I need some tips on lighting up an area. Basically I am building a mob trap under the ground, and I want to light up the surface so nothing will spawn there.
I have considered building this elsewhere (on an ocean) but I want to try this underground.
Lighting up the caves will be the next chalange. I have already dough trough the last 20 levels and collected large amounts of resources doing so and placing random touches along the way. This week I want to focus on the surface.
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So the surface I want to light up is 256 x 256 blocks. I have removed all the trees and filled up all the deep holes. There are still some uneven parts that i want to leave in place if it is possible.
Correct me if I am wrong here, I have just been playing this:
Ok I guess if this was a flat surface I would put a torch every 13th block right?? I place a torch, count 12 blocks, and place one on the next block, and so on. Now some area's are 2-6 blocks higher or lower, do the same rules still apply??? Some area's are a little higher, and just at the end is a mountain of about 15 blocks. How would I light up that.
Secondly, I actually want to use glowstone instead of torches. Do the same rules apply there?
The number you need to pay attention to is rl (real light) as long as this is high enough mobs cannot spawn.
Best Answer
First, take note of some information about light-emitting blocks from the Minecraft wiki:
This means that if you wanted to light up a horizontal line of blocks such that the light level was 8 or higher everywhere on the line (to prevent most hostile mob spawning), you could place torches along the line with 12 blocks between them, or glowstone blocks along the line with 14 blocks between them.
Now, moving vertically will decrease the amount of light as well, also by one for each block moved. This would mean that if you moved 3 blocks horizontally, then 3 blocks vertically from a torch, the light level will drop by 6 to a value of 8. So, you could just count the number of blocks you have moved both horizontally and vertically from a source to figure out what the light level has dropped to and when you need to place another light source. I believe once you reach a count of N-1 blocks from the light source (where N is the light level of the source) is when you should place another one.
A potentially easier alternative to counting is to use the debug screen (press F3) to track light levels. This will show you a bunch of stats, like so:
The number to pay attention to is the one I circled labeled "bl", which stands for block light. This is the light level due to sources other than the sun and the moon as measured at your head level. This means that if you place a torch on the ground, then stand in the same spot, you will get bl = 13, since your head is one block above the light source.
Using this may make it easier for you to lay out your light sources and to check where you may have some dark spots. I use it often inside my structures to make sure I have lit them up appropriately.