The Nether

The Nether (previously known as The Nexus, The Slip and Hell) is a different dimension existing in Minecraft worlds, added in Minecraft Alpha version 1.2.0 on October 30th, 2010 (The Minecraft Halloween Update).

Accessible via Portal, it can be used for quick travel on the above ground map. The Nether also contains Block types not seen anywhere else, as well as supplies of Block types found on the normal world, like Mushrooms, Gravel and Lava. The Nether is home to two Mobs very uncommon on the overworld: Ghasts and Zombie Pigmen.

The Nether functions as a second map in a player's Minecraft World. When it is entered, the chunks from the above ground map are unloaded and the Nether chunks begin to load. Terrain generates infinitely here just like on the above ground map. If the player dies in the Nether, their items will stay there while they respawn on the above ground map.

The Nether works normally in Survival Multiplayer as of Beta version 1.6.

Entering The Nether while in creative mode will cause severe lag or cause Minecraft to crash altogether. When you enter the save again after a crash, the overworld will be the way it was when the world was newly generated. If you make another portal in the nether after a crash, you will have two seperate overworlds, the one in your new portal will be the way the overworld was before the crash. The second, after the crash.

Terrain and Characteristics
The Nether's terrain is largely composed of Netherrack, which is arranged into large, smooth outcroppings and niches; it is basically a huge cave. There are patches of Gravel and Soul Sand, as well as clusters of Glowstone, patches of Mushrooms and natural Fires. Small tunnels form in the Netherrack, which contain no ores or hidden Caverns. Under the Lava ocean, there is a layer of Netherrack and Bedrock on the very bottom. Similarly, the very top of the Nether is Bedrock.

Navigating the Nether can be very dangerous. It is dimly lit, and the strange landscape can sometimes have holes or unexpected edges which may not be visible unless the area is lit up. Lava forms an ocean lower in the Nether and there are many Lava streams flowing from the ceilings, down the Netherrack and into the sea. If one dies near this lava or a patch of fire, it is a safe assumption that some of their items will fall in and be burned.

The sky and fog in the Nether are dull dark red. If there is a thunderstorm, it flickers between slightly different brightnesses and shades of red very quickly, which is a bug.

Resources
There are three block types uniquely found in the Nether:


 * Netherrack - This block burns indefinitely, and is the main block type forming The Nether. Setting these on fire with Flint and Steel while traveling in The Nether can be used for lighting instead of torches. Some of the Netherrack is naturally on fire. Because it is not actually flammable, it does not get burnt and disappear nor does the fire spread.
 * Glowstone - A golden-colored block that glows indefinitely, commonly found as stalactites on the ceiling of The Nether. These can be used as a light source underwater on the surface world, and the powder produced when it is mined is suspected to be an ingredient in making lanterns when they are released. It has the same light radiance as a Jack-O-Lantern.
 * Soul Sand - A brown block resembling a collage of creepers' faces. When walked on, it slows the movement speed of the player and mobs that walk across it, and makes them sink down a tiny bit, like quicksand or wet mud. It is possible to make one-way doors with Soul Sand.

There are six blocks that can be found in both worlds: Air, Lava, Gravel, Bedrock, brown and red mushrooms. Fire spawns in the Nether and can be found on the overworld in various instances.

Naturally occurring items include Glowstone Dust, Flint, Cooked Porkchops from Zombie Pigmen, and Gunpowder from Ghasts.

Nether-Affected Materials
There is no natural way to place Grass or Water in the Nether. Grass cannot be obtained and carried into the Nether, or found in the Nether to spread to other Dirt blocks. Using Water Buckets will only cause the Water to sizzle and leave smoke. This makes growing Sugar Cane impossible since the plant requires water to survive. Wheat farms are also affected by this. They can survive without water, although they will grow much more slowly, yet water(hacked so it does not use a bucket) won't evaporate.

Actual blocks of Water or Grass can be placed in the Nether, but this requires Inventory Hacking or Map Editing. Hacked (or spawned via Creative Mode) blocks of Ice can be placed and broken to leave water blocks behind too.

Trees will grow normally, and their leaves will take a dead-looking brownish color, like in Desert biomes. However, they grow in odd formations and occasionally morph shapes when they are altered. This makes Nether-trees useful for traps or endless log harvesting on occasion. Trees are also hard to keep in the Nether because of the substantial amount of lava, which ignites them.

Compasses and Clocks can be brought in freely, but they will not work correctly. As the Nether is in a totally different dimension from the overworld, Compasses will be unable to find the original spawn point, and Clocks cannot determine the position of the sun. Their arrows and dials will instead spin and flail madly. Maps made on the above ground dimension wont show the player's position in the other dimension. For Maps to display the Nether, they must be Crafted there. Beds will explode when a player attempts to sleep in one. This can be a useful strategy to quickly mine materials in the Nether, but only if the difficulty is set to peaceful.

A block of Lava can spread out 8 blocks around it, much further than the above ground map.

Ambience
The most common noises heard in The Nether are Ghast's cries, which can be heard anytime a Ghast is in the map, regardless of distance. Other noises often heard are the crackling of fire and oinking from Zombie Pigmen if either are nearby. Normal-world cave ambiance can also be heard, but this doesn't happen often, just like on the above ground map.

History
The Nether was one of the key features to be added in the Minecraft Halloween Update, and was announced on October 4th, 2010. This announcement stated that there would be a "hell world" that could be used for fast travel. It hinted it would utilize Portals and that distance traveled inside the would be multiplied greatly on the map above ground. On October 10, a screenshot was released by Notch depicting what the Nether would look like. With the rest of the Halloween Update's features, the Nether was released on October 30.

Along with the Nether, Ghasts, Zombie Pigmen, Netherrack, Soul Sand, Glowstone and Portals were added. On November 10th, Lava was made to flow farther than it did on the overworld.

In Beta 1.6, Portals were made to function properly in multiplayer, allowing players in servers to warp between the overworld and the Nether. 1.6 also fixed a bug where the player could have menus open while inside Portals. When warping, the text on screen would appear totally gray. In Beta 1.6.2 Beds in the Nether were made to explode if used. This can be used as a mining technique.

Mobs
The Nether is home to its own share of Mobs, although each can be found on the overworld as well under certain conditions. Ghasts, huge jellyfish-like creatures, will lazily hover around. They are 4x4x4 blocks large, and have 9 tentacles hanging from them. If they spot the player, they will spit flaming bombs at them, which can be deflected by shooting arrows at them, punching them or htting them with any tool. The reflected fireballs do a bit of damage if they hit the Ghast. These will explode and often leave craters, if the blast-site is weak enough. Zombie Pigmen spawn in groups and wander aimlessly. They will not harm the player unless attacked first in some form. If this happens, all the Pigmen in a small area will rush the player, often causing ambushes from behind as the player attempts to attack while fleeing.

Both of these Mobs are fire-proof and can often be seen wandering into Lava, where it will take them a while to get out due to the slowdown it causes on movement.

Normal World Mobs like Pigs and Zombies will not spawn in the Nether. Chickens can be forced to spawn there if they hatch from a thrown Egg, however, but they will not spawn naturally afterward. If a Map Editor is used to place Grass in the Nether, animals will spawn if there is a light level of 9 or more. Squid will spawn in large amounts in any hacked body of Water due to the fact that the water is the only suitable place in the whole map.

Portals and Fast Travel


Portals are made by creating a 4x5 (2x3 on inside) door frame out of obsidian and then lighting the inside of the frame on fire with Flint and Steel. When you stand inside the portal for the first time, it will create a portal in its equivalent area of The Nether. A loading screen will appear during the change of worlds.

If you create a portal in the Nether and re-enter the normal world, any distance covered in The Nether is multiplied by 8, effectively making The Nether a fast travel zone that allows for greater distances to be covered in a short amount of time in the normal world.

A second, usually accidental, form of fast travel is to have 2 overworld portals connected to the same Nether portal. This occurs if the overworld portals are too close together, or if the portal-placement algorithm has trouble finding a clear space. When this happens, you can enter either portal in the overworld, immediately re-enter the same portal, and you will emerge in the overworld at the first portal that was built. This is effectively one-way fast travel, since there is no way to enter the Nether portal and come out through secondary portals.

Due to Ghasts, it is recommended that players enclose their portals with a blast-resistant material (Cobblestone is very effective). This will prevent Ghasts from being able to hit the portal and shut it down. Optionally, the player can choose to carry a Flint and Steel with them in case this happens, or just trick a Ghast into shooting the portal again, therefore effectively re-activating the portal.

Naming
In the original announcement, Notch mentioned "a brand new Hell world". When the preview was sent out on 29 October 2010 to a couple of gaming websites, the new dimension was called the Slip to avoid offending religions and to have a more original name. This was changed to The Nether on the day of the update release. It was referred to as 'The Nexus' on his personal blog.

File save location
The Nether is saved in the same way normal worlds are, but instead of mixing the world files inside the save folder, the files for Nether are stored in appdata/.Minecraft/Saves/Worldname/DIM-1, whereas normal world files in %appdata%/.Minecraft/Saves/Worldname. Note that DIM-1 does not contain its own level.dat, as the same level.dat in the upper folder is used for both overworld and Nether.

Future
Notch has made references to the 1.9 update as the "Nether Update. Jeb posted a screenshot of a new structure and block type via. his Twitter account.

Trivia

 * The Bedrock ceiling of the Nether created a rumour that the Nether is underneath the Bedrock barrier on the above ground map. This is supported due to the fact that one of Minecraft's merchandise is a shirt that has the Nether below a Cavern, presumably below Bedrock level. This has been dismissed as hacking let players get above the Bedrock to find the Nether's Void. Notch has said that the Nether and the above ground map are in entirely different dimensions.
 * When you warp from worlds, the direction you are facing is maintained (e.g., if you are facing east in the Overworld when you warp to the Nether, you will still be facing east).
 * While inside the Nether, furnaces will stop smelting and plants will stop growing/decaying in the Overworld. However, the day/night cycle continues and all the Mobs present are maintained.
 * The idea for the Nether came from a transportation method used in the novel series The Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan. Within this transportation system, the Ways, you could travel a massive amount of distance in a few days instead of weeks. Like the Nether, the Ways has many dangers. Notch also once said that Jake, his co-worker, was a big key to the Nether. It isn't clear what exactly that this means.
 * One of the Level Themes in Indev was Hell. It was a normal map, but with a Lava ocean, perpetually dim lighting, and a black sky with dull red clouds.
 * If you stand on soul sand with lava at the same level adjacent to the soul sand, you will take damage if you step near the edges of the soul sand.
 * In SMP, if you disconnect and someone places blocks where you were, when you log in, you will spawn on top of the blocks. If there isn't any room above the blocks, you can spawn above the bedrock layer and you will be trapped. You can also do this to yourself by dropping sand or gravel on yourself.
 * There may be some areas where the ocean/lake of lava may go under an overhang and the lava will not illuminate that area. Going in there and creating light (placing a torch, lighting a fire, etc.) will fix this.
 * Placing ice inside of the Nether may cause it to create water. A way of testing this is the go onto a lake of lava, make a 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 of any un-meltable material, and put ice inside. The ice will turn into water and also create obsidian. This works on 1.8 Beta's creative mode... It is quite possible it always has worked.