I’ve been up late the last couple nights finishing an Ocean expansion, a process I started almost 2 years ago that I completely forgot what stage it was at. I had to dig through dated posts and files to figure out where I had left things. Well, after scrounging around for a while I soon picked up the pace again and now the eureka moment has finally arrived.
The image above is today’s render of The Ancient World. No tricky photoshopping here. This is the actual world now.
The worldborder has been expanded approximately double what it was before, with all of that vast space being “newly” generated Java 1.19.3 ocean. This was a rather difficult task that took hundreds of hours of testing that would often end in failure until I could finally find a working method.
alternative generation where I’ve aligned TAW off-center, leaving more room on one side.
this rectangular generation might be the best method, as it is the most efficient on chunks and file size while giving the most real estate on one side.
it’s enough space to fit TAW in twice
The new ocean chunk format is built into the world’s seed itself. Which means any newly generated chunks on the world will default to Ocean. I used this to generate the new oceans you see in the image above using the fill function on the worldborder plugin.
It was a neat little hack I worked out after failing repeatedly to copy + paste TAW directly onto a pre-existing ocean world on Amulet editor and other such editing tools, which was too heavy of a task that took days of computer processing with memory leaks and a whole host of other challenges that were always cropping up.
To be honest I don’t even know how this was even possible and I can’t even believe it finally worked. But as you can see from the render above, I have achieved what I was starting to believe was the impossible!
Going forward I will be concepting ideas for newly generated continents or even a new mainland with all the newest blocks, mobs, biomes, and land generation. New lands haven’t been added to the world since the Age of Exploration which was almost 8 years ago. I’m not sure where all that time went, but here we are.
Anyway, it might be a few more years yet until I’m ready to try a whole new age. And we may even be well established on Bedrock by then which will have totally changed the way that the server is operated. There will be no more plugins to speak of – just vanilla survival on an old familiar world.
Hello TAW’ers! It’s been over a year since the new Darkness age didn’t come to fruition. I’ve been working on other projects, but I recently had the itch to do some TAW related stuff.
I was finally able to convert TAW to Bedrock edition and I created my own personal Realm so I could play on it cross-platform. I took this video today at the moment I entered The Ancient World for the first time on my Playstation 4.
In the video above I am using a November 15th 2022 backup of the world. This was the period of time when Red Mountain had first erupted and it’s effects had not yet reached the Mainland.
I’m not exactly sure what this means for TAW moving forward. But I found the exercise interesting. I sit in front of a computer most days for work so it was becoming next to impossible to be able to wind down playing Minecraft on PC anymore. But now I can sit back and relax and play TAW on a controller if I wanted, which is more relaxing.
I’ve done further testing to make sure it’s possible to re-download TAW from Realms to my own PC to make backups and it all checks out. So perhaps Bedrock will be the future of TAW going forward. Time will tell.
In other news.. for a few years now I’ve been wanting to print a large 75cm x 122cm canvas of the map for my living room. Yes, I’m THAT proud of TAW and it’s long running history. I’ve had to fall back onto Minecraft 1.12 versions of the world map because of incompatibility issues with 1.13+ that never managed to get resolved. But it’s not a terrible thing by any means. The map was quite beautiful at that time. Only Voyagers Wharf and everything from Age of Order is missing.. which is a shame. But there’s not much I can do about it at this stage.
This is the design I have in mind. Very minimal, and the extra black around the edges is to give room for the canvas to wrap around a wooden frame. This is a scaled down version but the full version I’m working on is 28995 x 19899 pixels. It should hopefully provide enough detail that I can get my face right up close to it and see every detail of the world.
I’ll make follow up posts if anything eventuates with TAW on Bedrock and Realms, and if I manage to get the canvas map thing done I’ll share some photos.
When I was walking around TAW on my PS4 the only thing I could think about is how much I miss you all, and all the great times we had together. It wasn’t always perfect.. but TAW was home.
Server Status: NO WHITELIST If you have issues connecting, try 155.94.186.91:25691
Please familiarize yourself with our Server Rules before playing. For a more in-depth look at our server the Codex offers a comprehensive guide.
Special Thanks to the following for their contributions towards the setup of the new age; ZachOnTheAttack, Docdeath239, Coldwave, Grumfisst, Osumaro, Essyri
The server will be closed for a Christmas break starting on the 24th, Christmas Eve, and will re-open again for the launch of the new age on December 31st 5pm EST
Important Reminders;
Playerdata will be deleted during the closure. Please have your valuables stored in regular containers such as chests or shulker boxes before christmas eve. Do not leave them in your inventory or in your enderchest or you will risk losing them forever.
Entities may also be affected by the server maintenance. This includes containers such as Armor Stands and Item Frames. We recommend that you clear these of any valuables before the server maintenance period.
On December 31st 5pm EST the ash storm from the volcanic eruption of Red Mountain on Dagon Fel and the newly formed Vile Mountain on Orrostar will reach The Old Mainland, blanketing the world in darkness and bitter cold on a scale unseen since the first Age of Darkness. This date will forever mark the beginning of a new dark era for The Ancient World.
The Darkness is a beast unto it’s own as it seeks to extinguish all light that it touches, allowing Ancient Monsters of the under-world to rise again to lord over the living. The Darkness is no God or being that can be reasoned with or appeased, as it’s evil influence spreads endlessly towards every corner of the world.
With the coming darkness upon them the Dwarves have been preparing a new district deep below Windvale under the guidance of their wise and venerated leader Grumfisst.
Kal-Baldur Sanctuary is the title given to this new under-dwelling that all the mortalraces of the world can take refuge in. But can it hold out against the impending threat? And for how long can they hide from what may be their ultimate fate? It could take generations for the storm to clear while the eternal war for the over-world commences once again between the still living and the dead.
“The potent smell of ash, the void of darkness, and the bitter frostbite linger upon us. Nearing death on that fateful night many moons ago, my fellow Dwarves and I were rescued by the Goddess of light, Phaelle, and instructed by her to build a new holdout deep underground to provide warmth and safety to the mortals of the realm.
Owing Her my life, the Dwarves began with haste to construct a great and defensible mountain keep. Powerful Dwarven runestones blessed by the Goddess’ light were forged to combat the ever rising undead threat.
The halls are fast approaching their completion, ready to take the helm from Voyager’s Wharf as the safe haven. My message to you all thus is twofold; I welcome one and all to share in my hearth and home, and I am ready to guide you through this darkness like my ancestors of yore. Together, we will overcome this night and survive to see the sun rise yet again.”
The Age of Darkness will begin with the Ash Storm expanding in 4 Phases which will play out over 7 months of the new year. From January through to July we will see the playable area decrease over time, simulating the spreading influence of the storm as well as monster behavior changes and additional world changing consequences along the way.
With the Ash Storm being the catalyst for this new reality these Mortals will now face the same ancient threat their ancestors once did in this godforsaken land. Below are some illustrations on what to expect;
IMPORTANT THINGS TO NOTE;
Kal-Baldur will be the new spawn.
There will be a few days of server down-time prior to the start of the age.
Playerdata will be reset on December 31st. That means anything you still have stored in your inventory or Enderchests on this date will be lost forever. You will have sufficient time before this date to save your items by storing them in a regular chest in the world.
The new BlockLocker plugin will now allow you to lock your chests using signs. Locks will expire after 14 days of inactivity.
From Phase 3 and on-wardsexisting enchanted items and gear will bedisenchanted PERMANENTLY. This is due to the ash storm and the darkness choking the very fabric of the world. This will also cause materials such as Diamond and Netherite to lose their well known strength & composition, making them practically useless. But in turn, materials such as leather, gold, and iron can have their stats improved by using your XP at shrines.
Enchant tables and Enderchests will have their magics destroyed. Anything still stored in Enderchests will be lost forever. Don’t store your valuables in them!
City plots at Kal-Baldur can be secured using XP from December 31st 5pm EST
Are we keeping MCMMO and will our stats be reset? MCMMO will remain for this age and your existing levels will not be reset.
Will /home & /sethome be disabled? Yes, these commands will be disabled during Age of Darkness. You will however be able to set your re-spawn point using a bed.
Is Factions returning? Factions is not returning for this age.
Why are we disenchanting everything permanently? Short answer; Power creep. Long answer; Too much power creep.
But I spent X amount of hours / spent X amount of resources / earned my enchanted items. Disenchanting everything is totally unfair! This sentiment is understandable.
Doesn’t disenchanting go against TAW’s ethic’s of server history preservation? TAW is not a museum. Museums are boring. With that said the unique titles and lore on items will remain as they are.
How will XP shrines work? Detailed instructions on how this feature functions will soon be explained in a Codex entry, just as any other new feature this age may bring. Subscribe for updates.
Do I have to move to Kal-Baldur?I’d rather hold out in my wilderness base. You don’t have to move. But keep in mind we have plans to change the playable area as the age progresses. Check the images on the Phase illustrations above to make sure your base falls within the playable area. By Phase 4 this area will be reduced to just 1000 blocks surrounding Kal-Baldur.
Will the rest of the map re-open again after the storm? When will light return? Sometime after Phase 4 the worst of the storm will recede in phases of it’s own, making more of the world accessible again. But the darkness will remain for some time yet.
I want to survive this. Any tips? Sure, here’s a few;
We recommend building and fortifying as deep underground as you can. Do not build with low-tier blocks such as dirt, wood, and cobblestone, as they are exceptionally weak against undead attack. Stone Bricks should be the minimum standard block you use when building walls. Deepslate is even stronger. The thicker you make your walls, the better.
Use lanterns to light up your base. Do not settle for using basic torches as the undead will have an easy time breaking them.
Do not build near old ruins, as ruins tend to be concentrated monster spawn zones. These monsters will seek you out even if your base is 100 blocks away. We know this is easier said than done especially on The Old Mainland which is littered with hundreds of ruins. If you cannot find a suitable location, consider going underground.
Obsidian is the absolute strongest material you can use in your construction as it’s the only block which cannot be destroyed by monsters. Line your walls with a Obsidian layer to make them impenetrable. If you don’t have a lot of Obsidian to spare you can make do with lining the walls in a checkerboard pattern. Some monsters may still breach through the 1×1 gaps, but most wont be able to.
If you are averse to living deep underground and want the challenge of surface survival, then by all means give it a shot. Just remember to use stronger blocks and adopt enough countermeasures to deal with breaches.
If your base falls or if it’s all just too much for you to handle a retreat to Kal-Baldur is nothing to be ashamed of and it’s not admitting defeat. The city requires capable fighters to defend it and it will provide you a secure living district, farms, community gathering areas, and more.
With the surface becoming increasingly too treacherous for travel, a network of underground tunnels could be a safer method of getting to and from different locations. Kal-Baldur Sanctuary will feature sections where the public can dig their own tunnels out of the city.
Stay up-to-date by subscribing to our blog. There will likely be more updates & reminders leading up to the start of the age that you don’t want to miss.
We hope to see you all come December 31st5pm EST and throughout the new year as everything unfolds. To those of you who have never experienced something like this before we hope you find enjoyment in the unique challenges this type of event brings. Your participation, no matter how big or small, will forever leave it’s mark on our world and your efforts will be remembered by all and talked about among those who come after.
And to those who have been with us for a very long time and have seen it all before; Welcome back – To The Darkness!
The Ancient World continues to change it’s form without regard for life.
More in-depth information about the future of TAW will be posted here on the blog next week. The consequences for our world this age will be astronomical.
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The Ancient World 