I live here now

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
BOOM!


(hopefully youtube doesn't kill it with compression, this was recorded at crystal clear 60 FPS)

What are you rendering with?


Well good sir, I am glad you asked!

It's Replay Mod and it's fantastic!

Every video I've posted before this has been with some kind of software recording device, played live. I sped two of them up with windows movie maker, but otherwise they are completely raw gameplay. The problem is that software based recording is a major drag on performance, so there's always this huge trade-off. This is why I keep wanting to record but end up not because I have to stop, get out of the game, start it back up with the recording software on, then chug along at 25 FPS doing a tour. This takes up gigabyte after gigabyte and you can't actually see me building anything. Just jittery first person running around.

But this... wonderful mod. It changes EVERYthing. It can be always on. All it does is record my movements and the state of the loaded world almost like it's a server. An entire game session of several hours will leave a file measured in tens of megabytes. When I'm done playing, I can open up the replay and watch myself from any angle. Not only that, but I can slow and speed up time and set up sweeping camera movements, including the ability to roll it like an airplane. And of course, the best part is, I can turn the shaders on to PC-crippling maximum and let it render the movie one frame at a time, fully loaded, so I can record 60 FPS 1080 videos with absolute maximum possible graphic settings even though my PC couldn't possibly handle that on its own (that rendered at about 1 frame per second, but that's mostly because I set the quality settings way higher than necessary).

This mod is stupid easy to learn and works with FTB Beyond. The only "hard" step was that you need to edit the custom main menu files to get the necessary buttons to show, but I just copied and pasted something from a different modpack and it made it work well enough. The mod itself, once you're in it and get used to the ridiculous keybindings, is stupid-easy to use. You just kinda float around to the next spot and set the camera destination and it will make the curve for you. You can also set different points up to coincide with different events to control time. This video was me testing things out, so the speed of time fluctuates, but that's all me messing up. The next one will be Silky Smoove (a proper noun because that's what I name my silk touch picks).

It will let me record any chunk that is loaded during my play time, so the above video was all about testing the ability to move around in the world. I ended up only recording half of the trip and I'll update the video because this was just a test and I didn't want to get greedy and see it crash and lose everything. Just me being cautious. The videos can be up to 10 minutes each.

It's a whole new world. I can record entire sessions and speed it up into a 5 minute video, or do a slow-mo dramatic camera sweep when I'm about to get blown up by a creeper. And I don't have to plan ahead for anything I can continue to play the game like normal at 120 FPS, doing what I do, then go back and polish it up to tell my tale! This is just the tip of the iceberg. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
OBS cuts my FPS in half and leaves multiple gigabyte files. And you'd need a $10,000 PC to run it on those settings at 60 FPS
 

KingTriaxx

Forum Addict
Jul 27, 2013
4,266
1,333
184
Michigan
Clippy: It looks like you're trying to play Minecraft on a Potato, would you like some help with that?

I'm kind of surprised, but then you're also playing at 60FPS with shaders, so I guess that'd do it.
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
No, that wasn't live at 60 FPS. I can get shaders to run in the right conditions/settings at around 45 FPS. That was not recorded live. That was rendered frame by frame at about 1 FPS and automatically put back together at 60 FPS with a free roaming camera. I generally play at 120 FPS without the shaders at all, but this mod lets me replay that all back again with the shaders maxed out. It took over 3 hours to render, but it only took me 10 minutes to figure out how the mod works, plus about a half an hour to set up the camera points.

If you have enough time to let it render, you too can record your own 60 FPS shader lets plays, even on a potato.
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
Can't. Stop. Watching.


Make sure you stick around for the 300/matrix action sequence at the end, lol
 
Last edited:

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139

Well, here's one way to do it, just condense 8 hours of playtime into the first minute of video. The replay mod is pretty inefficient so it was impossible to even preview anything because the game can't keep up the drawing in real time. All I could do was throw the camera path in and hope it caught most of the action. Instead, it worked like a magic trick where everything in front of you is a misdirection and all the action is happening behind the camera, lol.

But, anyway, at least I'm doing something this time instead of just playing with the camera. Still setting up a foothold. Set up population control with the AA auto feeders. So convenient. And dove into AA full force for the first time. I built my first drill, along with the 3x3 and first speed up attachments. This thing is absolutely amazing! I ended up just manually digging a crater out for my underground mob spawner just to play with it. Mining is wonderful. 3x3 tunnels feel so much wider open than the standard 2x1 hallways I used to dig. It seems weird but it makes a huge difference. For the time being, I'm not even missing quarries.

AA is pretty neat when you get into it. Some of the early game stuff is pretty dang useful. It's got a decent progression curve so far. I can totally see myself getting deep into this one. I like the laser mechanic. It adds a neat little wrinkle.

Anyway, the second half is all about my first test run at a hedge maze. Again with the camera path not being testable, so there are a few nonsensical speed changes and some clipping, but it's whatever. I built a main winding path as well as a straightaway secret path that's a litte more straight to the goal. It's pretty much nonfunctional at this point, but I might catch a couple zombie pigmen in it some day and it'll be fun to watch them wander through it. Eventually, I would like to set up traps as well. Can't wait to see what it looks like when the bushes are all fully grown.
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139

Wow, did that come out so much better than I EVER thought possible!

That's the entire play session from last night. Start to finish, didn't miss a blip. I didn't have any idea how I was going to do anything until I went in and did it, so you'll see me kind of figuring out the best patterns and whatnot as I go along. When you see it start spraying chopped segments of lava quickly, that's when I found the sweet spot and it actually works pretty fast at that point. The whole thing took just under 4 hours, but now that I have a plan, I could set it up and mold the walls in half the time, and can easily expand to make it longer.

The hard part on survival is going to be coming up with enough ice. That's a looot of ice to swap out. But, not impossible. This is going to happen on a bigger scale in survival soon. This is just a proof of concept. The rest is actually pure vanilla. I went decidedly low tech.

Oh and, yes, I am amazing at generating ridiculously beautiful seeds. :)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: OniyaMCD

OniyaMCD

Well-Known Member
Mar 30, 2015
1,438
496
99

Wow, did that come out so much better than I EVER thought possible!

That's the entire play session from last night. Start to finish, didn't miss a blip. I didn't have any idea how I was going to do anything until I went in and did it, so you'll see me kind of figuring out the best patterns and whatnot as I go along. When you see it start spraying chopped segments of lava quickly, that's when I found the sweet spot and it actually works pretty fast at that point. The whole thing took just under 4 hours, but now that I have a plan, I could set it up and mold the walls in half the time, and can easily expand to make it longer.

The hard part on survival is going to be coming up with enough ice. That's a looot of ice to swap out. But, not impossible. This is going to happen on a bigger scale in survival soon. This is just a proof of concept. The rest is actually pure vanilla. I went decidedly low tech.

Oh and, yes, I am amazing at generating ridiculously beautiful seeds. :)

I'm figuring that you'd want to fast-track a Glacial Precipitator and just set that to churning out the ice blocks. Then hit up whatever block-swapper tool you want. Finish off by creating the wall (giving the Precipitator plenty of time to grind out a good store of ice) and start whacking at it with the swapper.
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
Yup. I was thinking exactly that. I can just set that up to mass produce at a ridiculous level. I'll make 20 of them if I have to. The question now is to figure out the best way to do the swapping. The wand works, but it it works easier on creative because I can fly. That actually took 4 in-game days to convert just the outside shell of that "small" section, too.

Now, with buildcraft, I know I could use the builder. I could make a blueprint (or whatever they called the blueprint without the block data) one section at a time to copy the shape and then use the builder to re-fill all the slots with ice. That would apply it much faster, but maybe waste too much ice. Maybe it's better off with some meat in the middle due to the transparency (it's not meant to be see-through).

But, What I can do is when I'm ready on the survival game, I can relatively easily set up the shape of the wall early on and just mass produce ice one chest full at a time and go to town slowly over the whole thing.
 

Inaeo

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
2,158
-3
0
Yup. I was thinking exactly that. I can just set that up to mass produce at a ridiculous level. I'll make 20 of them if I have to. The question now is to figure out the best way to do the swapping. The wand works, but it it works easier on creative because I can fly. That actually took 4 in-game days to convert just the outside shell of that "small" section, too.

Now, with buildcraft, I know I could use the builder. I could make a blueprint (or whatever they called the blueprint without the block data) one section at a time to copy the shape and then use the builder to re-fill all the slots with ice. That would apply it much faster, but maybe waste too much ice. Maybe it's better off with some meat in the middle due to the transparency (it's not meant to be see-through).

But, What I can do is when I'm ready on the survival game, I can relatively easily set up the shape of the wall early on and just mass produce ice one chest full at a time and go to town slowly over the whole thing.

If you use the RFTools Builder, you should be able to feed it materials and have it replace the wall for you. Much easier than by hand, and unfathomably faster.

Edit: If you sprinkle a bit of cobblestone and/or packed ice into the feed chest, the Builder will select and place the blocks randomly for a nice naturally imperfect effect.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OniyaMCD

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
I do like the idea of sprinkling the packed ice. I was already considering the idea when.l I was considering the BC option. I will definitely have to look into the RF tool builder. It sounds like it's a similar concept.

Gonna be a bit, though. Setting up the new server today!
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139

Quick tour of the new site. I have come off as a guy that jumps around from thing to thing, but this has to be it for a while. It's up on the server now and there will be at least one more joining in, maybe more. Not sure, because trying to run a server with a view distance of 32 is gonna get expensive per person, but I'm just not into compromise.

Anyway, nothing special, just a temporary base camp and a place to mine so I can get established. Can't deny that view, though.

Oh, and when they messed with ore generation, did they forget to print diamonds back in?? I want to get started on my drill but I need to find diamonds to get to the nether to get the quartz, etc, and I've dug for miiiiiles. I know under a mountain biome you're going to get emeralds instead of diamonds, but I went far beyond the mountains, under the forest, across the ocean, through another forest. Mining for HOURS*! Nothing! Ugh!

Well, back to it.

*It might have been 36 minutes. But, still.


Edit: see, all you gotta to is yell at the universe and it responds. Just found diamonds in the first 5 minutes
 
Last edited:

Inaeo

New Member
Jul 29, 2019
2,158
-3
0
You can go to the Nether pre-diamond, but it requires a source of lava and a bucket or two. You basically cast the portal in lava, the use water to convert them to obsidian. Not the recommended path in most cases, but if you need Nether resources and can't find diamonds, it's an option.

Here's hoping your Nether spawn is better than any of mine.
 
  • Like
Reactions: OniyaMCD

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
My nether spawn is very practical, but boring. It's in a quiet cave. I haven't really seen the main event yet, but the one I generated on my last map was so gorgeous.

Diamonds are still in short supply, though. Only need 2 more and I'll have my 3x3 drill. And then I'm going to have stacks of diamonds.

Edit: and there you are, my preeeecioussssss
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
Man, what a difference a drill makes. One minute, ive barely got anything, a few minutes later, I'm not bothering to bend over to pick up iron, and considering making a suit if emeratic crystal armor, you know, to free up space.

Why not? Because I can't even build an enchanting table yet! Lol.
 

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
DrBretto goes to hell to fetch a block of soul sand....

First, I was like 'oh, that's where my livestock disappeared to!" Then I was like 'eh, it's alright, ooh, there's a fortress right the- oh my God it's so beautiful!'

I wanted to also record this same camera path without the shaders and with the night in effect, but it crashed and didn't save the path. I'll do new route, but it's totally worth seeing both. As gorgeous as it can look with shaders, there's so much detail you miss. I'll record that one when I get home from work tomorrow.


FTB Beyond, add RTG, Biomes O'Plenty, Recurrent Complex. Gorgeous.
 
Last edited:

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139

That's how it really looks when I play. The camera pathing wasn't really inspired today, I'm exhausted. But it's still good enough to see the inherent beauty of the nether, particularly with these mods attached and configured.

Totally using this replay mod to cheat and find some damn soul sand though!
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tianyulong

Drbretto

Popular Member
Mar 5, 2016
1,886
781
139
Was out sick last couple of days, so bonus Minecraft! Got a ton done, but mostly still general setup stuff, which isn't fun to watch in a video, so I just did a quick tour instead of featuring a build. It's rendering now. Trying some new shaders because SEUS didnt like dark glass very much. No idea what to expect.

Finally set up some enchanting, so I made a suit of emeratic crystal armor. I added advanced enchanting table, but that happened like 8 hours later. I like this new version of this mod. It makes you find scrolls for your enchantments before you can use them so making this table won't automatically kick me into creative mode super suits right off. I was able to find mending, though, which is perfect for me. Now that I've got that XP rod from enderIO, which is super awesome, and the mob juicer, I can afford to let my armor absorb xp from my kills.

Speaking of kills, I made me a boomerang. This is my new favorite thing ever. It's current bladerang V and the reaper enchant. I'm kind of surprised at how much damage it does for a long range unlimited use utility weapon. Came in super handy before I finally got a damn ender pearl. It was the only way to collect the xp from the juicer. But, it's my new best friend. Just a super useful item.

The main project, though, was the mob grinder, or juicer, as I call them as long as they produce xp. I built the upgradable grinder from mob grinding utils. I don't have any upgrades for it yet, but I haven't even looked into it yet. Can confirm it's player kill loot, though, on top of looking cool. I threw a couple diamond spikes in there when I added in the blaze spawner (seriously couldn't have asked for a better nether spawn).

The chamber is 4 blocks high, 11x11 square, lined every third block with mob grinding utils fans with 1 width upgrade. These are different from the openblocks fans they appear to be the spiritual successor to. The biggest difference is they can only point straight. You could turn OB fans in any direction. They also only affect a straight line without upgrades. And they don't blow items and XP.

It could have been more efficient, but I tend to build first and ask questions later. As long as it works, and boy does it. If I forget to shut them off before going in, it's impossible to get out without digging or something. Very effective.

Zero ender pearls for a whole 12 hour session before I rebooted everything. Came back and got 2 of them in 15 minutes. Just glad to see it's not bugged. RNG can be a real beast, but this was nuts. I was legit starting to worry I'd had to start over or something.