a comprehensive survival mode guide

8/6/2019 A Comprehensive Survival Mode Guide

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A COMPREHENSIVE SURVIVAL MODE GUIDE

BY BLACKFEATHER

REQUIRES A BASIC UNDERSTANDING

OF MINECRAFT,

AS WELL AS A BASIC GRASP

ON THE CONCEPTS OF SURVIVAL MUTIPLAYER

ENJOY,

YOU LAZY-ASS CUNT


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TUTORIAL/BEGINNERS GUIDE

This guide is intended for those who are not very familiar with Minecraft. It describes how to play and how

to survive the first night of Singleplayer Mode (BETA), assuming you are playing on the default Normal

difficulty setting. Take note now of the four difficulty settings, and their effects.

PeacefulPlayers regain health over time in this mode. Hostile MOBS do spawn, but are removed form the game

instantaneously, meaning they are of no concern. Slimes are the only exception to this rule, yet their

existence is rare. Switching from any other difficulty to peaceful results in existing hostile MOBS (SAVE

FOR SLIMES!!!) to disappear indefinitely. Despite regaining health over time, it is still possible to die in

Peaceful, VIA Falling damage, Lava, falling into the void, and drowning. Remember that!

Easy

Hostile mobs spawn. Enemies deal less damage than they would on the Normal difficulty. Creepers will

cancel their explosions after moving only a short distance away.

Normal

Hostile mobs spawn. Enemies deal standard damage and have standard health.

Hard

Hostile mobs spawn. Enemies deal greater damage than in Normal Mode, and Creepers will not cancel

their explosions unless a big distance is between them and the player, making the explosion MUCH

harder to avoid!

Now that you understand the difficulties, turn yours to NORMAL, and we can begin!


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Controls

The default keys for movement are as follows:

W Move forward

S Move backward

A Move left (strafe)D Move right (strafe)

Space Jump

Shift crouch/sneak

(Remember that these are just the defaults. You can change them at any time by going into the

OPTIONS screen, by pressing the ESC key)

The mouse is used to look around, and to interact with the world. Move the mouse to turn your head.

Click and HOLD the left mouse button to break down (or mine) blocks. Right click to place (or use) the

currently highlighted item from your inventory hot bar. The mouse wheel selects the currently held item in

your inventory hot bar, or as an alternative, you may use the number keys 1-9.

The E key opens your inventory window (AS DOES THE I KEY), and Q will throw a held item.

Additionally, F5 will enter 3rd

person mode. Pressing it again will revert the camera orientation to 1st

person. F1 will toggle all HUD (Heads Up Display) and darkness effects. F2 will save a screenshot, which

saves in the directory .minecraft\screenshots. Since BETA 1.2, it is possible to make a screenshot using

F2 without holding F1 at the same time. It will keep up the HUD.

F will create fog in the world, and essentially sets the render distance in-game, without having to go to the

options screen. Adjusting the fog may help prevent lag if youre having any, but it also prevents you from

seeing as far as possible across the map. This will make it more difficult to see and mobs, as well as

anything else. There are four stages of fog, the first being where no fog is present, and you can see

across the map. The second stage gets rid of about half of your sight. The third stage prevents you from

determining what time of day it is, as it blocks the position of the Sun/Moon from your view. In those mode

you can generally only see about 20 blocks away from you. The last stage is where you can see only tenblocks away. You will have the least amount of lag in the last stage of render.


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INITIAL PROPERTIES

There are many ways to play Minecraft, as it is a sandbox game. However, hostile mobs will spawn in the

dark. Unless you know how to defend yourself against them, it is a good idea to build a lit shelter on the

first day, before nightfall, as to protect yourself. You can, if you wish, forgo building a shelter and simply

attack any hostiles you encounter, but this is not advised on your first night, considering you will be at a

lack of resources (Weapons, food, etc), and as such, you will most likely be overwhelmed.

YOU ARE NOT A GOD. YOUR ASS WILL GET SHOT

It is also a good idea to mark where your spawnpoint is. Make a landmark as soon as possible (EX: With

a pillar of dirt/sand, or anything else that is large and out of place), so that you can find your spawnpoint.

You want to know where this I sin order to orient yourself in the world. It is also a good idea to make your

first home very close to your spawnpoint, so that if and when you die, youll be spawned next to your

home, safe and sound.

Note that when you die in Minecraft, all of the items you were carrying or wearing are scattered around

your point of death, and you are teleported to your spawn location. Five minutes after being dropped,

these items, like any dropped items, will disappear.

While you are making your preparations for nightfall, keep an eye on the sun. When you first start a new

world, it will be early morning. The sun rises in the east, and sets in the west, just like our sun. At midday

it will be directly above you. Clouds always travel north. WORK QUICKLY! A Minecraft day lasts for

around 20 minutes: MEANING You have 10 minutes of sunlight, and 10 minutes of darkness.

THE ESSENTIALS

However you approach your first night is up to you, but you will at least need wood, and ideally coal or

charcoal to have a fighting chance.

To collect resources, you aim at the block representing the resource and HOLD the left mouse button.

This will instruct your avatar to punch repeatedly. Cracks will gradually appear in the block . Keep holdingthe left mouse button until the block breaks and drops. You can collect the dropped resource by moving

near its spinning representation. It will then appear in your inventory. It is a good idea, if you are building

away from your spawn, to mark it and make an arrow pointing to your home in case of death.

WOOD

Wood is obtained from tree trunks. Wood is the staple of everything that is crafting, and is required to

access the larger crafting grid necessary for the crafting of tools. It is also possible to extract charcoal

from wood, making wood the single most important and useful resource early on.

After collecting 4-10 wooden blocks, you can craft your first item, although it might be recommended to

craft after getting only 3 blocks of wood.

If wood can not be found near your spawn point, dont be afraid to travel for it. It is possible to change

your spawn point, though we will go into more detail about this later on.


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Craft a Crafting Table

Crafting is the core to MineCRAFT. While there are some items you can craft directly from your inventory,

you will need a Crafting table to craft almost all tools, and most other items.

To craft a crafting table, first open your inventory (Press E or I) & click on your collection of wood we

gathered earlier.

Then place that wood in your 2X2 crafting square in your inventory. This will produce planks:

Left clicking on the newfound planks in your crafting box will produce 4 planks to every one wooden block

you have. This means that if you managed to get five pieces of wood, you would end up with 20 wooden

planks. Remember that there is very little use for unrefined wood in Minecraft, so dont be afraid to turn all

of your wood into planks. When you are crafting, right click your planks instead of left-clicking. Thisproduces multiple planks in one slot, and is more efficient.

Now you should pick up all of your wooden planks, and head into your 2x2 crafting square. Place one

wooden plank in each square (BY RIGHT CLICKING, TO PLACE ONE PLANK INSTEAD OF THE

WHOLE STACK). You should have a square of wood, similar to this, and crafting table in the results box.

Click on the result, and place it in an empty square of your hotbar.

Press the ESC key to return to the world, and walk to place you feel appropriate. Select your newly

crafted crafting table with either the mouse wheel or the number keys. Point at a flat square of ground

(NOT DIRECTLY WHERE YOU ARE STANDING!) and right click. This will place your crafting table on

the ground, ready for use. If you wish to pick it up and move it, left click and hold to punch it to pieces,

and pick up its spinning icon.


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Craft a Pickaxe

In order to collect stone and coal, the next staple resources, you will need a pickaxe. Your first pickaxe

will be made of wood; not very durable, but until you collect some stone, it's all you have.

You will need at least five planks to make one wooden pickaxe. Use your crafting table by right clicking on

where you placed it. Your workbench view is similar to your inventory view, except you now have a moreuseful 3x3 crafting space. First we need to make a handle for your pickaxe. To do this, pick up a stack of

planks and place one above another anywhere in your crafting square. Two planks produces four sticks:

Pick up your sticks and clear your crafting table if there's anything left in there. Now place one stick each

in positions 5 and 8, and one plank each in positions 1, 2 and 3. You should now be able to add a pickaxe

to your inventory:

You may have noticed that in order to craft a pickaxe, you more or less draw it with its components in

your crafting square. Other items are crafted in a similar fashion.


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Gathering Resources

Once you've crafted a pickaxe, you can successfully acquire cobblestone. Start by finding stone in the

world; it should be fairly easy, as it's extremely common. If you don't see any on the surface, dig down

and you'll find it quickly.

Using sticks and cobblestone, you can now make some stone tools. It's recommended to craft a few

stone shovels, a stone pickaxe and a few stone axes and a stone sword. Stone axes will allow you to cut

down wood much quicker than with bare hands.

When you come across the pigs, it's good to stock up on a few pieces of raw porkchops. It's also

recommended to punch sheep until you have at east 3 wool since it allows you to make craft a bed in the

shelter when the night falls.

Later that day, using your pickaxe, mine at least 8 blocks, and craft them in the crafting bench by

arranging them in a square formation, leaving the middle slot empty. This will make a Furnace:

Next, you'll need at least 1 wood block and 1 wooden planks block (you may have some as leftovers fromcrafting the crafting bench and the pickaxe earlier). Place the furnace somewhere, open it and place the

wooden planks block in the fuel slot (the bottom one) and the wood at the smelting slot (the top one).

Once both blocks are in place, the smelting process will start automatically, consuming immediately the

wooden planks block and heating the furnace up. After a few seconds have passed and the smelting is

complete, Charcoal will appear at the previously empty slot on the right. Place it into your inventory and

you're ready to craft your first torches (read the Strike a Light section below)! Like crafting tables, you can

break a furnace to collect it and be able to place it elsewhere, but, unlike workbenches, they require a

pickaxe to do so. Breaking a furnace with your bare hands, or any other thing, will destroy it for good.


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This entire process can be bypassed by mining coal directly (you'll still need a pickaxe to successfully

extract it). Coal ore is found amongst stone blocks either in stone outcrops on the sides of hills or deeper

underground. Wander around a bit, making sure to keep close to your spawnpoint - you don't want to get

lost!. Keep an eye out for the characteristic black spots of coal ore blocks, as it's very easy to see if it's

exposed. This is what you should look for:

Keep in mind that coal ore is subject to random placement, and you may not find any exposed or in easily

accessible locations. Once you have located some, make sure that you are holding your pickaxe and

collect as much as possible, keeping an eye on the time of day it is probably close to nightfall by this

stage. It's also a good chance to collect more cobblestone, which will be handy for crafting more durable

tools.

Coal and charcoal have different names in-game and you can't stack them together, but they're

functionally identical in every way. Anything you can do with regular coal, you can do with charcoal, and

vice-versa.


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A Word about Digging

One of the immutable rules of Minecraft is:

Do not dig straight down.

It is possible to stand on a block while destroying it. Once it's destroyed you will fall down one block to

whatever is beneath it. Bear in mind this might be thin air. You could fall into a deep dark cavern, not only

suffering fall damage, and being in the dark, but be beset upon by all kinds of hostile mobs who reside

underground. You could even fall into a pool of lava!

Another one of the immutable rules of Minecraft is:

Do not dig straight up.

Again, it's perfectly possible to do, but if you don't know what's above you, you might find yourself

dropped upon by a mob, or buried under sand or gravel which unlike other blocks, obeys gravity and

suffocates those it falls on. Or, as before, you might get set on fire by a lavafall.

And again. Do NOT dig straight down

Strike a Light

Initially, your sole light source at night will be torches. These are made from coal or charcoal and sticks.

You don't need a crafting table to make torches, as they can be made in your 2x2 inventory grid or on the

3x3 crafting table grid.

Make some sticks from planks as required and place coal above sticks in your crafting squares as follows:


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One piece of coal or charcoal and one stick make four torches. You can place multiple quantities on your

crafting squares and each left click of the result will use one set of ingredients. If you cannot find coal on

your first night use wooden planks to heat things, and create charcoal:

Now that you have the means to craft and a means of producing light, it's time to find a hole to cower in

for the night.


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BUILD A SHELTER

There are several ways to construct a shelter. You can either build one in the open from materials you

collect (dirt, wood, stone, sandstone) you can close in the mouth of a cave, hole or other naturally

occurring hollow, or you can dig a hollow in the side of a hill or make a hole in the ground. Be careful

around cave entrances, as hostiles often lurk in those even during the day.

Whatever method you choose might be dependent on your surroundings, what you have managed to

collect, how much time you have until nightfall and your fancy; however, it must have these key features:

Light. Mostly so you can see what you're doing. If you are in a sufficiently small area (less than 25 square

radius) hostiles cannot spawn next to you. So even if you fail to find coal on your first day, you can make

a small rudimentary shelter to see out the night.

Walls. Hostiles cannot deal you damage, or shoot arrows at you through walls.

A door. If you have six planks, you can make a door for your shelter. When placing it make sure you

place the door from the outside of your house as doors have direction. Skeletons can shoot at you from

an inward facing door, but you can attack mobs from behind a door while remaining unharmed.

No big holes. It's a good idea to leave a hole high up in a wall so you can see when the morning breaks if

you couldn't build a door. However, be aware that you can be shot at through a hole, some hostiles can

drop through holes in roofs if they can get up there, and spiders can crawl through one block high holes if

they can gain access. So, choose the position with care. An alternative is a one block high outer wall, with

an over hanging roof, and a one block high "window" so you can see outside. Then a full height internal

wall that you can duck behind in case of skeletons who can shoot at you through your window.

A safe crafting area to place your workbench. To pass the time waiting for morning you might want to

craft a few more tools for the next day. Initially consider making a few stone pickaxes if you were able to

collect any cobblestone during the day, more torches, and definitely a sword. If you have encounters with

hostiles during the night, you can deal more damage with a sword. Swords are crafted from one stick (not

two) and two items for the blade. You can use planks or cobblestone if you managed to mine any along

with your coal.

So, depending on how much time you have left, what your surroundings provide, and what you have

managed to collect, choose to either dig into the side of a hill, dig a small hole, live in the hollow your coal


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mining created, or build a shelter from materials you have collected. Remember not to dig straight down

(see above).

For example, to build a simple 5x5x3 hut you'll need 55 blocks of dirt, wood, stone or a combination of

those items (a few less for doors or windows). Digging a hole in the side of a cliff is usually a good

method as you collect cobblestone at the same time as hollowing your chamber. Watch out that you don't

connect to a cave system, while knocking out a wall. If you do, it's probably best to brick it up with dirt or

cobblestone until you're prepared to venture in there.

Once built, you can light your shelter by right clicking on a wall or floor while holding a torch.

Also think a bit about the structure of your house as this will really be your only chance to change it.

See the Crafting items section at the end of this guide for a complete listing of every item you can craft,and how to go about doing so.


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WAITING UNTIL MORNING

Enjoy your first night. You can either hide in your hole/house/cave or venture out with your sword and

take your chances with the mobs. If you do, stay away from the walls of your shelter in case a Creeper

follows you and decides to explode, in which case your shelter would most likely be decimated. Another

alternative is to begin digging into the earth a bit. Creating a mine in your house isn't a bad idea, but as

was said before, never dig straight down. Dig in front of you, and if you want to descend, dig through a

block a step or two away from your character. If you break through into a cave system, it's probably a

good idea to block it off for now and come back to it when you're prepared. Mining in this manner should

give you a significant amount of cobblestone and some more coal, should you find any. If you're really

lucky, you might stumble upon some iron, which is invaluable in making tools. This option will probably

pass the time the fastest; so fast, in fact, you may find yourself mining well into the day, and perhaps into

another night if you get carried away.

Creating an underground farm is a good way to pass the night off, and has advantages such as constant

light and wont get trampled on by friendly mobs, this is a good design for an underground farm.

Once the sun rises, your troubles aren't completely over. Zombies and skeletons will eventually catch fire

in the sunlight and burn, spiders and creepers still wander about in the morning, but spiders will become

passive in the daylight- just so long as they remain in the light and you don't attack them. But the main

things you have to worry about when coming out of your shelter are creepers, so keep your sword at

hand when you venture out.

Since BETA 1.3, Beds have been added. You can make them by putting a row of Wool on top of a row of

Wooden Planks. You can just right-click it after being sure that it is in a safe, well-lit location that mobs

can't enter. In a few seconds it will be morning again. If it isn't in a safe, well-lit location you will wake up

with an aggressive mob next to you.


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IF ALL ELSE FAILS

Sometimes, you won't have the luck to spawn in a forest or near coal. Maybe you fall into a hole and it

takes you 5 minutes to get out. If this happens, you can still survive. First, dig a hole in the side of a cliff or

hill. Make it at least 3 blocks deep. Then go inside the hole. You can keep digging as far as you can, if

you want. But when you see the sun start to set, fill in your entrance. If it is at least 3 blocks high and you

are a good distance off the ground (8+ blocks) then you can leave a one-block window. Otherwise, it is

safer to wait until night is over. If you don't have a window, mine one of your bricks every minute, and

check if it is still night. If it isn't fill it back in and repeat in one minute. If it is daytime, then congratulations:

You have survived your first night. If you don't like the digging option you can swim out to sea and wait for

dawn. Hostile mobs will only spawn on solid blocks (besides ice) so you don't have to worry about them.

just make sure you aren't to close land so they can spot you. Or you could find a large tree. Pillar up to

the top and stay there. Mobs will not spot you if it is a large enough tree and if they do, just move to the

other side of the tree. Spiders could give you a problem, but hopefully, they won't see you. A word of

advice if you do this, trees contain wood. Use it to your advantage.


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HOME SAFETY

If you have become comfortable in your home, you may want to keep it protected. This can be done by

building a door or a high wall just outside your entrance. This will help keep your house safe from

creepers and any other hostile mobs that may decide to pay you a visit. If you feel really creative, you

could try to make a trap. A simple one is TNT under a pressure plate. The TNT is activated by the

pressure plate and then blows up whatever is above it. TNT is made from Gunpowder, which is obtained

from creepers. You will also need sand. After a while, you may want to let water enter the block below it,

so it does no environmental damage.

TNT, however, requires resources that are difficult to gather, and they are a one-time use option. A better

way to protect your home is to 'plant' cacti around it. Simply find some cacti, gather some sand, and place

them in defensive positions around your home. You won't be able to make a normal 'wall' of them, since

cacti self-destruct when something is placed in the area within one square of them in a + shaped pattern,

but you CAN stagger them, creating a checkerboard pattern around your home with cacti. Remember to

leave yourself a way in, but otherwise, cacti walls can be an amazing passive defense. Make sure that

you do not place your bed next to a one block thick wall, as mobs will spawn and attack you in the middle

of the night!


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CONGRADULATIONS!

Youve survived your first night! From here on, Minecraft becomes your personal playground. What will

you do? Create a farm? Mine for diamonds? Try your luck in the nether? The possibilities are endless!

The following sections of this guide contain some useful information as to the aspects of the game that

were not covered earlier, including a complete overview of every item, mob, block, biome, and other

aspect you could possibly imagine. Please enjoy, and happy crafting!

-Blackfeather


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BLOCKS

Minecraft is composed of and built entirely out of blocks. They are the basic unit of Minecraft. You dig

through blocks, you build with blocks, and your character is made of blocks they are everywhere. It is

possible to change how the blocks appear by applying new Texture Packs.

The face of a block is 16x16 pixels, and each block is proportionately one cubic meter.

Water, Lava and Portal blocks have a shifting pattern for each face.

TYPES OF BLOCKS

There are currently 76 different types of blocks (including Air, still Water, still Lava, blocks which cannot

be built at the moment.

In a standard randomly generated Beta Map you can find the blocks Stone, Grass (or Snow), Dirt, Water,

Lava, Sand, Sandstone, Gravel, Gold ore, Iron ore, Diamond ore, Redstone ore, Lapis Lazuli ore, Clay,Coal ore, Ice, Wood, Leaves, Cactus, Sugar Cane, Pumpkins, yellow and red Flowers and brown and red

Mushrooms. In dungeons (added in Seecret Friday Update 2), you can also find Cobblestone, Moss

Stone, a Mob Spawner, and Chests, even though cobblestone and chests are usually made by the

player. Obsidian can be found naturally, but it is not part of the random generation, instead it is created

when naturally occurring lava source blocks and water come in contact. Cobblestone can also be found

naturally, and is formed with the same circumstances as obsidian, except that it is formed when water

and moving lava contact.

In the initial free version of Survival the player began with 10 TNT blocks and could obtain Dirt,

Cobblestone from Stone, Wooden Planks from Trees, Gold from Gold ore, Iron from Iron ore, Step from

Coal, and white Cloth from Sheep.

In Classic mode the player can build with naturally occurring blocks, save Redstone and Diamond, and

can use Bookcase, Sponge, Coloured Wool, Brick, Obsidian and Moss Stone. Operators of servers can

also build Bedrock. Some custom servers give the ability to place Grass and (still) Fluids, too.

When playing the current Beta, the player can craft a variety of blocks not naturally found in maps,

including Stairs, Workbenches, Paintings, Bookshelves, Furnaces and more. Redstone, Diamond and

Lapis Lazuli can be found in the lower areas of maps, and Obsidian forms when water touches a spring

lava block.

The blocks Netherrack, Glowstone, and Soul Sand can be found in The Nether, which the player can only

enter by creating Portal blocks.

See the picture on the next page for a visual guide to every block found in Minecraft (*THIS DOES NOT

INCLUDE PLAYER-BUILT ITEMS, FOR THE MOST PART*)


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BLOCK CHART


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THE COMPLETE, ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO MINECRAFT BLOCKS

AIR

Air is an invisible non-solid Block that is meant to represent the absence of a block. Although technically a

block, it is usually not seen as such. Air can only be destroyed or created by the placement or removal of

other blocks. Air and other non-solid blocks are the only spaces the player and other Mobs are allowed to

move within.

When coming out of the water, air will restore all bubbles on the players' air meter and make it disappear.

Entering an opaque block will suffocate whatever is inside, while air will stop the suffocation.

History

In the Indev versions, air affected fluid blocks that were horizontally adjacent to it. If air was touching the

fluid block, there was a 2/3 chance the Fluid block would disappear and make the pool recede and a 1/3

chance the fluid block fill the air, making the pool spread.

Type Non-Solid Block

Physics No

Transparency Yes

Luminance No

Blast Resistance[edit]

0

Tool None

Stackable N/A

Data value dec: 00 hex: 00


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CLOUDS

Clouds in Beta are objects that slowly float overhead in the sky. Clouds always float northward, and are

visible above-ground during day and night, so it is an easy way to tell direction. A player cannot interact

with Clouds in any way, since they are neither blocks nor items.

In fancy graphics mode, they are 3D. In fast graphics mode they are flat.

When a player's camera is above or below clouds, blocks or objects inside or on the other side of those

clouds are obscured. When a player's camera is inside clouds, other blocks inside clouds are visible,

while blocks outside of clouds are obscured.

Clouds are not visible through a block of glass or leaves while the block is being hit.

Sometimes in high maps it is possible to see clouds on a hill or a mountain.

In fancy graphics, clouds have a fixed thickness, with the bottom at the lower-middle part of height 108,

and the top at the lower-middle part of height 112, where 0 is used as the bottommost height where youcan place a block and 127 as the highest point.

Clouds can be removed by using a program that supports transparency by opening the .png file up and

erasing everything in it, then re-saving.

Despite seeing the appropriate heights of clouds, there are no clouds in The Nether.


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STONE

Stone, also known as smooth stone, is a type of block added very early in Minecraft. It uses the same

texture on all six sides of the block. Stone appears abundantly on naturally generated maps, and (besides

Air) has the most blocks in a normal map.

Creative Mode

Stone is available for use in Creative mode. The Stone layer of a Creative map contains Caverns, Ore

and underground pools of Water and Lava. When Water and Lava collide, Cobblestone or Obsidian is

formed.

When there were not many block types, Stone was an often-used building material. Currently, Stone is an

all-around block used in buildings, basements, tunnels, roads, paths and many other things.

In Multi-player, Stone blocks will turn into Bedrock when an Op uses the /solid command. Bedrock is

placed through Stone to ensure non-Op players cannot place it.

Beta Mode

In Beta mode, Stone is a useful resource. Mining Stone with a Pickaxe will drop Cobblestone which is

used in many crafting recipes and as a sturdy building material. Cobblestone can be smelted into smooth

Stone again. Stone can be used as a building material as well and can be used in several crafting

recipes.

The natural Stone layer of a map contains Caverns, veins of Ore, Gravel and Dirt, Dungeons and Springs

of Water and Lava.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency No

Luminance No

Blast Resistanceedit

30

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)


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DIRT

Dirt is one of the first blocks introduced in the game. It utilizes the same texture on all six sides of the

block. Dirt is very common on normally generated maps, making up the majority of the top layers of

blocks, between Grass or Snow and Stone. It is also found underground in clumps in all altitudes. It is a

very weak type of block and is easily destroyed in explosions from TNT or Creepers, making dirt shelters

a fallback option at best. Dirt is generally used for terraforming. When a Dirt block is adjacent to a Grass-covered block and is exposed to sunlight, it will eventually be converted into a Grass block; the exact time

this happens is random and unpredictable.

Dirt is simple to mine and is often acquired in large amounts when unmonitored during its excavation. It

will always drop a resource block, regardless of how it was mined. It may be mined by hand fairly quickly,

but using a shovel will significantly speed up the process.

Using a hoe on a placed block of dirt will prepare the block for use in farming. After using a hoe on a

block of dirt, the top of the dirt's appearance changes, becoming ridged and bumpy like tilled soil. When a

block of tilled dirt is introduced to a block of water, it becomes darker to replicate the appearance of wet

soil.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency No

Luminance No


2.5

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)



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SAND

Sand is a block type that was first added to Minecraft in version 0.0.14a. Sand has a single texture that is

put on all six sides of the block. A notable fact about Sand is that if there is no block below it, it will fall

until it lands on the next available block, thus making it one of four blocks which gravity applies to (the

others being gravel, water, and lava). Sand can be found in large quantities in certain areas of the map,

especially in Desert biomes. Beaches that appear by lakes or by the ocean can also be made of sand upto four blocks deep, extending down to the Stone layer. Sometimes Cavern tunnels branch up underneath

Beaches or sand plugs at the bottom of lakes. This creates natural floating Sand that will fall if a nearby

block is updated. Before Beta 1.3, players would always spawn on sand in single-player Survival mode.

Sand can be mined easily by hand, although using a shovel is faster. Sand gives resources when mined

with any tool. Sand has a very low block resistance. When Sand is being affected by gravity and falling, it

exhibits a smooth falling animation. If falling sand lands on a mob or the player and covers their head, it

will suffocate them until they move out of the block.

Sand can be used in the construction of Airlocks and the creation of mob suffocation traps. Sand is not

often used to build structures with because it is affected by gravity. Nonetheless, some players use non-

gravity-affected blocks to support Sand.

A Sand block can be smelted into a Glass block. Four sand blocks are used in the Crafting recipe of TNT

together with Gunpowder. Four sand blocks may also be used to create sandstone.

If falling Sand lands on certain blocks like Torches or Steps, it will disintegrate into a sand resource block.

As of Beta 1.3, beaches which are sufficiently deep (2-3 levels) will have naturally occurring sandstone at

their base.

Current Uses

Can be used in building but Sand is affected by gravity so if you use it in building be careful. Sandstone is

a preferable alternative to Sand in building.

Used to make:

Glass

Sandstone

TNT

Airlocks


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History

Sand has been available for use since Classic Mode. During that time, Sand blocks were rare and only

appeared naturally in one block-thick beaches (usually by water or in the middle of a landscape). These

beaches were always level and below Ocean level. Sand instantly appeared at the lowest point it could

go when it is when placed above an air block without any sort of falling animation. Destroying a pillarmade from sand from the bottom would cause the sand to disappear from the top first. These attributes

were present until the release of Infdev.

Map editors could be used to create floating Sand, although the server would crash if the Sand was

affected from its state.

Trivia

An old glitch in Classic mode allowed players to raise the height of a fluid block by placing Sand over it.

The Sand would stay suspended in mid-air until it was broken. When broken, a fluid block corresponding

to the type below the sand would appear where the block was. The suspended fluid block would remain

immobile until a block was placed next to it, causing a flood.

Saplings can temporarily be placed on sand, but only if there is snow on the sand. The sapling will

eventually pop out of place.

If a block of sand has snow on it and is made to fall, the snow is destroyed.

Floating sand can be generated naturally in the game though this isn't common. If the "floating sand" is

disturbed or if a block is removed it will all collapse.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics Yes

Transparency No

Luminance No


2.5

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)

Data value dec: 12 hex: 0C


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SANDSTONE

Sandstone is a solid block. It can both be found naturally at the bottom of sand stacks, and crafted with 4

blocks of sand in a square, thus not requiring the use of a crafting table. It was added in the Beta 1.2

update on January 13, 2011.

Function & Behavior

Sandstone's unique style allows for desert-themed architecture. It can be quickly obtained in order to

build a shelter and survive the first night in Survival when you spawn in a desert biome.

Unlike sand, sandstone is unaffected by gravity and will not fall if placed without a supporting block.

Placed sandstone can be harvested with a pickaxe. Breaking a sandstone block by hand destroys the

block but drops no resources; it takes slightly longer to mine it with bare hands than wood.Sandstone naturally occurs at the bottom of areas of sand to ensure that sand does not start out floating.

However, if a lake occurs in the space it may carve away the sandstone and result in unsupported sand.

This block can be crafted into a sandstone slab.

Sandstone's blast resistance is similar to sand or dirt, and markedly less than wood or stone.

Sandstone used to take a very long time to mine using a pickaxe. Even using a diamond pickaxe, the only

block that took longer to break was obsidian. This was fixed in a later patch

History

Sandstone was added in Minecraft Beta 1.2.

In Beta 1.3:

Sandstone can now be used to craft a sandstone slab.Sandstone is now found at the bottom of naturally generated sand.

Type Solid Block

Requirements ?

Physics No

Transparency No

Luminance No


4

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)


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MONSTER SPAWNER

Monster Spawners are blocks with a transparent blue lattice structure found in dungeons as a guardian to

the treasure found within. Inside the block there are flames and a miniature spinning version of the mob

that is spawned, though it does not give off any light. The model inside the spawner rotates faster until the

next mob is spawned.

A spawner has a range of four blocks and it will create mobs at the same vertical height as the spawnerprovided there is space for its mob type to be generated and the light level within the spawning radius

remains below seven. The player must be within 16 blocks for spawners to generate mobs, which will

spawn even if there is a wall between the spawner and an available spawning space inside the four block

radius. This has led to many contraptions designed to kill whatever drops from it, usually a drowning trap,

allowing the player to collect spoils in great numbers with little risk.

Monster Spawners will spawn Spiders, Skeletons, or Zombies. They do not naturally spawn Creepers.

Spawners cannot be picked up by the player when destroyed, though in Beta they can be obtained

through the /give operator command. A placed spawner will spawn only pigs.

In Peaceful difficulty, Monster Spawner blocks will still appear, but any spawned mobs will disappear theinstant they spawn. This makes it easy to make the aforementioned trap without any trouble.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency Yes

Luminance No


25

Tool

Stackable N/A


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Trivia

In cases where the dungeon is located near the surface, the player can remove the ceiling of the dungeon

and expose the Monster Spawner and surrounding area to direct sunlight, preventing monster spawns

during the day.[1]

When mining near a monster spawner that has no valid places to spawn sometimes a monster will spawn

immediately after a block is mined. The player should take caution for this reason while collecting Moss

Stone from a dungeon but hasn't destroyed the monster spawner. It's speculated this might happen

because the spawner gets a chance to spawn before the lighting calculation for the space the block

occupied.

If a spawner is edited to create Ghasts or Giants, the model inside will not be miniaturized.[2][3]

There is a bug that comes up rarely where a monster spawner "spawns" and there is no visible enemy,

though sounds can be heard and when you move closer the mob sometimes appears.

Occasionally, a monster spawner may spawn two monsters at once. It is likely that another monster willspawn sooner than normal if this occurs.

If the "F" key is rapidly pressed, everything in the map will become invisible except fire (such as the fire

inside a monster spawner). This can make finding dungeons easy. (Fast machines cannot do this)

When hacked into the inventory (Or in Infdev), they only spawn pigs when placed. These player placed

spawners will only create pigs if there is grass with a light level above 9.

Monster spawners can be edited with a map editor or client mod to spawn any mob (Slimes have certain

conditions that must be met to spawn).

The miniature mob model displayed inside the monster spawner was enabled again in Beta 1.2 after

missing for several versions.

There is currently a bug in multiplayer in which all monster spawners show a pig model inside, despite

what it actually spawns.

Monster spawners can spawn monsters in a nearby cave, even when the monster spawner is fully lit.[4]

A dungeon may spawn without a ceiling on the surface. They will appear to be a hole in the ground, which

has a wall of Cobblestone, and a floor of Sand. If you break the Sand, you will uncover a monster

spawner, and the regular floor, made of Mossy Cobblestone, and Cobblestone.

As of Beta 1.3, on multiplayer, there is a bug where pigs can spawn near spawners if there is grass.

These pigs are client-side and cannot be killed.[5]

As of Beta 1.4, on multiplayer, there is a bug where a surface dungeon's spawner will be a pig spawner.


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GRAVEL

Gravel is a type of block typically found in naturally occurring pits, underwater, underground or in The

Nether. Like Sand, Gravel will fall to the lowest y-coordinate below it if there is no block underneath it.

Therefore it is possible to suffocate with careless use of gravel by being crushed beneath the weight. If

the lowest block in a column of Gravel is occupied by a nonsolid object, like a Torch, the Gravel block will

disintegrate into a gravel resource instead.

In Alpha and Beta, gravel has a 10% chance of dropping flint once destroyed. However, this has been

increased since Beta 1.3. Flint is used to create Flint and Steel and Arrows. Gravel blocks that don't drop

flint can be picked up, placed, and destroyed again. However, blocks that drop flint do not drop gravel, so

this cannot be exploited to gain an infinite amount of flint. Shovels will destroy Gravel more quickly than

other tools, but do not affect the chance of flint being dropped.

Uses

Gravel's abundance and gravity-obeying property makes it useful for a variety of tasks, especially

considering the other gravity-aware block Sand is more useful for creating Glass. For exploration, they

can be used to quickly build pillars to reach heights that are easy to dismantle after. They can also be

used to quickly fill in water or lava lakes by dropping them on the edges or against overhead blocks, so

that they fall and occupy the fluids. Filling caves in with gravel is also a quicker way to close them off

after mining them while preventing hostile mobs spawning. Finally, it can be dropped from above onto

trapped mobs to suffocate them to death.

Power-Mining

A great way to power-mine massive columns of gravel is to dig under the stone or dirt that it is resting on.

Under that dirt or stone, place a torch, a redstone torch, a piece of redstone wire, or a piece of minecarttrack. Mine the dirt or stone and the column falls into the placed object, quickly producing dropped

resources. However, using this method, flint will not drop. This can also be used for Sand.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics Yes

Transparency No

Luminance No


3

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)


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Data value dec: 13 hex: 0D

Trivia

On occasion, some normally generated maps may produce beaches made of gravel instead of sand.

Gravel spawns in 2 block high bands across the walls of the Nether.

In the Nether, it is possible to find massive cliffs made of naturally-floating gravel. Just like with Sand, if

you destroy, replace, remove, or if a Ghast's cannon ball hits any of these blocks, all of the adjacent

floating blocks will collapse.

An old glitch in Classic mode allowed players to raise the height of a fluid block by placing Gravel (or

Sand) over it. The Gravel would stay suspended in mid-air until it was broken. When broken, a fluid block

corresponding to the type below the Gravel would appear where the block was. The suspended fluid

block would remain immobile until a block was placed next to it, causing a flood. This bug has since been

fixed.

If a flint is found from destroying a gravel block, a gravel resource will not be released.

Dirt adjacent to gravel is usually 2 or more blocks high.


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CLAY (BLOCK)

Clay is a block that was introduced in version 1.0.11 (Seecret Friday Update 6) on July 25th 2010. It uses

a light-blue/gray recolor of the Sand texture.

Clay can be found on the surface in groups of varying number by a body of Water usually surrounded by

Sand. It is usually exposed, but is sometimes found under sand or water. It is uncommon, but is easier to

find than other "rare" blocks (like Gold) due to the fact that one simply needs to explore surface-level

shorelines to find it. It is believed to be more common on the shorelines of desert biomes, as they tend to

more commonly generate near sand. The block seems to have been a lot less common before the

Halloween Update.

It can be mined with any type of tool, but Shovels are the optimal choice. Destroying clay blocks will yield

4 balls of Clay each, which can be crafted back into a clay block or smelted into brick.

If you're having trouble seeing if a block is clay or not, look for the characteristic lines of stone. Clay is

usually a lighter color than stone and appears to be smoother. Clay also sounds like dirt and mines much

faster than stone (especially with a shovel).

Trivia

In real life, Clay can actually be bright red, not just gray.

Clay can also be found a few meters under the soil in real life.

Clay can be easily found in the middle of an expanse of water. When sand is on the surface or a block

under, there is a chance that clay is there, too. Use a boat to find these areas.

If inventory space is tight, clay balls can be formed back into clay blocks using the 2x2 inventory craftinggrid. As blocks, clay can take up to 4 times less space, but in order to revert the clay blocks back into

balls for smelting into bricks the clay blocks must be placed and destroyed again.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency No

Luminance No


3

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)


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OBSIDIAN

Obsidian is a deep purple block that was first released into the game in version 0.30. Obsidian may be

found on rare occasions, when there is flowing Water and source Lava blocks nearby. Obsidian is created

when flowing water hits a lava "source block"; when water and runoff lava collide, cobblestone is created.

Obsidian never actually spawns with the chunk, but is created by the environment. Obsidian can only be

successfully mined with a diamond pickaxe. Each obsidian block takes 15 seconds to mine when using a

diamond pick. It can be broken with a non-diamond pickaxe, but this takes 50 seconds and will not yield a

collectible block.

Obsidian in the wild is somewhat rare and difficult to mine since it usually rests on top of a Lava block.

Obsidian farming is thus the preferred way to acquire large quantities. A basic Obsidian farm is composed

of a trough seven blocks long into which seven blocks of Lava are poured using the Bucket. A water block

is then placed on top of one end of the trough so that it flows onto the lava and converts it into Obsidian.

As of the Halloween Update, Obsidian can be used to create portals to The Nether. This requires at least

10 blocks of Obsidian (14 for a full frame) and a Flint and Steel.

Current Uses

Portals to The Nether

Decoration

Bunkers. At 6,000, Obsidian's explosion resistance rating is second only to Bedrock. It is therefore an

exceptionally desirable construction material for making defensive structures, in both PvE or PvP, as it is

effectively impervious to both lava and explosions.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency No

Luminance No


6,000

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)


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History

Obsidian was available for use since Classic mode. It is generally used for making dark things, or the

black lines of Pixel Art.

In Survival Test mode, Obsidian was extremely tough to break and would drop one or two Cobblestone

blocks when broken.

Obsidian was removed in Indev and brought back in Infdev. Obsidian was used to mark the positions of

the cardinal directions. This created two intersecting planes extending just above the surface of the solid

material that surrounds them. This has since been removed.

Possible Future

Notch has mentioned he may require floating islands to have obsidian in the future:

Perhaps all floating chunks of blocks should fall down,except for a special block (obsidian?) that can be

used to make floating things. Floating islands would need obsidian veins to stay afloat.

Later, when asked about making floating blocks fall, he answered: No, I've stopped liking that idea. Not

sure why.

Farming & Casting

On the 16th of March 2011, a new way to farm obsidian involving redstone as the only irretrievable

source (rather than lava) was discovered. The process involves having a row of running water with a line

of redstone next to it and pouring the lava onto the redstone, in-turn, replacing it with obsidian. This is

currently the only known way to create numerous blocks of obsidian without using multiple buckets of

lava. This method still works in 1.4, even though Notch knows about it.

Indeed! I foresee a bunch of patches if competitive playever takes off, though. Infiniobsidian is probably

OP.

Obsidian can also be easily farmed through the creation of nether portals. Since a portal is created in the

Nether to mimic the overworld, by creating pairs of portals one can destroy the first portal and run backthrough the second.

Structures can be constructed out of Obsidian without the use of a diamond pickaxe by creating a mold

and placing the lava source within it, then running water over the lava. This will form the obsidian in place,

but without diamonds it is quite hard to get rid of.

Safe(er) Mining

Obsidian, if found in the wild, is typically directly above a lava source block, making it dangerous and

difficult to mine. This can be overcome, however by placing a water spring block directly over the block

you are currently mining. This will convert any lava around the obsidian block into more obsidian, so it's

less likely to fall into lava.

An equally effective way is to find the edge of the obsidian "lake", dig a one block deep hole under which

there is no lava, and place the water source in this hole. Then, start mining the obsidian bording the water

spring. When it breaks, the fast-moving water will fill the void faster than the liberated obsidian block can

drop into the lava. The player can continue mining outward from the spring as far as the water will travel.

This method relies on the same properties of water as the f irst strategy, but does not require the player to

battle against running water while mining.


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Trivia

Even though Obsidian is the second hardest block to destroy, in reality, obsidian is glasslike, made by

volcanoes, and is actually quite fragile. The misconception is probably due to obsidian being able to reach

a sharpness comparable to diamond while being easier to produce, therefore being a favored material

during the Stone Age for use as blades and arrow tips.

Obsidian portals created by the game always have corner blocks, so you can make portals without cornerblocks to get four free blocks of obsidian.


34/85

Snow

Snow is a block modifier added in version 1.0.4 on July 9th, 2010, along with ice. It is found in biomes

that have snowfall, namely Tundras and Taigas. Snow can be removed like any other block. Placing a

light source will cause snow around it to melt and will prevent them from developing. Snow melts in the

same pattern as ice.

A layer of snow will not hinder natural grass regrowth. Snow will not damage tilled and hydrated field

areas, nor will it protect those plowed fields from being trampled on. Gravity-affected blocks like sand and

gravel will not fall if the block below them has snow on it.

Destroying snow with a shovel yields one snowball, which can then be crafted into snow blocks or be

thrown. If it is destroyed with anything other than a shovel, nothing is dropped.

If snow forms on top of a cactus, the cactus will still cause damage when stepped on or touched. Cacti

cannot grow if there is snow on top of it.

Due to a missing feature (snowfall) since the release of biomes (in the Halloween Update), snow does not

regenerate any longer.

Glitches

Floating snow can be found above lakes in snowy biomes. This is presumably caused by the generation

of underground lakes near the surface. The lake removes the block which the snow rested upon, but not

the snow. The snow can be walked through and fallen through, occasionally causing the player to

unexpectedly fall into a lake from what appeared to be a solid ledge. The floating snow creates an

interesting effect and can be used to create realistic looking tables, and other furniture. If you put a blockon floating snow, all of the nearby floating snow will disappear, similar to destroying a block of floating

sand.

Type Block Modifier

Physics No

Transparency Yes

Luminance No


0.5

Tool

Stackable N/A

Data value dec: 78 hex: 4E


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Trivia

Prior to the Halloween Update, snow could only be found on maps that were in Winter Mode. When

creating a new save, a map had a chance of having worldwide snowfall.

Before the Minecraft Alpha 1.0.5 update any blocks placed on snow would appear one block above the

snow.

In earlier versions of Minecraft, a player could easily harvest snow by placing a block of water. By doing

so, the player received a large amount of Snowballs with little effort.

Notch mentioned that he might make snow tiles break when fallen hard upon. [citation needed]

Redstone (Dust) cannot be placed on snow without breaking the snow.

It seems with the addition of different types of lakes above ground, you may have floating snow. This

happens since the snow is spawned when the chunk loads first. Then, the lake is spawned afterward.

This leaves the snow floating above the lake. You cannot walk on floating snow.


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COBBLESTONE

Cobblestone is a darker block, often looking like a roughly paved area. This block only occurs naturally in

dungeons or when water and lava flow into each other. It makes great walls for constructions such as

castles, towers and roads. Cobblestone is obtained by mining stone. Cobblestone is slightly harder to

mine than normal stone, and there is an alternative version of the block known as Moss Stone, which can

only be obtained from dungeons.

Current Uses

Cobblestone is required to craft furnaces, Cobblestone Slabs, stone stairs, stone tools and weapons,

levers, and dispensers. Because of the abundance of stone, cobblestone is a commonly-used building

material.

Cobblestone can be smelted back into smooth stone in a furnace. It takes roughly 11 minutes to smelt an

entire stack of Cobblestone into smooth stone. This is helpful to know when using a lava bucket to smelt,

as a lava bucket lasts for roughly 17 minutes of use.

History

Cobblestone was one of the first ever blocks as seen in very early Minecraft footage, when the game was

just a clone of Infiniminer. Its textures are from one of Notch's previous games called RubyDung.

Cobblestone was removed in 0.0.19a, but returned in 0.0.20a. It was removed due to lack of room in the

UI. Because of its dark color it was often used in pixel art to represent darker colors until other, darker

blocks like black cloth and obsidian appeared.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency No

Luminance No


30

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)



37/85

Trivia

Cobblestone is immune to Ghast fireballs, making it useful for guarding portals.

Until the release of Minecraft Beta 1.3 cobblestone was used to create stone slabs.

Sometime in the future Moss may grow on existing Cobblestone that is in dark areas, turning into Moss

Stone.


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MOSS STONE

Moss Stone (previously known as Mossy Cobblestone) was first introduced in Survival Test and remained

in all later versions of the game. It looks almost the same as Cobblestone, the only difference being that it

is covered in moss. It is often used in combination with normal cobblestone to make buildings look old

and like ruins. It is currently only found as a collection of 30-64 at a time in underground Dungeons,

though it can be mined and used like normal Cobblestone. Unlike standard Cobblestone, Moss Stone

cannot be smelted or crafted into anything.

Notch has stated that moss will grow on normal cobblestone in the future, and there is speculation that itwill spread to other cobblestone blocks as well, making it similar to how Grass grows on Dirt. However,

this is a low priority task.

Moss Stone looks very similar to Netherrack in that both blocks are similarly textured, with Moss Stone

being grey with green moss and Netherrack being bright-red with dark-red moss.

Trivia

Moss Stone cannot be smelted

Moss Stone is a positive indication of a dungeon.

Moss Stone can not be used to make weapons/tools.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency No

Luminance No


30

Tool

Stackable Yes (64)



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ICE

Ice is a semi-transparent solid block formed on Snowy Biomes (formerly snow worlds) from exposed

water, it was added in Version 1.0.4 alongside snow, and is slightly slippery. Any block of water exposed

to snow will eventually freeze into ice. All sides of an ice block use the same texture.

Ice can be easily destroyed without tools, but using a pickaxe greatly helps. If there is another block

directly underneath the block, it will revert back to water when broken, otherwise it will shatter into nothing

in much the same way as glass.

Ice will melt into water when adjacent to level 12 light from any block that gives off light (sunlight does not

melt ice). Torches cannot be placed on ice directly.

Due to a missing feature since the Halloween Update, water may no longer freeze into ice because it

does not snow any more. Ice still naturally forms in certain biomes.

If hacked into an inventory, and placed on any type of surface (except for blocks in The Nether) and then

broken, water will come pouring out of where it was broken.

Ice can be very useful for transporting resources (using water currents), as items and miniblocks move

extremely fast when the water they are in flows over ice. Items slide on ice blocks when dropped at an

angle even if water is not placed on top.

Type Solid Block

Requirements None

Physics No

Transparency Partial (-2 to light)

Luminance No


2.5

Tool

Stackable N/A

Data value dec: 79 hex: 4F


40/85

TriviaIf a player rides a pig on ice using a saddle, the pig moves incredibly fast, making journeys across long

frozen lakes easier.

Although it is seemingly transparent, water cannot be seen through ice, nor can other ice blocks.

If an ice block is hacked into one's inventory and broken in the Nether, the water will not evaporate. This

is useful for creating obsidian farms.

Sugar cane can be placed on the side of ice.

When a map generates it is possible to get a cave one block below water level with a ceiling of ice.

If an ice block is placed in mid-air and is melted by a source of light, such as glowstone, then it will melt

into water while staying in the air. The water will remain suspended in the air until a block adjacent to it is

modified.

If you try to light ice on fire with a flint and steel, no flames will appear, but the flint and steel will still act

as if it had used (it will count as a use). The same thing happens with glass.Ice isn't as transparent as glass and so it gives less light.


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BEDROCK

Bedrock (otherwise known as Adminium or other variations) is a block that was added to Minecraft inversion 0.0.20. Bedrock has a modified texture (higher contrast) of a Stone block placed on all sides.

Bedrock appears naturally in Beta mode, but not in Classic.

Bedrock is indestructible, and is only removable in Multi-player creative maps or by using a Map Editing

program.

Behavior: Creative Mode

In Creative single-player mode, bedrock is impossible to place. This is because bedrock is never directly

placed, but rather by using a server command to change other blocks into it. Any bedrock that exists in a

map cannot be destroyed by the player.

In multi-player mode, server ops can place bedrock blocks by using the "/solid" command. When /solid is

used, stone blocks turn to bedrock a short time after being placed. If /solid is used again, stone blocksplaced will remain stone blocks. Normal players cannot place or destroy bedrock, which makes it useful

for making Spawn Jails. However, ops can destroy bedrock like any other block, as a flag is set on the

client when they log in. Vats of fluid blocks (water and lava) are also recommended to have bedrock

barriers so as to prevent server floods. Bedrock is used as a dark colored building material for normal

structures as well.

A player can use an inventory editor to put bedrock blocks in their inventory. If they attempt to place the

blocks, the server will automatically kick them, even if they are an op. This is one of Notch's anti-griefing

features scripted into server software. Using the /solid command is the only allowed way to place

bedrock.

In all Classic maps, the very edges of a map are lined with a bedrock-textured barrier. This barrier is not

actually made of bedrock blocks; it is simply a flat, impassible wall with the bedrock texture.Consequently, attempting to place blocks on it does not work; you must place a block on one already

attached to the wall. This barrier appears on the sides of a map starting two blocks below ocean level,

extends along under the ocean and across the entire bottom of the map. Additional walls made of

bedrock blocks are often built against the ocean to prevent flooding in custom servers.

Behavior: Beta Mode

In Beta Mode, Bedrock appears on the very bottom of the 4 layers of a map and also at the top and

bottom 4 layers of The Nether. It generates in a very rough pattern. As usual, Bedrock here is impossible

to obtain without inventory hacking. In the The Nether it is tinted a reddish color.

In Survival Multi-player, Bedrock Blocks can be obtained by using the /give command. It is not advisable

to do this because the Blocks will still be impossible to destroy when placed without a third-party server

plugin.

Behavior: Retired Modes

Survival Test - Same as Creative mode, impossible to obtain, impervious to explosions.

Indev - Same as Beta and Creative. Bedrock on the bottom of the map will turn to Lava after a while if it is

exposed.

Infdev - Same as Beta.

Alpha - Same as Beta


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Flyleaf Note: Let it be said that from this point on, the chart found describing a blocks type, requirements,

physics, etc will NOT be included, as the information will be provided, in text, in the paragraphs

accompanied. This is to save space for pictures.


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WOODEN PLANK

Wooden planks are blocks that are not naturally found on maps; it has to be crafted by players. It appears

as a series of interconnected planks. It is good for creating a support style for your buildings and also

making huts and shacks. Wooden Planks may be burned in furnaces, creating 15 seconds of fire.

Wooden Planks are a renewable resource, obtainable by breaking wood blocks and placing them into a

crafting box in Beta. In Survival Test, they could be made simply by breaking wood blocks. It takes 43

planks to smelt a full stack of 64 items. It is easy to obtain, in biomes like forests.

There seems to be an unnamed block in the game's code that looks like wood, but takes the properties ofa mob spawner, which disappears when it spawns a pig. This block can be found with Marglyph's Too

Many Items ingame inventory editor.

Building

The value of building with wooden planks is disputed in Beta. Structures built of planks can be burned

down easily, either by accident or by Griefers. It is often used, regardless of the dangers, for its

abundance in trees and for certain sorts of buildings, such as Inns.

Crafting

Wooden planks are used in many crafting recipes: wooden axe, pickaxe, sword, shovel, and hoe;

pressure plate, workbench, chest, bowl, sign, door, boat, stick, stairs, jukebox, bookshelf, Note block,

Bed, and Slab.

History

Wooden planks originally looked like this: when they were first made.

The older wooden plank texture looks more like a brick block.


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BRICK (BLOCK)

Brick is a block first appearing in a version of Creative. The block has 1 texture that is put on all sides of

the block. Brick blocks do not occur naturally on a generated map.

Brick is available for use in Creative mode. It is mostly used to make nice looking homes or fireplaces, as

well as towers.

Clay's only usage is to be made into bricks or clay blocks, as breaking Clay drops 4 Clay Balls, which can

then be smelted into Clay Bricks. This means that for each Clay block found in a map, players can make1 Brick block. Due to the rarity of Clay, Brick is hard to gather in large quantities. Brick is a durable block

and resists well to explosions. A Pickaxe must be used to recover the resource of a placed block.

Breaking a block with the player's hand is slow and will not yield the resource. Since Brick is not

flammable, it is often used to make Lava Fireplaces.

Crafting

In Beta mode, a Brick block can be crafted from 4 Clay Bricks in the pattern below:

Trivia

Brick originally appeared (and still does in Creative mode, Survival Test, Indev and Infdev) with a bright

red texture. Upon being added in Alpha, the bricks in the texture were given a darker look.

Notch has said that there may be more kinds of brick blocks in different colors in the future.[citation

needed]

For a brief time, huge brick pyramids were a rare structure that could spawn in an old Infdev version. See

this video, this video and the end of this video to see the pyramids and exploration of them. The pyramids

were completely solid; they had no inside rooms. A strange quality about these pyramids is that if one dug

under it, a layer of dirt and stone extended under the pyramid. This suggests it spawned right on top of

the terrain instead of being a complete pyramid with the bottom parts underground. Pyramids were

removed before Alpha was released.


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GLASS

Glass is a block that first appeared in Creative version 0.0.18a_02. It has an almost completely

transparent texture put on all six sides of the block. Glass is not a natural block, and is never generated

as part of the terrain. Glass blocks adjacent to other glass blocks are invisible when viewed through

glass. Sunlight can penetrate through glass, making glass useful for buildings such as greenhouses.

Although glass breaks very quickly with no tool, swords can be used to hasten the process slightly with a

penalty of one extra use per block destroyed.

Glass will not hinder a redstone current from travel down the side of a block diagonal to it.

Be careful where you place Glass as when it is destroyed, it will shatter and give nothing.

Torches, Redstone (Wire), Jack-O-Lanterns, Minecart Tracks, Doors, Pressure Plates, Beds and Ladders

can not be placed on glass.

Glass blocks are crafted by smelting a block of sand.


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Trivia

In Survival Test mode, glass blocks could be broken very quickly and would drop a glass block to pick up.

The only way to obtain glass blocks at that time was to place them on the map before the level was

loaded in the client.

Notch has expressed low-priority desire to implement tile-to-tile support so when Sand comes into contact

with Lava, it creates Glass.[citation needed]

When water is above glass, an infinite source cannot be created.

When attempting to light glass on fire with the Flint and Steel, the durability of the tool is lowered without

any flames appearing.

Arrows will not break Glass when fired at it.

Placing a glass block on top of a chest does not prevent the chest from being opened.

Clouds seen through the glass disappear while the glass is being broken.

Glass towers ( 1x1x3-5) can create light underwater via sunlight

Glass placed next to water running downwards will make the water run more quickly and violently; this

can be useful in making traps.

When Glass is placed over a dropped item, the item is trapped inside the glass. You can also drop items

into Glass.

Glass used to have a different texture when it was first created.

Glass can be used for placing Redstone, ladders, torches or saplings on top on blocks that they can't

normally be placed on like chests and furnaces by placing glass one block higher beside the

chest/furnace and trying to place the Redstone, ladder, torches etc on the side of the glass. This willplace it onto the chest/furnace.


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BOOKSHELF

Bookshelf is a block first added to Minecraft version 0.26. Bookshelves have two textures: one borrowed

from the Plank block put on the top and bottom of the block, and one edited version of the Plank texture

put on all four sides.

Bookshelves serve as decorations or furnace fuel. A single Bookshelf can be crafted by arranging six

wooden planks and three books in the pattern below:

As one bookshelf requires three books, books require three sheets of paper, and paper requires one

sugar cane per sheet (three at a time), nine reeds are necessary for each bookshelf block. If reeds areallowed to grow to their full height before harvesting and only the top two segments are removed, then

nine reed plants will provide enough for two bookshelves, or 9/2 64 = 288 plants (plus 96 logs for the

wood) for a full stack of 64 bookshelves in one harvest.

Bookshelves can be mined fairly easily by hand, but quicker using an axe. Note that when bookshelves

are broken in any way, no resource-blocks drop from them to be picked up. Bookcases should be placed

with accuracy considering they can only be placed once. Bookshelves are flammable and will be

destroyed easily in explosions.

While Bookshelves are only decorative objects in SSP, certain SMP mods (for instance, the hMod plugin

CraftBook) allow players to right-click bookshelves to pull a random quote.

Retired Modes

This is a list of characteristics of Bookshelves in previous game modes.

Alpha - Same as Beta.

Survival Test - Impossible to obtain without loading a pre-edited map. Destroyed in explosions. When

mined drops nothing.

Indev - Same as Survival Test and Infdev. Cannot be crafted.

Infdev - Same as Survival Test and Indev. Cannot be crafted.

Classic - Can be freely placed.


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WOOL

Wool is a block derived from sheep that can be dyed 16 different colors. Wool blocks are weak,

flammable, and do not offer much resistance against explosions.

As of the Beta 1.2 update, white, light gray, gray, and black wool can be obtained naturally by shearing

sheep, and as of patch 1.4 brown and pink sheep spawn naturally through out the world. Rarity is

unknown. White wool can also be created by combining 9 pieces of string together, although harvesting

wool from sheep is considered a better use of the player's time. You can shear sheep from afar with a

fishing rod without hurting them, making wool easier to harvest. Sheep are shorn in one hit regardless of

what it equipped, however placed wool is more durable. It is quick to remove, however using a sword willspeed up the removal slightly, at the cost of 2 uses.

History

The above is the Beta color spectrum, and is the current colors used in wool in Minecraft.The below is the color spectrum used in the classic version of the game.

Wool was added for the creation of paintings, carpeting, colorful structures, and in-game pixel art. Wool is

also a suitable material for docks, as wool blocks will stop boats and absorb some impact from the

collisions in a manner similar to Soul Sand.

In Creative Classic mode, wool blocks were known as cloth blocks that came in a set of 16 colours,

although the palette was slightly different from the one available in Beta. Three shades of gray were

added in Classic 0.0.20a.

Except for white cloth, colored cloth blocks were unobtainable during Classic's Survival Test and Indev

unless they were pre-placed into the map file. They were completely removed from the code in Infdev.

lacing these blocks on the map would cause the game client to crash, since the blocks no longer existed.

When colored wool was introduced again in Beta 1.2, cloth blocks were renamed wool blocks.


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Trivia

Before leather was added, wool was used to craft leather armor.

When destroying wool, white wool debris is seen despite what color the dyed wool is.

It is recommended not to use string to make wool, as wool is easily obtainable but string is harder to

obtain as it is only dropped by Spiders and found in Dungeons.

You will get more colored wool with one dye if you use it to color sheep and then hit them, causing the

sheep to drop 1-3 wool blocks instead of just crafting one colored wool per dye.

You can't dye non-white wool.

The naturally occurring colors on sheep are black, white, brown, light grey and grey. There are also pink

sheep, although they are quite rare.[citation needed]

Non-white sheep are useless in obtaining wool for dyeing, until you paint those sheep white.

The damage values for the wool and the dyes are the inverse of each other.

((See later in this guide for a comprehensive tutorial on dying wool))


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SNOW (BLOCK)

Snow blocks are blocks made from snow. They are crafted from 4 snowballs, which allows you to create

them in your inventory. You cannot reverse the crafting process, but the block may be placed and

destroyed with a shovel, yielding 4 snowballs.

Snow blocks are much harder to be destroyed by forces that would destroy snow, such as lava, and fire,

and are impervious to torches and water.

Snow blocks have many uses, such as building, decoration, and storing snowballs. They blend in wellwith the taiga and the tundra biomes, and can be used to build snow-themed buildings, such as igloos or

snow castles. Snow may still fall on them, making them look bigger than they really are.

Snow Blocks are sometimes used for playing Spleef in Beta. Players use shovels to destroy blocks from

underneath their opponents.

Crafting

Trivia

Snow used to yield 4-6 snowballs when broken, allowing an infinite number of snowballs to be made.

Snow blocks used to take 9 snow balls instead of 4 to make.


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IRON (BLOCK)

Iron (also known as Block of Iron) is a block type which was made available in Creative version 0.30. It

matches the texture of Gold blocks with a different colour as they are both made from ore found in the

game. Iron has the same texture for each of its sides. In Survival mode, breaking iron ore would cause 1 -

3 iron blocks to drop. The blocks are very durable and will not be destroyed in an explosion. An iron block

takes about 4 seconds to destroy. In Indev and Infdev, iron blocks could only be made by placing 9 iron

ingots in a crafting bench. The 9 ingots can be recovered by placing the block in a crafting grid. This

makes iron blocks more functional as "storage units" than as building units.

Iron blocks had a different skin when first made. The skin was changed from to the current texture

in the Halloween Update. This block has the same texture on all six sides, which was different in the old

block, where three textures were used. It is possible that Notch has plans for the free space now available

in the terrain.png file.

Iron blocks can be mined with a stone, iron, or diamond pick.

Crafting


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GOLD (BLOCK)

Gold blocks (also known as Block of Gold) are blocks that were introduced in Creative version 0.0.20a,

and do not appear in normally generated maps anywhere.

Gold blocks are available for use in Creative mode and are often used to make shiny buildings or to show

"wealth". In Survival mode, mining gold ore will drop a block of ore, which can be smelted into a gold

ingot. Unlike earlier Minecraft versions, Gold is now susceptible to destruction from TNT, and no longer

resists explosions effectively. It only requires approximately 3 seconds to mine successfully.

InIndev and Infdev, gold blocks can be crafted by placing 9 gold ingots in a crafting grid. The gold blocks

could then be crafted back into 9 ingots again, making them more useful as "storage units" rather than

building units. Golden blocks can be used to make Golden Apples.

Gold blocks had a different skin when first made. The skin was changed from to in the

Survival 0.26 update, and then again to the current texture in the Halloween Update. However, in Classic

it is still seen as . This block has the same texture on all six sides, which was different in the

previous block, where three textures were used. It is possible that Notch has plans with the free space

now available in the terrain.png file.

Crafting


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DIAMOND (BLOCK)

Blocks of Diamond are currently available in Indev, Infdev, Alpha, and Beta and can be obtained by

crafting nine diamond gems together in a 3x3 square. They currently serve no crafting purpose, and

function only as decoration and as a means of storing diamonds in a compact fashion. Diamond blocks

can only be mined successfully with an iron or diamond pick. They have the same texture on all six sides.

Crafting

History

Diamond blocks initially had a different skin. The skin was changed from to the current texture in

the Halloween Update. In the old block, three textures were used. It is possible that Notch has plans with

the free space now available in the terrain.png file.


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LAPIS LAZULI (BLOCK)

Lapis Lazuli is a block that can be crafted from Lapis Lazuli dye. It is a blue colour, and looks similar

to Gold blocks or other metal blocks. Its only uses are as a building block and as a form of storage of

Lapis Lazuli dye. It was added in Beta 1.2.

Crafting

Trivia

It's easier to craft a Lapis Lazuli block than any other ore block, because a Lapis Lazuli ore block

drops 4-8 Lapis Lazuli dye.

In real life, Lapis Lazuli is a blue gem that may be ground and processed into ultramarine pigment.

Lapis Lazuli pigment has been famously used in the production of illuminated manuscripts, stained

glass, and cave paintings.


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STAIRS

Stairs are blocks that allow the player to change elevation without jumping. They are a more compact

alternative to Slabs, allowing a greater elevation change in a shorter horizontal distance.

Crafting

Stairs can be made from six wooden planks or six cobblestone, producing four stairs per craft. Upon

destroying the block after placement, it will yield only one of the original material.

Behavior

As of version 1.2.0 (the Halloween update) Stairs are placed facing the player so they may be

immediately climbed. This may cause problems when constructing a stair; just start at the lower end to fix

this. Alternatively, you can face the top of the stairs, sneak, and place stairs at your feet while hanging

onto the edge of a block to place them in the correct location while descending the stairs.

Water will flow over stairs as if it were a completely solid block. If one attempts to place a torch on top of a

stair block, the torch will be placed instead on the closest available non-stair block.


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As ofAlpha version 1.2.0_02, stairs have the odd property of being transparent to light; when placed one

or more spaces above the ground with air beneath, sunlight or other light sources will shine through and

light the blocks beneath/behind the stairs exactly as if nothing opaque were present between

them.[1]

Other atmospheric effects such as snowfall do not penetrate stair blocks, making them an

unusually effective material for creating roofing which keeps weather out, yet allows daylight in. Snow

cannot accumulate on top of stair blocks. Grass can grow on the block directly underneath a stair block,

and grass will not disappear if a stair block is placed on top of it. Wooden stairs will not burn.

Glitches

There is a glitch where when stairs are placed at the water's edge,(with the top edge of the block at the

water's level) Any boat going at any speed can collide with it with no damage to the boat, making it ideal

for the creation of a dock.

There is also a glitch where stairs appear invisible not much is know about it at the current time. You can

fix this glitch by placing a block behind the stair.

History

At some viewing angles, hovering the cursor over the stair block would make the black outline flicker,

making mining the stair block glitchy, and the block behind it would often be

a comprehensive survival mode guide

Documents