User:Simons Mith/Advanced Construction


 * Basic construction (Plans optional)
 * Intermediate construction (Plans useful)
 * Advanced construction (Plans essential, but you have to make your own)

'Advanced construction' means big or artistically complex structures where the blueprints don't have any particular constraints. Almost every one of these structures wil be unique. The advanced construction page does not (and could not) provide specific instructions on how to build these objects, so it tries to provide generic construction advice instead. We hope these pointers will help you design and plan such things for yourself.

This page covers the most ambitious structures made in Minecraft. These are almost always going to be made in Creative mode, not Survival. There are many examples online of some extremely complicated objects made in the game, such as scale models of cities and spacecraft, and enormous redstone constructions that took their creators weeks and sometimes months to build. It's also possible to take a Minecraft model and convert it into a 3D printout, but there are usually some technical limitations on what kinds of models will print out correctly.



Note that just because a design is big doesn't mean it qualifies as 'advanced'. It's only an advanced project if it's so big that the only practical way to make it is by using external tools such as NBTEdit.

Draft headings, mostly in alphabetical order, but with the two most important sections listed first:

General planning tips
A brief overview of the major areas to consider. List this one first as a major section. Probably should include some discussion of color combos, using The GIMP or Kolourpaint or whatever to make a draft, delegating work, getting things done in the right order, etc.

Ideas for projects
The second major section (or else it could go last so that people have had time to see all the other tips before getting to it). Links to sources of inspiration; carefully-chosen lists of possible construction ideas. These lists should be 3–5 entries or so. If we need more than that, a smaller number of lists each with a broad theme would be better than one long all-encompassing list. For major list categories, I'd currently suggest redstone projects, large buildings, cities, vehicles, natural terrain, and adventure maps.

Adverse construction environments
How to handle adverse construction environments, as for water bases, floating islands, possibly ships, submarines, aircraft, and perhaps also the Nether and the End.

Aesthetics
Here we cover aesthetic considerations such as colour schemes, materials to be used, decorative embellishments and so forth.

Automatic construction
Is it effective to use water + lava + pistons, or saplings + bonemeal for very large projects? What about some of the mods specialising in construction?

Converting from other computer models
This covers things like converting Quake maps or Team Fortress levels into Minecraft.

Converting from real-world models
This might include where to look for suitable reference images or floor plans. Different methods probably apply for generic models - such as 'a large hydroelectric dam' as opposed to a specific one such as 'the Hoover Dam'.

Determining materials requirements
Determining what materials will be needed – including some rules of thumb for estimating requirements. In creative mode, materials are unlimited; in survival mode, links to the various material farms might be useful. However I suspect the true mega-projects are almost all done in creative mode.

Estimating time
How much real-world time is a structure of given size and complexity is likely to take?

Hard-to-manage materials
Tips for building an ice palace or an obsidian tower, or making something out of sand, gravel, water or lava.

Making construction videos
This should include tips for timelapse videos, obtaining suitable music without breaking copyright, how to voice-overs, how to get good video quality, how to choose good viewpoints from which to record the project and so on.

Managing group projects
Many advanced projects are team efforts. How do you manage cooperative groups of players effectively? Do you use email, IRC, IM, online chat, whiteboard apps&hellip;?

Modular design tips
How to make a complex structure feasible by repeating simpler parts. Which sub-components would tend to be most reusable? What size should sub-modules be?

Producing models for export from Minecraft output
If you want to 3D print a model, there are some constraints you must follow to get a good result. If you want to produce a plan for a city layout, or for reuse as a computer game level, what things should you think about?

Scaffolding for large structures
Perhaps this is less applicable to creative mode, but what about logistical problems like finding your way round a very large structure without getting lost?

Scale considerations
How to go about something like the 5&times; lifesize model of the Millennium Falcon, or the model of Minas Tirith, or the Enterprise.

Terraforming
Covers subjects such as how best to terraform maps on large scales to accomodate a mega-project, how to find suitable terrain, and how to working with terrain rather than against it

Using external design tools
This includes programs such as bitmap editors, Google Sketchup, AutoCad, the GIMP, Blender, PoVRay&hellip; - I don't know, but programs like those are presumably commonly used. Possibly include some discussion of the pros and cons of these various tools.

Using external terrain and building editors
Using external terrain or building editors. (That is, building stuff outside of Minecraft then importing it in.) Descriptions of various suitable tools and their pros and cons. (For example you might have a design and construction chain such as pencil and paper -> Google Sketchup -> some external Minecraft block editor -> import into MineCraft -> final tweaks using McEdit.)

Using in-game tools
How to use of MCEdit and similar in-game tools and mods effectively for bulk terrain editing and building. Descriptions of various suitable options and their pros and cons, and links to them. Include examples of projects done using the various tools, or groups that use them?