madflavius

Summary In brief, I believe there should be a significant new addition to agriculture: the fermentation and distillation of a variety of alcohols that add additional positive and negative effects in a manner similar to the "potion effects" of meals. Effectively, alcohols would replace potions with a subdued mechanic that lacks the game-breaking overpowered nature of vanilla potions by tempering each mixture with potent negative, as well as positive, effects. As you will soon discover, the rest of this post is anything but brief. Disclaimer I recognize that alcohol has been discussed briefly in several other topics, but as there has yet to be a full and independent development of its value and its potential recipes and crafting methods, I decided to fill this niche. Color Identification System I will attempt to clearly mark any new mechanics, blocks, or items as such. Much of the benefit of adding alcohol in the way I propose is how it maintains a large portion of the existing framework of both vanilla and TFC. To demonstrate this, all currently-existing mechanics from TFC will be in green font color and all vanilla mechanics in blue. These should require very little additional coding to work properly. Those in goldenrod are ones I believe ought to be added, for reasons that will be clarified at length below, but I recognize that these would require sometimes-significant amounts of new code. Red text is reserved for those mechanics which I consider more dreams than feasible reality: from my limited knowledge of Java, mod authorship, or Minecraft's engine those which would take a significant amount of resources or may be entirely unfeasible. Off we go! Each section is spoiler tagged for your scrolling convenience in the tradition of the great Jed (may he live forever). Further, responses and ideas which I feel fit the suggestion will be added to this post at my discretion. Why Add Alcohol? From a gameplay perspective, the inclusion of alcohol adds another layer of metaskill-based complexity to agriculture. By giving additional uses to both cereal crops and the products of fruit trees, as well as unique other crops like potatoes or honey, alcohol not only forces the player to chose between uses--introducing the element of prioritization to resource use, like with those first few ingots you scavenge from the ground--but also gives good reason for broader planting of different crops. Meals add much needed complexity, and do so in a wonderful way (as I've written in other threads), and alcohol would not only inspire those in SSP to travel, but would prompt trade and specialization in an SMP setting as well. From a believability perspective, alcohol is one of the oldest beverages in the history of mankind, and arguably its single most important one as well. Mead-making probably predated agriculture itself, and the origins of beer date almost into prehistory, and for good reason: during the TFC era, the fermentation of cereals and fruits into alcohol was vital for food preservation, storage, and the health of large populations. Romans lived almost entirely on wine, watered down for the plebians, and garum--fermented fish sauce--covered the odors of spoiled meat and probably functioned almost as an antiseptic, giving a high standard of health unmatched again until the late Medieval period. Records show that the serfs of medieval England survived on little more than rye bread and ale, the latter of which saw the first usage of hops as an antibacterial preservative of sorts (partially by design, partially by accident). In other words, the inclusion of alcoholic beverages meshes perfectly with the existing world of TFC. From an enjoyment perspective, I cannot speak to the enjoyment of others, but I would find this to be an absolutely fantastic addition. Having begun my own process of making mead IRL (I think I killed my yeast in the first batch though, heh...), there is something intensely satisfying in brewing or distilling that in game I believe would match the excitement of forging a new blade for the blacksmith. It also adds a huge level of character to towns or settlements--the local tavern, custom brews famous to one brewery, wars fought over a vintage of fine wine. The possibilities for player interaction, metaskill development, and overall enjoyment of the mod will increase dramatically. General Crafting Processes The RL Basics At its most fundamental level, the process of creating alcohol involves a base, called mash in beers or spirits--made of cereal, fruit, or some starches--water, and yeast, combined together in an airtight container at a carefully maintained temperature for a specific period of time. The time--which may be weeks or months--allows the yeast to eat the base material, converting it into ethanol, and when enough ethanol has been created, the fermentation is stopped and the beverage is bottled. Beverages like beer and wine are made in this way, and they cannot exceed 20-25% ABV because too much ethanol will kill the yeast. In the modern day, some yeasts have been engineered to survive high ethanol levels, but these were not at all available in the TFC timeframe. These non-distilled beverages I will call beers and wines. For distilled beverages (commonly called, and hereafter referred to as spirits), that initial beverage is taken and distilled by heating and condensation, thus removing water from the beverage and concentrating it. This is where the much higher alcohol content in distilled beverages enters the picture. Often, distilled beverages are sealed in wooden or metal casks to age and deepen their various flavors. Making Beer The initial process of making a beer or wine would begin with ordinary agriculture. Beers and wines can be made out of pretty much any fruit or cereal, including wheat, oats, barley, rye, rice, potatoes, pears, cherries, grapes, green apples, and red apples. Once harvested, these crops move in two separate tracks: fruits become wines and ciders, cereal crops become beers and ales. Some cereals (and potatoes) can also go directly to spirits; some spirits must be first be fermented like wines and then distilled. This is clarified under each Type of Alcohol, along with the specific recipe, below. Cereal crops are crafted with the knife to provide the grains themselves, as usual, but after this step is where the process changes from bread-making. Historically, to create the malt that is used for beermaking, the manufacturer would lay the grains out on the floor to dry out to a low moisture content, then allow the grains to sprout. Once they sprouted, the grains would be gathered and then kiln-fired as the final preparation. At this point, the grain is ready for beer. I think this could be mirrored rather closely in TFC. Much like charcoal can be set out as 1/10 blocks, the grains would be spread out on the ground (green for the already programmed charcoal code that may be able to be re-purposed, yellow for applying it to the various grains). I would argue that the ground would have to be smoothed stone, or raw stone (for a slight time increase, but good for early Stone Age brewers), but I can concede this point. The drying room would have to be covered from the sky or the brewer would suffer a large time increase in drying. Furthermore, the brewer could stack the grains higher, but the more spread out they are, the faster they dry. The charcoal illustrates the drying cereals on the smoothed stone floor. When the grain turns slightly green (just two stages of "growth" if you will), the grain is ready and now referred to as "green malt." The green malt would be gathered by hand or shovel and deposited in a Kiln, the first built structure of this suggestion. Kilns (which will hopefully exist for firing clay as well!) must be filled with charcoal like a bloomery, and once fired, the "green malt" is now plain old "malt." They will be roughly the size of bloomeries, with the same ability to increase their physical size to increase the load that can be fired at once. Here is a potential model for the kiln. The watermelon block represents the bloomery-like block that detects the shape and handles output. The charcoal or wood (it would take logs too) and the unfired pottery/grain would be thrown in the hole in front and below the melon. Next, the malt is loaded into the major new built structure of brewing, the Brewing Vat. The brewing vat is a built structure, like a bloomery, forge, or kiln, which requires a Spigot block (like the bloomery requires the bloomery block) in a similar position to the bloomery. Again, it's all designed to make it easier to both implement and to remember! The brewing vat is made of wood, a trapdoor on top , and the spigot block down below. It can be made in any configuration with the vertical passage in the middle. Here are two potential Brewing Vats. The GUI would be functionally identical to the bloomery GUI, except that rather than temperature it would tick up with duration of ferment. The pine block (lighter color) represents the position of the spigot. To start fermentation, the brewer would dump buckets of water in the top and throw in the malt, similar to the bloomery method of loading. Amounts will be critical (see Metagame Skill and Randomization for more details). The fermentation trigger is when the door is sealed shut--in other words, when the trapdoor is closed. The brewer can monitor the fermentation process via the spigot block. Much like the molten charcoal look when the bloomery is active, the texture could be a pale golden liquid texture. Potential Spigot Block Recipe Once the brewer was satisfied with the duration of the ferment, he or she opens the trapdoor, which ends the fermentation. The finished beer can then be extracted to barrels, mugs, goblets, or whatever else awesome drinking vessels strike your fancy. Making Wine Making wine would bear much similarity to beer-making. I toyed with the idea of making an additional built object for treading out the grapes, but I'm really trying hard not to overdo it (you wouldn't tell looking at the several thousand words I've written already...). So my idea for wine is to use the brewing vat as the treading vat as well as the fermentation chamber--a bit ahistorical, but it'd be fun. I don't know if this is feasible, but the player could actually have to throw the fruit into the vat, jump in on top of the pile (it would form like charcoal), and tread the grapes, jumping up and down for a bit until the texture changed to a consistent color. Then the remainder of the steps would continue like beer: closing the trapdoor, monitoring the fermentation via the spigot, and removing the end product in various storage containers. For both beer and wine, one could use the spigot to test the product at various stages. By right clicking the spigot with a bowl, the brewer/viticulturist could take a small sample of the product to "taste-test", which would basically say what benefits the product would give were it to be bottled at that time, displaying a tooltip like the meals showing thirst, energy, and any potion effects it would impart. It would be so wonderful to name each bottle, say "Chateau l'Flavius '09," but I know that's superfluous, unnecessary, and probably ridiculous to code given the limitations. Although I guess since enchanted items could be specially named with vanilla anvils, you could steal that functionality and treat finished bottles of beer, wine, or spirits as an enchanted bottle....but I digress. Making Mead No need for treading or malting here! Just a brewing vat, buckets of water, and some delicious honey, with the same fermentation process as beer. This of course presupposes the existence of honeybees though... Making Spirits There are two kinds of spirits: those made from lower tier beverages, and those specially distilled. I clarify what each is in the Types of Beverages list below. For the former, you take the lower tier beverage, for instance, a wine, and then deposit it in the Distiller. The Distiller is a somewhat complicated model (though I suppose it doesn't have to be!), and is crafted using numerous copper sheets (hooray, uses for copper once entering the Iron Age!). The distiller would bear more similarity to the Forge GUI, with a temperature gauge, and several different slots for charcoal/logs and the bottles of beverage. After placing the beverage in the distiller and heating it just right, the finished product comes out in the output.Potential Distiller Model Certain beverages, like vodka, are made purely from the mash to begin with, rather than from a finished drink. To distill this, the ingredient must be placed in the GUI with the appropriate amount of fuel, with a bottle in the output. Again, timing is critical, even more so with distilled beverages. Effects Overall, the effects of alcohol would bear resemblance to those available through meals, but with two key differences: Stronger effects overall. If a meal can at best provide Jump Boost I, a beverage could provide Jump Boost II.However, their disadvantage is that alcohols also can have negative effects, and the best positive effects can be paired with some nasty ones.As a general rule, non-distilled alcohols decrease player thirst, which is one very important use for them. Distilled alcohols, on the other hand, actually increase thirst, so they are usually used for their effects rather than as a general beverage of choice. This is due (IRL as well) to the higher amount of ethanol by volume.Distilled beverages also have the extremely negative chances for two potion effects, Nausea and Blindness due to their high concentration of alcohol. This could best be handled by the quality of the finished product; if not, it could most easily be handled as a random chance (1% chance of 1 min Blindness on consumption). If there could be increasing deleterious effects from over-consumption of alcohol (reaching saturation), I would be tickled pink, but I know that would be obnoxious to code and I'll just back away from that one slowly. Types of Beverage Each listed beverage has a spoiler tag that argues both for its TFC era-appropriate origin and name. The beverage name itself is linked to the Wikipedia article on the history of the beverage for the curious. Each beverage also has a rough outline of the specific ingredients or process to make it, eschewing amounts (how many grain per malt, how much malt to how much final product, etc)--that would be a great topic for discussion! Ale This is the big one, the savior of Europe during the Medieval period. Made with barley, following the standard beer fermentation cycle. Etymology: From Old English "alu or aelu." Origins: Ale, along with bread, was an important source of nutrition in the medieval world, particularly small beer, also known as table beer or mild beer, which was highly nutritious, contained just enough alcohol to act as a preservative, and provided hydration without intoxicating effects. Beer Made from Wheat, Rye, Oat, or Rice, made into malt and fermented in the Brewing Vat. Etymology: Beer is an English original (well, Anglo-Saxon)! Origins: In contention with mead for the title of the world's oldest beverage, at least back to 9500 BC; found in the Code of Hammurabi and other Mesopotamian literary sources. Brandy Brandy is made from any wine distilled in the Distiller. Etymology: Shortened version of the term "brandywine"; derived from Dutch brandewijn, "burned wine." Origins: The first distillation of alcohol for consumption purposes (other than medicinal or alchemical) was a brandy (distilled wine), although distillation of non-beverages began in the 3rd century BC at the latest. Brandy appeared in the 12th century AD in Europe and became widely popular by the 14th century AD. Cider (Apple Wine) Follows the wine process exactly. Technically apples are mashed using an apple press, but the vat method is sufficient for TFC, I believe. Etymology: Cognates in Romance languages; "chistr" in Brittany; "cidre" in Normandy; "sagardo" in Basque. Origins: Traditional beverage across Europe; origins uncertain but at very least early medieval. Widespread enjoyment of a fine beverage. Mead Mead is simply honey wine, and is heavily dependent on the inclusion of honeybees and apiaries into TFC. I would be so very happy if it were included. It follows the standard wine-making path outlined above, but without the treading step. Etymology: From Old English "meodu". Origins: The origins of mead are "lost to prehistory" and it is "regarded as the ancestor of all fermented drinks". Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat has observed that the first brewing of mead probably "antedat[ed] the cultivation of the soil." Perry (Pear Cider) Same as cider. Etymology: The name comes from "pear," what more do you want? Origins: First mentioned in Pliny; enjoyed for centuries across Europe. Rum (As suggested by achartran) This one is a wee bit outside of the time frame, but if we have sugar wine, it could conceivably be a straightforward progression to using the distillery. I submit that to get sugar in-game, rather than simply crafting the sugarcane, the cane must be heated. This produces both sugar and molasses (as a by-product). This molasses is then what is distilled and becomes rum. Etymology: No one knows. Seriously, Wikipedia is full of theories. My favorite is that it comes from saccharum, the Latin word for "sugar." Origins: Rum didn't fully come to be until the mid-1500s, when plantation slaves began to discover the tasty benefits of fermenting the by-product (molasses) of sugar refining. It became the staple drink of the colonies shortly thereafter. Sake Sake is rice wine, and it's a tough one. I really want to include it because I feel very Eurocentric at times, but the main ingredient that separates sake from Japanese rice beers is a mold called koji, which is sprinkled over the rice during the fermentation process. I would love any ideas for including sake without creating an entirely new item like "mold." Perhaps mushrooms...? Etymology: In Japan, "sake" merely means "alcoholic beverage," while the beverage others call "sake" is in fact "nihonshu," or "Japanese liquor." Origins: Sake appeared sometime before the 8th century AD, but unfortunately records are sketchy and historians have been unable to pin down a more exact time frame. Sugar Wine (As suggested by achartran) Following the standard wine track, this would use sugarcane and require the treading. Etymology: Sugar wine was known by a number of different names throughout history; this is the simplest way to name it. Origins: Marco Polo tried some near present-day Iran; Spanish and Portuguese explorers in the new world were offered it by the native peoples; the Malay people make a variant of it as well. Vodka Made purely in the distillery from potatoes or grains. Etymology: From the diminutive form of the Slavic "voda" (water), thus "little water" Origins: According to some sources, first production of vodka took place in the area of today's Russia in the late 9th century AD. Whiskey I have simplified whiskey somewhat for gameplay purposes. It can be made from any cereal-based beverage distilled in the Distiller. Etymology: The word "whiskey" is an Anglicisation of "uisce beatha/uisge beatha" a phrase from the Goidelic branch of languages (Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Manx) meaning "water of life". Origins: While whiskey was first consumed around the time of brandy's introduction, beginning when the Irish first learned of the Italian experiments with distilling to make "burned wine," the first written record of using the term "whiskey" is from the Irish Annals of Clonmacnoise in 1405. Bourbon (corn whiskey), functionally invented and named in America, will not be differentiated by that name in this suggestion, as the name only saw its origin in the 18th or 19th century AD. Wine Wine would require a new crop, grapes, which would be heavily dependent on the soil type, temperature, and rainfall. It follows, logically, the standard wine-making process. Etymology: As Wikipedia puts it, "The English word "wine" comes from the Proto-Germanic *winam, an early borrowing from the Latin vinum, "wine" or "(grape) vine", itself derived from the Proto-Indo-European stem*win-o- (cf. Hittite: wiyana; Lycian: oino; Ancient Greek: οἶνος oinos; Aeolic Greek: ϝοῖνος woinos)." In other words, it's dang old. Origins: Archaeologists are leaning towards the Late Neolithic era for the first cultivation and fermentation of wine grapes for wine. In other words, it's up there with beer and mead. Metagame Skill and Randomization Perhaps the most important aspect of this suggestion is to make it 1) enjoyable, 2) rewarding, and 3) complex, thus requiring skill from the player, both in siting their brewery/vineyard and in making the beverages. Randomization First, the question of randomization. I believe that the effects of the various alcohols should allow for a pseudo-random range of effects, like meals, but with a series of guidelines: thirst values would be unchanged and standardized--distilled beverages always cost at least a certain amount of thirst, non-distilled will always allow you to regain at least some thirst.Distilled beverages will always have more potent effects than non-distilled beverages, both positive and negative.The effects cannot cancel each other out (aka, not running speed and slowness in the same drink). There would have to be a logic table, essentially, to prohibit bad combinations.Distilled beverages must always have at least one negative and one positive effect; a particular non-distilled beverage might have effects beyond the thirst reduction and energy gain, but might also have positive effects (like meals). Metagame Skill Second, the question of metagame skill. Much like blacksmithing and the hammering of tools or weapons on the anvil requires a skilled command of your forge temperature, metal heat, the anvil itself, and a knowledge of your workshop setup to provide the best tools, brewing and viticulture will require significant skill. What I consider the best option from a gameplay perspective, but that which I know is incredibly complex given the way Minecraft stores item data, would be that there would be vast variety in the quality of ingredients due to geographic area, rainfall, temperature, and other factors. As I said, this would require tons of information to be stored in each item, but far more problematic than the amount of information is the question of stacking, always a perennial problem. Therefore, I leave this question open for further discussion, but I do have an idea to offer of my own that does at least give a sense of the importance of location, even though not perfectly: vast variety in the final product brewed based on the location of the distillery by rainfall, temperature, and altitude. Hypothetically, I suppose, someone could bring inferior crops to a well-located brewery to actually brew or distill them, but this still maintains several advantages: 1) it is far, far easier to code than the other option, and 2) it still requires travel to find a good location, and strongly encourages players to build their vineyards themselves at the best location, rather than transporting in the vines or cereals. The final major area of metagame skill comes in the actual fermentation itself. Since there is nearly infinite variety in the modern practice of brewing and viticulture, it is a perfect opportunity for TFC to randomize the fermentation values entirely. The final product will be heavily reliant upon the ambient temperature and the duration of fermentation. A good brewer would hover over his or her brew constantly, testing now and then with the spigot to find the perfect beverage for the needs of the community, whether it be a good effect or a thirst reduction or energy increase. The difference between a good and bad beverage can be fudged a bit with beers or wines, but the lines between where something is too distilled or not distilled enough can be catastrophic, and would have major negative effects. I would love further discussion of how to implement this precisely! Well, there you have it, nearly four thousand words about why alcohol is awesome--I mean, would be a useful addition to TFC. I hope you enjoyed reading my ideas, and as always, I'd love discussion, further ideas, and questions about them. Cheers!

Well, good news all. damnedsky agreed to help out with the conversion, and we got a lot of work done on it today, probably closer to 40% done. I am really trying as hard as I can to get this pushed out!

Welcome to the Official Thread of madflavius's and yubyub96's JohnSmith for TFC texture pack! ----Acknowledgments---- This texture pack was originally created by the great JohnSmith over on the Minecraft Forums. He is a texture genius, and all credit for the design style and vanilla blocks goes to him. Additionally, some of the TFC menu GUIs were created by BluPixal here on the TFC forums. The Endermen skin comes from the Conquest texture pack, which is itself based on JohnSmith to some degree. ----Why another JohnSmith Pack?---- But madflav, someone else is doing a JohnSmith TFC pack! Yes, please do check out BluPixal's fantastic port of JohnSmith on this very forum! The reason I'm doing my own variant of the same pack is simple: JohnSmith, from the beginning, has allowed its users to heavily customize the particular "flavor" of their own pack. The JohnSmith Customizer allows a wide variety of choices, from the use of different textures of stone to doors and torches. I simply want to offer another variant on the gorgeous original pack. What differentiates your pack from BluPixal's, then? A number of things! First, I have a slightly different style to the GUIs, all of which are done but for the metallurgy screen (however, I am always eager to hear comments about the work, and I can certainly be persuaded to modify "finished" parts!). Secondly, I use a few non-John Smith elements in the pack, which I have been making for my sadly-still-Vanilla 1.3.2 server, Eleutheria. First, the skeletons are now "bandits" and use various human skins--yes, their legs and arms are gangly, but it fits better in the ancient/medieval aesthetic than do skeletons! But here is what really separates these two packs: unique tools, ores, rocks, and trees. Rather than using a palette-swapped version of each tool, I am drawing each metal's tool uniquely to give each level a different feel. Each tool is further based (as far as is possible with 32x32 pixels!) off an actual historical find. For instance, the bronze axehead is based off a Minoan find; the copper ax is based off the historical copper ax found on the body of the Iceman (no, not Val Kilmer) mummy found in the Austrian Alps. This will take me a bit longer to finish, but I think it's worth it. The rocks, too, will have a custom geology in line with their actual appearance. ----Screenshots---- Here are some screenshots and comparisons for your viewing pleasure. NEW 2/14/13! Marble brick, smooth marble, and dacite brick: a match made on Mt. Olympus! NEW 2/14/13 Logpile, bellows, charcoal pile, and some brick textures! Older Images Be vewy quiet...I'm huntin' cows--with javelins! Completed anvil texture. A few of the new shovels. L to R, top row: Copper, bismuth, rose gold, black steel. L to R, bottom row: black bronze, bismuth bronze, steel, wrought iron. Download Link Please be aware that this is a WIP pack. I would appreciate any feedback so that I can make it the best JohnSmith conversion possible. Download v0.1.7 (for Minecraft 1.4.6, TFC Build 75) (dropbox link) Also, if you have any ideas about historical examples of the various metals for the tools or weapons, please let me know. I'd love to implement your suggestions! Changelog 3/13/13 - v0.1.7 available for download! Changes: Added all metal axes and toolheadsAdded native gold oreAdded gold ingotAdded limestone: raw, cobble, brick, smoothed, iconAdded granite: raw, cobble, brick, smoothed, iconAdded rock salt iconAdded zinc, iron chiselAdded red, yellow, green bell peppers (first draft, will be fixed)2/14/13 - v0.1.6 available for download! Tons of changes and updates, mostly tools, which include:Fixed off-center tools, toolheads (blue, red, black steel pickaxes; bismuth bronze pickaxe toolhead and pickaxe)Added tin axe (and toolhead)Added toolheads for stone axe, shovel, and hoeAdded all metal shovel toolheadsAdded toolhead for iron axeAdded toolhead for copper axeAdded bismuth axe toolheadAdded new hickory doorAdded new kapok doorChanged birch doorAdded new (super sexy!) marble: raw, cobble, brick, smoothed, and iconAdded new dacite: raw, cobble, brick, smoothed, and iconAdded new chalk: raw, cobble, brick, smoothed, and iconAdded new siltstone: raw, cobble, brick, smoothed, and iconAnd yubyub96's updates:Added copper hoe (and toolhead)Added stone knife, hammer (and toolheads)Added tin axe, pickaxe (and toolheads)Added bismuth axe (and toolhead)Added zinc hoe (and toolhead)Changed bronze hoe (and toolhead)Added several new crops and fruit tree textures2/10/13 - v0.1.5 available for download. Not as many changes as previous updates, still getting back into the swing of things:added all pickaxesadded all pickaxe headsOlder Changes 12/6/12 - v0.1.4 available for download! Lots of changes and updates this time: added default door textures (missing before)added default quern handstone (missing before, thanks bubba_h0tep!)added default squash, green bean, soybean seeds (missing before, thanks bubba_h0tep!)added missing growth stages of the various plants (missing before, thanks bubba_h0tep!)added rock salt textureadded molten metal bloomery blockimproved igneous stones textures to match RL stonesimproved Douglas fir textures and some minor changes to othersmade different textures for each dirt type, with new clay texturesnew ores: malachite, nickel, cassiterite, native copper, hematitemade new saplings for chestnut, hickory, and sequoiamade metallurgy tablemade logpiles look less redimproved several wood texturesadded cooked egg, corn12/5/12 - v0.1.3 available for download. Changes:Food update! Orange, banana, red apple, green apple, potato, carrot, cherry, plum, peach, olive, all breads, onion all added.11/29/12 - v0.1.2 available for download. Main change (besides updating to Build 69) is:health, hunger, and thirst icons JohnSmithified!11/19/12 - v0.1.1 available for download. Updates include:logpilescribing tabledirts, clay, sand, and dry grassbarley, rice, wheat, rye, carrots, and onionsmetallurgy, calendar GUIsquernimproved wood planksbellowscharcoal blockmany new rock textureschanged unfired, fired ceramic moldsall unshaped ingots11/16/12 - v0.1.0 made available for download! Updates to v0.1.0 include:All shovels for all tool metals completed.Tool heads updated for finished tools (except for the shovels).Firestarter finished.Bloomery block updated.(yubyub96) All logs, plank blocks, and wooden doors completed.Fired and unfired ingot molds updated; I might end up changing this design, however.Fixed the orientation of all tools and sprites--they were a few pixels off-center.(yubyub96) Several of the rock blocks updated!11/6/12 - v0.1.0 underway. Newly finished pieces include:All bronze tools and weapons completed!Copper Tools: Pick, Shovel, AxeRed/Blue Steel buckets (may change depending on how I interpret red/blue steel in the tools themselves)Gold pans (empty, sand-filled, gravel-filled) done11/5/12 - Thread started! Since there isn't a release yet, I'll keep track of my updates and changes from here.

Alright, here's the no BS status update. I'm about 10-15% of the way done with the conversion. As you said, it is tricky, particularly because the ordering of the new individual files (sorted alphabetically, by time of creation, etc) is different than the order of files in the tilesets. More difficult than the actual conversion, however, is my time. I am studying for a professional exam in late July, which should be a full-time job in itself, but I'm also simultaneously working almost full-time with a 1.5 hr commute one-way. I'm having a hard time finding even a few minutes of peace to sit down and work on the textures, and so I've had very little opportunity to work on it. Worst case scenario, I won't be able to get it done until the beginning of August, when I'm done with the exam. Slightly better case, I can find an hour here or there to try to get more done on it. I'm very sorry for the delay, folks, and I wish I could say I had the time to just sit down and finish it, but as those who have looked into the conversion process are no doubt aware, it's not something you can half-ass and expect to work. :/

I just returned after being away from my computer for two weeks. Starting on the update as we speak!

*SIGH* Alright. I've put off updating largely because the changes that came with vanilla 1.5 ticked me off (notably, the separate-pngs-for-textures, just a silly idea), and further I was busy with all sorts of non-tfc things. I'll try to get it done soon, but it will take a while. I'm away from my computer for the next week, but I'll try to get it working shortly thereafter. Sorry for the delay folks.

Granite bricks are definitely high on the list of blocks to be changed, you can count on it. That was a preliminary update from 16x, with just the simplest John-Smithy textures available. Rest assured granite will look appropriately epic when it's done.

Brewing, Distilling, and Viticulture: Alcohol! My topic started November 29th of last year with the same suggestion. Search engines are OP, nerf plz! No, but seriously, there are some good ideas on this thread. I just thought I'd leave our previous discussion here to make a more complete suggestion.

I apologize, I assume it was obvious that you and I are partnering on this from your name right on the splash image at the top of the page. Folks reading it should assume (rightly) that you are providing as much input as I am, since you are credited as a co-author. I will adjust the changelog accordingly, however.

Yes, this is a double post, because it's my thread. Muahaha. New texture pack is out, v0.1.6! Lots of changes this time (read the changelog for details, as always), focusing on the tools as stated before, while added four new rock textures as suggested by AlmightySquid. My game plan for the next update are cleaning up any offset textures or mistakes (as always), then focusing on tools/toolheads, rocks, and some of the food sprites. As always, please let me know about any problems, questions, comments, concerns, etc. Also, a question: do you all prefer faster releases with less content, or slightly staggered releases so I have more to put out with each version? I know it can be a bother switching texture packs, and I just want to make sure to both get stuff done and get it to you in the most convenient fashion. Lemme know in this thread.

PM sent!

I am getting a world ID mismatch when I try to log in. It says that ID 26457 (the punt) is missing. I have the punt.jar in my mods folder, and the .cfg in my configs folder. I tried to change the ID of the punt from 5003 to 26457 in the .cfg, but to no avail. Anyone have any help so I can log back in again? EDIT: I actually, you know, used the search function, and yubyub said that the proper ID is 26201 for the punt. Putting this in the post here so people who are looking for it too may find their answer.

Howdy folks! Just uploaded v0.1.5! Sorry this isn't a big update; as I said in the changelog, I'm still getting back into the swing of things. Since I was gone for a while, I don't have the right version of Minecraft, so I was unable to test these updates before going live. Please let me know if there are any problems! I anticipate that there will be some tool spacing problems (you'll notice things off-center in the inventory, if so), but without an updated version I'm still working blind. Thank you so much for your patience, and I hope to get back in gear shortly!

So I have a question for all y'all: after I finish the tools (which are my priority now, since you see them all the time), what are your priorities for textures? The only ones I'm not going to do now are the armors; I want to do those last, to make sure they look best of all and that they'll match the general aesthetic. But other than that, what do you guys want?

+1 to this. I've been gone for a while, very curious about this statement.

Howdy, folks. Sorry I've been gone for a long time, I got kind of burned out for a while and I've been working on some other projects. However, in good news, I've been inspired by the fact that people seem to really like the pack, so I'll be getting back to work on it! Sorry for the long (before New Year's) delay, but hopefully I'll be rolling out some new textures soon. I don't mind at all! All I ask is a link and a nod if you don't mind.

Bob, sorry to bother you, but I think my bloomery crashed the server. >.< I'll PM the coords (not broadcasting them in the clear).

So far as I know, you can't use 32x skins yet. The default character skin can be defined by the texture pack (and is in JohnSmith), but the skin repository on minecraft.net does not accept 32x skins yet. There has been talk of adding that in a subsequent vanilla update, but who knows? For now we're stuck with 16x skins (again, so far as I know).

Oh! I see, sorry, I misunderstood what you said about "fireplace." The firepit does not have a custom animation (yet), I haven't played with custom animations in JohnSmith yet. I hope to at some point, if they still work, and will hopefully add them for things like the firepit, bloomery, etc. Are you talking about the firepit?

I'm glad you like it so far, Gargantuan! Have you installed OptiFine yet? If not, Minecraft won't display the custom animations (fire, water) properly, nor the custom colors or fonts. If you install OptiFine (or alternatively, MCPatcher, but I'm not sure if MCPatcher works with TFC...), it should work fine! Let me know, though. Update to the Pack: Will be back to work on it Wednesday, got some more stuff to take care of in the next two days. Look forward to finished food textures and a lot more tools in the next update, as well as general fixes and tweaks.

Weighing in just to say: in my mind, the only thing more destructive to the idea of TFC than NPCs is the inclusion of fixed prices for goods. Honestly, this is one of the things that is killing vanilla, the fact that you can trade emeralds for goods with villagers. The reason comes from two simple and elementary principles of economics: prices are market signals, and the value of goods is subjective. An example: Joe Stonecutter is selling smoothstone; Sandy Lumberjack is selling spruce logs. Joe exchanges one smoothstone for five spruce logs from Sandy. This means that Joe values those five spruce logs more than he values his one smoothstone. Sandy Lumberjack values the one smoothstone more than her five logs. Any outsider may look on the transaction and say, "That exchange is patently unfair! I would never take one smoothstone for five logs!" But therein the rub: the value of those goods are not set. Sandy may need smoothstone for a sculpture, while Joe wants five logs to finish off a charcoal pit he's ready to fire. The glorious part of trade is that both parties benefit. This is epitomized in my favorite saying: trade creates value. If a nationstate/kingdom/city/trading republic/grand sheikdom wants to simplify trade within its boundaries, a standardized currency does wonders, as has been spoken of before and demonstrated throughout history. Rather than carrying logs or stones, individuals can carry coins. The moment you set prices and values for goods serverwide, however, is the moment trade dies. If smoothstone is always worth 5 doubloons each and logs are always worth 3 doubloons each, Joe loses out on the deal above. Period, end of story. I think a simple trading GUI a la Runescape is a good idea, as was stated in the original post. But I must absolutely and emphatically protest against the idea of set prices for goods, or set types of server-wide currency. It ruins the entire point of trading, which further ruins much of the uniqueness and beauty that is TFC. Let individuals, communities, and kingdoms fashion the world as they will, and social interaction will develop of its own accord.

It is actually for Build 69, I just forgot to change the hyperlink. Fixed, and thanks! Working on the food sprites now! If all goes well, a lot of them may be finished tonight. *crosses fingers* As always, please let me know if anything doesn't work, or if you think a texture should be done differently.

I am editing the initial post to include my (very first!) Techne model of the distiller I cranked out today. I have a question: would folks be interested if I included my thoughts into apiaries and the like in this thread? I figure one of the main uses of honey besides as an ingredient in meals would be its use as mead. The combs and wax and all would be useful for other things, but I could include my thoughts here as well. Also, I'd love suggestions on numbers: how much barley plus how much water equals how much ale, for instance. I think those need some pretty major roughing out.

I would be grateful for an opportunity to try out this server! I am a server operator myself and I would love to see how you do things. Username: madflavius

Thanks for the heads-up! I'll write that down on my list of things to tweak/fix for the next release! I'm glad you like the pack as well.