Minecraft Guide And FAQ - Guide for Minecraft

Scroll down to read our guide named "Minecraft Guide And FAQ" for Minecraft on Wii U (WiiU), or click the above links for more cheats.

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      FAQ/Strategy Guide by SovereignRCT/RCTking

  About 16000 people served. That's over 9000 people!

 _________________________________________________________
/                                                         \
|          T A B L E   O F   C O N T E N T S              |
\_________________________________________________________/
/                                                         \
|   Version History.............................0000      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|   Basics of Minecraft.........................0001      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|   Minecraft Skills............................0002      |
|       Mining/Collecting.......................0003      |
|           Minecarts...........................003a      |
|           Minecart Tracks.....................003b      |
|       Crafting................................0004      |
|           Dyeing Wool.........................004a      |
|       Exploring + Gathering...................0005      |
|       Building................................0006      |
|       Misc....................................0007      |
|           Redstone Circuitry..................007a      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|   Blocks: Purposes and Uses...................0008      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|   Mobs........................................0009      |
|   Surviving the First Night...................0010      |
|   The Nether..................................0011      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|   Items.......................................0012      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|   Mods and Texture Packs......................0013      |
|   Future Update Rumors........................0014      |
|---------------------------------------------------------|
|   FAQ.........................................0015      |
|   Credits.....................................0016      |
|   Legal + Contact Stuff.......................0017      |
\_________________________________________________________/


 ______  ____________________
/      \/                    \
| 0000 |   Version History   |
\______/\____________________/


Version 0.1 - Bare Bones (January 3, 2011)

Began work on the guide! I took care of the most likely things people would
want to know right away. Things such as Basics, Skills, the basic Blocks, 
and how to survive the first night of gameplay. Items and such were left out
because the complete beginner can grasp the conceopts of the main items just
by reading the guide so far. In later updates I'll add stuff to missing
sections and make the Table of Contents better.


Version 0.2 - Fixes and Additions (January 6, 2011)

I received an email from Yakkity Yak concerning my pickaxe recipe screw-up.
I have fixed it now and Yakkity Yak has earned a spot in my credits list. This
update will focus on some stuff about the Nether, since my recent experiments
concerned it primarily. Item section updates in the future!


Version 0.3 - Items Section Started (January 7, 2011)

Finally began the Items section, however it's extremely limited right at the
moment. Just a few necessary recipes. Added things to the Mods and Texture
Packs section. The guide can now be found on neoseeker.com as I gave them
permission to host it, but it'll likely not be as up-to-date as the one on
gamefaqs.


Version 0.4 - Beta v1.2 out (January 15, 2011)

A few days ago Minecraft Beta updated to version 1.2, which added in a heap of
new things. You can now dye wool from sheep, among other things. These changes
will be detailed in their appropriate sections. Neoseeker doesn't seem to have
my guide up yet, so I'll have to look into that. I also added a subsection
under 'Crafting' for dyeing wool. It's called 'Dyeing Wool' appropriately
enough. It deserved it's own section in my opinion. I also added a 'Future
Update Rumors' section. In this I'll put what's rumored to be in future
updates, such as new mobs, new items, etc.

List of new features:
15 New Wool dyes
Squid as a water mob
Lapis Lazuli added as an ore (EXTREMELY RARE IN GAME)
Birch + Redwood + some other type of tree added
Reeds are now sugar cane (still make paper somehow)
Cake (yes, it is not a lie)
Note Blocks: tuned with right-click, played using redstone dust trail trigger,
             can be tuned through two octaves of notes
New Paintings


Version 0.5 - New Discovery, Blocks Section Update (January 17, 2011)

Today I discovered that you can make Charcoal as a coal substitute. I will
explain how to do this in the 'Crafting' section. Also, I did some work on the
'Blocks' section, making it better, but there's still a lot to do for it. All
I did for it for right now is add some blocks and listed some basic uses. In
the future, I will make more detailed descriptions. I added some stuff about
the Nether, and some other various things.


Version 0.6 - Mob section is now much better (January 20, 2011)

I overhauled the Mobs section to make it better. Now the Mobs are listed with
not only what they do, but what you can do with them and they're applicable
secondary effects (ex: dropping items). I've also put in some new info that's
come to me through emails of readers. Keep them coming! I need to make this 
guide as great as possible, which is only possible with feedback and
suggestions from you guys.


Version 0.7 - Large, long-awaited, much needed update (February 16, 2011)

It's been a little while since I updated the guide. I had exams at school, so
studying has taken up my time entirely (it's a shame, cutting into Minecraft
and Starcraft II time). Also, I've had other things that preoccupied my time
since exams, and all I've been able to do is pick away at this.
But now I'm back, and the guide is bigger, better, and now more widespread 
than ever. I've granted some more requests for hosting the
guide on other sites, and they'll be in the legal stuff section. I've added a
new sub-section for Redstone Circuitry (under the Misc section, but it'll be
in the table of contents with it's own search code). I also added some things
on bonemeal (neat stuff), underwater lighting, the Nether's step ratio,
minecarts, the recipe for the cake (and some more info on it as well), and how
the iron door works. Bonemeal stuff is in the Misc section, underwater
lighting and iron doors are in the Building section, the Nether step stuff is
in the Nether section, and minecarts have their own section under Mining.

I also updated the legal stuff. I'm implementing an apology system for people
that steal my guide. If you steal it, and I find out, then I will confront
you. If you apologize, then ask me to host the guide, I will allow it.
However, if you frequently do this, then you're apologies will be considered
empty to me and you'll never host any of my guides again. Think of it as a
"three strikes, you're out" kind of thing. This is so people who had a random
lapse in intelligence can have a second chance. People that use the guide, and
claim it as their own work, don't get the apology option. They are immediately
and permanently banned from using my guides ever. So, take this whole rant as
a dire warning, because while I'm quite lenient, I only take it so far.


Version 0.71 - New host permissions (February 18, 2011)

Just some additions to the list of people who have permission to host my
guide. It might be going onto a Fortune 100 website soon! That'll give it some
great recognition. But I can't take full credit for this opportunity. All of
this recognition was made possible by you guys, my loyal, patient readers. If
you didn't read it and give it an audience, than it would have been pointless.
So, great thanks is in order for all!


Version 0.8 - Minecraft Beta 1.3 is out (March 14, 2011)

A while ago Notch released Beta v1.3. This has a number of general bugfixes,
as well as adding some new things in. There are three new kinds of half-blocks
and now we have beds. Yep, beds. If everyone on a server "sleeps" in a bed,
then the night goes instantly to day. This is also in single player mode, so 
now you can skip a night out with those dreadful lethal mobs and relax it 
away. I will have recipes for those half-blocks in a later update, once I find
out what they are.
With v1.3, there is a new save type for maps. Meaning old maps have to be
converted. This can be done offline through your game launcher. You can now 
have more than five  saved worlds! So for those people that had a ton of world
juggling that they had to do, they need not worry any longer. It's a fantastic
change, and one that I personally welcome.
A apologize for the long periods between updates. I've had a ton to do over
the last while, and unfortunately I have to do these things before I can work
on the guide.


Version 0.9 - Amendments and a warning to readers (March 19, 2011)

Hello faithful readers! None of you are likely aware of this, but recently I
had someone steal my guide and claim it as their own. I tried to resolve the
whole thing, but it went nowhere. Fortunately, the person who stole the guide
posted it on some obscure backwater website that doesn't even have a link to
the guide. Not only that, but a search with all major search engines (Google,
Bing, etc.) turn up with nothing about the stolen copy of the guide. The 
screen name of this thief is El Gruntox. I would recommend that readers of 
this legitimate guide avoid his. He even misspelled "Copyright" as "Copyrigth"
and honestly did a poor job of covering over my legal stuff.
But enough about that minor travesty, I have a legit guide to update for the
true, respectful readers of my guide! This update includes some additions to
the list of sites allowed to host my guide (as well as my first blacklist 
entry, ha). There are also some ammendments to things concerning Ghasts and
Gold records. I've also decided to put in the new recipes for slabs (new half
blocks that came in the Beta v1.3 update). Also, Notch is putting Wolves in
the Beta v1.4 update when it comes out. Info on them will be in the Rumors
section. I saw a youtube video from one of Notch's programmers, the wolves
look awesome. I'll put up the address to the video in the Rumors section as
well. Oh, and before I forget, I added a mini article on Sneaking (an
incredibly useful skill) that was written for me by a reader named Narfnin. He
did a great job on the mini article, and to recognize that I'm using it
word-for-word, and giving him full credit for it. It is under the Exploring +
Gathering section.


Version 0.91 - New confirmed rumors, added a mob (March 28, 2011)

Today is just a minor update to the Rumors section. There are confirmed wolves
for the next update, and it appears that you tame them with bones. Also there
is the ability to change your spawn point, and a new acievements and stat
tracker system. It sounds like it'll be pretty awesome when it comes out.
Also, a man named Bruce Ragas pointed out that I forgot about the Slime mob. 
It's now in the Mobs section of the guide.


Version 0.92 - Beta v1.4 & v1.5 released, v1.6 confirmations (May 14, 2011)

I'm very sorry to all for the length between updates. I've been very, very
busy over the last while, so I haven't been able to do this guide for quite
some time. Unfortunately, since I've had little time to work on the guide,
this update won't have much in the way of new things. I don't have new recipes
yet, but I do have what Notch implemented in the previous Beta releases. I 
will add the recipes next update (luckily it's not too much). Also, I've fixed
errors in certain sections. Also, this guide is now on cheathappens.com (they
asked me a few days ago). Notch has made the game run better on slow and old
computers, and on my competent laptop I've noticed quite an improvement in
performance (finally).

Below are the lists of the new features for the respective Betas:

BETA V1.4

- Wolves added. Can be tamed with Bones. If you kill them they give no loot.
  Better to tame them anyways because they attack hostile mobs for you. Feed
  them pork chops regularly-ish.
- Cookies - heals half a heart of health
- If you sneak (check your controls in-game) while on a ladder, you stay in
  place. Very useful.
- Sheep can now spawn in pink and brown, though this is rare (I have seen a
  pink sheep in my game so I can confirm this)
- Cocoa beans can be found in dungeon chests
- Wheat grows faster
- Beds now reset your spawn point like they're supposed to
- various bugfixes

BETA V1.5

- Weather added. Snow in, well, snowy places. Rain everywhere else.
- Achievements are finally here! I will include a relevant section when I can
- New items: detector rail (minecart track), powered rail, and birch/pine
  saplings (the items that trees drop)
- New item: Web. Can't be found naturally. I imagine it has something to do
  with Spiders.
- If lightning strikes a pig, it becomes a Zombie Pigman
- If lightning strikes a Creeper, it becomes electrified and makes a much
  larger explosion.
- other bugfixes

Notch is working on Beta v1.6. It will include bugfixes and maps. The maps 
will be in the Rumors section if you want to take a look at what I've found
out about them.





 ______  ________________________
/      \/                        \
| 0001 |   Basics of Minecraft   |
\______/\________________________/


I'll start you off with some back story to the game. Minecraft is a game
created by a guy named Notch. It is a giant sandbox style game. For those who
don't know what a sandbox game is, it is a type of game where the player is
free to play the game however they choose. There are no goals set by the game,
no missions, nothing. You decide how to procede through the game.

The game at the time of writing is in beta. You can buy it for about
20 Euros. I'm not going to waste time by converting that to monetary units
for other places; you can do that yourself. If you pre-bought the game
while it was in Alpha, you get the updates at no extra cost.
There is also a "classic" mode to play online on the Minecraft site. It is
free to play, but very much outdated. I recommend playing that to see if you
like it, before shelling out the money to buy the game. You can also join
multiplayer servers to fiddle around with other people. I don't have much
experience regarding this, but I'm pretty sure that there are two kinds of
servers: build and survival. Build is just a bunch of people building (and
destroying) stuff for the sake of building and destroying stuff. Survival
is a fight to survive against mobs (covered later along in the guide). I
won't go into any detail about multiplayer, having next to no knowledge about
it. This guide will focus on the beta version of the game.

Now, for the actual basics of gameplay. You're main objectives within the game
are to collect blocks to build shelters, tools, etc. You can collect, or
"mine" these blocks by hitting them by hand or with tools until they break. A
smaller version of the block will then appear. It can be collected by walking
up to it. I'll go in to further detail about this in the next section.

Of course, you need to know how to move around right? The controls for
Minecraft are your standard WASD controls with some action controls:

W - Move Forward
S - Move Backward
A - Move Left
D - Move Right
Left Mouse Button - used to 'mine' stuff, attack mobs with tools
Right Mouse Button - places blocks, opens chests/crafting bench/forge
I - opens your Inventory
Left Shift Key - sneak, which allows you to not fall off ledges, however if
                 you stride straight off far enough you'll fall anyways; also
                 allows you to sneak around mobs so they might not notice you.
                 Sneak also allows you to cling to a ladder and stay in place.
Numbers 1 to 9/ - select various items assigned at your disposal, details
Scroll Wheel      about this will be covered later
Move your mouse - look around
F3 Key - Look at your frame rate (FPS) and your current co-ordinates in your
         world; not as important
F Key - toggle fog level, which can help with game lag
ESC Key - auto-saves your world, allows access to the options menu

There are four difficulty levels in Minecraft: Peaceful, Easy, Normal, and
Hard. Peaceful does not spawn any mobs at night, aside from ones that won't
hurt you (pigs, cows, chickens, sheep). People generally don't like this
option because it removes the challenge, but use it if you want. I only use it
if I'm building something large and don't want to be interrupted, otherwise I
just leave it on Normal. The other three levels - Easy, Normal, and Hard - are
different in that they spawn a larger number of harmful mobs, and that these
mobs are harder to kill and they do more damage to you as the difficulty goes
up.

If you die in game (you lose all your hearts), you'll be sent back to where
you spawned when you started the game. You lose all your items in your
inventory (none in your chests though). The items are where you died, and you
have 5 minutes to go get them again. After that, they're gone. You can
receive damage in game from mobs (harmful ones), or from falling from heights,
where the damage received is proportional to how far you fell. If you fall
from 4 blocks up (the threshold of fall damage), you barely get any damage,
and that's with no armor. If you fall from, say 30 blocks up, you'll get a ton
of damage, armor or not. High enough and you die, regardless of armor.
Needless to say, put your most important and hard-to-replace items in chests,
where they'll be safe if you die.

 ______  _____________________
/      \/                     \
| 0002 |   Minecraft Skills   |
\______/\_____________________/

There are many essential skills in Minecraft. They are outlined below.


 ______  ______________________
/      \/                      \
| 0003 |   Mining/Collecting   |
\______/\______________________/

Mining and collecting are used interchangably, but I'm going to use 'mining'
in this guide. Mining is the very essence of Minecraft, as you can probably
tell by reading the name. You need to mine materials to build shelters, tools,
weapons, and basically whatever you want.

Mining by hand can only be used on wood, dirt, and sand, as mining by hand
with any other types of block won't yield anything, the block will simply
vanish and you get nothing from it.

You need various tools in order to mine many things. You'll need a pickaxe to
mine stone and minerals (coal, iron, etc.). You can use an axe for gathering
wood, although it's not necessary. It makes the process a hell of a lot faster
though. Shovels are used for dirt. Again not necessary, but using a shovel on
dirt mines it really fast. You need a hoe to till dirt and plant seeds. Seeds
aren't all that common, but if you get some you can plant them with a hoe.

Things you build are stronger if you make them with a better material. For
example, a stone pickaxe will break much faster than a diamond one. The only
exception is gold. Don't use it to make tools, it sucks. Use it for certain
items. Tools degrade over time, and eventually break. You'll need to make new
tools all the time, which is why it's good to take a bunch with you on mining
expeditions so you don't have to run back and forth for new tools all the
time.



 ______  ______________________
/      \/                      \
| 003a |       Minecarts       |
\______/\______________________/

Minecarts are a great mode of transportation, both in your mine and overland.

They are placed on and operate on minecart tracks. There is a relevant section
on tracks below. You can make three varieties of minecarts: a normal minecart,
a powered minecart, and a storage minecart.

A normal minecart is just, well, your normal run-of-the-mill Minecraft
minecart. It lets you ride around in it along your network of tracks. They
don't have much use outside of that. Below is the recipe:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar # Ironbar # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

Powered minecarts are minecarts that push other minecarts. They consist of a
normal minecart with a forge in it. You feed coal into the forge on it to get
it to move. This is done by holding coal in your hand in-game and
right-clicking on the powered minecart. Below is the recipe for a powered
minecart:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Forge  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Minecart#         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

The last type of minecart is the storage minecart. As it's name implies, it
stores your items inside it. It's really just a mobile chest. You put items in
it in the same way you put items in a normal, stationary chest. Below is the
recipe for the storage minecart:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Chest  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Minecart#         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


 ______  ____________________
/      \/                    \
| 003b |    Minecart Tracks  |
\______/\____________________/

Minecart tracks are exactly what they sound like. You lay them down, and you
place upon them any of the minecarts mentioned above. They can go up or down
the sides of blocks in ramps in slopes ranging from very gradual to almost
vertical, breakneck, suicide slope steepness. They are placed by 
right-clicking on the ground where you want to place them. They will
automatically make corners when a piece is laid between two other pieces that
are at a 90 degree angle.

Note that minecarts collide on tracks, but you likely knew that already, or 
you could've figured it out for yourself. Below is the recipe for minecart
tracks:

MAKES 16 TRACK PIECES
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #  Stick  # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

There also used to be a minecart glitch, and I'm not sure if Notch fixed it in
an update. It used to involve making a square of track around one block, and
placing minecarts on it until they perpetually hit each other and went around
the track really fast without slowing down. You'd then put a track next to one
edge, and a minecart placed on this track got hit by the others and was
launched along it's own track really fast, and didn't slow much on even the
steepest hills.

 ______  ____________________
/      \/                    \
| 0004 |       Crafting      |
\______/\____________________/

If mining is the essence of Minecraft, crafting is the lifeblood. Without the
ability to craft tools and weapons, you'll just be a sitting duck for mobs and
you won't be able to do anything.

Crafting is when you use a workbench to make stuff. Most of the time, the
positions you put the materials in resembles the tool you'll make. In your
inventory screen, the crafting spot is the 2x2 square spot to the right of
the the picture of your character. On a workbench, you have a 3x3 space to
use. Below is a rough outline of what I mean:

###############################     #####################
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
###############################     #####################
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
#         #         #         #     #         #         #
###############################     #####################
#         #         #         #     
#         #         #         #     The Inventory Screen
#         #         #         #             Layout
#         #         #         #     
###############################     

    The Workench Layout


Now here are some examples of objects. Note that you can sub in other
materials in place of the wood I have here. So you can sub out wood for stone,
iron, or diamond. You can sub in gold also, but it's terrible as a building
material so... don't. Oh, and as a side note, when I say "wood", I mean the
planks, not the tree trunks. So keep that in mind. And when I say "produces 4
from one". I mean that one building material produces 4 of whatever you're
crafting. Only works for some things though.


PICKAXE

###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wood   #  Wood   #  wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


WOOD PLANKS (PRODUCES 4 FROM ONE)

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Tree    #         #
#         # Trunk   #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


STICKS (PRODUCES 4 FROM ONE)

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


TORCH (PRODUCES 4 FROM ONE)

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Coal   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


SHOVEL

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Wood    #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################



WORKBENCH

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


FORGE

###############################
#         #         #         #
#   CS    #   CS    #   CS    #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#   CS    #         #   CS    #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#   CS    #   CS    #   CS    #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

NOTE: CS means Cobblestone, which you get from mining regular stone.

The beginner's pickaxe will always be wood, since that is the first thing
you're likely to gather. But wood pickaxes break REALLY quickly (it makes me
wonder how a wooden pickaxe works at all...) and you'll need something better.
The first thing the beginner should mine is plain stone. This gives you
cobblestone, which can replace wood in your pickaxe recipe. It lasts MUCH
longer than wood, and it's abundant. It'll be your material of choice until
you stumble across some iron. Below is the specific recipe for a stone
pickaxe:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#   CS    #   CS    #   CS    #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

The beginner player should go for stone pickaxes as quickly as possible. Here
is a good rule of thumb: make 2-4 wooden pickaxes (depending on how much wood
you have), and use them all on stone and coal until all break. Then, make as
many stone pickaxes as you can, mine more stone, and make more pickaxes. You
may even come across a cavern in your exploits. Caverns are basically open
caves underground, many have walls lined with all sorts of good things. Use
caverns for your primary mines, since they save a lot of digging and have
plenty of room to move around.

The Workbench and your Forge are kind of the same. You "smelt" stuff in the
forge in the same manner that you craft stuff in the workbench. The forge has
it's own unique crafting interface. You have a box, which is above some wavy
lines, which in turn are above another box. The top box is for what you're
smelting. So if you put iron ore up there (the stone with brownish stuff),
you come out with iron bars, which are used to make stuff that needs iron. The
bottom box is for the fuel to burn. You can use either wood planks or coal.
Wood burns up really fast (I can only get 2-3 iron bars out of one wood), but
coal burns up slowly (8-9 iron bars from one coal). Since coal isn't that hard
to find, use it if you have a surplus. Wood is okay in a pinch, such as if 
it's nighttime and you're not on peaceful.

The list of smeltable items are as follows:

Iron
Cobblestone
Sand
Tree Trunk

I might be missing a few, but I'll add them in later if needed.

You can smelt cobblestone to make regular stone (from which you get
cobblestone normally), but it seems like a waste to me. It's up to you if you
want to use it though.

Smelting sand gives you glass. Glass is used for windows. Kind of obvious, but
you can do some neat stuff with glass. Note that torches can't be placed on
glass.

New in v1.2, you can now 'smelt' wood to get Charcoal. It works the same as
coal, in that you can use it to make torches. You gather tree wood, but do not
turn it into wood planks. Instead, you leave it in tree form, and put it in
the top square in the forge. Then 'smelt', and you have a coal replacement.
This is great in that you don't have to hope for nearby coal on the first
night, you can get 8 cobblestones and build a forge, smelt wood, and use
charcoal instead. Note that the wood 'smelted' is tree trunk.

SLABS

Below is the recipe for a Slab, the new half-block.

Note that you can sub in cobblestone or sandstone for the stone in the below
recipe. Also, the stone below is the regular stone that you mine to get
cobblestone, and that you get when you smelt said cobblestone.

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Stone  #  Stone  #  Stone  #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

 ______  __________________________
/      \/                          \
| 004a |        Dyeing Wool        |
\______/\__________________________/

I decided that this section needed to be on it's own. This was a huge and very
much wanted addition to Minecraft Beta. The online Classic version had all the
wool colours, and people really enjoyed using them.

To get dyes, you need to collect them (obviously). There are a variety of
sources, and a variety of colours. Here is a list of colours you can find from
different places:

Black - killing a Squid and getting it's ink sack (new mob in v1.2)
White - killing a Skeleton, collecting the bone(s) it drops, and making
        Bonemeal (one bone in one crafting square)
Blue - Lapis Lazuli ore (new mineable stuff in v1.2, VERY, VERY RARE)
Red - red flowers
Yellow - yellow flowers
Green - cactuses (BE CAREFUL collecting cactuses. They hurt to touch.) You
        have to smelt cacti you collect in order to obtain dye from them.

Also there are certain dyes that can only be obtained by combining colours:

Orange - red and yellow dyes
Lime - bonemeal and cactus dyes
Light blue - bonemeal and lapis lazuli
Cyan - lapis lazuli and cactus dyes
Pink - red dye and bonemeal
Purple - lapis lazuli and red dye
Magenta - pink and purple dyes
Gray - ONE bonemeal and ONE ink sack
Light Gray - TWO bonemeals and ONE ink sack (arranged in a row)

Then you just combine one dye colour with one wool block from a sheep to get
one coloured block. Apparently, you can dye a sheep and harvest the coloured
wool from them. This is a better method, since one dye can produce up to three
coloured wool blocks. I haven't tested this method myself, so if it works,
email me and I'll put it in as confirmed.


 ______  __________________________
/      \/                          \
| 0005 |   Exploring + Gathering   |
\______/\__________________________/

Exploring in Minecraft is easy. You walk around with the W A S D keys. But
there are some things you need to know to survive.

One is that lava will kill you. Yep, just like real lava. You can't swim in
lava. You can only flail about until death, or if you're near the shore you
can try to jump for it. Lava is needed for making obsidian, which I will
discuss sometime in the future, as it's an interesting block. You can make a
sea of lava around your house, but remember to make a path over it.

Another thing you need to know is how to swim in water. Gravity affects you
in water. If you go into the water, it's just like walking on land, with the
exception that you'd be drowning the whole time if you did this. To swim in
water, you need to hold down the spacebar to stay afloat. If you go under the
water, you'll notice bubbles in a row above your health hearts. These will pop
over time, and when the last one pops, you drown. So be careful.

Jumping from high up damages you. You'll see this in more detail in the
Minecraft Basics section.

You must jump to go up to blocks above you. You always jump one block high.

Gathering is essentially mining. You use a tool to gather blocks. Simple
enough. I'll put more in here later.

Now for Sneaking. I'm putting in an article that a reader named Narfnin wrote
for me, and he gets full credit and my gratitude.

**ARTICLE BY NARFNIN**

Sneaking

By holding shift, you can "sneak," which makes your screen go a bit lower and 
makes you slower. However, you can also sneak up on mobs to attack them. But 
the best part of sneaking, by far, is being able to walk over the edge of a 
block. As long as you hold shift, you will stay crouched and can easily make 
bridges and tall walls without fear of falling to death.

**END OF ARTICLE**

I should mention that you Sneak by holding the Left Shift key while walking.



 ______  _____________
/      \/             \
| 0006 |   Building   |
\______/\_____________/

Building is not the same as crafting. Some people will use the two terms
interchangably. I won't, for the purposes of this guide.

What I define as building is the creation of structures. Like a house. A house
is very essential in minecraft. It protects you from creepers and the like.

You can make a house out of wood, which is probably what you'll do first.
A wood house is suceptable to fire (from burning mobs, NOT TORCHES). You'll
need what a real house needs: walls, lighting, a door, and a roof.

Walls and the roof are pretty easy. You just scroll to the material you want,
and right-click the blocks in place. Note that it's helpful to have a way onto
the roof to assist in building.

A door must be crafted. Below is how you do it:


###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

You place a door by pointing at the ground on the square that you want the
door to sit on. A door is opened by facing it and left-clicking. Pretty simple
stuff.

You can also make iron doors. You just have to sub in iron bars/ingots for
wood in the above recipe.
An iron door is slightly different. It cannot be opened by clicking, you have
to make a wall switch or "button" to open it. A wall switch is made using the
below recipe:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Stone  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Stone  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
Note that the stone above is NOT cobblestone, it's regular stone. You have to
smelt cobblestone in a forge to get regular stone.

These are placed on the wall near the door by right-clicking on a block.
You then left-click on them and run like hell through the door, because a 
button's effect only lasts for one second. So you have to run for the door 
pretty quickly.

Lighting is just using torches. They won't burn wood, so you're safe on that.

You can build anything you want using those methods. I have a friend who made
all the Megaman game characters in the free online version. They're pretty
awesome looking I must say. He also made a castle in the beta, with a lava
fountain. Yeah, a lava fountain. I have no idea how to make one of those, but
it looks epic.

You can use lightstone to light your way underwater. It and Jack-o-lanterns
are the only light sources that work underwater. Torches get destroyed by
water. Lightstone is obtained from the Nether as "lightstone dust". You need
9 of these dust piles to make ONE block. The recipe is then pretty self-
explanatory: one lightstone dust in each of the nine squares. Since it usually
is found hanging from the ceiling in the Nether over lava seas, it's very
dangerous to go for.

Jack-o-lanterns, on the other hand, are safe to make. You need a pumpkin,
which itself looks like a jack-o-lantern besides the fact that is gives off
no light. These can be found in random places around the map, and usually in
bunches. You then use a torch to make one. Recipe is below:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Pumpkin #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Torch  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

Yeah, somehow a jack-o-lantern, with it's holes for facial features, protects
a torch from water. It's not very well thought out, but it's the best way to
light underwater safely.



 ______  _____________
/      \/             \
| 0007 |     Misc     |
\______/\_____________/

This section will be for things that don't fit anywhere else. A lot of generic
game tips will be put here.

If you are on fire, pouring a bucket of water on the ground will put you out.

Bonemeal instantly grows trees from saplings (dropped from trees when trunks
are cut out), and also instantly grows crops to full maturity for harvesting.


Boats:

You can use boats to go on the water faster than swimming. A LOT faster.

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wood   #         #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wood   #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

Compasses:

A compass points to your spawn point, which is likely near your shelter.
I can't say enough to describe how useful this is.

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Ironbar #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar # Redstone# Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Ironbar #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


Watches:

Tell the time of day, in a little day/night cycle on the watch. Useful in
mines to know if mobs will spawn while you're mining.

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Goldbar #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Goldbar # Redstone# Goldbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Goldbar #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


Gold Records:

These are found in chests in a dungeon. Dungeons are going to get their own
section soon. You know that you are near a dungeon when you hear a different
background music than usual. You can find a mob spawner in here, which could
spawn a mass of deadly mobs to attack you. Also you may find 0-2 chests, which
can contain Gold Records to play in a Jukebox. These chests are also the only
method to obtain saddles that allow you to ride pigs. You have to dig yourself
out of a dungeon usually, and you can prevent the mob spawner from working if
you line the dungeon with torches. Deadly mobs can't spawn in torchlight, so
torches render the mob spawner useless. Note that you can't simply destroy the
mob spawner. It's indestructable.


 ______  ______________________________
/      \/                              \
| 007a |       Redstone Circuitry      |
\______/\______________________________/

Redstone is not just used for making compasses and watches. It's main use is
circuitry. These circuits, powered by a redstone torch (recipe below) or a
switch (recipes below also) allow you to set off various traps. The most
common use outside of traps (but sometimes incorporated into traps) is to set
off dynamite. Now, dynamite is made from sand and sulphur/gunpowder, which you
get off of creepers that don't explode before you kill them.

Remember the Redstone is the dust you use to make compasses, not the block you
mine it from.

REDSTONE TORCH
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Redstone#         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Stick  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

STEP SWITCHES

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Wood or # Wood or # Wood or #
#  Stone  #  Stone  #  Stone  #
#         #         #         #
###############################
Note that the stone above is NOT cobblestone, it is actual stone. You have to
smelt cobblestone in a forge to get stone.

Redstone is placed in a line by holding it and right-clicking on the ground
somewhere. From here on, a "line" of redstone dust will be refered to as a
"circuit". They are the same thing, in that a circuit is a line of redstone
dust.

When redstone circuits are used with redstone torches, they are activated as
soon as the torch is placed at the end. A circuit is connected at the other
end to whatever the trap is. It must go right up to the edge of one of the
blocks that compose of the trap. So, for instance, if you're making a dynamite
explosion trap, the redstone must go right up to one dynamite block.

Here is a diagram of a simple redstone circuit:

O--------------------------------------------###
^          ^              ^                   ^
|          Redstone circuit                   |
Torch                                    Dynamite

The more common uses for traps that involve circuits are used with step
switches. These are placed on the floor to open wooden doors, but are also
used to activate redstone circuits. These must be placed at the end of a
circuit like a redstone torch. The difference is that a torch immediately
activates the circuit, whereas a switch activates it only when stepped on. The
best use for these are when mobs step on them, activating a nearby trap. One
great use for these step traps is employed in the v1.2 update. These use one
straight hallway with a step switch at one end, the redstone circuit going the
length of the hall, and a dispenser at the other end. Since a dispenser is
powered by redstone, it is a great tool to use for mob traps. You just load it
up with arrows, and it's basically an auto-fire bow. The arrows fly down the 
hall and hit the mobs at the other end to kill them.

I will add stuff to this as time goes along. I am going to experiment with
different traps and put down the ones that I think are the best.


 ______  ______________________________
/      \/                              \
| 0008 |   Blocks: Purposes and Uses   |
\______/\______________________________/

I will organize these into sections for starters. In future updates, I will
detail every block, and probably interchange some stuff.

Building materials:

Wood - used to craft workbenches, pickaxes, shovels, and hoes. Also used as
       fuel in forges, but doesn't last nearly as long as coal. Can be used to
       make stairs.
Stone - you gain cobblestone from this. Can be made by smelting cobblestone,
        but honestly I don't see the point besides some recipes. Used to craft
        buttons and pressure plates.
Cobblestone - used to craft better versions of pickaxes, shovels, and hoes.
              Can be used to craft swords for defence. Can be smelted to make
              regular stone. Used to make stone stairs. Can be used to create
              a forge and half-blocks.
Dirt - used to grow seeds into wheat. Nothing besides that really...
Glass - used for windows. Again, not much besides that.

Crafting materials:

Wood - used to craft workbenches, pickaxes, shovels, and hoes. Also used as
       fuel in forges, but doesn't last nearly as long as coal. Can be used to
       make stairs and doors.
Tree trunk - Used to make wood planks (wood). You gain 4 wood for every 1 tree
             trunk.
Stick - used to craft ladders, fences, signs, paintings, torches, levers, and
        as handles for tools (pickaxes, etc.). Used as the wood for a bow and
        the shafts of arrows. Used for fishing rods and minecart tracks.
Coal - used to craft torches and as potent, longer-lasting fuel in forges.
Stone - Used to make pressure plates and buttons.
Cobblestone - used to craft all tools, plus swords and levers. Used to make
              half-blocks, or 'steps'. Can be used to craft stairs.
Sand - smelted to make glass, and sandstone in the v1.2 update
Iron - used to craft high quality tools, swords, and armour. Makes flint and
       steel when combined with flint. Crafts buckets, compass, minecart, 
       minecart tracks, and doors.
Diamond - used to craft the highest quality tools, swords, and armour
Gold - used to craft watches. Can be used to make tools, swords, and armour,
       but the output is very low quality (does not last long at all).
Wool + Dyes - used to make nice looking fabric. I don't know yet if painting
              recipes get affected by the colour of wool.

Kind of useless, but nice to have:

Flowers - used for some dyes (red and yellow)
Mushrooms - used in making mushroom soup to restore health.

Sorry that I don't have much right now, but I need to experiment a little more
in order to make this section any good.



 ______  _____________
/      \/             \
| 0009 |      Mobs    |
\______/\_____________/

Mobs are the living creatures roaming around your minecraft world. They can
be used for many materials. There are good mobs, and bad mobs.

Note, and I'm not sure if this is true because it's just my observation: good
mobs seem to spawn more in torchlight combined with daylight. It makes sense,
as this is the opposite method from bad mobs (spawn more in more darkness).

Good mobs are your everyday, run-of-the-mill animals that run around.
The list:

Pigs

Pigs are used to acquire pork chops. You cook these to restore health. One
cooked pork chop restores 4 hearts of health.

Cows

Cows used for leather to make low-grade armor, and for milk to make cake. To
get the leather from a cow, you have to kill it. Then craft it into armour
(recipes are in the appropriate section). To get milk, you need to be holding
a bucket. Then you right click on the cow's blocky pink udder to get a bucket
of milk (best to do this from behind and below).

Chickens

Chickens are used for feathers, to make arrows, and to get eggs. Eggs are used
in the cake recipe, and if you throw them by holding them and right-clicking,
there is a 25% chance that a chicken will spawn on impact.

Sheep

Sheep are used for wool, to make coloured wool blocks with dyes. And that's
pretty much it.

Squids

Squids were implemented in the v1.2 update. Live in water with a minimum depth
of two blocks. Kill for ink sacks, which give you black dye to dye wool with.

Wolves

Wolves were put in to the game with the Beta v1.2 update. You can tame them 
using bones, and once tamed you can have them attack mobs for you. I think you
have to feed them pork chops, but that may be to restore their health. You can
tell when their health is low because a wolf will make whining noises.

These mobs won't harm you, unless they accidentally (or purposely?) push you
off a cliff.



Bad mobs are the ones that spawn at night in every difficulty besides
peaceful. They're only objective and desire is to harm you as much as
possible.
The list:

Creepers

Kill for gunpowder, used to make dynamite. If they start hissing,
run like hell because they'll blow up. If a skeleton hits a creeper with an
arrow and kills it (MUST be the death blow), then it will drop a record to be
used with the record player, 100% of the time. If they are hit by lightning,
they become electrified and make a huge explosion, so run like hell even
faster when being pursued by an electrified Creeper.

Spiders 

Spiders are to be killed for string, used to make bows. In the v1.2 update, 
they can climb walls. 
They can also serve as "horses" for Spider Jockeys (see below). They jump at 
you to attack, and they're quick. They have a 3 block jump radius.

Also, I've been informed that spiders can climb ANY wall. I had been told that
they couldn't climb sand. So you have to be more careful now.

Zombies

Zombies are just as annoying as hell, and have no use except for target
practice.

Skeletons

Skeletons shoot arrows at you to attack. They're hard as hell to kill without 
being shot yourself. It's recommended you use your own arrows to kill them.
If they kill a Creeper with an arrow, the Creeper will drop a Record for the
Music Box/Jukebox 100% of the time.

Spider Jockeys

These are skeletons on spiders. They must be killed separately. I'm now
sure that a spider can jump as high or climb walls in this way. If you kill 
the spider first, then it's just a skeleton, and vice versa. The skeleton will
shoot arrows while jockeying a spider, and the spider will jump at you. Yeah,
it sucks when you have to fight them... but it's also kind of fun.

Nether mobs are all bad, and they're only in the Nether. I'll explain what
this is in a later section.
The list:

Zombie Pigmen (don't hurt you unless you threaten them i.e. attack them)
Ghasts (ghosts that shoot fireballs, enough said... except that they are very
massive for a mob, occupying a 4 block by 4 block by 4 block space. They have
a lot of hit points because of this, but have more surface area to aim at, so
it's kind of a balanced out situation). Ghasts cannot be killed by arrows, 
they will just go through them without any damaging effect to the Ghast. Also,
you cannot jump on a Ghast and ride it, you will fall through it. Knowing the
odds, it's fairly likely that falling through a Ghast would land you in a sea
of lava. So don't do it.

Slime

Slimes are semi-transparent greenish cubes that come in four sizes: small
(half a heart of health), normal (two hearts of health), big (eight hearts
of health), and huge (sixteen hearts of health). Needless to say, the huge
slime should be avoided if possible. Slimes are the only hostile mobs that can
spawn during the day and in torchlight. Small slimes make a noise that sounds
like when your player walks on stone, and normal, big, and huge slimes make a
wet squishing noise. Killing a slime that is any size but small will break it
into four smaller slimes. The small slimes can't attack you, they just push 
you around a bit with no damage. Big slimes do 2 hearts of damage, normal ones
do one heart of damage, and I don't know what huge ones do.
Slimes are quite rare, but their spawn rate increased in the Beta v1.3 update.
They can drown in water and are unable to jump out. They will die in lava (so
will most things) and they can climb ladders, despite having no apparent limbs
to do such a thing. This enables them to follow players out of caves and mines
to the surface, where light won't harm them.
They only spawn in the bottom 16 layers of the map, so it's unlikely that
you'll encounter one unless you have a really deep mine.
Killing a small slime (only a small one) yields 0 to 2 slime balls, which for
now have absolutely no purpose.

All mobs can be killed with weapons, like a sword or bow and arrow. Bow and
arrow is recommended as you can be a safe distance away, but they do less
damage. Either way to combat stuff is fine, just pick your preference.



 ______  ______________________________
/      \/                              \
| 0010 |   Surviving the First Night   |
\______/\______________________________/

Well, here we are. The part you all have been waiting for. The actual
walkthrough in this walkthrough: how to survive the first night.

You start off spawned somewhere random. I find that it's near the coast an
awful lot. Anyways, the first priority is a workbench. Without one, you're
screwed for defending yourself.

Find yourself a tree, and bang away with your hand at the trunk. Take out the
whole trunk of the tree. You'll probably end up with 3-6 trunk pieces. This
is enough for now. Open your inventory (press 'I'). Place the trunk pieces on
one of the crafting squares. You'll get wood planks. Now, take these and
right-click ONCE in each square of your crafting squares. Take the workbench
that appears.

Now, DO NOT PLACE THE WORKBENCH ANYWHERE YET! Find yourself a cliff. They're
everywhere. Use your hand to dig into the dirt parts (they're easier to get
through) and make a room 1 square deep and three wide. I'll outline this
below:

________________________________
|                              |
|                              |
|                              |
|___________|     |____________|


Make the room three squares high, but make sure you don't dig up and out into
the open. Now, place the workbench in one of the ends on the floor. 
Right-click on the workbench, and use the remaining wood to craft a couple of
pickaxes. Now exit your cave, and REMEMBER WHERE IT IS. Now you need coal.

Go find a cavern with a bunch of stone. A lot of the time, coal is just
sitting there in the open. Mine as much as you can, and then stop. Don't dig
through the rock for any more, it'll just waste time. Find some more trees,
get some more trunks, make some more wood, and make sticks. You really only
need 2, but it never hurts to have extra. Craft some torches (recipe is in an
above section), and run back to your cave. By now, night is probably almost
here. Get into you cave, and block off the entrance with the exception of one
block (so you can see when it's daytime. Make the cave wider if you can, away
from the workbench. This is so the skeletons can't get a firing angle on you.
I'd say dig 3 more blocks wide (three high still). Now, line your cave with
the torches. Mobs only spawn in dark spots, so the torchlight will block them
from spawning in your cave.

Don't forget that you can make charcoal if you're in a bind for coal and you
can't find any. The recipe is below (in a forge):

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Tree    #         #
#         # Trunk   #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Flames  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Tree   #         #
#         #  Trunk  #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
Remember that flames isn't a block, it's what happens in a forge.

Now, if you have time (ONLY if you have time) put torches around the entrance
to your cave on the outside, to prevent mobs from spawning close by. Hide in
the widened out part of the cave, not too far as to not see any outside, and 
wait. Night lasts about 7 minutes. You'll be fine though, don't worry.

When morning comes, you can redo what I said above. Make the cave bigger, and
craft a door. Mobs can't open doors, but keep in mind that skeletons can still
shoot you through the window parts. Then you line the cave with more torches.
Or, make some weapons, and go out and try to survive outside. It's a lot of
fun, trust me. You can only make a sword for now though. Recipe is below:


###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Wood    #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Wood    #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Stick   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

If you have cobblestone, you can replace the wood here with it. It's more
durable.


 ______  _________________
/      \/                 \
| 0011 |     The Nether   |
\______/\_________________/

The Nether was included in a recent-ish update of Minecraft Alpha, and it's
returned in the beta. Which is awesome. Seriously, the Nether is probably the
coolest looking place you'll find in Minecraft. But how does one get to the
Nether? Well it requires extreme luck and patience, or some ingenuity. Here's
how it's done: you need to make a "portal" to the Nether out of Obsidian. Now,
obsidian is a humongous pain to mine. Excessively rare in the field, you'd be
lucky to find a deposit. It can only be mined with a diamond pickaxe, and it
takes 15 seconds of holding down a mouse button PER BLOCK. Every other kind of
pickaxe (stone, iron, etc.) take FIFTY seconds, and only give you cobblestone.

You can also pour a bucket of water on a lava pool to turn it ALL into
obsidian, but keep in mind that it'll only be the top layer, and many times a
lava pool is a few blocks deep. And if you are too far away, the block will
fall into the lava, never to be seen again. If you stand near the block
though, this shouldn't be a problem. Hold down the left Shift key to prevent
falling in yourself.

Now you may be wondering to yourself, is this really worth it? Well, I have a
solution to bypass all of the searching and mining. See, you can CREATE
obsidian! All you need is a bucket. Recipe below:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Ironbar #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

NOTE: I know "iron" and "bar" are separate words, but to save space I
combined them.

Now, you need to find some lava. Yes, the stuff I said to stay away from at
all costs. It is usually found deeper underground, but occasionally you may
come across random pools on the ground outside. You walk CAREFULLY up to the
edge of the lava, and right-click on a spot. Voila, you now have a harmless
bucket of lava! Somehow it doesn't melt through the thin layer of ordinary
iron containing it...

Now, you need to dig a trough 4 squares long by 1 square wide, 1 square deep.
You now pour the lava into the trough, and it'll spread along it. You then get
some water in the same manner as lava, and pour it onto the SOURCE of the
lava. What I mean by this is the square where you poured the lava in, from
where the lava spread. BAM, you get obsidian. Purplish-black obsidian.
Now, here's the tricky part: you'll need to pile up dirt forming a hollow 
column OVER THE ENDS of the obsidian strip, three squares high. Like so:

TOP-DOWN VIEW, "D" MEANS DIRT
     ___
    | D |
 ___|___|___
| D |   | D |
|___|___|___|
    | D |
    |___|

Now you'll need to make a lava run, and pour the lava into the bottom of the
column. Pour water on it. Do the same, IN THE SAME ORDER, for the next two
squares up the column. Repeat this whole column process on the other end of
the obsidian strip.

Now the extra tricky part: you'll need to make a trough at the top with closed
ends. To do this, start by putting dirt blocks next to the two top obsidian
blocks on the inside of both columns. You should only need two. Now, put some
dirt on the front and back of the tops of the columns, and connect the front
two and the back two with more dirt. The two strips you just did should be 4
dirt blocks wide. Put a dirt block on the top of each column. Lastly, make a 4
dirt block wide strip on top of each of the 4-wide strips you just made. At
this point, your trough will be finished. It should have two empty block
spaces on the inside to put lava and water in. Now, get lava, pour it it, pour
water on the source, and your finally done the construction of your portal!
Remove all of the dirt around the obsidian. The end result should be an
obsidian frame with an open area in the middle 3 squares high by 2 squares
wide.

The finishing step: you'll need a flint and steel. You can get flint from
mining gravel, and the steel is just iron. The recipe for flint and steel is
below:

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Flint   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

Now you click on a section of obsidian (on the bottom is likely easiest to
access) on the inside rectangle of open space, and a purple haze fills the
previously empty rectangle. This is how you get in and out. You step into the
purple, and stand there. The view will go all wavy, and a screen will pop up
saying "Entering the Nether".

Now that you're in the Nether, time to explore. The orange blocks are called
Netherrack. When lit with the flint and steel, they burn forever, unless water
is dumped on them. You can mine this and use it in the overworld too.

Explore a bit, but remember where your portal is. Cause if you lose your way,
you need to make another portal inside the Nether to get out. Your entrance
portal will always be there, rest assured.

Don't dig down too much. The bedrock here is replaced by a sea of lava. It's
every bit as lethal as lava aboveground.

Ghasts are a mob down here. I'll go into more detail in a later update. They
shoot fireballs. If the fireball hits your portal, it closes. You'll need to
re-ignite it with flint and steel if this happens.

There are plenty of things to do in the Nether, which will be explained in a
later update as well. For now just explore, and remember where your portal is!
Get some Netherrack and light it aboveground. Provides permanent lighting if
it isn't doused. It'll light you on fire if you step on it while it's lit, so
be cautious around lit Netherrack.

Some things to remember about the Nether:

Water apparently won't work for making Obsidian in the Nether. So have a
stockpile in your inventory to make a portal out, or remember where your
entrance portal is.

Zombie Pigmen WILL NOT harm you unless you attack first. However, Ghasts are
quite hostile no matter what.

Lightstone falls in powder clumps. It takes nine lightstone dust clumps to
make one solid block of lightstone. It is also rendered as stalactites,
usually over lava. So be careful.

Soul sand will slow down mobs too, but obviously not Ghasts as they just float
over it.

A Ghast's fireball hitting the purple stuff in your portal will remove the
purple haze, rendering the portal useless until it is re-lit. You can use a
flint and steel for this, or you can try to get a Ghast to hit the inside part
of the obsidian with another fireball to relight it.

Time does not pass in the Nether. For this reason, the watch won't show a day
to night progression. A compass will also not work in the Nether.

One step in the Nether equals 10 steps in the overworld.


 ______  __________
/      \/          \
| 0012 |   Items   |
\______/\__________/

This section is in it's ultra-preliminary phase. It'll consist of recipes to
create usable items, but the list is severely limited right now. Just weapons,
armour, and some other miscellaneous things.

*Combat Section*
This is a list of recipes to fight and survive against the mobs in game.
You can replace the iron in these recipes with diamond, wood, or stone.
In the case of armour, you can replace it with leather, but not stone.
You get leather from attacking cows in-game. Don't do gold, ever. It has a low
hit-point value, however it mines stuff faster than Diamond, so it's a
trade-off to consider.

SWORD

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Ironbar #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Ironbar #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Stick  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


BOW AND ARROW

BOW
###############################
#         #         #         #
# String  #  Stick  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# String  #         # Stick   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# String  #  Stick  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

ARROW
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         # Feather #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Stick  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Flint  #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

HELMET

###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar # Ironbar # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

PANTS

###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar # Ironbar # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

BODY SUIT/SHIRT

###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar # Ironbar # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar # Ironbar # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

BOOTS

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
# Ironbar #         # Ironbar #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################



*Food Section*
Here's some recipes for food, which restores your health. You select the food
and click when it's in hand to restore health depending on what you're eating.

BOWL

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wood   #         #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Wood   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

MUSHROOM SOUP

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Brown  #         #
#         # Mushroom#         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #   Red   #         #
#         # Mushroom#         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Bowl   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

COOKED PORK CHOPS
NOTE: This is done in a forge. I'm just using the standard recipe layout
for simplicity. You get pork from attacking pigs in-game.

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Pork   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #(flames) #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #  Coal   #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

CAKE
Cake is the new food. One cake is good for 6 uses to restore health. Each
"slice" restores one and a half hearts.


###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Milk   #  Milk   #  Milk   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Sugar  #   Egg   #  Sugar  #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wheat  #  Wheat  #  Wheat  #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################

Don't forget yoy get sugar from sugarcane (used to be reeds), eggs from
chickens (you find them randomly in places), milk from cows, and you grow
wheat in a crop from seeds.


*HOUSEHOLD SECTION*

This section houses various things for your house. Or anywhere really, but
who would want a bed outside with zombies and creepers around?


WOOD HALF-BLOCKS
Essential for making beds. Remember that "wood" specifies the wood planks
block, not the tree trunk block.

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wood   #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################


BEDS
The colour of the wool on the bed does not change it's colour. I know, it
disappointed me too. It will always be a bed with white sheets and a deep
red blanket on top.

###############################
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wool   #  Wool   #  Wool   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################
#         #         #         #
#  Wood   #  Wood   #  Wood   #
#         #         #         #
#         #         #         #
###############################





 ______  ___________________________
/      \/                           \
| 0013 |   Mods and Texture Packs   |
\______/\___________________________/

There are tons of mods for Minecraft. Most have to do with changing the look
of Minecraft blocks and items. They go in the texturepacks folder within your
.minecraft folder (search for %appdata% on your computer, include the percent
signs, it's in the Roaming folder). They are .zip files. Don't extract, just
stick them in the folder as zip files.
Here are some of my favourites:

The Painterly Pack ( painterlypack.net )

This is the most popular site for Minecraft skin modding. Skin mods change how
in-game stuff looks. You can download the default pack, or make your own
custom one to download. It's got some really neat looking stuff to try out.

The Runescape Pack

I don't know where to get this. Just google it I guess. Anyways, it gives the
game a Runescape look. It doesn't look the greatest, but for MMORPG nerds like
me, it's a nice touch.

INVedit

This program allows you to modify your inventory by adding items, and how much
of each item you hold. The max for one slot is 255, which is great considering
you can only naturally accumulate 64 in one slot at a time.

MCedit

This java-based program allows you to modify your Minecraft world by adding in
all manner of blocks. Currently, I'm not sure if you can do Netherrack,
Lightstone, or Soul Sand (basically anything from the Nether) but it may have
been updated to include these.

There are plenty more mods out there, just search for them. Note that many
will make the game lag more, but not too badly.

You can create your own texture pack by modifying the 'terrain.png' file
located in the Minecraft Java Executable thing. Do extract the data from this
file, you must do the following:

First, download the latest version of WinRAR, it's free. And the best part is,
despite what is says, you don't have to pay after the '40 day trial' period is
over. You just click 'Close' on the window that pops up upon opening, and it
still lets you do stuff. Awesome, I know.

Next, right click on the Minecraft Java program, select 'Extract to...' and
browse to someplace where you want the files to go. The desktop is okay, just
make a folder for all the files there first. You can find the Minecraft Java
file by searching for '%appdata%' in Windows (including the percent signs).
'Roaming' will come up. Double click that, and find '.minecraft'. It's in the
'bin' folder.

Now, with your extracted files, find 'terrain.png' and open it WITH A PROGRAM
THAT CAN SUPPORT TRANSPARENCY. So no using Paint, cause it won't work. Use
Photoshop if you have it and know how to use it. I use GIMP personally. It's a
free Photoshop knockoff that comes with Linux operating systems (yes, I use
Linux as well as Windows, it's great), but it can be downloaded for Windows.

Now you just zoom in until the pixels in the image are larger (probably zoom
to 800% to 1600%), select colours, and go nuts. Remember that the dark purple
lines represent the boundaries of neighbouring blocks. If you go over them
when editing one block, it edits the one next to it. So be wary of that.

I don't yet know how you implement this new 'terrain.png' (remember to save
it as that or the game won't recognize it) into your game, but once I figure
it out I'll put it in here.


 ______  __________________________
/      \/                          \
| 0014 |    Future Update Rumors   |
\______/\__________________________/

In this section, I'll be putting in some stuff that is rumored to come in
future Minecraft updates. It will be organized according to what it will be
(ex: mobs, items, etc.) and it's probability according to Notch.

So without further ado:

*MOBS*

Dragons - this is the  top 'flying things' rumor. Notch said that he wants to
          put in some sort of flying transport in the game. Everyone seems to
          think that it's dragons.
Water Monsters - the front runner is sharks. Notch mentioned water mobs that
                 attack will be put in, but hasn't alluded to what exactly.
Fish - Notch has confirmed these as a mob in the future. Not just a byproduct
       of fishing, but an actual mob.
Pigmen - the living, overworld counterparts of Zombie Pigmen. Also confirmed
         by Notch.
Whales - the first unsucessful attempt at these was in Beta v. 1.1_02. Notch
         has confirmed he will add these.
Bats - Notch briefly mentioned these at some point, but nothing has come of it
       since.
Giants - Yep. Giant Hulk-ish zombie mobs. Notch briefly tried these in the
         first ever Survival Minecraft. Hasn't confirmed them yet, but they're
         still in the code for the game.
Boss Mobs - possibly Boss creatures for players to battle.
Mimics - Notch said that Mimics may be a possibility in the future.
NPC Villages - Notch briefly mentioned that a goblin NPC village may happen.

*GAME DEVELOPMENT*

Stat Tracker - Notch has alluded that he would attempt to put in a stat
               tracker system that players can access
Change Spawn Point - Notch has said the next update (Minecraft v1.4) would
                     give players the ability to change their spawn points
Maps - Notch is working on maps for the Beta v1.6 update. They will show the
       area that you have explored, and will apparently have an indicator that
       shows your spawn point. It will have a neat feature in that you hold in
       in your hands, and as you look down you see it, but when you look up it
       moves down, so you can simultaneously look at the map and walk. You can
       see pictures on Notch's blog at notch.tumblr.com.



 ______  _____________
/      \/             \
| 0015 |      FAQ     |
\______/\_____________/

Q: How do I craft ________ ?
A: I will make a section on crafting stuff. You can find recipes on the
Minecraft Wiki (google it).
UPDATE: I have some stuff in the crafting section. Basics only for now though.

Q: Why do some blocks float?
A: For some reason, gravity wasn't put in place for many blocks. I don't know
why, but we'll have to accept it. Floating castles are awesome anyways.

Q: I just got crushed by gravel/sand! Why?
A: Gravel and sand are the only gravity-obeying solid blocks. If you get
crushed by them falling on you, you die. It sucks, but it's a fact of
Minecraft.

Q: When is the new update coming out?
A: You can find out on Notch's blog. It's at notch.tumblr.com. He posts stuff
there about updates and future developments.

Q: What are those skeletons on spiders? You never mentioned them!
A: Oh yeah. Those are called Spider Jockeys. I'll add them in (I have it in
now for version 0.5 of this guide). They are combined spiders and skeletons.
Take a look at the 'Mobs' section for details.


 ______  _______________
/      \/               \
| 0016 |     Credits    |
\______/\_______________/

I can't claim sole responsibility for this guide. I had a lot of help. And I'm
always getting emails on what to include or correct in my guide, which help
a great deal. My guide needs to be the best Minecraft guide, and readers 
sending emails are the best way to make that happen. I appreciate it a ton.

So, without futher ado, I credit the following for whatever they did:

Notch - for making this epic game
The Minecraft Wiki (http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki)
- Without them, I would never have known how to craft most things. Also, they
have a flood of info on everything Minecraft.
My friends - for helping me when I first started playing the game
You - for reading this long and arduous guide
Yakkity Yak - for their email reminding me about messing up the pickaxe recipe
              and to suggest I help beginners more with upgrading their picks
hop hip - for telling me some useful recipes to put in, which finally got me
          to start on the items section
Lil' Tony - for telling me about Creepers dropping green records (yes, green
           ONLY) 100% of the time when killed by a skeleton's arrow
           Also told me about Gold Records, and pointed out that I needed to
           ammend the size of Ghasts. Also he told me some things about Ghasts
           that I find are VERY helpful. Told me about dungeon music, which is
           different than normal background music.
Timothy Simenc - my biggest help besides the Wiki, he told me that: jockeys
                 CAN climb, spiders can climb up sand, gold mines stuff faster
                 than diamond, the obsidian trick for making a sheet of
                 obsidian (see "The Nether" for this), and that items are 
                 around for only 5 minutes after you die (not 15)
Ian Gordon - also a tremendous help. He gave me a list of sorts for things
             that new people should know, among other things. The list: the
             cake recipe, the Nether steps to overworld steps ratio, redstone
             circuitry (it's getting it's own section, there's a lot),
             stuff about minecarts, underwater lighting, iron door recipe and
             use, and stuff on bonemeal
Narfnin - informed me that I messed up on how to obtain green dye (he didn't
          word it like that, but I came to that realization), and that I
          didn't put in anything about Sneaking. He was awesome enough to
          write a mini-article about Sneaking, which I have put in, word-for-
          word, and I have credited him right underneath his article. He also
          told me stuff about dyeing sheep.
Josef Ferreira - told me about the error in my Bed recipe (now fixed),
                 confirmed that you can dye sheep and harvest their coloured
                 wool


 ______  __________________
/      \/                  \
| 0017 |    Legal Stuff    |
\______/\__________________/

This guide is copyright 2011 by me, Chris Parbery. Any unauthorized
republishing of this guide will be subject to legal penalty. This guide may
not be copied, in part or in it's entirety, without my consent. You may only
copy it for personal use. You must not sell it for profit. Hey, I donated my
time to write it up, without any intention of making money from it, so you 
can't make money with it either. I WILL ban anybody who violates these
restrictions from accessing it ever again.

The following sites may use this guide:

www.gamefaqs.com and it's affiliates
www.gamespot.com
www.neoseeker.com
www.eurogamer.net
pc.mmgn.com
www.cheatcc.com
www.geezergamers.com (they are the ones that are considering my guide for a 
                      Fortune 100 site. Until that site is up, this will be 
                      the only address for this permission)
www.gamershell.com
www.cheatchannel.com
www.cheatbook.de


The following sites can NEVER use my guides EVER:

www.dynamitealley.com (A user stole my guide, made it as theirs, denied they
                       took it, and the site admin was as helpful as a screen
                       door on a submarine. So they are forever banned from
                       hosting my guides.)

The most up-to-date guide will be found on gamefaqs.com.

If you wish to host my guide, email me at:

rctking [at] hotmail [dot] com

Replace the at and dot with @ and a period. I am pretty considerate with
letting people host my stuff if they ask. Make sure you put that you want to
host the guide, and your main webiste URL, in the email.

If anybody steals my guide without asking and hosts it on their site, I will
go after them and take every legal action I can, unless we can work something
else out. If they apologize and then ask to host it, then I MAY allow them to.
But don't take this as an assumption, please ask first and save everyone the
hassle and mess involved.
Any sites that take this guide and host it without my permission, and without
then apologizing and formally asking, will be PERMANENTLY banned from ever
hosting ANY of my guides.
Frequent misuse of my aplogy-then-ask policy from one site will cause
permanent banning, and I don't care how many times they apologize after that,
because I will just ignore them. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!

Questions? Concerns? Critiques? Email me at the email address above. Be nice
about it though, or I'll just delete it without considering it. Also, since I
speak English, email me in english please. Even if it's broken. Just not too
many contractions (like 'lol', 'omg', etc.) because I like to read actual
words. I'll give people credit for suggestions that I use for the guide, no
matter how little they send. I like to give credit where credit is due, and
even a little bit on what I should put in is a great help to the guide.

Thanks for reading!

--------------------------------END OF GUIDE----------------------------------

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