You see this really cool spider jockey in your world and want to name it so it can be your attendant at your shop. That's great. Except that you need 2 nametags, which is kind of a pain, and it is kind of a waste, the bottom name tag isn't displayed in the first place. All to keep your really cool spider jockey.
Basically, the PersistenceRequired tag (Thanks Skylinerw) is a tag applied when a mob is named that prevents despawning. So, when a nametag is added to a stack of mobs, this tag should be applied to all of them. A patch like this may be added soon anyways because of the issue of infinite never-despawning zombies due to chicken jockies.
This is really not breaking anything, unless you rely on a mob despawning and another one not, which can still be achieved by applying it through a command block. All it does is send your valuable nametags a step further.
You see this really cool spider jockey in your world and want to name it so it can be your attendant at your shop. That's great. Except that you need 2 nametags, which is kind of a pain, and it is kind of a waste, the bottom name tag isn't displayed in the first place. All to keep your really cool spider jockey.
So basically, if there is a named mob in the stack, the entire stack doesn't despawn. However, if the named mob is killed, the rest are free to despawn. Not too hard to add in game, and if the chicken jockey egg picking-up problem thing is fixed, the mechanic or a similar one should already be in game. (Allowing the chickens to despawn)
This would help that, and any future stacked mobs to be added, or a help shorten the data tags on an adventure map. I mean, if you wanted one of the mobs gone, you could kill it, so there really is no mechanic broken.
I should mention that in the game, mobs with a "CustomName" tag does not force the mob to persist. The "PersistenceRequired" tag is the only tag needed to obtain this effect. For example:
/summon Zombie ~ ~1 ~ {PersistenceRequired:1}
When you rename a mob with a nametag item, three tags are applied: "CustomName", "CustomNameVisible", and "PersistenceRequired". Your suggestion calls for named mobs, which isn't necessarily what forces persistence. Just sharing a bit of specific info.
When entities are riding one another, they will be in the same root 'entity' as far as the NBT structure goes, which helps with your suggestion; it would be easier to select mobs in a riding stack.
Might run into some issues when entities are riding other entities that cannot have the "PersistenceRequired" tag, such as items, projectiles, minecarts, boats, etc. However, I do agree that this would be a nice and small addition.
It may have a bit of a balance issue in survival gameplay, as a spider jockey is technically two mobs. But its not as if the player will be able to separate them anyway without killing one of them. It would be a nifty feature for map-making, as a small luxury for combating dataTag lengths. And I suppose it could be modified so mobs specifically stating "PersistenceRequired" as 0 would not be affected by the global persistence.
Overall, as a command block user, I do support this suggestion.
I should mention that in the game, mobs with a "CustomName" tag does not force the mob to persist. The "PersistenceRequired" tag is the only tag needed to obtain this effect. For example:
/summon Zombie ~ ~1 ~ {PersistenceRequired:1}
When you rename a mob with a nametag item, three tags are applied: "CustomName", "CustomNameVisible", and "PersistenceRequired". Your suggestion calls for named mobs, which isn't necessarily what forces persistence. Just sharing a bit of specific info.
When entities are riding one another, they will be in the same root 'entity' as far as the NBT structure goes, which helps with your suggestion; it would be easier to select mobs in a riding stack.
Might run into some issues when entities are riding other entities that cannot have the "PersistenceRequired" tag, such as items, projectiles, minecarts, boats, etc. However, I do agree that this would be a nice and small addition.
It may have a bit of a balance issue in survival gameplay, as a spider jockey is technically two mobs. But its not as if the player will be able to separate them anyway without killing one of them. It would be a nifty feature for map-making, as a small luxury for combating dataTag lengths. And I suppose it could be modified so mobs specifically stating "PersistenceRequired" as 0 would not be affected by the global persistence.
Overall, as a command block user, I do support this suggestion.
I was thinking there was a different tag for it, but I had no idea which one. My named mobs that I named by spawning them with a command block were still despawning, so I was trying to find it, but thank you for telling me which it is.
Basically, the PersistenceRequired tag (Thanks Skylinerw) is a tag applied when a mob is named that prevents despawning. So, when a nametag is added to a stack of mobs, this tag should be applied to all of them. A patch like this may be added soon anyways because of the issue of infinite never-despawning zombies due to chicken jockies.
This is really not breaking anything, unless you rely on a mob despawning and another one not, which can still be achieved by applying it through a command block. All it does is send your valuable nametags a step further.
I should mention that in the game, mobs with a "CustomName" tag does not force the mob to persist. The "PersistenceRequired" tag is the only tag needed to obtain this effect. For example:
When you rename a mob with a nametag item, three tags are applied: "CustomName", "CustomNameVisible", and "PersistenceRequired". Your suggestion calls for named mobs, which isn't necessarily what forces persistence. Just sharing a bit of specific info.
When entities are riding one another, they will be in the same root 'entity' as far as the NBT structure goes, which helps with your suggestion; it would be easier to select mobs in a riding stack.
Might run into some issues when entities are riding other entities that cannot have the "PersistenceRequired" tag, such as items, projectiles, minecarts, boats, etc. However, I do agree that this would be a nice and small addition.
It may have a bit of a balance issue in survival gameplay, as a spider jockey is technically two mobs. But its not as if the player will be able to separate them anyway without killing one of them. It would be a nifty feature for map-making, as a small luxury for combating dataTag lengths. And I suppose it could be modified so mobs specifically stating "PersistenceRequired" as 0 would not be affected by the global persistence.
Overall, as a command block user, I do support this suggestion.
Minecraft-things: http://skylinerw.com
More Minecraft-things: https://sourceblock.net
Guides for command-related features (eventually moving to Source Block): https://github.com/skylinerw/guides
I primarily hang out in the /r/MinecraftCommands discord, where there's a lot of people that help with commands: https://discord.gg/QAFXFtZ
Their corresponding subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MinecraftCommands/