Ultimate Guide to Mastering Command Blocks!: Minecraft Keys to Unlocking Secret Commands
208
Ultimate Guide to Mastering Command Blocks!: Minecraft Keys to Unlocking Secret Commands
208eBook
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781633195318 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Triumph Books |
| Publication date: | 06/01/2016 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 208 |
| File size: | 16 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
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Ultimate Guide to Mastering Command Blocks!
By Triumph Books LLC
Triumph Books LLC
Copyright © 2016 Triumph Books LLCAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-63319-531-8
CHAPTER 1
What Are Command Blocks
The command block, like its name suggests, is a block in Minecraft all about commands. Each command you give to a command block is, in a sense, giving a command to the server, telling it to do something.
The only difference here being that the thing executing the command is the block, and it can continue to execute any command long after the server admin or creative player that spawned it is gone. Not long ago there was only one type of command block in the game but with the advent of the 1.9 update, there are now 3 types of command blocks at your disposal to conquer your Minecraft experience like never before.
These new types of command blocks aren't exactly extra items added in the game, but instead what they've done is add extra functionality to the original command block.
Now via interaction with the new improved interface of the classic (or Impulse) command block, you can change it into one of two new types, the Chain command block and the Repeating command block, each with their own functionality separate from that of the original.
While a classic command block will activate its command with a Redstone signal, with the chain variation (the green one), it is possible to place multiple command blocks down in a line (much like placing down lines of Redstone) and have them react in order, one after the other.
The repeating command block (purple) was created to automatically activate itself over and over instead of having to use Redstone to achieve the same effect. Don't panic though, Redstone will still be a big part of working with command blocks regardless of these innovations.
As you might guess, because of the variety of different ways to set up a Redstone system, you could still have a command block continuously executing a command automatically by using Redstone.
So if you want a command block to summon a cow every few minutes, you can do it. If you wanted a block of diamond to suddenly appear out of nowhere at the push of a button, that's possible too. If you wanted to design a bridge to cross a ravine that disappears periodically these command blocks are your tool to use.
But wait, there's more!
Not only can command blocks work for making physical changes to your Minecraft world and summoning blocks, items, or mobs, but they can also function as "brains" or "radars." What this means is that as well as summoning all those things, they can also "detect" anything you tell them to, and if you so choose, react to anything that it detects via a Redstone signal.
Basically if you place down a command block and tell it to look out for say, a creeper, you can have the block act as a guard for whatever you're building. If the creeper gets too close, it'll emit a Redstone signal. When that happens you can have that Redstone signal lead off to a trap of your own design, eliminating the problem while you're off doing your own thing, completely at ease knowing the command block is doing its job. It's not just enemy mobs like creepers, zombies, skeletons and Endermen either — it can detect other players, friendly mobs and even blocks. Based on the various things it can detect, you can have it react however you want. Even to the point where it can influence another command block to perform additional commands and achieve multiple effects.
The sky's pretty much the limit with command blocks.
HOT TIP:
When you have a long and complicated command typed out in a command block and want to take the block with you somewhere else, command and all, hold the control key while you middle click (scroll wheel) your mouse while looking at it and it will pick it up with your command still inside!
CHAPTER 2The Basics
In a normal server, summoned items and changes are brought about by inputting basic commands in the little black chat bar that pops up when you hit the "t" key on your keyboard. Alternatively you can use the forward slash "/" on your keyboard to the same effect but this adds in a forward slash "/" automatically, to start off any command you might be about to use.
The way to tell a server you're giving it a command is to start your line of text with a "/" or forward slash. This is true ONLY for typing commands intochat, but not for when you are imputing commands into command blocks.
The sole purpose of a command block is to execute a command, therefore, the "/" key isn't needed to tell the block that is what you are doing. There's nothing else you can be doing with it, so unlike typing commands into the chat bar, the commands for command blocks don't need the forward slash in front of them.
Before we get any further though there are a couple things to keep in mind. It's worth noting that a command block is only accessible through creative mode or being spawned in by the server — there's no crafting recipe here. Command blocks can only be summoned by someone playing in creative mode with the command:
/give [player] command_block
For chain commands blocks it would be:
/give [player] chain_command_block
And lastly for repeating command blocks the command would be:
/give [player] repeating_command_block
Alternatively, if on a multiplayer server, the same command can be used by any server admin to acquire one.
For those of you playing in creative mode, a neat trick to keep in mind is using the middle click mouse button while looking at a command block or any other block. By using middle click (or pushing in on your scroll wheel) whatever it is you are looking at will duplicate and appear in an empty space in your inventory.
So rather than having to type out "/give [player] command_block" every time you need another one, you can just middle mouse click on any existing command block and another will appear right in your hot-bar if you've got the space.
Added onto this feature is the "shift middle click" function. This works like the middle click function with the exception that you're holding shift when you click it. What this does is it scans whatever commands and settings that have been input into the command block you've clicked, and copies them out exactly into the one that appears in your inventory. So if you wanted to have two command blocks with the same command doing the same thing and you didn't want to write out the same command twice, you would use this function and you wouldn't have to.
Once a command block is summoned and placed in the world it can only be interacted with by creative mode players, server admins, or "Opped" players with a permission level of at least 2.
Though after a command has been set to a command block, any means of Redstone device can be connected to it and used by any player to activate it.
Once you get a command block, it's going to work just like a furnace or a crafting table. What this means is that anywhere in the world you want to place it you can, and once that's done you can just right click and open up the interface to start giving it commands.
FUN FACT:
Even the items in this game are customizable with command blocks and commands. You can create your very own customized potion or even use a command block to grow a golden apple that armors you in enchanted golden armor when you eat it!
CHAPTER 3The Interface
When you right click on a command block for the first time, either in creative mode or as an admin on a server, there's not much to the window you will see, but chances are you are already confused.
That's okay. If you knew what to do here you probably wouldn't be reading this book. It may look a little confusing at first, but it's a lot easier to deal with than you might think.
There are two long black bars (one is invisible at first) that remind you of your chat bar and some text on the screen that probably doesn't make sense, along with a couple of buttons. Don't worry about the text just now we'll be getting there a bit later.
For now, just focus on the first black bar. The black bar at the top is where you'll be inputting your commands, and the second bar at the bottom that you won't see at first is to see that command block's "previous output."
You can't type anything into this second bar but it's there to let you know whether the last command you did type in the top bar worked or if it failed. The smallest button at the bottom right marked with "O" is the indicator. If it's still "O" it worked. If it's an "X" then the black bar is now visible and you will see the error message for the command you tried to activate.
Impulse, Chain, & Repeating Command blocks
These next three buttons are rather new, so let's tackle them in order.
1. The first button you'll notice will change a few times when you click on it. It toggles between Impulse, Chain, and Repeating. This is how you change one type of command block into the other and back again. (The change only taking effect after clicking "Done.")
a. The Impulse command block works the most normal out of the 3, you input a command, give it a Redstone signal and it executes that command. Nice and simple.
b. The Chain command block works a little different — this one is designed to sit where you place it and look for other chain command blocks on any of its 6 sides. If it detects another chain command block actually executing a command, then it reacts by executing its own command and sends out its own signal to the next one if there is another in the chain. So it works like a domino effect. If one goes off, it sets off the one next to it, which would then set off the next one, and so on.
Be aware of the arrow-like design on all command blocks, when you place one down the arrow will point back towards the player. This arrow needs to be pointing at the next command block in the chain if you want that next command block to activate in turn.
c. The Repeating command block works like a really fast Redstone clock, (see our Redstone section for details on clocks) it will continue to pulse out a Redstone signal to itself to activate its command over and over. It does this at a rate of about 20 times a second or once per tick in Minecraft lingo.
2. The second button will switch between Conditional and Unconditional.
If you have this set to conditional that means that the command block, no matter which type, will execute its command if the command block behind it (opposite of where the arrow is pointing) successfully executed its own command. If set to unconditional then that command block will ignore the block behind it. Note that when a command block has been set to conditional the arrow design on the block will change slightly to let you know without having to check the interface.
3. The third button changes from its default setting "Needs Redstone" to "Always Active." This is the difference between the command block being able to execute with any Redstone device, like a button or a lever, and having the command block activate as soon as you click "done," after which it will stay activated.
To activate the typed-in command and set the command block, you click the "done" button. If you still need to rethink the command and don't want to set it right away, you click "cancel."
After you've typed in a functional command by using the interface and selected "Done," the interface window will close and the chat bar will tell you: Command set: [name of command]
FUN FACT:
Command blocks can be used to change the game rules as well, if you want to change something like how fast the tick speed is you can increase that number as much as you want and watch as things start to happen, like plants starting to grow a lot faster and lava starting to flow faster.
CHAPTER 4Command Blocks and Redstone
There is a very long list of commands and command combinations that you can use with command blocks, but I think you'll agree with us when we say the other important half of the process is actually activating the block when you have the command assigned to it. The only method for doing this is with the use of a Redstone signal. The Redstone signal can be anything from sticking a simple button to the side of your command block to any number of the complicated Redstone setups that exist out there, there's quite a few.
We realize most of you may have an idea already on how to use Redstone and most likely can manage this on your own but for the sake of covering all bases we're going to demonstrate a few simple methods out there for activating your command block and maybe a few other methods you might not have been aware of.
1. Button
First we have activation by button. You probably figured this out for yourself but we're starting at the bottom here. Not difficult, just press the button to activate the command block and voila. Simple and easy. The command we are using here as well as for the rest of our example pieces is "say Activated!"
2. Pressure Plates
Next up is the pressure plates. Not that much different than buttons. Essentially they are just big flattened buttons you can only place on any block surface that isn't the wall or ceiling. The advantage to pressure plates is they don't need direct purposeful interaction by the player. Any mob or entity can walk across and activate the command block making it a good tool in setting up command blocks dealing with mob traps or farms for animals.
3. Levers
Lever activating is just as simple. Every toggle of the lever placed either on the command block or on an adjacent surface to it will activate the command block's command. While great on their own, you might find that they work better when they are working together with other Redstone devices.
4. Redstone Torch
A Redstone torch is one of the more basic ways to activate a command block but because the power of command blocks activates the moment they trigger a command, once a Redstone torch activates it, that's it. Nothing else happens unless you break the torch and place it again making it not the most practical tool when used alone.
5. Trip Wire
We're getting fancy now with trip wire activation. Just imagine the kind of booby traps you can set up with command blocks pulling the strings. Though normally associated with creating complicated Redstone arrow traps or pitfalls, the trip wire still does count as a Redstone signal to a command block.
6. Lever, Piston, Redstone Block
We'll call this one the lever, piston and Redstone block activation. Redstone blocks are a lot like Redstone torches with the exception that they can be placed more easily in different situations (on the ceiling or floating in the air). When placed down next to a command block, they will activate it only once, but because it is a block, pistons can be used to move it allowing for more than one activation.
7. Lever, Piston, Redstone Block Extended
This one is just like the last one but we're using a line of Redstone on the ground to reach the piston moving the block. This is more to give you the idea that even Redstone placed on the ground correctly can be used to create a sequence that will activate a command block from afar.
8. Redstone Clock
Moving even further we can see that even Redstone setups such as "clocks" can work to activate command blocks. With clocks and other similar contraptions it's possible to continuously activate command blocks automatically so that you don't have to keep constant watch over it yourself. Make note of the fact that when using Redstone dust by itself to connect to the command block, the last line of dust has to be placed on top of the block itself, not adjacent, or it will not work.
9. Entity Spawning Dispenser + Pressure Plate
Not too complicated of a setup, pull the lever, dispenser spawns a villager (or other mob), villager lands on pressure plate and activates the command block's command. This example is to demonstrate the customization possibilities when setting up your Redstone setup for connecting to the command block. This isn't the most advanced setup but maybe it might give you some ideas as to how you might do your own.
10. Daylight Sensor
The last one we'll show here is the daylight sensor setup. The daylight sensor will detect the light levels of wherever it's placed and pump out a Redstone signal based on how much light there is. The more light, the stronger the Redstone signal. As the light dims, the Redstone signal gets weaker. We have this setup so that at the darkest level of light, (night) the Redstone signal from the sensor will be weak enough that it stops transmitting to the Redstone torch. The Redstone torch lights up, then sends a signal to the command blocks thus activating their commands ("Time set day" and "Weather clear").
FUN FACT:
Designed your building too big? Are the stairs you created to scale the walls of your castle just taking too long to climb? Well plop down a secret command block and hook it up with a Redstone signal and the teleport command to make your own make-shift elevator!
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Ultimate Guide to Mastering Command Blocks! by Triumph Books LLC. Copyright © 2016 Triumph Books LLC. Excerpted by permission of Triumph Books LLC.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction,What Are Command Blocks,
The Basics,
The Interface,
Command Blocks and Redstone,
Learning Basic Commands,
Minecraft Command Compendium,
Welcome to the Gallery!,
Redstone Items,
Your First 5 Redstone Builds,