12 votes

Minecraft's "Super Duper Graphics Pack" has been cancelled

20 comments

  1. [15]
    alexandria
    Link
    I have a HP Pavillion laptop from five or six years ago. It no longer runs minecraft, despite having a Core i5 processor, Eight whole gigabytes of RAM, and an Intel 'iris' graphics card. I have an...

    I have a HP Pavillion laptop from five or six years ago. It no longer runs minecraft, despite having a Core i5 processor, Eight whole gigabytes of RAM, and an Intel 'iris' graphics card.

    I have an X200 from 2009 consisting of a Dual Core processor, and 8 gigabytes of RAM. It runs minetest ridiculously fast. I have even modified the settings to double the typical render distance and my laptop copes with it with much grace.

    It's entirely possible to rewrite the Minecraft engine to run blazing fast, but it won't increase their bottom line so they won't bother.

    I'm very certain that you could implement such a graphics pack as an addon for minetest without the same performance difficulties.

    6 votes
    1. [6]
      stu2b50
      Link Parent
      They did though, most people on PC just play on the original java version because it has better modding support and a larger community as a result. Also it would increase their bottom line; the...

      It's entirely possible to rewrite the Minecraft engine to run blazing fast

      They did though, most people on PC just play on the original java version because it has better modding support and a larger community as a result.

      Also it would increase their bottom line; the more people that can run minecraft, the more people buy it, the more money.

      7 votes
      1. [5]
        Emerald_Knight
        Link Parent
        Modding support and community aren't the only reasons (although they're admittedly probably the biggest reasons). In rewriting the engine, they also changed how redstone behaves, so the wealth of...

        Modding support and community aren't the only reasons (although they're admittedly probably the biggest reasons). In rewriting the engine, they also changed how redstone behaves, so the wealth of knowledge of redstone contraptions over the years has been made largely irrelevant to the non-Java versions. Even if we discount that, the changes at least make redstone more of a chore to work with. For serious redstone builders, those changes are considered unacceptable.

        Personally, I found that one of the biggest changes that made redstone a headache to work with in the Windows 10 version was the removal of quasi-connectivity. Contraptions that were once incredibly simple to make in the Java version suddenly required 10x as much redstone to build (not exaggerating here). It just wasn't worth it to me to put in so much extra effort to make small contraptions work correctly.

        10 votes
        1. Wes
          Link Parent
          Quasi-connectivity was useful. But it also... kind of sucked? It was easy to accidentally created BUD-powered devices without meaning to. That led to some very hard to track down bugs. Once they...

          Quasi-connectivity was useful. But it also... kind of sucked? It was easy to accidentally created BUD-powered devices without meaning to. That led to some very hard to track down bugs.

          Once they added observer blocks, quasi-connectivity had served its major purpose.

          2 votes
        2. [3]
          SunSpotter
          Link Parent
          Interesting. In what way did they change redstone behavior? I'm not a serious redstone builder in comparison to some of the crazy contraptions I see out there. Just simple I/O circuits controlled...

          Interesting. In what way did they change redstone behavior? I'm not a serious redstone builder in comparison to some of the crazy contraptions I see out there. Just simple I/O circuits controlled by a couple of logic gates at most.

          I'd find it really odd if they changed how you set up even basic logic gates, because that seems...odd. To say the least.

          1 vote
          1. Emerald_Knight
            Link Parent
            A big one is the aforementioned quasi-connectivity. This allowed for, for example, two vertically-stacked pistons (with the piston ends facing out to any side), a solid block on top of them, and...

            A big one is the aforementioned quasi-connectivity. This allowed for, for example, two vertically-stacked pistons (with the piston ends facing out to any side), a solid block on top of them, and some powered redstone on top, and would end up powering both of the pistons. The engine rework, however, made it so that only the one piston would be activated. Thus a redstone contraption that would ordinarily work with redstone built on top of it in the Java version could require needing to build redstone both on top of and below it in the Windows 10 version. A redstone contraption that would've ordinarily worked in the Java version with top and bottom circuitry due to quasi-connectivity might end up not working at all in the Windows 10 version because central components would no longer be reached.

            Basic logic gates aren't affected as far as I'm aware, but I'd be willing to bet that some of the designs rely pretty heavily on the existence of quasi-connectivity in order to maintain simplicity and reduced space requirements.

            5 votes
          2. Wes
            Link Parent
            Logic gates work the same way. As far as I know it's basically just quasi-connectivity (as /u/Emerald_Knight mentioned above) and some weird timing edge cases. The kind of stuff that you shouldn't...

            Logic gates work the same way. As far as I know it's basically just quasi-connectivity (as /u/Emerald_Knight mentioned above) and some weird timing edge cases. The kind of stuff that you shouldn't be relying on due to undefined behaviour anyway.

            2 votes
    2. [6]
      Whom
      Link Parent
      Is this the Java version or the rewrite that it can't run? The rewrite is much faster, though not desirable for other reasons (mods).

      Is this the Java version or the rewrite that it can't run? The rewrite is much faster, though not desirable for other reasons (mods).

      5 votes
      1. [4]
        Octofox
        Link Parent
        It also has no linux build.

        It also has no linux build.

        5 votes
        1. [2]
          Whom
          Link Parent
          You can get it running from the mobile version but it's a pain in the ass.

          You can get it running from the mobile version but it's a pain in the ass.

          1 vote
          1. Octofox
            Link Parent
            Or you can just use the java version. Its no wonder the java one is more popular when its better in every single way other than speed.

            Or you can just use the java version. Its no wonder the java one is more popular when its better in every single way other than speed.

            8 votes
        2. chembliss
          Link Parent
          You mean the rewrite or minetest?

          You mean the rewrite or minetest?

      2. alexandria
        Link Parent
        Which do you think is available on linux

        Which do you think is available on linux

    3. Wes
      Link Parent
      Isn't this exactly what they did? Bedrock reimplemented the entire Java game.

      It's entirely possible to rewrite the Minecraft engine to run blazing fast, but it won't increase their bottom line so they won't bother.

      Isn't this exactly what they did? Bedrock reimplemented the entire Java game.

      3 votes
    4. NaraVara
      Link Parent
      I don’t know. If they want to go in on games as service and start charging a subscription fee to run it on the cloud, performance could be worth a lot.

      It's entirely possible to rewrite the Minecraft engine to run blazing fast, but it won't increase their bottom line so they won't bother.

      I don’t know. If they want to go in on games as service and start charging a subscription fee to run it on the cloud, performance could be worth a lot.

  2. [2]
    bleemed
    Link
    Probably waiting on the next round of consoles now? Just speculation on my part but maybe they want to release a "remaster" for the new consoles.

    the pack proved too technically demanding to implement as planned.

    Probably waiting on the next round of consoles now? Just speculation on my part but maybe they want to release a "remaster" for the new consoles.

    2 votes
    1. nothis
      Link Parent
      No way we'll ever know but I have a suspicion this is one of the ways Microsoft's purchase interfered Minecraft's development. We already got mandatory Xbox account integration, the "Windows 10"...

      No way we'll ever know but I have a suspicion this is one of the ways Microsoft's purchase interfered Minecraft's development. We already got mandatory Xbox account integration, the "Windows 10" edition (now bedrock?) finally dropping Java but being quasi-Windows exclusive, different versions of Minecraft existing at all and while the "super duper graphics pack" was probably never more than some gimmicky shader toy, I bet they delayed it because they build it around raytracing or something and deemed it too embarrassing if the Xbox One X couldn't run it.

      3 votes
  3. [3]
    Deimos
    (edited )
    Link
    Here's the E3 2017 trailer where this was revealed as "Coming this Fall": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyr3XZrZssk&t=60

    Here's the E3 2017 trailer where this was revealed as "Coming this Fall": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vyr3XZrZssk&t=60

    1. [2]
      Grzmot
      Link Parent
      It's not available for me (EU). Maybe they deleted it to eat their shame.

      It's not available for me (EU). Maybe they deleted it to eat their shame.

      1 vote
      1. Deimos
        Link Parent
        Huh, so they did. Edited my link to point to another copy on the official Minecraft channel instead of the Xbox one. Thanks for pointing it out!

        Huh, so they did. Edited my link to point to another copy on the official Minecraft channel instead of the Xbox one. Thanks for pointing it out!