There is no best way to do it, as such.

Both Steam and Wine are ever-changing, and today's best method might break tomorrow

People have reported that Steam works with just standard Wine.

Install Wine from the Software Center (or click the shopping bag icon).

Right click the installer executable, go to Properties → Permissions and check Allow executing file as program , then

right click it again and select Open with Wine Windows program loader .

If it turns out that doesn't work for you, you can try using PlayOnLinux .

Marco has detailed the instructions on how to get it working behind the link.

If it still doesn't work, you can give Crossover Games a go.

Though it is number three on this list on purpose.

In general, it seems that Steam will work okay.

You should try to run it using out-of-the-box Wine first.

If you run into any trouble, feel free to ask a question under the wine tag at Ask Ubuntu .

Also see this site for Steam games that work with Wine (and, by extension, PlayOnLinux).

Note: If you get it to work, updates to Wine will most probably never break it.

But it may well be the Steam people are fighting off Wine compatibility.

It may also be they are actively trying to make their program run well under Wine (games publishers have been known to do that).

In addition to Wine, WineTricks helps really much.

It installs all the required drivers, libraries and frameworks into Wine.

Steam Games on Linux website contains Wine configuration and things you need to install (including WineTricks for some games) to play different Steam games.

I successfully played Alien Swarm and Half-Life 2 Deathmatch , though they don't seem to need any special configuration.

As of 15 Feb 2013, Steam is officially available on Linux !

Here's what the Valve Developer Community has to say on the subject.

One "easy" method of installing Steam is with Play On Linux .

First download the latest version of PoL and install it.

Then run it by typing: "playonlinux" in the console and click on "installer", select "jeu" or "game" and next, select steam, next, say yes for all next steps, and here it is, Steam is installed!

Enjoy.

[For Wine, you] have to set up a working Wine installation first.

[Then,] Download the installer, open a terminal and change to the download directory.

Run wine start SteamInstall.msi and follow the instructions.

After that Steam is installed in Wine's "virtual" Windows drive, usually ~/.wine/drive_c/Programs/Valve/Steam.

Alternatively, you will need to use msiexec to run the Steam installer.

Therefore, run wine msiexec \a SteamInstall.msi and follow the Steam installer instructions.

Note:

The login window doesn't have keyboard focus when starting up.

You have to right-click into the login field first.

It also notes that if you run Compiz on your computer you will experience severe slowdown problems.

It recommends to disable Compiz before launching Steam.

Steam works very well in plain Wine.

I actually paid for Crossover games since they provide commercial support and fix reported bugs in supported games extremely fast.

Plus they push fixes back into Wine.

You could try http://transgaming.com/ (Cedega).

I did this in the past

and it worked fine, but you have to pay for it - :

I use CodeWeaver's CrossOver to run games on Ubuntu.

They offer paid support to get games to work. http://www.codeweavers.com

Question: Ok, I was kind of surprised that this hadn't been asked here before, but maybe it's too technical for this site. You guys decide.  I've heard lots of different stories about setting up Wine on Ubuntu, WineTricks, PlayOnLinux etc., but never a 'This is the best way to do it for Steam and Steam games' thread.  So has anyone had any real success getting their Steam games to run on Ubuntu through Wine or something similar? If so, could we get some specific steps?

How do you get your Steam games to run on Ubuntu through Wine or something similar?

Steam works with Standard Wine. WineTricks also helps.

Whereas there are many different ways to do it, and WineTricks may help, Steam will work fine with standard Wine installed from the software center. Steam is also available on Linux too.

Users say that plain Wine will work fine, however Steam is available on Linux too.


Get FRAPS or some other tool to display the frame rate and monitor the effects of your changes.

There are a quite some things you could try to do: reduce the graphics settings play at a lower resolution

use the strategic view (doesn't help as much as one would think) play on smaller maps don't zoom out as much (as Oak already said) win before the modern age

install the latest graphics drivers

If you're talking about the time between turns, you'll be happy to know that the next patch is supposed to significantly reduce that time.

You did not write your exact specifications of your computer, Civilization V is a pretty resource-hungry game, you'll need a relatively new and powerful CPU and GPU to play it at decent settings.

Quick Combat and Quick moves make a difference in the late game.

Evidently, AI moves/fights at the animated on-screen unit speed, even in areas that are fog-covered or have not been revealed.

Switching this option reduced my turn wait-time by half.

Worth a shot for anyone.

I found there were two video options that made a massive difference to the game's playability for me: Terrain Shadow Quality set to Off in video options completely got rid of the lag for me in the map.

Leader Scene Quality set to Low

stopped the diplomacy screens from loading slowly

I assume that different setups will have different optimizations, but given that you have to restart the game every time for every video change I'd recommend trying them first.

I was able to play at a high resolution with 20-30 fps, which doesn't make the map feel jerky when scrolling around.

To find these I installed FRAPs to watch the FPS and started by turning everything down to the lowest setting and gradually re-enabling everything.

Nothing had a noticeable lag effect apart from the Terrain Shadow Quality in the map.

CTRL +

G:

I find removing the grid lines improves the game speed dramatically in the late game.

CTRL +

R:

Removing resource icons.

I was having some horrible slowdowns on two different machines during later eras.

For me the solution was to to add both the save directory (My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 5) and the game directory (Program Files (x86)\Sid Meier's Civilization V) to AVG Resident Shield's exclusion list.

The game still has some memory leakage that slows it a little over time

but i'm no longer getting the 1.5-2 minutes per turn

i was getting

(now the max is like 30 seconds).

Civilization V can be a very demanding game when it comes to your computer.

one way you could improve the speed is by closing out of other programs and also turn down some of the graphical settings.

Also the map size and the amount of leaders you are playing with can also effect your preformance.

The strange thing is...

Everybody says that Civ5 is demands many of your computer.

But Civ5 does not completely uses your system.

This is mostly normal, because many new games like: Battlefield 3 & Farcry 3 demands between 80%&100% of your graphics card.

I monitort my system in Civ5: GPU's between 30/40 % (sli)CPU @ 18%MaxMemory @ 19%

Max... and no

the cpu usage doesnt increase if i press end-turn.

Why does civ5 asks so few from my system?

Ok OT:

Few tips that helped me... 1.Disable

Barbarians 2.Start

a game without City-states and @ to compensate 2 extra civilizations.

Question: I have pretty decent hardware and I run many games on it. But Civ 5 is unacceptably slow when it reaches an advanced stage where it shows the whole map and there are many units.  I tried to monitor the CPU and memory and I couldn't find the bottleneck. I run it in a fast SSD and I didn't monitor my GPU.  I noticed a speed improvement when I changed from DX10/11 to DX9. But the performance isn't acceptable yet.

How do I improve Civilization V's performance?

Get a tool to display the frame rate and reduce the graphics settings. You can also install the latest graphics drivers.

It is a good idea to get FRAPS to tell you the frame rate so you can monitor the effects of your changes. Reduce graphics settings or play on lower resolutions. Use strategic view, install the latest gpu drivers , lower terrain shadow quality and leader scene quality or removing resource icons.

Users suggest multiple solutions to the issue.


Aggro as a term originated in MMO's, but its usage has spread considerably.

Originally it was coined to describe any creature who would attack you on sight.

So an "aggro" mob was one who would attack without being provoked, as opposed to one who wouldn't attack unless you attacked it first.

The related usages here are "aggro range" or "aggro radius" which is the distance at which the mob will attack, and "aggro chain" which is whether or not the mob will bring his friends along, even if they are outside of normal aggro range.

As the games evolved "aggro" became the state of being attacked.

If you were being attacked, you "had aggro", and if you did too much damage to something

and it started attacking you instead of someone else you "stole aggro".

If you did something stupid you could have "too much aggro" which meant too many things were drawn to attack you.

In your example, he's saying that the unit AI can be exploited because they don't chain aggro, so you can move into their aggro range, and individually "pull" them from their groups and eliminate them one at a time.

It means that you move closer to enemy forces (may be slightly attack 'em) and move back.

If your opponent does not react properly then only couple of units will "aggro" and start moving to attack your units.

So you can easily pick them alone.

i.e. as terran you can aggro enemy to go into range of your tanks you can also check wiki .

Starcraft's AI uses distance and type of unit to determine what to attack.

"Aggro" is a shorted form of aggravate, meaning to annoy someone or something so it will attack you.

Aggro basically means aggressive.

If you see or hear it in a game in reference to something

(ex. Juliet in Lollipop Chainsaw complaining that the zombies are being so aggro

) it just means that they're aggressive and will attack you.

It is a shortened form of aggressive.

It describes monsters that will recklessly attack with no regards to their own defence.

This term is in Magic the Gathering, a popular TCG, it is a type of deck with cheap, fast creatures that have high attack but low defence to try kill the opponent as quickly as possible.

Aggro creatures are mainly in red.

Mono-Red decks and Red-White decks are commonly used as aggro decks.

"Aggro" is short for aggravate, instead of aggressive.

In short, aggressive is a state.

An enemy is aggressive towards all players, but who they attack is determined by their level of aggravation towards the different members of the player group.

Depending on the game, it can be affected by a number of factors such as DPS, abilities, or even healing allies.

Here are some sample sentences: "Don't aggro the boss until you clear the adds."

Aggravate makes more sense than aggressive in this context.

"Those enemies have a very large or small aggro radius."

Aggravation works better than aggressive or aggression, because mobs that trigger based on range are considered "aggressive" already.

"X DPS class out

aggro'd

the tank

, that's what caused the wipe."

It makes more sense that it means "X DPS caused the enemy more aggravation than the tank, thus causing the enemy to shift its focus.

Question: I have heard "aggro" said in commentaries in a few different contexts and I have no idea what it really means. I can figure out what the commentator means, but I don't understand that word.

What does "Aggro" mean?

It is used to describe any creature that attacks on sight. It is the shortened form of aggravate, meaning aggressive.

In gaming, the word aggro, which generally  means aggression, is defined by the community in similar ways.

The community defines aggro either as aggravate or as aggressive.


You could ask the server admins.

Many times they will zip the map and send it to you if you ask nicely and explain the purpose.

You can use World Downloader .

Press Esc in-game and press L to start downloading.

It will download everything you see — about 160 blocks away from you, from bedrock to the sky limit.

To stop the download, press L again.

Then, just look in your single-player maps.

It's theoretically possible.

Your client will download part of the map before rendering it, so the data is actually transmitted through network and stored in memory, and is accessible by either packet capturing or client modding.

Either way is straightforward to implement, and I implemented the latter one with MCP before for a certain complex labyrinth map .

However, such tools for retrieving server map can be easily used for hacking and unfair gameplay.

So don't expect any legitimately published ones.

Edit : I came across an implementation called WorldDownloader which may be good for your need.

You can try it out.

As ursa_arcadius suggested, assuming you do not have direct access to the server itself (op/admin privileges in-game don't count), you could ask the server admin to send you the map file.

If they don't want to send you the whole map, but are willing to devote the time to it, they could take a copy of the map, use MCedit or a similar tool to export just your redstone circuit, and send you that export (which you could in turn import into your single player map).

See MCedit and how to use it for more info :)

If you do have direct access to the server itself, of course, you could just shut down the server for a few seconds (make sure no one is logged in!) and copy the map data directly from the server into your own MC world folder, and start the server back up.

There isn't unfortunately, the only way to do this is through accessing the machine locally, or having some sort of remote access to the folder.

See my previous answer below for instructions on how to do this: You need to first locate the directory that the minecraft_server.jar is stored in.

Once you have this, there will be a folder inside here that contains the save data.

The default is world , but it may that there are lots of folders and it is hard to find -

if so, you can check the level-name property inside the server-properties file, which will give you the correct folder name to look for.

This also works the other way around, but you will need to rename the folder / level-name property to ensure that the correct world is referenced.

See also: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Server.properties#level-name

As far as I can tell , this isn't possible.

You'll need to get your friend to zip up his save file and send it to you via other means.

Depending on what you are using, (AKA: Remote host, Or Hosting on your computer)

If on an FTP Enabled server, then Copy the FTB Link from your Server Panel, And then Paste it into the Directory bar in windows explorer, then Copy the folder named "World"(Without quotes)to your desktop,

Question: Is it possible to somehow get the map from an SMP server as a mere player? I did some large Redstone circuitry, and I would like to copy it into my SSP map.  If not, can I extract the loaded chunks from memory?

Can I copy part of a Minecraft multi-player (SMP) map to a single-player map?

Try using World Downloader. You could also ask the server admin to send you the map file or try to access the machine locally.

In order to duplicate files, the user has to  use either an external software or be in direct control of the original files.

To copy any file, it is suggested to use a third party software.

It is implied that in order to copy files, the user need to have direct access.


Try to keep your environment and yourself properly hydrated.

(It's probably easier to keep your room/apartment/house whatever hydrated; drinking enough fluids while playing games like the ones you mentioned can cause other issues ...)

If you're not blinking much as it is, dry air and dehydration can make things worse.

Think about getting a humidifier that you can run during long sessions, and do what you can to keep fluids in without constantly having to go to the bathroom.

If you wear glasses or contacts and have the choice, wear glasses.

Having contacts in will just make the symptoms you describe worse, because now you have to keep both your eyes and the contacts moist.

As silly as it sounds I will sometimes blink one eye at a time for a good long blink

and I find I feel a lot better.

You could give a try to F.lux .

This small software allows your computer to automatically decrease the gamma value of your screen, to match the luminosity of your environment.

And guess what?

It's free of charge!

Good point:

it's now avalaible for Windows, Linux and Mac!

I doubt that you stop blinking entirely, but it is common to blink less when using a computer.

You have a few options: Use glasses instead of contacts.

Contacts tend to dry out eyes.

Another poster mentioned this.

Use wetting eye drops (NOT VISINE).

Some common brands are Celluvisc and Blink.

The thick and gooey drops will keep your eyes wet for longer sessions, but leave residue around your eyes if you don't wash it off.

Humidifier would help if you are in a really dry area.

Though you probably don't want to add too much moisture in an area with a lot of electronics.

It's possible that if your eyes are drying out that fast that you have some bacteria around your eyes that either slow the flow or reduce the quality of your tears.

Daily warm compress and increasing fish oil intake can help with this.

You might want to see an optometrist if you suspect this.

Of note, my wife is an optometrist.

I have asked her a lot of questions about dry eye, since I have it, but I'm too lousy a patient to regularly follow her instructions.

Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll see about asking her.

I've never personally used them myself, but have you heard about GUNNAR Optiks glasses?

They claim to help with eye fatigue, and other problems caused by starting at computer screens.

It's not exactly a cheap option, they run around $80 and up for a pair.

Get some eye drops.

I found some in China town that are menthol (sounds weird but they are awesome) and they work perfect.

From Dave DuPlantis's answer keep yourself hydrated make sure to drink plenty of fluids whilst gaming (I keep a couple of pint glasses of water on the table beside).

Then, keep a few slices of freshly cut onion beside you.

That's guaranteed to keep your eyes moist and force you to blink regularly.

Remember to cut a new slice of onion a few times during your session.

Question: Sometimes when I play games that require a lot of focus (CS, Starcraft 2) after 10-20 minutes of game I notice that my eyes are red, from not blinking enough.  If this happens to you too how do you prevent this from happening?  I know I have to blink but it's hard to remember to do that every 15 seconds when you fight with 2 armies of Protoss and Zerg.  Thanks.

Dry eye from not blinking enough

Keep yourself properly hydrated and use glasses instead of contacts. You could also try eye drops.

While many suggest to stay hydrated and use medical items such as eye drops, others suggest the seek of medical assistance.

Hydration and clean environment is recommended.

The community proposes usage of glasses or eye drops.

It is suggested to seek medical assistance.


Clicking the print screen button on the top-right of your keyboard (its name is usually abbreviated, e.g. Prt Scr ) will save an image of the current display to the clipboard.

You can later paste that image inside a suitable application (e.g. paint).

Of course, that means only one screen shot at a time, since hitting the key again will override the clipboard.

Additionally, a lot of games have a special treatment for that key, and they will actually generate an image file themselves in some folder (typically under My Documents or AppData).

If you run a game with the Steam overlay on it (whether a real Steam game or just an external game launched through Steam), Steam has a special mechanism for taking screenshots, which saves the images to a special location and allows you to easily upload them online to the Steam cloud.

The default key for taking Steam screenshots is F12 ,

I agree with Oak that Steam is a very viable option for taking screenshots in-game as well as the stock print screen mechanic.

I would like to pose a third option, though.

You could always check out a utility like Greenshot .

Which takes the print screen mechanic a step further by automatically saving the the image to the desktop, or other desired location, instead of simply leaving it in clip board ( as seen here ).

It's free, safe and open source, and is readily available to download through the homepage I linked above or on Sourceforge.

It's a 544 KB download.

Unlike an application like CloudApp or Steam's screenshot utility, you will have to upload your image to a host of your choosing.

Taking screenshots of modern games, especially in fullscreen can indeed be a challenge.

Fortunately there’s several ways to get that capture.

Built-in

In-game Many games have a built-in screenshot key, so check the Controls section of its options to find out what it is or to set it.

The default is usually one of the higher-numbered function keys (e.g. F11 or F12 ), but as Oak said, some use the obvious choice of PrtScr .

Windows

In addition, for many games, Windows own PrtScr handler will suffice.

If it doesn’t work in fullscreen, often, but not always, switching to windowed mode (if the game supports it) will allow it to work.

Technical Explanation

When PrtScr doesn’t work for a fullscreen game (or sometimes even a windowed game), it is because the game is using the video-adapter’s hardware overlay

[1] [2] [3] (not to be confused with software overlays like those of Steam, Fraps, etc.)

This is a special buffer ( surface for DirectX games) that software can write to which provides hardware acceleration.

By nature, it is just a simple (usually near-black) rectangle that the video-adapter fills in with the output image in hardware .

As a result, Windows does not have access to the rendered image, and so its PrtScr handler cannot capture it.

This is the same for video-players that use hardware acceleration.

Work-arounds Safe

Fortunately, just like you can turn hardware acceleration off for a video-player, you can usually disable a game’s usage of the hardware overlay in the game’s Video section of its options by either disabling an option such as “hardware acceleration” or by choosing “software renderer”.

Of course this means that the game won't perform as well, so you’ll want to change it back after capturing the image you’re interested in.

Forced For games that don’t let you turn off the hardware overlay usage, you can force it off by simply running another program that makes use of hardware acceleration before running the game.

Since most (all?) video-adapters only support a single overlay surface, running a program that uses it makes it unavailable to other programs.

In the past, whenever I wanted to take a screenshot of a video I was watching, I would run Karsten Sperling’s program Alpha (which is a nifty program in its own right) because it would occupy the overlay, so that I can take a screenshot of the video without getting a black rectangle.

(I don’t usually do that anymore for videos because I use VLC which a built-in screenshot key that can take correct snaps of the video even when using the overlay because the screenshot function is built-in to the same program that generates the image, so it has access to the actual image.)

One caveat is that some games won’t run at all if they can’t use hardware acceleration.

Hacks

One trick that can be used to allow screen-capture in fullscreen games in Windows Vista and

up is to turn off desktop composition for the game (figure 1).

Another trick I have read about is to use a registry hack to enable screenshots for software that uses DirectX: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw]"EnablePrintScreen"=dword:00000001[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\DirectDraw]"EnablePrintScreen"=dword:00000001

I haven’t been able to test or confirm this because turning off desktop compositing worked just fine, even for an odd nut like Safecracker in which taking a screenshot had previously resulting in a snap of the desktop cropped to the dimensions of the game.

Third Party

And of course there’s third-party programs as others have mentioned on this page.

Fraps tends to be popular, and your concern about it impeding performance when your system can barely handle the game as-is is specious.

If you turn off the FPS overlays and such, then you should be able to use it to take screenshots without it having any additional impact on performance.

I'd like to throw in a third option as well that I've used for quite some time now and really enjoy is SnagIt

it costs some money but is really worth it because once you take a screenshot you can have some image manipulation and add some fun stuff like arrows or notes.

It's also great for snagging an entire webpage as an image, or taking just part of your screen.

It allows you to grab a screen over 40 different ways, check it out if you don't mind spending a little bit of money.

Snag

It Website

You could try Gadwin Printscreen.

It's free.

Question: I want to take screenshots during gameplay. This is on a PC with Windows 7. I don't want to use Fraps because my PC sucks and can barely run the game.  What are my options? I would prefer something like the OS X screen capture with  Command  +  Shift  +  3 .

How do I take screenshots of fullscreen games on a Windows 7 PC?

Clicking print screen will save an image to the clipboard. Steam has a special mechanism for taking screenshots. You could also use a tool like Greenshot.

There are several ways to take a screenshot while playing a game, such as the windows default print screen button or any third party software.

The community suggests that a screenshot can be taken either by using a third party software, or by using a specified by the game button.


You have a few options: Throw them into a pool of lava Throw them into a cactus block Throw them into fire Explode them (items will be destroyed if they are in the radius of a TNT or creeper explosion)

Just throw them on the ground and forget about them and they'll despawn after 5 minutes.

This is generally longer than desirable, however, which is where the other options come in handy.

You should always keep cobblestone...

It's used for a ton of stuff in various forms.

You can smelt it into rock, make it into stairs, roads, and, of course, huge fricking floating palaces with skulls that drip lava, etc.

Gravel is useful for mining flint, so keep it, then throw it in a hole and mine it again, and again, and again, until you've converted all of it to flint.

Dirt is pretty annoying, granted.

I tend to keep it because I'll occasionally want to level a lot of terrain in preparation for building something.

It's also nice to use in building elevated roads/bridges, because you don't have to use the more valuable cobblestone.

I like to use dirt for "lighthouses" (really tall towers with torches on top

so you can see where things are) and other disposable structures.

Chests are super cheap to make, so there is no reason not to throw the mined dirt/stone/cobblestone in chests whenever you go back to base to make more picks/shovels.

There are a few basic ways to ditch this stuff: Throw them into lava (my favorite)

Set them on fire by other means

Just drop them somewhere and leave them, they'll despawn after 5 minutes Throw them on some cacti!

(Thanks @Raven Dreamer)

Did I miss any?

Alternatively, you can try the TooManyItems mod, which lets you 'delete' materials from your inventory screen.

Look Here for more information about uses, and setup, and a screenshot that should give you a better understanding of it.

Most simple and less time consuming.....throw it off a cliff or into a sea nearby.

The items will disappear when 5 minutes have passed.

Or alternatively, you can install the Equivalent Exchange mod and shove it all in an energy condenser.

Much less wasteful: you get diamonds from it.

If you want to lose many items quite quickly you need a bunch of toolboxes and a bucket filled with lava: install toolbox on ground "use" toolbox from as far away as possible

fill all 9 nine crafting slots with rubbish you want to get rid of

dump the lava and see items disappear collect lava IF(too much rubbish items)

THEN GOTO 1.

(But I prefer storing them...)

Shortcut to drop 4 items at a time: open your inventory screen put an item you want to drop in each of your 4 'craft slots' when you close your inventory screen, you'll drop all 4 items

If you want to do this with a command you could do /gamerule

doTileDrops false or /gamerule

doTileDrops true to enable and disable the drops.

Question: I have been digging a mine and now have a slew of dirt and cobblestone blocks. How do I destroy them permanently and keep them from filling up my inventory?

How do I permanently destroy blocks in Minecraft?

Throw them into a pool of lava or fire. You could also just throw them on the ground and they will despawn after 5 minutes.

While there are many suggested ways to destroy blocks, using ingame techniques, there are few suggestions for plug ins, that might save time.

The community provides ways of permanenlty destroy blocks.


Edit:

The answer below is now outdated since a much easier solution exists – by holding wheat for cows, mooshrooms and sheep, carrots for pigs, and seeds for chicken, animals will follow you.

After rounding up two of each animal, you essentially have an infinite amount of them, since you can breed them.

Sheep also regrow their wool by eating grass, so you don't even need to breed them to have a constant supply of wool.

Here is a modular design to make a series of spawning pads that will spawn animals, and collect them in a central area.

The pads end up being 8x6, except for the ones right next to the collection pit which are 4x6.

The glass area here would be fenced off.

They all drain to this central pit.

Water is placed at the beginning of each trench, and the signs prevent water from moving backwards.

This is a secondary intersection that continues off each main channel.

(The water should be flowing right to the sign

, I might have made the channel too long in my haste.)

And now that Single Player Commands is working with the current version of Minecraft: an aerial view!

If you place torches in a pen, neutral animals will spawn there more because they'll be spawning at night and day, whereas normally they'd only spawn at day.

They'll also be spawning more concentrated there at night.

You could just use wheat by holding it in your hand then go up to the animal.

Once you get its attention (by walking in front of it) it will follow you.

But don't get to far ahead

or else it will lose interest and stop following you.

In order to make an area that spawns strictly non-aggressive mobs, there is already an answer that covers how to do it.

To summarize, you basically need grass blocks that are well-lit (a light level above 9) in order for non-aggressive mobs to spawn.

Using a system of flowing water between these grass areas you can gather all mobs that fall into the water into a central area.

There are many videos that demonstrate how to do this ( example ).

The following height map shows one such arrangement (1 being the lowest height, 5 being 4 blocks above any 1 block) which will result in water flowing from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner such that no mobs can jump out of the flowing water: 3333333235555552355555523555555235555552355555523555555222222221 Place your water on the upper-left 3 level tile and your grass tiles on the 5 level in the center with a torch in the middle.

Note that you can tightly pack these units to make a giant mob spawner, although mobs must be within a 9x9 grid of chunks centered on you (or another player) in order to spawn.

Then stand where all your animals drop, pull out a diamond sword and simply chop.

You can also kill them by dropping them from the sky with a sky-spawner .

Lava-based traps might not work as they will likely destroy the wool.

If you look into their eyes while you are holding wheat, they will stare back and when you move they will follow.

I know this works with pigs

but I'm not sure if it works with other animals.

You can use wheat to lure any animals you find into pens.

Just hold the wheat in your hands and any passive mobs (excluding squid?) will follow you.

However, it may take a few tries for you to successfully get the attention of the animal in question.

If you want to have all the sheep come to you, use this command: /tp @e[type=Sheep]

<your username> You now have lots of sheep.

Ba.

Since Minecraft 1.7, you can use a Lead .

If by best you mean the most challenging, you can build a longway corridor all the way from wherever a good number of them are to your pen, then proceed on pushing them.

I did it before realizing

I just had to have wheat in my hand.

For PE, just dig a hole that is two blocks deep and one block wide and wait for the sheep (and pigs) to come in and build the tunnel thing to where you want to have sheep.

Usually I just keep them in a spare house until I have a pen.

On the other versions, just hold wheat and they follow you.

The best pen on the other versions is a one block deep hole with fencing on the walls of the hole.

Make a one block wide entrance to the gate and since nothing can jump over a fence they can't get out.

Question: I want to farm sheep for their wool. What's the best way to make them spawn or gather them up into one pen?

Any way to round up animals in Minecraft?

Hold wheat for sheep the the animals will follow you. You need well-lit grass blocks.

While the most common suggested way to round up animals, is to make them follow you by using items, few others suggest that the player can make them spawn.

The community lists the requirements for making animals to follow you.


The easiest way I find is to look directly downwards, right click to exit, and then carefully hop from the boat.

It still moves, but not so much.

Perhaps Mojang may address this in a future update?

It might be worth going to the Get Satisfaction page for Mojang and seeing if it's been raised as an issue already.

If not, raise it.

What I normally do is the same as I do for minecart stations: put a minecart on a rail on the shore, then surround that with half blocks.

You can then right click on it from the boat, magic-ing you into it and not disturbing the boat.

It might not be what you are looking for, but it is simple and works well.

Make a dock out of soul-sand and run your boat into it.

It won't immediately break against the soul-sand, unlike other materials, and once it is stuck in the soul-sand it will stay put unless you shove it out.

Make sure you enter straight, or else you'll spin around unpredictably.

If the boat is completely still, you don't need to do the space+arrow manuever.

Just don't move, click on the boat to get off, and jump.

The currents keep the boat stable and in the spot you leave it for future trips.

It isn't quite as elaborate as docks with doors, but it does involve some tricky currents so your mileage may vary.

Source: Boat Science on MC Forums

I use the Soul Sand technique described by Zoredache, but you might want to carry food with you on your boating trips, because the Soul Sand dock sometimes glitches up and deals massive damage to your health, sometimes killing you in one hit (although food is pretty much worthless if that happens).

It seems like damage that would apply to a boat when crashing into other things, applies to you when crashing into Soul Sand.

I have found just getting out of the boat while it still has some bare minimum momentum and letting it slide out from under me to have perfect results, in that I don't bump it and have to chase it across the ocean :)

You're not missing anything... happens to all of us.

Row to shore, so the front of the boat is touching land.

Then look down at the boat and right-click, as Jasarien suggests, and back out of the boat, so it is "pushed" towards shore.

It should barely move, if at all.

I've found that boats are less likely to go shooting off into the distance if you get out of them where water is only one square deep.

It's not always perfect, but that, combined with looking straight down when you exit, usually prevents a boat from flying away and crashing into the shore.

Make a channel one block wide with dirt blocks and drive into it.

Not too easy, but effective.

Question: I mean without it shooting off away from you in some direction. Maybe I'm just missing something, but every time I right click to exit a boat it seems to shoot off out into the water. I'd like to hop out on to the land next to me and have the boat stay put.  I know you can build elaborate docks with doors and such. But is there a way to just neatly get out of a boat without all that?

How do you get out of a boat in Minecraft?

You have several options: row to shore so the front of the boat is touching land, then click on the boat and jump. You can also make a dock out of soul sand or with with dirt blocks and drive into it.

Make sure to carefully exit  the boat while facing downwards and clicking right or making different kinds of blocks and bringing the boat close to the shore. Exiting as the boat is moving slightly may also work.

Right click and looking down while carefully jumping out of the boat is highly suggested. The boat is faced towards the shore.

Creating blocks and leading the boat into it.

Exiting the boat while having some light movement.


One interesting property of the new powered rails are that they act as brakes when no power is applied to them.

Because of this, you can make extremely simple stations like this one: ▮▓━─━═━─↔─ rail ━ booster rail▮

button ═ detector rail▓ any block

The minecart rests on the slanted powered rail because it the track acts like a brake.

When the button is pressed, the track becomes powered and boosts the cart away.

The sequence of detector, powered, detector track isn't a vital part of the station design, but is instead a 2-way booster.

When a cart passes over the detector track, the powered rail becomes powered, making a very compact booster.

This booster also helps push the cart up the unpowered slanted rail on arrival, resetting it for its next use.

I've been playing around with ways to make a cart magazine that isn't reliant on the cart boosting glitch.

However, it's not as simple as constructing something like this... ...

as additional minecarts will fall into the bottom one, melding together, instead of stacking.

YouTube user MinecraftAddict developed a hoizontal-cart-magazine-like concept using powered rails like this.

When the redstone is activated, each powered rail will send the cart to the next spot, while the final one will by launched to wherever you hook it up to.

However, simply using a button may power the rails for too long and cause some carts to move two spaces, so you may need to use a monostable circuit.

When the button is not pressed, the redstone torch on the side of the button's block keeps the output torch off.

When the button is pressed, the first redstone torch turns off, turning the output torch off.

At the same time, the repeaters have a redstone signal propagating through them.

When the signal finally reaches the output block, the torch turns off again.

By adjusting the delay time of the repeaters, you can adjust how long (short) you want the button press to last.

I did not make this, but I do not think a basic station can get simpler than this: ▮

↑─ rail ━ booster rail▮

button ═ detector rail▓ any block

I've been using the following design for a minecart station and have been very happy with it: I don't recall where I saw this design suggested, but it consists of a 1-by-3 trench filled with powered rails and a button on the wall above the middle rail.

When a minecart enters from either direction, it stops on the first downward-sloping powered rail it hits.

To keep moving in the same direction, you just have to hit the button, which boosts the cart back to full speed.

To reverse direction, you have to get out and push the minecart to the opposite slope.

It's a very simple design, although it does require a button click at every station in order to go continuously from one end of your minecart system to the other.

←───═━─━━─━═───←─ rail ━ booster rail▮

Button ═ detector rail.

redstone

The detector rail blocks push incoming minecarts in the middle section, where they are blocked in place by the unpowered booster rails.

Pressing the button powers all the boosters, sending and boosting the cart in the other direction.

Another good method for use in a minecart station (particularly if you, for whatever reason do not wish to use the launch from an incline method) is to drop the minecart from above only to land upon the first booster rail track piece.

This is executed rather well in the video linked.

Question: With the advent of Minecraft beta 1.5 and  powered rails , I'd like to find designs of good "railway stations" so I don't have to babysit minecarts in getting them set up for launch down a rail line.  What's the best way to design a powered rail station?

How should I design a powered rail station?

The minecart rests on the slanted powered rail because the track acts like a brake. When the button is pressed, the track becomes powered and boosts the cart away.

Here is a similar, straightforward graphic set of buttons that will help you.

A set of similar instructions and buttons is provided by users.


Contrary to all the answers on here, it is in fact possible to reset your progress in co-op.

Make sure you are the host (you invited your friend, rather than you were invited by your friend).

Start a co-op game.

Make sure you are in the hub when doing this.

Warning:

This applies to both players.

Make sure the other player is fine with you doing this.

Unfortunately, this doesn't work with ss_map .

You have to be in a session with another player, and this will set both players' progress.

Enable the developer console in the options,

then press ~ to open it.

If you are having trouble, see this question .

Then, enter the following command in the console: mp_mark_all_maps_incomplete

You might see a weird message about DLC, but the command will have no other visible effect.

Now, enter this command: changelevel mp_coop_lobby_2

This will reload the lobby, and your progress will be reset at zero.

You can use this command to change your progress manually:

mp_mark_course_complete <course>

Whereas the number is the number of the course you want to unlock (have finished), minus 1.

So to unlock course 1, use mp_mark_course_complete 0 , to unlock 2, mp_mark_course_complete 1 , and so on.

This means that mp_mark_course_complete 0 unlocks course 1 fully, and will then open 2.

There is also mp_mark_all_maps_complete if you want to get Professor Portal.

Thanks to fail badp♦ for allowing me to waste his time.

I am wondering precisely why you would care to fully reset things.

I don't think you can , but it shouldn't hurt the experience at all if you don't reset it.

I will assume that you really just want to play through the intro puzzles with your friend.

If so, here are a few things to note: When at the level selection Hub, you can bring up the Menu and go back to the Calibration area.

This is the first area you start at when a new person starts playing, and has some simple puzzles that get you in the swing of cooperation.

When at the level selection Hub, you can look at the door above each puzzle set.

You will see little Orange/Blue rectangles.

These indicate how far each player has progressed through the section.

If you find a door with more of one color than another, you've found a puzzle set that you (or your friend) hasn't completed.

As you enter a puzzle area in the Hub, you will see a small monitor on your left that indicates, once again, how far each player has progressed.

There are small buttons under this monitor to select which level you would like to play.

I know this is an old question, but I was just skimming through and had a bit of an addendum to the best answer here (the one involving the mp_mark_all_maps_complete command and all that).

At first I submitted it as an edit to that answer, but I think it's enough to warrant it's own post here.

So here it is.

Step-by-step how to reset your own progress (without affecting anybody else).

Launch Portal 2.

Select

"Play Cooperative Mode" Select "Standard Coop"

From here, open the Console (default ~ , otherwise check the related questions for more info.

CONSOLE COMMAND: ss_map lobby_2 CONSOLE COMMAND: mp_mark_all_courses_incomplete

Leave the map, and go play with your friends, as if you started from scratch.

This is especially useful for people looking to experience the transitions and extra few GLaDOS lines.

As the game is saved to the Steam Cloud and no option is provided to reset this, this is impossible.

The only difference would be the animations in The Hub for loading new zones, in order for the player to see them they have to play with someone that hasn't completed them.

Apart from that, you can just run to the game and selecting the first chamber in each zone...

You can, however, try to contact the Steam Support and ask them to reset it for you.

The whole point why I wanted this is to let my second Cooperative Testing Partner in Science™ (who got me Professor Portal, by the way)

experience the 5 unlocking sequences; I missed the first three myself.

Listening to GLaDOS is a large part of the Portal 2 experience.

Apparently, however, we can't just do that, so here goes Youtube scavenging. :(

Surprise surprise, finding decent videos of those sequences is challenging.

Let's plays drown out GLADoS ruining the whole point of this exercise, while walkthroughs have probably have everything unlocked already (when they don't skip the lobby entirely), so finding good Youtube videos of this is challenging.

So I'm marking CW to let you help me find those videos. ? ?

Question: Multiplayer progress in Portal 2 is saved to Steam Cloud:  Is progress in the coop campaign in Portal 2 saved?  How do you reset your progress to zero and experience the game from scratch with someone who has not played it yet?

How do you reset saved multiplayer progress in Portal 2?

Start a co-op game in the hub. You have to be in session with another player and this will set both players' progress.

Following some direct instructions can be of assistance. Furthermore, contacting Steam Support and asking for their help is also an option.

Users provide guided instructions based on the games buttons.

Contacting Steam Support and asking for help.


Yes, there is.

As of 1.4.2, /weather (operators only) can be used to control the weather server-wide.

/weather

clear/weather rain/weather thunder

You can also optionally specify the number of seconds, up to a million (that's 11 days and ~14 hours).

For example, /weather clear 60 will clear up the weather for 1 minute only.

Also, the /toggledownfall command (also ops only)

stops/starts rain or snow on a vanilla server.

It was added in a beta 1.9 pre-release.

Bukkit has integrated the commands into it.

You need OP

but: /weather sunny <time> /weather

storm <time> /lighting

<true/false> /thunder <true/false>

There is no such command available in vanilla Minecraft servers, sorry.

See lunboks answer for more up-to-date info.

On a vanilla server, you can use the command /toggledownfall to turn rain or snow (depending on what biome you are in) on and off (depending on whether or not it is currently raining/snowing)

You must be an operator in order to use this command.

It is possible to set your server so that toggling rain or snow is unable to be performed.

This setting is not altered by an in-game command, but by an owner in the server's settings, much like the server's difficulty or whether or not flying is allowed.

This command has no effect in the following biomes due to the biomes not allowing rain/snow: Desert, DesertHills, Hell, and Sky.

The Hell biome is the only Biome present in The Nether, and

the Sky biome is the only Biome present in The End.

You can use /weather <sunny|rain|thunder|clear> ; I am not sure if you can make it snow or not.

You can also use /toggledownfall .

(All of this is as of 1.7.2.)

Question: The latest version of Minecraft (1.5) brings, among other things, a number of different weather conditions.  Most of these annoy me to no end.  I tend to spend a lot of time playing on an SMP server, so I'm wondering if at least here, there is a way to effect changes in the weather: maybe through server commands?

Is there an SMP Server Command to change weather conditions?

You can use weather clear 60 to clear up the weather for 1 minute. You can also use toggledownfall to turn rain or snow on and off.

There is the ability to change weather conditions by following a set of instructions on a vanilla server, provided you are an operator.

There is the ability to change weather conditions by following a set of instructions on a vanilla server.


Split-screen PC/Mac play is not supported by Valve via obvious in-game menus.

The only way in which you can play co-op Portal 2 with a single Portal 2 purchase in a way that is obviously supported by the game manufacturer is by purchasing the PS3 copy:

Only PlayStation®3 split-screen co-op can be played using a single copy of the game.

When you purchase a new copy of Portal 2 for PlayStation®3, you will receive an in-box code which provides your linked Steam account with access to your copy of Portal 2 on your computer.

The game is still owned by only a single Steam account--another copy will be required to play online co-op with a friend.

( source )

It has been noted in the other answers that the act of single-system split-screen is possible.

It required modifying configuration files and a workaround to force the game to move a controller to the second player slot.

Valve has neither stated that this method is supported or banned.

Steam Support indicates it's not supported, but also openly admits it's an option that currently exists.

Hello Shaun, Thank you for contacting Steam Support.

Split-screen mode is available in the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 versions of this game only.

However, split-screen options may be available using the methods found here:

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1847904 Note: These methods are not supported, as split-screen is not an intended feature of the PC/Mac version of Portal 2.If you have any further questions, please let us know - we will be happy to assist you.

According to this article and this steam forum thread , it's possible to set up a split-screen co-op in Portal 2 on the PC and many have gotten it to work.

In fact, it can be done by setting up (or emulating)

an XBox 360 USB controller using Joystick ID #2.

The original Steam forum post seems to work for many people, but not in all circumstances.

The post is managed by one person and there seem to be conflicting statements on it.

There are a lot of off-shoot threads in the wild with many different solutions, but none that seem to work in all cases (at least not that we can prove by voting).

It seems that the only sure bet solution is to buy and plug in an xbox 360 game USB controller and use JoyIDs to set the controller to ID #2.

Note that while this is 'unsupported' by Valve, it's IN NO WAY discouraged or illegal to do so.

In fact, Valve has traditionally been extremely supportive of game modding and console tweaking.

This feature is now available using a method significantly easier than the answers from 2011 suggest.

You will need at least once XInput (XBox 360 compatible) controller.

Two controllers (officially supported) On the main menu, select Play cooperative game Have the second player press X on their controller Woosh!

Keyboard / Mouse and a controller On the main menu, click Options Click Keyboard/Mouse Toggle Allow developer console to Enabled Press

the ~ key (usually near the esc key) to open the console Type joy_remap_player_for_controller1 2

The controller is now player 2.

Press

the ~ key to close the console Follow the previous instructions for two controllers.

If you later want to use a controller in the single player game, follow the instructions again, but type joy_remap_player_for_controller1 1 instead.

Note that there is a caveat; all levels will be unlocked from the start .

On OSX and Linux, joy_remap_player_for_controller1 1 is not a valid command.

There is, however a workaround.

In short, you exploit a bug in the command that allows you to test coop maps with a single player ( in_forceuser ).

Here's how: Make sure your controller is connected (important on OSX at least.

Plugging the controller after the game is launched does not work for me) Launch Portal 2 Open the console Start a coop map: ss_map mp_coop_start Run the following two commands: sv_cheats 1 then in_forceuser 1 Your gamepad will continue to control player 1, while the keyboard/mouse will now control player 2!

Thanks to Sharft 6 for figuring this out on Ubuntu.

I don't think you can use a second keyboard and mouse, but a gamepad should do it.

You need only one copy of the game and you should be familiar with the ingame console and config files.

Take a look at this thread on the steam forums:

How-to:

Split Screen Coop

Question: Is there a way to play Portal 2 co-op on a single PC or Mac?  If so, do we need two keyboards, or two mice, or what?  Do we need to buy two copies of the game?  Note: The  wireless  XBox 360 controller does not work standalone out of the box on either an iMac or Windows 7 PC.  It needs a receiver as well.  I thought it would be Bluetooth, but no.

Can we play Portal 2 co-op on one PC or Mac?

You can purchase the PS3 copy with the split-screen co-op. You can also plug in an xbox 360 game USB controller.

Buying the PS3 copy of Portal 2 or using an Xbox 360 USB controller are the prefered choices.

Plugging the controller after the game is launched does not work for me) Launch Portal 2 Open the console Start a coop map: ss_map mp_coop_start Run the following two commands: sv_cheats 1 then in_forceuser 1 Your gamepad will continue to control player 1, while the keyboard/mouse will now control player 2!

Here's how: Make sure your controller is connected (important on OSX at least.

A suggested solution is buying the PS3 copy.

An Xbox 360 USB controller seems to be a successful option.


I think it's definitely worthwhile playing Portal first.

I just started Portal 2 and would probably have been a bit lost without having played Portal first.

There is almost no introduction to how the portal-gun and other stuff works in Portal 2 and there are a lot of references to the previous game.

It makes Portal 2 an even better game if you have played Portal.

Portal 2 starts out fairly simply thus, from a gameplay standpoint, you won't have a hard time figuring out the mechanics of the game.

However, Portal 2 continues the storyline from the first game.

There are also many elements in the game that you wouldn't understand/enjoy/love not having played the first game.

Playing Portal 2 without playing Portal can be likened to hearing the punchline, but not the joke.

Furthermore, if you EVER wish to play the first one, it would be ruined by having played the second one first.

Certainly a lot of the story elements will make more sense if you have played the first game, however I don't think it's absolutely necessary.

As for gameplay instructions and explaining how things work, yeah, you'd be much better off playing the first one first.

Portal 2 drops you much more suddenly into the thick of things than Portal 1 did.

Those reasons aside, you should get Portal 1 simply because it's a kickass game!

Gameplay:

Portal 2 can stand on its own.

The first levels of Portal are also in Portal 2, letting people in on the basics.

The later levels explore techniques and mechanics that are not present in Portal 2.

Thus, playing Portal and especially mods like Portal: Prelude can give you false expectations for Portal 2.

Plot: this is not really true.

Wheatley vaguely hints about what happened in Portal, then GLaDOS "gives it away".

So yes, play Portal before Portal 2, if you can.

As already suggested and accepted play the original Portal before starting the sequel is preparatory to have even a greater experience with Portal 2.

But suppose that you are so excited because of all wonderful reviews and nice comments you read around, and you really want to start immediately Portal 2, while the game is installing you can spend 15 minutes doing the following things: Read Portal wiki page

(Gameplay and Synopsis sections) Look this Portal for Dummies!

video

(~5.13m) Read the Lab Rat comic that explains the events between Portal and Portal 2

You should definitely play the first game.

Not only because it's important to understand the story, but also because its just as excellent a game as Portal 2 is.

You can play Portal 2 without having played Portal first as every game mechanic is presented in Portal 2.

However, you'll spoil the story of the first one doing that as it is a direct sequel (and there are many references to the first one, in the story and in some puzzle).

I think it would be a good idea to play the first one, because once you have finished playing Portal 2, you'll want to play it.

Any other things you might think of.

There are other reasons for playing Portal 1 before 2 that are not really detailed in the other answers.

Portal 1 is a very short game - short enough to even consider starting & finishing Portal 1 in the same day before making a start on Portal 2

The majority of Portal 1 is arguably a tutorial (made of numerous test chambers) - learning the game mechanics through these levels will shorten the head scratching that may pop up in Portal 2 Portal 1

was well received because it was something different - you will appreciate it more having not experienced Portal 2 beforehand And as others have stated, Portal 2 is a sequel that follows on from events in Portal 1, but in a more story-driven manner.

There is a sense that you are being thrown into the game ready to handle the faster pace of Portal 2 because you went through Portal 1.

If you want the full experience of portal 2, I recommend to play the Half-Life -series first and than the Portal-series.

Because there are things in the story of Portal that refer to the story of Half-Life.

Question: I've looked at several videos of Portal 2 and am interested in buying it. The problem is that I've never played the original Portal, the first game of the series.    Should I play Portal before playing Portal 2?   Will I understand Portal 2's story more if I play the first game?  Are there concepts explained in the first game that aren't repeated in the second one, which would make me miss some little details?

Should I play Portal before Portal 2?

It's definitely worth playing Portal first. You won't have a hard time figuring out the game, but Portal 2 continues the storyline from 1. A lot of the story elements will make more sense if you've played 1 first.

Playing Portal before Portal 2 offers a more complete experience.

Playing Portal before Portal 2 is highly suggested.


Keep regular backups until Notch provides a form of protection against this or a way to disable thunderstorms.

If you see a thunderstorm get far enough away that the chunks containing your treehouse are unloaded.

EDIT :

As of Minecraft 1.6, fire is severely nerfed and will not burn through your buildings like before.

Consequently, lightning is also nerfed, and may not be worth worrying about, unless you structure is made of difficult to replace flammable materials, such as certain colours of cloth and leaves.

EDIT 2

: Leaves are now replaceable due to the ability to cut them with shears in Minecraft 1.7.

As a result, even treehouses no longer need to fear lightening.

Just sleep through the thunderstorm.

Use a bed when one appears.

The latest Bukkit Recommended Build (#733) has rain putting out fires like it should.

And since lightning only occurs during rain, you shouldn't have any issues.

If you are on an SMP server, suggest they update to the latest Bukkit as soon as possible if they have not already.

I'm still confused on if the Vanilla (Default Mojang)

Minecraft server has this issue or not.

I know it isn't such a problem anymore, but if you want to get rid of visible weather effects, there are two solutions that involve commands.

You could consider the /fill command with Barriers.

If you don'talready know what Barriers are, they are the equivalent of invisiblebedrock, obtainable only with the /give command.

The commandformat for using /fill reads as follows.

(X means the X coord, Ymeans the Y coord, etc.)

/fill

(X) (Y)

(Z)

minecraft:

barrier Do this above where the player(s) will walk, and problem solved!

You could have a command block that is programmed with /Weatherclear and have a button so every time it stormed, sunny skies wouldbe back at the push of a button.

The only question is, are you in Multiplayer?

No cheats?

If so, this is out of my league.

Do /gamerule

dofirespread false This stops blocks from burning

I found a different solution to this pretty old question that some people might be interested in: Create a sprinkler system.

The idea is as follows:

Put a source block of water at various places inside the walls/ceilings, locked up by blocks that can burn.

When the wall or ceiling burns down, the blocks holding your water in place will be removed by the fire and the water will escape, dowsing the fire and preventing it from spreading any further.

Side effect is that this also removes certain items such as torches, but those can easily be replaced.

It's pretty effective at saving most of your building from fire if something happens, be it lightning at the very end of a thunderstorm, lightning during snow or just a user error such as a fireplace being too close.

It is not fast enough to prevent the spread of fire towards the ceiling though.

Put your sprinklers high up to dowse it quickly there.

I haven't gone any further, but in theory you could also unleash the water using redstone when certain blocks disappear.

This way you could make the system more sensitive and dowse the fire earlier.

In practice this is a bit infeasible to implement because it needs a lot more space and planning.

Question: What's the best way to  lightning proof  a structure? I've seen some people attempt to place a 'ceiling' of glass at the top-most level of the map, but I don't know if this works or not (and it's a tad unattractive)... I'm a bit worried for my tree-house:

How to lightning-proof a structure?

You could have a command block so everytime there's a storm it would clear the weather. You could also get far away every time there's a storm so the chunks containing your treehouse are unloaded.

Regular backups are important or a Bukkit update if on an SMP server. Commands with Barriers is also a viable option.

Regular backups until another form of protection is available

Using commands with Barriers seems to be a favourable option.


Focus on breadth , not depth .

Skim a layer or two off every beach you find.

You'd be surprised how for down the sand goes - it'll still look natural after you've collected all you need.

I think that unless you're able/willing to use console commands to spawn sand, the only way to obtain sand is to get it from the landscape.

You could 'cheat' the look of the landscape though - tunnel to the sand from underneath, take as much as you'd like, then build a platform out of rock (which is self-supporting), and lay a single block thick layer of sand on top to make it look like a sandy area! :)

I went in a straight line until I found a pretty large sandy area and started by covering a section of sand over with dirt.

I then dug out all the sand underneath the dirt and made myself a tiny base.

During the day I'd go up and lay more dirt over the sand, then at night I'd go into this vast cavern with 10 ovens and dig out/cook stack after stack of sand.

I'd also dig off a layer or two of dirt in order to give me more dirt with which to cover over the top.

When I hit one water edge where the land fell off rather quickly I made a huge glass underwater wall.

This looks fantastic.

At the bottom I built it so that the water comes in under the glass and forms a little pond so that I can just jump into the water and walk under the glass to get out.

This huge open cavern has become a massive town center sporting a railroad hub, a huge automated grain farm and the ongoing sand mining operation that tends to supply many of the players on the server with a nearly infinite supply of glass.

Above ground

it's just trees an dirt as far as anyone knows.

One tiny tower allows railcars from "town" to spiral down underground, but otherwise you'd think you were in the wilderness.

It's no longer sand, but it doesn't look any worse than any other dirt beach, it protects the beaches near town by supplying glass for anyone who needs it and it created space for a really nice base.

win/win/win

Just go to a place far away that you won't got to unless you need materials.

For tips on how to travel long distances see this question: What is the fastest way to travel long distances in Minecraft?

I actually just extend water edges when I need sand..

I built a small little bay and excavated quite a bit of sand for use as glass

(Id say around 5 or so stacks).

This got me a large stack of glass, and compliments on how neat the little bay was.

I can take screen shots if it would help but its a bit of a walk from where I am now in the world.

Two ways in your situation:

First , clearly you're a homebody if you consider walking 500 blocks to be "too far"—so use this to your advantage!

Just this once , take a very long walk to find a desert biome, and strip-mine

the poor thing for its precious, precious sand.

Then take your sand home, safe in the knowledge that you'll never see that desert again.

Secondly , you can easily mine sand off the ocean floor without noticeably altering the look of the land:

Take a door and a pile of shovels with you.

Plant the door in a nice, sandy area underwater, creating a convenient air pocket.

Mine as much sand as you can reach within your bubble timer, returning to your door to breathe.

Profit!

Digging underwater is slower than on land, so to speed up digging you can bring many doors and place them strategically, digging while standing inside the air bubbles.

Equipping an Aqua Affinity helmet allows you to dig underwater at normal speed as well.

Since you're not in a sand biome, you could go ahead and dig out all the sand, then repair just the top layer with dirt (which isn't affected by gravity of course).

This is a quick-and-dirty way to get the sand and still have a tidy landscape.

You could set up a cobblestone generator by putting a lava source block and a water source block in a 4-block long trough.

The generator will ensure that you don't ruin any other parts of the landscape when you go mining for stone.

Then with your cobblestone you can fill in the hole you leave when you mine all the sand out of it.

It'll look like a natural pebble beach instead of a sandy beach :)

Go underwater, place two fence posts on top of each other with a jack'o'lantern for light to make an easily findable air pocket.

You can then dig as much sand as you want.

Also if you use signs (from the post outward) you can extend the air pocket in a way you can walk through, and you can place signs on top of signs to create underwater walkways.

This is also a very good way to harvest clay too.

Be careful though when layering signs, because if one is broken it will cause every subsequent sign after that to drop too.

Try not to make your underwater walkways too big, otherwise creepers can spawn down there and destroy your entire walkway past the point they explode.

Doors also make good air pockets, but unlike signs, you can't pass through doors, so you have to be a bit craftier about making it navigable.

Question: I'm pretty sure everyone knows that collecting a large amount of glass can lead to some really ugly landscapes where pretty much a large, stone hole is left after you take all the sand from the beach. I want to avoid this - keeping my world as naturally nice as possible. I am pretty certain that there are no real desert biomes in a reasonable distance around me (~500 block radius).   How can I harvest lots (> 10 stacks) of sand for glass/sandstone without leaving huge craters in the landscape?

How can I collect a large amount of sand/glass without ruining the natural environment?

Focus on breadth, not depth. Go somewhere far away and strip mine. You could also set up a cobblestone generator so you can fill in the hole you leave when you mine the sand.

Collect sand from a distant place that won't be visited again or from an underwater site. Another option is covering the mined hole with dirt or using a cobblestone generator for this filling.

Collecting sand from a distant place and never visiting it again.

Collecting sand and repairing either the top layer or using a cobblestone generator to fill the mined hole.

Collecting sand from an underwater site.


Short answer:

It can go on forever lit torches and repeaters

will always give a current of 15.

Long answer:

Current will travel until some of the wire is no longer loaded, if the source of the current is not inside the render distance current will not start.

(This is why Minecraft inside Minecraft will not work, there is not enough space to run all of a computer).

Short version: Using repeaters the travel distance is infinite.

This can be exploited to build moderately large memory buffers utilizing delay-line memory, for fun and profit.

Note that there might be practical limits to how much the game engine can handle before it blows up.

Long version: If it is not a question of distance, but rather an issue of the theoretical maximum number of wire/repeater blocks that can be powered by a single redstone torch, this number is fairly large.

When you consider the fact that redstone repeaters will reset current to 15, the actual distance itself is infinite, but there is a practical distance; loaded chunks.

This limits you to an area of 16 * 16 * 81; and if you want to keep your circuits isolated; this works out to an approximate upper limit of 11000 powered pieces of wire/repeater, unless you use nothing but repeaters and wires for turns, in which case you can almost completely tesselate all of the loaded area, allowing for a lossage of approximately 144 blocks to turning space.

Edit:

It's worth noting that in an all-repeater configuration; while you get upwards of 20000 square meters of active redstone; said redstone won't be able to power anything much; and any escape gap you make to allow devices to draw power will carry a pretty big penalty to the number of blocks that can be powered (upwards of an entire row).

Reedit:

Did a bit of a gaffe in my math:

In an all-repeater configuration, you can also use several levels; up to about 62 (allowing for bedrock and sky) layers of tightly packed redstone; giving you somewhere north of 1,200,000 meters of redstone current; or a little south of 1.2 megabits of storage in delay-line memory; 150 kilobytes.

In a single player game

this 150kB is as such the absolute maximum storage any Minecraft-based computer can have.

150kB might not sound like a lot; but if you use some sort of clock and a suitably designed buffer, it amounts to almost 10 minutes of 256-tone music, or over an hour if you limit yourself to 32 tones.

(Of course, you would have no space to build the music player and still have the memory work, but that's not the point.

Threeedit:

A screenshot of a possible design of a Minecraft High-Density Memory Cell: Not pictured: A monostable circuit allowing 1-tick input and a loopback device turning it into permanent memory

This particular design uses both ^^ gates and compact repeaters; the function of the repeaters is essentially to increase isolation, increasing density and, by extension, distance; but they also double as delay-line memory.

A memory cell like this built from bedrock (4) to sky (128) over 81 chunks has an approximate maximum travel distance for a redstone pulse of 144 * 144

((128 - 4) / 2)

(128 - 4) = 1,285,756 meters; with a total capacity of 1,276,828 bits.

Note: Working out how large a stretch of redstone will have to be sacrificed in the central chunk of this memory cell in order to build a 32-tone music player; a 32-bit buffer and utilities to program the music is left as an exercise to the reader.

As is actually building it and seeing if it will actually work on the scale described.

You can extend the range as far as you want in SMP, as long as other players or bots are in place to keep chunks in memory that are outside the 81 chunks that are loaded around the player.

Several of the larger redstone creations on youtube have bots stationed at regular intervals to keep the whole circuit in memory.

In single player you are limited to 81 chunks, 144 blocks .

For those running their own server - a bit of additional information.

I'm running 1.8.

I had built a very long circuit which was not working.

I didn't count or do the math, but FYI -- I changed my view-distance parameter from the default of 10 to 15 and my circuit worked as expected.

Apparently, as I'd hoped, a longer view-distance keeps more chunks in memory.

I've done some research into this myself.

I've got 16 sets of memory at 2bytes each.

Each memory section is approx 40 blocks long.

Redstone propagation is good up to the 5 section.

Sometimes it will get as far as the 8th section.

So current is limited to 200 blocks reliably, and up to 320 will limited reliability.

I'm on a normal render distance, and it's possible that with a higher render, you'll get farther propagation.

I'm using standard side-by-side parallel communication with a space between lines.

At 16 bits per section, that leaves 32 blocks reserved for communication.

The additional 8 is required space for routing of signals to where they need to go.

These are sustained by redstone repeaters at approx 12-14 blocks between each.

Now this is lateral communication, not vertical.

Because vertical remains within the same chunk, I believe that vertical signal propagation is infinite to the min and max of the chunk itself.

Simple: 15 Blocks is your answer.

With repeaters it can be infinite.

If you are using mods, you could use world anchors ect to keep chunks loaded, other than that I wouldn't know whether an entity/player traveling in a minecart that is adjacent to the redstone wire would keep rendering the chunks.

About 5 million theoretically if you went bedrock to skylimit laying it in a spiral going up and you stood in the chunk next to your spawn chunk to double the area you have loaded.

Question: I know that there is a 15 block limit before a repeater is needed, however I am looking for the TOTAL distance that current can travel. Is it infinite? Can I keep adding repeaters and go on forever?  I don't mind whether "old-school" repeaters are used (2 NOT gates) or the ones added in Beta 1.5, biggest distance wins.  EDIT:  Interesting stuff guys, I would love to see some pictures of your findings!

How far can redstone current travel?

Use repeaters and the travel distance is infinite.

Redstone current can travel infinitely with the use of repeaters.

By using repeaters redstone current can travel infinitely


From what I've heard, there isn't much impact on Dragon Age 2 from DAO.

The story takes place in a different part of the world, and there are only a few side characters that carry over at all, none of which are in your party.

So from just the standpoint of enjoying DA2, I'd say no.

On the other hand, DAO is a great game, and DA2 has been getting pretty mediocre reviews, so one could make the argument that you should play DAO first just because it is a better game for less money.

While it's true much of what you do in Dragon Age II isn't directly connected to the plot of Dragon Age:

Origins , the game assumes you are familiar with the setting established in Dragon Age

: Origins so much so that it completely glosses over a ton of exposition which serves to give meaning to the motivations of the main character and the overall story.

That is, if you don't play Dragon Age:

Origins , you're going to find yourself asking "Who cares? "

more often than not while the plot unfolds.

Dragon Age II will give you the CliffsNotes version of a plot element, but the background behind that plot element is fully explored in Dragon Age: Origins .

Additionally, there's a ton of dialogue points in sidequests and with companions which make reference to the events of Dragon Age: Origins that'll be lost on the person who doesn't play it.

But perhaps the most important reason to play Dragon Age:

Origins before Dragon Age II is that it's the better game.

Dragon Age II has better gameplay and a much improved user interface, but it's not the Godfather II of the series.

You'd be doing yourself a disservice by not playing Dragon Age:

Origins in order to play Dragon Age II exclusively.

At the time this question was asked, the chosen answer was a good one.

Now, however, with Dragon Age: Inquisition having been thrown into the mix, I think it deserves revisitation.

It's true that the events of Dragon Age II are not directly tied to those of Dragon Age: Origins .

However, if you really want to understand what's going on in DA:I , you have to know the stories of both.

DA:

O sets up the grand lore of the setting, focusing on blights, dragons as elder gods, the Grey Wardens, the Fade, magic, and the politics of each of the major races, giving glimpses into their societies.

The DA:

O expansion, Awakening , gets more into the spirits of the Fade and some dark stuff that's happened in the history of the Grey Wardens.

DAII is a much more localized story than DA:

O , focusing mainly on the tensions that can arise between mages, who are segregated from the general population in many places, and the templars who stand between them and everyone else.

It's easy to think that all of these things are separate and playable alone, but DA:

I weaves all three of them - because Awakening turns out to be important to DAII and DA:

I later on - into one coherent narrative.

Technically, DA:I can be played alone, but you're doing yourself a disservice if you go that route.

The OMGWUT moments only pop if you've played everything.

In terms of gameplay, DA:

O really shows its age these days.

It's a shame, because it really is a great game with a great deal of interesting lore to offer.

DAII is deeply flawed, having an extraordinary amount of reused environmental content.

The combat gameplay is different enough that it was quite controversial at the time it came out, too.

TL;DR: Play all the things.

Or at least watch a let's play to get the story.

When starting a new game in DA2 besides importing a save you will be able to choose one from some possible outcomes of DAO.

Generally not playing DAO does not give you a chance to kill some characters and prevent them from appearing in optional quests in DA2.

Besides that the plot in DA2 is independent as it concerns the main character and locations so the events in DAO do not contribute much to the development of DA2.

It's definitely worth playing to get the background, as others have said, but if you're largely concerned about the saved file import you could use the Dragon Age Save Game Creator to generate a Warden to your liking.

(Spoilers for DA:O, obviously, as the creator asks you for your decisions at key plot points.)

Nope!

It's not the like Bioware's Mass Effect series, where your actions matter.

DA2 is a whole new story, and DA:

O story has no significant impact on the DA2 story.

Question: Is it worth the extra cost and time it'll take to complete Dragon Age Origins? Is there that much back-story I'll miss out on in Dragon Age 2?

Is it worth completing Dragon Age Origins before playing Dragon Age 2?

If you want to understand what's going on, then you should know the stories of both. However, much of what you do in DAII isn't directly connected to the plot of DA.

Many support the completion of Dragon Age: Origins before Dragon Age 2 for the sake of the greater experience, DAO does not contribute to the development of DA2 and therefore its completion beforehand is not recommended.

It is argued that playing Dragon Age: Origins before Dragon Age 2 enables the understanding of the game and offers a greater experience.

Since the Dragon Age: Origins does not contribute to the development of Dragon Age 2, it is not suggested to complete it beforehand.


Much like those in your computer, optical drives spin at varying speeds based on the data they're trying to read.

It doesn't mean much, and in general should happen more on startup and loading screens.

If it gets to be too loud or disruptive, you always have the option to install games to your hard drive.

Note you'll still need the disc in the drive, but it will attempt to read data from the hard drive instead of the disc, making it generally faster and quieter.

I generally keep the game that I've been playing the most installed on my xbox and uninstall games

I haven't played in a while to keep space free.

I appreciate the faster load times and quieter operation, but it is by no means required that you install games to your hard drive.

This will allow you to install the game directly to a hard drive (if you bought one), or to an external USB device.

This will load the game from that device, rather than from the DVD.

It'll definitely cut down on any noise from reading the disc, and typically (but not always) results in faster loads for games.

You do have to have the game disc in the drive when loading it up and playing though for security reasons.

I'm not too sure about the first part of your question

but I can certainly answer the second part.

You can indeed play games without installing it, if you don't install the game the game will simply run off the CD.

If you do decide to install the game you will still need the CD to play the game (prevents users installing the game and then returning the game).

Installing the game has advantages:-

Reduces game load

times-

Apparently helps prevent the "red ring of death"

Installing a game can avoid in-game problems that may occur from having a slightly-damaged disc, as described here .

Depending on the extent of the damage, you may be able to install the game to your hard drive and then play from there, using the disc only to start the game.

If you can't install the game from your copy, then as the linked question suggests, you can try to find a friend with a working disc, use their disc to install, and use your disc to start.

(If your disc is damaged to the point where it can't be used to start the game, then you still won't be able to play the game, even if you did install it to your hard drive.)

Another reason no one has mentioned

: It reduces wear-and-tear on the optical drive.

My wife plays a lot and has actually mechanically worn out more than one optical drive over the years.

Question: Possible Duplicate:  Should I install Xbox 360 games to my hard drive?     When I enter and see a game in the dashboard, I can press Y and see game details for it. There I can choose to install the game. What is this for? I can play the game without installing it.

What is the point of installing a game?

You can install the game on a hard drive and it will load from there rather than from the disc. You will cut down on noise from reading the disc and results in faster loads.

Installing a game enhances game load times and helps avoid in-game problems and damages on the optical drive.

Installing a game has a number of advantages linked to its overall performance.


I've found it much more effective to aim the centre of the crosshair at the middle of the wooden structure he's on; the mid-left crosshair should be on the left-hand guy.

As with most siege weaponry, the goal is to hit the structure, not the individual.

After trying 10 times to hit him, I just aimed for the entire thing and got it first go.

I'd also reccomend making a quicksave just before it (after Foltest talks to the arbalist) and hit reload whenever Geralt doesn't order "One and a half degrees".

Good luck, I found this to be a major hassle too!

According to the Game Guide that came with my copy of the game, 1.5 degrees is the right angle.

I've got my brother testing what that does currently, and will update when he succeeds (or fails).

Edit: It appears that if you get the correct angle and kill the "red-plumed man" you will not have to fight Count Etchverry after breaking through the barricade.

(so it reduces the number of enemies you have to fight a little later on).

For those having trouble with this, the wall has 2 openings\windows and 3 pillars.

Aim the middle of your spy glass at the mid-bottom of the furthest right pillar.

You will succeed when your character says 1.5 degrees.

The right angle is 1.5 degrees.

It means that you need to have the target between centre and upper line.

If you play on a, PC you need to use arrow keys in order to aim correctly (saying that just in case CD Projekt will release the game on other platforms).

If you use the mouse, Geralt will constantly say "3 degrees".

Good shooting. :)

I found that aiming lower or dead centre of the platform didn't work for me.

Instead I had to aim at the guy without the flume on the right.

This was the only way I could get the correct 1.5 degree call.

Oddly in my game it seem that the horizontal angle mattered more then the vertical.

Question: In the tutorial, the king gives Geralt the spyglass to aim for the "man with the red plume", while he adjusts the ballista. I felt like I had the cross-hairs right on the man, but when the bolt was fired, it was a bit high.  Is it possible to actually hit the target? If so, do you need to aim somewhere other than directly at him (perhaps a bit low)?

In The Witcher 2, is it possible to hit the man with the red plume?

1.5 degrees is the right angle. The wall has 2 openings and 3 pillars. Aim the middle at the mid-bottom of the right pillar.

The right angle in order to hit the man with the red plum is 1.5 degrees.

The right angle in order to hit the the man with the red plum is 1.5 degrees.


If you're lucky enough to end up in a lake with rock or dirt sides (not sand)

you can dig 3 sideways into the bank and 2-3 up to create an air pocket to jump up into: ######~~~###++#~~~###++#~~~###~~#~~~###~~~~~~###~~~~~~###~~~~~~########## = Dirt / rock / other block~ =

Water+ =

Precious life giving air

From there you can dig your way out.

I've done this

so often I can now do it in pitch black darkness.

Maybe I should learn to look before I leap...

Get yourself some flippers so you can swim out, or a grappling hook to climb.

I believe rocket boots would also work underwater, though they're rare.

A breathing reed would give you a little better chance of not drowning, and a balloon would improve your jump height.

If none of these options are available, you can try digging an air pocket, as explained in this answer .

Build a solid area around yourself with mud or dirt, make the ceiling 2-3 blocks high, then mine out an air pocket.

This is sort of like Stuart Pegg's answer above, but doesn't require a solid wall next to you.

NNNN

NXXN N

N N NDDDDDDDDDTDDDD

D - dirtN - new dirt

you addX - spots where you add dirt, then mine it awayT - mine this spot out and put a torch there, so you can see

sjohnston has listed some great items, but if you lack those you can drop sand below you to try and get up.

This is going to be another air-pocket answer, but for a situation where the lake is particularly large, and no nearby wall is available.

If you have the misfortune of falling into the middle of a very large lake, break out your pickaxe and immediately dig yourself down.

Be careful if the water starts to flow out, as that means you've hit the bottom of the lake and now need to either wait for it to drain, or very carefully fall out of it yourself, taking caution not to fall into something even worse.

If you dig down five tiles and still haven't hit another cave, immediately dig three tiles to the left/right (whichever one offers you a solid cave) until there's a space where you can stand under two tiles while still having one tile next to them.

Dig the two tiles out from above you, careful to leave two tiles and the outer 'lip' intact, and start jumping.

You'll slowly recover your air and can work on a better long-term survival/escape strategy.

Y =

= SurfaceD =

DirtX

= Area to dig____Y___DDDDXXDDDXXDXXDDDXXXXXDDDXXXXXDDDXXXXXDDDDDDDDDD

One of the simplest early game techniques that is available is carrying ropes or rope coils (made by crafting 10 ropes together).

Simply place them and climb!

Another alternative is to use platforms to make stairs.

You can also put many platforms over the entire lake, so you don't have to worry about falling in in any longer.

Question: I just fell into a deep lake underground and miserably died because I was not able to jump out. Are there any techniques to survive in this case, or is this one of the dangerous aspects of being a miner?

How can I escape from deep lakes?

You can dig sideways and up to create an ait pocket. From there you can dig yourself out. You can also get some flippers to swim out or use platforms to make stairs.

The most effective ways of escaping deep lakes are the creation of air pockets and the use of flippers, ropes or platforms.

Creating an air pocket appears to be an effective way to escape deep lakes.

Using flippers, ropes or platformes enables the climbing out of the deep lakes.


Shotgunners have the quickest fire rate of a unit, which is key to using them to your advantage.

If they're within range of another unit, say a Machine Gunner, they will get their shot off first and win the battle (but you also need to take into account the other factors that determine the winner: cover, are you moving, are you switching stance, and are you aiming).

As much as I hate camping, they're nice to camp a doorway and cut down anything that walks through it, or walks by a window they're camping.

And like it was mentioned above

, they are the quickest unit, so if you're having trouble with a sniper, they should be your go-to unit, if you have any.

there are great for indoor use.

also if you have them wait around a door that you know some one will pass through.

they also walk the quickest of any unit.

(well at lest in the last version i played in depth)

Shotgunners are only useful at close range, this is the most important part.

They are nearly unbeatable at close range (baring factors like cover and etc).

I find the most effective thing to do with them is to guard doors that the enemy is likely to enter and also to rush and flank the enemy.

You might need to force your shotgunners to ignore enemies or 'continue on sight' in order to rush the enemy.

If you're not running directly at any enemy, there's a good chance they won't be able to get a good shot off and you can get up close and at that point the shotgunner is probably going to win.

Here's a simple tip for reducing the problem of limited range that the shotgun unit has.

In dark mode, you are often uncertain if an enemy unit is approaching of moving away from your position.

Aim your shotgun unit just before it passes through the door opening, move out a slight bit, cancel aim, then move back in behind the wall.

If an enemy is approaching your position and is close, your shotgun will get a shot off.

If the enemy is moving away, you will only be exposed for a very short while, not allowing machine guns to fire before you are behind cover.

Even if you do not get a kill in this case you should be safe, and peeking like this still gains you valuable information in dark mode about your enemy's position.

Use walls.

It's very important to block LOS of your enemy with full wall.

this is the best way of killing enemy machine gunners in CQB - rush to the corner, then jump from there and shoot.

Even if MG is behind cover, if he's close enough, you'll win.

Question: I just got Frozen Synapse, and I'm having a hard time making good use of the shotgun units.  It seems like they often just have too short of a range to compete with the other units.  What are some basic tips for getting the most of out them?

Tips for using shotgun units effectively

Shotgunners have the quickest fire rate and are great for indoor use at close range.

The most effective way of using the shotgun units are for defence due to their speed.

Great for creating defence walls. Speed is also an advantage.


There are many good reasons to have a jungler in your team:

The player that stay solo (topusually) while he's lane partnerjungle get more gold and experience.

The jungler can do or help doing some kills by ganking mid (2vs1) or bottom (3vs2) in any moment.

Some champions are more efficient in jungling than last-hitting in lane (e.g. Amumu, Rammus, Malphite)

Best junglers can also take the dragon (190 gold to all team members) early

A good jungler will know precisely how to kill neutral monsters very quickly and effectively (HP + kill order).

Having jungler implies having two champions soloing a lane, so both solo champions gain more experience than either of the enemies in a two-champion lane.

If the jungler is experienced enough, he can keep up with the level of laning champions, but it's a job!

Don't expect to succeed on the first time.

Practice!

Usually (and unfortunately) some champs will have difficulties to do their jobs as jungler without runes.

(Since the bonus they provide can be quite significant at level 1)

You will have to request help to kill your first monster and make good use of healing potion.

(Take care, as they heal over time and not instantly!)

Then it will be up to you to know when to stop jungling (past a certain level it becomes useless) and also when to provide help to other lanes (since you are invisible most of time, the enemy will be always fearing you...

but you have to show up sometimes for that).

Having a champion "jungle" allows your team to maximize the available gold and experience available to you.

See this link for experience and gold available per minion wave:

Experience and Gold per minion See this link for experience and gold available in the jungle: Jungle Experience and Gold Scenario 1 (no jungler) 2 champions top - shared experience and gold

1 champion mid - doesn't share experience or gold 2 champions bottom - shared experience and gold 0 champions jungle - "wasted" experience and gold Scenario 2

(jungler) 1 champion top (standard) -

doesn't share experience or gold

1 champion mid - doesn't share experience or gold 2 champions bot - shared experience and gold 1 champion jungle - jungle gold and experice (see the link above)

Now the speed and efficiency of the jungler will change the Experience and Gold they get but average junglers tend to keep up with the players who are in lanes with partners or better while allowing two champions to solo.

Other added benefits include less predictable ganking as the jungler can roam anywhere out of sight of the enemy team without the enemy laner calling them "mia" and better control of the dragon.

Jungling allows for four things to happen:

It allows for an additional source of income for your team to be harvested.

While your top lane is farming gold, you're taking the gold in your jungle that would otherwise just be sitting there.

It allows you control over the red and blue buffs, which are important not just for you but also for your teammates.

It allows you to gank lanes, helping lanes that are faltering, punishing overaggresive opponents, or help cement an advantage.

Presence of a jungler puts a leash on how people behave in lane.

It gives you control over dragon and baron, which are important objectives.

Having smite allows you prevent stealing or steal these objectives.

If you have a jungler, the overall xp and gold gain is going up for your team.

The solo laner gets to kill more minions (and perhaps champions) and the jungler earns his xp and money in the jungle.

win/win for both of you.

Do try to make sure not to put a squishy character in the solo lane.

By having a Jungler, your team will have 2 solo lanes, giving you 2 characters that a re higher levels and hopefully more gold than your opponents.

In addition, some junglers get really high leveled quickly and can pick up more gold as well.

Junglers often gank the enemy for their team, allowing them to recover from unfortunate situations and scaring the enemy so they won't be too aggressive.

Also, in the jungle there are buffs that can help your team, such as Dragon that grants gold to your team and Red and Blue buff that can help the champion who kills the monsters that guard it; the jungler may take these alone or give them to allies to help them out as well.

Question: I'm fairly new to League of Legends (or DotA-likes in general).   What's the point of jungling versus just killing minions?  Do they give significantly more gold or experience than the peons from either side?

What's the point of jungling?

The best junglers take the dragon early. They will know how to kill neutral monsters early and effectively. This will allow your team to maximise available gold. It also allows for less predictable ganking and an additional source of income.

Experience points, more gold and assistance with the enemies are some of the most prominent ways in which junglers can be of use.