I've been playing MC for about a month, and I think I get the basics, so its time for a challenge.
I'm sure you all know the history of Neuschwabstein Castle. In fact there are a few threads dedicated to the building on this very forum, as well as examples of some very well done versions of the structure built with MC blocks. <All props to those who have already attempted/completed this build> But for those of you who do not, here is a starter pic.
I have been wanting to try this since about my 10th hour of MC exploration, but due to the color of the structure (white) I knew I was going to have to wait for 1.0 to release, so that I could breed the tens of thousands (estimated) sheep to gather the needed wool. Depending on what picture you view, the gatehouse is anywhere from brick red to sandstone yellow, and I have not yet decided which way I will go. Probably brick red... seems tougher to obtain.
I was originally drawn to some of the more ancient castles of Wales, Spain and the Ottoman Empire, but their structural reliance on roundness and topographical necessity to run curtain walls at odd angles made them unsuitable for minecraft in its current 90 degree form. This build will ignore the 12 degree bend in the main structure, as there was just no way to make it look appealing, even at an insanely large scale. After using MS Paint to lay out the ground plan in several variations, I settled on a 88X262 block footprint. I found this size to be the smallest I could go and still include spiral staircases inside of towers with a semblance of roundness.
Here is the ground plan for the foundations:
This structure is being built on a true survival map and running NO mods or skins whatsoever. I find the challenge to be more satisfying, and as of this posting, I have been killed by mobs approximately 45-50 times.
Here are a few pics of the beginning phases:
First things first; I gotta raise about 25,000 sheep for the white wool, so a greenhouse built into the side of the mountain to raise wheat for breeding, and the beginnings of a sheep farm. I also gotta eat, so a few little piggies as well.
The farm will need to expand by about 500% eventually, and I will need to add two or three more levels to the green house.
-----------------------------
Next I started laying foundations from the gatehouse or western end. Its going to take a lot of stone, so I had no qualms about starting with a 31 meter high mountain in the way... I took it all the way down and used the stone for building.
See the big grey patch just to the left of the footings, that is where the mountain was, and where the future limestone mine will be.
-----------------------------
Ok, the mine is well established, and the south side of the foundations are layed... will need MUCH excavation underneath the initial blocks to finish the basements and cellars, but the top of the foundations are in place there.
In the right lower part of the screen you can see the temporary Stone Masons' Lodge with 12 ovens built into the eastern wall. Gonna be burning a LOT of wood to make smooth stone for stone blocks for the foundation exterior. Interior and fill of the footings will be cobblestone.
-----------------------------
Annnnnnnd.. the foundations are laid, I didnt want to just build a shell of a structure, so the foundations are three blocks wide in many places. The spaces in the basements that are directly underneath where interior walls will be all have pillars and/or full footing walls.
It took a TON of cobble and Blocks to finish the footings for the main buildings, especially on the southern side where there is a drop off.
-----------------------------
Now its time for a lot of excavating and underfilling the foundations in the north western portions of the castle where the land is naturally higher than the final elevations demand. I also need to cut away part of the remaining mountains and or build a platform up higher so that I can get the full structure in one screenshot.
Stay tuned for a few new screenies every other day or so.
Also, suggestions are welcome.
Hey, thanks for the kind comments and encouragement.
As for hours, I started on Sunday evening this week and I've hammered pretty hard on it so far. Im somewhere around 30 hours right now I think... ill start keeping better track.
As for not building on top of a mountain...
The foundation for this particular build is 88 X 262 (and that doesnt include the approach ramp).
Its not so hard to find a mountain base that size, but can you really say that you are used to seeing mountain tops that are that size? Run around your current map and try to find a mountain top that is even 1/4 that size?
But thats not the real reason... I would have considered hunting for or even hand-crafting a mountain that size, if it werent for the MC ceiling. At this scale, the height of the main tower will be somewhere around 65-70 blocks above the foundation. I'd hate to spend a couple hundred hours just to hit the ceiling before I even got the roofs put on.
Besides, If you look at the picture, the real castle is not built on the highest mountain.. the picture is taken from the highest mountain, looking down on the castle roofs... the castle is built on a nice little hill but below the highest mountain..... if this project comes out nice, Ill drop the surrounding land down to a few blocks above sea level. its sitting at like 20 above right now. I'll eventually get some shots of the gate house from down below where I have my forest planted ... I think it will look just fine when done.
Well, Im off to craft a couple hundred stone shovels... gotta dig out some basements and cellars, not to mention a vertical mineshaft to start my branch mining operations base... gonna need lapis and gold for sure.
I'm not sure how intentional it is, but I love that you're also building it in a fairly realistic way. By that, I mean that you're laying a foundation and then digging the basements.
I just find that sort of cool.
Really nice work so far! Doing it completely legit is nice- a lot of people on the forum hate inventory edits. Good luck with obtaining the blocks! I'm sure the building will go well, as you seem to have thoroughly considered it. Nice work :smile.gif:
They are flying with unlimited inventory and no mobs at night to build a hollow shell that is half turned sideways?
That has been done, yes.
For God's sake, I'll spend more time just farming sheep for the white wool, than they did on the entire project.
I count theirs at 38 blocks wide... Mathematically that makes it just slightly larger than 1/6 the scale of my build...
Show me a legit build approaching 88 X 262, and I'll bow out.
They are flying with unlimited inventory and no mobs at night to build a hollow shell that is half turned sideways?
That has been done, yes.
For God's sake, I'll spend more time just farming sheep for the white wool, than they did on the entire project.
I count theirs at 38 blocks wide... Mathematically that makes it just slightly larger than 1/6 the scale of my build...
Show me a legit build approaching 88 X 262, and I'll bow out.
Peace
Don't forget, they have TWO people, you have yourself!
Going to be following this topic to see how this goes, bookmarked.
Keep up the good work!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
No. I do not want to click your stupid egg. I hope it dies.
They are flying with unlimited inventory and no mobs at night to build a hollow shell that is half turned sideways?
That has been done, yes.
For God's sake, I'll spend more time just farming sheep for the white wool, than they did on the entire project.
I count theirs at 38 blocks wide... Mathematically that makes it just slightly larger than 1/6 the scale of my build...
Show me a legit build approaching 88 X 262, and I'll bow out.
Wow, I can't believe this is going to be legit! I think it would be really cool if you did a timelapse.
Also, I think you should eventually put a bunch of saplings all around the castle because the real castle seems to be surrounded by pine trees.
Wow, I can't believe this is going to be legit! I think it would be really cool if you did a timelapse.
Also, I think you should eventually put a bunch of saplings all around the castle because the real castle seems to be surrounded by pine trees.
I absolutely plan to plant the slopes when done.
As for the planning on MSpaint, I was lucky enough to find this .jpg on the web somehow while doing my research:
the pic doesnt have scale measurements or a ruler, so I just kinda had to eyeball it and do my best to keep it all the same scale. Had to make a few artistic changes, but I kept it as true as possible.
I will be sticking to the floor plans as closely as possible as it gos up floor by floor.
Im really enjoying the encouragement, and the project.
Hours spent; ~36
Death by Mobs: ~60 (What twisted mind invented the Creeper anyway?)
Sheep Herd ~250
So I have a few major project phases to go before I will actually need the stack of white wool; excavating the basements is still unstarted, gathering clay for the brick gatehouse, building the vertical shaft for the deep level branch mine needed to get the lapis for the blue roofs, find a desert or some other good source for sand for glass making, and I have to figure out how to catch and breed squid for the dye sacks so I can have dark grey roofs.
But looming in my mind is the massive amounts of needed wool ..... did I mention Massive? I havent done the math yet but I just have this nagging voice in the back of my head that says 'breed more sheep, breed more sheep, breed more sheep." And the primary limiting factor for sheep breeding is wheat. Therefore my most recent efforts have been lazer focused on my wheat growing operations.
Let the greenhouses begin (see pics):
For safety purposes, I built these into the side of the mountain from which I have been taking the screen shots of the castle foundations. Built the top story first.
Here's a shot of the interior of the top floor with a mature wheat crop.
Annnnnd DONE, three floors, each capable of producing 256 wheat for a total of 768 wheat every four to six gamedays.
Im probably going to need to double that production, so I built the greenhouses in a location where they can be extended out to the front far enough to be twice as long. I'll make that decision after I do the math on needed white wool.
-------------------------------------------------
And lastly, improvements to the sheep pasture; Pigs were jumping the fence somehow, so they got moved to a pig-penof their own. The sheep herd is starting to look like a possibility:
-------------------------------------------------
I know this isnt the sexiest update. In your shoes I would be looking for the progress on the castle, but to better chronicle the work, and as someone above requested, 'the dedication' to do this project legit style, I thought I'd drop in these 'support tasks' as they come along.
Peace
PS; any hints on squid breeding would be very welcome.
But looming in my mind is the massive amounts of needed wool ..... did I mention Massive? I havent done the math yet but I just have this nagging voice in the back of my head that says 'breed more sheep, breed more sheep, breed more sheep." And the primary limiting factor for sheep breeding is wheat. Therefore my most recent efforts have been lazer focused on my wheat growing operations.
I've done the math for you and assuming you only use the wool to coat the outside of the castle, you will end up needing on the order of 20,000 blocks of wool. Do some more math and that means you will have to shear 6666 sheep. Thus you will need 13332 wheat to breed all the sheep. This also means that you will go through 28 shears, requiring 56 iron ingots.
You have a hard road ahead of you, goodluck and great job on what you have done so far. I understand what you are going trough. Have a look at this.... http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/813045-my-biggest-castle-wip/
My walls have been filled with dirt( outer is 9 wide). Im having work to get wool for my palace walls and buildings carpets, lucky for me not so much. I again need wood and tons of it. Keep going.
I've been playing MC for about a month, and I think I get the basics, so its time for a challenge.
I'm sure you all know the history of Neuschwabstein Castle. In fact there are a few threads dedicated to the building on this very forum, as well as examples of some very well done versions of the structure built with MC blocks. <All props to those who have already attempted/completed this build> But for those of you who do not, here is a starter pic.
I have been wanting to try this since about my 10th hour of MC exploration, but due to the color of the structure (white) I knew I was going to have to wait for 1.0 to release, so that I could breed the tens of thousands (estimated) sheep to gather the needed wool. Depending on what picture you view, the gatehouse is anywhere from brick red to sandstone yellow, and I have not yet decided which way I will go. Probably brick red... seems tougher to obtain.
I was originally drawn to some of the more ancient castles of Wales, Spain and the Ottoman Empire, but their structural reliance on roundness and topographical necessity to run curtain walls at odd angles made them unsuitable for minecraft in its current 90 degree form. This build will ignore the 12 degree bend in the main structure, as there was just no way to make it look appealing, even at an insanely large scale. After using MS Paint to lay out the ground plan in several variations, I settled on a 88X262 block footprint. I found this size to be the smallest I could go and still include spiral staircases inside of towers with a semblance of roundness.
Here is the ground plan for the foundations:
This structure is being built on a true survival map and running NO mods or skins whatsoever. I find the challenge to be more satisfying, and as of this posting, I have been killed by mobs approximately 45-50 times.
Here are a few pics of the beginning phases:
First things first; I gotta raise about 25,000 sheep for the white wool, so a greenhouse built into the side of the mountain to raise wheat for breeding, and the beginnings of a sheep farm. I also gotta eat, so a few little piggies as well.
The farm will need to expand by about 500% eventually, and I will need to add two or three more levels to the green house.
-----------------------------
Next I started laying foundations from the gatehouse or western end. Its going to take a lot of stone, so I had no qualms about starting with a 31 meter high mountain in the way... I took it all the way down and used the stone for building.
See the big grey patch just to the left of the footings, that is where the mountain was, and where the future limestone mine will be.
-----------------------------
Ok, the mine is well established, and the south side of the foundations are layed... will need MUCH excavation underneath the initial blocks to finish the basements and cellars, but the top of the foundations are in place there.
In the right lower part of the screen you can see the temporary Stone Masons' Lodge with 12 ovens built into the eastern wall. Gonna be burning a LOT of wood to make smooth stone for stone blocks for the foundation exterior. Interior and fill of the footings will be cobblestone.
-----------------------------
Annnnnnnd.. the foundations are laid, I didnt want to just build a shell of a structure, so the foundations are three blocks wide in many places. The spaces in the basements that are directly underneath where interior walls will be all have pillars and/or full footing walls.
It took a TON of cobble and Blocks to finish the footings for the main buildings, especially on the southern side where there is a drop off.
-----------------------------
Now its time for a lot of excavating and underfilling the foundations in the north western portions of the castle where the land is naturally higher than the final elevations demand. I also need to cut away part of the remaining mountains and or build a platform up higher so that I can get the full structure in one screenshot.
Stay tuned for a few new screenies every other day or so.
Also, suggestions are welcome.
I would like to DL and take a tour when it is. :smile.gif:
Heres a pic of my castle if you want to have a look
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy342/ice-dave/2011-12-02_071709.png
few more..
Spawn area
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy342/ice-dave/2011-12-02_072321.png
few nice pics from the area
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy342/ice-dave/2011-12-02_072249.png
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy342/ice-dave/2011-12-02_072241.png
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy342/ice-dave/2011-12-02_072220.png
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy342/ice-dave/2011-12-02_072241.png
http://i806.photobucket.com/albums/yy342/ice-dave/2011-12-02_072429.png
i also got a video from the castle (walk arround.. on my youtube channel)
have a look and enjoy, server would be up soon for closer looks..
As for hours, I started on Sunday evening this week and I've hammered pretty hard on it so far. Im somewhere around 30 hours right now I think... ill start keeping better track.
As for not building on top of a mountain...
The foundation for this particular build is 88 X 262 (and that doesnt include the approach ramp).
Its not so hard to find a mountain base that size, but can you really say that you are used to seeing mountain tops that are that size? Run around your current map and try to find a mountain top that is even 1/4 that size?
But thats not the real reason... I would have considered hunting for or even hand-crafting a mountain that size, if it werent for the MC ceiling. At this scale, the height of the main tower will be somewhere around 65-70 blocks above the foundation. I'd hate to spend a couple hundred hours just to hit the ceiling before I even got the roofs put on.
Besides, If you look at the picture, the real castle is not built on the highest mountain.. the picture is taken from the highest mountain, looking down on the castle roofs... the castle is built on a nice little hill but below the highest mountain..... if this project comes out nice, Ill drop the surrounding land down to a few blocks above sea level. its sitting at like 20 above right now. I'll eventually get some shots of the gate house from down below where I have my forest planted ... I think it will look just fine when done.
Well, Im off to craft a couple hundred stone shovels... gotta dig out some basements and cellars, not to mention a vertical mineshaft to start my branch mining operations base... gonna need lapis and gold for sure.
Peace
Hey, that rhymes.
I just find that sort of cool.
Really nice work so far! Doing it completely legit is nice- a lot of people on the forum hate inventory edits. Good luck with obtaining the blocks! I'm sure the building will go well, as you seem to have thoroughly considered it. Nice work :smile.gif:
They are flying with unlimited inventory and no mobs at night to build a hollow shell that is half turned sideways?
That has been done, yes.
For God's sake, I'll spend more time just farming sheep for the white wool, than they did on the entire project.
I count theirs at 38 blocks wide... Mathematically that makes it just slightly larger than 1/6 the scale of my build...
Show me a legit build approaching 88 X 262, and I'll bow out.
Peace
Don't forget, they have TWO people, you have yourself!
Going to be following this topic to see how this goes, bookmarked.
Keep up the good work!
Nicely said. :#
Anyways good luck on your build. :wink.gif:
Btw, how did you make the plan for the foundation? A specific program?
Also, I think you should eventually put a bunch of saplings all around the castle because the real castle seems to be surrounded by pine trees.
I absolutely plan to plant the slopes when done.
As for the planning on MSpaint, I was lucky enough to find this .jpg on the web somehow while doing my research:
the pic doesnt have scale measurements or a ruler, so I just kinda had to eyeball it and do my best to keep it all the same scale. Had to make a few artistic changes, but I kept it as true as possible.
I will be sticking to the floor plans as closely as possible as it gos up floor by floor.
Im really enjoying the encouragement, and the project.
Hours spent; ~36
Death by Mobs: ~60 (What twisted mind invented the Creeper anyway?)
Sheep Herd ~250
So I have a few major project phases to go before I will actually need the stack of white wool; excavating the basements is still unstarted, gathering clay for the brick gatehouse, building the vertical shaft for the deep level branch mine needed to get the lapis for the blue roofs, find a desert or some other good source for sand for glass making, and I have to figure out how to catch and breed squid for the dye sacks so I can have dark grey roofs.
But looming in my mind is the massive amounts of needed wool ..... did I mention Massive? I havent done the math yet but I just have this nagging voice in the back of my head that says 'breed more sheep, breed more sheep, breed more sheep." And the primary limiting factor for sheep breeding is wheat. Therefore my most recent efforts have been lazer focused on my wheat growing operations.
Let the greenhouses begin (see pics):
For safety purposes, I built these into the side of the mountain from which I have been taking the screen shots of the castle foundations. Built the top story first.
Here's a shot of the interior of the top floor with a mature wheat crop.
--------------------------------------------------
The middle floor;
--------------------------------------------------
Annnnnd DONE, three floors, each capable of producing 256 wheat for a total of 768 wheat every four to six gamedays.
Im probably going to need to double that production, so I built the greenhouses in a location where they can be extended out to the front far enough to be twice as long. I'll make that decision after I do the math on needed white wool.
-------------------------------------------------
And lastly, improvements to the sheep pasture; Pigs were jumping the fence somehow, so they got moved to a pig-penof their own. The sheep herd is starting to look like a possibility:
-------------------------------------------------
I know this isnt the sexiest update. In your shoes I would be looking for the progress on the castle, but to better chronicle the work, and as someone above requested, 'the dedication' to do this project legit style, I thought I'd drop in these 'support tasks' as they come along.
Peace
PS; any hints on squid breeding would be very welcome.
I've done the math for you and assuming you only use the wool to coat the outside of the castle, you will end up needing on the order of 20,000 blocks of wool. Do some more math and that means you will have to shear 6666 sheep. Thus you will need 13332 wheat to breed all the sheep. This also means that you will go through 28 shears, requiring 56 iron ingots.
...So yeah, I'll agree with your nagging voice.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/topic/813045-my-biggest-castle-wip/
My walls have been filled with dirt( outer is 9 wide). Im having work to get wool for my palace walls and buildings carpets, lucky for me not so much. I again need wood and tons of it. Keep going.