[*** WHAT IS BETTER THAN WOLVES? ***]
Better Than Wolves is a "total conversion". This differs from most mods that you are probably used to in that it changes many of the rules of play to provide a richer experience, rather than just adding in new stuff. What makes it special however, is that it always attempts to do so in a way that retains the original spirit of the game, perhaps even more so than the newer official releases.
It focuses both on challenging survival play, and player creativity in terms of never providing "magic block" solutions to in game problems. Instead, it provides basic tools and leaves it to the player to figure out how to use them to get the job done.
In short, Better Than Wolves is a vision of what Mincraft could have been, designed by a very serious player, for other like minded individuals.
[**** End Of Dev ****]
Please note that after a full decade, all development has ceased on Better Than Wolves. The final version (4.B0000003) can be downloaded here:
And the source code can be downloaded here:
Better Than Wolves and its source code are made freely available under the creative commons attribution license:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
You are free to modify and redistribute portions of BTW and its code as you wish, but I (FlowerChild) would appreciate acknowledgment if you do so. Keep in mind however that parts of BTW may be based on modified versions of Mojang's code and assets, and it is left to anyone redistributing portions of BTW to make sure they are appropriately considering Mojang's intellectual property and licensing as well.
2
Fairly certain Optifine changes some of the same code BTW does; so sadly the mods won't work at the basic technical level.
The good news is that Flowerchild worked hard on performance- so BTW runs very smoothly on its own. Also if you dig around the BTW forum, you'll find some texturepacks that'll support connected textures as well as technical advice on how to get everything working. http://www.sargunster.com/btwforum/viewforum.php?f=12
3
Don't worry about the end island; if you fall into the void, you'll reappear in the sky and land back on the island again.
You can turn a furnace on with a redstone signal so it'll stay lit.
Squid attack you if you swim deep enough.
You can 'pet' wolves by left clicking them with an empty hand.
Creepers can be tamed with TNT.
Creepers don't explode in water.
Endermen can pick up chests. Keep them out of your base.
Villagers attack you if you hit them.
Items sink to the bottom of lava- dive in to retrieve them.
2
As Rafe already explained, realism is not indicative of good game design. Neither is lack of realism for better or worse. Well implemented realism is good, likewise well implemented surrealism is equally good.
However I will point out that your opening statement is factually wrong; While realism was never a design intention- a good number of Flowerchild's design features are indeed realistic- such as hardcore buckets, enhanced movement, the deliberating effects of hunger/injury, and the buoyancy mechanics to name a few.
Please elaborate on how this is a "failed attempt to remake the game" when FC has both made significant changes to the core Minecraft experience, and that said changes and design features integrate with one-another to produce a new game experience.
Because that sounds like a successful remake to me.
As for you're speculation on why FC made Better than Wolves; you'll find your answers in the initial threads. The title actually refers to a better use of dev time (than wolves), though things have somewhat snowballed since the 6 initial ideas.
The short answer would be frustration (NOT spite) with the (then) current direction MC was heading in, and leading by example using modding to produce a tangible result.
1
Stages 2 and 3 require water. Set up a pump and you'll be golden.
If you get stuck on a machine, hit the question mark on the left then page over for the power/fuel/consumables requirement.
4
You should REALLY just use MC 1.5.2 if you like the mod that much.
Making it work with the latest MC would be a walk in the park for Flowerchild.
However reworking and rebalancing the entire game to use the newer content would take a lot of time to get right; with a lot of the new content getting ripped out- to the point where its still effectively 1.4.7 (Remember nearly all the 1.5 content is ripped).
The end result would play no different to the version we have now; so there is absolutely zero point in porting forward.
Likewise as the entire game has been redesigned and rebuilt- with a lot of vanilla features axed- playing it with other mods is fundamentally impossible at a conceptual design level. Asking for this to work is like asking Grand Theft Auto to be playable with Farm Simulator and Super Mario.
Essentially Better Than Wolves in a unique game in its own right.
3
1
If we had significantly less non-metal in the ground, and metallic ores smelted to less; then some variation in yield would be pretty sweet. Which is a shame because this idea actually has a lot of potential depending on how the richer and poorer ores generate. (if individual ores only generate as 'rich' in different biomes ect)
1
You could probably make an exception for netherrack as its base value is significantly less than the material it turns from.
1
Plus, do not forget, Minecraft was meant as a game for children! Would you introduce the concept of eating a horse to your children? Definitely not!
But the concept of cannibalism by eating the decayed flesh from a resurrected corpse is ok?
-Edit. I'm impressed by how broken this forum is.
1
- If you have a low end PC, get a spare flash drive and use Readyboost.
- Ask for help on the FTB forum- installing a tonne of mods does bad things for your performance, so theres a lot of help available for dealing with it.
*Yeah- no more than 4 gig is needed; Java is a strange beast, and going above more than 4 gig causes problems with 'garbage collection' which results in lag spikes. Also having a multicore processor won't help much because MC will only use 2 cores (client and internal server)