Opalcraft: Community Minecraft Server

Hi Opal,

I don't really have any mods to add, nor do I have any knowledge on good ones that'd be compatible. However, I do have some thoughts on the currents status of things and some of the mods.

Progressive Mobs - makes mobs harder for everyone else that isn't the first to find out how to farm it. It's basically a race to see who can farm the Mob first to just make it even harder for the next guy to come along. I think this can be an easy removal, and perhaps replaced with a different mod that actually adds harder mobs?

Aesthetic Options - with so many mods in this pack it might feel like there's already an influx of blocks available to everyone, and even with just the vanilla blocks you can build great things, however I do feel there can be a bit of a boost in this department. Everyone wants to be unique, and sure we can do the same thing but in a different way, but pretty much everyone is going to have the same kind of kitchen. I feel there's already so many practical and technical mods that we can show the builders some love too. The screens from Extra Utilities is great for this though, so I don't think this section is a huge priority, but should be given some attention when available.

Chat Spam - It gets really bothersome because we really only have 1 way of communicating with everyone else on the server to ask for trades, get some assistance, and to just socialize in general and this is happening every couple of minutes.


PVP - To be frank, my thoughts on the current progression with the server and how things are is that it feels very stale. Figuring the ins and outs of each and every mod- and finding out new things like how you can make fishing nets to just leave afk to fish for you is just awesome, but there doesn't really feel like there's any reward for doing so. In it's present state it feels more like a puzzle server where you just try to figure everything out rather then a server that's fully utilizing all of it's available features. Yes, Minecraft is what you make of it, and it's different for everyone, but I don't feel the safety nets in place are as necessary, or are even perhaps overkill. Specifically the graves that preserve all of your items upon death. With this there is no risk when you are entering a competitors area or even fighting the Ender Dragon. You just die, and go pick up your stuff- no problem. Yes it helps you out in the early game, but it dulls the experience when everyone is geared up and ready to use their gear. Granted, there's a fair amount of toxicity and the sort that comes along with a full-fledged PVP consequential server, and the gap between well-established parties versus newer ones will be harsher, but I think there's a compromise to this. If possible, enable the graves to only last for the first few days upon joining the server, and then removing it's availability to the player after the allotted time. The hours we spend on making our perfect sets of armor being lost in a matter of seconds can be disheartening, but it should be promoting smarter gameplay. PVP does not have to be toxic, but it also doesn't have to be so limiting. A player by the name of Daniel He said this,

That's pretty much how I think of things on Minecraft. Yes, I can spend hours upon hours on my armor, but so long as it was a fair loss then I won't complain. If they used some dumb exploit or there was server lag then of course that's kinda bs, but otherwise if I'm just wandering around with all my diamonds on me I think that should totally entail that I should be at risk and potentially get punished for it.

I do recognize that Factions is in the works for the future, and the server is still just coming along, but perhaps with the updates to come we can move more towards adding a feeling of 'weight' to everything we work on and do. This might not be ideal for everyone's preferred playstyle, but I feel that PVP is a self-recycling system that has hours of replay-ability, while rebuilding your base just for fun over and over not so much.

And that's it, everything else like lag issues and proxies should be addressed so that's everything I wanted to contribute.

 

Thanks for the ideas.

Regarding PVP: Indeed, that's one of the things I wanted to try and do with the Factions idea (check a few pages back). Both you and the others are right, and finding the right balance is difficult. I still want to tackle this and give a PVP-oriented server a try alongside the current server - but it needs more work and more careful planning. I'm always open for more ideas in this regard.
However, this is something for later. First I want to finish this update to Survival, and then we can move on to the PVP project.

 

I went through @Xproplayer 's mod pack suggestion, tons of mods not a lot are useful. I added the ones that are more end gamey

 

Could always make some type of arena I know plugins for that used to exist years ago but idk now

 

We should remove graves, they pretty much make any in-game items that do the same obselete

 

@Zack I'll see your villager cruelty and raise you one more!

Quicksand Slave Pits! Muhahahaha
Gif may take a moment to load.

 

Here's a picture of a tool tip seen in the Direwolf20 Modpack:

Notice how it tells you what mod the item is from, this is pretty helpful info. But currently Opalcraft doesn't tell you which mod the item comes from when you're looking at items in your inventory. Right now we have an added step where we have to search the name up in the JEI to figure out what mod the item is from. Is there a mod we could install to get us this tool tip? or perhaps there is a setting I can change to show this tool tip?

 

er... the is F3 debug thing to turn that on.

 

Regarding some previously denied suggestions:

Buildcraft Xproplayer https://www.mod-buildcraft.com/pages/download.html industrial mod REJECTED Others mods cover this already
Thats the point of modded minecraft, to have multiple ways. are going going to remove tinkers construct because minecraft already has pickaxes??

Aroma1997's Dimensional World andrewca79 https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/aroma1997s-dimensional-world Dimension for mining. Requires Aroma Core: https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/aroma1997core REJECTED No practical use
Uhhh how about not having people destroy the overworld with quarries and shit.

Compacter Xproplayer https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/compacter single block mod that can compact items very quickly REJECTED No practical use
Uhh when its useful, its very useful. Its 1 block added to the game ffs

Cooking for blockheads Xproplayer https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/cooking-for-blockheads lets you make a cool kitchen to craft hella stuff REJECTED No practical use
This was literally added, despite being rejected for "no practical use" please research mods before denying or elaborate, this mod is great and it was falsely denied IMO

Hats Xproplayer Ask / Mod list for PO2 / Infinity Evolved Cosmetic fun REJECTED Unnecessary
Its modded minecraft, ffs why can't we have fun with some cosmetics

Inventory tweaks Xproplayer https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/inventory-tweaks Inventory sorter and tweaker REJECTED Included in Qwark
Quarks suck in comparison, and they work side by side, and this was previously rejected with "clientside" well mate just add it in anyways if people dont use it they dont use it.

Iron chests Xproplayer https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/iron-chests extra storage capabilities REJECTED Unnecessary with so many storage options
Thats the point of modded minecraft, to have multiple ways. Not to mention this allows for very dense storage due to not having issues with chests being side by side.

Jabba Xproplayer https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/jabba Cool barrels for bulk storing items early game REJECTED Identical to Storage Drawers
No its not. Thats the point of modded minecraft, to have multiple ways.

Minefactory reloaded Xproplayer Ask / Mod list for PO2 / Infinity Evolved lots of great machinery for farming+ REJECTED No 1.12.2 version
This one is true, but in reality its actually just been renamed / taken over and is now named industrial foregoing

Moo fluids Xproplayer Ask / Mod list for PO2 / Infinity Evolved cows that give fluids REJECTED Why the hell do we even need this?
Why the hell not

Pam's Harvestcraft Xproplayer https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/pams-harvestcraft REJECTED
No rejection reason, one of the best food mods in the entire game.

Reliquary Xproplayer https://minecraft.curseforge.com/projects/reliquary-v1-3 adds fun RPG style items REJECTED Too overpowered
Bruh what, its balanced

Simply jetpacks Xproplayer Ask / Mod list for PO2 / Infinity Evolved REJECTED There are already flight alternatives, we don't need another one
Thats the point of modded minecraft, to have multiple ways.

translocators Xproplayer Ask / Mod list for PO2 / Infinity Evolved very fast way to transfer items, amazing mod REJECTED Duplicate behavior (for the most part)
Very unlikely that any mods can beat / match 1 stack per tick transfer rates, which is legendary in modded mc

veinminer Xproplayer Ask / Mod list for PO2 / Infinity Evolved bulk mine items, alternative oreexcavation REJECTED Too overpowered
If you dont want it to be overpowered make it only work for pickaxes and only for ores

 

We aren't trying to bloat up this modpack with 50 different ways to do the same thing. If there's a definitive good way to do something, like flying, nobody is going to use the dozens of other alternatives, and they fall to just being extra loading time and RAM usage. This pack was originally meant to be lightweight, after all.

Dimensional mods were avoided because of worldgen lag, but that doesn't seem to be a big problem these days... maybe in the next pack.

The rest were either overlooked or didn't have a lot of interest to us. That's not to say they may not be in any future modpacks we may do.

 

I would much rather use iron chests than actually additions storage crates.

I would rather use Jabba vs storage drawers for bulk item storage in 1 block

simply jetpacks might have a valid argument, but in reality its only because creative flight is too easy using angel ring, if that wasn't there this would be a great balanced tier.

 

Opalium the chunk loader we were using in our base has being removed. it's not in the item list nor were we put them.

 

@POP STAR , you made a lot of fine points, but I'm not with you on the PVP front, mainly for one reason. The server is essentially a handful of randoms, and then a giant clique of players with highly advanced items/armor/weapons. Sparking up open PvP is entirely pointless as things stand, as it will just be a bloodbath on behalf of the people not fortunate enough to be counted among your numbers. This is why we're going to be building an arena, so people can get out their PvP jonesing in a fair and balanced way, without disrupting everyone else doing what they like to do.

 

Thank you for your mod suggestions, everyone. I will begin sorting through them in a bit. I hope to finish it sometime today.
Please make sure to pay attention to any comments I leave on your suggestions, just so we can finish this quickly and proceed with the update.

 

Not a viable replacement since it loads 9x as many chunks

 

Server Lag Issue
For me, the Server Lag is the biggest hindrance on my enjoyment of the server- Having to deal with near consistent block lag is no fun. Together, many of us have done our part in reducing lag causing areas/structures (ie. modifying builds to reduce load on the server, fixing flowing lava lag in the nether, etc.), but there is more that needs to be done. I think I can speak for us all when I say that we'd like to play on a server where one doesn't have to mine a block 5 or more times for it to finally break.

I hope @Opalium will be able to make some changes that can help to reduce the lag, but there is only so much he can do, it's up to the players to be more responsible with the loads they put on the server. Which is why I propose, that we as a community, take a harder stance on what is considered an acceptable level of server load for a build to have. And we should all try to get into the mindset of thinking about the other players on the server and how our builds may negatively impact other players experiences by putting unnecessary load on the server. I'm not saying we all need to go back to the stone ages and use coal for power and mine blocks by hand, etc., but if we each were a bit more conscientious of the load we put on the server, that could go a long way.

Here's an example of what I'd consider a non-acceptable drain on server resources, and something that could be modified to be less lag inducing. Here is a structure someone has constructed- A max sized Extreme Reactor - that is likely putting an unnecessarily heavy load on server resources:

Spoiler: Example

Being near this structure is an FPS killer, so subsequently it was placed far away from players homes. A structure like this, while impressive, is not server friendly. Personally, when I see a giant structure like this causing lag I can't help but feel a little let down and wonder if the ones who constructed it care or understand that there are other players on the server who are being affected by the load it puts on the server.

Spoiler: Note to the builder(s) of this reactor

A modification I would suggest to reduce the load on the server would be to consider switching your reactor to a steam producing reactor which can be significantly smaller, and the steam can be used in several steam turbines, which if memory recalls can produce between 24-28k RF/t each. With this design you can make several small steam producing reactors that on their own can power several turbines (note that steam production is capped at a certain level, so building a huge reactor doesn't give you more steam). By scaling this you can easily make well into the 100,000s of RF/t depending on how much you scale. The downside of this route is the cost of turbine materials, but the benefit should be less load on the server. Either this, or consider other alternatives to power production that are less lag intensive.

 

This is why we need PvP and factions.