While I've been using my own "play session statistics" mod for the past 5 years I never collected the data until recently, when I added code that printed it out to the game log so it could automatically be collected, and I made charts of this data over a 100 day (play session) period, perhaps the best example so far of just how much caving I do - over this period I mined an average of 3476 resources, 3256 ores, collected 5504 XP, and killed 361 mobs - every day for 100 days straight.
This shows all the data; "resources" includes ore blocks (not the individual drops), rails, cobwebs, and moss stone, while mob kills only include the mobs shown here (other mobs are not included, including a handful of silverfish). The amount of XP collected does not always track the amount of ores mined and mobs killed since I accumulate iron and gold ore in my ender chest, and when I smelt it I may not come back to empty the furnaces right away:
Ores only; you can see that coal is by far the most abundant ore, averaging about 2/3 of the total, followed by iron at about 1/4 of the total, with all other ores being relatively insignificant; below is a zoomed-in view that shows rarer ores better:
A lot of the variation here reflects how I explore large cave systems, from the top to bottom and edges inwards; mineshafts also have an influence as they are usually within a relatively narrow range (further influenced by this being a modded world with a lower lava level, as well as altitude ranges of rarer ores, while the range of mineshafts was unaltered. There are also more caves near and above sea level in mountainous biomes, partly offset by additional iron above sea level at 1/3 the density):
Non-mineral resources; you can see that I find dungeons nearly every day (moss stone) as well as mineshafts every other day or so, even with a frequency that is about the same as 1.7 in the version of TMCW that I played on while recording this (they are 2.5 times more common in 1.6.4 as in 1.7; later versions of TMCW have about 1.5 times the 1.7 frequency). The big spike near the right reflects a particularly large mineshaft, the largest one that I've ever found (as measured by rails collected):
A closer look at spawners by themselves, which are hard to see in any of the charts above due to being so uncommon, averaging about 3 per day:
Mob kills; I did not record the data for individual mobs although I easily could have done so. Similar to rarer ores, there is a pattern evident where the number of mobs rises and falls over several play sessions, again reflecting how I explore cave systems, where the number increases as they become more concentrated in the center, then drops off as I explore fresh areas (this is also a good indicator of how many mobs might be encountered on the surface at night):
Here is a table of all the data I collected:
Finally, here is a before and after comparison of the caves that I explored, along with a surface rendering to give a better sense of scale (overall cave density in this version of TMCW is similar to vanilla 1.6.4, but cave systems are more separated into individual cave systems due to larger cave systems generating aligned to a 7x7 chunk grid). The actual area explored is about 15930 chunks (the number remaining after I trimmed away chunks without torches within a 1 chunk radius underground), and includes around 60 additional play sessions spent caving based on an average of about 100 chunks explored per play session:
The top half is from before (I explored a bit more before I started collecting data):
Amazing. I wish you had a video showing how you cave. I am so terrified in caves I fence myself in every few steps so nothing can sneak up on me and I never get far from the entrance. It‘s like a phobia.
Amazing. I wish you had a video showing how you cave. I am so terrified in caves I fence myself in every few steps so nothing can sneak up on me and I never get far from the entrance. It‘s like a phobia.
I bring in a ton of torches - the faster you get light in there, and the more of it, the fewer mobs spawn. If you have to, run in, lay torch, run out, fight a mob if it chases you out, repeat deeper in.
I bring in a ton of torches - the faster you get light in there, and the more of it, the fewer mobs spawn. If you have to, run in, lay torch, run out, fight a mob if it chases you out, repeat deeper in.
I've always heard that you should explore as quickly as possible so mobs don't have a chance to spawn but I've always been very doubtful that that has any effect - consider the following - I placed a circle with a diameter of 256 blocks (the hostile mob despawn radius) over the largest cave system I've ever explored*, vastly larger than anything in vanilla (the cave systems seen elsewhere are similar to vanilla 1.6.4) - even that cave system is mostly covered by the despawn radius, so mobs have more than enough time to spawn in any ordinary cave system, where it is also more difficult to travel in a straight line (cave systems are much smaller than commonly perceived due to the tunnels twisting and curving around):
Also, mainly as an optimization, but also as a nerf to mob farms, I reduced the spawn rate per chunk by a factor of 4 with no noticeable effect on the number of mobs I encounter, same for reducing the size of the spawning and despawning zones from 128 to 96 blocks (giving mobs less time to spawn while moving across the area) - and I explore caves at an extreme rate, often exceeding a thousand ores mined per hour (even then, I only cover around 100 chunks per play session, while the 128 block despawn radius covers about 200 chunks and even 96 blocks covers about 113 chunks. The actual area is even smaller if you exclude areas without caves, I might spend most of a play session within a 100x100 block area, if not even less).
*These are the stats from each session I spent exploring it, with a total of 15,563 ore mined and 1,912 mobs killed over a bit more than 4 play sessions; I also used around 5,500 torches to light up:
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
Also, this is an MCEdit analysis of the giant cave region, which had a volume of about 1.26 million air blocks and took about 5,500 torches to light it up:
Also, you may note that the number of mobs killed generally increased, from one every 11.8 ore mined in the second session to one every 8.11 in the third session, one every 6.16 in the fourth session, and one every 5.42 in the fifth session (more than double the rate of the second session, even as I moved around a lot faster though previously explored areas to find any remaining areas), which is typical as I explore a cave system since they become more concentrated in the remaining unlit areas - it may actually be best to use Night Vision potions and not place any torches at all, minimizing the number (or density) of mobs and also increasing visibility. Similarly, I've noticed a daily cycle in the frequency of mob encounters - mobs spawning on the surface at night will reduce the number below (in one of my worlds I set the time to permanent day to avoid this).
Those are some amazing statistics good sir, keep up the great work!
I do not cave very often myself, though that is because strip mining, prospecting, and meteor hunting, is more worthwhile than caving in my own modpack.
i would love having that mod, could you release it for public?
It is in the second link in my signature:
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
That said, this doesn't have everything, such as total darkness in dark caves, regardless of the brightness setting (vanilla is so bad that even on Moody "total darkness" is still 5%(!) of full brightness) and other rendering fixes (e.g. MC-43968 and MC-138211 - even the "latest and greatest" rendering engine being implemented in 1.15 doesn't fix them), as that is part of my own modified copy of Optifine (I've been working to separate my modifications from Optifine itself, and add my own settings to replace Optifine's so I could make it public (to the extent that I can without copying any of its code; e.g. render distance in increments of 1 chunk instead of 2/4/8/16 or "better grass", which just uses the top texture on the sides, Optifine's implementation is more complex, or permanent "clear water", which simply reduces the light opacity of water, as vanilla 1.13 did); of course, this, as well as work on the next version of TMCW, has been delayed by the simple fact that I'd rather play than work on mods right now).
I also have my own "improved vanilla" mod, although it has never been publicly released (it has most of the bugfixes and improvements added by TMCW, plus some more, but only adds a couple new blocks or items, "rail blocks" and "cobweb blocks", which let me compact them as you can with minerals; I use this on otherwise vanilla worlds like my first world). Of course, in any case these mods are only available for 1.6.4 with no intentions to ever update them (I don't even consider TMCW to be a mod based on 1.6.4 but its own version; IMO, the same applies to any other mod that adds or changes content, so updates are rather pointless); likewise, if I ever did update it to a newer version I'd replace many newer vanilla features rather than accommodate them; for example, I'd revert the enchanting and anvil changes in 1.8 and replace Mending with my own version, which is a direct replacement for renaming; replace the combat system with my own (it lets you attack as fast as you want as long as you accurately land hits), and so on).
I've always heard that you should explore as quickly as possible so mobs don't have a chance to spawn but I've always been very doubtful that that has any effect - consider the following - I placed a circle with a diameter of 256 blocks (the hostile mob despawn radius) over the largest cave system I've ever explored*, vastly larger than anything in vanilla (the cave systems seen elsewhere are similar to vanilla 1.6.4) - even that cave system is mostly covered by the despawn radius, so mobs have more than enough time to spawn in any ordinary cave system, where it is also more difficult to travel in a straight line (cave systems are much smaller than commonly perceived due to the tunnels twisting and curving around):
Also, mainly as an optimization, but also as a nerf to mob farms, I reduced the spawn rate per chunk by a factor of 4 with no noticeable effect on the number of mobs I encounter, same for reducing the size of the spawning and despawning zones from 128 to 96 blocks (giving mobs less time to spawn while moving across the area) - and I explore caves at an extreme rate, often exceeding a thousand ores mined per hour (even then, I only cover around 100 chunks per play session, while the 128 block despawn radius covers about 200 chunks and even 96 blocks covers about 113 chunks. The actual area is even smaller if you exclude areas without caves, I might spend most of a play session within a 100x100 block area, if not even less).
*These are the stats from each session I spent exploring it, with a total of 15,563 ore mined and 1,912 mobs killed over a bit more than 4 play sessions; I also used around 5,500 torches to light up:
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
Also, this is an MCEdit analysis of the giant cave region, which had a volume of about 1.26 million air blocks and took about 5,500 torches to light it up:
Also, you may note that the number of mobs killed generally increased, from one every 11.8 ore mined in the second session to one every 8.11 in the third session, one every 6.16 in the fourth session, and one every 5.42 in the fifth session (more than double the rate of the second session, even as I moved around a lot faster though previously explored areas to find any remaining areas), which is typical as I explore a cave system since they become more concentrated in the remaining unlit areas - it may actually be best to use Night Vision potions and not place any torches at all, minimizing the number (or density) of mobs and also increasing visibility. Similarly, I've noticed a daily cycle in the frequency of mob encounters - mobs spawning on the surface at night will reduce the number below (in one of my worlds I set the time to permanent day to avoid this).
Well, the more time you spend in a unlit cage, the more mobs would spawn, I don't do a lot of cage exploring, I dig straight down to the level I want, so placing torches when needed is good for for not having monsters sneaking up on me from behind. But when I encounter a cave from above, there is always at least a ton of mobs. drawn to me. I doubt Night vision help on the creeper that is very inconviently is down under in a place I can't shot them from above. Then said I prefer mob density in some areas rather having to deal with mobs everywhere.
Wow... You are lucky. Most of the time people die when digging straight down.
The chances of hitting a cave or lava are lower than popularly thought; for example, take this map of a typical 1.6.4 world, where caves, mineshafts,, dungeons, and underground lakes were more common than in later versions:
According to GIMP about 51.5% of the image is blank space (white), giving about a 50% chance of hitting something when digging down at a random point, and in many cases that will be only be a several block drop into a cave. Somebody else tested this (in 1.7 and later) and found a 85% chance of safely reaching bedrock, 99% if you went no lower than layer 15 (albeit you won't find many diamonds since they only start on that layer with about 10% of the abundance on layers 5-12):
I did some data gathering and calculations, plus 40 widely-spaced test pits in creative to check the accuracy of my results, and it looks like if you dig straight down in survival you have about an 85% chance of reaching bedrock safely. You may take a non-fatal fall now and then, but mostly you will die from falling into lava, and almost never (3% or so) by falling a long distance. Long distance falls almost always happen pretty close to the surface. Once your pit is down to level 30 or 40 you will almost never take a fatal fall after that.
If you only dig straight down to level 15, and stop there, you have nearly a 99% chance of arriving safely, with an occasional non-fatal fall.
That said, maybe they are actually digging a 1x2 pit downwards while standing on both blocks (in the middle), which allows you to see what is below you as you mine out blocks on either side, or placing a water bucket and digging out the block below, repeating until they reach the bottom; I've done this before, on my "triple height terrain" world (incidentally, I didn't hit anything despite going through over 3 times the ground), though I usually just dig a standard staircase, which would have a higher chance of hitting something due to being larger and covering more ground (I didn't hit anything the last time I made a mine; I could have dug straight down as well with no issues).
The chances of hitting a cave or lava are lower than popularly thought; for example, take this map of a typical 1.6.4 world, where caves, mineshafts,, dungeons, and underground lakes were more common than in later versions:
According to GIMP about 51.5% of the image is blank space (white), giving about a 50% chance of hitting something when digging down at a random point, and in many cases that will be only be a several block drop into a cave. Somebody else tested this (in 1.7 and later) and found a 85% chance of safely reaching bedrock, 99% if you went no lower than layer 15 (albeit you won't find many diamonds since they only start on that layer with about 10% of the abundance on layers 5-12):
That said, maybe they are actually digging a 1x2 pit downwards while standing on both blocks (in the middle), which allows you to see what is below you as you mine out blocks on either side, or placing a water bucket and digging out the block below, repeating until they reach the bottom; I've done this before, on my "triple height terrain" world (incidentally, I didn't hit anything despite going through over 3 times the ground), though I usually just dig a standard staircase, which would have a higher chance of hitting something due to being larger and covering more ground (I didn't hit anything the last time I made a mine; I could have dug straight down as well with no issues).
I usually dig for 1x2, Having a water bucket, I mostly hit caves or Ravines, if I hit anything. Staircase digging is lot slower than digging a 1X2 hole, and most importantly. I used to maxe 2x2, holes but they are a bit unsafe in terms of falling down, and can house spiders if you enter a dungeon or a unlit cave, I don't want to fight spiders on their home ground, a vertical wall.
It is more of a myth than reality, I am more likely to hit a cave or a cave with water, or nothing, over a ravine or lava. Besides water buckets and even a empty bucket is very useful. Besides having a sword, an axe(if you don't have a sword or a bow), and a bow.
While I've been using my own "play session statistics" mod for the past 5 years I never collected the data until recently, when I added code that printed it out to the game log so it could automatically be collected, and I made charts of this data over a 100 day (play session) period, perhaps the best example so far of just how much caving I do - over this period I mined an average of 3476 resources, 3256 ores, collected 5504 XP, and killed 361 mobs - every day for 100 days straight.
This shows all the data; "resources" includes ore blocks (not the individual drops), rails, cobwebs, and moss stone, while mob kills only include the mobs shown here (other mobs are not included, including a handful of silverfish). The amount of XP collected does not always track the amount of ores mined and mobs killed since I accumulate iron and gold ore in my ender chest, and when I smelt it I may not come back to empty the furnaces right away:
Ores only; you can see that coal is by far the most abundant ore, averaging about 2/3 of the total, followed by iron at about 1/4 of the total, with all other ores being relatively insignificant; below is a zoomed-in view that shows rarer ores better:
A lot of the variation here reflects how I explore large cave systems, from the top to bottom and edges inwards; mineshafts also have an influence as they are usually within a relatively narrow range (further influenced by this being a modded world with a lower lava level, as well as altitude ranges of rarer ores, while the range of mineshafts was unaltered. There are also more caves near and above sea level in mountainous biomes, partly offset by additional iron above sea level at 1/3 the density):
Non-mineral resources; you can see that I find dungeons nearly every day (moss stone) as well as mineshafts every other day or so, even with a frequency that is about the same as 1.7 in the version of TMCW that I played on while recording this (they are 2.5 times more common in 1.6.4 as in 1.7; later versions of TMCW have about 1.5 times the 1.7 frequency). The big spike near the right reflects a particularly large mineshaft, the largest one that I've ever found (as measured by rails collected):
A closer look at spawners by themselves, which are hard to see in any of the charts above due to being so uncommon, averaging about 3 per day:
Mob kills; I did not record the data for individual mobs although I easily could have done so. Similar to rarer ores, there is a pattern evident where the number of mobs rises and falls over several play sessions, again reflecting how I explore cave systems, where the number increases as they become more concentrated in the center, then drops off as I explore fresh areas (this is also a good indicator of how many mobs might be encountered on the surface at night):
Here is a table of all the data I collected:
Finally, here is a before and after comparison of the caves that I explored, along with a surface rendering to give a better sense of scale (overall cave density in this version of TMCW is similar to vanilla 1.6.4, but cave systems are more separated into individual cave systems due to larger cave systems generating aligned to a 7x7 chunk grid). The actual area explored is about 15930 chunks (the number remaining after I trimmed away chunks without torches within a 1 chunk radius underground), and includes around 60 additional play sessions spent caving based on an average of about 100 chunks explored per play session:
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Amazing. I wish you had a video showing how you cave. I am so terrified in caves I fence myself in every few steps so nothing can sneak up on me and I never get far from the entrance. It‘s like a phobia.
I bring in a ton of torches - the faster you get light in there, and the more of it, the fewer mobs spawn. If you have to, run in, lay torch, run out, fight a mob if it chases you out, repeat deeper in.
I've always heard that you should explore as quickly as possible so mobs don't have a chance to spawn but I've always been very doubtful that that has any effect - consider the following - I placed a circle with a diameter of 256 blocks (the hostile mob despawn radius) over the largest cave system I've ever explored*, vastly larger than anything in vanilla (the cave systems seen elsewhere are similar to vanilla 1.6.4) - even that cave system is mostly covered by the despawn radius, so mobs have more than enough time to spawn in any ordinary cave system, where it is also more difficult to travel in a straight line (cave systems are much smaller than commonly perceived due to the tunnels twisting and curving around):
Also, mainly as an optimization, but also as a nerf to mob farms, I reduced the spawn rate per chunk by a factor of 4 with no noticeable effect on the number of mobs I encounter, same for reducing the size of the spawning and despawning zones from 128 to 96 blocks (giving mobs less time to spawn while moving across the area) - and I explore caves at an extreme rate, often exceeding a thousand ores mined per hour (even then, I only cover around 100 chunks per play session, while the 128 block despawn radius covers about 200 chunks and even 96 blocks covers about 113 chunks. The actual area is even smaller if you exclude areas without caves, I might spend most of a play session within a 100x100 block area, if not even less).
*These are the stats from each session I spent exploring it, with a total of 15,563 ore mined and 1,912 mobs killed over a bit more than 4 play sessions; I also used around 5,500 torches to light up:
Day 2:
Day 3:
Day 4:
Day 5:
Also, this is an MCEdit analysis of the giant cave region, which had a volume of about 1.26 million air blocks and took about 5,500 torches to light it up:
Also, you may note that the number of mobs killed generally increased, from one every 11.8 ore mined in the second session to one every 8.11 in the third session, one every 6.16 in the fourth session, and one every 5.42 in the fifth session (more than double the rate of the second session, even as I moved around a lot faster though previously explored areas to find any remaining areas), which is typical as I explore a cave system since they become more concentrated in the remaining unlit areas - it may actually be best to use Night Vision potions and not place any torches at all, minimizing the number (or density) of mobs and also increasing visibility. Similarly, I've noticed a daily cycle in the frequency of mob encounters - mobs spawning on the surface at night will reduce the number below (in one of my worlds I set the time to permanent day to avoid this).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Wow! The data you have collected is insane! Excellent job sir!
Colonel Mustard Games Youtube
Those are some amazing statistics good sir, keep up the great work!
I do not cave very often myself, though that is because strip mining, prospecting, and meteor hunting, is more worthwhile than caving in my own modpack.
i would love having that mod, could you release it for public?
what is happening?
what what what
it seems like Sarium, the God of Chaos returned....
oh no
It is in the second link in my signature:
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
That said, this doesn't have everything, such as total darkness in dark caves, regardless of the brightness setting (vanilla is so bad that even on Moody "total darkness" is still 5%(!) of full brightness) and other rendering fixes (e.g. MC-43968 and MC-138211 - even the "latest and greatest" rendering engine being implemented in 1.15 doesn't fix them), as that is part of my own modified copy of Optifine (I've been working to separate my modifications from Optifine itself, and add my own settings to replace Optifine's so I could make it public (to the extent that I can without copying any of its code; e.g. render distance in increments of 1 chunk instead of 2/4/8/16 or "better grass", which just uses the top texture on the sides, Optifine's implementation is more complex, or permanent "clear water", which simply reduces the light opacity of water, as vanilla 1.13 did); of course, this, as well as work on the next version of TMCW, has been delayed by the simple fact that I'd rather play than work on mods right now).
I also have my own "improved vanilla" mod, although it has never been publicly released (it has most of the bugfixes and improvements added by TMCW, plus some more, but only adds a couple new blocks or items, "rail blocks" and "cobweb blocks", which let me compact them as you can with minerals; I use this on otherwise vanilla worlds like my first world). Of course, in any case these mods are only available for 1.6.4 with no intentions to ever update them (I don't even consider TMCW to be a mod based on 1.6.4 but its own version; IMO, the same applies to any other mod that adds or changes content, so updates are rather pointless); likewise, if I ever did update it to a newer version I'd replace many newer vanilla features rather than accommodate them; for example, I'd revert the enchanting and anvil changes in 1.8 and replace Mending with my own version, which is a direct replacement for renaming; replace the combat system with my own (it lets you attack as fast as you want as long as you accurately land hits), and so on).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Well, the more time you spend in a unlit cage, the more mobs would spawn, I don't do a lot of cage exploring, I dig straight down to the level I want, so placing torches when needed is good for for not having monsters sneaking up on me from behind. But when I encounter a cave from above, there is always at least a ton of mobs. drawn to me. I doubt Night vision help on the creeper that is very inconviently is down under in a place I can't shot them from above. Then said I prefer mob density in some areas rather having to deal with mobs everywhere.
Wow... You are lucky. Most of the time people die when digging straight down.
My first poll! https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/discussion/2991209-how-many-nether-stars-have-you-obtained
I just took the Minecraft Noob test! Check out what I scored. Think you can beat me?!
To take the test, check out
https://minecraftnoobtest.com/test.php
The chances of hitting a cave or lava are lower than popularly thought; for example, take this map of a typical 1.6.4 world, where caves, mineshafts,, dungeons, and underground lakes were more common than in later versions:
According to GIMP about 51.5% of the image is blank space (white), giving about a 50% chance of hitting something when digging down at a random point, and in many cases that will be only be a several block drop into a cave. Somebody else tested this (in 1.7 and later) and found a 85% chance of safely reaching bedrock, 99% if you went no lower than layer 15 (albeit you won't find many diamonds since they only start on that layer with about 10% of the abundance on layers 5-12):
That said, maybe they are actually digging a 1x2 pit downwards while standing on both blocks (in the middle), which allows you to see what is below you as you mine out blocks on either side, or placing a water bucket and digging out the block below, repeating until they reach the bottom; I've done this before, on my "triple height terrain" world (incidentally, I didn't hit anything despite going through over 3 times the ground), though I usually just dig a standard staircase, which would have a higher chance of hitting something due to being larger and covering more ground (I didn't hit anything the last time I made a mine; I could have dug straight down as well with no issues).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I usually dig for 1x2, Having a water bucket, I mostly hit caves or Ravines, if I hit anything. Staircase digging is lot slower than digging a 1X2 hole, and most importantly. I used to maxe 2x2, holes but they are a bit unsafe in terms of falling down, and can house spiders if you enter a dungeon or a unlit cave, I don't want to fight spiders on their home ground, a vertical wall.
It is more of a myth than reality, I am more likely to hit a cave or a cave with water, or nothing, over a ravine or lava. Besides water buckets and even a empty bucket is very useful. Besides having a sword, an axe(if you don't have a sword or a bow), and a bow.