Mystcraft and your opinion

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darkeshrine

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Unless I am mistaken you can get out of the twilight forest without any materials. Ore spawns there (the bottom layers, so you may not be able to get copper, for example) so you have iron for a bucket and a diamond as well. It has plant life you can plant around and it has water.
There was a period of time that you couldn't make a Twilight forest portal in the Twilight Forest. It's been fixed as far as i know, but it's still nice to know for 1.5.
 

Celestialphoenix

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Tartarus.. I mean at work. Same thing really.
I'm not overly sold on Mystcraft for personal use- either heavy grinding/lucky break for infinite materials/sweet FA.
Its always felt stuck between extremes.
Using linkbooks somewhat devalues the nether and other means of transport/teleportation.
(and anything that devalues a significant part of gameplay is out for me)
However it is a BRILLIANT addition for servers/admins alike.

Looking at some of the ideas on this thread- a thaumcraft style research for symbols would be pretty awesome.
And then if writing a book became a little more magical. (I mean you're building a whole world out of magic right? why doesn't it feel that way)

Though if link-booking worked in a similar way to nether portals it'll be pretty neat.
If I make a book at 100, 50 in the overworld- and go 1000 blocks through an age- the book would land me at 100, 1050 in the overworld.
But if ages had a size (like 2x smaller, 8x smaller [nether size], or 4x larger)- then you have a fairly cool dimensional hopping game.​
 

Yusunoha

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I do however have one major issue with Mystcraft that's been around since the 1.4 days. There's a rather bad entity based memory leak were objects are not dumped from memory after one teleports away from a dimension using Mystcraft. Eventually this will cause your available heap space to fill up, forcing you to restart your client. With two gigs allocated this can take as few as ten jumps and, I've gone to other mods for my inter dimensional traveling needs as a result.

could this be the cause of the lag spikes that I've mentioned when using decriptive/linking books from Mystcraft?
 

Skyqula

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could this be the cause of the lag spikes that I've mentioned when using decriptive/linking books from Mystcraft?

I doubt it, I get them when porting with enhanced portals 2 and 3 aswell. I think it has to do with world loading and unloading, especially multiple ones in rapid succesion. For example: If I port from location A to location B then right back to location A I get said lag spikes. If I keep repeating going from A to B back to A then to B again realy fast over and over it gets to the point where it basicly freezes completly. A simple game exit and reload fixes the problem.
 

Revemohl

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It's a fun mod if you want to create random worlds to explore (if they don't have a billion of bad effects).
It's a terribly tedious mod if you want to progress through it without cheating. Libraries aren't common enough and villagers are still villagers.
Making warps for yourself is a good feature, but I find both Dimensional Doors and Waypoints more fun on that part. Blue Nether portals or books aren't as cool as a warping door or Diablo II-esque warps.
 
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Jim_veens

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Jul 29, 2019
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i dislike mystcraft alot,

1. You do not create ages, You create the links to ages, Its even part of the myst storyline! Gehn thinking that he could create the ages while in reality he has just been creating the links! and all he did was link to unstable ages like his age 5, Riven! it should be called "Writing ages" instead of "Creating ages"
2. The art is a very hard system to master! its something the D'ni are able to do! How on earth could people immediately master the art! (edit: fixed a little mistake in nr 2)
3. mystcraft has NOTHING! To do with Myst! do you know what myst is? myst is an age in the myst games! all you see of myst is myst island! its the former home of Atrus and Catherine! and the two brothers Sirrus and Achenar
4. the symbols you use to Write ages in mystcraft, in reality have Nothing to do with Writing ages! all they are is some kind of language from the age Narayan! that you visit in myst 4!

5. Seriously now, WHERE IS THE D'NI CAVERN!
 
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Jim_veens

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Jul 29, 2019
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[Insert funny joke about the thread being two years old here]
[insert funny joke here about your joke being irrelevant]

Look i just stumbled on this forum thread, no idea How! And i've got the right to show my opinion and show the facts, they still stand ffs!

I'm a Huge myst fan ffs
(of the games, not the mod)

Now Go away or i'll send saavedro after you! (just kidding, just wanted to say it)
 

Azzanine

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Jul 29, 2019
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Necro aside, this is the first time I've seen a complaint that wasn't balance or performance based. Well done!

That being said the modder probably know this. The books you use are actually called linking books. The vernacular you hear being used is probably sourced from players. The mod itself doesn't actually attempt to provide or establish lore from the Myst games.
 

DeathOfTime

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i dislike mystcraft alot,

1. You do not create ages, You create the links to ages, Its even part of the myst storyline! Gehn thinking that he could create the ages while in reality he has just been creating the links! and all he did was link to unstable ages like his age 5, Riven! it should be called "Writing ages" instead of "Creating ages"
2. The art is a very hard system to master! its something the D'ni are able to do! How on earth would be immediately master the art!
3. mystcraft has NOTHING! To do with Myst! do you know what myst is? myst is an age in the myst games! all you see of myst is myst island! its the former home of Atrus and Catherine! and the two brothers Sirrus and Achenar
4. the symbols you use to Write ages in mystcraft, in reality have Nothing to do with Writing ages! all they are is some kind of language from the age Narayan! that you visit in myst 4!

5. Seriously now, WHERE IS THE D'NI CAVERN!
This is a interesting take on the matter.

I've used this mod repeatedly. Only very shallowly though. I also only ever played and finished the first Myst game. I never really got the feel that the game provided when I was using the mod. I do think this mod could be used by a mod pack author to create a feel similar to the games if they so desired. I can't think of anyone doing it yet. The Myst game was created around a very interesting idea. This mod is just basically that idea, not the games that was written around it. I think the mod author did a very good job.

I'm not much for using the mod. It would be interesting to see a modpack that used it to give a feel like the games it was based off though. I think your post added to the topic and was relevant. Mostly, the original post sounds like they were gathering input about using the mod in packs. Thanks for having posted it.
 

Jim_veens

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Jul 29, 2019
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it would be great to just have at least something related to lore, for example if you write a specific descriptive book, you actually link to the D'ni cavern,

you'd get to Ae'gura, Bevin, or maybe even K'veer
(they are not ages, they are places in the D'ni cavern)
 
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Aetherpirate

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Jul 29, 2019
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RF Tools has a similar "create other worlds with resources" mechanic that I find more balanced, it requires research and quite a lot of RF power unless you can wrangle rare and expensive upgrades. It can get OP if you spend the time and resources on it, but I think the effort / fun / reward balance here works well and it fits into tech-themed mods better than Mystcraft, which is more magic suited. Additionally, there are config options that give server owners more control over player dimension creation.

The licensing for public packs is much easier too, RF Tools is MIT, Mystcraft has a complicated approval process.
 

Jim_veens

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Jul 29, 2019
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still, i do want the d'ni cavern etc

(fyi the d'ni cavern is actually supposed to be located below new mexico, so the descriptive/linking book actually links to earth then)
 

GamerwithnoGame

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Can I just say thank you to @Jim_veens for bringing this thread back to life with discussion of the original Myst? I knew that the mod was vaguely based around the games in some way but not how; since reading this I've looked into the games and their plot, and I really feel like my eyes have been opened! I remember the original game, but never got to play it, and now I completely understand why he feels miffed that there is only the basic mechanic and none of the story in the mod! :)
 

Jim_veens

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Jul 29, 2019
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Can I just say thank you to @Jim_veens for bringing this thread back to life with discussion of the original Myst? I knew that the mod was vaguely based around the games in some way but not how; since reading this I've looked into the games and their plot, and I really feel like my eyes have been opened! I remember the original game, but never got to play it, and now I completely understand why he feels miffed that there is only the basic mechanic and none of the story in the mod! :)
you should read the myst novels, they are perfect imo, there you can see all the backstory etc, why D'ni fell, and all that stuff

trust me the novels are fantastic (just like the games ofc)
 
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SevenMass

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Jan 2, 2013
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I would like to express a slightly different opinion.

The mod Mystcraft is based on the idea of being able to describe worlds in a book and then being able to physically enter that world, just like the game Myst is based on that idea. Mystcraft is named the way it is because it was inspired by the game Myst and because it tries to mimics the aesthetics and atmosphere of the Myst games.

And in my opinion, that is how the mod should remain! I don't actually want to see a recreation of the D'ni cave somewhere in Minecraft.

Minecraft is about exploring and creating. And I believe the best mods are mods that enhance the exploring and creating. I personally enjoy the aesthetics and atmosphere of the Myst games, and I like seeing a mod that can recreate that in Minecraft, But I don't like seeing a mod that tries to make a faithful recreation of any place from the Myst series in Minecraft.

i dislike mystcraft alot,
1. You do not create ages, You create the links to ages, Its even part of the myst storyline! Gehn thinking that he could create the ages while in reality he has just been creating the links! and all he did was link to unstable ages like his age 5, Riven! it should be called "Writing ages" instead of "Creating ages"

True, and this has moral implications, because it means the author of the descriptive book can not be considered a creator god of some sort. But beside the moral implication the difference is just semantics. If there are infinite worlds and you can find just the right world by describing it very well, than in a practical sense, describing he world is no different than creating the world.

A famous sculptor once said that his blocks of stone already contain the sculpture, he just needs to remove the unneeded bits to reveal it.




That said: I agree with the sentiment that the Mystcraft mod is a bit of a letdown.

I Would like to be able to describe the world I'm creating, *ahum* I mean: "seeking to link to" a bit more accurately. It would be nice to, for example, describe an infinite ocean with a single island, or "floating island" and then add parameters for their size and frequency. Or even: describe multiple landmasses in the same book, and the world you link to will actually generate all of the landmasses in their respective frequencies. Or Add that a landmass contains a single mountain. Or add a single mountain 5 times, causing it to generate 5 mountains. And add parameters to those mountains, such as "softened by aeons of weather", or "rough and young rocky mountain".

Then perhaps have some of these descriptions link to the random generator parameters.

Creating descriptive books would then literally become an art form, because while it would be easy to describe a boring wold, it would be difficult to describe one that looks pretty.

4. the symbols you use to Write ages in mystcraft, in reality have Nothing to do with Writing ages! all they are is some kind of language from the age Narayan! that you visit in myst 4!

True, I agree that the misappropriation of stuff from the Myst series is very jarring. Using those symbols doesn't automatically add the aesthetics and atmosphere of the Myst games. It would actually be better if the magical symbols from the vanilla Minecraft enchanting table where used. Perhaps with a slightly different font, just like Thaumcraft. That would also tie the mod in with the rest of Minecraft a bit better.
 

Jim_veens

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True, and this has moral implications, because it means the author of the descriptive book can not be considered a creator god of some sort. But beside the moral implication the difference is just semantics. If there are infinite worlds and you can find just the right world by describing it very well, than in a practical sense, describing he world is no different than creating the world.
I Would like to be able to describe the world I'm creating, *ahum* I mean: "seeking to link to" a bit more accurately. It would be nice to, for example, describe an infinite ocean with a single island, or "floating island" and then add parameters for their size and frequency. Or even: describe multiple landmasses in the same book, and the world you link to will actually generate all of the landmasses in their respective frequencies. Or Add that a landmass contains a single mountain. Or add a single mountain 5 times, causing it to generate 5 mountains. And add parameters to those mountains, such as "softened by aeons of weather", or "rough and young rocky mountain".
Look, Writing ages is the right term

Creating descriptive books would then literally become an art form, because while it would be easy to describe a boring wold, it would be difficult to describe one that looks pretty.
look, it is literally called "The Art", The Art is a term properly used to referrer to the D'ni studies and mastery, and mastery of The Skill, aka the ability to Write ages

True, I agree that the misappropriation of stuff from the Myst series is very jarring. Using those symbols doesn't automatically add the aesthetics and atmosphere of the Myst games. It would actually be better if the magical symbols from the vanilla Minecraft enchanting table where used. Perhaps with a slightly different font, just like Thaumcraft. That would also tie the mod in with the rest of Minecraft a bit better.
All they should have done is use D'ni language and number system properly
Check this! D'ni Number system and D'ni Alphabet
I Know they are already using the number system partially but they should use it properly
 
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Jim_veens

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what would be a great idea is if you have to research to gain full access to the art etc,
For example, Atrus has his knowledge by researching alot, the ages you see in myst 1 for example are ages made on his research to learn the art.
at Thaumcraft for example you need to fully research everything to gain full access to everything in the mod, This is what mystcraft needs
 

SevenMass

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The research aspect of thaumcraft is the one that was the hardest for its author to do well. Balancing it just right so it is both fun and balanced, and doesn't get old and tedious after you've done it not even once is very difficult.

I think the primary focus of development in Mystcraft should go to improving what you can write into ages and how. A badly done research system would just make the mod really annoying to get into. On the other hand, a well done writing system would require the player, not the player-character, to learn how to properly use it anyway.