to let us know what's going on.
This is what Terrain Control does currently I believe. Its seriously simple and powerful. Just need to add a temperature ID attached to each biome, Like desert type biome range 7-9 or nether/lava/volcano 9-10, then set some snow biome to 1-2 and an ice biome to 0 and have a method that has a set temp range that the random number gen can choose from for neighboring biomes. So set to a range of 2, no ice biome would ever be placed next to anything with a warmth ID of 2 or more. Just other 1 and other 2 biomes. Also having boarder biomes that enclose other biomes and are used as sort of a blur layer that extend the range value 1 or 2 so an ice biomes could have slightly warmer biome relatively close, but also not be abruptly right next to it. This is like a beach surrounding almost any other biome if it meets a ocean biome, just applied in other places to add smoother gradients to the world. Biomes should all have 'type' IDs attached as well, because biomes even in the same warmth catagory can be wildly different, and it can look off unless same-type biomes have a higher priority of spawning with each other. I think this would allow for smaller biome sizes while making the world seem even larger and more seamless and feel like its not a bunch of biomes, but one massive very intricate and detailed single biome.
Forgot to mention Biome island types. These are great for creating certain mountain structures that have a change of appearing within a given biomes. Makes it easy to create complex and layered biomes. Mini palm-tree paradise spring biome complete with deep green grass inside a desert biome? Make it happen. Make ALL the things happen
If people want to see the type of biomes (with no detail added yet) Im wanting, have a look through here http://kartwork.de/tutorial/html/index.html Dear Mojang: Hire this guy. Twice
Warning, you will be spoiled. Minecraft is much more capable than the mostly simple biomes we are used to. This includes BoP
Warning, you will be spoiled. Minecraft is much more capable than the mostly simple biomes we are used to. This includes BoP
We're actually building v4 with Terrain Control as a base! I didn't realise it already handled temperatures which is cool. Using Terrain Control also means we can do all sorts of stuff that would normally require modifying base classes and it is basically the full world generator recreated. Thanks for posting the link to that guys biomes! Those could be really helpful in finding clever ways of generating cool stuff
Yup, TG is great, but what is really going to matter is how its used. Its a powerfull tool, and like photoshop, some people might put lens flair coming out of their cats ass, while others can create awesome digital paintings. No one wants lensflaircatsass biomes if you get what im saying here! ;D
Have you guys contacted people like mysource over at the TG forums? It would be really great to get some of those creative minds contributing to the project to really utilize what EBXL4 will have to offer.
Well, MC is just the renderer, what it can do is all down to the users and crunching those numbers. For example, a while back I was doing something similar in Visual Basic 6, I wanted random textures for planets, but I wanted them to be dynamic. Couldn't find anything online that would do what I wanted, so I had a go myself. Not perfect, but close enough for what I wanted it for, and nice to adjust the settings to see a planet change from ice age to cooked wasteland.
Those screenshots of that Testworld are impressive (love that that person is using Misa textures
)
One suggestion though is don't blur the biome edges all the time. Have a config setting to control it, sometimes it's nice to have conflicting biomes next to each other. It does happen in the real world due to rain shadows, atititude and many other factors.
I saw also mention somewhere about making it so that the further north or south you go (towards minecrafts poles), the colder it will get. That's good, but if this happens, make it configurable.
Those screenshots of that Testworld are impressive (love that that person is using Misa textures
) One suggestion though is don't blur the biome edges all the time. Have a config setting to control it, sometimes it's nice to have conflicting biomes next to each other. It does happen in the real world due to rain shadows, atititude and many other factors.
I saw also mention somewhere about making it so that the further north or south you go (towards minecrafts poles), the colder it will get. That's good, but if this happens, make it configurable.