I would argue that if you're just starting out, grid hotkeys are more efficient since you can memorize either which key it is or where on the unit-card

the button is located (visual cues tend to help memorization) - and if you don't know the hotkey, you can find it without mousing over the button.

Also, all the keys are on one side of the keyboard, meaning you won't have to move your hand as much.

That being said, the vast majority of players use the default keys either because A)

They don't know grid exists , or B)

They are already used to the default layout (grid was not an option in the beta), and/or were already used to the very similar layout of Starcraft 1; there really is no benefit to them learning a new layout if they already have the default hotkeys memorized.

Most competitive players would fall into this category.

gaming.stackexchange.com/users/2578/BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft

Another point to consider in favor of grid hotkeys is that in many cases you don't have to learn a separate set of keys for each race.

For instance: Z-Q makes a base in any race.

Z-W makes a "Vespene Gas thing" in any race. Z-E makes a Terran Supply Depot or a Protoss Pylon.

(Of course, with Zerg you have to make an Overlord instead.)

Z is the normal build key in any race, and X is the advanced build key.

Using T to attack feels weird at first, but in a few days you get used to it.

It's mostly just preference.

You'll find that the standard set of hot keys is as efficient as the Grid.

The majority of the hotkeys, are left aligned after all.

Day9 and most commentators probably use the standard grid hot keys because they started playing in the beta--before the grid was an available option.

That and the fact that most Broodwar and Warcraft 3 players are used to the "Attack" and "Stop" hot keys being in the traditional spot.

It would be pointless to switch or "retrain" on grid layout when the benefit is very little.

It's really up to you, both settings can be done with the left hand

so your right is free for mouse work.

If you want the hotkeys to be the same across races more of them will be with grid mode.

Otherwise the keys are based on the name of the unit/action/upgrade/building/etc.

As someone who uses a Kinesis Advantage keyboard, Grid layout is really my only option, anything else

and I have to take my right hand off the mouse and place it on the keyboard.

As for the control groups issue, I use a Razer Naga Epic mouse

so I have all my control groups on the left side of my mouse as thumb buttons.

Certain schools of thought teach that the layout for standard is efficient when combined with the overall macro combinations one normally would use for team games.

Grid confines your keyboard use to one side thereby allowing your left hand to perhaps rest on a single point pivot.

This would allow laziness to creep into your adding to sloppy control group use or neglecting the higher 6-0 control groups.

Also the camera views etc etc

Question: I played a lot of beta SC2 games (as random) with the grid setup and managed.  Since then I've started watching  Day[9]  and some other commentators who seem to refer often to the default hotkeys in their recommendations for, eg., keeping drones building at all times.  My question is: to what extent are hotkeys mere preference?  If we took a random sampling of competitive players, would roughly 50% be using the grid layout, or would it skew for some relevant game-play reason?

Which Starcraft 2 hotkey set should I use?

Grid hotkeys are more efficient as you can memorize which is which. You don't have to leanr a separate set for each race.

Wether or not you are just starting to play, grid hotkeys are the most efficient.

Users agree that grid mode is basically the only option.


In Minecraft Beta 1.4 and later, sleeping in a bed will set your spawn point.

On older SMP servers running Minecraft Beta 1.3, spawn points can be changed using the /setspawn command, provided the server is running any of the common mods to provide this functionality.

Sometimes this command is called /sethome, and sometimes the /sethome command has a different purpose.

There is no way to set the spawn point ingame on Single Player Minecraft Alpha/

Beta < 1.4.

Some third party tools will change it for you however.

For Minecraft Classic, pressing Enter sets the spawn point.

Simply make a bed and lay into it.

If you're in multiplayer mode, you don't need to wait for all others to also get in a bed in order to sleep - laying down is enough to change your spawn point so long as your bed doesn't get destroyed .

You can't do this without cheating.

If you're okay with cheating, you can use NBTEdit using this guide .

The location of the spawn point can be changed if the player digs 3 spaces downwards from it.

This will however only move the spawn point a few blocks away from the original location; it is not possible, using this method, to dramatically or controllably alter the location of the spawn point

but there is tools that allows you to change the spawn point.

From http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Spawn

An idea similar to the badp answer : Build a river from somewhere near your spawn point to your house.

This way, the water flow will help you move fast toward your house.

It's also very cheap to build.

In the next minecraft update, players will be able to move their spawn point.

Source: http://notch.tumblr.com/

I’ve been able to focus on development a lot the last couple of weeks, and we’re hoping to get the new update out soon.

It will include the wolves, the ability to change your spawn point, and a rather ambitious statistics tracking and achievement system.

And, officially, from the changelog: Sleeping in a bed now resets your spawn position

If you don't wanna spawn too far away from your housemake a bed: (wool wool wool)(wood wood wood) or put up a signal thats above the clouds, it will be like a pin on a treasure map.

In the newer versions of Minecraft (tested on 1.8.9) you can use /setworldspawn

X Y

Z where X, Y and Z are coordinates, where you want to set the spawn point.

You can easily check your current coordinates e.g. with debugging screen (press F3 ).

You can learn more about the command with /help

setworldspawn

Question: I am spawning too far from my home. How do I move my spawn point?

How do I move my spawn point?

Make a bed and that will set your spawn point. In Minecraft Classic, pressing enter sets the point.

Whereas the most common solution is to sleep in a bed, in other versions of minecraft, Enter sets the spawn point or digging 3 spaces below it. If one is so inclined, third party tools like NBTEdit will do this for you.

Users suggest sleeping in a bed will reset the spawn.

In other minecraft versions, some simpler solutions are possible.

Third party tools will also do this for you


Items will disappear if they are on the ground for 5 minutes after you die.

This timer starts ticking as soon as you die; even on the death screen that timer is going to keep counting, so if you go take a break to grab some food and come back to find out your character's been lying around dead for 10 minutes, your items are gone.

Also, dying in lava or fire will make you lose any items that fall into the flames.

Items that fall onto cactus are also destroyed.

Caveat: if you spawn far enough away from where you died and the chunk becomes unloaded, the item timers will freeze until the chunk is loaded again.

As per this question , your inventory will stay around the point where you died for approximately 5 minutes.

If you die with creepers around, be aware that an exploding creeper (after your items have dropped) will probably destroy some/all of them.

From personal experience, sometimes the items kind of spray out around where you died, so do a few laps when you get there to make sure you got everything.

Just for the purpose of being complete: items that fall into or are thrown into lava are destroyed immediately.

(You can use this to your advantage if you're sick of storing stacks of dirt or something.)

Also, if the game crashes while you're on your "body-run" there is a high likelihood that your stuff is gone even well inside the five-minute window.

Some more info: Items get scattered in an area around you on death, and there is a glitch where they go through walls.

Another glitch makes your corpse pick up the items after they were scattered, and they get destroyed.

I believe these glitches account for the "there's a chance that items get destroyed on death" you read on the forums over and over again.

Question: Possible Duplicate:  What persists after a respawn in Minecraft?     I've apparently lost my diamond sword due to a death far from my spawn point. Was I just unlucky or do items disappear if you are so far/if they are on the ground for X minutes?

What causes an item to disappear in Minecraft?

Items will disappear if they are on the ground for 5 minutes after you die.

Items stay around for 5 minutes after death, however they may glitch through walls too.

Users suggest items stay around for 5 minutes after death.


Steam game files and game saves are two different subjects.

You can copy the Steam folder altogether to the new HD and then do the following:- delete everything except SteamApps folder and Steam.exe- run Steam.exe.

This will make it re-sync with the Steam Cloud and download everything again and recognize the "just" installed games.

Some games have their auto-install routines which will be triggered on the first run.

This reveals itself as the steam installer service requesting authorization.

Save games are mostly under Users/, or the Steam folder itself.

Make a backup of the entire users folder in any case you could need something later.

See this Steam

How-To describing how you move your installation.

It depends.

Every game that you have on Steam has its own save strategies.

They could store their savegames in My Documents/GameName / folder or in My Documents/My Games/GameName/ on in Local Settings and so on.

I suggest you to create a new question for each game you are interested in.

Steam Cloud

The only exception are the games that supports Steam Cloud feature.

If you are not sure, you can check the official page on the Steam Store and look in the feature list to the right.

If games support Steam Cloud you have to do nothing.

Save games are stored directly on Steam server and they are automatically synchronized back to your account on your new pc installation.

Some games that support Steam Cloud : Half-Life 2 , Portal , Torchlight , Toki Tori , etc.

Microsoft Games For Windows Live Also some games that use Microsoft's Games For Windows Live service

could store save games online.

An example is Grand Theft Auto IV .

Just copy them over.

Install Steam onto the new computer so that the directory structure is all set up then copy the data files across.

(I don't have Steam installed on this computer

(I'm at work!)

so I can't verify which folders you need to copy).

There is a nice tool to backup and restore your savegames and settings for Steam and some other gaming related programs: SaveGameBackup.net List of features (copied from http://savegamebackup.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=316 ) Purpose

Backup all of your game saves in just a couple clicks.

Restore games you have previously backed up, even if you change computers or operating systems.

You can even share your saves with friends.

Support for saving and restoring over the network (UNC) and saving to cloud services, like DropBox and SugarSync.

Currently detecting over 1,200 games!

Free

No ads, no nags.

100% Free.

Although there is a donate button if you are feeling generous :) Easy To Use A sleek UI and easy to understand controls were designed to make using SGB.net as simple as possible.

Portable

All application settings are stored in the application's folder.

This makes SGB.net great for thumb drives.

Multilingual Extensibility

Contains complete out-of-the-box language support for English, Dutch, French, German, Russian, Spanish, and Slovenian languages.

New languages can be added at your discretion.

They can also be sent to me to be officially included in the next release (via the Forum link in the About tab).

Supports all flavors of Windows from Windows XP SP3 to Windows 7.

Database and XML Driven Using SQLite to manage all standard entry information.

SQLite's unparalleled speed makes it the best choice for SGB.net.

Ability to update database from within the program to keep up to date with the latest database.

There is no need (usually) to update the entire program to get new game support.

Using XML to manage all custom entry information.

XML is not as quick as SQLite, but it is human-readable, and can therefore be manually edited.

Custom database entries: if a game is not supported, you can add it yourself.

This means SGB.net can be used to back up a lot more than game saves.

Ignore List

If you don't want to see a game on your list anymore, you can hide it with the Ignore List.

Standardized Zip Archives

Using DotNetZip for standardized zip compression to keep backup archives as small as possible.

If you have a multi-core system, DotNetZip will take advantage of it, making it's speeds unmatchable by similar libraries.

The created archives are not password protected, so they can be viewed/edited with any archive manager.

All restoration information is stored in the comment section of the zip file.

It's very simple.

I transfer between two PCs all the time.

Under C:\users\"your username"\my documents\my games\skyrim\saves you will find your save files.

(if you have another language of Windows it can be different or if you use something other than Vista/Windows 7)

Simply copy the save files you want over to the other computer in the same directory.

I usually only take my quicksave.ess over and send it on mail or use a usb drive.

Question: I'm planning to upgrade my computer's hard drive and I'm not using an imaging program because I'm clean installing - How can I move my Steam game files and game saves from the old harddrive to the new hard drive with Windows 7?

How can I move my Steam saves from One hard drive to another?

Copy the files to the new HD in the same directory.

The simplistic solution is to just copy them over. However it depends on the game, since different games have different ways of storing the files. If the saves are stored in the cloud, then you don't have to do anything.

Users suggest just copying the files over.

It seems however that the answer is not so simple, since different games store the files differently, or may use the cloud to store them.


There are two reasons for the quick Evolution Chamber.

Reason One

The first, as you noted, was early upgrades which can quickly turn a fragile force (take zerglings for example) into an early game force to fear.

However without gas this isn't a feasible strategy.

If attempting this build order, gas first is a must to make use of that early Evolution Chamber.

Reason Two

What you are witnessing is preventative measures designed to protect against early air pressure.

With Banshees, Void rays, and Mutalisk a consistent threat, a Zerg can unlock the ability to build spore crawlers providing both detection and vital air defense.

The extra protection is often worth the extra resource cost to help the Zerg survive to mid-late game where they can overwhelm their opponent with macro.

Yes, to increase the effectiveness of early Zergling/Speedling harassments, early upgrades are good.

In the case that you see an Evolution Chamber without an Extractor, he unlocks the Spore Crawler .

I'd say it is a quick and cheap way to free up some supply, for a building you'll need eventually anyway.

Might also be used for wall-ins/sim city.

I don't agree with any of answers doesn't handle case of EC necessity in EARLY game (is build together with Spawning Pool w/o gas).

Gas is absent, so you won't be able to start upgrades; Opponent Air Units will be absent yet 2 or more minutes, so there are no value from ability to build spore colonies

My guess, why they build EC very early is they are just supply blocked and want to release 1 supply.

It is not too reasonable though, as they can build extractor (it is only 25 minerals)...

It can be effective.

It DOES make a person who scouts you not think about putting out early air.

Its a decent fooling tactic.

Additionally, if you are capped out, have no larvae, and have huge mineral surplus.

You need that building later on, but will you have the time/money/drone when you have to produce a consistent stream of army units?

Do you neglect to build a roach warren if the other person is getting something that can counter roaches?

Even if you tech up, maybe they build something later that completely destroys you because you didn't have a roach warren built and couldn't produce them in time.

And because you didn't build the building before you needed it, but only after.

Getting an evolution chamber early is usually a mistake.

Unless the zerg player took two extractors early, they won't be able to make the upgrades, and air/cloaked units will take a while longer.

It's better to put those minerals into getting an expo up.

I usually don't get an evolution chamber until I have my expo ~50% saturated, and by then I can get an overseer scout to see if there's any air production.

The exception is if you're able to scout a VR, banshee, or DT rush, because those can occasionally come before lair tech.

Personally I have experimented with a build that gets early +1 speedlings to defend the expo and deny scouting and fast expands.

But of course that requires gas.

Maybe he had a defensive tactic in mind.

When evolution chambers die, they spawn broodlings.

Broodlings aren't as a secure a defense as spinecrawlers are, but they may be a decisive factor when defending a base since they attack, and they may give the player some time to return to his base to defend.

Tt gives sporecrawlers and upgrades, if the Zerg needs some.

Tonight I learned that carapace before speed is really really really good vs marine pressure openings.... slow lings with +1 armor do way better vs marines then speedlings without any armor.

They actually do better vs marines then +1 attack speedlings, if the marines don't try to run away etc....

The issue is there speed and the difficulty in getting surrounds with out speedlings....

but your going to get speed shortly after anyways.

Here's another weird tip that sounds like it can't work

but it does.

+1 carapace with lings is better then +1 attack vs unupgraded stalkers as well.

BUT +1 attack is way way better vs stalkers if they get the armour upgrade.

I'll leave it to you as an excercise to figure out why.

I would go as far as to say that evo chamber at the same time as your pool hard counters marine + tank openings and pure bio openings.

(NON-reaper)

Question: I often see Zerg players build spawning pool immediately followed by an Evolution Chamber (EC).  What is a purpose of that quick EC? To get quick armor/attack upgrades for zerglings?  Sometimes I also see a Zerg build EC without building extractor... so how he is going to get gas in this case?

Why do Zerg players build their Evolution Chambers quickly?

Early upgrades are good, it increases the effectiveness of Zergling/Speedling harassments. It is a quick and cheap way to free up some supply.

It is generally agreed that it increases effectiveness of early harassments, and is a cheap and quick way to free up some supply. It also be some kind of defensive tactic. Some do say however that doing so is a mistake.

Users suggest that doing so has some advantages.

However one user suggests that it may be a mistake on the opponent's part.


As you play the game, you will receive plants as random drops from zombies.

The store ONLY stocks marigolds and when you are collecting gold from your plants, the marigold drops gold far less often than plants earned from random drops.

That said, make sure you buy your three marigolds each day to fill up your garden.

Important:

Make sure you have space for at least one plant left in your garden.

If your garden is completely full, you won't be able to add plants that drop.

Delete marigolds BEFORE deleting special plants received from drops since dropped plants pay out gold at a faster rate than marigolds.

Marigolds just make a nice filler until you get enough drops to make the big dough.

Plants are rare drops for playing the puzzle, survival, and adventure modes after you beat the game.

Furthermore, the three sold in the shop reappear each day, allowing you to buy three per day.

You get extra plants while playing the main game after the Zen Garden has been unlocked.

You probably picked up the 2 other plants while playing.

They pop out kind of like coins, but much less often.

Play more survival, adventure and puzzle games to get more plants.

Survival gives more plants than adventure or minigames so it's best play survival.

If you get the latest version you will be able to buy 7 plants in the shop.

There will be 3 Marigolds, 1 plant that has a chance of getting the same plant, 25% chance of getting a new plant, 50% chance of getting a new plant, 100% chance of getting something you already have.

Just randomly play minigames, I got most plants from last stand, one time I got 2 plants in 1 game.

you just have to be lucky you need to unlock zen garden and 99% of the time you get it by playing survival NOTE you need to beat the game first

i don't mean beat everything

i just mean beat DR.zomboss.

Question: I have recently unlocked the Zen Garden, but there are only 3 plants for sale in the shop and there is tons of empty room in the garden.  How do I fill up the garden?  Also, I have 2 grave-eating plants in my garden that just kind of appeared with no action taken on my part.  Why did this happen?

How do I get more plants for my Zen Garden?

Play more survival, adventure and puzzle games. If you get the latest version, you will be able to buy 7 plants.

Playing the different game modes, like puzzle, survival and adventure after the Zen Garden is unloceked will randomly give you more plants. Of course you can always buy them in the shop too.

Users suggest that just playing different game modes will give random chances of receiving more plants.


Hitting them while backing up is pretty effective.

Just hold your left mouse button button down with your chrosshairs pointed at the mob.

When it turns red (indicating it took damage), immediately back up.

Repeat until the zombie is dead.

Another method is to use a lighter, and ignite the ground while running backwards.

It is less risky (provided you're outside setting fire to grass, not inside your wooden house!).

The monsters run into the fire and ignite.

Build a trap!

That way you don't even have to waste materials in producing swords, etc.

The simplest is to dig a pit 3-4 blocks deep and at least 2x2 wide, and plant some cacti in it.

Put the pit between you and the zombie and watch it fall inside and eventually die.

Better traps, such as most water traps, can actually kill the zombie and deliver the dropped goods outside to you.

There are many videos on youtube that demonstrate how to build one, (such as this one: )

Armour!

Armour really helps prevent damage.

A full undamaged set of armour will prevent all damage to your health for the next hit.

Also, a three high wall with a hole in in helps keep them away while you hit them.

Mob pathfinding is really dumb, and you can use this to your advantage.

Partially hide yourself behind a corner, a tree, etc.

The zombie will get stopped by the blocks, and you can hit him repeatedly until he dies.

Also - unlike spiders, which jump, or skeletons, which shoot, zombies just walk forward.

If you time it right, you can strike them with your sword without getting hit at all.

Build a one block wide passage so one zombies could go in at a time.

As a bonus, build a really good trap that doesn't involve lava, so the zombies could just walk right into it and end up committing suicide because they only have one target, you.

For example, drown them!

Question: Is there a smart way of disposing zombies and not losing like 2-3-4-5 hearts in the process? No matter how far you are, they always seem to reach further than you can which sucks... :S zombies should be short range not snipers..  Ok, so is there a specific tactic that works? A specific timing to hit them and not get hit? (except bow and arrow..)  thank you

How do I kill zombies in Minecraft and not get hurt?

Hitting them or igniting the ground while running backwards is effective. Armour prevents damage and build a one block passage so zombies go in one at a time.

They main solution is to hit them while moving backwards. This is also a component in other solutions too, like using a lighter to light a fire on the ground, building a trap or making armour, which helps prevent damage. You could also build a passage where only one zombie fits at a time, which works due to the bad pathfinding.

Users suggest a variety of way with which to kill zombies effectively.


Chances are you can pick up a (hunting rifle) scope at the 188 Trading Post on your way into Vegas (cheaper than Gun Runners anyway!)

according to the Fallout wikia page, there's not that many places to get one.

If the hunting rifle isn't your cup of tea, the laser rifle scope can be found at a variety of places - Novac, Crimson Caravan's camp, or the Silver Rush in Freeside (to name a few): Laser Rifle scope .

All of these locations are potentially visitable in your early game.

Also, this search result is invaluable if you are looking for scopes for anything that shoots.

I got lucky in mine and picked up a varmint rifle night scope from the shopkeeper in Goodsprings on my first playthrough, so the potential is there right off the bat.

(Just steal some stuff and sell it to get the caps to buy it).

As for weapons with built in scope, sniper rifles don't' show up at gun runners until level 12ish I believe.

I don't know your definition of "early" but I maxed out lockpicking first (90 + manual) to get the gobi campaign rifle as soon as possible since its probably the best sniper rifle in the game.

Everything else is noise getting to that rifle until much later on when you get very good energy weapons

I thought that the Gobi was great until I figured out that the stats are only a couple DAM points better than a standard sniper rifle.

So, on my last playthrough, I kept checking Gun Runners for a sniper rifle, a carbon fiber kit, and... a suppressor!

Now I have a gun which is only slightly inferior to the Gobi (one less round in the magazine), but helps me stay hidden longer while sniping.

(Of course, my companions often ruin this anyway, but I want them around as pack mules.)

Until I can put together the modded sniper rifle, I make do with a similar setup on a varmint rifle, providing I can get extended mags and a suppressor for one.

But Broc Flower Cave isn't to hard to get to early in the game, and only has giant rats guarding it (or RUS's, if you take the Wild Wasteland perk), which can net you the Ratslayer variant varmint rifle pretty early.

If you take your time for headshots while crouched with it, it can be quite effective.

Most times I play Fallout: New Vegas

I make a bee-line towards Broc Flower Cave ( http://goo.gl/rKTGUd ) to get "Ratslayer".

It's a highly modified Varmint Rifle so ammo and repair parts are cheap and plentiful.

It's got a very high critical hit rating and serves me well right into the higher levels.

More info: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Ratslayer

A word of warning - if you take the "Wild Wasteland" perk Broc Flower Cave will be inhabited by giant giant rats which are very hard to kill at low levels.

If you plan your path carefully and learn, through trial and error, the terrain you can reach the ycs/186 gauss rifle at level 3-4 but will have trouble keeping ammo for it without scrounger and the hidden valley bunker/BoS reward ammo crate (vigilant recycler is optional since the ammo crate reward/scrounger is so effective).

I found a second unique sniper inside the lot in Novac, right in the dumpster.

You need the Wild Waster perk, sometimes it pops up.

If not, you did something to your storyline.

75 damage, critical hit x5, 106 damage per second or shot, so it is fast.

It is just like the bozar from Fallout 2.

Question: This is my second play through of New Vegas and somehow I don't remember where I got the scoped guns I had before from. The only scoped gun I remember is a Guass Rifle which I only got because of the fight with the Brotherhood with Veronica. (which I probably only survived at the time because I had the Pulse Gun)   Where can you find a scoped rifle? Also, I keep checking stores such as Gun Runners but they never have a scope attachment(except for pistol scopes sometimes)

Where can you find a scoped rifle early on in New Vegas?

Pick up a rifle at the 188 Trading Post. You can also get the Ratslayer variant from Broc flower cave.

The trading post or Broc Flower cave are the best places to look for it

There are not that many answers to this, but users suggest that the Trading post or Broc Flower Cave could be good places to search.


Dome shield is indeed your answer.

Start up your dome shield Cast circle of life mines (Life + Shield)

Cast circle of life mines again

(this detonates the first set, and lays new ones, recharging your dome shield Cast thunder storm Spam circle of life mines until victory

The mines not only heal you, but your shield, which starts about only 10% health.

It can actually withstand a beating but you need to constantly invest more health in it.

This is a lot easier if you don't move once you plant your shield, or you'll be bouncing all around it from the healing explosions.

Currently (As of Jan 31, 2012)

it is possible to have immunity to both lightning and water although they are opposite elements.

This is done by combining the water with either ice or fire to make steam, which can coexist with lightning, then reverting it back to water with the opposite of ice or fire you used earlier as the last element conjured.

For example, [QFAER] makes Steam, Lightning, Shield, then the cold cancels the fire in steam leaving you with Water, Lightning, Shield.

You cannot conjure another element after the cancel or the game will detect and eliminate your opposite pair of Water and Lightning.

The most versatile shield of this type is [QFQFASER] Which grants Steam, Water, Arcane, and Lightning immunity.

Why would this be useful?

You can, for instance, conjure up a Thunderstorm [QFQFASA] magick and be completely immune to its effects while spamming Arcane Steam Rocks [QFSD] everywhere.

You will also be dry during the Thunderstorm in case you need to conjure Lightning for any reason - perhaps to revive a party member.

P.S. Try this in the elemental section of Niflheim - The rain will instantly turn them all into water elementals, and the lightning strikes will instantly kill them.

Source - Magickapedia http://www.magickapedia.net/index.php?title=Spell_Combinations#Resistance_Aura

Use any of the following methods: Cast Nullify (Arcane + Shield + Spacebar) to end the Thunder Storm prematurely.

Cast Shield (personal) to take the hit.

Carry the Staff of War for extra hit points.

Cast Lightning+Shield before the Thunder Storm.

Your shield will expire halfway through the storm, as Thunder Storm has a longer duration (17.5 seconds vs 12 seconds).

Re-cast it by first casting Water+Shield to let you use lightning in the rain.

Carry the Righteous Rod of Runes which grants electricity immunity.

However, this involves leaving your staff behind.

The rod is only carried by dwarves, who occur only underground (where Thunder Storm won't work) or in the battle with Grimnir (where you'll be whisked away after you kill the dwarf).

If you're only going for the achievement, do it in singleplayer.

It's easier for one player to survive the Thunderstorm.

There are a few ways to handle this.

The EASIEST method is a permanent lightning immunity staff.

During Grimnir's mind battle, the last opponent you face is a dwarf wizard who drops a "rod of righteous runes" - the permanent lightning immunity it grants would see you through a thunderstorm with ease.

You can also get this staff in chapter 11 when you face them there.

The downside is that its active ability is quite weak, and the broad immunity circle may make nearby opponents lit immune.

If you're just going for the achievement though, this will work.

Without a staff, lightning immunity (lit + shield, self cast)

DOES work

- but it has two limitations.a)

It does NOT apply to your shield, dome or personal shieldb)

It also fades after a few seconds, so remember to keep re-casting it.

I suspect this is where you are failing - you dont notice it's gone and a late hit zaps you.

Hope this helps!

The easiest way to survive Thunderstorm is with the Rod of righteous Runes .

It grants you lightning immunity simply by carrying it.

Lightning + Shield, Self works

but it usually wears off before the storm is over.

You can't recast the lightning immunity because you'll be wet from the rain storm.

To get around this be sure to cast a personal shield (a good idea anyway), Shield, Self .

Or you can alternate casting water immunity then lightning immunity on yourself throughout the thunderstorm.

Plenty of them!

Cyber robe --

not only can you survive a hit, you also get healed by it!

Cyber robe is overpowered, if you ask me, especially if paired with Vlad's Gauntlet...

Start the Thunderstorm under lightning shield.

You should cast the shield inbefore the magick, because rain that goes with Thunderstorm will prevent you from using Lightning.

Alternatively, you can cast water shield, then lightning.

Righteous Rod of Runes.

Not only do you become immune to lightning, you can also cast it upon enemies as a staff ability.

The problem is that there are better staves over there... Dome shield tactic -- create it and spam healing mines.

The problem is that you become pretty useless for the duration of the magick, as you can't influence battlefield from the dome shield.

Question: Every time I cast this, I die. I have tried constantly casting the bubble shield, but I can't cast it fast enough. Lightning immunity (lightning shield middle mouse) doesn't seem to help at all.

How do you survive casting thunderstorm in Magicka?

Try using Dome shield or a permanent lightning immunity staff.

Use the dome shield, or cast circle of life mines or use the lightning immunity staff. The rod of righteous runes also works.


I asked a friend who does certification for console games for a major studio (certification is the process to get it approved to be released on the console by the vendor).

He said there's a requirement that the game must have some interaction with the user after a set time period, even if the game isn't fully loaded yet.

The "Press Start" or what

have you is to meet that requirement: the game only has to load that far within the time limit then the user can say when they're ready to load the rest of it.

There's also some conventions involved.

Some games if left to sit on that screen have a video they can show, and some games will simply wait for input to figure out which controller is the one to let set things up (though other ones just require controller 1 to do that).

Consoles typically have more than one controller, so they likely require a button press from a player to determine which controller that player is using.

This way, no matter which controller each player is using, after the game loads you can determine who to consider 'Player One' by asking them to press a button.

PC does not need to do this because there is only one player and one controller: the mouse/keyboard.

Edit:

This was a guess, but there are actual game certification reasons for having the extra button press.

Please read the other provided answers.

The true reason is because it's a requirement that the console manufacturers enforce if you want to create games for their systems.

PC games don't have requirements like this.

There are some convenient side effects of the Press Start screen, though, which probably help explain why the requirements exist:

When a user presses start, the game knows who's "in control" of the game at the moment.

This means the game can do nice things like display the game environment in appropriate context.

For example, if you have a saved character, the game can show that character.

It's a convenient place to put branding info, like company logos and such, as well as whatever legal text might be necessary or stuff like ESRB info.

It's a good landing page for the (also required) "

Attract Mode" that shows something interesting every so often like a movie or some gameplay.

The game can load up the Press Start screen while other stuff is loading in the background.

It gives the player something to look at if the intro movies are over but the rest of the game's front end isn't ready to go.

You might notice that some Press Start screens actually don't show the "Press Start" text until several seconds after the screen appears (and if you noticed that, you're pretty dang observant, good job!).

If we didn't need a Press Start screen, I think we'd just skip making it most of the time (unless we wanted some of the benefits above I guess).

Note also that downloadable games may have different requirements than full retail games, so this might not be consistent across all the console games you've played lately.

Another game certification reason that hasn't been touched on above is cert requirements (TCR, TRC, etc.)

usually require some kind of 'attract mode'.

That is the game should do something like replay game footage, show an intro video or something else at least moderately interesting if you just turn it on and leave it.

Attract mode exists so that when the game is loaded up and just sitting there at a Gamestop, convention booth or other installation it provides a little visual flare to attract attention.

The XBLA game Braid is notable here because it doesn't have an attract mode.

Braid's main screen acts as the level select screen and you control the character directly on it.

My PSP does this as does my XBOX, thus I'm sure it not about which controller is in use.

I always assumed it was a licensing issue, perhaps to ensure the user as read the copyright notices and such.

Why non such requirement on a PC?

I'm guessing that's because PCs are not closed systems.

Anyone can write a program for a PC, but to write one for an XBOX, PS3 or PSP requires special licenses to be signed.

I'm not sure where this sits with community games on the XBOX360.

I haven't seen anybody answer this

but I always thought that it was because that way game stores could just leave it on and the games would loop playing some type of video that showed off the game and then return to the "Press start" screen.

I would add that older TV's may have had burn-in issues if the same menu screen was displayed for a long period of time, while the computer would have a screen-saver kick in instead

Question: I am strictly a PC gamer myself, but I noticed a strange thing. When you start every released-for-console game, like Mass Effect or Borderlands, they ask you to press Enter (or any key, etc.) after the initial load, and only after pressing it do you get to see the main menu. PC-only games load the main menu immediately.   What's the reason behind this? I assume it must have something to do with the way consoles work, but what purpose does this extra button-press serve?

Why do console games require a button press before showing the main menu?

The gamer must have some interaction with the user after a set time period. Some games have a video they show if left untouched for a long time. It gives the player something to look at if the game isn't ready yet.

Games are using different techniques to tackle user innactivity and technical problems. The press start screen is such one and provoking for an action is a way to deal with it.

It is suggested that there are specific reasons why such an action is required from the user, such as the detection of a controller.


mirror of original source See also http://digital-trauma.de/mc.html and http://minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Altitude Gold is equally common between 5-20 blocks above bedrock.

Lava becomes extremely common at about 10 blocks above bedrock.

If you mine at about 12 blocks above bedrock, your odds of finding ore are just as good as they are anywhere else, while your odds of finding lava are far lower.

So save yourself a lot of pain:

don't bother going much deeper than about 12 blocks above bedrock.

I'm always mining on the second level on top of bedrock.

That is 4-6 blocks on top of bedrock layer.

This area is very rich in everything.

Tons of coal, tons of iron and reasonable amounts of gold/diamonds/lapiz/redstone.

Try to mine around lava, the lower you get and the closer you are to lava, the more chances you get for rare ores like diamond and gold.

Updated and corrected answer: Gold spawns between bedrock and height 32 .

Between y=2

and y=29

you will find the most gold.

There are two methods I will recommend to quickly and efficiently obtain gold.

METHOD 1 - Branch Mining Dig down to level 11 or 12 so that you're at or above the lava lakes, so that you don't have it pouring in on you all the time.

Make a corridor in either the x or the z direction.

Every 4th block along the corridor, make a tunnel leading away from the corridor.

This is the best way to find nearly all the ores on that level while breaking the minimum number of blocks.

The reason I recommend going to this level is that you will also be finding diamonds, as they spawn below level 16.

If you wanted to more thoroughly mine the area, do your first mineshafts at level 11, then go up to level 14 and do mineshafts in between the ones below, so that the tunnels are arranged as follows, where x = tunnel and s == stone: sxsssxsssxsssxs sssxsssxsssxsss

This will allow you to find virtually all the gold (and diamonds) in those levels.

METHOD 2 - Speed Mining

This is a more end-game method, as it requires the use of a Beacon and lots of diamond/xp levels.

Dig down to bedrock (level 5) in the center of the area you want to mine out.

Place a full beacon at the bedrock level, and set it to Haste II.

Get yourself an Efficiency V pick, and a Silk Touch pick.

Then proceed to mine out ALL the material in the beacon's coverage area (50 blocks away from the beacon block), mining stone with the Efficiency pick and non-smelt ores with the Silk Touch pick.

Start by standing on level 14 and mining blocks 15 and 16, then work down from there.

You will find TONS of gold and diamonds this way.

If you convert lava to obsidian and mine it, you will end up with around a double chest of obsidian as well.

Throw the gold and iron in furnaces, and use a Fortune III pick to break the ore blocks later, so they don't fill up your inventory so fast when you're mining.

Another way to do it, now that repairing tools costs so little in 1.8, is to just use an Efficiency V Silk Touch pick, so that you don't have to carry two picks around with you and switch out all the time.

If you have two beacons, it's even faster if you set one to Haste II and the other to Speed II.

You can sprint mine and get a lot done quickly.

I have done this in two different areas, and I have around a half stack of diamond blocks, even though I've used tons of diamonds to make tools and armor.

Finally, after 1.10, an additional 20 veins of gold per chunk are generated in Mesa biomes between layers 32 and 79 inclusive.

This means on average an additional 120 gold ore per chunk on top of the normal 8 ores.

For comparison, there are about 77 iron ore per chunk.

Gold is often found in the bottom 10 layers of the world, but it can be found almost anywhere (

although it's very rare).When hunting for gold, you know you are at the right depth if you see pools of lava

Question: Now that booster tracks can be created using gold ore, I seem to be getting through my supplies rather quickly.  What is the layer with the highest amount of gold? I'm currently looking around layer 25-30, but can't seem to find more than a couple of blocks..

What is the best layer to mine for gold in Minecraft?

Try to mine around lava, you will have more chance for rare ores like gold. Don't bother going much deeper than 12 blocks above bedrock.

Mining for gold is more successful above bedrock up to height 32 or close to lava.

Gold can be found between 5-20 blocks above bedrock.

Mining for gold close to lava is suggested.

Gold can also be found between bedrock and height 32.


Light will shine through paintings, but paintings have to be placed over solid blocks (which signs count as!), so you could make a wall like so: ####### ####### The hole in the middle would actually be 2 deep; you'd place a torch in the back, then a sign in front, then put a painting over the hole/sign; the torch would shine through the sign and painting, and light up the room (although the light would be somewhat diminished because the torch is recessed by 2 blocks).

WITH TORCHES STEP 1: STEP 2: STEP 3:

WITH GLOWSTONE BEFORE

: AFTER:

One of the newest features, carpet , makes it extremely EASY to add lighting to your house without the need for fancy tricks.

Carpet allows light to show through, so easily placing Jack O Lantern s or Glowstone underneath carpets in your home allows for easier lighting, without all the hassle.

You could try these two methods of my own: Raise the floor with stone slabs, and put glowstone around the bottom.

Note:

In newer versions of Minecraft, this no longer works.

Since 1.4.2, half slabs block light from passing through them.

So although you can see the lit glowstone (and smooth lighthing may cause the surrounding area to light up a bit), there isn't any "real" lighting going on, so the rest of the room will still remain dark, allowing for things such as mob spawning.

Hide glowstone in a location

you can't see it, and let the light shine through glass.

(This works well at the top and bottom of your room; my example shines through both the top, and bottom of the wooden wall, I just used water instead of glass on the bottom.)

Note:

This is the piehole texture pack; the yellow stuff is glowstone.

I like to build lights into the wall thus:

### g # #l####### Where # is stone (or whatever your walls are made out of), g is glass, and l is lightstone, or a torch.

You can dig a 2 deep trench in the floor, then place a glowstone block on the bottom.

Once you place it, place a piston (either sticky or regular works) on top, and it'll give off the same amount of light as if the glowstone was above ground.

You can place jack-o-lanterns in the ground as well.

You could also place pressure plates (wooden or stone) over a jack-o-lantern that is in the ground.

It doesn't have the most appealing look but it is hidden and gives off a lot of light.

Hope I helped!

I just make a bush, but, instead of dirt for the bottom, I use glowstone or jack-o-lanterns because light can glow through leaves.

Lightstone is generally your best bet for things like this, because it can be worked into the design and shape of the room.

Obviously, people will know this is the source of light, but it doesn't stand out as starkly as torches or lava would.

Another way of doing this, besides the other answers: Redstone Lamp (powered by redstone, switches, or buttons)

Jack-o-Lanterns will provide light from underneath pistons, so you could put them beneath some for a mysterious light source.

For light that are concealed when turned off, use a piston system to pull out a glowstone and replace it with another, more inconspicuous block.

Question: I would like to have a large underground room without it being either very dark or have light sources in the open (lava columns, torches). I use to build columns using stairs since they allowed light to pass through them, but this bug no longer seems to work.

How can you hide light sources while they still give light?

Use carpet to add lighting or raise the floor with stone slabs and put glowstone around the bottom.

Using glowstones and jack-o-lanterns and concealing them with carpets or underneath the floor is the best solution. Also, Redstone Lamp can also be used.

The most favourable solution seems to be the use of glowstones and jack-o-lanterns.


Houses need to fulfill a set of requirements to be considered a proper house.

The step-by-step guide to making a house is as follows: The room must be at least approximately 42 blocks away from any corruption .

Build the walls and roof.

The room must be five tiles tall at the least ,not counting the roof itself.

The floor cannot be only wood platform, there must be a place for the NPC to stand without him standing on wood platforms.

Make sure the room is big enough to be considered a proper house as well.

Fill in the house with background walls .

Any player-placed wall will work.

Place a light source inside the room .

A torch on the wall works fine, butyou can also use candles and othersuch fancy items.

You can make saidfancy decorations with metals at ananvil.

Place

at least one "Comfort Item"(chair) and a "Flat Surface Item"(table) in the house.

Place a Door in the house, in one of the walls.

Assuming you've done everything right, the game should treat your room as a house.

The first house you build will be taken by the Guide , and any further houses by whichever NPCs appear.

There is also a size limit (60-750 tiles including walls, floor and ceiling), and the first house you build will always go to the guide.

It has to to be 6 blocks tall and 7 blocks wide.

It needs to be made from wood.

It also needs to at least one chair, one table, a torch, and a wood floor.

NOW REMEMBER

- You have to unlock all the NPC's.

The Guide is the only one that's free.

If he never moves in the house then just wait, it takes time.

Leave the house for a while.

Later, when you come back he will be in the house.

How to unlock NPC's Guns Dealer

: Carry a gun in your inventory.

Mechanic - You can find her in the Dungeon, just make sure to kill Skeletron before entering.

Merchant - I think you need at least 50 silver coins.

Demolitionist

- You need at least one bomb in your inventory and the Merchant.

Nurse - You need to have used at least one life crystal.

Goblin Tinkerer - After you defeat the Goblin Army look on the map, then head to where he's at.

When you first see him he will be called the Bound Goblin.

Tap (or click) on him

and he will begin talking to you.

Then make the house.

Dryad - Defeat a boss, King Slime doesn't count.

Santa Claus

- It has to be somewhere around Christmas.

Party Girl - Has a fairly rare chance to spawn after having eight NPC's.

Also, make sure that the chat doesn't say (NPC's name) needs to settle down or she won't spawn.

Truffle -

Only spawns in Hardmode (activated after the defeating the Wall of Flash).

Not only that, he can only spawn in player made surface glowing mushroom biome.

Pirate -

Only spawns in Hardmode.

Is unlocked after defeating the Pirate Invasion.

Wizard - Rare spawn underground after Hardmode is activated.

There are some more but it will take lots of explaining.

REMEMBER - if you see a message like (NPC's name) needs to settle down, then build a house.

While it says empty 'house' it really means empty room.

It needs to have a door as well as the light source, table chair and background walls (Also needs the walls that stop baddies from getting into it :))

There is a size requirement however, and I do not think the roof above a 7x8 house would be large enough to entice an NPC to stay there.

(I usually build about 10x5 rooms or so and the NPCs never complain :))

NPC houses require all four sides to be covered (2 side walls, ceiling, and floor) and then have a background wall, a door, lighting, and furniture.

I usually make mine a little bigger than the space requirement, and I also put a door on BOTH walls just in case, have two torches in the ceiling corners and place a table and one chair on either side of it, all just to be safe.

The only other requirement that NPCs have is that the background wall is not a dirt wall, it's the only kind of wall they don't accept.

If that's what you were using then there's your problem.

In addition to the other answers, it might be worth noting that your house can sometimes be too small even in its smallest allowed size.

This happened to me when I built 6 block by 6 block houses and the doors had been opened towards the interior of the house.

This seemingly shrinks its size (I assume that's because an open door counts as wall).

I recommend building slightly bigger houses to compensate for this, or else NPCs won't respawn unless you close the doors.

You need to have a building with a width of at least 10 and a height of at least 7, fully enclosed in walls.

There must be background walls, a chair, a table, and torches.

For the first house you build, and every other house, you have to have it be anywhere from 60-750 blocks for area (most people use 6x10 houses).

There has to be a chair, and for the first house use a Workbench as the table.

For the rest of the houses you should use a table because it will take up less wood.

You also need full background (I recommend wood background since it will look nice and you can craft it easily) and a light source (1 torch will work).

Finally, just place a door on either side.

That's all you need!

Try building a 14 block wide house then cut it in half for a door to fit.

Then put a crafting table and a chair in each part and select your npc.

Click on the house and move so that you can't see the house and the npc should move in.

Also you need to place a torch in the house for this to work. :)

Question: I read on the wiki that people will move in under the following conditions:   You do something to please them  An empty house is available with a light source, table, and chair (also with walls).   I have a house which is about 7x8, then a roof space above that; about half the area. I could put furniture up there too, but will anyone move in?

How do I build a house for my NPCs?

The game should treat your room as a house. There is a size limit and it must have walls, a door, a light source, table and chair.

There is a wide range of rules for the houses of the NPCs consisting of side walls, a ceiling, a floor, a background wall, a door, lighting, and furniture.

Building a house for the NPCs needs to abide by a set of rules.


Yes, use a bed .

Build it like this (spoiler, hover above the grey box): Three times wool above three times wooden planks Also, you can use a Furnace as temporary light source and as by-product obtain charcoal : Get some wood, build a workbench and there a wooden pickaxe.

Dig down until you reach stone, get 8, build a Furnace, use unprocessed wood as input and wooden planks as fuel.

You obtain light plus charcoal for torches.

This is how you make a bed: And this is how you make charcoal:

Well there are four most popular ways.

Make a bed...

As Tobias suggested Wait it out with the window open

Open your inventory ('e' or 'i'), then switch window.

This stops the game frompausing.

Hacks :P

If you have a bed already you can sleep during the night with following construct.

__ xxx

x xgggggggggggg

Where g stands for ground, x is any material that can float (so no sand or gravel) and __ is your bed.

When you build it like this you are save for to sleep in that bed (granted there isnt a ridge nearby where a skeleton could start shooting you.

If you have access to commands, you can use /gamerule

doDaylightCycle false .

Build a bed!

Get one wood log and craft it into a plank (to make a crafting table), get another log and craft it too, and kill a couple of sheep for wool.

Then use the crafting table like this: e e e - emptyw w w - woolp p p - planks

If you have cheats enabled, use the /time code!

To make it dawn, just hit / and type in /time

set 0 (the / will be there already) and you'll have skipped the night!

Question: I have an essentially brand-new Minecraft world.  Problem is, I haven't found anything I can use to make light yet, so as soon as night falls I get totally lost.  And I then have to sit still with the application open waiting for dawn so I can figure out where the Hell I am.  (I can't even alt-tab out, since that pauses the game.)  Is there any way to skip night so I can get back to trying to do something?

Is it possible to skip past night in Minecraft single player?

You can make a bed to sleep during night hours. You can also use a cheat command like doDaylightCycle false to skip nighttime.

Making a bed or using special commands and enabling cheats can help with skipping past night.

Creating a bed seems to solve the assist with skipping the night.

A way of skipping the night is by using commands or enable cheats.


They are Demon Altars which are not monsters - hence you cannot get the tooltip by hovering over them.

You use them to craft some 'boss' summoning materials Slime Crown, Suspicious Looking Eye and Worm Food, as well as creating the stronger pre-hard mode weapon Night's Edge.

Demon Altars can only be destroyed with Pwnhammer or Hamdrax after Wall of Flesh is destroyed.

Trying to destroy Demonic Altar before defeating Wall of Flesh, you will take half your current health in damage minus armor, no matter the tool.

Pwnhammer is acquired by defeating Wall of Flesh.

Destroying a Demonic Altar will "bless" your world with decreasing amounts of ore, starting with Cobalt, then Mythril, then Adantium and then starting the loop again.

This means that it will convert random blocks into whatever ore it is blessing your world with.

It will also place Ebonstone/Pearlstone in random locations underground, allowing Corruption/Hallow to spread faster and from multiple locations.

Source: Terraria Wiki

You're looking at a Demon Altar .

These act as crafting stations for pre-Hardmode boss summoning items, and the Night's Edge , the most powerful pre-Hardmode sword.

They spawn randomly underground when the world was generated and are commonly found in the caverns under corrupted areas.

They cannot be moved (if you try to hit them with a hammer you get damaged with half your health as you discovered),

but after you reach Hardmode they can be destroyed using the Pwnhammer to bless the world with Hardmode ores, an important step in progressing further in game.

That is a Demon Altar , it has various uses.

One is that it is a crafting station for certain rare items.

The boss summoning items and one strongest pre-hardmode sword.

They are one of the few crafting stations that are not movable.

And most of the game they are not even destroyable.

Attacking them causes the attacker to lose life.

When the wall of flesh has been defeated, the demon altars can be destroyed using the pwnhammer or the hamdrax .

Each Altar that is destroyed will add new sources of hardmode ores to the game.

The first destroyed will add Cobalt, the second Mythril, and the third Adamantite.

The fourth adds Cobalt again, but less than the first altar destroyed.

Read more about Hardmode , here .

As the Altars are a important crafting station, and they cannot be moved.

It can be smart to build your main base near one of the altars.

And not destroy this altar, as you want to keep your crafting station.

You can find altars below ground, and they are more common near corruption areas.

You can usually find a few near shadow orbs.

You can easily find them because they emit a small amount of light.

Those are not monsters, they are Demon Altars ... and awesome find on 3 of em at once :)

I also would like to add to other answers, that the only way you could destroy/mine/pickup a Demon Altar, is if you have the luck and found the altar on top of a sand block.

Destroying the sand block destroys the altar, as it falls down.

According to the wiki page it's considered as a bug, but I hope they won't fix it, as it looks good in my house :)

Also, the (currently) strongest weapon, Night's Edge is crafted on a Demon Altar.

Question: What are these things?When I get close to it I take damage, but I can't hurt it.  What does it do and what is it?

What is this purple claw thing (Demon Altar) and what can I do with it?

They are demon altars. You can use them to craft materials like Slime Crown and the Night's Edge sword. After you reach Hardmode they can be destroyed using the Pwnhammer to progress further in the game.

Demon Altars are crafting stations for useful materials and can be destroyed in order to provide ores.


There are two easy options.

dig deep, mobs spawn like crazy down there, and they are harder then the mobs on the surface = better loot find the corruption and park yourself on the edge of it, you will be attacked by soul eaters, super easy to kill and they drop silver coins most of the time

Although not the fastest way to "farm" silver coins, as such - could you just invite a friend who already has 50 silver coins into your world as a multi-player environment, and then the merchant will spawn assuming you have the right house for him?A world made available on multi-player will still be available for you as a single player afterwards.

As Camster points out below, they would have to have 100 coins, and give 50 to you - as each player needs to have 50 coins before he will spawn.

Since you won't have access to a merchant, the best way would be to get some decent equipment (i.e. a copper sword, though wood would also be fine) and go spelunking.

Get as many pots as you can.

I personally just got lucky and found a pinky slime on my first day - 1 gold coin.

If you're willing to risk going into the corruption, harvest two vile mushrooms.

Turn those vile mushrooms into vile powder and sprinkle rabbits and goldfish with it.

The resulting corrupt bunnies and goldfish are easy to kill one at a time and drop six and five silver coins respectively.

After at most ten fights you'll have enough cash to attract the merchant.

I managed to get a lot of silver coins by killing the Jungle slime, they drop about 5 silver coins each time and they are simple to kill.

Also don't die if your on normal mode as you will lose your precious silver coins...

a good way is by using a chest and keeping all of your coins in there.

You could also turn 100 bronze coins into 1 silver coin if you use a work table.

This is a little dangerous, but if you can summon a meteorite, the Meteor Heads are easy to hold back, will be the only thing that spawn while in the area, and drop a good amount of money.

They are probably the easiest flying enemies as well due to their fairly straight pathing.

Hope this helps.

The easiest way to get the silver coins is by killing demon eyes.

They drop 1-2 silver coins each.

Take a strong sword (silver sword will do) and

some armor then slaughter a lot of them.

There are 4 basic ways to get money: Killing Enemies/Bosses, pots/chests, angler quest rewards and selling items to NPCs Since the 1.3 update there has been an Expert Mode that will reward additional loot from chests, money dropped from enemies and better chance of rare drops.

This will help get money early game.

Be Warned!

While expert mode does have it's perks the enemies are much harder with an increased 2x Damage and 2x Health and those buggers can make off with your hard earned cash!

If you can, locale the thief with their sparkly appearance meaning they have stolen coins of the colour they sparkle.

You also drop 75% of money (for software characters)

so it is always a good idea to have a chest or piggy bank to store money.

Pots have a chance of spawning a coin portal that gives you 5-15 gold so another good strategy is to run across the surface and smash all the pots you can find.

Question: I am trying to attract the Merchant on my world and according to the  wiki , I need at least 50 silver coins.  What is the fastest way to farm silver coins in a new world?

How can I gain silver coins quickly?

Dig deep or go spelunking. You can also kill the jungle slime to get 5 silver coins each time and sell items to NPCs.

Killing Enemies is the most prominent way of gaining silver coins rather quickly.

There seems to be a variety of ways to gain silver coins most of them having to do with killing enemies.


From version 1.4, you can zoom maps in game, as the whole process of map-making is changed: First, a blank map is created

This blank map will not start recording immediately, as maps previously did.

The blank map can be activated by right clicking it, which turns it into a map at the most zoomed in level (1 px/1 block)

To scale the map by a factor of two, take the map and recraft it as follows: Each time this is done the map will scale out, so from 1px -> 1 block, to 1 px -> 4 blocks, to 1 px -> 16 blocks and so on.

This can be done a maximum of 5 times.

Maps cannot be scaled back in, only out.

You can zoom map files, but you have to do it by editing your NBT files.

This answer is thanks to this redditor : If you're willing to dive deep into the NBT files, you can adjust the map's center and zoom levels.

Just don't screw with dimension (locks the map) or width/height — it doesn't work.

The files are under <map-name>/Data/map_X.dat , where X is the map number.

You'll need to use an editor like NBTEdit to edit the files.

Looks like yes, this is the work of a mod.

Here's how you can do it: Download NBTedit from here Unzip the ZIP file Run NBTedit Click File -> Open Navigate to your save folder Go to the "Data" folder Open the map_0 file.

If its not map_0 you want to edit, choose the right one.

Expand

the "data: 7 entries" branch Change the "scale" value to the one you want.

I chose 1, but it can be anything.

I have made a program specifically for map item files.

You can find it here http://sourceforge.net/projects/mapitemedit/ You can edit your zoom level, map coordinates, even change the picture data.

When crafting a zoomed out map with eight pieces of paper, shift-clicking on the output map in the crafting table does not make a newly scaled map in the bug section of the wiki http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Map_(item)

first of all make a map, use it so you have a really zoomed in map, then put it in the center of the crafting table, surround it by eight pieces of paper and then normal click it!

if you shift click it, it will not zoom out there is a bug to where it will not zoom out if you shift click so normal click

and there you go

The zoom level is calculated depending on the time you craft it.

You can not set/reset or choose it yourself.

Question: According to both Notch's Twitter (no link) and the wiki, maps have some kind of settable zoom:   A zoom level, which will somehow be decided at the time the map is created.    I have no idea how to set this. Anyone know?  EDIT: based on fjdumont's answer, how is it calculated? Is there anything I can do (such as craft it in a certain place) to give it a zoom level close to what I want?

How can I choose the zoom level for my map?

You can zoom map files by editing your NBT files. Then you can take the really zoomed in map, put it in the center of a crafting table surrounded by eight pieces of paper and click on it

The zoom level can be used by editing the NBT files or by crafting a zoomed out map and following some straightforward instructions.


You may have some better success finding games to play on GameRanger .

I just logged on and saw 250 rooms for Age of Empires 2.

For Age of Empires there were only about 30.

Voobly: They got a rating system where you receive and lose points for each battle win or loss.

They got some nice features like download of recorded games of other games played.

Maps for custom scenario, random maps like Michi, Land Nomad, Arabia and Black Forest usually played there.

GameRanger:

Very fast client software (faster than voobly).

They usually play maps like Black Forest, Arabia and custom scenario with rules like NR (no rush) and Diplomacy (you choose allies during gameplay).

Garena: never played there.

Another option.

Age of Empires II : Conquerors has been re-released as Age of Empires 2 HD on Steam .

It includes all the usual Steam-based matchmaking features and runs on Win 7, 8 and 10.

You're going to find a larger player pool if you don't mind paying for it again.

You can still play them online, if other people are actually in the lobbies is a different detail all together.

Your best bet is to get friends to play the game with you.

I'm not promoting illegal activity but disk sharing if they don't have it could get you some AoE1 and 2 online goodness.

Found a online service called http://www.hellaoe.de/ which offers to play AOE together via Hamachi .

I don't know about Age of Empires I, but people still play Age of Empires: Conquerer's Edition online, on Tunngle.

It's available here:

http://www.tunngle.net/index.php?l=en Just register with a username, download the software, login, join the network of the game you want to play, go to LAN connection section in the game to view servers and start playing.

Have fun!

Question: Can I still play Age of Empires 1 or 2 online? The GameSpy room for AOE 1 is always empty.

Age of Empires (1+2) online?

Try using Gameranger or Voobly instead. They usually play maps like Black Forest or Arabia with rules like NR.

Age of Empires (1+2) can be played online on a variety of platforms.

They usually play maps like Black Forest, Arabia and custom scenario with rules like NR (no rush) and Diplomacy (you choose allies during gameplay).

A variety of online platforms is available.


Doesn't sound right to me...

If you have a smaller screen, everything on it is smaller too.

A character who may have been 10 pixels tall would be smaller, maybe too small to make out properly, especially given that everything around him would be smaller and less detailed as well.

A larger screen does mean that there's more to keep track of, but your peripheral vision usually takes care of that anyway.

90% of the time you'll be concentrated on a fairly smallish area in the middle of your screen, because that's where you're pointing/looking/walking.

A bigger screen doesn't really mean you'll miss things, either - you'll never be using a monitor that takes up your entire field of vision (if it does, you're probably far too close :P) and human eyes are very good at picking up small movement in the periphery of our range of vision.

We notice movement (but not detail) very easily there.

Just like Alex, I don't believe it's a good thing for the following reason's :

Human sight is large enough to cover a big screen (unless you play in a Cinema or with a 120cm TV)

If you play on a smaller screen, things are smaller, implies you have to concentrate more (or get closer to your screen) on them and your eyes will get tired much faster.

When you're eyes get tired, you loose concentration, etc.

Aim is also to have fun, and enjoy the immersion in the game, won't be as great on a smaller screen

The screen won't make you a pgm if you're a noob As for BC2, I play it but never heard of specific bugs / feature affecting aim.

But just the same, this is not what is going to transform someone into a good player.

If it's about choosing monitor don't bother too much with resolution since it is relative, small area=small targets, Large area=large targets.

The thing with lower resolution monitors is that you can play on lower sensitivity(better precision) and with less mouse scrolling get to the end of the screen(cover more area).

With that precision and coverage smaller enemies can be faster to hit than scrolling and shooting larger enemy.

Basically on smaller resolution you need less physical action which gives you some slight speed

advantage(and

that is only if you have very good aim and reflexes).

What matters more is to choose based on monitor quality and type(Plasma,LCD,LED) that fits better to your sight, some monitors have crappy color contrasts and enemy in bushes far away won't be recognized so easily while on other you could spot just a little bit of black color through green bushes.

It also applies to how well monitor displays moves

some seem just more natural to eye than others.

Technically that 2 monitor difference are not so important to your eye

and you dont even notice them too much, but your brain and reflexes could make a difference.

When you are buying monitors you will see bunch of them that look the same (by image quality), but if you play something fast on multiple monitors some will feel much more natural to your sight and grant you better performance(after tweaking brightness, contrast and colors).

All that said I would go with 22" no matter the battlefield or minesweeper 26" is too much for monitor and 19" is "the box"(4:3) which is outdated and lame for everything else than trying to score better killstreak.

I've found that having too large of a screen is not a problem, unless (like a friend of mine)

you use a huge (50-inch) screen.

But in that case, you should be sitting farther back than normal anyways...

gaming.stackexchange.com/users/2578/BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft

A smaller monitor won't help at all, BUT a lower resolution on the same monitor will help you hit your targets more easily than a higher resolution.

For playing Natural Selection 2, a game where I find it challenging to hit other players, I recently switched from a 1920X1200 resolution down to a 800X600 resolution and it is much easier to hit my opponents since they are much bigger on-screen.

The game isn't as pretty as before, but I'm now much more competitive and get more kills.

I've been an FPS player since Wolfenstein 3D and played a bunch of Counter Strike Beta until about four years ago when I moved solely to the PS3.

My skills are above average but with the release of Black Ops 2, I was getting extremely frustrated with a crappy KD.

During the holiday season, I brought my PS3 into the office to kill time and mated it with my Dell 24" monitor and started tearing games up.

I have about 13,000 total kills right now and in the last two weeks I've gone from a .88 KD to 1.11 (as of last night) with some games of Headquarters nabbing me 80+ kills.

Bigger does not necessarily mean better but it also has to do with how close you sit to your TV.

My brother-in-law plays on a 52" Samsung but he sits three feet away vs. my

and my 55" LG where I sit about nine feet away.

I tried sitting closer

but I just couldn't do it.

Right now, I sit about two feet away from the 24" monitor at home and am having a lot more fun with BO2.

I have noticed a difference in between my 55" Samsung led and an hp 22" computer monitor

and I am much more successful on the 22" screen than I am the 55

" I get way more kills on fps such as battle field 4 and cod ghost.

It seems that my reactions are more natural and aiming seems to be a lot more fluent.

Just an opinion yes the human eye can view the whole screen with larger monitors

but it's far less efficent than looking at a smaller monitor due to you being able to lock your eyes in place not scaling the screen the entire time.

I use my 22 over my 48 any day.

But with proper distancing you can accomplish the same feat with a larger tv.

I guess I just don't have enough room to use the larger screen properly

Question: An old friend of mine (hardcore player) said once that a smaller screen is better as the area you have to concentrate on is smaller, so you can more effectively spot and shoot an enemy.  What are the pros or cons of using different screen sizes/resolutions, considering both efficiency (kills per minute or k/d ratio) and the length of time I can play comfortably? I have a choice of screens I can use: 26" 1920x1200, 22" 1680x1050, and an old 19" 1280x1040.

Would using a smaller screen help me play first-person shooters better?

If you play on a smaller screen everything looks smaller and you have to concentrate more. However, a small screen lets you lock your eyes in place rather than scaling the screen the entire time. You can also try a lower resolution.

A smaller screen does not equal better results, however the distance of the player from the screen can affect the overall efficiency.

It is argued that a smaller screen would only create barriers on the player.

The distance of the screen affects the efficiency.


If you open your world with MCEdit , you can select the area containing the TNT and use the “Delete Entities” operation to delete all the activated TNT in that area.

(Note that Delete Entities will also remove any minecarts, boats, and wolves in the selection.

MCEdit will show entities as transparent red blocks, but not what type of entity they are.)

Without such editing, by the physics of Minecraft, there is no way to stop activated TNT.

However, you can prevent the explosion from having any effects on other blocks , including other TNT, by dumping water in the space where it will explode.

(This probably can't help you fast enough unless you have a full bucket on your hotbar already.)

Hitting

Alt+F4 would have been the wiser choice because by hitting Escape

you invoked the game to save your world.

Alternatively you can quit the game, then delete (and backup)

your level.dat and rename your level.dat_old to level.dat .

The problem is that you don't know from when the level.dat_old is.

I just know that this saved my house from burning it down accidentally and the game was set back about 10 minutes.

If you encase it in obsidian it will prevent the explosion going outward, encase it in water and it stops the damage that the surrounding blocks receive.

I'd recommend worldguard because it can prevent the ignition of TNT.

Just thought I'd answer with one more solution: if you have Single Player Commands installed, you can use the /defuse

all command to remove all the TNT that is activated.

The TNT blocks will disappear (since after activation, they are considered entities and not blocks ), but each previously activated block will drop a TNT item in its place for you to pick up.

This is a nice solution because Single Player Commands pauses the game when you bring up the console with T , so you don't need to frantically type the command before it goes off.

This answer had been previously posted on this question As said in this link , you could try to use :

/gamerule setExplosionDestruction false This command would prevent any Creeper / TNT blocks to damage other blocks.

If you want to re-enable block destruction, use : /gamerule

setExplosionDestruction

true NB : You need to play at least at version 1.4.2 Minecraft to have access to gamerule command

Question: I accidentally set off a large pile of TNT. I managed to hit escape before the explosion. Is there any way to prevent it going off?

I've set off some TNT, what should I do?

Open your world with MCEdit and select and delete the area with the TNT. You can also use a Single Player Command like /defuse.

There is a variety of solutions to prevent the TNT from going off

MCEdit can be used to prevent all TNT from being activated.

The damage could be stopped by an obsidian or a water enclosure.

Game commands can be used to solve this problem


I've done this trick on my last playthrough, smashing the wall and knocking out the person on the other side.

As I expected, I got Pacifist at the end.

So, in short, no, this technique does not disqualify you for Pacifist.

That said, the criteria for Pacifist are quite weird, I think the game is designed to be lenient.

What you can do (instead of wall punching) is to use a revolver with explosive bullets on the wall.

It will render the person on the other side unconscious when the wall breaks, instead of killing him (2 rounds AFAIK).

It made the Tracer Tong mission extremely easy (playing non-lethal).

After taking the wall breaking perk, I found myself in the situation of breaking through walls leading the lethal deaths.

I noticed that the wall had a health rating, like crates do, taking a indestructible object, a barrel, I threw it against the wall multiple times

until it broke, this alerted the guards but this method works without any expenditure of grenades or explosive shots from a revolver.

If you don't have a revolver with explosive bullets, you can also toss a frag grenade at the wall.

The wall will come down, but the person on the other side will only be knocked unconscious.

You don't need explosives.

It takes a few shots

but I was able to break through a wall with my silenced 10mm pistol.

I do however have the armor piercing on it

but I tried it with my shotgun(not modded) and after about 5 shots I broke through.

It did a non lethal knockout on the guy on the other side of wall for those pacifists out there.

Question: So the wall-punching augmentation (in the Cybernetic Arm Prosthesis augmentation tree) allows you to punch through weak walls, but will automatically have you snap the neck of anyone standing on the other side of them.  Am I correct in assuming this will ruin a pacifist playthrough?  Is there any way to do a non-lethal wall-punch and only snap his neck a little bit?

How can I not snap people's necks (or only snap it a little bit)?

This does not disqualify you as a pacifist. Try tossing a frag. The wall will come down but the person on the other side will only be knocked unconscious.

Several techniques can be used in order to do a non-lethal wall punch and it does not disqualify a player from doing a pacifist walkthrough

Breaking a wall and knocking out the person on the other side does not ruin a pacifist walkthrough

There is a variety of techniques to break a wall in order to knock out the person on the other side


Disclaimer:

I am not a lawyer.

Copyright laws differ per jurisdiction.

What I've stated below is the norm in most countries.

Downloading a ROM is illegal.

No matter whether you own it, or whether you only keep it for a few hours, it is always piracy.

See the Nintendo FAQ on the matter for more information.

In case you don't trust Nintendo because they are partial to the subject, the WIPO Copyright Treaty explicitly prohibits circumvention of technological measures and unauthorised modification of rights management information in articles 11 and 12 .

As for your second question, there are a few options you could try.

Like Martin suggested, you could try going into a game shop and see if they have a console you can try it on.

There are also options to rent a game instead of buying it, and you can always buy it again afterwards.

Alternatively, if you are committed to circumventing copy protection in order to play illegal copies of video games, might I suggest moving to Monaco.

On balance, it is a far more desirable place to end up than say, Nigeria.

I'm fairly sure from my view on this, that it would be illegal in most countries, as you are not the legal owner of the content to begin with.

It does sound morally right to delete it and then buy it if you like it, but at the same time it's not legal.

There are some solutions for it though:

Rent it.

There are still video stores out there that will rent a game for perhaps $5 a week or so.

Play

N' Trade .

This store is only in the US, but they have tons of TVs and consoles set up so you can TRY before you buy.

I think it's awesome.

Ask around with friends!

Social networking may help with this, just drop a post on Facebook/Google+/Twitter/Whatever you use.

Check your local public library.

More and more libraries these days are offering games for checkout.

And it's probably free as long as you return it on time.

Some libraries may require a deposit to borrow games/systems.

Gamefly?

Rent from a brick store, if you can find one still standing.

I can only speak for the greater Indianapolis area, but I would be surprised if this doesn't hold true elsewhere: Official policy or not, GameStop employees will accept returns on the grounds that you don't like the used game that you purchased.

If you are seriously considering buying a game and want to try it first, buy a used copy from GameStop.

This doesn't mean you get to use GameStop as a free rental store; If you like the game, keep it.

If you're talking about games that you can download from the Wii Shop Channel, the only legal way to try before buying is to play the purchased game on a friend's system.

(Nintendo is shooting itself in the foot by not providing demos in the Wii Shop; If you don't know someone who bought the game, you truly have no legal option for try-before-you-buy.)

How about OnLive?

Sure they don't have many games at the moment, but they might have the ones you are looking for?

GameFly.

It's been said before, and I recently just canceled my subscription, but for legal ways of trying games, this is probably still one of the best options.

They have a good selection, allow you to hold onto the game as long as you want, and generally have decent service in terms of re-shipping lost games, etc.

Their used prices are actually pretty good, so if you're interested in buying a game after trying it, you can get them to ship the box and manual for a game just by paying the used price.

(even if you're the first to rent it) I've done that quite a few times

and it's a great way to buy a game AND get them to ship your next game ASAP.

I don't think you were hoping to hear "a paid subscription service" as an answer, but it really is among the better options available, even if not ideal.

To add on to the other suggestions, I also agree that your current method is illegal.

Game Stop allows you to return used games (I don't know about new) before a certain number of days pass (I don't know how many)

I assume by your question you are referring to the downloadable games for the Wii, not the retail titles.

Some games, like Super Smash Bros. Brawl have unlockable demos for classic NES games.

For any disc-based title, just rent it from any game rental store/service.

Question: The only method I can think of is to download a ROM and test it with an emulator, and then delete it 72 hours after I download it. However, I'm uncertain if this is legal.  How can I test a Wii game before buying it?

How can I legally try Wii games before buying them?

You can go to a gameshop and see if they have a console you can try it on. You can also rent games before buying them or buy a used copy.

Renting it, testing it in stores or asking friends are the most prominent solutions since downloading is illegal.

Τhere is not any legal option in downloading games.

There are several ways to try a game such as rent it, buy and return it, or ask a friend.


Steam has recently introduced an option to queue up games to be installed through a web interface.

Make sure the target PC is running the Steam client, then go to your games list on the Steam website (the easiest way to do this is to click Community -> Profiles -> Games in the Steam client), open the All Games tab and click the install button next to the games you want to have installed.

If not all of your games are showing up, click on Per page: All at the bottom of the page.

This is massively faster than going through the usual install dialog.

I assume its possible if you use the Steam browser protocol in a Batch (even even python) script.

here is a list of the possible commands, http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_browser_protocol

so you should need some thing like steam://install/<id> in a loop replacing the with the id of those games in your library.im not sure where you can get a list of game ID's you own.

who knows, maybe its even possible to just loop from 0 to 100000000, thus selecting every game you have on the way!

if you use this system id love to see your script!

As far as I'm aware, there is no way to queue the downloads in the way you want.

If you still have your old computer, the easiest way to approximate this is to make a backup of your steamapps folder and re-install all your games from there, bypassing the need to re-download them.

I suppose you could also transfer them from the old computer to the new one over a LAN, but I'd imagine most USB transfers would be faster.

Relevant forum post: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1251492

as of August 2014 you can now shift+click all games in your library and right click to install.

this will cue up all the games and download them all one at a time.

Sorry for the very late reply, but a lot of people visit this page because they are searching for the same.

This is exactly what you are looking for: http://userscripts-mirror.org/scripts/show/171425.html (old link: http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/171425 )

IT IS FINALLY

HERE!This script allows you to install all your STEAM games without user intervention.

Made by the one and only real Master-Guy http://steamcommunity.com/id/Master-Guy/games?tab=all

How it works: 1)

Log in into Steam on the computer where you want to download the games.

2) Install this script on any computer, it may be the same one, or a different one.

I used the same computer myself.

3) Log in into the Steam Community in FireFox 4) Go to the following URL in FireFox, but replace the asterix (*) with your Steam Community name: http://steamcommunity.com/id/*/games?tab=all#installall

For example: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Master-Guy/games?tab=all#installall The script will wait 5 seconds before starting, and will trigger all game installation with 10 second intervals.

The build-in download scheduler of Steam will pause the updates while starting the new one, and will only download one at a time.

This is to optimize your download speed.

This installed around 400 games and 150 DLC's onto my computer in 8 hours of time without any further user intervention.

It might however require you to start the script twice if the internet connection isn't optimal.

If the 5 seconds isn't enough for the complete page to load, change the following line:var timeBeforeFirstGame

= 5000;Increase the 5000 to the number of milliseconds you want to wait for the page to load.

I've Found out how to make this work.

First get greasemonkey addon for Firefox then use the script that was linked above : http://userscripts.org/scripts/show/171425 and follow steps 1-3.

now i was confused because when i went to my profile page it doesn't say my name

it just has a bunch of numbers

i think this is steams new way

SO .

what you have to do is go into greasemonkey>manage user scripts>installallsteamgamesscript>options> then on the user settings> included pages>add and then add a url like this http://steamcommunity.com/profiles/ */games?tab=

all#installall except replace the * with the numbers after profiles/

that you see when you go to your profile on steam.

after you've added that to the included section put that into your browser and wait a few seconds for it to start up.

Worked for me :D

steam://subscriptioninstall/id1/id2/... Opens a dialog box with a checklist of the games

specified allowing you to install them all at once.

Question: I have a substantial Steam library, and a new computer with plenty of disk space. I want to queue up all (or most) of my Steam games for downloading.  I know I can click on each one in turn, but I have to click a few times and wait while Steam creates locale game cache files.  Is there a way to do this quickly, preferably in bulk?

Can I bulk download Steam games?

Steam has introduced an option to queue up games through a web interface.

Multiple games can be downloaded either through steam or through scripts and browser extensions.

Steam recently offers the ability to download multiple games for installation.

Additional scripts or browser extensions are suggested as a valid options.


With bukkit there are plugins that change the world generation to make the world flat, for example: http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/wgen-flatlands-v0-1-makes-a-flat-world-860.20888/ http://forums.bukkit.org/threads/wgen-hugetractsofland-0-1-generate-a-flat-world-using-any-block-1060.28662/

You can also search http://dev.bukkit.org/bukkit-plugins/?category=world-generators for different types of world generators.

Note: I have not tried either of them.

I would have to say that you just go into the server.properties file and edit it to be super-flat instead of default .

The drawback to that is that you will not be able to go underground since it is only 3 blocks away from the 1 layer of bedrock.

What do you mean empty?

They're all empty.

If you mean flat or featureless, all you can do, in the unlikely event of finding a seed that would create a world like that, is create one as normal, play it, fly around for a good while in all directions to get chunks generated, then use MCEdit to flatten it.

But new chunks will always be generated as normal.

You can use MCEdit to create a world and create chunks in it that are empty except for a layer of bedrock.

Make a superflat world out of air blocks.

Make sure you have villages on, and you have an (almost) emtpy world.

You know, I was wondering the exact same thing.

I figured out if you make superflat just one layer of tnt then ignite it, it will blow up everything.

BUT be sure you put a piece ofbedrock down first.

Also the server may crash or get really laggy.

But you can also use World Edit to clear out the world.

make a superflat world with only one layer of sand.

The moment you put a block down, the sand will fall into the void leaving just the block you placed.

Set generator-settings=1;0;1 and level-type=FLAT and gamemode=1 in the server.properties .

Note this would will have no blocks at all.

As you are in creative mode fly to y: 0

(press F3 to see coords).

Note: You will start dropping quickly so be ready.

Install the WorldEdit plugin from bukkit plugins and type //pos1 then move a little and type //pos2 and //set stone or whatever block you want.

In later versions, you could use /setblock ~ ~ ~ minecraft:stone and not have to install WorldEdit.

Judging from the DemonicMushy's comment on his question, I think he means a map with no blocks at all.

Try looking for maps such as this one and importing them into multiplayer.

3000x3000 blocks of void.

Of course, if you meant a map that isn't void, use the superflat world option when creating a singleplayer world and import it to multiplayer to build together.

Question: My friends and I want to create an adventure map, so I want to have a empty Minecraft Craftbukkit server map to start with, so there will be nothing other than the things I want to put into the map. How can I achieve this?

How do I create an empty minecraft world?

Install the WorldEdit plugin to change the world generation to make it flat. You can also used MCEdit to create a world and create chunks of it that are empty.

Multiple in-game techniques and modding options could serve as a solution.

There is a variety of ways using plugins or editors to create an empty world.

It is suggested that air or sand blocks could be used in order to make an empty world.


The easiest ways to kill people wielding riot shields (not including using kill streak rewards) are to stick them with semtex, shoot them in the feet, or throw a grenade behind them (hopefully right under them if possible).

Another way is to flash them or use a concussion grenade (I prefer concussion, because they physically can't turn to face you, whereas they can fluke it with a flash) and flank them and shoot their sides/back (or knife them).

Alternatively, wait until they lift the shield and shoot them (although I assume you've been trying this

and it's why you've been getting killed).

(When I figure out more methods, I'll edit this, but I haven't really come across too many riot shielders yet).

I know of three ways: 9-Bang (Flashbang) or concussion grenade them straight in the face if you have Blast Shield and run into their sides or back, and then either put a knife or a bullet or two into them.

If they are in a confined space, then first throw the flash/concussion, then rush in.

If they are running, it means they are standing, shoot them at their feet.

If they crouch, try to flank them, still shooting.

The "still shooting" part is important.

Keep them nailed to blur their vision.

Throw a nade behind them.

Even if it falls far, this will make most fear and turn in the nade's direction, which leaves you with their back.

You know what to do..

If they are crouching and have their backs on a wall or a corner, then either SMAW them or lob a nade behind them.

Alternatively, if you are wielding a Riot Shield yourself, too, go charge them - may the faster flanker win!

Ok, that was five.

You have to have really accurate shots to kill a riot shield soldier.

One tricky way (which may be easy to most of you) is to aim for their shooting arm, and it is also good if you put C4 where you know they will be walking.

Grenade behind them is what I have always liked :-)

It's simple and you can do it at a reasonable range.

The way I prefer to do it is to throw a flash bang at them and when they're flashed run behind them an knife them.

In close corners I don't believe it's possible to have a real strategy if it's just you versus them.

Your best bet is to run to a more open place.

Use a flashbang behind them and aim for thier shooting arm

Knife, throwing knife to the ground right in front of them, flashbang, grenade (esp semtex), flanking These are the methods that I know of, use them wisely

A high damage sniper rifle (AS50 or Barret 50cal) with impact proficiency can go right through a riot shield

and I've gotten the game winning kill on a fluke with this before.

Without impact the bullets will be absorbed so don't expect to shoot through a riot shield just because you have your sniper rifle equipped, if you have a different proficiency it won't work.

Stab them, or jump and throw the knife at their head.

Question: I've gotten owned a couple times by people with riot shields, and it's almost impossible for me to get all way around behind them efficiently.  What is the method for killing this sort of player?

How do I kill someone if they are using a riot shield?

Try sticking them with semtex or throw a nade behind them. You could also try a concussion grenade or wait until they lift the shield and shoot them.

A variety of skills, strategies or weapons can be used in order to deal with the Riot Shield.

Using a grenade could be a solution to the problem.

Using Flashbang or concussion grenade can also solve the problem.

You can use sheer markmanship in order to kill whoever holds the shield.

Holding a Riot Shield could be a solution.

Using specific weapons such as Rifles and Knifes could serve as a solution.