(not sure if this is the right place to post this?)
Hey there! I'm new to this site as a whole and just started playing again
after multiple years of being off. Along with just trying mods for the
first time ever and really experimenting with shaders I'm really trying
to catch up and get things going again!
My question for now though is whether I should start a long term (like
forever) survival map with or without mods? I know with mods it could
get a little sketchy trying to update to a new update without destroying
your world, and with a vanilla world I could do so and also store and
save it very easily through systems if I ever need to change computer.
However,
I really like the mods I got going (although very heavy on my pc) and
would like to know what you guys would suggest I do? I was thinking
making a hardcore (hardcore as in the mods I have making it hard)
survival world with mods that I don't plan on lasting, alongside a
normal vanilla one that I do plan on keeping?
I know this might be sounding ridiculous, but I'm just so overwhelmed
with everything i've been missing out on as well so having this at least
answered or helped would help a toooon.
You should definitely make a long term survival world. The best way I have heard it put is, it's kind of like a diary, even though some of it may not be exciting at the moment later it will be exciting to look through. Although do not be afraid to deviate from the world from time to time since you do not want to get burnt out. Mods are fun but, the game, especially when you first start up a new world, is so huge you have 200+ hours of enjoyment right there more if you are into "megaprojects". Find your playstyle but, most importantly have fun. Good luck.
P.S. Shaders are fun but, they give you a false sense of security.
I, personally, would go without mods (other than OptiFine). But that's simply because that when vanilla Minecraft gets an update, you can get the new features instantly if you don't use mods, whereas you'd have to wait for the mod loader and then subsequently the mods themselves to be updated before you can go to that version of Minecraft... and at that point, the next major update for vanilla Minecraft might be close, anyway. It gets especially troublesome if one of your mods doesn't get updated/released at all for a newer Minecraft version.
But my opinion on that is largely due to me just really liking the features that vanilla Minecraft gets; Version 1.13 allows water to co-exist with many non-whole blocks, which I very much like, and version 1.14 overhauled villager stuff, while I'm very into trading with villagers. Version 1.15 doesn't seem to contribute too much new content, but I'm still looking forward to the behind-the-scenes changes. And version 1.16, or whenever the recently-announced Nether Update will be, looks very exciting to me, and not like something that I want to miss out on, even if there are mods/mod packs for older versions that contain much more stuff than that.
Another argument is that vanilla Minecraft is the "base" game, while mods may be under- or over-powered in comparison to that. Of course, many mods are well-balanced, but still.
I'm not against mods, of course, I just don't want to miss out on what vanilla Minecraft has to offer. But if you want a different experience than what vanilla Minecraft has, mods and mod packs can maybe give you said experience.
I generally start a new survival world with each new update. Dont use mods except VoxelMap which I can't seem to do without and Optifine for performance, but I go back to older worlds for fun on occasion. Mods seem like too much cheating for me so I stick to near Vanilla.
IMO, modded versions are a separate version of the game that have nothing whatsoever to do with vanilla or its updates - this is one reason why I've never updated past 1.6.4 and have no interest in upcoming updates (I didn't even watch Minecon and only know that 1.16 will be a Nether update); likewise, modded versions have their own updates independent from vanilla, and you can easily add whatever features you want (in my case this means adding them myself; for example, the long-awaited "cave update", as modding cave generation was the first thing I started modding at around this time in 2013. Many other mods added features similar to later vanilla updates long before they did, some even directly based off of mods).
That said, I haven't exactly tried maintaining compatibility across versions of my own mods, even when ignoring changes to world generation and things like that (you could upgrade but new chunks will be different, sometimes extremely so; otherwise, I've changed biome/item/block IDs over time, even vanilla ones), and aside from that I make a new world for each version to keep track of everything I've done in that version/world (namely, my caving-related progress). I do have a world that I've had for more than 6 years though and am currently playing on a modded world made 5 1/2 years ago, which are my longest and second-longest played worlds respectively (in terms of playtime, not time since they were created). The first world is also the only world that has been updated, started in vanilla 1.5.1, then upgraded up to 1.6.4, plus my own personal mods, Optifine (which I've recently dropped in favor of my own optimizations which are far superior and to eliminate the need for "hacks" to get around modifying the same classes as Optifine for non-personal mods; previously I used my own modified version of Optifine that had many bugfixes and improvements to rendering), and a backpack/minimap mod for a short time).
Also, I don't see why many people think of mods as cheating; sure if they are things like minimaps (the kind that show caves and mobs, though the one I used only showed caves if they were lit up), x-ray and other hacks, and so on, but they can do the opposite as well, such as ramp up mob spawning and mob difficulty, as I've done myself (I recently killed a staggering 767 mobs in a single play session and averaged nearly double that of vanilla over a 1 week period. Ironically, I've actually reduced spawn rates (individual spawn attempts per chunk and chunks per cycle) as both an optimization and nerf to mob farms (which may see as little as 1/12 the vanilla spawn rate), but the spawning zone around the player is smaller and closer, increasing the density of mobs near the player, and the spawn rate is still high enough to offset natural despawning even when quickly moving around).
Data packs should be more stable than mods to some degree, also. The Fabric mod seems to keep up well even being released quickly after snapshots are released.
There really is no "one way" to play Minecraft. I prefer playing the game with my wife and close friends and relatives. We play "mostly 1.14.4 SMP" with select VanillaTweaks.com Datapacks thrown in, a few I made myself at player request, and a few plugins with Spigotmc.org. But what "mods" we use and the style of our play has mostly to do with what keeps the game fun for the group as a whole.
I suspect if you find a server with a group you enjoy playing, the mods or version won't matter so much. Good luck!
The only SMP server I play is a private one with a group of friends including my son and teenaged granddaughter. Currently having trouble getting on this server though as the operator/owner just moved to Japan and my super-slow internet connection tends to time out without connecting. It's plain vanilla at 1.13 now but mu son (who does the IT support for it) plans to take it to 1.14.4 soon.
Yeah. SMP with close friends and family who all share the same general play-style make a HUGE difference, at least to me, in keeping Minecraft THE game to come back to and enjoy for entertainment. To me, that makes more a difference than what mods or specific choices about the map. The seeds for the last several maps were picked out by my wife and our mutual close friend, while I advise on how a given seed choice may affect the playout of the map. It's up to the OP how to move forward in their choices, and a "close family/ friend SMP" may not be an option at this time. But it's good to see the opinions posted here.
Hey there!
I'm new to this site as a whole and just started playing again
after multiple years of being off. Along with just trying mods for the
first time ever and really experimenting with shaders I'm really trying
to catch up and get things going again!
My question for now though is whether I should start a long term (like
forever) survival map with or without mods? I know with mods it could
get a little sketchy trying to update to a new update without destroying
your world, and with a vanilla world I could do so and also store and
save it very easily through systems if I ever need to change computer.
However,
I really like the mods I got going (although very heavy on my pc) and
would like to know what you guys would suggest I do? I was thinking
making a hardcore (hardcore as in the mods I have making it hard)
survival world with mods that I don't plan on lasting, alongside a
normal vanilla one that I do plan on keeping?
I know this might be sounding ridiculous, but I'm just so overwhelmed
with everything i've been missing out on as well so having this at least
answered or helped would help a toooon.
Thanks! <3
You should definitely make a long term survival world. The best way I have heard it put is, it's kind of like a diary, even though some of it may not be exciting at the moment later it will be exciting to look through. Although do not be afraid to deviate from the world from time to time since you do not want to get burnt out. Mods are fun but, the game, especially when you first start up a new world, is so huge you have 200+ hours of enjoyment right there more if you are into "megaprojects". Find your playstyle but, most importantly have fun. Good luck.
P.S. Shaders are fun but, they give you a false sense of security.
One option would be to have two separate long-term games, one vanilla updatable and one with the mod.
I, personally, would go without mods (other than OptiFine). But that's simply because that when vanilla Minecraft gets an update, you can get the new features instantly if you don't use mods, whereas you'd have to wait for the mod loader and then subsequently the mods themselves to be updated before you can go to that version of Minecraft... and at that point, the next major update for vanilla Minecraft might be close, anyway. It gets especially troublesome if one of your mods doesn't get updated/released at all for a newer Minecraft version.
But my opinion on that is largely due to me just really liking the features that vanilla Minecraft gets; Version 1.13 allows water to co-exist with many non-whole blocks, which I very much like, and version 1.14 overhauled villager stuff, while I'm very into trading with villagers. Version 1.15 doesn't seem to contribute too much new content, but I'm still looking forward to the behind-the-scenes changes. And version 1.16, or whenever the recently-announced Nether Update will be, looks very exciting to me, and not like something that I want to miss out on, even if there are mods/mod packs for older versions that contain much more stuff than that.
Another argument is that vanilla Minecraft is the "base" game, while mods may be under- or over-powered in comparison to that. Of course, many mods are well-balanced, but still.
I'm not against mods, of course, I just don't want to miss out on what vanilla Minecraft has to offer. But if you want a different experience than what vanilla Minecraft has, mods and mod packs can maybe give you said experience.
I generally start a new survival world with each new update. Dont use mods except VoxelMap which I can't seem to do without and Optifine for performance, but I go back to older worlds for fun on occasion. Mods seem like too much cheating for me so I stick to near Vanilla.
Learn something new each day
IMO, modded versions are a separate version of the game that have nothing whatsoever to do with vanilla or its updates - this is one reason why I've never updated past 1.6.4 and have no interest in upcoming updates (I didn't even watch Minecon and only know that 1.16 will be a Nether update); likewise, modded versions have their own updates independent from vanilla, and you can easily add whatever features you want (in my case this means adding them myself; for example, the long-awaited "cave update", as modding cave generation was the first thing I started modding at around this time in 2013. Many other mods added features similar to later vanilla updates long before they did, some even directly based off of mods).
That said, I haven't exactly tried maintaining compatibility across versions of my own mods, even when ignoring changes to world generation and things like that (you could upgrade but new chunks will be different, sometimes extremely so; otherwise, I've changed biome/item/block IDs over time, even vanilla ones), and aside from that I make a new world for each version to keep track of everything I've done in that version/world (namely, my caving-related progress). I do have a world that I've had for more than 6 years though and am currently playing on a modded world made 5 1/2 years ago, which are my longest and second-longest played worlds respectively (in terms of playtime, not time since they were created). The first world is also the only world that has been updated, started in vanilla 1.5.1, then upgraded up to 1.6.4, plus my own personal mods, Optifine (which I've recently dropped in favor of my own optimizations which are far superior and to eliminate the need for "hacks" to get around modifying the same classes as Optifine for non-personal mods; previously I used my own modified version of Optifine that had many bugfixes and improvements to rendering), and a backpack/minimap mod for a short time).
Also, I don't see why many people think of mods as cheating; sure if they are things like minimaps (the kind that show caves and mobs, though the one I used only showed caves if they were lit up), x-ray and other hacks, and so on, but they can do the opposite as well, such as ramp up mob spawning and mob difficulty, as I've done myself (I recently killed a staggering 767 mobs in a single play session and averaged nearly double that of vanilla over a 1 week period. Ironically, I've actually reduced spawn rates (individual spawn attempts per chunk and chunks per cycle) as both an optimization and nerf to mob farms (which may see as little as 1/12 the vanilla spawn rate), but the spawning zone around the player is smaller and closer, increasing the density of mobs near the player, and the spawn rate is still high enough to offset natural despawning even when quickly moving around).
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?
Data packs should be more stable than mods to some degree, also. The Fabric mod seems to keep up well even being released quickly after snapshots are released.
There really is no "one way" to play Minecraft. I prefer playing the game with my wife and close friends and relatives. We play "mostly 1.14.4 SMP" with select VanillaTweaks.com Datapacks thrown in, a few I made myself at player request, and a few plugins with Spigotmc.org. But what "mods" we use and the style of our play has mostly to do with what keeps the game fun for the group as a whole.
I suspect if you find a server with a group you enjoy playing, the mods or version won't matter so much. Good luck!
The only SMP server I play is a private one with a group of friends including my son and teenaged granddaughter. Currently having trouble getting on this server though as the operator/owner just moved to Japan and my super-slow internet connection tends to time out without connecting. It's plain vanilla at 1.13 now but mu son (who does the IT support for it) plans to take it to 1.14.4 soon.
Learn something new each day
Yeah. SMP with close friends and family who all share the same general play-style make a HUGE difference, at least to me, in keeping Minecraft THE game to come back to and enjoy for entertainment. To me, that makes more a difference than what mods or specific choices about the map. The seeds for the last several maps were picked out by my wife and our mutual close friend, while I advise on how a given seed choice may affect the playout of the map. It's up to the OP how to move forward in their choices, and a "close family/ friend SMP" may not be an option at this time. But it's good to see the opinions posted here.