Iron Farm Bug

[frobalt]

So, I've been building an iron farm, and noticed that the golems could spawn in the cells, so I lowered the roof so that there is only a 2 high-gap for villagers. Iron golems require a height of 3 to spawn, yet they are still able to spawn in the cells. http://i.imgur.com/hzmqsM5.jpg

Has anyone else that's built an iron farm encountered this bug?

[gavin1928374655]

Happens in my farm, there is a way to fix it. If I catch you in game I can help.

[tiggy26668]

the problem is that they can spawn inside transparent blocks, in this case glass.

to resolve this issue replace the 4 center glass blocks on ur villager cells with cobblestone or some other non-transparent block, then cover with half slabs to prevent spawning on top of the cell.

n problem solved.

[frobalt]

the problem is that they can spawn inside transparent blocks, in this case glass.

to resolve this issue replace the 4 center glass blocks on ur villager cells with cobblestone or some other non-transparent block, then cover with half slabs to prevent spawning on top of the cell.

n problem solved.

I thought that might be the case. That's gonna take a while to do. It's 17 cells total to transform.

[frobalt]

the problem is that they can spawn inside transparent blocks, in this case glass.

to resolve this issue replace the 4 center glass blocks on ur villager cells with cobblestone or some other non-transparent block, then cover with half slabs to prevent spawning on top of the cell.

n problem solved.

Sorry for the double post but I just want to check...If I place half-slabs on top of my normal blocks, will it prevent golems spawning in the wrong place?

[tiggy26668]

the problem is that they can spawn inside transparent blocks, in this case glass.

to resolve this issue replace the 4 center glass blocks on ur villager cells with cobblestone or some other non-transparent block, then cover with half slabs to prevent spawning on top of the cell.

n problem solved.

Sorry for the double post but I just want to check...If I place half-slabs on top of my normal blocks, will it prevent golems spawning in the wrong place?

Well golems, and any mob for that matter can't spawn on top of half slabs.

So yes they would prevent spawning in the wrong spots, and I'd recommend covering everything outside the spawning pads with them.

[frobalt]

the problem is that they can spawn inside transparent blocks, in this case glass.

to resolve this issue replace the 4 center glass blocks on ur villager cells with cobblestone or some other non-transparent block, then cover with half slabs to prevent spawning on top of the cell.

n problem solved.

Sorry for the double post but I just want to check...If I place half-slabs on top of my normal blocks, will it prevent golems spawning in the wrong place?

Well golems, and any mob for that matter can't spawn on top of half slabs.

So yes they would prevent spawning in the wrong spots, and I'd recommend covering everything outside the spawning pads with them.

I pretty much have now. Hopefully it does improve the rate somewhat.

Edit: Looks like that theory is wrong. Is there nothing golem's don't spawn on?

http://i.imgur.com/r8b1mk4.jpg

[gavin1928374655]

To increase the rates you need a rail track to properly load all 27 cells, ask tiggy when he is in game to help. The trick is when you stand on one side of the track the far cell remains loaded

[frobalt]

Is creating a track that visits all on the bottom layer enough or does it need to visit all layers?

[gavin1928374655]

Not what I meant, its a circle track around the middle cell that loads all the chunks of the farm at once

[frobalt]

Not what I meant, its a circle track around the middle cell that loads all the chunks of the farm at once

That's what I was thinking, although does it have to be the middle cell of the second layer (so middle of the whole farm) or could it just be a circle around the bottom middle?

[tiggy26668]

Not what I meant, its a circle track around the middle cell that loads all the chunks of the farm at once

That's what I was thinking, although does it have to be the middle cell of the second layer (so middle of the whole farm) or could it just be a circle around the bottom middle?

things are only technically loaded within 128 blocks spherical around the player, for example my iron farm stretches from y:64 to y:256

which means that if i placed a track around the bottom layer the top 64 blocks wouldn't load.

i'm not sure about the size of your iron farm but the general idea is to at all times keep every cell within 128 blocks of where you are.

in my case i don't need a track and could stand at the center doing nothing because i designed it so everything was within 128 blocks from the center, but ridding a minecart is more entertaining and helps with making it automatic...

so to answer your question: if the upper most cells are more than 128 blocks from the bottom middle that you're talking about, then you would need to go higher, otherwise you're ok.

on a side note: the regular far render distance loads out 128 blocks which can make it easier to see visually what's loaded from where you're standing, however if you use optifine the "maximum" render distance loads beyond 128 blocks, though no mobs of any kind will spawn farther than 128 blocks.

[frobalt]

I've been confused about how the game handles what is loaded and what isn't.

The wiki claims it is a 10 chunk radius, making it 11x11 chunks. Each chunk is 16x256x16. Based off this, you'd think everything along the Y-axis within that chunk radius would have loaded.


My iron farm has been created as small as it could be, which each lateral farm being 85 blocks apart from their centres and 70 from the bottom in the y direction.

The track I've built around the middle cell should be enough, but the rate still feels a bit small to me. Might be I'm being a bit impatient though.

[gavin1928374655]

I've been confused about how the game handles what is loaded and what isn't.

The wiki claims it is a 10 chunk radius, making it 11x11 chunks. Each chunk is 16x256x16. Based off this, you'd think everything along the Y-axis within that chunk radius would have loaded.


My iron farm has been created as small as it could be, which each lateral farm being 85 blocks apart from their centres and 70 from the bottom in the y direction.

The track I've built around the middle cell should be enough, but the rate still feels a bit small to me. Might be I'm being a bit impatient though.

each village is 32 blocks from its center, in the iron farm each villages center is the 2x2 area in the middle of the water. by moving 32 blocks away from that you could technically have the border of another village. Being as villagers change and fluctuation it is necessary to have several blocks inebetween each. To be safe i have 58 blocks from edge to edge. So more than enough from each center.

Also, when riding the track do not leave to check your iron every 10 mins. Since each village is on a 6 minute schedule it takes 6 minutes to fully start the farm. After the 6 minute start it is imperative to the rates that you keep each village loaded with the rail or if the farm is perfectly spaced like mine and tiggys just staying in the center. By leaving the farm and unloading some cells within the 6 minute schedule it will take another 6mins to fully get the farms rates again. Also your farm has 2 cells flowing into 1 then flowing into the middle. This will reduce rates, what i mean:
(Ignore the very rough sketch )

each golem entering the starred cells will slow down the cell, being as it detects a golem within its 32 blocks range it does not feel the need to spawn a new golem. You can fix this by lowering all the collection water flows 11 blocks from each cell (when a golem drops 10 blocks it disconects) but this wont entirely fix it. The most efficient way of killing golems would be dropping each stack of 3 cells (their golems) down more than 32 blocks into lava, then having the items moved into the middle via hoppers into a central elevator where they are collected. Or using the array of water canals like tiggy has: http://smp.opticraft.net/map/#/3238/64/1221/-1/2/0

Tl;Dr: Dont leave to check iron every few minutes, make the water canals more efficient. Hope these tips helped, i am considering the lava and hopper thing for my farm.

[tiggy26668]

something else to consider:

if the holes through which your golems drop to leave the cells is only a 2x2 or 3x3 hole i'd recommend making it more like 5x5 or 6x6 otherwise there's a pretty good chance that you'll get a double spawn of golems and they'll sit at the hole bouncing off each other and never falling down. this will drastically kill the spawn rates since they never leave the villages.