New Map Format (1.2)

[Tobs]

Looking good, in the next update there should be an increase of world height, hopefully less lag and ironed out bugfixes and coding plus a lot of other cool stuff too (mobs, AI etc.)

Some changes to world generation/map format:

•     Maximum build height has been increased to 256 (was 128)
•     Empty sections of the world are not loaded into memory
•     Block ids have been increased to 4096 (was 256) by adding a 4 bit data layer (similar to how meta data is stored)
•     Block ordering have been changed from x/z/y to y/z/x in order to improve compression
•     Packets for sending chunks have been updated (a full 128-high chunk is smaller than the old format, and a chunk with lots of empty space is much smaller)
•     Biomes are saved per x/z column, which means they can be altered by tools

The maps should automatically update with the update, so hopefully no worries there.
Also, read the full artical here http://www.mojang.com/2012/02/14/new-minecraft-map-format-anvil/

Should be good to see what people can get out of this new world limit, and can't wait to see the new structures raise to the skyline
What do you think about this next update, what are you wanting to build, what you don't like or whatever?
FULL LIST OF UPDATES

[DJAlphaWolf]

For a lot of us, this is a pretty significant update! I'm excited!

[Raichor]

will a map reset be required?

[Tobs]

will a map reset be required?

Not necessarily, you can just update your world (same for the server) to the new generator and it should keep all the world info - though it is reccomended to update fully.

[clawstrider]

will a map reset be required?

From what I understand, for these features, no, for jungles and cats, yes. I could be wrong.

[Persianskitty]

Zombie Pigmen have a rare chance to drop a Golden Helmet, Gold Ingot, Golden Sword, or an Enchanted Golden Sword.
Zombies have a rare chance to drop an Iron Ingot, Iron Helmet, Iron Shovel, or Iron Sword, thus making iron a renewable resource.

I wonder if there is a way to remove those items from the drops, because that could be a problem if someone made a zombie farm and went afk for a few hours.

[clawstrider]

Zombie Pigmen have a rare chance to drop a Golden Helmet, Gold Ingot, Golden Sword, or an Enchanted Golden Sword.
Zombies have a rare chance to drop an Iron Ingot, Iron Helmet, Iron Shovel, or Iron Sword, thus making iron a renewable resource.

I wonder if there is a way to remove those items from the drops, because that could be a problem if someone made a zombie farm and went afk for a few hours.

Its quicker to mine.

[SpikeyThorn]

Zombie Pigmen have a rare chance to drop a Golden Helmet, Gold Ingot, Golden Sword, or an Enchanted Golden Sword.
Zombies have a rare chance to drop an Iron Ingot, Iron Helmet, Iron Shovel, or Iron Sword, thus making iron a renewable resource.

I wonder if there is a way to remove those items from the drops, because that could be a problem if someone made a zombie farm and went afk for a few hours.

Its quicker to mine.

Not necessarily, i own a Zombie XP farm, i could easily convert it into a drop farm, and thus, get all that stuff, as it's under my house, i dont need to stand near it for ages, just stay around it. And all i need is to go down every 30 mins, and reap the rewards from doing merely nothing, hopefully they would create a plugin, or make it in the server config to change the chance of drop, or remove them at all.

[Tobs]

Well, the chance for it to drop thoses items are pretty slim and as claw said, it probably would be a lot quicker to mine. Yet if this is a problem, it might be easy to remove the item drops.

[Complicated_Name]

Im pumped for the update, but would as other people said, will we still be able to have the jungle and the jungle cats?

[Nick3306]

Im pumped for the update, but would as other people said, will we still be able to have the jungle and the jungle cats?

Not without a map reset.

[Your_Mine]

Im pumped for the update, but would as other people said, will we still be able to have the jungle and the jungle cats?

Not without a map reset.

Would it be possible to generate 1.2 map biomes outside of the 3k x 3k map area, then copy them into the usable area?  The rough edges could be smoothed out with worldedit.  Of course, that's assuming optical and/or admins have the ability to go outside the 3k area.
Just an idea, I know it's kind of a band-aid approach, but it could allow people to use the jungle biome without resetting the map entirely.

[Complicated_Name]

Im pumped for the update, but would as other people said, will we still be able to have the jungle and the jungle cats?

Not without a map reset.

Would it be possible to generate 1.2 map biomes outside of the 3k x 3k map area, then copy them into the usable area?  The rough edges could be smoothed out with worldedit.  Of course, that's assuming optical and/or admins have the ability to go outside the 3k area.
Just an idea, I know it's kind of a band-aid approach, but it could allow people to use the jungle biome without resetting the map entirely.

That would be very nice if we could do that

[Tobs]

Would it be possible to generate 1.2 map biomes outside of the 3k x 3k map area, then copy them into the usable area?  The rough edges could be smoothed out with worldedit.  Of course, that's assuming optical and/or admins have the ability to go outside the 3k area.
Just an idea, I know it's kind of a band-aid approach, but it could allow people to use the jungle biome without resetting the map entirely.

The method you are saying would not happen, but on the subject Jens (or notch) already said you need a whole new world in order to have the new biomes. But that was a while ago, before the new generator was announced so at the moment I don't know about it.

[Mr_Mr_Mr]

Zombie Pigmen have a rare chance to drop a Golden Helmet, Gold Ingot, Golden Sword, or an Enchanted Golden Sword.
Zombies have a rare chance to drop an Iron Ingot, Iron Helmet, Iron Shovel, or Iron Sword, thus making iron a renewable resource.

I wonder if there is a way to remove those items from the drops, because that could be a problem if someone made a zombie farm and went afk for a few hours.

How is it a problem, it is the reality of the game.