[CHALLENGE] (v4.3-ish 6/7/18) Refugee to Regent Kingdom Building Challenge

[TomeWyrm]

So THAT'S why Waila crashed when I updated it! I just downgraded back to the older versions of NEI and Waila because I updated them and they crashed. SOP for me in cases of "add/update mod = crash" is to undo the change unless there's something I really want from the updated version or new mod.

Sigh, it's getting to the point in my modpacks that I think I need to learn to program java so I can add all those desperate features from mods in my personal pack that I only use like 1-2 things and the rest of the features just sit there unused. RFTools, Practicalities, BurpTech, Binnie's Mods (Did b-dew ever get around to giving us the ability to add new hives via config/json in Gendustry?), Random Things (Though that almost doesn't count)... I'm sure there's more mods that I criminally under-utilize that if I were a modder I could simply add into my personal tweak mod (much like Random Things, BurpTech, and the old Extra Utilities). Which would also likely cut down the total number of mods in my packs from 200+ down into the 100 range... or maybe even lower!

 

[The Mobius Archives]

Hey everyone, here's the latest update in my challenge. I figured it was time to get started on some technology so I go looking for a good spot for a Thermal Expansion tech outlier.

Spoiler

(I can't stand Wither Cats!)

Yeah me too (see video).

 

[Senseidragon]

Heh. Wither Cats 2, R2R Players 0.

I think they hit like trucks when they enrage. How beefy was that armor you were wearing when you died? It seemed like it took at least a couple hits.

 

[McJty]

So THAT'S why Waila crashed when I updated it! I just downgraded back to the older versions of NEI and Waila because I updated them and they crashed. SOP for me in cases of "add/update mod = crash" is to undo the change unless there's something I really want from the updated version or new mod.

Sigh, it's getting to the point in my modpacks that I think I need to learn to program java so I can add all those desperate features from mods in my personal pack that I only use like 1-2 things and the rest of the features just sit there unused. RFTools, Practicalities, BurpTech, Binnie's Mods (Did b-dew ever get around to giving us the ability to add new hives via config/json in Gendustry?), Random Things (Though that almost doesn't count)... I'm sure there's more mods that I criminally under-utilize that if I were a modder I could simply add into my personal tweak mod (much like Random Things, BurpTech, and the old Extra Utilities). Which would also likely cut down the total number of mods in my packs from 200+ down into the 100 range... or maybe even lower!

RFTools isn't that big (yet) so I don't think it really is a problem if you underuse that. BTW, what features are you using out of RFTools?

 

[splashblue]

As a quick update to my experiments with different mods, I absolutely love what MinePainter can do, but oh man does it start to lag like crazy if it starts to conflict with minecraft rendering. In my initial tests, I wasn't seeing any lag at all, and was totally impressed by what you could do with vanilla blocks and one of the three chisels the mod provides. It was sooo cool.

But then I took the chisel to a piece of dirt a little ways underground (where it was a bit shadowed based on time of day) and I tried to see if it worked there too. Game froze for about 2-3 seconds any time my view crossed a sculpted block. Nowhere else was the lag present. But every time I looked at a sculpted block ANYWHERE after sculpting that one dirt block in the shadows, it would freeze like crazy. This appears to be a client-side freeze, not server-side, but it is annoying enough that you'd regret installing the mod while this issue exists.

Alas, it will have to go on the shelf for now.

I then noticed that @Reika updated his set of mods recently, and I figured I'd rip out the usual Thermal Expansion / IndustrialCraft / Buildcraft type stuff and see what happened if I went straight up Rotary/Reactor/ElectriCraft.

Unexpectedly, things went boom.

Waila (v1.5.8a-1.7.10) when installed with DragonAPI (1.7.10 V3d) crashed my client every time I looked at something that would cause the Waila tooltip to show. It would crash pointing at Waila, saying something about a tabPattern not being right. As soon as DragonAPI was removed, things went smoothly.

Not wanting to give up quite so easily, I just swapped out the mcp/mobius/waila/api subdirectory in DragonAPI for the one in Waila v1.5.8a and so far everything works peachy-keen. I don't know that this solution is *the* solution for the problem, so I would strongly advise waiting for either Reika or Professor Mobius to tweak things on whichever end is most appropriate to tweak.

Edit: Reported this on Reika's mcforums thread here.

I found another mod (or set of mods) called MC+ Mods from Andykuo1. Some are a bit oddball and I didn't bother with or disabled entirely, but a couple of them were kinda neat, particularly from the R2R challenge perspective.

One example: The Firepit. two pieces of gravel and two sticks will get you a firepit placeable block. Place it on the ground and repeatedly right-click it with a stick until it lights. Feed it additional fuel as you would a furnace and you have an instant, low-tech furnace that gives off light as you would expect. If you (or anything else) walks through the firepit, you catch on fire as one would expect. If the fire pit goes out, you have to re-light it by right clicking repeatedly again to get it going again. It's pretty nifty, and I think fits well within the parameters of the dirt/wood stages of the challenge.

From the Random Things mod by lumien, I enabled "Hardcore Darkness" -- for some it may be annoying, but I thought it was neat. It just removes the minimal amount of lighting minecraft still provided even when everything was supposed to be completely dark. This *feels* dark.

Random Things also provides for the really fast leaf decay that I kinda prefer. Sure, it makes some mod tools moot, but I really don't enjoy shearing leaves all that much, nor do I care to hang around waiting for leaves to despawn so I can get the last couple of saplings or wood blocks hanging in mid-air.

Another thing provided by Random Things that I like is the Blood Moon, although I had to tweak the frequency down a bit. My daughter HATES the invasion-like number of mobs that spawn during a Blood Moon, but I think it adds a bit of challenge without going completely Ender-Zoo crazy. (I can't stand Wither Cats!)

The Improving Minecraft mod by pifou92000 is working out quite nicely. I did turn off some of the enchantments and other bits that seemed too easy though. I'm still testing the wild animals part -- I did have one instance where all the animals I was breeding despawned which wasn't cool, but I need to verify it is actually a mod problem and not a screwup on my part.

Just some opinions on this:

For me, the most important part missing in already existing modpacks is the villagers. That was why I added one of the already existing villager mods to spawn them.
This, combined with a quest/checklist system would be the "core" functionality I would expect from a R2R pack. Actually, it would be amazing to combine them together... Let's say there is a repeatable quest that spawns a villager every time you finish it, and "special roles" spawn once you gather more specific resources.

About Chisel/other aesthetic mods: Not too important, but nice to have.
World Gen mods can add a lot to a building pack, my personal favourite is BoP + ATG like it is in Monster.

And please keep your Reika route with the tech mods. I always wanted to use rotarycraft etc.

Aaaand last but not least: Firepits are awesome!

 

[Senseidragon]

Custom NPCs by Noppes is really my go-to mod when I want villagers. Letting you define jobs and roles for villagers and even letting them do some simple guard duty can add a lot of flavor to the game as long as you don't go nuts with their stats. If I could set something up with spawn eggs for pre-defined Custom NPCs I'd be a happy camper.

I'm really liking the Reika route so far. There's still a bit of an issue with Waila, but I'm sure that'll get worked out pretty soon. It doesn't want to fully cooperate on showing me correct stats/damage values when I'm trying to add lubricant in some cases. Just a visual issue though, not a biggie.

As for worldgen, I recently tried adding one called ClimateControl that seemed promising but after a few eventual crashes that pointed back to it, I had to pull the mod out. BetterRain seems like a trivial mod, but after using it, I have really become used to having it. The mod replaces the ANNOYING full-rain sound and effects with a much more pleasing rain sound with a lower default volume even in a full storm, and rain is no longer on or off, it can vary in intensity from light sprinkles to heavy thunderstorms. The visual effects also scale based on intensity. For someone doing Let's Plays, I think it would be very welcome and less immersion-breaking than a rain muffler.

I've almost settled in to a tolerable peace with Botania. I like the mod and what it can bring to the gameplay, but I find the flower-spam and the reproduction mechanics to be really irksome. By reducing the frequency of flowers and using MineTweaker to provide an alternate means of getting the seeds, I think I'm finally content with that mod.

Blood Magic is growing on me. At first I didn't much care for the concept, but it isn't too bad once you get used to things and isn't quite as pervasive as AM2 was. It's a nice alternative to going the Thaumcraft route, even though nothing stops you from playing both. I just like my magic mods in smaller doses and remaining purely optional.

Last night I added Erebus, I'll be checking that out today to see if it stays or not. The Phoenix Team seemed to like it enough to include in their pack, so that was a good enough reason for me to check it out.

and yes, I love them firepits. That and the Hardcore Darkness from Random Things makes caving or venturing out at night a real experience. I'm not evil enough (yet) to turn on Zombie Awareness to let mobs take out my light sources though. That's just more than my daughter is willing to handle.

 

[Senseidragon]

RFTools isn't that big (yet) so I don't think it really is a problem if you underuse that. BTW, what features are you using out of RFTools?

I also added RFTools last night, with the intent on checking out the Dimlets soon. If it works out, I may wean myself away from Mystcraft for a bit of a change of pace. Tracking down desired pages in Mystcraft can be a beast sometimes.

 

[McJty]

I also added RFTools last night, with the intent on checking out the Dimlets soon. If it works out, I may wean myself away from Mystcraft for a bit of a change of pace. Tracking down desired pages in Mystcraft can be a beast sometimes.

Let me know how things work out or if you have any suggestions and (hopefully not) bug reports

 

[The Mobius Archives]

Heh. Wither Cats 2, R2R Players 0.

I think they hit like trucks when they enrage. How beefy was that armor you were wearing when you died? It seemed like it took at least a couple hits.

Unenchanted steel. I'm only in the redstone expansion after all.

 

[The Mobius Archives]

BetterRain seems like a trivial mod, but after using it, I have really become used to having it. The mod replaces the ANNOYING full-rain sound and effects with a much more pleasing rain sound with a lower default volume even in a full storm, and rain is no longer on or off, it can vary in intensity from light sprinkles to heavy thunderstorms. The visual effects also scale based on intensity. For someone doing Let's Plays, I think it would be very welcome and less immersion-breaking than a rain muffler.

That sounds like a great change to rain. I just downloaded it to check it out myself.

I've almost settled in to a tolerable peace with Botania. I like the mod and what it can bring to the gameplay, but I find the flower-spam and the reproduction mechanics to be really irksome. By reducing the frequency of flowers and using MineTweaker to provide an alternate means of getting the seeds, I think I'm finally content with that mod.

I'm curious as to what your Botania settings are. I tuned my settings down to

    # The density of each flower patch generataed, defaults to 16, the lower the number, the less each patch will have.
    I:worldgen.flower.density=4

    # The quanity of flower patches to generate in the world, defaults to 2, the lower the number the less patches geenrate.
    I:worldgen.flower.quantity=1

 

[TomeWyrm]

RFTools isn't that big (yet) so I don't think it really is a problem if you underuse that. BTW, what features are you using out of RFTools?

The dimension stuff mostly. Mystcraft only seems currently useful to me without instability, and I don't like neutering a mod just to use it. With RFTools and WarpBook, the only thing I'm missing is portals (simply because portals. I'm aware of EP3. Don't like it. Not going into why right now). Most of the time I just want a flat world for mining in, maybe some extra dungeons or something. Dedicated (chunkloaded) Void ages are great for things you want to use but don't want killing your FPS at base; like say a ReactorCraft Tokamak, or even the "humble" infusion altar with its inevitable large cluster of stability enhancers.

I doubt I'll ever use the power relay. Most of the time I use the Railcraft/Buildcraft method of "keep power running all the time" with some form of renewable or not-horrifically-tedious power like organic matter (food, charcoal, biogas) or nuclear.
There are more than 5 different auto-crafting methods in the pack I'm using, Extra Utiltiies, RFTools, Thermal Expansion, Logistics Pipes, Applied Energistics, ComputerCraft; and that's just what I can name off the top of my head. Unfortunately that means I'll likely never use the crafter.
The scanner? I have a very specific and reasonably comprehensive sorting style that I use before I get LP/AE setup. Which means I usually have inventory SPACE issues, not problems finding stuff
The two RF monitors? THOSE I might use. I tend to use a redstone controllable storage-bank-based power "buffer" though (EnderIO, TE) which, because I've ued them for so long I tend to just utilize. Once I need to get more complicated than a binary toggle, I'll probably use CC, but I can actually see myself using the RF monitoring stuff.
I haven't really seen or played with your teleportation or shielding yet. Though the shielding looks nearly as useful as (pre-Calclavia) MMFS forcefields... maybe more, maybe less

Your power generation... It's pretty powerful, but by the time I need that much power? I'm going to build something nuclear. I usually go from charcoal, to lava/fuel in the mid-hundreds RF/t range, straight to nuclear in the 10 kRF/t+ range.

But whatever you do, don't change it. None of this is a criticism of your mod, it's just me not having a preference towards your mod's options. Usually because I've got other stuff that's been around longer and so I automatically utilize it, because I have familiarized myself with it.

 

[McJty]

But whatever you do, don't change it. None of this is a criticism of your mod, it's just me not having a preference towards your mod's options. Usually because I've got other stuff that's been around longer and so I automatically utilize it, because I have familiarized myself with it.

I can understand that. It is always easier to use what you're familiar with. I often have to force myself to try to use something new. I usually do that by making custom modpacks that don't contain a certain mod that I have been over using (i.e. a good example is Big Reactors. I really want to make a ReactorCraft reactor now so I didn't add big reactors).

 

[TomeWyrm]

I can understand that. It is always easier to use what you're familiar with. I often have to force myself to try to use something new. I usually do that by making custom modpacks that don't contain a certain mod that I have been over using (i.e. a good example is Big Reactors. I really want to make a ReactorCraft reactor now so I didn't add big reactors).

Haha, I literally did the same thing with the same reasoning in my current pack. It's getting stable enough that I feel confident in giving R2R a shot. I'm going to go over the wiki/pdf and check to see if there's any mods I want to add or remove first though. I should probably add Custom Ore Generation so I can fix a few problems I have with generation (like those silly nether lava pockets); sigh.

 

[Senseidragon]

I *think* it's Improving Minecraft mod that lets you get rid of those "silly little nether lava pockets".

Edit: Nope. Reika does it in his LegacyCraft mod. I knew I had it somewhere...

  B:"Disable Nether Hidden Lava Pockets"=true

 

[TomeWyrm]

I *think* it's Improving Minecraft mod that lets you get rid of those "silly little nether lava pockets".

Edit: Nope. Reika does it in his LegacyCraft mod. I knew I had it somewhere...

  B:"Disable Nether Hidden Lava Pockets"=true

Yeah, I tried that... something in my pack breaks it, and I'm willing to lose the lavafalls and just use a CoG height-based substitution of lava source > netherrack everywhere that isn't the standard lava lake layer. It also lets me "fix" other worldgen features that I can't disable (for example the Chromaticraft beacons. I could remove those from the overworld and let them generate in say, the Twilight Forest. Though that certainly breaks the spirit of Reika's ToU, and I don't use Chromaticraft anyway. I miss the geostrata crystals, ender forest and dye trees, but not enough to put up with the horrible looking — not to mention dangerous — beacon spam.). I actually removed Legacycraft because I can put up with not having most of the features and it was having issues with Custom Mob Spawner and (I think) Sprinkles for Vanilla; plus the only thing I truly cared about (that I can't fix with Sprinkles) didn't work. I ran into a lava source surrounded 100% by netherrack like 6 blocks from my portal.

Now if I can find a reasonable prospector of some kind, (think TFC or Charlotte's utilities) I'll use some of the more fun ore distributions. CoG looks awesome, and I've been meaning to give it a shot for a long time.

 

[Senseidragon]

Yeah, I just took out Chromaticraft today because I hated the beacons. I really liked most of the other stuff, but those beacons don't interest me in the slightest. And as of the current release, I see no config to disable the beacons at all, much less just black/whitelisting them to certain dimensions.

Grr. I was getting some NEI-related performance issues for a spell. Hopefully the newer dev version fixes it. It may not be NEI but rather another mod that interfaces with it that is causing the problem. Deciphering Forge logs can be frustrating at times.

 

[TomeWyrm]

People have requested it, but Reika has issues with the derpier members of the community who will have that configured out (apparently by the pack maker or server owner) and then complain that they can't progress in the mod. Though honestly as it's a personal pack, I don't need to follow his Five Rules (They only apply to distributable packs). Oh hey, that means I could minetweak his recipes. Not that I'd ever want to, he's actually got a good sense of game balance... just the idea that I can makes me chuckle

 

[Senseidragon]

True, he has a pretty good sense of balancing out his stuff, I just would have preferred (in this case) if he didn't roll up the mods into the one package -- that way I could have (for example) the ender forest without it getting hooked to the crystals and dye trees and whatever framework he's built around those.

Let me know if you come up with something good config-wise with your custom ore generation tweaks. I recall not that far back that Resonant Rise had an interesting ore distribution going on. I wonder if they used CoG.

 

[TomeWyrm]

I'm fairly certain they just use the COFH worldgen. Reasonably robust and easy to configure.

Edit: So just in the overworld, remove the potion crystals and beacons? That shouldn't be too hard, hehe
Edit2: You want the nether potion crystals? They invert effects and make venturing into the nether a... exciting... experience. They drop all the same shards so having them or not isn't really a problem as long as they properly generate in other dimensions.
Edit3: Apparently the pylons don't generate in the Twilight Forest... *sigh* I don't want to read the code to actually make sure about that. They do generate in Witchery's Spirit World, RFTools dimensions, and Mystcraft ages (Note: Do not use NEI to turn off rain in an Eternal Storm age... your game crashes )

 

[Senseidragon]

Pretty much. yes. I can live without the beacons. Crystals I can take or leave. If it can be blacklisted from overworld only, that'd be preferable, but I don't mind a complete disable either.

Re: NEI in eternal storm age. I found that one by accident. A player in the overworld asked me to turn off the rain (in overworld) and I forgot to specify dimension when I tried to toggle it off.