Better Terrain Addon v3.2.2 (BTW CE 2.0.2+)

[dawnraider]

Ah shit, I think I forgot to update the version string for 1.3.5. I'll reupload a fixed version of that.

As for BTA, I'll get a fix out for that, I made a couple tweaks to how valid biomes are defined to fix structures, and apparently BTA isn't liking the new version so I'll just have to update it to the new format.

[dawnraider]

Version 2.0.6 has been released!
Download here

Apologies for the delay on getting a release out to fix the crash with CE 1.3.5+, I had a lot of IRL stuff get in the way.

Version 2.0.6 changes:

• Updated to BTW CE 1.3.6
• Fixed an issue where BTA worlds still spawned legacy sugar cane.
• Fixed an issue where some sub-biomes could not spawn villages.
• Fixed an issue where villages would not spawn their desert variant.

[Fereval]

Hello ! Lovely mod, after all those years getting something new out of 1.5.2 Terrain Generation looks so exciting !

Question : I have an existing BTW World, (I moved it to a fresh multi MC install of 1.3.6 Community Edition + Better Terrain), now, when I explore new chunks, the world doesn't seem to generate better terrain biomes.
Is there a world setting to "enable" the new generation ?

Thanks so much for creating this !

[dawnraider]

Glad you like it :) I saw that you got your issue handled on discord, but yeah just for posterity's sake I'll post the answer here.

BTA stuff requires a separate world type to generate and so will not affect vanilla worlds. You can edit the NBT data of the world to change the world type and generator settings. You can use the server setup guide to edit those values.

I do also want to make server setup easier also by making it so you can export a string after using the configurator to setup a world.

[PlasmaFox]

Wow i only realised how amazing your addon is! I don't think i will ever play without it. Thank you so much for your work <3

[dawnraider]

Wow i only realised how amazing your addon is! I don't think i will ever play without it. Thank you so much for your work <3

Awesome! Glad to hear it :)

[SterlingRed]

This was reported on discord but I'm posting it here as well for those who don't frequent discord.

I identified a bug in BTA where witch huts and temples are not being generated. Angra on discord was able to confirm, and Yany posted the following:

"yany — 02/23/2022
I tracked down this issue in BTA. The biomeList in BTAMapGenScatteredFeature doesn't include the BTA biomes, only the vanilla ones. After adding the correct BTA biomes to the list desert temples started generating again. I assume the same would fix jungle temples and witch huts too."

[dawnraider]

Oh shit yeah I forgot to respond to that over on discord. Will have a fix out for the next release.

[dawnraider]

Version 2.0.7 has been released!
Download here

Version 2.0.7 changes:

• Updated to BTW CE 1.3.8
• Changed snow height in cold climates to vary by a few blocks instead of being at a fixed level. This should make the transition look more natural.
• Fixed an issue where scattered features such as temples and witch huts were not generating.
• Fixed an issue where tall grass and flowers at high altitude in cold climates would not spawn with snow surrounding them.
• Fixed an issue where grassy clay ore rendered incorrectly.
• Fixed an issue where clay ore variants could not be silk touched.
• Refactored deco integration to use newer hooks added by CE.
• Removed a few base class edits.

[yany]

The grass and sand variations of clay ore are showing up as a missing texture for me. This is in a newly generated Better Terrain world with default generator settings, with CE 1.3.8 and BTA 2.0.7, no other addons installed.

Screenshot

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[dawnraider]

Ah right, I forgot to include the resources with the binaries. I've reuploaded the client binaries for 2.0.7, you should be good to just redownload the addon.

[yany]

Yep, it works now, thanks! It's nice to see the grassy clay back :)

On an unrelated note, here's a hill that generated in my current world:

Screenshot

Show

[dawnraider]

Version 2.0.8 has been released!
Download here

Version 2.0.8

• Fixed an issue where eyes of ender could not locate strongholds.
• Fixed an issue where soul sand piles could not locate nether fortresses.
• Fixed an issue where nether fortress mobs would not spawn.

[dawnraider]

Version 3.0.0 has been released!
Better Terrain has now been split into two separate addons. Better Terrain Addon acts as a world generation library, and includes all generation tweaks, along with revamped vanilla biomes. All other biomes now require Better Biomes to be installed. This also means other addons can add their own biomes to the BTA generator.

As always, backwards compatibility is maintained with previous worlds, as long as both addons are installed. Still, it's always a good idea to make backups just in case!

BTA 3.0.0:
Download here

• Updated to CE 1.4.1
• Refactored the entire mod into two separate mods. The Better Terrain Addon now acts as a library for world generation, while the biomes themselves previously present in BTA have been split into Better Biomes. Note that this is still backwards compatible with old worlds, but will require both mods to be installed. BTA now only maintains variants of vanilla biomes which generate using BTA features. Most of these have been ported from existing biomes, while an additional swamp variant has been added.
• Added the ability for addons to decorate BTA Biomes using the standard FCAddOn hook. Note that BTA biomes may deny this in case they wish to use a custom decorator for that addon's features.
• Changed rivers to be much larger. This can be disabled at world creation, and only affects new worlds.
• Changed deserts to no longer spawn gravel beaches.
• Changed climates to default to off if there are not enough biomes installed (note that climates may still be enabled if desired).
• Changed the format of the world configuration info to use json. Old worlds will still be processed correctly.
• Changed the world type when creating a new world to default to Better Terrain.
• Removed patches of exposed stone.

Better Biomes 3.0.0:
Download here

• Added Floral Forest as a new biome.
• Added Hot Springs, Volcanic Jungle, Ivory Hills, and Fir Canyon as new deco exclusive biomes.
• Changed the name of Mystic Forest to Mystic Valley.
• Revamped Mystic Valley generation to be more varied.
• Changed the biome colors of Mystic Valley.
• Changed savannas to be able to spawn pumpkins.
• Fixed an issue where red desert pyramids spawned with regular sandstone stairs.
• Fixed an issue where highlands edge did not have less intense mountains to smooth the terrain. This only affects new worlds to avoid creating seams in old worlds.

[Sockthing]

\o/ *dances*

[dawnraider]

Version 3.1.0 has been released!
Download BTA here
Download Better Biomes here

BTA:
- Updated to CE 2.0.0
- Refactored the mod to use fabric mixins, so it can now be installed through the mods folder
- Added hazel trees to woods when deco is enabled.
- Added the ability for new deco stones to generate.
- Changed stone variants to only generate within their respective strata according to the changes in deco.
- Fixed an issue where some biomes were not generating sugar cane when they were supposed to.

Better Biomes:
- Updated to CE 2.0.0
- Refactored the mod to use fabric mixins, so it can now be installed through the mods folder
- Revamped the mangrove forest biome
- Added hazel trees to many forested biomes when deco is enabled.
- Added fir trees to many taiga biomes when deco is enabled.
- Added mahogany trees to rainforests when deco is enabled.
- Changed (reduced) the number of bushes in temperate forests.
- Changed hot springs to generate calcite instead of diorite.

[dawnraider]

Version 3.2.0 has been released!
Download BTA here
Download Better Biomes here

BTA:
- Updated to CE 2.0.2+ and Deco 4.1.0.
- Refactored how tree generation is handled internally.
- Renamed Woods to Woodland.
- Added the ability to toggle gravel beaches separately from the main better shorelines toggle at world creation.
- Added aspen trees to Mountains and willow trees to Swamps when deco generation is enabled.
- Added hooks for biomes to use narrower edges.
- Fixed an issue where some snowy biomes generated regular rivers instead of frozen.
- Fixed an issue where the 'enable cheats' button when creating a new world was not respected.
- Fixed an issue where deco double tall grass generated even when deco generation was not enabled.

Better Biomes:
- Updated to CE 2.0.2+ and Deco 4.1.0.
- Refactored how tree generation is handled internally.
- Added new biomes:
- Redwood Forest: Temperate, spawns wolves
- Ice Marsh: Snowy, spawns witches, witch huts, slimes, and sugarcane
- Forested Highlands: Temperate, spawns wolves, emeralds, and silverfish
- Bower: Cold, spawns emeralds and silverfish
- Field: Temperate, spawns pumpkins and villages
- Dark Forest: Temperate, spawns witches and sugarcane (deco only)
- Maple Woods: Cold, spawns wolves (deco only)
- Snowy Maple Woods: Snowy, spawns wolves (deco only)
- Renamed biomes:
- Ancient Forest -> Old Growth Woodland
- Autumn Forest -> Seasonal Forest
- Cherry Forest -> Cherry Blossom Grove
- Added willow trees to Willow Groves when deco generation is enabled.
- Added aspen trees to Alpine, Shield, and Hot Springs when deco generation is enabled.
- Added redwood trees to Temperate Forest when deco generation is enabled.
- Added the ability for much larger trees to spawn in several forest biomes which previously only had small trees, such as the Seasonal Forest.
- Added large birch and dark oak trees to Old Growth Woodland.
- Increased the frequency at which large trees appear in Orchards.
- Decreased the intensity of the grass color in Orchards.
- Increased the amount of grass in Highlands.
- Changed Meadows so some trees there spawn with dark oak wood, and added rare larger trees.
- Changed Shield to no longer generate sandy shorelines.
- Increased the size and spacing of stone patches in Shield, Chaparral, and Arid Forest.
- Changed Steppe generation to be more varied for new worlds.
- Decreased the frequency of trees slightly in mangrove forests, and increased terrain height variance in new worlds.
- Added the ability for pumpkins to spawn in Seasonal Forests, because the fall theme wouldn't be complete otherwise.
- Removed the small single block thick tall trees from coniferous forests as they were too much of a pain to chop down.
- Fixed an issue where badlands edges were too wide, leading to very infrequent plateaus. This only affects new worlds to avoid creating seams.

[Blacklands]

Thanks for making this Add-On!
I just started trying it out (mostly default settings), and I especially like the wider rivers and the cooler mountains.

Changed the format of the world configuration info to use json. Old worlds will still be processed correctly.

Is this format already documented somewhere? And do we also put this JSON as the value for generator-settings in server.properties?
I tried to cobble it together from the source code, but I can't seem to get it right, looks like what I put there just gets ignored... at least I can't manage to get the same world generated on a server as I get in singleplayer. I especially can't seem to get wide rivers at all... which I don't understand, because isn't that the default? If generator-settings is empty/invalid, it uses the defaults, right?
(I'm only using Better Terrain Addon right now, without Better Biomes.)

Could I also generate the first bits of a world in singleplayer and then copy that world over to a server? As in, are the generator settings stored in the world, and the Add-On reads them from that if a world already exists? And then newly generated chunks would use those same settings?

[dawnraider]

I've been... a combination of really busy and really lazy lol. I still need to update the OP to document 3.X information.

The easiest way to make it work in multiplayer is to make a singleplayer world configured as you like, then open it with something like NBTExplorer and copy the generator options from there. I am currently working on streamlining this process (allowing import and export of generator strings in the world menu). But yes, also copying over the world into your server folder will work too, as the server prioritizes existing world data over the server.properties file.

If the generator options are blank, it defaults to legacy compatibility mode, which generates the world according to BTA 1.1. This is done because early versions did not utilize the generator options string, and so if the game finds a world without one then it assumes it is a super old world and generates terrain accordingly so as to not break those worlds.

EDIT: Oh and also, there's currently a bug in BTW where some of the methods that BTA depends on are marked as client only, so you need to copy the aak.class from the client jar to the server jar in addition.

[Blacklands]

Thank you!

I should have just tried to look at the NBT data before asking. I did that now, and got the generator string from there.
I now seem to get the same world on the server, so that seems to work well. :)

And good to know that copying over a world also works!

I'd have another question:

Does enabling climate zones do anything/make any sense if I'm just using Better Terrain Addon, without also using Better Biomes to get all those new biomes? I think it's mentioned somewhere that it's disabled if there aren't enough biomes. Can you force it on, or does it just not make sense with just the Vanilla biomes?
I could just add Better Biomes, of course. Would you say it's balanced around a "Vanilla BTW experience"? Or do those new biomes make things harder/easier? I'm currently trying to introduce some buddies to BTW, so I'm kind of worried of introducing more "unknowns" (I'm super rusty at BTW at this point anyway, lol).

[dawnraider]

Climates are disabled by default if you only have better terrain installed without the extra biomes, although that only affects the default - you can still turn them on if you want. The reason that it's turned off by default if there aren't enough biomes is to make sure there is actually variety within the climates and you don't just get super massive biomes since the climate only has 1 or 2 biomes it can pick from. Climates essentially act as "super biomes", and then the regular biomes are randomly determined within the climate zone areas. With only vanilla-like biomes though, there are only 9 biomes for 5 climates (IIRC 2 tropical, 2 arid, 1 temperate, 1 cold, 3 snowy), so the climate zones end up having very little variety because they continually land on the same biomes.

As for difficulty, I'd say it's about on par. Maybe slightly more difficult, though not by much, just since BTA tends to have more trees to block line of sight, and slightly more hills which can drain hunger. I've tried to keep biome-specific features roughly proportional to regular BTW generation so that should be about the same.

Also keep an eye out for the next BTW release soon, it'll contain something that could be useful for new players :)

[Soupy Delicious]

Hey there peeps.

I think it's time I hopped back into BTW after all these years - can't stay away from this beautiful beasty, and I was on the fence about playing the CE but by reading through the changelogs I've gotten the sense that Dawn has a respect for the BTW flow and ethos

Regarding this Addon, I'm kinda hyped to try it out to be honest. BTW's terrain gen was probably it's weakest link imho, and was the one thing I was sad that FC wasn't keen on changing.

With BTA and Better Biomes, to someone who's pretty much a BTW purist and believes in FC's vision for the game, it's kinda hard to know how to customize the BTA and BB experience without ruining the 'purity' (since it's so customizable).

I propose that it would be well worth the effort add some kind of curated 'True to BTW' settings, or maybe even a set of them ranging from 'Purist' to 'Dirty Purist' mainly regarding the biomes.

I'd love to play with more biomes and fancy terrain gen, but I don't want there to be any more abundance of resources, or easier access to them, or easier movement through terrain. Harder is okay, if it's not too much harder. Whaddaya think?

[SterlingRed]

I'd love to play with more biomes and fancy terrain gen, but I don't want there to be any more abundance of resources, or easier access to them, or easier movement through terrain. Harder is okay, if it's not too much harder. Whaddaya think?

I'm by no means an expert on bta, but when I do play it I usually play on the default settings for better biomes. In my experience, BTA is harder not easier than BTW (mostly vanilla 1.5.2 terrain gen). BTA doesn't add additional 'resources' that matter. Ore gen is the same, villages, temples, and witch hut frequency remains the same, animal and mob spawning mechanics remain the same. Where it gets harder is BTA offers significantly more variation in terrain height, as well as significantly more vegetation. This is absolutely brutal when it comes to the early game. If you're not careful managing your hunger navigating the terrain, you can find yourself in trouble very quickly. The additional grass slows down movement and makes it harder to see as well as results in significant number of 'mishits' (hitting grass instead of the sheep for example) when hunting which further drains hunger for no benefit and puts a dent into your tool durability. The additional trees usually mean some areas can be very dark resulting in day mob spawns that can absolutely ruin your day as well as many hiding spots for skeletons in the morning. BTA adds a lot of forest variety but given spawn mechanics bias the player spawn toward certain biomes you're almost always going to be spawning in a wooded area. Given the additional biomes BTA adds that also have woods, you may have to travel quite a ways to get out of a forest and into a plain or something that is more open. This is key because in my current playthrough my number one cause of death pre workbench is wolves. Spending 2-3 nights in the woods with wolves nearby (seems like there always are) is almost a guarantee of being attacked by one. Its been some time since I've played BTW without BTA, but I don't remember wolves being that significant of a problem.

Mid to Late game BTA is still hard. My primary method of finding villages and temples in BTW was to sail coast lines looking for the biomes that spawn them, hop off and explore the biome and any connected ones that may have something, and hit the ocean again. It worked pretty well and was faster than the nether travel guess and check method. It's completely unrealistic in BTA. First the variety of biomes is so large its hard to identify them all and memorize which ones contain all the right stuff, and two the terrain height variation makes it nearly impossible to see more than a chunk or two into the biome from the height of the ocean...which makes ocean travel to find structures not any faster than traveling through all the biomes on foot since you have to do that anyway because you cant see anything for any amount of distance otherwise. I don't know this for a fact but I also believe, based on my difficulty finding villages compared to BTW, that the increased terrain variation makes a lot of locations that would normally contain villages invalid in the code...and the end result is you end up with fewer of them actually spawning. This is a theory...don't take my word for it.

Once I played BTW with BTA, I haven't gone back. It's so damn pretty!

One last note, lighting fires are brutal in BTA. They'll burn a lot down since often the trees are the tallest terrain features whereas in BTW vanilla gen its usually mountains. I like you lean a little more 'purist' when it comes to the game balance but the lighting tweak addon is one I've used simply because if you want to settle in a tall forest for your base, it won't be a tall forest by the time you've spent a few thunderstorms there, and the gold requirement to protecting it all is significant. In my current play through I do not have lighting disabled...I'm trying out what a scorched earth landscape might look like and see if I can accept it. Or I'll just establish a base away from trees...idk I'm only a few days into this one.

[Soupy Delicious]

-snip-

Cheers for the response, man! It helps. So, you can spend more time 'stuck' in a certain type of biome... so, that's a pretty significant change on FC's ethos, as I remember him saying that he carefully designed the size of biomes and whatnot.

Also, one thing that puts me well off the really big, tall trees is that you can't really harvest them unless you enjoy seeing your world littered with awkward looking floating trees... which is sort of a no-go for me. Ight, so now I'm coming off as picky and snobby. I did warn y'all that I'm a bit of a purist =P

[Pot_Tx]

Hello, I've got Better Terrain and Better Biomes addon v3.2.0 installed, and encountered a bug where 4 red sand piles produce 4 red sand slabs when crafted.