___ ________ _ _ _____ _____ ______ ___ ______ _____ | \/ |_ _| \ | || ___/ __ \| ___ \/ _ \ | ___|_ _| | . . | | | | \| || |__ | / \/| |_/ / /_\ \| |_ | | | |\/| | | | | . ` || __|| | | /| _ || _| | | | | | |_| |_| |\ || |___| \__/\| |\ \| | | || | | | \_| |_/\___/\_| \_/\____/ \____/\_| \_\_| |_/\_| \_/ Minecraft (PC) Guide/FAQ Version 1.3 Copyright 2011 Stephen Garvani destroyerofevil.666[AT]gmail[DOT]com --------------- Version History --------------- January 30th 2011: Version 1.3 Well. I admit I've been neglecting this guide, mainly because I haven't been playing much Minecraft lately, but I'm back. Guide now covers everything added to Minecraft since the last version of this guide (Minecraft beta version 1.2_02)(and yes, I know that number is lower than the last one - Notch reset version numbering to 1.0 when the game went beta). I've also modified a few reference entries, added a bit more to the walkthrough section and fixed a few typos. November 14th 2010: Version 1.21 Longest gap between updates yet... Guide now covers Minecraft version 1.2.2, details on custom texture pack support added to appropriate FAQ question. Also added GamesRadar as a site allowed to use the guide, and made some other minor changes. November 5th 2010: Version 1.2 Guide now covers Minecraft version 1.2.1_01, which is a bugfix release. Some content has been changed to cover this. Also added some more to section 4 (building, liquid physics and navigation sections, expanded biomes section) and made the contents more useful. October 31st 2010: Version 1.1 Updated guide to include new content and features added in the 'Halloween Update' (version 1.2.0_01 of Minecraft). Also massively extended section 4 to cover more areas of Minecraft, and updated a few other reference entries. October 26th 2010: Version 1.01 Added NeoSeeker.com and SuperCheats.com as websites allowed to use the guide. Also added a new 'FAQ' to section 8, and some more information to some of the reference guide entries (mob health, bit more on bow and arrow and spiders). October 24th 2010: Version 1.0 First published version of this guide. Contains a full references to all items, blocks and mobs in the game as of version 1.1.2 as well as a first night walkthrough and other basic Minecraft info. ----------------- Table Of Contents ----------------- 1. Introduction 2. Minecraft Basics 3. First Night Walkthrough 4. Further Minecraft Concepts 4.1 Biomes 4.2 The Nether 4.3 Dungeons 4.4 Farming 4.5 Fishing 4.6 Mining 4.7 Building 4.8 Liquid Physics 4.9 Navigation 5. Block Reference 5.1 Natural Blocks 5.2 Manufactured Blocks 5.3 Utility Blocks 5.4 Mechanical Blocks 5.5 Plants 5.6 Ores 5.7 Liquids 5.8 Non Solid Blocks 5.9 Nether Blocks 6. Item Reference 6.1 Tools 6.2 Weapons 6.3 Armour 6.4 Food 6.5 Crafting Materials 6.6 Vehicles 6.7 Dyes 6.8 Other Items 7. Mob Reference 8. FAQ 9. Legal/Contact/Thanks --------------- 1. Introduction --------------- Minecraft is a sandbox construction game developed by Markus 'Notch' Persson, a Swedish programmer. He started working on Minecraft in May 2009, and the game gradually gained popularity, until in July 2010 it was mentioned on the official Team Fortress blog, and promptly exploded in popularity. The game can be downloaded from www.minecraft.net, for the price of 14.95 euros (about 13 UK pounds, 20 US dollars). It is expected to increase in price to 20 euros when the finished version is released. The game itself will be discussed more in the next section, for now I'm going to go through what this guide will cover. I implied above that the game is not finished - this is true. The current version - referred to as the beta version and as the Survival gameplay mode, is the only one being actively developed. There is also a 'classic' or 'creative' mode, which is free to play on the Minecraft website, and only features the building element of the game. Multiplayer versions of both of these also exist, however I personally have relatively little interest in them, and so I do not intend to cover them in this guide. I will also not be covering classic in any further detail, instead I will concentrate on the beta version. I will also note that this version is recieving frequent updates, so this guide will also be updated as soon as details of applied updates become available. The guide will only cover the current version of the game, information about future updates will not be included however well known that information is. One thing this guide will not be, for the most part, is a traditional walkthrough. I described Minecraft as a sandbox game, and I really mean this. Compared to this, games such as Grand Theft Auto are as linear as a straight line. In Minecraft, the only goal is to survive, and how you do that is up to you. There are other things you can do in the game, such as build massive structures and explore caves, but there is no set way to do this. I will talk about things like this, but in a more general way, rather than giving specific instructions. What is accepted, however, is a fairly standard way of starting the game, so section three will walk you through this. You're welcome to ignore and do your own thing, but you may find things hard going. First though, we need to discuss some of the basic concepts of the game. ------------------- 2. Minecraft Basics ------------------- When you start Minecraft, you will be presented with a world consisting of various natural features, such as mountains, plains, oceans, lakes, beaches and caves. Each world is generated completely at random and in theory is infinitely big, although in practice it is limited, although this limit is still 8 times the total surface area of the Earth. New areas generate as you explore the map, and all areas are totally random. The map is made up of 'blocks' or cube-like structures that make up everything that can be seen on the map. These blocks represent anything from dirt, sand and stone, to water, lava, and even the clouds that float above the world. The blocks can be 'mined' by hand or with a variety of tools, and taken into the player's inventory. From there, they can be placed back into the world, to allow for building of anything from a simple house to a large castle, basically anything the player can thing of. This will be explained in more detail and through a guided example in the next section. The game also implements a day/night cycle which lasts 20 minutes. There is 10 minutes of daytime, then a 90 second sunset followed by 7 minutes of night and eventually a 90 second sunrise. This is crucial to the game because at night, and any other area where it is dark, such as the vast natural caves that exist underground, monsters can spawn and attack the player. Monsters can damage health, represented as a series of hearts near the bottom of the screen. Health can be regained by eating food, which will be explained later, as will the different types of monster. It is also possible to lose health as a result of fall damage, walking into cacti or lava, having certain block types fall on your head and staying under water too long. If all health is lost you will die, and respawn at the original spawn point of the world you are in. Any items you were carrying will be dropped at or near the point of death, and you have a limited time (5 minutes) to return to the location and pick them up again, or else they will simply disappear. There are four difficulty levels in Minecraft - easy, normal and hard all feature monsters spawning, and the amount of damage they deal increases with harder difficulty. There is also peaceful, in which hostile mobs don't spawn, aside from one which cannot deal damage, leaving the player free to explore at night and in caves without getting attacked. It is possible to switch between difficulties at any time, switching to peaceful will cause monsters to disappear, although this is frowned upon as a way of getting out of trouble. The main controls for Minecraft are as follows: WASD - movement Spacebar - jump 1-9/scrollwheel - select items from toolbar left click (hold) - mine block right click - place block or use item mouse movement - look around left shift - sneak (prevents falling off ledges) I - open/close the inventory -------------------------- 3. First Night Walkthrough -------------------------- When you first spawn on a Minecraft world, you start with nothing, and have one full day (10 minutes) before the first night starts and monsters can spawn. So however you plan to continue in your Minecraft adventure, the first day should always be spent building some sort of shelter in which to avoid being attacked. This shelter also needs to have artificial light provided, as monsters will spawn anywhere it is dark, including your shelter if you don't light it. The first thing required to set about this aim is wood. More than likely, a number of trees will be present near your starting point, although depending on your starting biome you may need to walk a short distance to find some. Once found, you need to approach the tree and you should notice a black highlight box around one of the blocks that make up the tree trunk. Hold down the left mouse button and your hand will start 'mining' the block. Once it is fully broken it will disappear and what looks like a smaller version will drop. This This is picked up simply be walking near it and may happen automatically. Also note that the remaining tree above this block doesn't fall - only a few Minecraft blocks obey gravity. You'll want to mine all available wood in the tree, and also do so from one or two more trees. You'll notice the block appearing in the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. This is where you can select blocks or items to use in the world. Certain things, like the wood blocks you've just collected, will stack, up to a total of 64 in one slot. Others can only have one item per slot. Once you've got enough wood, open your inventory. There are a few things to note here - at the top left is a representation of your character, and slots to place armour which can protect you from damage. At the top right is a two-by-two grid which is used for the 'crafting' of various items. We'll use this to turn the wood we've just collected into something more useful. Wood in its natural state is virtually useless unless you use it as a building material. Select the wood with the left mouse button, and click to place it in one of the slots in the crafting square. You'll see a different block appear in the output slot to the right of the grid. These are wooden planks, and you get four plank blocks for each tree trunk (log) block. Click continously on the output square to turn each successive log block into planks. Once you have them all, you need to put one in each slot the crafting grid (right click). This will create a crafting table, which you need to take and put in a slot in the toolbar at the bottom of the inventory screen. This will allow you to place it in the world. Close the inventory and select the crafting table. Right click to place it somewhere in the world and then right click it in the world to bring up its interface. You again have your inventory displayed but now you also have a three-by-three crafting grid. This can be used to craft more complex items. The first thing you want to make is something that only actually requires the smaller grid - wooden sticks. To do this, place two plank blocks one above the other in the grid. This will make four stick items appear in the output slot. You'll want at least 8, but I'd make 16 initially. It's up to you. Once you've made your sticks, you can make some tools. There are a number of different types, for now though we'll just make a shovel and a pickaxe. I'm going to use ASCII diagrams to show the 'recipes' for these items. Pickaxe: ---------------------- | | | | |Wood |Wood |Wood | ---------------------- | | | | | |Stick | | ---------------------- | | | | | |Stick | | ---------------------- Shovel: ---------------------- | | | | | |Wood | | ---------------------- | | | | | |Stick | | ---------------------- | | | | | |Stick | | ---------------------- These allow you to mine certain types of block quicker, and will be useful going forward. It's worth noting that extensive use will make them degrade, and so you will be constantly building new ones. As the game goes on you will also gain access to better materials than wood for building tools. Once you've made the tools, you should 'mine' the crafting table and take it with you, to save you having to build another later and waste wood. For now, the next thing you need is coal. Around the map you should be able to see stone blocks, these have a grey, stoney texture and are commonly found on the side of cliffs and mountains, and in areas at ground level, often entrances to caverns. Mixed in with stone are blocks that contain coal. Coal appears the same as a normal stone block, but with black markings within it - this is the coal. I can't tell you where to find it, as your world is completely random, but once you have you will need to select your wooden pickaxe and use that to mine the coal. When you do it will drop lumps of raw coal, which are what you need to pick up. You need to use the pickaxe because stone and coal blocks do not drop pickups if mined by hand, or indeed with any other tool such as the shovel we built earlier. Once you have a few lumps of coal, you'll need to open your inventory. You can use the small crafting grid there to make torches, which require one piece of coal above a stick. This will create four torches. Torches can be placed on blocks to create light around it, preventing monsters from spawning. If you are having trouble finding coal, try going into the game's options screen and changing the render distance to 'far' (if it isn't already) to give you more visible area to look for a cliff or other structure that may contain coal. If you still can't find any, then you can instead make charcoal, which has all the same properties of coal. You'll still need to find some stone, when you do you'll need to mine 8 blocks of it. Once you have them, place one in each of the outside slots on the crafting table to create a furnace. Place this in the world, and right click it to open its interface. You'll want to place some wood in both top and bottom slots (above and below the flame graphic) and this will create charcoal from the wood. Use this in exactly the same way as you would coal. You now have everything you need to create a shelter. Find an appropriate spot (I personally like the side of a mountain or cliff for my first shelter) and start digging it out. You'll want to use the shovel you built for dirt blocks, and the pickaxe on stone. Once you've hollowed out a suitable area (it doesn't need to be too big) place torches around it (right click on suitable blocks) and use any available block type (I use dirt) to cover the entrance. My personal preference is to cover all but one block, to give a way of seeing when night has ended whilst preventing mobs getting in. If you do go down this route, you'll also want to dig an area in the shelter where there is no line of sight to the window, as there is a type ofmonster (skeletons) who use bows and arrows and can fire through the window. The alternative is not to have a window at all. As with pretty much everything in Minecraft, it's up to you. ----------------------------- 4. Further Minecraft Concepts ----------------------------- The above section basically covers everything you need to know in order to survive the first night. But what do you do during that night, and then when the sun comes up again. Personally, I like to spend the first night digging around in the shelter in the hope of finding more coal or other useful resources, as well as building more tools and other equipment, and the next morning exploring the area and deciding whether to build a permanent 'house' there or somewhere else. It's also worth noting that some monsters remain in the world after the sun has come back up, so you'll probably want to make a sword to give yourself a better chance of killing them. But it's entirely up to you. Some of the other things you can do in the game include: -Farming -Exploring caverns -Mining for different ores -Building large structures -Creating 'electrical' circuits And much more. This section will talk about some of the other things you can do in the game, as well as discuss game concepts such as biomes and 'The Nether'. --4.1 BIOMES-- Biomes are separate areas within a Minecraft world that have different climatic conditions. This refers to the colours of grass and tree leaves, the general height and layout of the land, the types of blocks that are most common and even the presence of snow and ice. The boundary between biomes is currently quite harsh, although it is planned to make them smoother. Worlds started prior to the update which added biomes will not have them in previously generated ares, however as new world areas ('chunks') are generated whenever the player moves near the current edge of their world, these areas can have biomes in the same way as a new world. The biomes are as follows: -Rain Forest- A heavily wooded biome with abundant trees and lakes. Trees may grow with leaves all the way to the ground, and are more likely to have branches. -Swamp- This biome will have a number of small pools, and has a greater than normal chance of containing reeds. -Seasonal Forest- This will have more trees than Woods, but not as many as Forest or Rain Forest. -Savanna- Largely flat terrain, with few trees. -Woods- A biome with roughly an average amount of trees. -Taiga- Snowy biome with the same amount of trees as Rain Forest or Forest. -Forest- Has the same amount of trees as Rain Forest, but they don't have the extra properties of Rain Forest trees. -Desert- This will have mostly sandy terrain, and will contain a large amount of cacti. Can technically contain trees, however many fewer than Woods, but as trees can only grow on dirt it is very unlikely to find a tree. -Plains- Large open grassy areas, with very few trees. -Tundra- Snowy terrain, with a similar lack of trees as in Plains. --4.2 THE NETHER-- The Nether is a special world which can be visited by making a portal. A portal can be made by making a 4 by 5 'door frame' made of obsidian. The inside of the frame must then be set alight with a Flint and Steel item. It is possible to leave out the corners of the frame, and so only 10 blocks of obsidian are required. Once the portal has been stepped through (or rather stood inside, as if you simply walk straight through it nothing happens), a corresponding portal is created in the Nether. There is a loading screen whilst the game saves the main world and loads (or generates) the Nether. Like the main world, the Nether is randomly generated, persistant, and can be built in with all existing blocks. The Nether contains unique mobs and block types, and also has a large amount of lava, making journeying accross it quite dangerous. Any distance travelled in the Nether is equivalent to 8 times the distance in the main world, meaning two portals 8 blocks apart in the real world will be side-by-side in the Nether. As well as at the bottom, the Nether also has indestructible bedrock at the top. Currently there is an issue where leaving the Nether will not always return you you to the same portal you came through originally, but to a different one somewhere else in the main world. This occurs when the game tries to put the Nether portal somewhere it can't go, such as in a wall. It will instead move the portal to a safe location, however this will mean that when you go back through the portal it will put you in the corresponding main world location of where the Nether portal is, not where it should have been (i.e. your original portal). Notch is aware of this and working on fixing it. --4.3 DUNGEONS-- A dungeon is an underground 'room' which contains a mob-spawner block. This block will regulary spawn either spiders, zombies or skeletons. It can be disabled by surrounding it with torches, or can be destroyed by a strong pickaxe. A dungeon can be identified by the fact that the walls and floors are made up of cobblestone, a block that doesn't usually appear naturally. Further, the floor is often made of a special 'mossy' cobblestone block. A dungeon will also usually (although not always) contain a chest, which will contain items such as string, iron, buckets, and also saddles and apples, which are only found in these chests. --4.4 FARMING-- Most natural plants in Minecraft can be grown by the player, however there is also a specific type of plant that can only be obtained by being farmed. There is no set way to make a farm in Minecraft, but a general procedure is as follows: First, a safe farm area must be created. This is because any walking on the crops, from either the player or a mob, will cause the crops to be ruined. Either a greenhouse, or a fenced off area will suffice. Note that it is possible to sneak (hold down shift) on crops without destroying them. Also note that if you do use fences you should take further precautions to ensure spiders can not get in, as they can jump over a fence. Water must then be provided - crops will grow provided there is water no more than four blocks away. A suitable walkway, made of any non-dirt material will also be required to allow you to move around the farm safely. Finally, enough light must be provided to ensure hostile mobs don't spawn at night. Once this is done, seeds must be located. Craft a hoe, and use it to till grass blocks, ideally outside of the farm. This will remove the grass from the dirt, and sometimes drop seeds. Once you have enough seeds (you need one seed item for each block you wish to farm) you need to till all remaining grass/dirt blocks within the farm, and place the seeds in them. It is important you don't leave any grass untilled, as animals could spawn on it and trample the crops. If all this is done correctly, the crops will in time grow and can be harvested to produce wheat. The wheat can in turn be crafted into bread, which can be eaten to restore health. --4.5 FISHING-- IF the player has crafted a fishing rod, they may fish in any body of water. This is regardless of the size of the water area, or indeed whether or not it is natural. To cast the rod, it needs to be equipped and the right mouse button pressed. The rod will be cast, and it can be reeled in by right clicking again. When cast, the bobber will eventually sink into the water before coming back up. The rod should be reeled in at this point. If done correctly, a fish will be thrown out of the water and land nearby on the ground. If the timing is wrong no fish will be caught. The bobber must also be free-floating; if the water is too shallow it may get caught on a block and not catch any fish. --4.6 MINING-- There are many different ways of mining in Minecraft. My personal method involves digging a 3 by 3 shaft down into the ground all the way to bedrock, and then digging a tunnel coming away from this with further branches. I'm not here to tell you how to mine, or to list all the different methods people use. There are a few general tips that can be useful however: -Never dig straight up or straight down unless you know what is there. I have died after both digging down when there was lava underneath, and digging up and having sand fall and suffocate me. There could also be a deep drop underneath, or even a monster filled cavern or dungeon area. -If you do have no option but to dig straight up, try putting a torch at your feet. Any sand or gravel falling on to it will be destroyed, saving you from suffocation. This won't protect you from other hazards, however. (thanks to squirrels4ev for this tip) -Underground dirt/gravel pockets could be an indication of nearby ores. It can be a good idea to clear these pockets out, as it is an easy way to find ores. -A chest and crafting table at the bottom of your mineshaft can be useful. Rare ores can be put in it so you don't risk losing them if you die, and extra tools or food can also be stored so you don't have to return to any other storage area you may have. Similarly, if you have some sticks in the chest you can easily make more tools without having to return to a 'main' crafting table. --4.7 BUILDING-- It is possible to build a large variety of structures in Minecraft, from simple houses to towers or castles, or anything your imagination can think of. Like with the mining section above, I'm not here to tell you what to build or how to build it, but there are again some tips I can give: -By sneaking (left shift) it is possible to effectively hang off the edge of a block. This can make building easier when there is no other way to reach the side of a block you want to build on, and can reduce the need for some form of temporary 'scaffolding'. Sneaking also means you won't fall off the edge of blocks, which can again be useful for building tall structures. -If you look straight down and jump, you can place a block below you. This can be useful for building structures or for making a temporary 'scaffolding' tower that can be removed later. --4.8 LIQUID PHYSICS-- There are two types of liquid in the game - water and lava. Both have slightly different properties depending on whether or not they are flowing. Water will slow a player's movement, and if flowing will carry the player with the current. It is possible to replace water or block it's flow by placing blocks in it. Still water can be picked up with a bucket, which cannot be placed back in the water. If placed somewhere else it will create a water 'source block' and flow for up to seven blocks, this will reset if the water level changes. A placed source block can be picked up again, causing all water it genereated to rapidly disappear. An 'infinite spring' can be created by making a two-by-two hole and filling opposite corners with water. Whichever water block you then pick up, it will always be refilled. It is possible to swim in water (although you have a limited air supply) and it is also possible to swim up waterfalls. A fall into water that has a depth of two blocks or greater will negate fall damage. Lava has similar characteristics. Flowing lava works in the same way, but only three blocks before it stops, and at a slower rate. Lava flows also take longer to disappear after a source block is removed. The infinite spring trick does not work with lava. Lava's most notable characteristic is that it will deal damage to either the player or a mob if they come into contact. IF this happens, you will burn to death unless put out with water. Lava will also destroy any item dropped into it. The interaction of water and lava can create either cobblestone or obsidian. A lava flow (horizontal) meeting with water will generate cobblestone, and still lava will generate obsidian if provided with water. --4.9 NAVIGATION-- Whilst there is no directional compass in Minecraft, just one that points to your original spawn point, it is still possible to navigate using certain world features. -Both the sun and the moon will always rise in the east and set in the west. -Clouds will always drift to the north. -Cobblestone and Netherrack have a notable 'L' on the top of the block. If this is aligned so it is on the left side of the block, facing the way it would be if you wrote one on paper, you are facing north (thanks to squirrels4ev for this tip) Navigating natural cavern systems can also be tricky, especially as some can get quite confusing. I would advise some sort of system to try to avoid getting lost along these lines: -Put torches on the same side (let's say right) of the cavern as you go through it, so when you are trying to get out you always keep the torches on your left. -Always follow the same rule when the cavern branches, for example always explore the right hand branch first. ------------------ 5. Block Reference ------------------ I am defining a 'block' as anything which either appears naturally in the world or can be placed in it by the player after being crafted or otherwise made. --5.1 NATURAL BLOCKS-- -Stone- Stone, described in the walkthrough above, is the most common naturally occuring block in a normal Minecraft map. It should be mined by use of a pick, which is the only way of collecting it. Stone actually drops a different type of block, cobblestone, which has a different texture. Once reclaimed by smelting cobblestone in a furnace, stone is used in two crafting recipes, to make a button or a pressure plate. It is also a common building material. -Dirt- Dirt, which appears with a brown texture, and can have grass growing upon it, is a very common block, forming a layer of ground above the stone that makes up most of the world. It can be mined easily by hand, and always drops a 'resource block', but can be mined quicker with a shovel. It can also be destroyed by explosions. Dirt is not a common block for building, and has no crafting uses, but is used for customising the landscape, and for farming. -Sand- Sand is a reasonably common block, being found next to bodies of water, whether small like lakes or ponds, or large like a full ocean. Like dirt, sand can be mined by hand, and always drops a resource block, but can be mined quicker with a shovel. Sand can be destroyed by explosions, and also is one of the few blocks to be affected by gravity, meaning it will fall if the block under it is removed. If the player is standing under it, it will fall on them and suffocate them, this is one reason it is inadvisable to mine straight upwards. Sand is not commonly used for building due to its weakness, however it can be smelted in a furnace to make glass, and it is part of the crafting recipe for TNT. -Gravel- Gravel, which has a grey, grainy texture, is usually found in cliff sides, pits and caves. It shares a number of its characteristics with sand - it can be mined by hand, but faster with a shovel, and is also affected by gravity. There is also a small chance (about 8.5%) that instead of a gravel resource block, gravel will drop flint when mined (flint is not a block, and so will be covered in the next section). Gravel has few practical uses - it isn't a common building material, and is not used in any crafting recipes. It can however be placed back in the world in order to have another go at getting flint. -Clay- Clay is a relatively rare block, sometimes being very hard to find, although it is generally found near water. It has a fairly smooth grey texture, and is best mined with a shovel. Instead of a clay resource block, it drops four pieces of raw clay, which can be crafted back into a clay block with the following recipe: ---------------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------------- |clay |clay | | |piece |piece | | ---------------------- |clay |clay | | |piece |piece | | ---------------------- Clay can also be smelted in a furnace to create clay bricks, which can in turn be crafted into a brick block. Other than this, clay has few practical uses. -Obsidian- Obsidian, which has a dark purple texture, is a very rare block which is found where water and lava interact. It takes a long time to mine even with the strongest type of pickaxe (diamond), which is the only tool with which it can be mined. Obsidian can be used as a building material, and is also used to create portals to the Nether. -Snow and Ice- Under the biome system, certain areas will be snow areas. A layer of snow will generate on top of all exposed blocks. This layer has to be removed before mining the block underneath, however this can be done easily with any tool. If mined with a shovel, however, it will yeild a snowball, which can be thrown at things or crafted to make a full-size snow block - four snowballs are needed, with the recipe being the same as for the clay mentioned above. These have no pratical use aside from building. Ice will form on any exposed water, and it is possible to walk on it, although the ice is slightly slippery. It cannot be mined, instead ice either returns to being water or is simply destroyed. Tools are not usually required, however when underwater you will want to use a pickaxe. Both snow and ice can be melted by placing a source of fire, such as a torch or lava, near them; however a crafted snow block cannot. -Bedrock- Bedrock is an indestructible block type that appears at the very bottom limit of a minecraft map. As with all Minecraft blocks, the pattern in which it generates is random, which means holes in it can appear, leading in to what is referred to as 'the void', an area outside the map. Should the player fall into it, they will rapidly die. When they do, all their items will be irretrievable, due to the instant disappearance of all items that drop into the void. It is not possible to build blocks in the void. --5.2 MANUFACTURED BLOCKS-- -Wood- Wood, as discussed in the guided walkthrough above, is a block that is crafted from log blocks. It itself has a number of properties - it is vulnerable to being burned, and yet is still a popular building material. It is also used in a large number of crafting recipes, as well as being potential fuel for a furnace. When placed, it can be re-mined, an axe being the best tool with which to do so. -Cobblestone- As mentioned in the Stone entry, Cobblestone is the resource block dropped when Stone is mined. It does occur natually, however only in areas known as dungeons, which will be explained later. Like stone, it is best mined with a pickaxe. It is a common building material, as well as being usable in a number of crafting recipes - most notably the furnace, as well as stone tools and swords. It can be turned back into normal stone by smelting it in a furnace. -Brick- Brick blocks are formed from four indivdual clay bricks (using the same crafting recipe as shown in the clay entry), the bricks themselves being smelted in a furnace from pieces of clay. This makes brick relatively hard to come by, as clay is itself rare. As would be expected, brick is used as a building material. When placed, it can only be mined with a pickaxe. Brick has no other practical uses. -Glass- Glass is created by smelting sand in a furnace. It is a clear block, and as such it is mainly used for creating windows or glass ceilings in various building projects. It is also transparent, allowing it to let light through - the only block that has this property. Glass cannot be re-mined once placed, instead it will break, doing so easily without the use of tools. -Bookshelf- Bookshelves are purely decorative blocks that can be crafted in the following recipe ---------------------- |Wood |Wood |Wood | | | | | ---------------------- |Book |Book |Book | | | | | ---------------------- |Wood |Wood |Wood | | | | | ---------------------- As said, they serve no practical purpose. They are flammable, and cannot be re-mined once placed, they will instead be destroyed. The books required will be discussed in a later section. -Wool- Wool is a block that can be obtained naturally by attacking sheep, which will cause them to drop Wool blocks (represented by them losing their wool) or by a full crafting grid of nine pieces of string, which are dropped by spiders. It is a very weak block, being flammable and vulnerable to explosions. Other than as a potential building material, or for dying, its other main use is to make paintings. These are low-resolution images, taken from various sources, which can be placed on a flat, vertical surface. They do not interact with the surface or any other block in any way. There are a variety of images, one of which is randomly chosen when a painting is placed. The recipe for a painting is as follows: ---------------------- | | | | |Stick |Stick |Stick | ---------------------- | | | | |Stick |Wool |Stick | ---------------------- | | | | |Stick |Stick |Stick | ---------------------- -Iron- A full Iron block is created by filling the crafting grid with iron ingots. It can be used as a building material, however is more commonly used as a more compact 'storage' solution for iron ore, as by putting an iron block in the crafting grid it can be turned back into the nine iron ingots which made it. It currently has no other uses. -Gold- Like iron, gold blocks are created from nine gold ingots, and can be converted back, again in the same way as iron. They can also be used to make golden apples, by placing an apple in the center of the crafting grid and surrounding it with gold, similar to the painting recipe above. This can then be eaten to restore all your health, however the large amount of gold needed makes it very uneconomical. -Diamond- Like gold and iron, diamond blocks are simply made from nine individual diamond gems, and used as either building material or storage, as it again can be converted back to the gems. -Lapis Lazuli- As with gold, iron and diamond, Lapis Lazuli blocks are made by combining nine pieces of Lapis Lazuli. The created block can be used in a similar way as these other items - for a building material, or for storage, as again the conversion can be reversed. -Stairs- Stairs, made of either wood or cobblestone, are, as the name suggests, used for making staircases in building projects. You have to be careful when placing them, as they take a large amount of time to remove, and the orientation depends on how many blocks are next to the space in which you are trying to place it. The crafting recipe for stairs involves placing either wood or cobblestone in the places marked on the diagram below: ---------------------- | | | | | x | | | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- This recipe produces four stair blocks. Stairs, once placed, allow for the player to walk up them without jumping. -Stone Slabs- Stone Slabs, like stairs, allow the player to change level without jumping. They are made from cobblestone, and are only half the height of a normal block, allowing them to be placed in such a way as to allow smooth walking between levels. They are crafted from a horizontal line of three pieces of cobblestone, which produces 3 steps. If a step is placed on top of another existing step, it will be treated as one single block, and only drop one slab when mined. Gravel and sand will be destroyed when falling onto slabs, although gravel will not drop flint when destroyed in this way (thanks to squirrels4ev for confirming this). -Fence- Fences, made from wooden sticks, can be used as a building material to surround areas. They have the interesting property that, whilst one block high for most purposes, they are considered one-and-a-half blocks high for the purpose of collision detection. This means that they cannot be jumped over. Fences will automatically link together when placed, and can be re-mined best with an axe. It is not possible to place fences directly on top of each other, but by placing a fence on top of another block, then destroying that block and replacing it with another fence, the same effect can be achieved. Fences are crafted by placing one stick in each slot of the bottom two rows of the crafting grid, for a total of six sticks. This will create two fence blocks. --5.3 UTILITY BLOCKS-- -Crafting Table- The crafting table was discussed in the walkthrough section. It is crafted from a two-by-two square of wood, and in turn provides a three-by-three crafting grid, making it essential for the vast majority of crafting recipes. -Furnace- The furnace is used for smelting various block types, and also for cooking pork. It is created from cobblestone in the following pattern: ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- Once created, the furnace can only be picked up with a pickaxe. It requires fuel to run, with coal, wooden planks, sticks, logs, buckets of lava and even a crafting table or a chest being suitable. Once the fuel is placed in it (by use of a right-click accessed interface) items can be placed in it to smelt or cook. Once an item is placed in the furnace, then providing it has enough fuel it can be left to do its job over time. The exception to this is when cooking pork, which doesn't stack, and so individual pieces must be removed before another piece can be cooked. Items that can be smelted or cooked in a furnace will be mentioned in their own entry. -Chest- A chest, crafted from wood in the same pattern as for a furnace, is a device used to store other items, functioning in much the same way as the player's inventory. It has the same size as the normal inventory, and two chests can be placed next to each other to create a large chest with double the capacity. If a block is placed on top of a chest it cannot be opened. Chests also have a crafting use, being used to make storage minecarts, which will be explained later. -Jukebox- A Jukebox is a block which, when provided with a record (a hard item to come by) will play the music on that record. It is crafted from eight wood blocks in the same formation as a chest, with a single diamond gem in the middle. If records cannot be located, the jukebox serves no other purpose. -TNT- TNT, as would be expected, is used to create an explosion. It will explode (after a short 'fuse' wait) when hit by the player after being placed in the world. It can be used as a quick method of landscaping the world, or for traps. It is crafted from four sand blocks (SA), and five pieces of sulphur (SU) as shown in the diagram below: ---------------------- | | | | | SU | SA | SU | ---------------------- | | | | | SA | SU | SA | ---------------------- | | | | | SU | SA | SU | ---------------------- -Mob Spawner- A mob spawner, which appears as a transparent 'lattice' like block with fire in the middle, is a type of block which appears in special areas known as dungeons. The mob spawner block will be in the middle of the room and will regularly spawn either Skeletons, Zombies or Spiders, regardless of the general lighting conditions of the room. The Mob Spawner can be stopped by completely surrounding it with torches, and can be destroyed, although not picked up, a strong pickaxe (iron or diamond) being recommended to do this with. -Jack-O-Lantern- A Jack-O-Lantern, crafted by placing a pumpkin above a torch in the crafting grid, is usable as a source of light. Unlike a torch, they will stay lit under water. Like a pumpkin, they can only be placed with a block underneath it. -Cake- Cake is a special type of block, currently the only block which can be eaten to restore health, healing 1.5 hearts per use. A cake block can be used up to six times, for a maximum heal of 9 hearts. As it is a block, it must be placed in the world before it can be eaten. The crafting recipe for cake is as follows: ---------------------- | | | | | Milk | Milk | Milk | ---------------------- | | | | |Sugar | Egg |Sugar | ---------------------- | | | | |Wheat |Wheat |Wheat | ---------------------- --5.4 MECHANICAL BLOCKS-- -Minecart Tracks Minecart tracks can be placed in the world as tracks on which Minecarts can run. The full operation of minecarts and minecart tracks will be discussed later in the guide. The tracks are crafted from six iron ingots and a single stick, in the following recipe. ---------------------- | | | | | Iron | | Iron | ---------------------- | | | | | Iron |Stick | Iron | ---------------------- | | | | | Iron | | Iron | ---------------------- -Lever- A Lever can be placed on a wall and is used as a switch to open doors or change directions on minecart tracks. It can also be used in redstone circuits. It is crafted by placing a single cobblestone block in the crafting grid with a single stick above it. -Pressure Plate- Pressure Plates can be placed on the floor next to any object that requires power, such as an iron door, or connected to an item via a wire, and will activate when either the player or a mob walks over them. They can be made of either wooden planks, or of normal stone (which has to be smelted from cobblestone) by putting three blocks in a horizontal line accross the crafting grid. To reclaim a placed pressure plate a pickaxe should be used. -Stone Button- Stone buttons can be placed on a wall and serve a similar purpose to pressure plates, activating items it is placed next to or connected to by wires. They are made of smelted stone by placing two blocks in the crafting grid arranged one above the other. -Door- Doors allow for controlled entry into an area. They start off closed, and must be opened before they can be walked through. There are two types of door - wooden, which can be opened manually by right clicking it, and iron, which must be opened by means of an adjacent pressure plate or stone button. Mobs cannot open wooden doors, but they can step on pressure plates and so open an iron door. An open iron door will automatically close within a couple of seconds of being opened. Whichever kind of door you are making, the crafting recipe is as follows: ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | | ---------------------- -Redstone- Redstone is a special kind of material which can be collected and used in a variety of ways. It can be crafted into a compass or a redstone torch, and also be placed on the ground to create 'electrical' circuits. The system for doing this is very advanced, with many logic gates and other systems possible. The specifics of redstone circuitry goes beyond the scope of this summary. A more complete guide may be added in a later update. Currently, the minecraft wiki has good information on the subject, and GameFAQs has a good redstone guide by another author. -Dispenser- A dispenser is a special block type that can be used to store items and then give them out when powered by redstone. Items are placed inside it in the same way as with a chest, and any time it receives power it will dispense a random item from those contained within it. Most items will simply drop out, however arrows, eggs and snowballs are fired with usual effects. This can make them useful in mob traps. The crafting recipe is as follows: ---------------------- | | | | | CS | CS | CS | ---------------------- | | | | | CS | Bow | CS | ---------------------- | | | | | CS | RS | CS | ---------------------- CS: Cobblestone RS: Redstone Dust -Note Block- A Note block is a musical block that plays a specific note when hit or powered by redstone. Once placed, the note played can be changed by right-clicking the block, two full octaves are available, starting at F# of the lower one and ranging to a high F# at the top of the second, after which it will cycle back to the start. Different instruments can also be played depending on what block is placed under the note block: Wood based: Double bass Sand/Gravel/Soul Sand: Snare Drum Glass/Glowstone: Clicks/Sticks Stone based (inc bricks, Netherrack and Obsidian): Bass Drum Other blocks: Harp They are crafted by placing a single piece of redstone dust in the middle of the crafting grid and surrounding it with wooden planks. --5.5 PLANTS-- -Sapling- Saplings, which take the appearance of small trees, are dropped ramdomly when tree leaves are destroyed, whether naturally or by the player. They can be re-planted by placing them on grass or dirt, and provided there is an adequate source of light, will regrow into another tree. This allows for the supply of wood to be replenished. -Log- Logs are natural wooden blocks that make up the trunks and branches of trees. Whilst they can be mined by hand, the ideal tool is an axe. They are also flammable, although a possible bug in the current version of the game means they will burn indefinitely if only set alight on one side. Once mined, they can be used as a building material or for crafting into wooden planks. They have no other use. There are currently three different types of logs, each with a different texture. These different types will not stack with each other in the inventory, but all have the same properties. -Leaves- Leaves are found as the tops of trees. They can be destroyed easily by hand, and whilst a sword can remove them faster, the sword will be damaged faster than it would be normally, so hands are the ideal way to remove leaves. Leaves not connected to wood, or indeed any other block, will, over time, wither and be removed of their own accord. As mentioned above, the destruction of leaves in any manner can drop saplings. Leaves cannot be picked up when destroyed. -Grass- Grass is a covering that will grow on dirt when exposed to sunlight. It itself cannot be mined or picked up, and in most cases cannot be removed separately from the block. The exception is when tilled by a Hoe, which is required for farming. Grass is also the only surface on which neutral mobs (cows, chickens, sheep and pigs) will spawn. -Cactus- Cacti are plants that usually grow near the sea, given that they only grow on sand. If walked into by the player or a mob, they will deal damage. It can also be cooked in a furnace to get a green dye. Its only other purpose is to grow more cactus. -Sugar Cane- Sugar Cane is a plant that grows on grass or dirt when it is next to water. When harvested, cane can be replanted in order to harvest more, or crafted into paper, which in turn can make books and bookshelves. A single piece of sugar cane can be crafted into sugar. It also has the interesting property of being completely fireproof. -Flower- Flowers are fairly common plants that grow on any exposed grass or dirt block. They can be easily picked up by the player and replaced in the world. They come in both red (rose) and yellow (dandelion) varieties. Each different flower can be placed in the crafting grid to create two pieces of either red or yellow dye. Their only other use is as decoration. -Mushroom- Mushrooms, of which there are two types - brown and red - are relatively rare plants which grow in dark areas. These are most commonly caves, although it is also possible to get them growing at night on the surface. They are useless on their own, except for decoration, but if both types are found they can be combined with a wooden bowl to make mushroom stew, a very potent food item. Mushrooms are currently the only plant that can be found growing naturally in the Nether, and are quite common in this world. -Crops- Crops, otherwise known as wheat, can be farmed in Minecraft. The farming procedure is described in section four above. Once harvested, wheat can be crafted into bread. -Pumpkins- Pumpkins, which currently can only be found as pre-carved jack-o-lanterns, can be rarely found in the world. They can be worn as a helmet, however this offers no protection, and also provides the player with a view of the world that looks as if you are looking out of the pumpkin through the carved face. Pumpkins do not obey gravity, however they cannot be placed without a block below them. They can also be crafted into lit jack-o-lanterns. --5.6 ORES-- There are six types of ore in the game - Coal, Iron, Gold, Redstone, Diamond and Lapis Lazuli. All are found in the same way - appearing as a stone block with different coloured areas representing the type of ore it is. All ore needs to be mined with a pickaxe to drop anything, and gold, redstone and diamond will only drop when mined with an iron or diamond pickaxe, iron and lapis lazuli require stone or better. Coal will drop a single unit of raw coal, iron and gold will drop ore resource blocks which must be smelted in a furnace to produce ingots of the respective material. Redstone will drop four pieces of redstone dust, and diamond a single diamond gem. Lapis Lazuli will drop between 4 and 8 pieces of Lapis Lazuli dye. The levels that different ores can be found at are as follows (note the 'void' is level 0 and sea level is level 64): Diamond/Redstone: Common to level 16, rare to level 19. Lapis Lazuli/Gold: Common to level 32, rare to level 35. Iron: Common to level 64, rare to level 67. Coal: Common to level 128 (the top of the map). As mentioned above, iron and gold ingots, as well as diamond gems and lapis lazuli dye, can be combined to make full blocks of these materials. --5.7 LIQUIDS-- -Water- Water appears naturally in the world, forming static areas such as lakes and the ocean, as well as flowing water created from springs. Water can only be picked up in buckets. Picking up a spring (referred to as a 'source block') causes all water flowing from that spring to rapidly disappear. Placing water in an existing body of water has little affect, however placing it on another block creates a fresh spring. You can also replace water by placing another block in place of the water. This can be used to fill lakes, and to cut off water currents flowing underground - a useful technique as flowing water can hinder a player's movement if they try to move against the current. It is possible to swim in water, however you only have 15 seconds before you start to drown and lose health. Water deeper than one block will also negate fall damage. Buckets of water cannot be placed in the Nether. -Lava- Lava is a hazardous liquid block that most commonly appears underground, although can appear at the surface. Falling into lava damages both the player and mobs, and also destroys any item thrown or dropped in it. Like water, it can be picked up through use of a bucket. It flows in a similar way, and shares the properties of springs, however the rate of both flow and of disappearance after a source block is removed is slower than water. Lava also emits light, so hostile mobs won't spawn where there is lava. Lava is common up to altitude level 16, and can rarely be found higher than this, even up to surface level. Lava is also very common in the Nether, especially in the form of 'lavafalls'. --5.8 NON SOLID BLOCKS-- Non solid blocks, some of which have come under other categories (levers are an example) can be placed on existing blocks and removed separately from the block they are on. Further blocks cannot be built on them, but they don't obstruct movement. -Ladder- Ladders can be placed on walls to allow for vertical movement up and down. They only need to be placed on every other block allowing for conservation of the wooden sticks used to create them. The crafting recipe is as follows: ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- -Torch- Torches are an extremely useful object used to provide light, which can be placed on most other blocks. The light they provide prevents hostile mobs from spawning near them. They are crafted from a single stick, and a single piece of coal placed above it. This recipe creates four torches. Torches cannot be placed underwater, and will go out and drop if they come into contact with water. If placed on sand or gravel the torch will drop if the block it is placed on moves due to gravity. They also cannot be placed on glass. -Redstone Torch- A redstone torch, crafted in the same way as a normal torch but with redstone instead of coal (and it only creates one torch instead of four) is used as part of redstone electrical circuits. -Sign- A Sign is a decorative block on which the player can write a message. Any text can be entered by the player, and so they can be used for any purpose that is desired. They are crafted from six wooden plank blocks (W) and a single stick (S) in the following recipe: ---------------------- | | | | | W | W | w | ---------------------- | | | | | w | W | W | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- -Fire- Fire can be created by the player using the flint and steel item, and will progress slowly to burn all flammable blocks adjacent to it, and can even jump small gaps. The player and mobs can also be set on fire if they come into contact with it, and cause loss of health. It can be put out by going into water. --5.9 NETHER BLOCKS-- Whilst any block can be built in the Nether, certain types of block occur only within this world. -Netherrack- Netherrack, which has a red, vaguely cobblestone like texture, is a very abundant block type within the Nether. It can be mined with a pickaxe, and has the interesting property that it will burn indefinitely if set on fire, making it a source of everlasting light. It has no current crafting use, but can be used in building. -Glowstone- Glowstone, which has a golden appearance, is a block which naturally gives off light. It will do this even underwater, so can be useful if underwater light is required. It can be easily destroyed without a tool, although a pickaxe may help. It will drop Glowstone dust, which can only be used to craft back into a Glowstone block, by placing a piece of dust in each slot on the crafting grid. Glowstone currently has no other practical use. -Soul Sand- Soul sand is a block which appears with a brown-ish texture with what appear to be faces upon it. It has a number of interesting properties - it slows down any mob or the player if they walk on it, and also does less fall damage if fallen onto. It is best mined by hand, as no tool is designed for it. ----------------- 6. Item Reference ----------------- An item is any non-block object that the player can have in their inventory and use to interact with the world. Some are dropped by mobs when they are killed, but most require crafting. --6.1 TOOLS-- By my definition, a tool is any item that can be used for effective mining or removal of a particular type of block. By this definition, there are four types of tool in the game - Shovel, Pickaxe, Axe and Hoe. Shovels are used for mining dirt, sand, clay and gravel. Pickaxes work on stone, cobblestone, all types of ore, obsidian and stairs. Axes can be used on logs, wooden planks and chests and hoes are used to till land for farming. All tools have a durability, represented by the 'health bar' below the tool's inventory image. When used on a block for which it is not intended, tools take double durability damage. When durability runs out the tool is simply destroyed. Tools can be made out of wood, cobblestone, iron ingots and diamond. They can also be made out of gold ingots, however gold tools have very low durability (although they are faster on some blocks than diamond tools).The better the material the quicker they work and the more times they can be used before being destroyed.Also, some blocks can only be destroyed with iron or diamond pickaxes. The amount of uses provided by different materials is as follows: Gold: 33 uses Wood: 60 uses Stone: 132 uses Iron: 251 uses Diamond: 1562 uses The crafting recipes for the shovel and pickaxe are in the walkthrough part of the guide, however will be repeated here for the sake of completeness, along with those of the hoe and axe. In the recipes, S represents a wooden stick, and M your chosen tool material. Axe: ---------------------- | | | | | M | M | | ---------------------- | | | | | M | S | | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- Pickaxe: ---------------------- | | | | | M | M | M | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- Shovel: ---------------------- | | | | | | M | | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- Hoe: ---------------------- | | | | | M | M | | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- --6.2 WEAPONS-- -Sword- A sword can be made to help defend yourself against hostile mobs, and also to kill neutral mobs quicker. It is made out of the same selection of materials as the tools described above, and has the same properties of durability, including taking double damage if used for an unintended purpose. As would be expected, better swords do more damage. A wooden/gold sword does two hearts of damage, a stone sword three, iron four and diamond five hearts. The crafting recipe is below. Again, M represents your chosen material and S a wooden stick. ---------------------- | | | | | | M | | ---------------------- | | | | | | M | | ---------------------- | | | | | | S | | ---------------------- -Bow and Arrow- Bows and arrows allow for ranged attacks against mobs. Arrows are fired using the right mouse button provided there are some in the inventory, they do not need to be equipped or loaded into the bow (the bow must of course be the active item). Arrows will do two hearts of damage to all mobs. If an arrow misses its target it can be picked up again. Bows do not have durability, so one bow is all you will ever need, provided you keep it on you at all times (as I would recommend). They must be crafted from three wooden sticks and three pieces of string, which are dropped by spiders. Arrows can be crafted from a single stick, a feather (Fe) and a piece of flint. They can also be dropped by skeletons. The crafting recipes are as follows: Bow: ---------------------- | | | | |String|Stick | | ---------------------- | | | | |String| |Stick | ---------------------- | | | | |String|Stick | | ---------------------- Arrow (produces four): ---------------------- | | | | | |Flint | | ---------------------- | | | | | |Stick | | ---------------------- | | | | | | Fe | | ---------------------- -Snowball- Snowballs can be thrown at mobs, and whilst they won't do any damage, they will still knock them back and can knock them off cliffs. They will also remove a sheep's wool without hurting it, and can kill slimes. --6.3 ARMOUR-- Armour can be made and worn to protect from damage. There are four different types of armour - helmet, which gives 1.5 armour points, chestplates (4 points) leggings (3 points) and boots (1.5 points). Armour can be made out of leather, gold ingots, iron ingots and diamonds. Like with tools, gold armour is not very useful, and the other materials gain in effectiveness and durability. Like tools, armour has durability and will need replacing over time. Armour is made solely of the chosen material, and the crafting recipes are as follows: Helmet: ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------------- Chestplate: ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- Leggings: ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- Boots: ---------------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- Once crafted, armour must be placed into the dedicated armour slots in the inventory (to the left of the image of your character) to have any affect. --6.4 FOOD-- Food is any item that can be eaten by the player to restore health. It should be noted that the current game contains items that appear to be food, however cannot be used for this purpose, these will be listed in a later section. -Pork- Pork is found by killing pigs, which will drop between zero and two pieces of pork on death. It can be eaten raw to restore one-and-a-half hearts, or cooked in a furnace to produce 'grilled pork' which is more effective, restoring four hearts. It is probably the most common food item in the game, due to how easy it is to find. Grilled pork can be found 'naturally' by killing Zombie Pigmen in the Nether. -Apple- Apples are only found in chests in dungeons (described above). When eaten, it restores two hearts. It can be combined with gold (one apple in the middle of the crafting grid surrounded by gold blocks) in order to make a golden apple, which will completely restore your health. However the rarity of apples and gold makes this not very economical. -Bread- Once you've farmed wheat (see above), it can be crafted into bread by placing three pieces of wheat in a horizontal line in the crafting grid. Once crafted, bread will heal two-and-a-half hearts. It is harder to obtain at first than pork, but once you have a functioning farm it can be a more reliable food source. Wheat also stacks, so it is possible to take a stack of wheat with you when exploring, and either take or build a crafting table to make bread when you need it, rather than filling an inventory with pork. -Mushroom Stew- If both types of mushroom can be found, it is possible to make mushroom stew. For this you need to make a bowl, place it at the bottom of the crafting grid and place one of each type of mushroom above it. Once made, it heals five hearts. The bowl is reusable. -Fish- Fish can be caught by the use of a fishing rod. Any body of water can be fished regardless of size or whether it is natural or not. They heal a single heart when eaten, however they can, like pork, be grilled in a furnace, which makes them heal two-and-half-hearts. --6.5 MATERIALS-- Materials are items that are used in the crafting of other items. -Coal- Coal is produced by mining coal ore blocks, and is used to power furnaces and make torches. -Charcoal- Charcoal, which has the exact same properties of coal, can be created by burning logs in a furnace. -Iron/Gold Ingots- Both iron and gold ingots are created by smelting iron/gold ore in a furnace. They are both used to create tools, swords and armour, as discussed above. Iron can also be used to make numerous other items, including buckets and compasses. -Diamonds- Diamond gems are dropped by diamond ore blocks. They are extremely rare, but make the most useful and durable tools, swords and armour. -Sticks- Sticks, used in a wide array of crafting recipes, are created from wooden planks as described elsewhere in this guide. -String- String is dropped by spiders when killed, and is used to make bows and fishing rods. -Sulphur- Used in the making of TNT, sulphur is dropped by creepers when killed, but not if they blow themselves up -Feather- Feathers are dropped by both chickens and zombies in the main world, and by zombie pigmen in the Nether, upon death. They are used in the crafting of arrows. -Bowl- A bowl is required to make mushroom stew. It itself needs to be crafted to obtain, it is made out of wood as follows (note the recipe produces four bowls) ---------------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | | x | | ---------------------- -Flint- Flint is obtained from some (but not all) gravel blocks when mined. It is used in the construction of arrows and flint and steel. -Leather- Leather is obtained by killing cows, and can be used to make leather armour. -Clay Bricks- When raw clay obtained from mining clay blocks is smelted in a furnace, the result is a single clay brick. They are used to craft brick blocks when placed in a two-by-two square in a crafting grid. -Sugar- Sugar is obtained by crafting a single piece of sugar cane. Its only use is in the crafting recipe for cake. -Egg- Eggs are laid at random by chickens. They can be thrown, which can cause a chicken to hatch. They are also used in the crafting recipe for cake. -Bone- Bones are dropped by skeletons on death, and are used to make bone meal dye. --6.6 VEHICLES-- -Boat- Boats are used to travel across water within the game, most commonly the ocean. They must be right clicked to enter or exit. They can be controlled by the player by use of the WASD keys. Boats are crafted using wooden planks in the following recipe: ---------------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------------- | | | | | x | | x | ---------------------- | | | | | x | x | x | ---------------------- -Minecarts- Minecarts are vehicles that run along pre-placed minecart tracks. A basic minecart is crafted using iron ingots in the same formation as for the boat above. Powered minecarts, which are propelled using coal as fuel, and storage minecarts, which can be used to transport items, can also be crafted by placing either a furnace or a chest above a standard minecart in the crafting grid. The use of minecarts is hard to explain using just text and ASCII diagrams, so I will instead link to some videos made by Youtube user 'AlmtyBob' showing how they are used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPls6LXlkGI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ayhg-yizLUI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0v5cAFYouWY Thanks to squirrels4ev for pointing me towards these videos. --6.7 DYES-- Wool obtained from sheep can be dyed a number of different colours. In all cases this is done by placing the wool and the dye in any position on the crafting grid. The different colours of wool can then be used for decorative purposes. There are three different categories of colour the wool can be dyed: Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. -Primary Colours- These are all created by using a natural object as the dye or source for the dye. Rose Red: Place a rose on the crafting table. Dandelion Yellow: Place a dandelion on the crafting table. Lapis Lazuli: Mine a Lapis Lazuli ore block. This is a blue dye. Cactus Green: Cook a cactus in a furnace. Ink Sac: A black dye dropped by squid. Also obtained from black sheep. Bone Meal: Place a bone on the crafting table. Secondary Colours: These are created by combining primary dyes. Orange Dye: Rose Red + Dandelion Yellow Cyan Dye: Cactus Green + Lapis Lazuli Purple Dye: Rose Red + Lapis Lazuli Grey Dye: Bone Meal + Ink Sac (also obtained from grey sheep) Light Blue Dye: Bone Meal + Lapis Lazuli Pink Dye: Bone Meal + Rose Red Lime Dye: Cactus Green + Bone Meal Tertiary Colours: These require at least one secondary dye to be created. Magenta Dye: Purple Dye + Pink Dye Light Grey: Bone Meal + Grey Dye (also obtained from light grey sheep) --6.8 OTHER OBJECTS-- -Flint and Steel- Created by an iron ingot and a piece of flint, the flint and steel object can be used to create fire by using it on any flammable block. It is also used to create portals to the Nether. The crafting recipe is: ---------------------- | | | | | | | | ---------------------- | | | | | Iron | | | ---------------------- | | | | | |Flint | | ---------------------- -Bucket- Buckets, made of iron ingots in the same pattern as used for a bowl, are used to pick up liquids like lava and water. They can also be used to milk cows if used on them, this milk can then be used to make cake. -Compass- A compass, which can be constructed with iron ingots and redstone, will point at all times towards the player's original spawn point. It will do this even if stored in the inventory as opposed to the more accesible toolbar. The compass will not work in the Nether. The crafting recipe is as follow: ---------------------- | | | | | | Iron | | ---------------------- | | Red | | | Iron | Stone| Iron | ---------------------- | | | | | | Iron | | ---------------------- -Watch- A watch, made using the same recipe as the compass but with gold ingots instead of iron ones, is an item that will indicate the time of day. This is similar to the compass, in that it will do so regardless of whether it is in the toolbar, main inventory or a chest. Like the compass, it will not work in the Nether. -Fishing Rod- A fishing rod, made of sticks and string, can be used to fish in any body of water. The recipe is: ---------------------- | | | | | | |Stick | ---------------------- | | | | | |Stick |String| ---------------------- | | | | |Stick | |String| ---------------------- The rod can also be used to pull mobs towards you, and even activate pressure plates if aimed accurately. -Paper- Paper, crafted by placing three reeds in a horizontal line, is used to make books. Three pieces of paper are made from this recipe. -Book- Books, crafted by placing three pieces of paper in a vertical line, are used to make bookshelves. -Saddle- Saddles are a rare item found in dungeon chests. Once found, they can be placed on a pig to allow the player to ride the pig around the world. The pig cannot be controlled and the saddle cannot be recovered once placed. -Seeds- Seeds are produced by tilling grass with a hoe. They can then be planted in order to grow crops. -Slime Ball- Slime balls are dropped by slimes when attacked. They currently have no use. -Record- Records are dropped by creepers when killed by a skeleton's arrow. They can be played in jukeboxes. There are currently two types, green and gold, which play different songs. ---------------- 7. Mob Reference ---------------- A mob is any of the different types of animal and monster that spawn in a Minecraft world. There are two types - neutral or passive mobs, which only spawn in good light and on grass, and hostile mobs, which spawn in the dark and on any type of block aside from glass and slabs. All mobs can be killed by hand, or by a weapon. Mobs will sometimes drop useful items when killed or attacked. --7.1 NEUTRAL MOBS-- It is worth noting that neutral mobs, whilst they will not attack the player, can bump into them and push them off cliffs. Aside from the chicken, which has two, neutral mobs have five hearts of health. -Pigs- Pigs can drop raw pork when killed. They can also be ridden by making use of a saddle. -Sheep- Sheep are the only mob that don't drop something when killed, but they do drop wool blocks when hit, represented by them losing their wool. They can be found in four different colours naturally (white, black, and light and dark grey) and can also be dyed different colours. -Cows- Cows can drop leather when killed. They are also notorious for their rather loud moo. -Chickens- Chickens are the smallest mob, and are unable to push the player. They also are the only mob not to take fall damage. They will drop eggs at random and can drop feathers when killed. -Squids- Squids are found in water, currently the only mob found in that environment. They drop ink sacs on death. -Zombie Pigmen- Zombie Pigmen, found in the Nether, are currently the only neutral mob found in the alternative world. If attacked, however, all Zombie Pigmen in the area will retaliate and likely kill the player. They will forgive after a period of time. If you can kill one it will either drop grilled pork or feathers. --7.2 HOSTILE MOBS-- In general, hostile mobs will always attack you on sight. All hostile mobs have 10 hearts of health, the same amount as the player. -Skeletons- Skeletons are armed with bows and arrows, and can drop arrows or bones on death They will fire at the player on sight, however it is possible to dodge the arrows. When daylight comes, skeletons will burn to death. They can be identified by sound - they make a distinctive rattling sound, and the sound of the bow shots can also be heard. -Zombies- Zombies will chase you if they see you and use exclusively melee attacks. Like skeletons, they will burn to death in daylight. They will drop feathers when killed. They can be identified by their moaning and groaning sounds. -Creepers- Creepers are a green creature, apparently the result of a failed attempt to make a pig model. When a creeper sees you, it will approach you, and if it gets within one block it will explode. There is a short 'fuse' time in which it is possible to get far enough away to cancel the explosion. Creepers do not burn in daylight, and so remain a danger after the sun comes up. They also do not make a noise, until they start to explode, and so can sneak up on unwary players. If killed without exploding they can drop sulphur, and will drop records if killed by a skeleton's arrow. -Spiders- Spiders, like zombies, only have a melee attack. Unlike other mobs, the spider is only one block tall but two wide. This means it cannot enter narrow passageways, but can enter areas with low ceilings. A spider can also jump higher than other mobs (2-3 blocks, thanks to squirrels4ev for this information) and can climb walls. Any surface other than soul sand can be climbed. Like creepers, spiders don't die in sunlight. A spider will not attack the player during daytime unless the player attacks the spider first, however by using flint and steel to set them alight they can be killed without making them fight back. When killed, they will drop string. There is a small (1 in 100) chance of a spider spawning with a skeleton riding it. These 'spider jockeys' can still climb walls. -Slime- Slime, which appears as varying sizes of green cubes, can be only be found very deep underground. If attacked without a weapon, large slimes will split into smaller ones. Slimes are the only hostile mob that will spawn on peaceful difficulty, however this will only be the smallest of the four possible sizes, which cannot deal damage to the player (although it can still push you around). Slimes are currently the only normal world mob that can spawn regardless of the light conditions. When killed, a slime may drop slime balls. -Ghasts- Ghasts, which have the appearance of large floating jellyfish, are mobs which spawn in the Nether. They will do this regardless of light conditions and in any area big enough for them to fit in. They normally have eyes and mouth closed, however they can shoot fireballs, and will open eyes and mouth to do this. They can be hurt by any normal weapon, and it is also possible to reflect the fireballs they shoot with any item or even your hand. They can also be hurt if they float into a lavafall. If killed they can drop gunpowder. ------ 8. FAQ ------ Who or what is Herobrine? Herobrine was a hoax created by some Minecraft players who claimed to have seen another player character model in a single player game. The story claims that fourm topics on the subject were deleted almost as soon as they were created, and that a pm from a user named 'Herobrine' was sent, containing the word 'stop.' The profile allegedly got a 404 error. Supposedly other users contacted the story teller, and Herobrine was discussed. The name was apparently revealed to be that of a Swedish gamer, and the brother of Minecraft developer Notch. When contacted, Notch supposedly said that his brother was 'no longer with us.' The story, as I said, is a hoax, and Herobrine has gone on to be a meme in the Minecraft community. --------------------- Where else can I get Minecraft help? The official Minecraft forums are located at: http://www.minecraftforum.net/index.php There is also a Minecraft wiki (a source of much information for this guide) at http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Main_Page --------------------- What mods or tools are there for Minecraft? The Minecraft community has created a wide range of mods and tools for the game, ranging from texture packs and player skins, to mapping tools, tools to edit the world and player inventory, and mods to add new features or game modes. Whilst encouraged by Notch (except where his own code is redistributed), these are generally unofficial and so not a part of this guide. The current exception to this is third party Minecraft texture packs, which can be installed by placing them in the appropriate folder (a link to which can be found in the Minecraft client by clicking on the 'mods and texture packs' main menu item) and then selected in game from the same menu item. A good list of texture packs can be found on the Minecraft forums: http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=12352 Other mods and tools for Minecraft can be found on the forum and wiki. --------------------- Why is this game so buggy? The game is still currently in beta by playing it now it could be argued we are acting as not only as unpaid beta testers, but in fact paying ourselves. Notch does plan to make it a more complete game, and most bugs will in time be fixed. For now, just remember it is not claiming to be a finished product. --------------------- Do the scary noises in caves mean anything? Yes. The various scary noises that can be heard underground mean that there is an unlit cave in close proximity (specifically a 3 by 3 by 3 area that is completely dark, between 10 and 20 blocks away). This could be an already visible area, and can be heard when above ground. It could even be a player created area, if no torches have been placed within it. Contrary to popular belief, the noises have no direct relation to dungeons, ore deposits, or nearby mobs. --------------------- Can I play my saved world on another computer? Yes. First, you need to retrieve the save file off your original computer: Windows: Start -> Run -> Type in %appdata% -> press enter -> folder .minecraft Mac: Finder -> [YOUR NAME] -> Library -> Application Support -> Minecraft Linux: ~/.minecraft Once in the Minecraft folder simply go into the saves folder and copy the folder for the world you want, and then put it in the same place on another computer with Minecraft installed. --------------------- Other questions will be answered here as I get them. ------------------------ 9. Legal/Contact/Thanks ------------------------ This guide is Copyright (c) 2011 Stephen Garvani The following websites have permission to host this guide: GameFAQs.com NeoSeeker.com SuperCheats.com Gamesradar.com If you want to host it on your own website then please email me using the address at the start of this guide. I will not unreasonably deny requests from legitimate websites. All use of this guide for profit is also strictly forbidden, including but not limited to the placing of adverts on the same page as the guide. Adverts on pages linking to the guide are fine. If you do find this guide on any website not stated here please email me on the address at the start of the guide. Also please email if you spot any mistakes, including spelling mistakes, in this guide, or if you have any further suggestions for additions or different or better ways of doing things. Anyone who gets their contribution included, even if it is just a typo correction, will have their name in the credits. There are some things I would request you don't contact me about: -Future updates. This guide is designed to only cover the currently available Minecraft version. However well known a future update may be, I will not be adding information about them to this guide. This also applies to updates that have been applied but that I haven't yet updated the guide to cover. That said, updates that are covered in the guide may not be covered fully, so once I claim to have covered an update please DO contact me to let me know anything I may have missed. For convenience, the version number of Minecraft to which the guide refers is included in the guide's version history. -Multiplayer/Classic versions. As said at the start, this guide is about the current singleplayer beta version of the game. I may decide at a later date to extend it to these other versions, but for now I won't be. My one request when contacting me about this guide is that you reference the guide in the subject of the email. If you don't I will likely delete it without reading it. I would also note that I cannot guarantee a reply, so you may have to check for an updated version of the guide to see if your contribution was included. And yes, the email address has been deliberately obfuscated in order to prevent spambots picking it up. Finally, thanks are due to the following: Notch, for creating Minecraft squirrels4ev, for providing a number of useful tips. All the websites that host this guide You, for reading!