Should I continue pack development on 1.12? or jump ship to 1.16?

[Celestialphoenix]

Recent work commitments have forced me to stop packbuilding for 2 months, now my schedule is starting to clear up it looks like I'll have time available to tinker again. However spending time outside of the 'crunch tunnel' has allowed me to see whats going on with the rest of Modded Minecraft.

From where I'm sitting it looks like the 1.12 era's life expectancy is somewhere between Tamogochi and Gerry Anderson's film sets. Right now my pack is almost at the end of Alpha development, it could easily be Easter 2022 to make it through Beta. (not to say I've been slacking- I haven't. I'm just one person working on a mammoth project where almost each feature seems to snowball significantly in scale).

The pack in question is Blood, Sweat, and Gears, a projected I started in late 2017- initially on 1.10, switching to 1.12 in early 2018. (before rebuilding the pack again to switch to Gregtech:CE instead of Tech Reborn). Its somewhat inspired by Infitech 2 and FTB Infinity Evolved, as I worked on the magic and tech sides of the pack I realised it'll somewhat more interesting if I start interweaving magic and tech together; as in using Thaumcraft's alchemy for cracking and de-sulphuring oil, and possibly creating one of the most complex ore-processing chains in Modded Minecraft. (Right before my hiatus I was working on custom NuclearCraft fuels using Botania, Thaumcraft, and Abyssalcraft)

Jumping to 1.16 does not mean it'll take another 3 years to get through Alpha development; a lot of that was picking up the initial learning curve and figuring out how its better to do things the efficient way instead of the simpler long way. Also stuff such as art assets and design concepts/decisions can be carried forward fairly easily.

In general; 1) Continue on 1.12, assuming theres still going to be interest in 1.12 packs over the next 12 months.
2) Jump to 1.16, rescue what I can from the 1.12 version and go for it!
3) Jump to a different MC version?? looks like 1.16's going to be it but I might be wrong!

I'll base my final decision on the response here, as well as from asking on my Discord server and the FTB Reddit Subforum, as well as my personal thoughts/feelings on the matter. (Either way, my scripts/custom art assets ect will remain open source).

 

[Cptqrk]

TBH, 1.16 is no where near ready for big convoluted packs. Just from your description of one of your processes you would be at a stand still considering there is no Thaumcraft, Abyssalcraft, nor Nuclearcraft for 1.16 at this time.

Stick with 1.12 IMO. Hell, people still fire up 1.7 packs for fun, and if your pack is interesting enough, version won't matter.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Yea, Thaumcraft is not going forward, so you'd need some sort of magic mod that would fill that niche. There's no knowing when Abyssalcraft is going to go, and while Nuclearcraft apparently is working on porting up, they aren't there yet.

Having said that, should you find a replacement for Thaumcraft that fills the same niche, by the time you get to the point where you're back to an alpha state, Nuclearcraft should be released.

 

[Celestialphoenix]

Stick with 1.12 IMO. Hell, people still fire up 1.7 packs for fun, and if your pack is interesting enough, version won't matter.

True, an interesting enough pack could certainly draw people back into 1.12

Having said that, should you find a replacement for Thaumcraft that fills the same niche, by the time you get to the point where you're back to an alpha state, Nuclearcraft should be released.

Thats sort of the line I've been thinking along today; 1.16 is missing 90% of what I need, but the 10% its got would keep be busy and I guess theres a good chance 60-70% of it will appear over the next 8-10 months?

 

[Cptqrk]

Yea, Thaumcraft is not going forward,

There's your answer.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

Its a tough one, it really is. Thaumcraft has been quite cornerstone for a number of notable packs over the years, and the current version still ranks highly in terms of interesting mechanics, visuals etc, even if its not as extensive as Thaumcraft 4. I believe 1.12 still has some real legs to stand on, if that makes sense. And while theoretically people are "missing out" on some of the interesting things that for example Mekanism has introduced in 1.16, I think there's plenty of time still for that to blossom. I firmly believe 1.12's time is still now.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

Hell, people still fire up 1.7 packs for fun, and if your pack is interesting enough, version won't matter.

I mean, I'm playing through GregTech: New Horizons at the moment, so...

 

[Celestialphoenix]

And while theoretically people are "missing out" on some of the interesting things that for example Mekanism has introduced in 1.16, I think there's plenty of time still for that to blossom. I firmly believe 1.12's time is still now.

The stuff that really peaked my interest was 1.16(/1.15) was CrossroadsMC and Create. Then my brain started rolling forward through all the stuff I could improve on the current pack if I had a fresh start. (a few of these I'm planning to implement anyway).
Theres a very strong chance the new post 1.12 mods will stick around through several of the modding milestone Minecraft eras; so the likelihood of actually missing out is fairly slim.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

I was more thinking that people might be missing out on the 1.16 mods by playing 1.12 if that makes sense

Hmm. Is having two concurrent versions, a 1.12 and a 1.16, going to be too much?

 

[Nuclear_Creeper0]

Besides a few mods and the incredible nether update, right now there isn't a reason to go to 1.16 yet.
I don't think 1.16 will be seriously ready for major pack development until probably January or February of 2021.

 

[KingTriaxx]

I thought Azanor was shifting the coding work to the Thermal Team so the mod would continue?