I'm back. Well, I doubt anyone missed me. I doubt anyone knew me. Oh well.
A coworker introduced me to MC when it was alpha. I tried it when I got home - didn't work on my P4 with some ATI AGP card. When I got an i3 laptop in 2011, MC ran so I bought the beta. Of course, I had integrated graphics, so MC didn't really run well - but it ran.
It was a little interesting, but just almost. Yeah, it was like digital building blocks - like Lego. But Lego quickly grew boring too. However, I discovered MCF, ML, and mods immediately. There were a lot of people out there creating new ores and tools, and not much else. There were a lot of clueless idiots asking how to write or install mods too. But there were a few working on some really great things. Two that interested me most at the time were BTW and BC. RedPower was still a "baby" at the time, long before Forge. IC seemed a bit too complex for my tastes.
To me, mods like these turned my digital Lego-like set into Lego Robotics. And, just like real Legos, I find that much more interesting. I said as much in one of my first posts on MCF - to FC in his thread, back before he had a forum.
Of course, I had sluggish hardware. As I trimmed down my MC, I grew bored with the game. As I experimented with various mods, my performance dropped. Like so many games, my hardware kept me from exploring on-line play, gave me more experience with the start (and restart) of a game, and eventually added to the reasons for shelving the game.
The world of MC modding is a very odd place. So, my hardware wasn't the only reason for shelving the game. I left MC back when the Aether had been released and Forge was just getting off the ground. FC was even joining the team!
More recently, I got bought some cheap used AMD desktop off CL. It was actually slower than my laptop, but I bought a GTX 550 Ti to put inside. However, now the CPU was the bottleneck on my system. So, for many games, I still had frustratingly sluggish performance - it just looked better. I peeked back in at MC, but I saw that FC had recently split with Forge. I wasn't really looking forward to starting all over with a set of mods and configuration files - some of you have no idea how complex this was before launchers and packs.
Now, I have an i5. I still have the same 550 Ti, but my system finally is capable of running games at a decent frame rate. When I first tried the DW20 pack, I was getting nearly triple-digit FPS! Unfortunately, that is just too much for my system, and I get horrible flickering. Limiting MC to v-sync solves that problem, and 60 FPS is more than enough, and way better than when I used to hope for high teens.
But, to be honest, I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all. Sure, I have experience with vanilla and BC and a few other things. Luckily, when I got this new computer and turned back to MC, I stumbled upon Direwolf20, his video series, and the FTB launcher. Since the contraption building aspect of things like Lego Robotics appeals to me more than just construction (of plain Lego), this seemed like a good collection of mods to explore.
As far as I can tell so far, it is. Thanks everyone involved! I'm so glad things have more to more compatibility mostly through a common base (Forge) and away from the many, many ores & tools mods.
Except I'm not so sure things have moved away. There's a lot of complexity to many of the FTB packaged mods, but there is a lot of overlap too. This causes conflicts and confusion and even problems and exploits. All of this has been discussed to death here and elsewhere. Considering that MC barely has a goal (and had even less of a goal when ML first appeared) and the variety of interests it attracts, it is no surprise that mods go off in so may directions. Yet it is also no surprise that there is so much common ground.
Oh well. I'm new to this, but also not so new. The modded world of MC is a lot different from what I remember, but also a lot the same. I guess I'll see what happens this time around, but at 60 FPS!
p.s. Yeah, that was a wall of text. But it is an intro. Besides, I like to read and write. If you don't, we probably won't get along.
A coworker introduced me to MC when it was alpha. I tried it when I got home - didn't work on my P4 with some ATI AGP card. When I got an i3 laptop in 2011, MC ran so I bought the beta. Of course, I had integrated graphics, so MC didn't really run well - but it ran.
It was a little interesting, but just almost. Yeah, it was like digital building blocks - like Lego. But Lego quickly grew boring too. However, I discovered MCF, ML, and mods immediately. There were a lot of people out there creating new ores and tools, and not much else. There were a lot of clueless idiots asking how to write or install mods too. But there were a few working on some really great things. Two that interested me most at the time were BTW and BC. RedPower was still a "baby" at the time, long before Forge. IC seemed a bit too complex for my tastes.
To me, mods like these turned my digital Lego-like set into Lego Robotics. And, just like real Legos, I find that much more interesting. I said as much in one of my first posts on MCF - to FC in his thread, back before he had a forum.
Of course, I had sluggish hardware. As I trimmed down my MC, I grew bored with the game. As I experimented with various mods, my performance dropped. Like so many games, my hardware kept me from exploring on-line play, gave me more experience with the start (and restart) of a game, and eventually added to the reasons for shelving the game.
The world of MC modding is a very odd place. So, my hardware wasn't the only reason for shelving the game. I left MC back when the Aether had been released and Forge was just getting off the ground. FC was even joining the team!
More recently, I got bought some cheap used AMD desktop off CL. It was actually slower than my laptop, but I bought a GTX 550 Ti to put inside. However, now the CPU was the bottleneck on my system. So, for many games, I still had frustratingly sluggish performance - it just looked better. I peeked back in at MC, but I saw that FC had recently split with Forge. I wasn't really looking forward to starting all over with a set of mods and configuration files - some of you have no idea how complex this was before launchers and packs.
Now, I have an i5. I still have the same 550 Ti, but my system finally is capable of running games at a decent frame rate. When I first tried the DW20 pack, I was getting nearly triple-digit FPS! Unfortunately, that is just too much for my system, and I get horrible flickering. Limiting MC to v-sync solves that problem, and 60 FPS is more than enough, and way better than when I used to hope for high teens.
But, to be honest, I'm a bit overwhelmed by it all. Sure, I have experience with vanilla and BC and a few other things. Luckily, when I got this new computer and turned back to MC, I stumbled upon Direwolf20, his video series, and the FTB launcher. Since the contraption building aspect of things like Lego Robotics appeals to me more than just construction (of plain Lego), this seemed like a good collection of mods to explore.
As far as I can tell so far, it is. Thanks everyone involved! I'm so glad things have more to more compatibility mostly through a common base (Forge) and away from the many, many ores & tools mods.
Except I'm not so sure things have moved away. There's a lot of complexity to many of the FTB packaged mods, but there is a lot of overlap too. This causes conflicts and confusion and even problems and exploits. All of this has been discussed to death here and elsewhere. Considering that MC barely has a goal (and had even less of a goal when ML first appeared) and the variety of interests it attracts, it is no surprise that mods go off in so may directions. Yet it is also no surprise that there is so much common ground.
Oh well. I'm new to this, but also not so new. The modded world of MC is a lot different from what I remember, but also a lot the same. I guess I'll see what happens this time around, but at 60 FPS!
p.s. Yeah, that was a wall of text. But it is an intro. Besides, I like to read and write. If you don't, we probably won't get along.