Talk:Biome/Archive 4: Difference between revisions

In my opinion, this page should give an explanation of the Anvil format. The Anvil format allowed for biomes to be stored in the file, not completely relient on the seed! Allowing for new biomes to be added, while not messing up older worlds! Actually, I think I'll add that. See ya! Djc1999 04:37, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

In the page, I see others post seeds for rare biomes such as the Mushroom Biome, or for new biomes, such as the jungle. I think it's great to share seeds, but not in this page. It's extra information that doesn't go well with the main point of these biomes. I think it would be better off in the Seed (Level Generation) page, or even some sort of its own little section. Perhaps an external link that contains many seeds, such as this website? [1] What do you guys think? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by ThingsStuffsObjects ^{(Talk|Contribs)} 03:07, 13 February 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

This page is still based on the way Notch used biomes, that is, for having different weather effects and tree types/densities. Jeb uses biomes for this reason, but also for features within traditional biomes. Additions of these types of biomes began in 1.8 with rivers, but 1.1 added tons of these biomes. This will explain the new biomes and changes in the generation of the traditional biomes.

Water Biomes

Rivers

River biomes have three instances. The first is in rivers, the second is almost anywhere any other biome (excluding the edge biomes) meets an Ocean biome (so that the shore spawns correctly), and the third is in small ponds in Swampland and Jungle biomes. FrozenRiver biomes are a separate biome that exist wherever a River biome touches a Frozen Plains (Tundra) biome.

Oceans

Unlike most biomes, the Ocean biome appears to have little size constraint with a huge range of sizes, and can spawn as small as 100 blocks wide and as large as 10,000 blocks wide. They also tend to spawn right next to each other, creating huge oceans. FrozenOcean can occur in extremely small areas on the coast of Frozen Plains biomes

Biomes that Spawn Within a Specific Biome Type

These biomes spawn within a specific parent biome type.

Hills & Mountains

These biomes generate hills (or mountains, in the case of Ice Mountains) in their respective parent biomes, and are very small, since they only create a single feature. ForestHills, TaigaHills, DesertHills, Ice Mountains, and JungleHills

Mushroom Islands

Mushroom Islands spawn within ocean biomes. They are actually composed of two different biomes, but I'm not sure of their names. Mooshrooms also spawn ONLY in that biome unless they are spawned by a player in another biome. Mobs do not spawn in the biome but dungeons do spawn them regularly. Mobs cannot be spawned by a player in that biome.

99.48.206.113 02:17, 10 October 2012 (UTC)xxomg74

Forests

Very small Forest biomes can spawn in Plains biomes.

Edge Biomes

These biomes are very thin and provide transition between certain biomes.

Beaches

Beach biomes spawn wherever an Ocean biome meets a land biome and there is no River biome buffer.
Mushroom Islands have their own special beach biomes.

Extreme Edge

Extreme Edge biomes provide transition between Extreme Hills(Mountain) biomes and every other biome except River biomes.

Biome Size

Most traditional biomes are about 1000 blocks wide, but Frozen Plains biomes can be several times wider.

Traditional biomes are the biomes currently shown on the page. NighttimeDriver50000 03:20, 22 January 2012 (UTC)

BIOME TYPES

Main Biomes:

Forest

Taiga

Swampland

Extreme Hills

Desert

Plains

Ocean

Tundra

Mushroom Island

River

Beach

End

Hell

Sub-Biomes:

Forest Hills

Taiga Hills

Frozen River

Ice Mountains

Desert Hills

Frozen Ocean

Mushroom Island Shore

Extreme Hills Edge

Future Biomes:

Jungle

Removed Biomes:

Savanna

Shrubland

Rainforest

Seasonal Forest Kmatt17 09:22, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

I don't really like this page as it is - too many images, generic descriptions. Can we put in exact details with respect to temperature and humidity? StTheo 01:35, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

If you can find a way to extract them from the code, sure. I'd be interested to know what effect they have on gameplay, as well. -- Orthotope 03:02, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I decompiled the .class files of the most recent weekly build into .java files, and luckily all I had to do was search for a specific biome name "SWAMP" to find the right .java file. Phew. It looks like each biome has 4 numbers associated with them; 2 for temperature/moisture and 2 for min/max height. Beyond that, I have no idea.StTheo 21:50, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

Shouldn't there be a number for natural light level? there is a noticeable difference in lighting when moving between biomes.217.164.86.20 07:46, 22 February 2012 (UTC)

I haven't noticed such a thing, perhaps you are looking at the grass colors and/or your view is effected by foliage above 99.64.107.111 22:52, 2 August 2012 (UTC)

The humidity might have to do with evaporation (water not enabled in Nether for example) and temp for rainfall (snow in snow biomes) Atleast I think thats what they stand for. 71.244.34.118 20:50, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

After much source-diving, I think I have a mostly-authoritative answer to my own query. The effects of temperature are mostly well-known: grass and foliage color, snow/ice forming, snow golem behavior. It also determines the color of the sky. Humidity/rainfall also affects grass and foliage colors. In certain 'high humidity' biomes (swamp, jungle, and mushroom island), fire doesn't spread as easily, though it's hard to quantify this effect. Exact values for each biome (and much more technical data) are at User:Orthotope/biomes. -- Orthotope 06:34, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Temperature and Humidity are useless, biomes don't use them to generate, and neither for grass color, as the game only use 1 pixel for each biome, they really doesn't matter. --16:31, 25 February 2013 (UTC)201.67.237.213

I generated a table of ALL the biome numbers from 0-255 by making a map with a custom tool and walking through it ingame. (See my profile for further details.) All values not in this table presented here are not used and default to 'Plains'.

--Djdanlib 05:00, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

Note before reading this is just speculation based on the newly added textures and wells.

Since there has been the addition of villages and their upgrades (villagers, iron golems, sieges, etc.), and now the addition of new sandstone textures and desert wells, I am thinking that things like desert towns might be added, ie massive Pyramids (which I believe what the new sandstone textures will be for). Any thoughts? 67.182.166.113 17:25, 1 March 2012 (UTC)

I think that having more variety to the types of villages that spawn would be a great idea. For instance, You could have villages made of walkways and platforms in the jungle biomes. NighttimeDriver5000 22:00, 16 March 2012 (UTC)

Regarding Taiga: The page currently states:

Wolves are found in this biome more commonly than in others.

I suspect this is misleading; at least in 1.1, wolves were ONLY spawned in Taiga, just like 1.2 only spawns ocelots in jungles.

If this is still accurate in 1.2 then the page needs updating.

Keybounce 18:54, 3 April 2012 (UTC)

According to the page, there used to be only Grassy and Snowy, but I specifically recall playing back and Alpha and getting Desert lands, which is just all desert forever (and it was very hard to find tree and grass patches). –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 97.83.58.122 ^(Talk) 20:55, 13 April 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

The were no deserts back them, you found a large beach then. --201.67.237.213 16:32, 25 February 2013 (UTC)

It is mentioned under the jungle section that "when inside a jungle, the sky will become noticeably greener", but I am not noticing this effect. Could the person who wrote this have been using a HD texture pack which supports biome-dependant lighting (the tint of fog and the sky is changed depending on the biome the player is in)?

Can anyone confirm that the sky does turn green without a texture pack, or should it be edited out? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.154.70.212 ^(Talk) 18:04, 15 April 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

@whoever posted the previous statement: Sorry for posting without logging in, but try going from Ice-Mountains to Desert and look at the sky, it goes from purple-blue to light-blue-cyan, a noticeable difference. I don't know about jungles, but at least at maximum graphics settings, un-modded minecraft clients on SSP or SMP can see some biome transitions in the sky, some of these changes may be subtle or require good vision to notice though, and not all biome sky-colors are necessarily unique. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.189.125.6 ^(Talk) 02:59, 17 April 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

I have noticed the change in Jungle color with my Default texture pack. If you fly from one biome( a forest, for example) into the jungle while looking up at the sky, you will notice that as the biome changes the sky changes shade by just a few degrees of color...the sky becomes a lighter shade of blue that could be interpreted as "greenish". The change in sky color comes automatically with the game. --Coughedupon 03:52, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

While exploring an ocean, I saw something weird at the surface. When I got closer to investigate, I saw the water caved in... or something... then later, while exploring a mushroom biome (in the same world), I found three of these air pockets underwater... Are those bugs or what? I've taken screenshots if anyone wants to see (though I don't know how to post them here) –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.130.30.39 ^(Talk) 05:53, 13 May 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

Air pockets are (probably, Mojang has never talked about them) a bug. They exist since Beta 1.8 - they didn't appear in the old world generation. Calinou - talk × contribs » 07:01, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

What are the chances of spawning in each type of biome? My friends and I are planning to do a playthrough of Minecraft, and are planning to spawn in a Desert. We want to maximize our chances, and I would like some help. Any would be appreciated. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 95.150.1.213 ^(Talk) 16:50, 1 June 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

That is an interesting thing to find out, the chances of spawning in each biome, I hope someone picks this up and investigates it, because wouldn't know where to start. My best advise at the moment is just to find an appropriate seed to spawn in a Desert. –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 86.93.56.98 ^(Talk) 19:54, 6 July 2012 (UTC). Please sign your posts with ~~~~

In 1.3, the world generator will attempt to create a spawn point in plains, forest (hills), taiga (hills), or jungle (hills) biomes. The chance of each is proportional to how common it is; I'm working on getting some data on that. It's still possible to spawn in other biomes, if none of those are within 256 blocks of (0, 0); this happens more often in Large Biomes worlds. -- Orthotope 20:03, 27 September 2012 (UTC)

I created a world before the 1.2 update. After the 1.2 update, I went exploring and after I went across a desert biome, the biome just ended in a cliff.

I found it several times throughout the world. In one instance, it went through an NPC village and cut the church in half. I have never seen anything like it in any other world before then and since. I was wondering if anyone else has seen something like this and if anyone has any idea of why this happened. It would be much appreciated. --SnoConeWars 16:58, 6 August 2012 (UTC)

This is a consequence of the world generation algorithm changing in 1.2 . The desert chunks were generated in 1.1, but 1.2 puts a swamp there, causing a discontinuity as new chunks are generated. -- Orthotope 07:22, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Several biome descriptions refer to Tundra, which is no longer in the list of actual names. Presumably it was the former name for Ice Plains, but can an old-timer or code-diver please confirm that the statements made about Tundra still apply to Ice Plains? --Mental Mouse 10:21, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

If the player created a landmass of sufficient size, would it be possible for animals to spawn in an Ocean biome? 206.28.49.30 03:34, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Nope. Like deserts, the game explicitly prevents passive mobs from spawning naturally there. (Technically, it empties the list of animals that are allowed to spawn.) -- Orthotope 07:46, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

It's purgatory or limbo. Between heaven and hell, and the endermen that reside in it are lost/wandering souls. It is NOT the sky or heaven. There is a separate, possible upcoming biome that will be the sky dimention

66.87.93.17 00:08, 26 October 2012 (UTC)

The End's talk page is over there.

In SMP I found a mushroom island but! it was in the middle of a taiga biome. lost the world and screenshots I want to show you it! but Even the seed is forgotten. and all because of one annoying little brother Kieranfishing 17:36, 27 December 2012 (UTC)

211.31.60.169 11:02, 18 August 2013 (UTC)I wish they would make mushroom biomes less rare. i say this because I was playing with mo creatures, and I tried to go to the far lands on my dragon, i flew for ages and after what felt like hours found a mushroom island biome. I chose to go home because I had all my pets back there.

Hi, i want to make a list of bugs, but my English is not well and i couldn't complete list. There is 949 open issue on project and with this English, its very hard to create list.

What do you think about this? As a great fan of minecraft, i am sick of bugs. --Mbaran 00:40, 30 December 2012 (UTC) Issue List

I was changing biomes with MCEdit, when I saw two biomes I had never heard of, Sky Biome and Hell biome. I decided to hack them in, seeing the result. Sky biome managed to turn the sky black, but that was about it. Does anyone know what piece of code puts the static in The End up, because The End runs off the Sky biome. Now that I think, what would happen if you changed the biome in The End? It could do nothing, but what if?... PARA PARA PARIDISE!-Louise4589TheEpic 12:19, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

I understand that being in a desert makes mobs easier to see, but I swear the spawn more often there (First night in a game, and I'm on top of an NPC church surrounded by at least 6 creepers, and countless other mobs) Are mobs more likely to spawn in certain biomes? --207.118.178.41 23:53, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

"Sometimes, biomes may generate in invalid places.[...]"

That is false. I did check all the example seeds and in all cases it was simply a river biome cutting a portion of the other biome, thus making it look as if it is a small ocean or a small jungle in an invalid place.
Since river biomes overlapping other biomes is not a bug, I proceed to delete it from the article. 79.109.1.132 20:13, 1 February 2013 (UTC)

The Page explicitly states that no passive mobs (sans the rare chicken) spawn in the Ice Plains biome. I'm not certain if this information is simply outdated or flatly false, but I've just encountered pigs and sheep in the Ice Plains biome in 1.4.7, and I believe (though cannot recall with certainty) I encountered cows as well. They're rare enough to be landmarks in the beautiful yet dreary scenery of the expansive Ice Plains, but they DO exist, and it's a very significant note because they're the only chance the Player has for food right off the bat. 76.165.247.5 11:22, 18 February 2013 (UTC)PresidentEden77

ok it was snow, i was in taiga but then i came across a desert full of snow with cactuses and everything i pressed f3 and apperently it was taiga i'll try post a screenshot (= 202.89.177.213 06:07, 23 February 2013 (UTC)

If the world was generated prior to 1.2, the biome may have changed from desert to taiga with the new world generator in that version. 99.107.199.30 21:43, 12 May 2013 (UTC)

The article says that Frozen Rivers generate in taiga and tundra biomes. I believe the technical biome only generates within the tundra biomes. Rivers in taiga biomes still generate like regular rivers, the ice only forms in the taiga biome itself. Can someone confirm and change this? Thanks, 99.107.199.30 22:00, 23 April 2013 (UTC)

It is possible, so it is not completely wrong. I've seen it, I know. ×Meeples10× 10:35, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

Mojang said water sources in deserts were removed in 1.6.2, yet I found some. This world was made in 1.6.2, and here's the seed: -165120894491334625

I don't know, but if I am wrong, tell me. -- Minecreeper (Talk) 14:08, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

EDIT: I should have noted that this was found far away from the spawn.

This may be because of seeds not changing. Seeds made as of 1.6 will not spawn lakes in deserts. File:Meeples10 signature.png ᐸ Talk
Contribs 16:39, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

I just made a world with that seed in 1.6.2. Spawned in taiga, but there was a large desert nearby, and I did not see any water while flying over it. --Mental Mouse 19:18, 22 July 2013 (UTC)

Hello,

I think all biomes deserver their own page. More and more stuff is being added that is unique to one specific biome, like Desert temples, Jungle temples Witch huts and more, wouldn't it be a good idea to at least give the more important biomes like the Desert, Jungle and Plains their own biome? If all biomes are in one page I think all mobs should also be in one page, that would be the same principal I think.

I'm here to discuss this, so please tell me your opinion on this.

Greetings TheWombatGuru 10:37, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

If we split the biomes into their own pages, it would defeat the purpose of this page. It may, however, be possible to make them subpages of this page. File:Meeples10 signature.png ᐸ Talk
Contribs 10:57, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Would it be bad to get rid of this page? We could make this a disambiguation page to all the other pages, like Redstone (disambiguation)? TheWombatGuru 11:00, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

Or we could just give a brief explanation of what a Minecraft biome is and alos a diambiguation page? TheWombatGuru 13:56, 9 August 2013 (UTC)

I don't think there's enough content to create pages for individual biomes; we don't need twenty-something stubs with only a paragraph or two in each. Mobs have their own pages because there tends to be plenty to say about each one; many of them are larger than this page. Combining them all would create a huge and hard-to-navigate article. -- Orthotope ^talk 10:31, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Ok, but can I try to make it as my userpages, and then show it to you? I think there's enough to say about the biomes like there is to say about the mobs. TheWombatGuru 11:46, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

i started creating a page about Forests, I only posted the basics and it doesn't really look like a stub, are you sure you don't want to give them their own page? User:TheWombatGuru/Forest

I support biomes having their own pages when 1.7 rolls around. Not only will there be a bit more to say, but apparently almost all biomes will have their own unique variation that we can include in a "rare variation" section. Maybe have all these here like now, but instead link them to their own page. I think a chart with a title for each picture would be good, and clicking the picture would link to the main page. Funky3000 19:40, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

Funky has a point. Meeples10 ^{t ~ c} 19:56, 1 September 2013 (UTC)

Yes he has! I really want seperated pages. -- TheWombatGuru ^{t | c} NL Admin 15:35, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

I'll create the pages in my userspace. Meeples10 ^{t ~ c} 15:40, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

Don't do that! I already have them in my user page thing: TheWombatGuru -- TheWombatGuru ^{t | c} NL Admin 15:44, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

OK. Meeples10 ^{t ~ c} 15:50, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

But you could help me with this little project if you want. -- TheWombatGuru ^{t | c} NL Admin 15:51, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

I'll help. Meeples10 ^{t ~ c} 16:34, 2 September 2013 (UTC)

"In 1.7, several biomes will be added and tweaked, and the code for the world generator will be changed." Does this mean old worlds (Before the next update.) will become corrupt or will they generate new, normal chunks? Also, will this mess up the biomes like the full release (1.0) did? --Ldogec 11:47, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

I highly doubt the worlds will get corrupted, the new ( and old ) biomes will generate from where you stopped exploring. There will probably be a chunk edge, that you have an ugly wall that's in between two biomes. TheWombatGuru 11:51, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Heh, thanks for answering. I could just use McEdit to smooth out the ugly transition between new and old biomes. --Ldogec 12:28, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

This is a request to remove "Redwood Forest" from "Upcoming Biomes". As far as I know, nobody at Mojang ever confirmed the development of redwood forests (Although, if you know otherwise, please post here). The only place I can find that mentioned redwood biomes are at these two youtube videos: [[2]] and [[3]]. This same Youtube user has a reputation for releasing false information, for instance, [[4]]. --Electrobyte 12:34, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Jeb released pictures of a 'redwood biome' on twitter' he didn't use the words redwood biome because that is just a speculation, but the biome itself will be added as far as we have to believe Jeb_ TheWombatGuru 12:36, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Alright, could you share the link so that it can be put as a source? --Electrobyte 12:39, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Jebtweet TheWombatGuru 12:41, 10 August 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, I really need this for my resource pack, so ... thanks in advance ;) Missingno 26 16:24, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

With the release of the first snapshot for the 1.7 version, I think we should consider reorganizing a bit the page. The first thing that comes to mind is to start classing all biomes in those four categories Jeb had revealed: Snow-covered, Cold, Medium and Dry/warm. The best way to check this is to note which biome generates next to another, seems the four types can't simply mix with each other like it used to be. I also want to precise that so far oceans don't go in any of those categories: they seem to be generated independently of the nearest biomes, and isolated biomes at sea (islands?) can be of any type.

Anyway, you are welcomed to share your thoughts on this matter.

Pauolo 18:58, 5 September 2013 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable. I've never really liked the 'technical biomes' classification, since I can't find any justification for it in the game's code. -- Orthotope ^talk 02:23, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

I guess oceans are a "neutral" biome? –ultradude25 ᐸ Talk
Contribs – 02:28, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

We had the name Technical Biome because I believe we didn't know how to name those sub-biomes anyway. Also, I think those can be separated in at least two categories: landscape such as hills and plateaux, and transition such as edges, beaches and frozen oceans. Still with 1.7, it looks like there are more categories to be added, such as forest variation, those rare M(ountain) sub-biomes or even flower variants. For now we should simply start classing biomes in the main categories.

Anyway way this is what I noted while generating maps:

• Dry/warm: Desert, Jungle, Savanna, possibly Mesa (haven't seen any yet).
• Medium: Forest (Roofed Forest, Flower Forest, Birch Forest), Plain (Sunflower Plain), possibly Swamplands (but that I need to check).
• Cold: Extreme Hills (Extreme Hills+), Taiga (the one without snow), possibly Mega Taiga.
• Snow-covered: Ice Plain (Ice Mountain, Ice Plain Spikes), Cold Taiga (the snow-covered one)
• Unclassed (water biomes?): Ocean (Deep Ocean, Frozen Ocean), River, Mushroom Island.

Btw, the biome data value list is missing all rare biomes such as the flower variations and the Ice Plain Spikes.

EDIT: I'd like to confirm, but I don't think Extreme Hills Edge still exist in the current snapshot. Also, I can't find any Birch Forest Hills even though it is in the data list (finally found one).

Pauolo 08:25, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

I tend to believe M-biomes are not mountain variants, but rather variants of biomes for which they didn't found an interesting name (like Sunflower Plains instead of Plains M). So M probably stands for modification or so. For example the only Birch Forest M biome if found is not mountainous at all, but features very large birch trees instead. Also, it seems like every biome has at most one rare variant with a biome number 128 higher, so as there is a "Sunflower Plains" biome, there probably will be no "Plains M" biome. I agree, we should group the biomes by climate and we should move the rare variants to the base biome. i added some biome numbers for the rare variants. -- JonHa97 10:09, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

That seems to clarify a lot of things put in that way. Maybe we can class Hills, Plateaux and such under common variations, and M ones (including as you pointed out Flower Forests and Sunflower Plains) under rare variations. Since those variations do not feature new materials and such (except new flowers from what I know so far), we can probably group them together with their concerned main biomes (Forest, Desert, Jungle...), and so avoid having two separated lists for main biomes and technical one.

Concerning beaches and rivers, they also have their own variations depending on which biome they are generated next to. We may class them with oceans and mushrooms islands since they don't belong to the four main categories.

Also, since I started to use ADMIST to check on biome generation, I can confirm that Extreme Hills Edge are not generated anymore in this snapshot. In the same way, there are no Frozen Ocean, but that seems to be the case with the current released version too though it isn't mentioned on this page.

Pauolo 12:35, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

The Ice Plains Spikes biome variation obviously features additional material (Packed Ice), but I think this shouldn't matter. It can still be handled on the Ice Plains biome page. I also agree we should stop dividing technical and non-technical biomes. I'm not really sure how this classification worked or works, anyway. For example the Hill biome variants look like plain (sub-)biomes to me, I don't see anything "technical" about them. -- JonHa97 21:13, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

There are more technical biomes upcomming. Like Extreme Hills + The M biomes & the Cold beach :) --Karstvgl 07:51, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

I've been searching and came across a Mesa variant called "Mesa (Bryce)". It can be seen with seed 5320608037537784866 at coords x: -195, y: 91, z: -18221

Is there a way to comprehensively enumerate all the new biomes and their IDs?

50.156.5.129 01:27, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

Great find. There is a table of biome numbers on the front page. You can also add a description of the biome and rare variants to the "upcoming" section. I think it may also be a good idea to collect a list of seeds and locations of these rare variants as they are sometimes really hard to find. -- JonHa97 07:13, 7 September 2013 (UTC)