Minecraft Wiki
Advertisement

The Overworld is the starting dimension in Minecraft. It is the only dimension that has existed throughout the development of Minecraft; The Nether was the second dimension to be added, in Alpha 1.2.0, and the Sky Dimension is confirmed but not yet implemented.

The Overworld is the entire three dimensional space in which in-game construction can occur, encompassing the span from the level ceiling down to bedrock and extending in every direction on the horizontal plane. It is generated through a secret process which creates multiple Noise maps to create differing elevations, general chunk shapes, and complex mountain and cave systems.

All but one of the mobs in the game can appear in the Overworld: Wolves, Pigs, Sheep, Cows, Mooshrooms, Chickens, Squid, Zombies, Skeletons, Spiders, Spider Jockeys, Endermen, Creepers and Slimes all spawn normally, and Pigs can be hit by lightning, which turns them into Zombie pigmen however, it is very rare for lightning to strike a pig. Ghasts can only spawn in the Nether. (However, in very rare occasions they can spawn out of a portal; this is intentional although Jeb claims they have not implemented it yet).

Seeds

Main articles: Seed (Level Generation) and Seed

Worlds in Minecraft are generated through a procedural formula that takes a random number as a starting point - a seed, and it will be used to generate all the terrain of the overworld (and the Nether).

In Beta 1.3 the option was added for the player to specify the world seed. Using a specific seed generates exactly the same world each time, and thus interesting Minecraft worlds could be shared between players. The spawn is not on exactly the same spot, though, so it is wise to give co-ordinates instead of directions. The seed input is converted into an integer, so, for instance, the word 'Glacier' corresponds to a value of 1772835215, which generates exactly the same world when entered as a seed value.

In Beta 1.8, players could find the current map seed by tapping F3.

Sizes

In Classic and Indev, maps can be generated in "small" (128x128x64), "normal" (256x256x64), and "huge" (512x512x64) sizes.

In Infdev, Alpha and Beta maps are somewhat infinitely big - They are made up of chunks; this means that as the player explores the map distant chunks are generated automatically, leading to theoretically infinite maps. In practice, technical reasons (the limits of 32-bit integers[1]) force the maximum map size to around 1.8 times the surface area of the Earth [1], which comes out to about 269,744,040 km². Whilst the horizontal planes of the maps are vast in size, the vertical plane remains at a fixed 128-block height [2].

While the map is infinite, the number of blocks the player may walk on is limited. The map, counting air as a block, and not counting blocks beyond and at where block physics fail (32,000,000 from the center) from top to bottom, and all in between, is essentially always 131,071,992,000,000,000 blocks big. In multiplayer, chunks will also stop generating after the world reaches a certain file size.

Generation

Generated Blocks

Entries marked with a D require additional data to fully define the block in a Beta world. Entries marked with an I have a different ID as an inventory item. Entries marked with a B require additional inventory data to fully define the inventory item. Entries marked with a T have tile entities associated with them to store additional data. Items with IDs in red cannot be legitimately obtained in the player's inventory in the game; they can only be obtained by "hacking" (such as the use of Inventory editors) or, in multiplayer using the /give server command. Items available only in Creative mode are in blue.

Naturally Generated

Naturally Generated includes blocks that are created through the world seed.

Icon Dec Hex Block type
00 00 Air
Stone 01 01 Stone
Grass 02 02 Grass
Dirt 03 03 Dirt
Bedrock 07 07 Bedrock
Water 09 09 Water (Stationary) D
Lava 11 0B Lava (Stationary) D
Sand 12 0C Sand
Gravel 13 0D Gravel
File:Gold (Ore).png 14 0E Gold Ore
File:Iron (Ore).png 15 0F Iron Ore
File:Coal (Ore).png 16 10 Coal Ore
File:Wood.png 17 11 Wood D B
File:Leaves.png 18 12 Leaves D B
File:Lapis Lazuli (Ore).png 21 15 Lapis Lazuli Ore
Sandstone 24 18 Sandstone
Tall Grass 31 1F Tall Grass D B
File:Grid Dead Bush.png 32 20 Dead Bush
Icon Dec Hex Block type
Dandelion 37 25 Dandelion
Rose 38 26 Rose
Brown Mushroom 39 27 Brown Mushroom
Red Mushroom 40 28 Red Mushroom
File:Diamond (Ore).png 56 38 Diamond Ore
File:Redstone (Ore).png 73 49 Redstone Ore
Snow 78 4E Snow
Ice 79 4F Ice
Cactus 81 51 Cactus D
File:Clay (Block).png 82 52 Clay Block
Sugar Cane 83 53 Sugar Cane D I
Pumpkin 86 56 Pumpkin D
File:BrownMushroomCap.png 99 63 Huge Brown Mushroom D
File:RedMushroomCap.png 100 64 Huge Red Mushroom D
File:Vine.png 106 6A Vines D
Mycelium 110 6E Mycelium
Lily Pad 111 6F Lily Pad


Naturally Created

Naturally Created means a combination of events that cause a new block to be placed by natural causes, not the player.

Icon Dec Hex Block type
00 00 Air
Grass 02 02 Grass
Dirt 03 03 Dirt
Cobblestone 04 04 Cobblestone
Water 08 08 Water (Flowing) D
Lava 10 0A Lava (Flowing) D
Tall Grass 31 1F Tall Grass D B
Brown Mushroom 39 27 Brown Mushroom
Red Mushroom 40 28 Red Mushroom
Icon Dec Hex Block type
Obsidian 49 31 Obsidian
Fire 51 33 Fire D
Snow 78 4E Snow
Ice 79 4F Ice
Cactus 81 51 Cactus D
Sugar Cane 83 53 Sugar Cane D I
File:Vine.png 106 6A Vines D
Mycelium 110 6E Mycelium


Structures

Same as Naturally Generated, but these blocks are only created with the "Generate Structures" option enabled.

Icon Dec Hex Block type
Cobblestone 04 04 Cobblestone
File:Wooden Plank.png 05 05 Wooden Plank
Water 09 09 Stationary Water D
Lava 11 0B Stationary Lava D
Gravel 13 0D Gravel
File:Wood.png 17 11 Wood D B
File:WebBlock.png 30 1E Cobweb
File:Grid Black Wool.png 35 23 Wool (Black) D B
Stone Slab 44 2C Slabs D B
Bookshelf 47 2F Bookshelf
File:Moss Stone.png 48 30 Moss Stone
Torch 50 32 Torch D
Monster Spawner 52 34 Monster Spawner T
File:Wooden Stairs.png 53 35 Wooden Stairs D
Chest 54 36 Chest D T
Crafting Table 58 3A Crafting Table
Icon Dec Hex Block type
File:Crops.png 59 3B Seeds D
Farmland 60 3C Farmland D
Furnace 61 3D Furnace D T
File:Wooden Door.png 64 40 Wooden Door D I
File:Ladders.png 65 41 Ladders D
File:Rails.png 66 42 Rails D
Cobblestone Stairs 67 43 Stone Stairs
Iron Door 71 47 Iron Door D I
File:Wooden Pressure Plate.png 72 48 Wooden Pressure Plate D
Stone Button 77 4D Button D
File:Fence.png 85 55 Fence
Stone 97 61 Hidden Silverfish D
File:Stone Brick.png 98 62 Stone Bricks D B
Iron Bars 101 65 Iron Bars
Glass Pane 102 66 Glass Pane


File:Chunk borders visible in snow.JPG

Chunk borders outlined in snow

Chunks

Main article: Chunks

Chunks are the method used by Notch to divide maps into manageable pieces. They are 16 blocks wide, 16 blocks long, and 128 blocks deep, and encompass 32,768 blocks. By adjusting the render distance, differing numbers of chunks will be loaded into memory, with "far" rendering the maximum of 81 chunks. Only chunks which have been loaded may experience activity such as spawning, despawning, growth, liquid movement, or player interaction. Upon reaching the required distance away from a chunk, it will be unloaded from the memory, however not deleted. Thus, upon re-entering that area, whatever has been changed will remain changed.

Biomes

Main article: Biomes

Another subdivision of The Overworld is into Biomes. Biomes may have varying sizes, and each has its own features. For example, a forest biome will have large quantities of trees, where as a snow biome will have snow and ice.

Natural Structures

Main article: Natural Structures

The Overworld is able to seamlessly create new areas by using patterns found in the surrounding chunks and extend those into the newly created chunk. These patterns, while unique to each world, can be categorized easily by comparing them to a real-world equivalent, such as cliffs or oceans. While Minecraft is based on landforms found on earth, impossible formations, such as floating islands, can be found throughout the Overworld.

Average world composition

Main article: Average world composition

Navigating The Overworld

Main article: Tutorials/Navigation

The Overworld can be navigated by use of the position of the sun and the moon, the movement of the clouds, and the movement of the stars. Assuming that the sun and moon rise in the north and go south, the clouds can be observed moving west and stars north. However, many players prefer to assume that the sun and moon rise in the east and move west, like in the real world; This means clouds move north and stars move west.

Tools used for Navigating The Overworld include the Compass and Map. The Compass points to the spawn point, and the Map shows a fixed area around where it was made, and shows you the area very generically. In the Nether, the Compass needle will spin wildly, and is thus useless.

Since Alpha 1.2.3, the F3 key toggles a debug console which shows the player their absolute coordinates, where the X and Z coordinates show longitude and latitude, and the Y coordinate shows height, where Y=64 corresponds to sea level. In addition, in Beta 1.7 an 'f' value was added, which indicates the direction the player is facing, 0 being the direction in which the sun sets, and it goes counter clockwise from there: 1 being the direction in which the clouds move, 2 and 3 are opposite to 0 and 1 respectively.

Day and night

Main article: Day/night cycle

The overworld is the only dimension with a day/night cycle. During the daytime, the sun acts as a light source. This light is strong enough to kill Zombies, Endermen and Skeletons and also makes Spiders neutral. The only hostile mob that survives in the daylight are creepers, and cave spiders. At night time the moon is the only natural light source however it provides only a little light, allowing hostile mobs to spawn.

Far Lands

Main article: Far Lands

The Far Lands used to be an area that forms the "edge" of the "infinite" map, but was later removed accidentally from a patch on 1.8 due to the change in the terrain generation code. When players made it to the Far Lands, they experienced an excessive amount of lag and the map was severely distorted.

According to Notch, this distortion could be fixed, but since no one was likely to make it to the Far Lands without some form of cheating, he says that he was likely not going to fix it since he liked the idea of a mysterious world beyond a certain distance. When the Beta 1.8 update was released, the newly re-written biome code did infact remove the Far Lands and will just generate as an extremely large ocean. The far lands may be brought back in a later patch, though it is unlikely.

Trivia

  • World seeds can be extracted from the level.dat file by various modes or seeds, such as http://seedscope.net. Alternatively, it can be found in-game on the performance screen accessed by pressing F3.
  • There is a bug that sometimes causes the files for deleted worlds to not be deleted from your hard drive. If a new world is created with the same name, this can cause the game to reuse the old files, and thus, parts of the old map, rather than generate an entirely new map.

See also

References

Advertisement