Talk: Monster Spawner

Revision as of 18:25, 29 December 2011

An overhead view of an NPC Village

An Image of the NPC Village.

NPC Villages are groups of buildings inhabited by non-player characters (NPCs)--Villager mobs that spawn randomly. How much space the villages take up is randomized just like the terrain is.

Structure

Some of the buildings and structures found within villages are:

Small Huts made of logs, fence posts, wooden planks, cobblestone, with glass panes for windows. Some also have roof balconies.
Homes, which are composed of the same materials listed above. However, they are larger in size and are L-shaped; houses are often mistaken as T-shaped from the top, but on the ground or inside, are noticeably L-shaped
Taverns, which have wooden stairs as benches, pressure plate/fence tables and a double slab counter. They also have fenced-off backyards.
Libraries with bookshelves and a crafting table.
Wheat Farms, which are, of course, farms of wheat surrounded by logs.
Wells, which are 2x10x2 pools filled with water surrounded by cobblestone and fences.
Forges made out of cobblestone, iron bars, furnaces and small pools of lava. They also have a room located at the back.
Churches, cobblestone buildings with a small 3 floor tower equipped with ladders.
Lamp Posts, made of stacked fences, black wool and torches.
Gravel Roads, which connect most of the buildings.

The number of buildings within villages vary, and not all types will be in every village. There is always one well, there may be one church and/or one smithy, up to two libraries, up to two taverns and up to three large homes.^{[citation needed]}

They can be VERY large, or a small building. Example: A simple house with a medium sized garden and well.

Video

NPC Villages/video

History

Notch originally worked on NPC Villages by himself, but eventually gave the task to Jeb, so that he could work on other things.^[1] Jeb has said that, during early tests of villages, the lava in a smithy often set the village on fire.^[2]

PAX

NPC Villages were shown to the public during the PAX demo. For demo purposes, Notch made them appear near the spawn so people could see them.^[3]_{(at 3:37)} On a live stream from his Android phone during PAX, Notch stated that NPCs have not been added to the villages but that they are coming eventually. (According to Jeb, NPCs for the village was delayed until Beta 1.9.^[4]) The majority of the NPC structures are made from wood based resources, with frames of cobblestone, and the footpaths are 3 blocks wide and made of gravel. The gravel appears to replace the top layer of dirt upon generation of the village.^[5]

Old Interview of Notch

Notch once answered some questions about an idea he had, NPC Villages, where he revealed some thoughts about them:^{[citation needed]}

If you treat The villagers well (giving them items), they'll give you items back.
If you treat The villagers badly (attacking/killing them), they'll try to do the same to you.
There would possibly be a chest, containing special items, but raiding it will anger the owners of the town/chest and they will attack.

Gallery

An official in game picture of a NPC village released by Notch.
An official picture released by Notch of a player near two NPC houses. Two of the mob Endermen can also be seen on this image.
An auto-leveled version of the last image
A picture of the NPC Village from PAX Prime.
2011-09-10 12.40.07.png

The inside view of a 1.8 pre-release tavern building.
Villagebarelyvisable.png

An NPC Village seen from far away.
VillageStreetPreView.png

Street view of an NPC Village from the Minecraft 1.8 Pre-release.
Npcvillage in water.png

An NPC Village naturally generated in water.
Village Dungeon.png

An extremely rare dungeon generated under a house.
NPCVillage Above1.png

A picture of an NPC Village taken from above.
NPC villagers in the Beta 1.9 Pre-release.
2011-09-22 16.27.45.png

NPC Villager with white robes in Beta 1.9 Pre-release.
2011-09-22 18.01.12.png

Three NPCs, Farmers and Librarians.
MapIncludingNPCVillage1.png

A Map, showing an NPC Village slightly right of center. The sand patch with brown rectangles.
VillageOnCliff.png

An NPC Village generated over a Ravine.
Village 2 (Day).png

An NPC Village generated in the desert.
VillageOverRavine.png

Another Village over a Ravine
NPCVillage2.png

An NPC village spawned in the desert. In the picture there is a large house, a farm, and a well

Trivia

NPC villages are optional as part of the setting for generated structures.
It is possible for Mushrooms to spawn inside the buildings.
If an NPC village is in the desert, there is a small chance there will be a Cactus on the paths, and that they will have gravel on top of them.
Unlike in the above case, if gravel goes through a tall grass area, tall grass will be removed and it may drop seeds.
Farms in the villages avoid overhanging by filling in the area below them with dirt. When the farm overhangs a ravine, this can cause a very tall rectangular dirt structure that at first glance almost looks like a chunk error.
A good strategy for your first night would be to use an NPC house as shelter to keep safe from hostile Mobs.
Occasionally, surface ravines will be generated through NPC villages, causing missing pathways or even entire buildings sunken into the ravine. This also applies to cave entrances and other surface oddities.^[6]
Originally, NPC Villages were intended to be populated with Pigmen.^[7]
In early screenshots, villages were partly made of Moss Stone.
It is possible to spawn directly inside an NPC Village building.
On some occasions, it is possible for some of the gravel roads to lead out of the village to nowhere.
It is possible for village buildings as well as farms to be cut off seemingly randomly, as result of chunk errors, making building partially spawned.
On the seed 'gimmeabreak',the player would spawn in an NPC Village.
The wells in NPC villages do not work as infinite water sources.
Occasionally, you can find a hole under a house going down very far. Sometimes it may go to the void.

History

NPC villages were added in Beta 1.8. In Beta 1.9 Pre-release, Villager mobs were added to spawn in NPC Villages, although they currently do nothing notable.

A picture of NPC villages was released by Notch before 1.8 was released.^[8]^[9] Even though the picture only showed the exterior of the buildings, videos recorded later during PAX revealed the interior of the structures. NPC Villages are only spawned in desert or grassland biomes. Eventually they will have their own biome in order to solve many of the problems that were hindering their development.^[10]

References

Environment

[1] ttp://twitter.com/notch/statuses/101212681234681858

[2] ttp://twitter.com/jeb_/status/101675386190045184

[3] ttp://www.twitch.tv/realnotch/b/293537610

[4] ttp://twitter.com/jeb_/status/109652524839079937

[5] ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33dxpD4kk0&t=04m35s

[6] ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOOLYN1StgA

[7] ttp://twitter.com/notch/status/62531431175421952

[8] ttp://www.minecraftforum.net/news/117-18-updates-ingame-screenshots/

[9] ttps://plus.google.com/110398919759279012596/posts

[10] ttp://twitter.com/notch/statuses/101219771936276480

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@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
+[[File:Npc village overview.png|thumb|400px|An overhead view of an NPC Village]]
-THe range for a spawner to start spinning and to create mobs/locate your presence is at 13 blocks, monster spawners can work in the day as long as there is no light and pig spawners just need sufficent light.
+[[File:NPCVillageLayout.png|thumb|350px|An Image of the NPC Village.]]
+'''NPC Villages''' are groups of buildings inhabited by non-player characters (NPCs)--[[Villager]] [[mobs]] that [[spawn]] randomly. How much space the villages take up is randomized just like the terrain is.
-== Light? ==
+== Structure ==
-Has anyone tested whether mobs will spawn during the day? Or underwater? I can't seem to find an answer, although I dont think they do during the day (even if there is no light around the spawner).
+Some of the buildings and structures found within villages are:
+*Small Huts made of [[Wood|logs]], [[Fence|fence posts]], [[Wooden Plank|wooden planks]], [[cobblestone]], with [[Glass Pane|glass panes]] for windows. Some also have roof balconies.
-:I'm pretty sure they spawn during the day; after all, mobs can spawn anywhere in darkness, even during the day. Why not around mob spawners? Though to be honest, I'm pretty sure many people's mob farms work during the day, if they keep the spawner enclosed in darkness. - [[User:Taggedjc|JC]] 00:01, 28 September 2010 (UTC)
+*Homes, which are composed of the same materials listed above. However, they are larger in size and are L-shaped; houses are often mistaken as T-shaped from the top, but on the ground or inside, are noticeably L-shaped
+*Taverns, which have wooden [[stairs]] as benches, [[pressure plate]]/[[fence]] tables and a double slab counter. They also have fenced-off backyards.
+*Libraries with [[Bookshelf|bookshelves]] and a  [[crafting table]].
+*Wheat Farms, which are, of course, farms of [[wheat]] surrounded by logs.
+*Wells, which are 2x10x2 pools filled with [[water]] surrounded by [[cobblestone]] and [[fence]]s.
+*Forges made out of cobblestone, [[iron bars]], [[furnace]]s and small pools of [[lava]]. They also have a room located at the back.
+*Churches, cobblestone buildings with a small 3 floor tower equipped with [[ladder]]s.
+*Lamp Posts, made of stacked fences, black [[wool]] and [[torch]]es.
+*Gravel Roads, which connect most of the buildings.
+The number of buildings within villages vary, and not all types will be in every village. There is always one well, there may be one church and/or one smithy, up to two libraries, up to two taverns and up to three large homes.{{citation needed}}
-I can try and test a few of these things. I post the results here soon. --[[User:WallShadow|WallShadow]] 23:55, 5 October 2010 (UTC) <br> <br>
-Update 1: I have tested  a few things,(note: all of these tests were done with artifical mob spawners(mob spawners i placed using hax), the results might be different for natural mob spawners, as artifical mob spawners can only spawn pigs). <br>
-. mob spawners do work in full daylight <br>
-. mob spawners can ONLY spawn mobs on land. the mob spawner may not spawn mobs into water, on water, or on air(i mean with nothing under it). if a mob spawner is in water, it will only spawn mobs if there is a patch of land near by. <br>
-. artifical mob spawners can still spawn mobs even if you completely surround it with torchs, Im guessing that it works with artifical mob spawners because pigs can spawn both in light and dark, while hostile mobs can only spawn in dark areas. Although thats just my opinion, feel free to state any other possibilities. <br>
-. im guessing by the tests that the spawn radius is about 3-4 blocks away, but im not sure, it is just my educated guess. <br> <br>
+They can be VERY large, or a small building. Example: A simple house with a medium sized garden and well.
-This info has been proudly brought to you by the Institute of Redstone, where world domination is our goal! --[[User:WallShadow|WallShadow]] 00:17, 6 October 2010 (UTC)
+==Video==
-:While I appreciate you taking the time to do tests, I'm afraid they were in vain, as friendly mob spawners '''do''' behave differently to regular mob spawners, and thus most your information does not apply.
-:1. Dungeon spawners do not work in daylight. That's why surrounding them with torches stops them.
-:2. Dungeon spawners do not need land. Pigs only spawn on grass, that's why hacked spawners need grass.
-:3. AFAIK, Pig spawners will '''only''' spawn pigs when properly lit, but I'm not sure.
-:4. I think the spawn radius is about 5 blocks. That's why dungeons are that size.
-:So, yeah... That's what I gotta say about the issue. [[User:Noroom|Noroom]] 01:42, 7 October 2010 (UTC)
+{{:NPC Villages/video}}
-::Noroom, I just made a pig spawner+grinder+collection method and in my testing, it seems it really does not matter at all whether the spawner itself is lit, but the grass tile in which the pig spawns is lit properly for pigs to spawn.  I could be wrong, but that's what I saw, as I put a wall in between the spawner and the grassy tile, and the spawner was not lit.  I will need to do some more extensive testing.  Also, I am a bit glad they only spawn on grassy tiles so it is easier to control the flow of pigs, but also hard because when you want to make an underground spawner, you need grass.  [[User:99seconds|99seconds]] 01:14, 7 December 2010 (CST)
-:::I have done extensive tests with both a zombie spawner and a spider spawner in Beta SSP and no amount of torchlight, including torches placed directly next to the spawner, prevented mobs from spawning. Additionally, the zombie spawner was conveniently close to the surface so I opened the ceiling to sunlight and I can confirm that no zombies were generated when the spawner was exposed to daylight. I have updated this wiki to reflect my findings. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 10:41, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
+== History ==
-I undid Caseysquad's new edit stating that torches prevent mob spawners from generating monsters as this point is currently under dispute both above and under Beta discussion [[Talk:Monster_Spawner#Prevent_Mob_Spawners_from_spawning_Mobs_in_Beta|below]]. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 01:33, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
+[[Notch]] originally worked on NPC Villages by himself, but eventually gave the task to [[Jeb]], so that he could work on other things.<ref>http://twitter.com/notch/statuses/101212681234681858</ref>
+Jeb has said that, during early tests of villages, the [[lava]] in a smithy often set the village on [[fire]].<ref>http://twitter.com/jeb_/status/101675386190045184</ref>
+=== PAX ===
-I got a spawner and a spawnerGUI using a hack and mods and it works fine if I enclose my room with wood. (Creeper, spider, skeleton, and zombie spawner.) [[User:Vultraz|Vultraz]] 15:16, 7 February 2011 (UTC) Also, pigs can actually spawn from a hacked spawner on any non-liquid material if the material is at light level 7 or above, I believe (not confirmed yet, but I have seen pigs spawn on cobblestone in my collection machine.)
+NPC Villages were shown to the public during the PAX demo. For demo purposes, Notch made them appear near the [[spawn]] so people could see them.<ref>http://www.twitch.tv/realnotch/b/293537610</ref><sub>(at 3:37)</sub> On a live stream from his Android phone during PAX, Notch stated that NPCs have not been added to the villages but that they are coming eventually. (According to [[Jeb]], NPCs for the village was delayed until Beta 1.9.<ref>http://twitter.com/jeb_/status/109652524839079937</ref>) The majority of the NPC structures are made from wood based resources, with frames of cobblestone, and the footpaths are 3 blocks wide and made of gravel. The gravel appears to replace the top layer of dirt upon generation of the village.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X33dxpD4kk0&t=04m35s</ref>
-== Empty spawner ==
+=== Old Interview of Notch ===
+[[Notch]] once answered some questions about an idea he had, NPC Villages, where he revealed some thoughts about them:{{cn}}
+* If you treat The villagers well (giving them items), they'll give you items back.
+* If you treat The villagers badly (attacking/killing them), they'll try to do the same to you.
+* There would possibly be a [[chest]], containing special items, but raiding it will anger the owners of the town/chest and they will attack.
+== Gallery ==
-I had discovered this dungeon earlierand looted it's chests, but after returning to loot the mossy cobblestone I noticed the Mob Spawner was empty. After a few minutes it did spawn a spider like it did before, but there is no warning. Is this common? [http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v159/Boudewijn/Nospider.jpg External Image Link] - [[User:AARST|AARST]]
+<gallery>
-:probably a bug.--[[User:Kizzycocoa|Kizzycocoa]] 09:02, 11 September 2010 (CDT)
+File:PqYck.jpg| An official in game picture of a NPC village released by Notch.
-::That happened to me too. [[User:Megadog|Megadog]] 23:07, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
+File:EndermenReddit.png|An official picture released by Notch of a player near two NPC houses. Two of the mob [[Enderman|Endermen]] can also be seen on this image.
-::I got this also, but with a zombie spawner as well as as a spider one.  I think it might have to do with fancy/fast graphics. [[User:Jaeil|Jaeil]] 22:38, 5 October 2010 (UTC)
+File:EndermenRedditEnhanced.jpg|An auto-leveled version of the last image
+File:NPCVillage.png|A picture of the NPC Village from PAX Prime.
+File:2011-09-10 12.40.07.png|The inside view of a 1.8 pre-release tavern building.
+File:Villagebarelyvisable.png|An NPC Village seen from far away.
+File:VillageStreetPreView.png|Street view of an NPC Village from the Minecraft 1.8 Pre-release.
+File:Npcvillage in water.png|An NPC Village naturally generated in water.
+File:Village Dungeon.png|An extremely rare dungeon generated under a house.
+File:NPCVillage Above1.png|A picture of an NPC Village taken from above.
+File:NPCprerel.png|NPC villagers in the Beta 1.9 Pre-release.
+File:2011-09-22 16.27.45.png|NPC Villager with white robes in Beta 1.9 Pre-release.
+File:2011-09-22 18.01.12.png|Three NPCs, Farmers and Librarians.
+File:MapIncludingNPCVillage1.png|A Map, showing an NPC Village slightly right of center. The sand patch with brown rectangles.
+File:VillageOnCliff.png|An NPC Village generated over a Ravine.
+File:Village 2 (Day).png|An NPC Village generated in the desert.
+File:VillageOverRavine.png|Another Village over a Ravine
+File:NPCVillage2.png| An NPC village spawned in the desert. In the picture there is a large house, a farm, and a well
+</gallery>
+== Trivia ==
-The monster spawner works like regular spawning, i.e. It won't activate unless the user is near it. I don't know how close you have to be for it to start working, but my guess is that it's the same distance as regular spawning. Once the player is close enough the spawner starts generating mobs. Since it only spawns periodically, there is going to be a delay before the mobs start appearing. When you first break into a dungeon, the spawner has been "running" for a while, which is why it's usually full of mobs, but if you run right to it, it may not have had enough time to start spawning yet.
+* NPC villages are optional as part of the setting for [[generated structures]].
+* It is possible for [[Mushrooms]] to spawn inside the buildings.
+* If an NPC village is in the desert, there is a small chance there will be a [[Cactus]] on the paths, and that they will have [[gravel]] on top of them.
+* Unlike in the above case, if gravel goes through a [[Grass|tall grass]] area, tall grass will be removed and it may drop [[seeds]].
+* Farms in the villages avoid overhanging by filling in the area below them with dirt. When the farm overhangs a [[ravine]], this can cause a very tall rectangular dirt structure that at first glance almost looks like a chunk error.
+* A good strategy for your first night would be to use an NPC house as shelter to keep safe from hostile [[Mobs]].
+* Occasionally, surface ravines will be generated through NPC villages, causing missing pathways or even entire buildings sunken into the ravine. This also applies to cave entrances and other surface oddities.<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOOLYN1StgA</ref>
+* Originally, NPC Villages were intended to be populated with [[Pigmen]].<ref>http://twitter.com/notch/status/62531431175421952</ref>
+* In early screenshots, villages were partly made of [[Moss Stone]].
+* It is possible to spawn directly inside an NPC Village building.
+* On some occasions, it is possible for some of the gravel roads to lead out of the village to nowhere.
+* It is possible for village buildings as well as farms to be cut off seemingly randomly, as result of chunk errors, making building partially spawned.
+* On the seed 'gimmeabreak',the player would spawn in an NPC Village.
+* The wells in NPC villages do not work as infinite water sources.
+* Occasionally, you can find a hole under a house going down very far. Sometimes it may go to the void.
+==History==
-== Indev? Infdev? Alpha? ==
+NPC villages were added in [[Version history#B1.8|Beta 1.8]]. In Beta 1.9 Pre-release, [[Villager]] mobs were added to spawn in NPC Villages, although they currently do nothing notable.
+A picture of NPC villages was released by [[Notch]] before 1.8 was released.<ref>http://www.minecraftforum.net/news/117-18-updates-ingame-screenshots/</ref><ref>https://plus.google.com/110398919759279012596/posts</ref> Even though the picture only showed the exterior of the buildings, videos recorded later during PAX revealed the interior of the structures.
-Is this on Indev? Infdev? Alpha? [[User:Blha303|Blha303]] 11:04, 4 October 2010 (UTC)
+NPC Villages are only spawned in desert or grassland biomes. Eventually they will have their own biome in order to solve many of the problems that were hindering their development.<ref>http://twitter.com/notch/statuses/101219771936276480</ref>
-:Alpha [[User:SuperLlama|SuperLlama]] 21:32, 5 October 2010 (UTC)
-== 2 spawners? ==
-is it very common to find 2 mob spawners in the same cave and having them in an adjacent room?
-:No. [[User:Noroom|Noroom]] 20:21, 11 October 2010 (CDT)
+== References ==
-:: It's certainly not common, but I found two like this last week. If I didn't already have a zombie and a skeleton spawner "set up" to harvest feathers and arrows I'd have loved to have kept these two for the convenience, and if they weren't located under a lake I would have kept them anyway and made them into daylight "traps" since they were both very close to the surface. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 10:55, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
+<references/>
+{{Environment}}
-== Halloween Update ==
+[[Category:Environment]]
+[[de:NPC-Dorf]]
-I´ve had a mobspawner almost at the bottom of the map witch was "disarmed" by placing torches around it. But now after the update it doesn´t seem to help how many torches I put in the room, it still keeps spawning mobs. Anyone know if it´s possible to stop a mobspawner at the bottom of a map anymore?
+[[fr:Villages de PNJ]]
+[[ru:Деревни NPC]]
-btw playing Alpha
--It seems to be that, at a certain depth, light of level 14 just does not do anything anymore. So yeah, try my solution of dumping lava in from the ceiling. It may not stop spawning (not sure yet), but it will kill the mobs before they become a nuisance-[[User:Icalasari|Icalasari]] 22:04, 31 October 2010 (UTC)
-Also, about the Halloween update, has it been confirmed that [[Ghasts]] and [[Zombie Pigmen]] can be spawned? [[User:99seconds|99seconds]] 23:10, 17 November 2010 (UTC)
-:YES, Zombie Pigmen and Ghasts CAN be edited to spawn by a mob spawner, even on Earth. -[[User:F1racer101|F1racer101]] 23:30, 17 November 2010 (UTC)
-:Hacked Ghast spawners exist, so it is definitely possible.  However, Ghasts being a Nether-exclusive mob, I doubt that a dungeon in the real world would spawn Ghasts.  Same for the zomb pigmen. [[User:Jaeil|Jaeil]] 17:32, 17 November 2010 (CST)
-== Activation Area ==
-I had noticed that spawners seem not to function if you are a certain distance away from them. There did not seem to be any information about this on the page, so I did a test. It seem that a spawner will only work if it is within 16 squares of you. I have only tested this horizontally. [[User:slothen42|slothen42]] 15:54 November 08, 2010 (UTC)
-: Just to make sure we're on the same page, this is SSP you're talking about, correct? [[User:Noroom|Noroom]] 10:56, 9 November 2010 (UTC)
-:: That is exactly what I mean. I have not tested this in SMP, as the SMP server I play on is currently set to nether and spawners seem not to work in the nether. [[User:slothen42|slothen42]] 16:54 November 10, 2010 (UTC)
-::: I have a spawner trap set up with a water current conveying the drops to me, the collection spot is ~20 blocks away, and when i'm standing there, nothing drops... when i then walk to the mob spawner it starts spawning mobs... [[User:Bnm12|Bnm12]] 06:31, 21 November 2010 (CST)
-...
-:I have done extensive tests with both a zombie spawner and a spider spawner in Beta SSP and I can confirm slothen42's findings that the spawner activates when the player is withing 16 blocks of the spawner horizontally. Unfortunately I never thought to test the range vertically. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 10:49, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
-== Hitpoints ==
-Can the Mob Spawners be destroyed? [[User:Drenay|Drenay]] 07:45, 17 November 2010 (CST)
-: Yes.  Takes 'bout 20 seconds. [[User:Jaeil|Jaeil]] 17:32, 17 November 2010 (CST)
-== Slimes and Ghasts ==
-can someone test slime/ghast spawners in their appropriate enviroments? slimes can't be tested, yes. but ghasts could, if used in Hell. slimes could if another additional parameter was set. a "size" perameter.--[[User:Kizzycocoa|Kizzycocoa]] 13:37, 20 November 2010 (CST)
-:Just found out that Ghasts can spawn, even outside the Nether. --[[User:Fifteen|Fifteen]] <sup>([[User talk:Fifteen|talk]] | [[Special:Contributions/Fifteen|contribs]])</sup> 19:55, 20 November 2010 (UTC)
-::Yeah. If you want a video, look here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1ngGBMRePs :3 --[[User:Scykei|Scykei]] 19:42, 20 November 2010 (CST)
-== Pig Spawners and Mob Cap ==
-I've tested out a mob spawner using an inventory editor, which results in spawning a large number of pigs. But, I also recall that there is a limit to the number of mobs that can be on the map at once, with separate counts for hostile and passive mobs. But do pigs spawned by a mob spawner count against the cap for passive mobs? Or are they, being created by a spawner rather than at random, not affected by the normal limit? I do hope they are subject to the normal limit for passive mobs, as the room I put that mob spawner in would have space for a lag-inducingly high number of pigs. --[[User:Valos|Valos]] 17:21, 2 December 2010 (UTC)
-== Mob Spawner Enemies VS Natural Spawn Enemies ==
-I came across a dungeon/cavern today which contained a Skeleton Mob Spawner.
-As I was fighting off the 4 skeletons in there, a fifth skeleton came out from the Cavern and began shooting at the Skeletons spawned by the spawner. (Which made it much easier, as the spawned skeletons were too busy fighting off the cavern skelly to notice me.)
-Is this a bug, or is it meant to happen?
---[[User:Buggyman|Buggyman]] 04:38, 29 December 2010 (UTC)
-When Skeletons shoot, sometimes they accidentally hit another mob. in this case, the skeleton. When that skeleton got hit by the other skeleton it turned hostile against it. All mobs do this. for instance, when a skelton hits a creeper, the creeper will chase the skeleton from then on, as the skeleton will protect itself.
---[[User:Rbanh|Rbanh]] 01:14, 9 January 2011 (UTC)
-== Beta 1.2 ==
-It appears player-placed Monster Spawners are spawning Cows every now and again since the update. Can anyone else confirm this? [[User:SteveZombie|SteveZombie]] 11:42, 14 January 2011 (UTC)
-I don't know if that's happening, but I can no longer find Spawners using the rapid-F trick-- Only Torches, natural fire, and the Skybox show up. [[User:Ariamaki|Ariamaki]] 01:33, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
-== Prevent Mob Spawners from spawning Mobs in Beta ==
-Talk:Monster Spawner
-I've read that in Beta Mobs spawn although there are torches around it, I can confirm this. But in the aricle it says
- As of Beta or possibly earlier, surrounding a spawner with torches does not prevent monsters from spawning. With the exception of sunlight as noted below, the only way to prevent a Monster Spawner block from spawning monsters is to destroy it.
-and when I placed a block on a mob spawn the skeletton inside just kept turning around in the spawner, but didn't actually spawn. So this is wrong.
-If someone confirms this I'll edit that into the article.
-[[User:T4b|T4b]] 21:47, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
-: I've tested this on a skeleton grinder of mine.  2 deaths and a lot of damage later, I can confirm that torchlight still prevents mobs from spawning out of a mob spawner, and moreover, simply surrounding the spawner with torches on all sides prevents spawning.  Considering that neither Notch nor any other page of the wiki, including the updates page, has stated otherwise, I shall take the liberty of removing the bullet point in question. [[User:Troagador|Troagador]] 22:43, 15 January 2011 (UTC)
-:: Two of us (myself and T4b above) have confirmed that torch light, including surrounding the mob spawner with torches, does not prevent mobs from spawning. From my own experience torch light has never been a reliable way of preventing mobs from spawning despite claims to the contrary, but whatever may have changed from update to update, I can confirm that as of right this moment in Beta 1.2 SSP no amount of torchlight prevents mobs from spawning as I am watching them spawn in torchlight as I am writing this.
-:: I cannot explain why they are not spawning for you, Troagador, but I am looking at them spawning for me and T4b has confirmed the same. Even if this is a random bug, clearly torchlight is not a consistent way to prevent mobs from spawning.  --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 03:07, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
-::: Sorry, I should have been less hasty with my editing.  It would seem that this concept requird further exploration.  In the mean time, feel free to replace the missing bullet point with whatever you discern to be best - something along the lines of torchlight not being sufficient in all circumstances. [[User:Troagador|Troagador]] 16:29, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
-:::: In Notch's [http://notch.tumblr.com/ (Jan 14)] blog entry he notes that he "fixed a whole pile of lighting bugs" which may or may not affect mob spawners, but since some changes (biomes for example) only take place in newly generated chunks, and since I destroyed my nearby spider spawner testing Dyon's claim that destroying spawners with a pick axe gives a spawner block which can be placed to produce pigs [[Talk:Monster_Spawner#Pick_Up_Destroyed_Mob_Spawner|(see below)]] I'm going to experiment with the next dungeon I find in a new chuck to see if I can notice any changes in spawner behaviour before I make any new edits with regard to light affecting mob spawners. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 01:02, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
-::::* I wonder if we should move this conversation to [[Talk:Monster_Spawner#Light.3F|Light?]] rather than start new headings every time there is a new major Minecraft revision or should we create a major talk heading for Beta and add new subheadings for all Beta talk? --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 01:02, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
-::::I'm getting that surrounding with torches isn't enough, torchlight is still effective, so surroudning it with torches and having maybe one or two more can prevent spawning.  I can definetely confirm that enough torch light still prevents mob spawn in a dungeon. [[User:Troagador|Troagador]] 01:24, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
-::::I've got it sussed now.  I blackened out a spider trap and found that whilst the surrounding the spawner and adjusting the light level acting on it didn't prevent spawning, it can if it makes the dungeon as a whole bright enough.  By partitioning the dungeon into two sides, a light and dark half, with the spawner fully surrounded by torches, it's possible to have spiders spawning in one half of the dungeon but not the other, so essentially the spawning is the same, but the ability to nullify a spawner by surrounding it has been removed.  Can anyone confirm that torchlight still nullifies monster spawner spawns so that we can get this straightened out - I don't really want to edit anything here just based on my results. [[User:Troagador|Troagador]] 01:43, 21 January 2011 (UTC)
-:::::I'm not seeing this behaviour at all - I've just surrounded a zombie spawner with four torches and it's not spawned a thing since. If you're seeing mobs spawn around a lit spawner, is it possible there is still a dark area nearby, or maybe even another dungeon in the vicinity? I'm pretty sure that if four torches alone weren't enough to stop a spawner, then the forums and other communities would have been full of posts saying so. --[[User:DannyF1966|DannyF1966]] 16:42, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
-::::::: Since mob spawners generate mobs within a 4 block radius it would be impossible for another spawner to be responsible for mobs appearing next to another spawner unless it was inside the same dungeon. Further, torchlight at brightness 14 minus 1 per block means the corners a dungeon with the spawner surrounded by torches are light level 9 which is still 2 levels higher than the maximum level of 7 required for hostile mobs to form so there cannot be a "dark area" inside an unmodified dungeon. Although sunlight stops mob spawners from spawning (my near-surface zombie spawner exposed to the sky doesn't spawn during the day and no-one has posted anything to the contrary) it still spawns at night with six torches inside the dungeon walls which absolutely has no dark areas.
-::::::: If there is a lack of discussion in the forums it is likely due to most players using the safest method of emptying chests via making a hole in the wall behind them and staying outside the dungeon and destroying spawners from directly underneath them. To everyone except those of us willing to take the time to experiment in order to maintain the accuracy of this Wiki this is probably a non-issue.
-::::::: Ideally, if Notch would tell us what the behaviour of spawners is supposed to be we could put this question to rest and know that their unpredictable behaviour is due to unaddressed programming issues, but until then some of us are not seeing torches prevent spawners from generating mobs and those of you who able to stop them with torches need to accept that this isn't the case for everyone. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 18:04, 24 January 2011 (UTC)
-::[[File:Dungeonexperiment.png|thumb|right|Spiders in the dark side and not the light one.]]
-Hey people, I have something by way of evidence documenting my findings.  It's a mob spawner split into two sections, a light and dark one.  The only light in the room is provided by the eight torches surrounding the spawner diagonally and adjacantly, and all the spiders have spawned in the darker half, with the brighter area as safe as ever.  I can be sure this is not a coincidence becuase there were no spawns when the dungeon was fully lit by torchlight. [[User:Troagador|Troagador]] 22:05, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
-: Normally mobs can't spawn within 24 blocks of the player so the spiders had to have been generated by the spawner, so you did an excellent job of showing that surrounding a spawner with torches doesn't prevent it from spawning, meaning that is is the light level, not the position of torches that is the issue.
-: Unfortunately I was just at an old dungeon (I haven't found one generated in a post Beta chunk yet) with six torches in it and spiders are quite happily spawning away inside. By my calculations there is no block inside with a light level under 11 yet spiders are still spawning. (I'll get some glass to cover it with so I can make a screen shot like yours.)
-: Back at my "barbeque" dungeon, which is a zombie spawner exposed to the sky, it's still generating zombies at night despite 4 torches (minimum light level 10 anywhere inside) but no mobs are generated after sunrise.
-: I don't know if it's a revision issue or what, and T4b didn't specify if it was an old dungeon or a new one, but my spider dungeon would have been generated just prior to Beta and the zombie dungeon would have been generated possibly around October though I didn't find it until December. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 23:21, 26 January 2011 (UTC)
-:: I finally found a new dungeon in a new chunk last night, and after I placed two torches on the inside wall near two corners of the dungeon the spiders stopped spawning. Removing one torch caused spiders to start spawning again, but curiously, they did not appear in the dark spot at the opposite corner which would have been below illumination 7, they appeared directly next to the spawner where the light level would have been 10 at the lowest. Replacing the torch, thus raising light everywhere inside the dungeon above level 7, stopped the spiders from spawning again. This tells us that, per Troagador's experiment above, it is not light around the spawner but rather raising the light level everywhere inside the spawning radius that prevents spawning.
-:: I then revisited two previous dungeons with torches in the same place as this new dungeon, plus many more, and they are still generating spiders and zombies respectively regardless of torch placement.
-:: Since the only changes that don't affect everything in the game universally are biomes, I'm curious if spawning behaviour is different from biome to biome. However, I accept that light does stop mobs from spawning inside dungeons at this point and that my old dungeons are using "old code" that must make them immune to torchlight. I'll return Troagador's previous edit to the wiki page. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 20:09, 30 January 2011 (UTC)
-:::This ''is'' a mystery.  The dungeon in the picture is a post beta one, and was generated before the biomes update was added.  I'll do some more experimenting with a post-biome, pre-beta dungeon, and see if I can find a post-beta one as well.  The idea about biomes is a pretty cool one.  [[User:Troagador|Troagador]] 22:17, 31 January 2011 (UTC)
-:::: I just found a new dungeon with a spider spawner and after I placed torches inside the dungeon walls and destroyed the spiders, five or six more spiders were generated. No more were spawned after I killed those however.
-:::: Someone posted in the trivia that sometimes a mob will instantly appear when a block is destroyed in a place that would allow a mob to spawn and I wonder if spawners have a cache, though I've never noticed this happening before. --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 11:33, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
-Have you tried covering the entire floor with torches yet? [[User:Vultraz|Vultraz]] 15:09, 7 February 2011 (UTC)
-== Pick Up Destroyed Mob Spawner ==
-Dyon made an edit stating that he or she was able to pick up a mob spawner destroyed with a pick axe and when placed on grass it spawned a pig. Upon reading this I destroyed a spider spawner with a pick axe in Beta 1.2 SSP and no spawner block was produced. With respect to Dyon, I undid his or her edit. Could Dyon please state which version he or she is playing and if it is modded or not?
-If someone else can duplicate this in an unmodified version of Minecraft this should be added as a note that it is sometimes possible to pick up a mob spawner, but it should not be changed to being always possible at this time (unless it shows up in Notch's notes, obviously). --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 10:02, 16 January 2011 (UTC)
-Just attempted with a clean version and a diamond pickaxe. Still, it doesn't give back the spawner as a resource --[[User:Master7432|Master7432]]
-:Using a diamond pickaxe in SMP harvests the spawner, although it may be a plugin on our server. Still turns out as a piggy one when placed. I'll hop over to SSP and try now. [[User:Ordona|Ordona]] 00:38, 17 April 2011 (UTC)
-:After trying 4 times with a diamond pick in SSP, the spawner was not harvested once. [[User:Ordona|Ordona]] 00:44, 17 April 2011 (UTC)
-I blew a mob spawner in a dungeon up with a creeper.It has to be directly next to it.A version 5.1_01 glitch maybe? <small>–The preceding unsigned comment was added by [[User:Grantcop2|Grantcop2]] <sup>([[User talk:Grantcop2|Talk]]|[[Special:Contributions/Grantcop2|Contribs]])</sup> 11:29, 22 April 2011. Please sign your posts with ~~<nowiki></nowiki>~~</small>
-== Mob Spawner randomly changes to spawn pigs? ==
-I'm not sure whether this was a bug or what it could have been but I found a dungeon no more than 8 layers down in a new world I started right next to where I begun to dig my mines. Strangely enough the moment I cleared out the zombies and lit the room the zombie spawner changed into a pig spawner. I'm guessing this is a bug because I've read up and there doesn't seem to be any information of this being a feature of the game. I actually created a tunnel to bring grass down into the dungeon and covered the floor with grass and it does in fact spawn pigs. I now have an underground dungeon full of really annoying pigs. So perhaps this can happen by a bug? Or perhaps there's a method to making it happen that I didn't realize I met? --[[User:WertyRules|WertyRules]]
-: I'm unclear on what you're describing. Did it spawn pigs before you brought the grass down? Friendly mobs will spawn anywhere there is grass and light, so are you seeing them being generated by the spawner? --[[User:KADC|KADC]] 18:58, 5 February 2011 (UTC)
-:: You can tell it's spawning pigs if the pigs are spawning when you are looking and making a smoke effect. I want to see a picture of the spawner. And you're sure that it was generated in vanilla minecraft and everything, right? [http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/User:Tjb0607 [[File:Tjb0607SigIcon.png]]] 21:46, 23 February 2011 (UTC)
-::: I forgot I posted this. Well now I'm certain of it. The general trend seems to be light the spawner and it will change to the appearance and function of a pig spawner. Though in the darkness it will work to spawn whatever it originally spawned (skeleton, zombie or spider.) Though if you keep it lit and put grass in the area it will in fact spawn pigs. I watched and they all had the clouds of smoke coming out as they appeared... and... well 40 pigs in a room with no other passive mob is evidence enough. I'm playing on a server through mineshafter though so this might be affecting it but I'm pretty sure it's just a glitch involved with playing on a server because all my offline games don't do this, whether I play through mineshaft or not. [[User:WertyRules|WertyRules]] 06:48, 14 May 2011
-I believe this was an error caused by a user created map as u kno, when you hack a spawner in to the game it spawns pigs until modded to spawn something else (there are no youtube videos on this subject and idk how to do it but my sisters boyfriend will teach me soon). So i believe the ingame computer mistaked this particular spawner with a user created one, causing it to spawn pigs. I hope this helps -vortigon10
-== Easy way to find Spawners ==
-I heard that whenever you hear a specific kind of music, it indictaes a spawner is nearby. Is there anyway to find Spawners easily, like is there a specific kind of block commonly found around Spawners? --[[User:CakeEqualsLie|CakeEqualsLie]] 21:38, 8 February 2011 (UTC)
-The most noticeable distinction is mossy cobblestone, which appears only in dungeons. Any cobblestone you didn't place will either be a part of a dungeon or a result of a lava and water stream colliding. Listening for sounds of large amounts of the same monster while in caves can lead you to them as well, as it's rare for monsters to spawn in very large groups of one type. -[[User:Lucien|Lucien]] 21:45, 8 February 2011 (UTC)
-Yes in fact it does play rather depressing music that is instantly recognizable, i tend to find dungeons far down in lava lakes below open sea, make sure your bring a bucket and make a big hole cuase removing lava is sometimes nesassary or you can just health hack it :)-vortigon10, and if one of you could tell me how you add a comment and not edit it wud help XD as i litterely just joined so i could help you guys out
-==Giving a Mob Spawner?==
-Does anyone know the damage values for each the mob spawners?
-it would be useful to find this out and post it?
-: I just tested using INVedit to modify the damage values from 0 - 8 and all came out as pig spawns. [[User:Andross12|Andross12]] 18:40, 2 March 2011 (UTC)
-Andross, there is no specific damage as it changes depending on where you are hit and its a random number between 2 numbers, i just recomend making diamond armor and hoping you made a good shelter XD-vortigon10
-== Disabling monster spawners ==
-My own experimentations with this in SSP have failed, so can we get a citation for this (i.e. video)? [[User:Darkid|Darkid]] 00:58, 15 March 2011 (UTC)
-:Re-That citation: That is what I've done, however mobs still spawn. Can we get a *video* for this?
-::I cannot disable monster spawners like the citation picture shows. Is this really correct? [[User:Mila|Mila]] 16:01, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
-:::Great, another person against this! One more, and it's definitively off. [[User:Darkid|Darkid]] 16:18, 17 March 2011 (UTC)
-::::Tested, doesn't work. [[User:Raswi|Raswi]] 21:33, 18 March 2011 (UTC)Raswi
-Ok guys the range for a spawner is 15 blocks so you need to keep the area well lit, ther is currently no way to disable spawners, torches only manage to slow downt he spawning process, so you can slow it down or you MAY not definetly be able to disable it if you put a torch in each 15 blocks reaching away from it that are not properly lit, as the spawners check this area for a dark spot in order to spawn a mob. [[User:Vortigon10|Vortigon10]] 06:54, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
-== Glitch when mobs turned off on multiplayer ==
-I placed a spawner while mobs were turned off on the server. Even after the spawner was destroyed, pigs were generated, but were not vulnerable to any kind of damage (setting on fire, TNT, even lava). Anybody have a solution? I have a feeling this is going to generate major lag. (I am aware of the last note on the article).
-[[User:Magnitetion|Magnitetion]] 05:40, 21 March 2011 (UTC)
-:The pigs are client-side only, disconnecting a reconnecting to the server should make them disappear. [[User:IPeer|IPeer]] 17:32, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
-== Creeper Monster Spawner ==
-It says on the wiki that spawners can spawn creepers, although this is definitely possible with hacks, can it occur naturally? [[User:Darkid|Darkid]] 22:22, 6 April 2011 (UTC)
-== 4 torches aren't enough anymore since 1.5? ==
-For some reason, it sometimes happens (since 1.5, but I´m not sure) that spawner still generates mobs even after I surrounded it with 4 torches, but not that quick as without them. - [[User:AIAS-5|AIAS-5]] 01:17, 26 April 2011 (UTC)
-== Sarcophagus? ==
-What happens if you surround the spawner with stone blocks? --[[User:J-wad|J-wad]] 07:39, 9 June 2011 (UTC)
-:That depends how far out from the spawner is solid stone blocks; you would need a solid 9x9x9 cube with the spawner in the exact center to completely prevent it from spawning mobs in that way (this is my understanding based on what the article says of its spawning radius; someone correct me (and the article!) if I'm/it's wrong). All in all, it's far easier just using torches around it. <span style="white-space:nowrap">「[[User:Dinoguy1000|<span style="color:#00f">ダイノ</span><span style="color:#080">ガイ</span>]][[Special:Contributions/Dinoguy1000|<span style="color:#F90">千？！</span>]]」<sup>[[wikipedia:Help:IJP|?]] · [[User talk:Dinoguy1000#top|☎ Dinoguy1000]]</sup></span> 07:51, 9 June 2011 (UTC)
-:On the other hand, if you simply close the spawner off completely with the walls outside the spawn radius, any mobs that spawn will spawn in the box, preventing them from getting out. <span style="white-space:nowrap">「[[User:Dinoguy1000|<span style="color:#00f">ダイノ</span><span style="color:#080">ガイ</span>]][[Special:Contributions/Dinoguy1000|<span style="color:#F90">千？！</span>]]」<sup>[[wikipedia:Help:IJP|?]] · [[User talk:Dinoguy1000#top|☎ Dinoguy1000]]</sup></span> 07:52, 9 June 2011 (UTC)
-Dr jones, this occured because although it is peacefull, spawned enemies sometimes get the chance to play there specific sound recording or activate a drop item before they are despawned, it is supposedly rare but has happened to me on several occasions. So while you may sometimes get an arrow out of it, they are no threat whatsoever, as mobs must go through a startup sequence before they can attack you.