Hey Minecrafters

Post by **GORDON** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:43 pm

Did you ever load up mods? My kid has been watching machinima videos, and sees mods, and wants to load up mods...

I looked into it, and this shit is like 5 steps and altering .jar files using other apps and wtf.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 10:47 pm

I've seen my buddy load countless mods. What "other apps?"

Post by **GORDON** » Sun Jun 02, 2013 11:18 pm

One was "7-Zip" or something that you have to use to put the mod files into the "minecraft.jar" file.

Post by **TheCatt** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 7:40 am

Who doesnt already use 7zip?

Post by **thibodeaux** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:36 am

My son (8 going on 9) got into minecraft in a big way a few months ago. Wanted to load some mods. Yes, I thought the process was ridiculous. Here's the deal: you don't HAVE to use 7Zip; what you HAVE to do is update some class files inside a jar. A jar is just a zipped up archive of a bunch of java class files, so in theory you could use anything that knows how to zip.

I also coded a mod, just to see what it was like, and it was even worse. As usual, with any kind of FOSS/Java project, the how-to docs on the internet DO NOT WORK. So, FYI.

Post by **GORDON** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:55 am

TheCatt wrote:Who doesnt already use 7zip?

I think I heard of it once years ago, but never used it. This is a Winrar household.

Post by **TPRJones** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:40 am

For ease of use, you can't beat tekkit. It's basically a seperate game file download that piggybacks on Minecraft and gives you GUI click-and-choose access to a variety of modded client versions. In most cases they are designed to specifically work with modded server environments as well, so if you are going to play online you'll need to join an appropriately modded server. There are lots of public ones out there, in varying degrees of family-friendliness.

But, man, the extensions are insane. Forget pistons and redstone, this has things like electric furnaces, programmable mining turtles, and nuclear reactors. You can do some really amazing things with tekkit.

Word of advice: skip the pipes, use the pneumatic tubes. The pipes are buggy when you have massive quantities of items moving through them. Tubes are worlds better.

Edited By TPRJones on 1370266907

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 10:12 am

GORDON wrote:
TheCatt wrote:Who doesnt already use 7zip?

I think I heard of it once years ago, but never used it. This is a Winrar household.

Really? 7-Zip is what all the cool people are using. How's your 8-track player?

As usual, with any kind of FOSS/Java project, the how-to docs on the internet DO NOT WORK.

Ah, Java. Bureaucracy masquerading as technology.

Edited By Malcolm on 1370268862

Post by **TheCatt** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:21 am

Remember, Gordon still has a CRT monitor... so, yeah, WinRar.

Post by **GORDON** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:39 am

TPRJones wrote:For ease of use, you can't beat tekkit. It's basically a seperate game file download that piggybacks on Minecraft and gives you GUI click-and-choose access to a variety of modded client versions.

So far it looks like it should be a lot easier...

.... problem is, their website seems to have gone done right in the middle of trying to dl/install the first mod pack, heh. Can't even refresh the page at the moment.

Will try again later, but yes, this program APPEARS to have removed all the WTF from installing a minecraft mod.

As for winrar being old............... what kind of crazy zipping/unzipping are you guys doing that you needed something better? Hell, the old WinZip from 1996 would serve 99.99% of my needs. Of course, the obvious answer to my own question would be, "My are modifying .jar files, dumbass." Before yesterday I have never needed to know what a .jar file is. Gap in my experience, I guess.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 11:44 am

7-Zip wins. Better compression algorithm, multiple I/O formats, allows you to control the level of compression you want. About the only thing WinRar has on 7-Zip is that it can produce .rar files, since the dudes that made WinRar also made the .rar encoding method.

Before yesterday I have never needed to know what a .jar file is. Gap in my experience, I guess.

If you want to mod indie games, you'll find yourself producing lots of bridges between components the developers never intended. I won't go into what the fuck I had to do to get BG2 and its mods running a decade and a half ago.

Edited By Malcolm on 1370274350

Post by **GORDON** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:38 pm

Well, this was a failed mission.

When we finally found a modpack that (1) he wanted and (2) would install correctly, it started doing its thing... and we agot all excited... then it stopped with an error saying our open GL driver was too old, and it wouldn't run. The blocky, pixilated-ass Minecraft mod would not run on this computer because some arbitrary variable did not have the correct value. And I did some searching, and the kid's computer has the most updated video drivers available for it.

So.

I will revisit if/when we update his PC. Or I let him use my laptop.

Post by **TPRJones** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 5:49 pm

You can't just give up in the face of a little difficulty! What lesson does that teach him?

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 6:16 pm

Even if your device manager says your vid drivers are up to date, you may need to put in OpenGL manually. Video drivers are generally hardware specific. OpenGL is a graphics library.

Are you on the magic list?

Post by **GORDON** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:21 pm

Yes, I do seem to recall once upon a time there being stand-alone OpenGL drivers.... been forever since I had to think about that.

I'll look into it.

I thought it would be easier just to build him a new PC for $400 that would run the shit he needs to run for the next few years.

Oh yeah.... there was another install program we tried that wouldn't load because we didn't have .NET framework 4.5. Which will not install on WinXP. Which he has.

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:44 pm

4.5 was released after MS stopped supporting XP. Get with the times. Get 7.

Post by **TheCatt** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:45 pm

Seriously, you're like a PC time machine Gordon. Does your mouse only have two buttons too?

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 8:47 pm

TheCatt wrote:Seriously, you're like a PC time machine Gordon. Does your mouse only have two buttons too?

Whoa, whoa. You may have lost him at "mouse."

Post by **GORDON** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:38 pm

Well, it is number 5 of the 5 active, production PCs in the house (not even counting tablets and shit).... it is the kid's, though, so it is the oldest. I have 3 more in an upstairs storage room that might actually boot if I powered them up, too. Thinking about recycling one of those cases to build a new one.

Edited By GORDON on 1370309991

Malcolm · Post by **Malcolm** » Mon Jun 03, 2013 9:46 pm

Is Minecraft supposed to run on XP? Hmm, looks like it's straight up Java, so I guess if you've got the JVM and a version that was compiled with old Java, yeah. I don't know if the latest Java version would run on XP.