BTW Research Add-On v1.1 - Learning the gameplay way

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Six
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BTW Research Add-On v1.1 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

What is it?
The BTW Research Add-On is intended as a way for a person unfamiliar with Minecraft or Better Than Wolves to be able to play though the entire game without consulting a wiki or forum thread. Of course, a lot of the learning is still going to come from experimenting, experience and the game killing you, but the research bench will guide the player as to what things they could be making and how to craft them.

How does it work?
It is very simple. There are no magic essences, no progress bars, just a mundane wooden bench with space to put an item on to examine it more closely. When the player puts an item on the bench, they get a short description hinting at what might be done with it. Some hints are more directed than others, and generally something wont be directed towards until you would be at a tech level to build it.

So how do I make one?
Discovering that first step is left as an exercise to the player. But I will say that it is made out of wood, and it is about as simple a recipe as you can get.

Does this add-on change anything else?
There are actually a few recipe tweaks included with the research add-on too, some to make discovering them a bit easier, and some to actually be able to fit their description on one of the components. You don't need to know these as they are described in game, but they are summarized in the spoiler below:
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-Added a rotated version of the wood blade.
-Added a recipe for the handcrank with the two shafts stacked.
-Moved chiseled sandstone and quartz to the anvil, like the stone brick equivalent.
-Added a recipe for the anchor using a stone slab and nugget.
-Added a recipe for the screw pump using full wood blocks.
-Changed the pulley to use a screw in the recipe.
-Added production of potash by cooking a log in the furnace.
SO WHERE DO I DOWNLOAD?
Glad you asked! The download can be found just below. Installation is similar to BTW, just add the files from the CLIENT folder into your jar after installing BTW.

==>> Download the Research Add-On v1.1

Thanks for trying out the add-on and if you have any feedback or run into any problems while playing please post about it in the thread. This especially includes if you get stuck at any point trying to play through the game and find it unclear as to what to do next.

Also a big thanks to RezDev for helping me go over the descriptions for proofing and rewording.

CHANGELOG:
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- Version 1.1 -
- Added a few more proofed descriptions.
- Fixed a few mistakes pointed out by people.
- Removed some of the recipes that weren't needed.
- Added descriptions for each arcane scroll and reorganized all the anvil recipes, to add an obtuse level of lore I don't expect anyone will even pick up on.

- Version 1.0 -
First full release.
- Proofed a few more descriptions.
- Added wool descriptions.
- Changed descriptions relating to padding to reflect the feathers -> wool change.

- Version 0.2 -
Second test release.
- Added server version.
- Modified the bench to drop sawdust and a shaft when broken.
- Modified the bench to not work when a full block is above it, like the BTW workbench.
- Modified gui sizing slightly to allow for a bit more description room.
- Tweaked a bunch of the descriptions.
- Added ability for other add-on authors to add custom descriptions.

- Version 0.1 -
Initial test release with all basic functionality working.
Copyrights:
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This document is Copyright ©(2013) and is the intellectual property of the author. It may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use as long as it remains in its unaltered, unedited form. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly using any form of monetization.
------------------------------

Further info for people new to BTW or Minecraft:

BTW plays very differently to vanilla Minecraft. Things take a lot more effort to acquire, but once you get there it is easier to sustain them. Carrying the correct tools for a job is more important, getting sources of food is more important, damage has more consequence and you will find yourself needing to run from fights. You are actually better off forgetting almost everything you know about vanilla Minecraft, as a lot of that knowledge will just lead to your death in one form or another.

And that is another important point, you will die. Dying in BTW is very easy if you are not careful and death has far more consequence. But death is also one of the primary forms of learning. If a creeper blows you up outside your house, make your entryway more defensible. If you starve to death, focus more on securing renewable food. If you get killed trying to punch a zombie to death, DON'T TRY PUNCHING A ZOMBIE TO DEATH.

Try to think of yourself as someone dropped in a new land, with no idea how any of it works. Experiment by trying things and collect stuff you find in the world, bringing it back to your research bench to find out more information. Build a base, explore the world, make progress and always be careful not to be killed by stupid mistakes.

If you find yourself dying a lot and at a loss of how to make any progress I've added a few more tips here for starting out. You shouldn't need them and they can all be learned through playing yourself, but if you want a bit more direction take a look.
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- There are many ways to do your first day, but one common one is to punch enough wood for 2 wood picks to get 2 cobble, then make an axe. Collect a lot of logs, chop them up, then finish the axe on some animals before sunset. The extra wood you get should last you though the night to collect lots more cobble.

- If you die and respawn, and you don't see any landmarks you recognize (actual landmarks, not simply 'a jungle'), then suck it up and start punching wood. The 2km radius you can spawn in is a very large area in Minecraft, the chances you stumble on a tiny base are very very slim.

- One of the best things you can do to make real progress in your world, is to craft a compass and then build markers from your base back to the origin where the compass points. This is essentially a 'save point' in the game, in that if you die you will always be able to make it back to the origin and find your base again.

- There are a lot more tips hidden on the descriptions of different items. Check everything, from dirt to jungle ferns.
------------------------------

Further info for other add-on developers wanting to add custom research bench descriptions to their own items:
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Something like this will need to go in your PostInitialize() method:

Code: Select all

try {
    Class researchBench = Class.forName("SixModResearchBenchAddOn");
    Method addDescription = researchBench.getMethod("addResearchDescription", new Class[]{String.class, String.class});
    try {
		addDescription.invoke(researchBench, "<KEY>", "<DESCRIPTION>");
		// Where <KEY> is of the form "ID#Metadata", (i.e. "5#3" for jungle planks) 
		// and <DESCRIPTION> is the description you want the item to have. 
		// Try to keep the description under 300 characters or so.
	} catch (Exception e) {
		// Catch any of the myriad of exceptions invoke can throw
		e.printStackTrace();
	}	
} catch (ClassNotFoundException e) {
    // Research Bench not loaded, so just chill
} catch (NoSuchMethodException e) {
	// Somehow there is no method.. shouldn't happen
	e.printStackTrace();
} catch (SecurityException e) {
	// getMethod threw a security exception?
	e.printStackTrace();
}
Any questions, just ask.
Last edited by Six on Sun Sep 01, 2013 5:43 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ultionis
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Ultionis »

It's been a few months since I really had time to play and it looks like a lot has changed, so this might come in handy. I'm not sure when I'll check it out but I'll try to get some feedback your way, thanks for this.
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woeuntoyou
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by woeuntoyou »

I like the idea of the research bench, but I'm not really a fan of the recipe changes. :/
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Rianaru »

Question:

If I install this add-on and then log on to a server without it, should any problems arise? Apologies if this is addressed in the OP, but I read through it several times without seeing mention of server-related stuff, so I figured it's either not there or I need new glasses
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jorgebonafe
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by jorgebonafe »

I'm using this addon, and I'm loving it so far... I'm still on the early game, but so far all descriptions do a great job of hinting at the uses for every item.

I noticed a possible mistake though:
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On the furnace description, it says it can process logs into other forms...
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Six
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

jorgebonafe wrote:I'm using this addon, and I'm loving it so far... I'm still on the early game, but so far all descriptions do a great job of hinting at the uses for every item.

I noticed a possible mistake though:
Spoiler
Show
On the furnace description, it says it can process logs into other forms...
Have you tried putting a log in? ;P
That was added (in part as a gotcha for vanilla players, but mostly) for a little tip later on, which you wont come across until you reach the Nether:
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Namely, encouraging the player to explore to find Nether forts, because they can be pretty rare and had to find at times.
Rianaru wrote:Question:

If I install this add-on and then log on to a server without it, should any problems arise? Apologies if this is addressed in the OP, but I read through it several times without seeing mention of server-related stuff, so I figured it's either not there or I need new glasses
That would really not be advisable. It would probably work, but the clashes of recipes between client and server could cause problems. What you would be better off doing, would be to have two separate instances of BTW, one for play with the add-on, one to play without.
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jorgebonafe
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by jorgebonafe »

Oh.... I hadn't realized this was possible... Ok, sorry about that :P
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Rob
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Rob »

woeuntoyou wrote:I like the idea of the research bench, but I'm not really a fan of the recipe changes. :/
I was of the impression that he added alternate recipes but that he didn't remove the old recipes.
jorgebonafe wrote:I noticed a possible mistake though:
Spoiler
Show
On the furnace description, it says it can process logs into other forms...
I thought the same thing when I read this description. Then I thought I should test it, which showed me something new. As far as Im concerned this mod is working as intended. Great job!
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dawnraider
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by dawnraider »

I believe some were added, while others were outright replaced (like when he says "changed" for a recipe). Which, yeah, apart from the handcrank recipe and the mirrored ones (which i don't believe are needed at all due to the way crafting works) i don't really agree with them.
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Six
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

dawnraider wrote:I believe some were added, while others were outright replaced (like when he says "changed" for a recipe). Which, yeah, apart from the handcrank recipe and the mirrored ones (which i don't believe are needed at all due to the way crafting works) i don't really agree with them.
You mean you've never tried to make a buddy block with all the edges offset by one? Shaped crafting allows for translation, but they don't allow for reflection or rotation.

As for the other changes, I'll elaborate on why I changed some things here, but if you've got any other suggestions for ways to solve the problems I'm all ears. Also, please don't read these if you're not interested in discussing the recipe changes and just want to play the game, as they contain spoilers for what I felt were some really neat tech paths through crafting and discovering things.
Spoiler
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- I mentioned the potash in the furnace thing earlier, which is used as a way to help people get to explore the nether to find forts. The way this works is once you get hellfire dust, that mentions to try boiling it with potash (which is normally unavailable until after you already have found a nether fort (blaze rods)). That gives Nether sludge, which cooks to nether bricks, which mention exploring the Nether to look for structures made from them.

- The chiseled blocks were all moved to the anvil because sandstone and bricks are actually discoverable in the world, giving a really neat place to put a unique helpful description to reward finding temples pre-anvil. They are described as having carvings in them depicting some of the trickier BTW things, namely mossy cobble spread, diamond alloying and soulsand hoppers storing xp. Creating the blocks yourself on the anvil also makes more sense with the lore this add-on uses surrounding how the anvil works.

- The extra screw pump recipe with full wood was simply to make it easier to describe the recipe for, and let it use the convention already established of there being cheaper recipes using wood siding. This also has no effect on 'tech level' of it, because if you can make the screw, you can make the siding.

- The change to the pulley to use a screw was mostly because I couldn't find anywhere that made sense to put the recipe description on for the components used in making it normally. It does have the effect of moving elevators higher in the tech tree, but they are giant moving platforms. It also gives a more more place to anchors and ropes by themselves early on, which have had the iron reduced to try and slightly balance with the increased iron from the screw.

- The extra anchor recipe to use stone slabs was because plain stone itself doesn't have a lot of room, already pointing to bricks, slabs and the millstone, and I wanted the millstone to be the major thing to point people to. The iron was mentioned in the previous point.

- The extra sideways recipe for the wood blade was mostly because there wasn't a lot of room left on glue to describe it, and it's a lot easier to say 'stick wood siding on a row of more siding' than to describe the other shape.

- Finally the carrot just felt odd that after I'd written the melon+gold thing to have the other plant+gold potion ingredient be different. This actually might go better the other way around, requiring glistening melon to be consistent with the other gold plants.

So if you still feel any of these are unwarranted and should be removed, or have suggestions for how they could be done better, please speak up.
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Rob
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Rob »

Just went to update to the new BTW version, and decided to go all Ash Ketchum on the add-ons. Using MCPatcher to check for conflicts, it came back that this add-on and Yhetti's Deco add-on both use, ju.class. Figured you should know. I'll post my findings in Yhetti's thread as well.
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Yhetti
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Yhetti »

Rob wrote:Just went to update to the new BTW version, and decided to go all Ash Ketchum on the add-ons. Using MCPatcher to check for conflicts, it came back that this add-on and Yhetti's Deco add-on both use, ju.class. Figured you should know. I'll post my findings in Yhetti's thread as well.
Six, don't worry about it, I should have it fixed in a minute. You picked that one first so I'll just change mine to achievementlist instead.
Fixed.
Last edited by Yhetti on Thu Aug 22, 2013 6:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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FlowerChild
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by FlowerChild »

Six wrote:- I mentioned the potash in the furnace thing earlier
This is the only one that feels rather weird to me, since creating actual Potash is a wet process that doesn't suit the furnace very well IMO. From the wikipedia entry:
The name derives from "pot ash", which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing the product before the industrial era
It's not really a balance issue given the limited uses of Potash in BTW, but it does feel a bit "off" IMO.
Six
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

FlowerChild wrote:
Six wrote:- I mentioned the potash in the furnace thing earlier
This is the only one that feels rather weird to me, since creating actual Potash is a wet process that doesn't suit the furnace very well IMO. From the wikipedia entry:
The name derives from "pot ash", which refers to plant ashes soaked in water in a pot, the primary means of manufacturing the product before the industrial era
It's not really a balance issue given the limited uses of Potash in BTW, but it does feel a bit "off" IMO.
Yeah, I poured over that and other wikipedia pages before adding it, and it still didn't feel completely right to me. Technically the way potash was traditionally produced kind of falls between the two, in that the wood was first burned into a fine ash, and then that was added to water and boiled / evaporated to obtain potash (see here and here).

But yeah, the change didn't throw off balance and the 'tech path' it provided to push the player to find forts and blaze rods just seemed too nice to not take advantage of (not to mention the gotcha on people trying to make vanilla charcoal). I could still pull it if you'd like, and just leave the exploration of the nether as an exercise left up to the player?
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jorgebonafe
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by jorgebonafe »

Six wrote:Snip
You could maybe make an exception in this case and add a "ash" item as the output for logs in the furnace and then add that in the cauldron later to make potash... [/unsolicited suggestion]
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FlowerChild
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by FlowerChild »

Six wrote:I could still pull it if you'd like, and just leave the exploration of the nether as an exercise left up to the player?
Nah man, doesn't bother me none really. Just thought I'd chime in since there seemed to be an ongoing debate about the recipes.

And yeah, I agree that it's an odd one due to the abstraction of it just happening in the cauldron to begin with. I probably poured over those same pages before putting it in and settling on that method of creation, and decided that just doing it straight in the cauldron was better than burdening the game with an extraneous ash item :)

However, in cases where it helps with the descriptions, that might be one option to consider, like Jorge mentions above: including intermediate items that make the process involved a little more transparent. Items are super quick and easy to add to MC, artwork aside.

Anyways, don't take anything I'm saying to heart here as I'm not trying to make a serious point or anything. Was just reading through the thread and decided to throw in my two cents :)
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dawnraider
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by dawnraider »

As to the recipes:
-I completely forgot about the chiseled stuff moved to the anvil, and the rotated blades, those both make sense and should remain that way.
-I am sure that you are in fact able to reflect all recipes horizontally (at least on the crafting table, and i assume anvil). Quote from crafting article on minecraft wiki:
"[recipes] can also be flipped horizontally"
-Now that you have clarified the reason for the cost changes for iron based items, those do make more sense now.
-The screw pump recipe i also hadn't really thought about, and since it does require anvil tech anyways, the wood change does make more sense, especially in simplifying descriptions to make then more understandable.
-I do understand the change for consistency for the golden carrot, however, I do believe that you should change the glistering melon recipe instead.
-Like FC said, the potash recipe does feel a bit off, but not enough to truly matter, as it does not change it's tech level really, and it has quite limited uses, which is aesthetic only anyways.
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Six
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

dawnraider wrote: -I am sure that you are in fact able to reflect all recipes horizontally (at least on the crafting table, and i assume anvil). Quote from crafting article on minecraft wiki:
"[recipes] can also be flipped horizontally"
Wow, I am completely dumb. I knew this was the case for tool recipes, but somehow had got it in my head it didn't work on other ones (which makes no sense). I'd made the note to add those the other day after watching vioki in a stream trying to make a buddy block, where he tried just about every possible arrangement but the correct one. I thought he'd tried it with the eyes offset, and I thought I'd done that too, but it must have been one of his attempts with cobble. Thanks for pointing that one out.
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by JesterxMailMan89 »

The description for Sandstone simply comes up as "x", nothing but BTW (4.1124 and 4.113) and Research Bench installed. Just thought Id let you know, and I have been really enjoying this add-on :)
Six
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

JesterxMailMan89 wrote:The description for Sandstone simply comes up as "x", nothing but BTW (4.1124 and 4.113) and Research Bench installed. Just thought Id let you know, and I have been really enjoying this add-on :)
Whoops, just an editing error there on my part. Glad to hear you're enjoying it.
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by pgelinas »

Another editing error perhaps, the description for a redstone torch is empty: _
Six
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

pgelinas wrote:Another editing error perhaps, the description for a redstone torch is empty: _
Nice catch, I actually had it on the ID of the dim torch. I'll have to push another release soonish with these few fixes.
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by jorgebonafe »

The description for the wooden pressure plate is wrong. It looks like the description for a stone pressure plate.
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by pgelinas »

jorgebonafe wrote:The description for the wooden pressure plate is wrong. It looks like the description for a stone pressure plate.
I know this was the case before the 1.0 release, I reported the same thing in the old thread.

I have to report another mistake: the description of the tallow says it will "React chemically when gently heated with either potash or hellfie dust". However, potash + tallow needs a stoked cauldron, and "gently" doesn't fit here.

Other that those few mistakes, I love the add-on. Hell of a good job, I don't have the wiki open anymore while playing. And when I forget a recipe, I turn to the research bench for a reminder. I'm slowly learning all the recipe instead of relying on the wiki!
Six
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Re: BTW Research Add-On v1.0 - Learning the gameplay way

Post by Six »

pgelinas wrote:
jorgebonafe wrote:The description for the wooden pressure plate is wrong. It looks like the description for a stone pressure plate.
I know this was the case before the 1.0 release, I reported the same thing in the old thread.

I have to report another mistake: the description of the tallow says it will "React chemically when gently heated with either potash or hellfie dust". However, potash + tallow needs a stoked cauldron, and "gently" doesn't fit here.

Other that those few mistakes, I love the add-on. Hell of a good job, I don't have the wiki open anymore while playing. And when I forget a recipe, I turn to the research bench for a reminder. I'm slowly learning all the recipe instead of relying on the wiki!
Yeah, looked deeper into the pressure plate thing and it turned out the spreadsheet I've got them on had some messed up cell references for the two of them. Fixed up that for the next release, along with the tallow thing, good catch there.

Great to hear that it is actually working for you to play without a wiki. I did try to make it a bit easier to learn how to remember the recipes too, by highlighting some of the consistencies in the way recipes are arranged, like gears going in the middle of the sides which can receive mechanical power.
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