Better Than Wolves

Version 4.ABCF:dancer::poo::dancer:

November 9, 2018

• Added a big revamp of how chunk loading and block/entity updates work to create a more consistent system overall. The individual changes involved are listed below, but as a quick summary: chunks around original spawn are now fully loaded and updated. Chunks are loaded up to 10 chunks away from the player / original spawn, and all entities and blocks are fully updated up to 8 chunks away. That's all the explanation really needed to understand how chunk loading now works.
• Added the ability to activate (right click) string blocks stretched between two Stakes to find out how much distance is between them.
• Added the ability to place Buckets as blocks and to push them over a ledge with a Piston causing them to tip over. In situations where either using the bucket or placing the block are both valid (collecting water, or placing it for example), sneak clicking will force placement of the bucket as a block. At present this feature isn't very useful as it is part of a larger system I am continuing to develop, but they are fun to play around with regardless, and are an interesting decorative block in their own right.
• Added a display of the number of chunks loaded in each dimension to the F3 debug display. This was primarily for my own use in tracking down various issues with chunk loading, but I left it in for now to help diagnose any potential issues that might still be lingering. Note that it'll only work in single player games as the display relies on the server being on the local computer.
• Changed logs to provide a Shaft when their 2nd level is punched, rather than just when a tool is used. This was done to speed up first day progress a smidge.
• Changed the Campfire to burn a bit longer for a given amount of fuel, while requiring less fuel to cook a piece of food. This means that food will take as long to cook as before, but less fuel will be consumed in the process, easing early game resource demands slightly.
• Changed the Campfire to smoulder for longer after going out to give the player more of a chance to relight it.
• Changed Snow and Iron Golems so that they can be created by hitting any of the blocks (snow or pumpkin) used to construct them with a Soul Urn, rather than just the head.
• Changed the Wither to be summoned by hitting its block construct (Bone Blocks and Infused Skulls) with a Soul Urn as is done with Golems, rather than by just placing the blocks.
• Changed a few non-progression related villager trades involving chocolate to make it a resource that peasants want to buy rather than one they sell.
• Changed a few non-troublesome details about the Wither's behavior which are left to the player to discover.
• Changed the Jack'O'Lantern recipe to require a Candle rather than a Torch to reduce their effectiveness as a non-fire-starting light source somewhat.
• Changed spawn chunks to behave in a manner more consistent with other loaded chunks. They will now update in the same way as chunks around the player, making original spawn an automation paradise. Note that these chunks will now even update when players are in other dimensions. In all cases I've tried to make this behave as if there's a player always standing at the original spawn location, but please let me know if I missed anything as it's a rather complex change, and one that can be difficult to test given it functions in the player's absence. There will of course be some performance overhead to this change, given it means a larger number of background updates going on at all times, but given that these chunks were partially loaded anyways, I haven't found the performance impact to be severe in my own tests. I've also performed a number of optimizations and bug fixes in this release that may even negate the performance loss entirely.
• Changed the despawn distance on mobs to be a rectangular solid rather than a sphere, to match the spawn distance. This should aid performance somewhat as mobs won't be spawning just to instantly despawn as much, and result in more consistent spawning behavior overall.
• Changed (increased) the number of hostile mobs that can be in the world at any time to compensate for the decreased density of them due to the above change to a rectangular despawn volume. This should result in mob density being roughly equivalent to what it was in previous versions in most cases, but will increase mob trap output somewhat if the surrounding area is well lit and all spawns are channeled into a small space.
• Changed updates of various kinds, including mob spawning, to occur up to the full world height (256 blocks), allowing automation projects and mob traps to be built as high as you like without their functionality being affected.
• Changed scheduled block updates to only occur up to 8 chunks away from the player/original spawn, instead of the full 10 that are normally loaded, for consistency with other update types, and to fix a number of issues (both vanilla and mod) with blocks loading neighboring chunks during their updates. This was actually causing a large number of chunks to load when they shouldn't, especially in the nether (from fire trying to spread), which I suspect was a rather significant drain on performance. These chunks would haveten also not be appropriately unloaded, resulting in memory leaks. I think that in many cases this change alone may compensate for the performance cost of fully updated spawn chunks in this release.
• Changed unscheduled/random/irregular block updates (grass and crops growing, etc.) to occur up to 8 chunks away from the player/original spawn, instead of the 7 in vanilla, to be more consistent with other update types. My goal here was to make the overall system easier for players to understand by using consistent distance values for a number of different update types.
• Changed chunk loading to get rid of some extraneous chunks at a larger than normal distance around original spawn that vanilla was keeping unnecessarily loaded, to help with performance.
• Changed the view-distance dedicated server parameter to appropriately scale the distances at which entities and blocks update to solve a number of potential issues with its use. All update distances mentioned in this release should now be appropriately scaled by this value, including those around original spawn. This should solve problems where adjusting that parameter could seriously mess up mob spawning in particular.
• Changed a bunch of other small internal details about chunk loading/unloading and updates to improve performance, reduce chunk loading errors, and to facilitate future development. At a certain point the number of changes became too large to track individually.
• Changed (refactored) how Wolves, Witches, Slimes, Endermen, Skeletons, Blazes, Pigmen, Magma Cubes, Ocelots, Bats, the Wither, and Villagers work internally to simplify the related code.
• Fixed problems where the gravel slab recipe involving two gravel blocks would return 2 slabs instead of the appropriate 4.
• Fixed a problem that prevented the Hopper from inserting items into Hampers.
• Fixed a problem where items in Brick Ovens would be improperly position when using the fast graphics option.
• Fixed a problem with tree stumps converted into Workbenches being retrieved intact by the Block Dispenser.
• Fixed a problem where quickly glancing at an Enderman, for a shorter time than would normally cause it to attack, could still cause other nearby Endermen to attack you.
• Fixed a mod issue where brown mushroom generation would cause unnecessary chunk loading / memory leaks.
• Fixed a mod issue where Witches spawning around Witch Huts could cause unnecessary chunk loading / memory leaks.
• Fixed a vanilla issue where zombies were causing unnecessary chunk loading / memory leaks while pathing.
• Fixed a vanilla issue where lava generation in the nether would cause unnecessary chunk loading / memory leaks.
• Fixed a vanilla issue with village doors causing unnecessary chunk loading / memory leaks.
• Fixed a vanilla issue where players travelling between dimensions would cause unnecessary chunk loading / memory leaks.
• Fixed a problem where Iron Golems could still be created just by placing the pumpkin "head" block, without using a Soul Urn.
• Fixed (maybe) a problem where the player would rarely be attacked by invisible mobs upon repeated hardcore respawns. This was a very infrequent bug, so unfortunately I can't be 100% certain it's actually resolved. Please let me know if you run into it after this release.
• Fixed an issue where falling blocks could not rest on Light Blocks.
• Removed the ability to insert items into the Brick Oven with a Hopper, fixing a few related bugs in the process. Such insertions were never intended.
• Removed vanilla restriction on mobs not spawning within 24 blocks of original spawn for more consistency. Having a no-spawn volume smack in the middle of the now always active chunks didn't make much sense.