User:Smirkenbowls/FAQ

This page sums up a large amount of questions, along with accurate answers. If you cannot find your problem on this page, or here (if it's a survival-related question), feel free to ask around on the forums.

Q: I keep Dying on my first night! Help me!

 * A: First off, to get a good start in your Minecraft life, it's advised that you collect wood, from any type of tree. Turning them to wooden planks and then to a crafting table in order to create a wooden pickaxe. Now, taking the table with you by breaking it with the pick, collect some cobblestone, use that to create 2 or more stone pickaxes or axes, depending on what you want to build your house from. Making a full successfull house might be impossible for some new users on the first night, so making a small hut, then expanding it later, will work fine. After that, you may have the choice to A. Live in the sky (floating/pillared houses.). B. Live on the ground (Normal Houses). or C. live in a cave. Caverns are a dangerous way to live, but walling the place up for the first/second night will help you survive. And, I've seen plenty of players making the same simple mistake. Just because you don't see anything out there, does not mean there isn't anything outside.

Q: How can I get a custom skin for my character?

 * A: To use a custom skin you must first purchase the game. You can then go to the preferences page, download the reference skin, edit it to your liking and finally upload your customized skin. You should now appear with your new look whenever you play. You need to log into your account for it to show. Another, more complicated way would be to directly override "char.png," which can be found in the mobs folder of minecraft.jar.

Q: Can the water level change?

 * A: In short, no. The surface level of water in creative mode is set by the level of the ocean border surrounding a map. Water will fill any adjacent empty space and even a single water block acts as an infinite source that is capable of flooding everything at or below its height. Some custom multiplayer servers allow players to "build" both active and static water blocks, and it is also possible to add water to your own maps by using an editor.


 * In survival mode water acts in a slightly more realistic way and cannot create infinite floods. Water will drain downwards when filling a space below it and finite springs can occur throughout the landscape, above ground and below, that will dry up if their source is blocked up.

Q: What are the controls?

 * A: See Controls. The controls can be found beneath the creative mode gameplay window and are customizable from the pause menu (accessible by pressing Escape). In Beta, the "Controls..." menu can be found in the "Options..." menu. By default, these are W=forward, A=left, S=reverse, D=right, Space=jump, Left Shift=sneak, E=inventory, T=talk/chat, Q=drop item, Esc=cancel. A two-button mouse is required for mouselook. In general, hold left mouse button to destroy blocks, right-click to place blocks.

Q: How can I drop a stack of items?

 * A: You can drop a stack of items by picking it up in the inventory screen and then closing the inventory screen. The stack of items you were holding will be dropped. You can also grab a stack and "place" it outside the inventory window to throw it.


 * As of Beta versions, leaving items in the inventory's crafting square will cause them to be dropped when the inventory is closed.

Q: How do I save and reload my position (spawn point)?

 * A: When you join a server your spawn location is the default that the admin set. It is easy to change it in classic mode. To do this, press Enter. This will save your current location so that whenever you press R you will respawn at this location instead of the server default. In beta single player after the 1.4 update it is possible to change your spawn location by sleeping in a bed. It is possible to change your spawn point through a third party program.

Q: How do you make plants grow? They keep disappearing on me.

 * A: This depends on the plant's needs for its surroundings and the light level. As an example, grass grows only on dirt and in a light level of 4 or more to spread (see its requirements for more details). Mushrooms, however, can be planted almost anywhere (except glass and ice) and will remain where placed as long as they are not in direct sunlight (which causes them to pop out of their ground). Mobs (and yourself) can also affect certain plants by movement, as wheat can be removed (and not leave anything) when it is walked on (sneaking prevents this).


 * If you need a plant to grow to either next stage of life (like seeds to wheat and saplings to trees), you can use bonemeal on them.

Q: Why does my building collapse / get destroyed on its own?

 * A: Sand and gravel blocks are subject to gravity - see below. New players not aware of this peculiarity may be confused and assume it is a glitch, or even a case of griefing. Thus, if your house is built out of sand or gravel, it will fall down. In custom multiplayer servers the "physics" behavior of gravel and sand may be turned off, meaning they will not sink as normal.


 * Wood, wooden planks, and many other materials are flammable, and may be set on fire if placed near to fire or lava. Other possible causes of a missing or damaged house could be explosives such as a creeper or TNT

Q: Are the blocks affected by gravity?

 * A: Sand and gravel blocks fall into any empty space directly underneath them. All other blocks — dirt, stone, glass, etc. — are not affected by gravity.

Q: Do the small plants grow into full trees?

 * A: Yes. Saplings require a bright area and some space. However, to prevent griefing, multiplayer servers may turn off the ability for trees to grow.

Q: How do I play an external map in Survival Mode?

 * A: You must place the folder containing your map in one of the following folders:
 * Windows: %appdata%\.minecraft\saves\
 * Linux: $HOME/.minecraft/saves/
 * Mac: $HOME/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves/

Q: How does "Anaglyph 3D" work?

 * A: You can play Minecraft in astounding 3D-o-scope by turning this option on and wearing red-cyan 3D glasses.
 * The clouds will be glitched and appear to be in the foreground with Fancy graphics.
 * The first person view of the item currently held will appear to be doubled, overlapping each other.
 * Minecraft does not support any other kind of 3D display yet. Old nVidia 3D drivers which support OpenGL may work.

Q: Who is this Notch guy I keep hearing about?

 * A: Notch is the creator of Minecraft, as well as its lead developer.