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New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:02 pm
by FlowerChild
Version 4.80 of Better Than Wolves is ready for download!

Download Link

This release contains the following changes:

Note: My primary goal With this release was to finalize BTW's world generation changes. What this means is that you should be perfectly comfortable starting a new world with this release, confident that it won't be changing any further (at least by my hand).

-Added Hardcore Stratification. This works by dividing the stone beneath the overworld into different layers, or "strata". These layers then require different qualities of picks in order to be able to mine them. Note that the picks required to mine various ores are not affected by this change, even though their visual appearance will match that of the surrounding stone, and they may take longer to mine at depths. In other words, the same tools as previous to this release (and the same as in vanilla) may be used to mine the various ores regardless of the strata in which they appear, so even if you descend to a depth where you can no longer mine the stone, you may still be able to mine the ores it contains. This was done to further promote caving as the mining method of choice in the early game, as well as to introduce a greater amount of variety and a number of interesting aspects into the gameplay experience that are left to the player to discover. Note that it comes at the cost of a slight performance drop during chunk generation (not chunk load), which may manifest as the occasional stutter, but which I suspect is still faster than vanilla chunk generation previous to my optimizations. I did it in this manner to avoid altering people's worlds at a fundamental level, and as a result, if you uninstall the mod, all modified blocks in your world will automatically revert to their vanilla equivalents. Also note that at present, worlds previously generated do not automatically stratify, and thus there will be underground (and thus largely invisible) "seams" in your worlds that you may run into while mining. I'll be providing functionality in the near future however to convert and stratify worlds if the player so desires, to get rid of those.

-Added Looted Temples. These function similarly to Abandoned Villages in that temples within a distance of the player's initial spawn point will be looted in order to preserve the early game balance in cases where the player spawns near one, and to further add to the mod's back story.

-Added Golden Dung. How to craft it, and its purpose are left to the player to discover.

-Added recipe for creating a Dirt Slab out of two Dirt Piles placed side by side in the crafting grid for convenience and consistency.

-Changed the contents of dungeons chests for balance and added depth beneath the surface as a factor in how their loot is generated. Generally, the deeper you go, the more valuable their contents.

-Changed the chest minecarts in abandoned mineshafts in a similar manner to dungeon chests for balance.

-Changed the hunger display to shake based on your hunger level rather than on fat level. It should only begin to shake once hunger penalties begin to kick in (at 'Peckish').

-Fixed problem with wood shovels giving you piles.

-Fixed bug that caused Hardcore Fishing to almost always act like it was day time.

-Fixed problem with shears not being efficient vs vines.

-Removed spider silk to wool conversion recipes from both regular crafting and the Cauldron. Silk and wool are now considered to be two separate materials entirely. This was done to further promote farming sheep for wool.

Enjoy! :)

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If you'd like to say thanks for this release and help contribute to the further development of Better Than Wolves, please consider making a donation:

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Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:08 pm
by topguy
Looks awesome :)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:09 pm
by Ulfengaard
Man, I've really been looking forward to this. Thanks for the release. I'm glad you're happy with it, too. :)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:13 pm
by FlowerChild
Ulfengaard wrote:Man, I've really been looking forward to this. Thanks for the release. I'm glad you're happy with it, too. :)
Very, as indicated by the bump in the version number :)

This definitely makes the early game "pop". My previous changes were all incrementally positive, but IMO, this one really makes it, and brings them all together into a cohesive whole.

Anyways, yes, very pleased. This shall definitely be a celebratory Friday night for me :)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:20 pm
by Mr_Hosed
LMAO! Golden Dung. No idea what it does, but the fact it exists is apropo to how I feel about gold in general in the game at the moment ;)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:28 pm
by FlowerChild
Mr_Hosed wrote:LMAO! Golden Dung. No idea what it does, but the fact it exists is apropo to how I feel about gold in general in the game at the moment ;)
You and me both brother. I think this feature is a pretty good indication about how I feel with regards to Mojang's "uses" for gold ;)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:33 pm
by ExpHP
Somehow I always seem to visit at the perfect time...

I'm too excited to try out Hardcore Strat for me to write any more!

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:34 pm
by FlowerChild
Hardcore Strat is the shiznit in my fo'nizzle. I want to marry it and have its dark children. I <3 Hardcore Stratification :)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:54 pm
by obl1terat1ion
FlowerChild wrote:I <3 Hardcore Stratification :)
As do I its the one thing I have wanted in minecraft for a long time :)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 10:59 pm
by jak Stone
nice update i like what u did with the chest in dungeons and mineshafts

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:05 pm
by emptychild
Wow a change to the tens place instead of the hundreds. This is a banner release indeed. :) Haven't had much time to play recently but the release still looks amazing. The idea of better picks being required the deeper you go is genius.

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:24 pm
by EpicAaron
The deep ores look amazing!

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:31 pm
by FlowerChild
EpicAaron wrote:The deep ores look amazing!
Woot!

Ok, I'm in a particularly festive mood :)

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:39 pm
by Pucc
FlowerChild wrote:-Added Golden Dung. How to craft it, and its purpose are left to the player to discover.
Ah but if there's one thing I've learned from where I live it is this, "You can't polish a Turd."

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:40 pm
by FlowerChild
Pucc wrote: Ah but if there's one thing I've learned from where I live it is this, "You can't polish a Turd."
If you'd suggest combining Golden Dung with Tallow, you need to take that over to the appropriate sub-forum.

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:44 pm
by CycloneSP
actually, mythbusters proved that you can polish dung with nothing but a little water and some elbow grease. ;)

But yeah, huzzah for epic release! May the festivities begin!

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:47 pm
by FlowerChild
<dances>

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Fri May 10, 2013 11:57 pm
by Pucc
Here's some "themed" music to help you dance to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuIm9qGZvRw

Great work on the update though, I can see I'm going to love Hardcore Strat but it will be the bane of my life that and those damn cave spiders nesting below my base. Thanks!

Edit:
CycloneSP wrote:actually, mythbusters proved that you can polish dung with nothing but a little water and some elbow grease. ;)
Well it would need to be frozen, better take your wolfs back to the Taiga biomes they came from.

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 12:00 am
by icynewyear

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 12:15 am
by CycloneSP
O.o Dem caves!!! Just watched icy's vid, and I must say "WOW" you have just made spelunking a visually pleasing activity!!!

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 12:54 am
by logorouge
FlowerChild wrote:-Added Hardcore Stratification.
So... beautiful. *tear of joy*
Honestly, I did not expect it to be so extensive. You'll think after all this time I would have learned: Never underestimate what Flowerchild will do to improve an aspect of the game.
I love it!

Edit: Thanks to Icy for the update vid too. Very nice.

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 1:00 am
by Psion
the requirement of using silk touch to mine up the new strata for use in aesthetics is a nice touch, as they all turn to cobble when broken normally. No nuisance of of partial stacks of different stone clogging your inventory, unless you're actually wanting them for decoration!

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 1:35 am
by Ceunon
Holy. Mother. Fucking. Crap.

I've been lurking a lot lately, but I had to come here a give a big "THANK YOU" to FC. HC Strat looks awesome. I'm sorry, did I just type awesome? I meant ********AWESOME******** (*explosions*).

So, yeah, thanks, FC, for making my days blockier. If it weren't for you, I'm don't think I'd be still playing MC.

Oh, and by the way: HC Strat is really useful for checking your depth while mining. No more getting worried of getting out of the diamond layers while caving.

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 2:04 am
by jonny_AB
I've recently gotten my little brother into playing BTW and today, with the new release, he decided to start a new world.
He always has the starter chest enabled. Today, he was rewarded with a lovely piece of golden dung. Thanks for the release FC, definitely made my day.

Re: New Release! (BTW V4.80)

Posted: Sat May 11, 2013 2:24 am
by FlowerChild
jonny_AB wrote: He always has the starter chest enabled. Today, he was rewarded with a lovely piece of golden dung. Thanks for the release FC, definitely made my day.
I think that's worth a kill marker on the side of my keyboard :)