Minecraft Mods and You (A Guide)

My, that’s a n-nice blog, s-shame if something were to happen to it…

I-I’m not afraid of you! You- You’re Woolen!!

Ahem, Anyway, like gazillions of others, I caved in (ha!) and bought Minecraft during beta, and whilst the vanilla is pretty cool, much like the Elder Scrolls games, its the active modding community that I think really makes things special.

Trouble is, there are SO, SO many mods, it can be hard to determine what you want. There are modpacks, certainly, but you may not want everything they provide. So here, I am going to try to provide a look at what I feel are the cream of the crop. If you need installation help with any mod, most of the big ones provide specific instructions; but ~in general~ the following applies:

1. You will need WinRAR or 7zip to open the minecraft .jar like an archive, in which you stuff the mods files (literally, by adding them to the jar as if it were a zip or rar file), keeping the directory structure. 
2. You can search for the .jar by typing %appdata% into your Windows Explorer to find your application settings.
3. You need modloader for every mod. 
4. You need to delete the META-INF folder thats inside the minecraft jar. This prevents mods from working.

What do I look for in a mod? Well, not purely new content, thats for certain. There are dime a dozen hundreds of mods that add some new form of unobtainium and tools to go with it. Different ways to do things that already exist are boring. What one needs is something that actually enhances the game and gives you more to do; and more to appreciate. Tweaks are fine, if they obviously address an issue with the base content thats irritating.

Moreover, Minecraft is more Virtual Lego Set than RPG. Don’t get me wrong, Survival is more enjoyable than Creative for the most part, but this is because you’re building something with honest to goodness problems, limits and hard choices; not because you’re playing an RPG element, which is undoubtably the weakest link of the chain. Therefore, mods that attempt to build on the RPG element really need to change something fundamental or risk building on sand out of straw.

Anyway, enough babbling. Click the links to get to the place to download it and review it in greater detail. If a link doesn’t work, it is because the mod is on a forum, and the author changed the title of the forum topic. I will periodically check the list (especially every time Minecraft itself gets a new version), but if you notice something broken, leave a comment please, thankyou! First of all:

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The Essentials

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Risugami’s ModLoader
The core element. Without this, nothing else works. Just get it.
He also has a bunch of other cool tweaks that distinctly add stuff. Whilst you’re there, I also recommend his Elemental Arrows, the Shelf, the Recipe Book, and More Stackables.

Optifine
It really works. Optimises the code for Minecraft alot, giving you an increase of typically 5-10 FPS.
Utterly essential if you’re on a low-end system or using an older version of java. It also tends to smooth out the lag spikes of death that even hit the higher end PCs. I would recommend Smooth Edition. As an aside, it also unlocks support for high-resolution texture packs (higher than 16x), so its even more essential if you want pretties.

CJB’s Pack
Okay, so this one is open to debate; but I find it essential. It imitates the functionality of several other mods; except they’re all different versions written by CJB himself. In many cases, I prefer the way he’s done them, as they’re also all linked to a centralised interface thats easy to control; and you can choose to disable any features you don’t want (I don’t want the cheats or x-ray or his custom mobs~ so I switch them off, easy!)
It includes the following very handy stuff (I also provide the alternatives in case you don’t agree with me):

• Mini-Map: Do you get lost alot in Minecraft? I do, and for that, a minimap is incredible. His map is not as functionally rich as the popular alternative, Rei’s Map; but when I used to use Rei’s, I never used any of the optional features it has, so I don’t miss them.
• Teleportation to waypoints you’ve set: Partially a cheat, I guess, but being able to save travel time between the deepest reach of your mineshaft and your house is what I call a tweak improvement; its only like having quick travel in Skyrim. If you want something less ‘cheaty’, DaftPVF does a mod called Crystal Wing that teleports you back to bed only, has limited uses, and explodes in the Nether for a higher challenge version.
• Improved HUD: If this was all the mod did, I’d still D/L it just for this. Adds alot of really handy information to your Heads Up Display. You can choose what info you need. Clock, Biome, Co-Ordinates, Lightlevel, Arrows, Item held info etc.
• Block and Item Spawing: Allows you to spawn anything you want into your inventory. Definately a cheat on Survival; but when you suddenly realise you’re 10 sandstone short of your new house and night is approaching… nothing beats it! TooManyItems [TMI] is the popular alternative. However, I do prefer the version in CJB. Why? Well, it requires you to go to a different menu with a hotkey rather than overlaying your regular inventory. When I used TMI I became reliant on it; as its always there, and that, I thought, sucked the fun out of finding resources for yourself. With CJB, I can resist the urges to just spawn everything I need; and I only use this in an absolute emergency or to generate exceptionally common stuff that is tiresome to lug back and forth (i.e. Cobblestone and Dirt).
• Mob Filtering: Got Arachnophobia and can’t stand spiders? Creepers ruining your constructions? Then switch them off! Get rid of your most hated mob in a jiffy. Moreover, it allows you to play pseudo-peaceful if you want; switch all the hostiles off but keep the difficulty on, so you still need to eat and don’t get automatic health regen.
• A selection of cheats including X-Ray vision: Can’t say I use these, but there is alot of them for those that do.
• Custom Items and Mobs: I use his extra pressure plates, but none of the others, so I can’t really comment too much on them. Also, his animals are somewhat obsolete if you’re using Mo’ Creatures, so I do have those off too (sounds like he’s removing them anyway).

A New Texture Pack
These are directly supported through minecraft itself, rather than modloader. Read the documentation. However, you need Optifine or MCPatcher to use high resolution packs. Personally, I like the 16×16, and myself will wholeheartedly recommend THE PAINTERLY PACK. It looks very good for its size, but most importantly, is vastly customisable to your preferences from thousands of options.

A note about Minecraft Forge
This is a kind of Standard Development Kit for mods. However, not very many mods require it all (most of the big mods offer alternate versions that support it); so its not essential and in fact interferes with several mods if they’re not Forge compatible. Personally, I’d say don’t get it right now, its not needed. However, I’ve never been a fan of SDK’s since my days working with RPG Maker, since they tend to polarise the community, so I guess I am biased.

A note about having lots of Mods!
If you have alot, then I also recommend ID Resolver. It fixes issues with authors of mods using the same ID’s for their cool stuff (the most common cause of a crash from mod conflicts), and changes their associations automatically during every subsequent launch of minecraft. Obviously, Minecraft has a hard limit on the number of extra blocks and items that cannot be exceeded, and if two mods are trying to do the same thing, neither will work, usually. Keep that in mind.

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Cool Tweaks

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This bit shows improvements to features already in the game that I like.

ExtraBiomes
Increases the variety of your world generation by adding in new environments to the biome creation. All the ones that Notch missed; like jungles, rainforests, savanna, forest islands etc.

More World Types
Probably not compatible with the above, but is a nice alternative. Changes the types of worlds you can generate during a new world. Looks good, though I haven’t tried it.

Mo’ Creatures
Vastly increases the variety of natural (and unnatural) fauna. Some new hostiles, but again, you can tweak its settings to get your favourites. However, it requires a chunk of extra pre-requisites to work; be careful when installing it. (you’ll also need audiomod, GUIAPI and custom mobspawner)

Treecapitator
Another one by DaftPVF. Makes it so that when you hit the bottom trunk block on a tree with an Axe, it is insta-gibbed, dropping all of its wood instantly. Saves alot of time if you’re going with slash and burn land clearance on forests!

FiniteLiquids
Fixes Minecraft’s very quirky infinite water source blocks; and makes most water behave properly with real physics! No more slight waterfalls when your cave meets the ocean (just drown like you should)! No more crazy infinite water pools created with just two buckets. Only works on new worlds.

Enhanced View Distance
Only for those with better PC’s (and Optifine); this reduces the fog and increases draw distance.

Sensible Enchanting
Vastly improves the enchantment system; allowing you to use less ridiculous amounts of XP, cancel enchantments you don’t like, and repair magic items easily; among other things.

Muserae’s Collection
A whole massive selection of very minor tweaks, often annoyance related. Pick and choose what you need. I take Apples from Trees, and Creepers Don’t Damage Blocks.

Nostalgia Mods [NBX]
A bunch of tweaks that “unfix the fixes”, regressing new versions of minecraft to behaviours from older versions. If you want your favourite good bad bugs back, get your favourites here.

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Entirely New Stuff

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As I noted above, too much new stuff and you overload Minecraft. So just pick your favourites from these:

Better Than Wolves / Better Than BuildCraft
Despite the title, it has nothing to do with Wolves; instead it adds a massive amount of new content, mostly to do with simple mechanical power.
It’s a cool addition to the stuff you can build; allowing functioning waterwheels and windmills that go on to power pulley driven elevators, circular saws, kilns and turntables for making pottery, and eventually advanced blacksmithery using magical soulforged steel.
Adding Buildcraft in on top of Better than Wolves allows you to put together plumbing and steam engines as well.
By and the by, this link is the one most likely to be broken, Flowerchild loves to change his topic title for lulz.

WizardCraft
Hey, so we have magical enchanting, but no actual magery? What’s up with that, Mojang?
This fixes that issue by allowing you to craft magical staves that act as focuses for up to four levels of elemental spells. Some of these have truly hilarious effects; and some are rather broken, so this is very much a funny mod to unwind with.

Decoratives
Vastly increases the amount of bling you can add to your home. Stained glass, carpets, coloured woods, concrete and craftable double slabs are all included. Essential for any discerning interior decorator.

Fairy Minions
Want minions that aren’t dogs? Here’s a cool alternative. Very comprehensive in its features and includes alot of cool content.

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And thats about it, folks. Its not fully comprehensive at this stage; and there are several mods I have my eye on that have potential when they become a bit more polished (eg. Tale of Kingdoms, Swords+); and there are some that are impressive creations but that frankly I would never use the features of (eg. Equivalent Exchange, RedPower2). But for now, these are my picks.

More help for basically everything else is covered exceedingly well on the Minecraft Wiki, so go check that out.
Hope you enjoyed this big report, and happy minecrafting!
<sssssssssss> Oh s4*T, that things gonna blow!!

What I seek is THUNDER!

Thanks for that, Legend of Legendary Heroes, it’s now a constant staple whenever I think of lightning and thunder magical attacks. Positively shocking, eh? <shot>

Well, anyway, today we just have a short post for the sake of an art dump again, because I know you love them really.

And our subject is again, my fanboyish craze, the lovely Ilyana from Fire Emblem 9/10 (my customised version):
This is the first test of my new ultra-large sketchpad from xmas. Due to its size, the bottom part can’t fit on my scanner, so I had to do a double scan and stitch the two parts together. Since this isn’t exactly a great skill of mine, a skilled photoshopper could probably detect the seam; but oh well.

She is sporting a slightly revised version of the custom costume I made for her in this older sketch. Of course the main additions are in that the old version didn’t show past the top of her corset; so the remainder of that, with the skirt, spats, awesome stripey socks and boots were added. The sapphire on her cape looks much better in this version; an extra string was added to her v-neck, and the corset has become ribbed. Some minor colour changes too.

I think she ended up pretty sweet; especially in the fact that she is more actively using lightning than the old one. Oh, and of course, here’s a wallpaper version:
Includes me dicking around creating Lightning Bolts with photoshop; as you can see.

As always, click the images to see full sized.

My anime schedule hasn’t really changed from before. I have indeed proceeded to drop Brave 10 and Kill Me Baby!

Anyhow, thats all for today. Happy hunting, and cya soon.

Anime Season 2012 January First Impression

Well, I’m glad to say all of my ‘most likely to watch’ items are likely to stay that way.

Nisemonogatari: Shinbou’s up to his usual tricks; we got a head-tilt in there and a few blank frames. And an immensely hilarious pair of scenes from  Senjougahara at her height of evil (as always!), and Hachikuji being molested and surprisingly wise (as always!).

Inu X Boku: My golly gosh, this girl is aware that she’s a tsundere and calls it ‘her bad habit’. That never happens. And hey, a weepy Kitsune secret service agent is a great creation. Seemed fairly well done, I’m still quite enthusiastic for it.

Ano Natsu de Matteru: So this is what happens when Kashimashi Girl Meets Girl and Onegai Teacher are fused together. Everything here was mightily predictable, but it was very well executed; and these types of shows are rare these days, so its all still good.

These have gone up a rank to join the above:

Moretsu Uchuu Kaizoku: (aka. Bodacious Space Pirates). Well, despite its title, it looks to be a very promising sci-fi anime. They’re aware they have 26 eps and are taking it slow. Lots of nice touches, like zero-gravity. Its erring towards the Starship Operators side of realism; which is cool, there’s not been anything like that since then. No actual pirates, though. They’re legal, so you call those privateers, guys!

Amagami SS Plus: I guess I stand corrected. There is plenty you can add to the original Amagami scenarios. The Tsukasa arc (they’re going in reverse this time) was well executed and really quite sweet in increasing their relationship development. Next arc, all of the Rihoko shippers will be holding onto their last hope here. If she gets friendzoned again, I will have to laugh, though.

Still somewhat uncertain:

Another: Its good, but it really felt like it was trying too hard to build up suspense in the first episode. Using gloomy music in normal situations just kinda felt weird and off-kilter. Still, its promising.

Zero no Tsukaima F: Yes, it’s the same old, same old. Saito caught in love polygon, Saito gets blown up, ominous things threaten Tristain, Saito goes all Gandalfir on their ass, Louise goes dere, Louise goes Tsun, Saito blows up, repeat ad infinitum. Only loyalty to the memory of the awesome first season (and the chance to see it all end finally) will keep me here.

Probably dropping:

Kill me, Baby!: Eh… perhaps it was just me, but I just didn’t find the first episode funny in the slightest. If the second doesn’t set me giggling like mad, I’m just probably going to drop it.

Brave 10: It somehow took a really decent concept and made me feel utterly apathetic about it. The fights were short, and the Xanatos Gambits are flying thick and fast. It is very, very reminiscent of Ninja Scroll or Samurai 7. I’ll see if the second episode keeps me more interested.

Wad ya wanna watch? The Anime of Winter/Spring 2012

Okay folks, here it is, my new flash-preview format. Frankly, AniDB can always provide you with better info than I can, so I’m simply doing a cool little list, and if my quick description interests you, click on its title to be wisked away to that entry on the database.

I’m very likely to watch…

Nisemonogatari
Squee, more bakemono. I really rather liked the original series; and it marked the point where I (and many others) really started to pay attention to SHAFT and Shinbo. Its a riot and also manages to break away from alot of [bad] anime conventions. Araragi is a tremendously decent male lead and all of the girls are convincing and well characterised. This season is pushing the focus onto his ‘Fire Sisters’, as is the case in the later novels.
To add to that, the prequel movie, Kizumonogatari, is also due out this year. Its going to be a good time for youkai!

Inu x Boku SS
What do tsunderes, demons, and secret service agents have in common? This anime, obviously. Ririchiyo wants to live somewhere new and distance herself from her rich family, so moves into a special mansion, which is actually an asylum of sorts for half-demon people. She is joined by an insistant agent who thinks he was saved by her in the past (and is now indebted). Somehow, I get a good feeling from this as having a good amount of potential.

Ano Natsu de Matteru
Oh, this is interesting, the pair of guys whom were responsible for Onegai Teacher and Onegai Twins are joining up with the Anohana director. Those two were remarkably good romanticoms (though they’re pretty ancient these days!). Combine sleepy town and plot to make a movie as a means to make ones life interesting and you have youself a fairly promising premise. Anyway, if its good it’ll be my fix for romance this season which is nice.

I’m wary of, but positive about…

KILL ME, Baby!
Based on a paticularly strange sounding 4koma about an idiot airhead girl that tries to make friends with a twintailed assassin girl who is terrible at being undercover. Undoubtably, hijinks ensue. Includes a super-deformed art style for your amusement.

Moretsu Uchuu Kaizoku
Well, thats a strange idea for a space opera. Apparently, all space craft can only be passed on to relatives, so when Marika’s dad dies, she inherits a pirate vessel called the Bentenmaru and its eclectic crew. The way they’re going about this means it possibly has the potential to be a modern retelling of Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Fun, if so.

Brave 10
Some kind of new Sengoku Basara type meets Ninja Scroll type thing; with utterly stupid Samurai’s with ridiculous abilities getting into trouble left, right and centre. Oh, and Ieyasu Tokugawa is evil now, and after the power of a shrine maiden. Has some Samurai 7 vibes too, as Sanada Yukimura is attempting to create a team of 10 powerful dudes and change history.

Another
A horror involving a girl with an eyepatch and some girl who died years ago but for some reason everyone pretended she was still alive. Written by the same author as Shiki, so there’s some cross applicable horror experience there. Could be interesting, though these things usually aren’t my cup of tea.

Amagami SS Plus
I’m not entirely certain just how they ~can~ actually add anything to the original Amagami, which was an excellent romance (best one of late, in fact). Hence, I’m actually a little concerned at what this’ll do; especially since several of the original arcs had timeskips and clear cut conclusions. It’s the usual omnibus format, two episodes to each girl. I suppose they might address the castaway Rihoko shippers, who were so mercilessly sunk in the original when she was the only one to get friendzoned. I just found that funny, myself. Anyway, moar Haruka and Sae, you say? Well, I’m there.

Will probably be awful; but will watch anyway…

Zero no Tsukaima F
Last season was pretty damn terrible; and upon reading the novels, I was surprised to find that, actually, it was fairly accurate to the source material (I got bored with reading them also). Which is funny, since the second season deviated from the material but ended up reasonable (if nothing on the first season, which is also great in the novels). Anyway, this should wrap things up. They better stay the hell away from the relationship reset button this time; its really getting infuriating to watch Saito and Louise achieve nothing since season two. Hopefully I’ll be pleasently surprised, but I’m not expecting anything.

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Well, that’s about it… If its not mentioned, I’ve immediately dismissed it!

I have to say, a short preview with just some notes is alot less painful to write. All the uploads and formatting and walls of text used to give me nightmares before, to the point where I just didn’t have the patience anymore. I apologise if you used to like my previews in their old format, but, at least for now, its a neccessary sacrifice. If you want a truly comprehensive preview, check in with Divine at Random Curiosity; the amount of work he puts in is truly staggering!!

Detarame Sketches 2012 Calendar

Well, here’s a funny idea! A Calendar for 2012 including all of the cool colour sketches I made over the course of 2011.

It also includes 3 sketches that I have never uploaded here (exclusive content!) and of course, they’re all at their full original size in glossy colour, rather than resized or shopped for wallpaper usage. Of course, this entire little thing is for my own usage, but if, for whatever reason, you’re still strapped for a 2012 calendar and would like my artwork adorning your wall, then this thing is available for public purchase below.

It is almost entirely populated by Anime and Game females. Check out the ‘Artworks’ category or ‘Sketches’ Tag to your right for some idea as to what this entails. There’s some fanservice, as always, so the calendar would probably be rated PG-13 for minor nudity. Or something. You have been warned.

By and the by, I make a “vast” £1 from each one, so much like Aniventure I’m not exactly making a song or trying to fleece you. Of course, I realise that at this time of year, calendars start to become cheaper for stock clearance in any case, but oh well, sadly there’s not alot I can do about that. For a 25% Discount until the 31st of January; please use this code: LULUBOOKUK305
This applies not only to my calendars, but also Aniventure, and indeed anything up to the value of £200 from Lulu.

To visit the purchase page, CLICK HERE.

To view a preview version (all 12 months); click the small “Preview” link available in the above purchase page on Lulu’s website, or alternatively you can click here to view a local pdf copy. The local version is BIG (17mb) so prepare for your net browser to be raped.

This above preview PDF is actually the final version; so theoretically, if you have access to an A3 colour laser printer, 140 GSM gloss paper, and ringbinding ability, you could make your own version. I’m not going to stop you; heck, if you have that kind of hardware, all the power to ya! But if you do and you like it, please leave a comment or something so I know its worth doing this type of thing in the future.

Anyway, I last made myself a calendar for 2008. It was a cool little thing I made in Photoshop and MS Publisher with some of my favourite images from moe.imouto (now oreno.imouto.org). Of course, it made my poor old inkjet die on me. Good times. Naturally, since then I’ve never bothered due to resources, and this is still the case; I’m reluctant to abuse my laser’s toners due their obscene replacement costs; so I suddenly thought, ‘hey, I already have a relationship with Lulu, so why not get them to print me something instead!?’. Its the ‘well duh…’ moment of the year, since they’ve always offered calendar services. Sometimes I can be a bit dense, lol.

Anyhow, cya in the new year. I might <SHOCKHORROR!> actually put up a preview this season; but given the work one of those takes, it might be reduced in size or something. No promises, of course.

Merry Xmas from Illiya

Me-ru-re Ku-Ri-Su-Ma-Su Minna-san!

Well, I managed this last year, so why not again this year?
Have a gift from my resident Winter Goddess, Illiya:

As always, click on her to view her full-size. However, she is probably not very work-safe. Being a goddess, she doesn’t understand strange human concepts like modesty…

Though I had limited resources to work with here, I thought this turned out pretty well. I went for the ‘whoops… I flash-froze the candy cane again’ look; and the cheeky/bashful expression is always one she handles well.

If you’re not aware, Illiya is from my D&D setting, Retoria; she’s technically a demigoddess, and is very childlike; typically spending her time surfing glaciers, dancing around in blizzards; and kidnapping young boys to take to her macabre frozen collection in the Tryst. Her utter disregard for clothing is primarily to show off the fact she has obscene cold resistance, I suppose. She recently helped the party in the finale of the second campaign, preventing the God of Terror, Jeff, from slaying the source of all life in the world.

Here’s a bit of hash wallpaper job, as well:

I may replace it later on if I make a better wall-version, but this will suffice for now for an xmas backdrop.

Anyway, have a nice day people. Hope you got everything you wanted. See you in 2012.