Ok this is probably not even possible but I've got an idea which I'd like to suggest.
One of the main problems I've seen on SMP servers is the problem Admins have when Mojang creates a world update - in this case the Nether update .
They seem to have a problem deciding whether to create a totally new world - effectively wiping out any builds online players have done..
or
Stick with the original world that already been fully explored & has no new chunks that can be created (Some servers have 'fixed world borders')
Well...
Admins COULD create a new world & copy/paste chunks of builds from the old server map files but this could probably take a lot of time & many builds could be missed accidentally
There IS also a way to removed explored chunks & get the game to regen those using the newer world-gen update (PythonGB did a Youtube video waaaay back explaining how to do this), but the problem here is finding all the players builds & making a note of the chunks they're in
- keeping those & then deleting everywhere else in the world file that hasn't been built on.
-----
My idea is this
- What if there was a program that could generate a vanilla/virgin world - based on the servers seed & the version it was originally created on (Something like how AMIDST does it) - then compare all the chunks from this virgin world with the existing servers world map
The program can then either highlight:-
> Any chunks that are similar between the existing & virgin worlds
OR
> Any chunks that are vastly different to each other
OR
> ANY chunks that have certain non-naturally generated blocks (for example quartz blocks in the overworld / stone slabs in the nether / beacons / Trees in the end etc)
The Admin can look at these highlighted chunks & then make an 'educated decision' if there's a build there or not - maybe the program could have something like realtime map generation like 'Bluemap' which Admin can zoom in to see if there is a build or not (although Bluemap only shows above ground builds.. maybe there's something that can show below ground as well)
The Admin could then make a decision & highlight/select each chunk (or Area) they like to delete & let the program delete those chunks
- Admin can upload a copy of the modified map (after making a backup of course) to the server so that the next time someone visits a chunk that had been deleted - it will gets 're-genned' using the version of Minecraft that the server is currently running
- This in turn will update the map to include the newer blocks/biomes etc but still keep existing player builds.
There will probably be weird world gen glitches, but I guess players would put up with this if they can get the new blocks but still keep their existing builds
It would still take time for the Admin to compare the worlds, but IMHO doing most of the comparison automatically would cut down the time drastically
What do you think ?
Any programmers out there willing to take the challenge ?
I'm pretty sure there are programs that can already almost do this, MCEDIT can set chunks to be regenerated and worldpainter shows all chunks with player modified blocks. MCEDIT might be best as it shows those player built structures but it might be a bit tedious to find them all.
There is/was a tool that could do something similar, called "Minecraft Map Auto Trim", which deletes chunks that do not have any of a list of blocks that you provide; for example, I use it to delete all chunks without torches below sea level (you can also specify the altitude range to check, as well as a radius in chunks to preserve around a chunk containing a specified block to ensure that an entire structure and/or the surrounding landscape is saved) so I can see exactly what I've explored underground and/or not reveal anything that I haven't seen near the edge of generated chunks:
Example after using it on one of my own worlds, including torches above sea level (this wouldn't work as well in vanilla because there are structures like mineshafts that have torches, which I removed/replaced, but other blocks can be used); you can see a stronghold to the far left, a village near the center, and a jungle temple to the far right which are all separate due to the chunks being deleted around them (I use a radius of 1 to ensure that everything is included). The cave map was made in a similar manner except the tool I used only maps caves within a short distance of a torch underground (no chunk deletion is needed but the concept is the same, only showing explored areas):
However, note that MMAT will not work with 1.13 or later since the save format was changed.
Also, MCEdit will not work on worlds loaded in 1.13 either and has been abandoned (based on a lack of any updates, including news, for several years); it would be best to have an official solution which doesn't depend on the community maintaining unsupported software which can break or be discontinued at any time (or can't be used at all, e.g. mods on Bedrock, especially consoles, which have long had an option to reset the Nether/End, although this is a complete reset).
I'm pretty sure there are programs that can already almost do this, MCEDIT can set chunks to be regenerated and worldpainter shows all chunks with player modified blocks. MCEDIT might be best as it shows those player built structures but it might be a bit tedious to find them all.
Hence my suggestion - Worldedit IS tedious having to try & find ALL player builds- also it's not been updated (AFAIK) to anything after 1.12 EDIT: as Themastercaver has already said I was suggesting some program that could do most of this tedious work automatically but didn't rely on a lot of 'tweaking' to get the results you want.
My idea was to compare a Vanilla map with the server map & highlight chunks with changes & highlight them.. Perhaps with different colours based on how different they were & whether they contained blocks not normally found.
Thamastercaver suggestion above sounds a little bit like what I was suggesting (although it sounds like a lot of tweaking is required to get the results you want) but as said.. doesn't work with newer MC versions.
I did notice however the source code is available on Github.. Maybe a programmer could take on the challenge & update it ??
Support. I don't really play MP, but it sucks to lose the builds just due to an update.
Updating chunks without infrastructure only sounds like good idea.
If it exists already - excellent.
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
Hence my suggestion - Worldedit IS tedious having to try & find ALL player builds- also it's not been updated (AFAIK) to anything after 1.12 EDIT: as Themastercaver has already said I was suggesting some program that could do most of this tedious work automatically but didn't rely on a lot of 'tweaking' to get the results you want.
My idea was to compare a Vanilla map with the server map & highlight chunks with changes & highlight them.. Perhaps with different colours based on how different they were & whether they contained blocks not normally found.
Thamastercaver suggestion above sounds a little bit like what I was suggesting (although it sounds like a lot of tweaking is required to get the results you want) but as said.. doesn't work with newer MC versions.
I did notice however the source code is available on Github.. Maybe a programmer could take on the challenge & update it ??
Yeah, I haven't used mcedit in a while so I wasn't aware it isn't updated. Thinking about it again though worldpainter might work well, I've never used it for that purpose but it can load a minecraft world, show modified chunks and delete chunks so in theory it could be used to delete all virgin chunks. The only problem I see is that it would be hard to tell which chunks actually have builds in them and which chunks have been "modified" with a single torch or something. Anyway I just wanted to mention I'm all for a specific solution to be created but wanted to offer some possible alternatives.
Ok this is probably not even possible but I've got an idea which I'd like to suggest.
One of the main problems I've seen on SMP servers is the problem Admins have when Mojang creates a world update - in this case the Nether update .
They seem to have a problem deciding whether to create a totally new world - effectively wiping out any builds online players have done..
or
Stick with the original world that already been fully explored & has no new chunks that can be created (Some servers have 'fixed world borders')
Well...
Admins COULD create a new world & copy/paste chunks of builds from the old server map files but this could probably take a lot of time & many builds could be missed accidentally
There IS also a way to removed explored chunks & get the game to regen those using the newer world-gen update (PythonGB did a Youtube video waaaay back explaining how to do this), but the problem here is finding all the players builds & making a note of the chunks they're in
- keeping those & then deleting everywhere else in the world file that hasn't been built on.
-----
My idea is this
- What if there was a program that could generate a vanilla/virgin world - based on the servers seed & the version it was originally created on (Something like how AMIDST does it) - then compare all the chunks from this virgin world with the existing servers world map
The program can then either highlight:-
> Any chunks that are similar between the existing & virgin worlds
OR
> Any chunks that are vastly different to each other
OR
> ANY chunks that have certain non-naturally generated blocks (for example quartz blocks in the overworld / stone slabs in the nether / beacons / Trees in the end etc)
The Admin can look at these highlighted chunks & then make an 'educated decision' if there's a build there or not - maybe the program could have something like realtime map generation like 'Bluemap' which Admin can zoom in to see if there is a build or not (although Bluemap only shows above ground builds.. maybe there's something that can show below ground as well)
The Admin could then make a decision & highlight/select each chunk (or Area) they like to delete & let the program delete those chunks
- Admin can upload a copy of the modified map (after making a backup of course) to the server so that the next time someone visits a chunk that had been deleted - it will gets 're-genned' using the version of Minecraft that the server is currently running
- This in turn will update the map to include the newer blocks/biomes etc but still keep existing player builds.
There will probably be weird world gen glitches, but I guess players would put up with this if they can get the new blocks but still keep their existing builds
It would still take time for the Admin to compare the worlds, but IMHO doing most of the comparison automatically would cut down the time drastically
What do you think ?
Any programmers out there willing to take the challenge ?
I'm pretty sure there are programs that can already almost do this, MCEDIT can set chunks to be regenerated and worldpainter shows all chunks with player modified blocks. MCEDIT might be best as it shows those player built structures but it might be a bit tedious to find them all.
There is/was a tool that could do something similar, called "Minecraft Map Auto Trim", which deletes chunks that do not have any of a list of blocks that you provide; for example, I use it to delete all chunks without torches below sea level (you can also specify the altitude range to check, as well as a radius in chunks to preserve around a chunk containing a specified block to ensure that an entire structure and/or the surrounding landscape is saved) so I can see exactly what I've explored underground and/or not reveal anything that I haven't seen near the edge of generated chunks:
https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/mapping-and-modding-java-edition/minecraft-tools/1262256-tool-minecraft-map-auto-trim-v0-1
Example after using it on one of my own worlds, including torches above sea level (this wouldn't work as well in vanilla because there are structures like mineshafts that have torches, which I removed/replaced, but other blocks can be used); you can see a stronghold to the far left, a village near the center, and a jungle temple to the far right which are all separate due to the chunks being deleted around them (I use a radius of 1 to ensure that everything is included). The cave map was made in a similar manner except the tool I used only maps caves within a short distance of a torch underground (no chunk deletion is needed but the concept is the same, only showing explored areas):
However, note that MMAT will not work with 1.13 or later since the save format was changed.
Also, MCEdit will not work on worlds loaded in 1.13 either and has been abandoned (based on a lack of any updates, including news, for several years); it would be best to have an official solution which doesn't depend on the community maintaining unsupported software which can break or be discontinued at any time (or can't be used at all, e.g. mods on Bedrock, especially consoles, which have long had an option to reset the Nether/End, although this is a complete reset).
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?
Hence my suggestion - Worldedit IS tedious having to try & find ALL player builds- also it's not been updated (AFAIK) to anything after 1.12
EDIT: as Themastercaver has already said
I was suggesting some program that could do most of this tedious work automatically but didn't rely on a lot of 'tweaking' to get the results you want.
My idea was to compare a Vanilla map with the server map & highlight chunks with changes & highlight them.. Perhaps with different colours based on how different they were & whether they contained blocks not normally found.
Thamastercaver suggestion above sounds a little bit like what I was suggesting (although it sounds like a lot of tweaking is required to get the results you want) but as said.. doesn't work with newer MC versions.
I did notice however the source code is available on Github.. Maybe a programmer could take on the challenge & update it ??
Support. I don't really play MP, but it sucks to lose the builds just due to an update.
Updating chunks without infrastructure only sounds like good idea.
If it exists already - excellent.
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
Yeah, I haven't used mcedit in a while so I wasn't aware it isn't updated. Thinking about it again though worldpainter might work well, I've never used it for that purpose but it can load a minecraft world, show modified chunks and delete chunks so in theory it could be used to delete all virgin chunks. The only problem I see is that it would be hard to tell which chunks actually have builds in them and which chunks have been "modified" with a single torch or something. Anyway I just wanted to mention I'm all for a specific solution to be created but wanted to offer some possible alternatives.