How to Survive in Minecraft/Print version

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Requirements
• Starting a World
• Your First Day
• Second Day
• Day 3
• Mid-Game
• The Nether
• The End
• Bosses in Minecraft
• Appendix

Introduction

Minecraft is a sandbox game created by Mojang. In Minecraft, you can create whatever you want, provided you have the resources.

In Minecraft, there are 2 main gamemodes. The default game mode is survival. You have health and hunger, you have to defend yourself, you can take damage, and you have to eat. You have to collect blocks in order to do anything. If you don't want to do any of that, but just build, there is the Creative Mode. You cannot take damage, you have no hunger to quench, and you can choose any block you want and have infinity of that block. This book is covering survival, but if you want to use Creative read the Mechanics page.

I hope you enjoy this book!

Requirements

• Note: If your computer has been bought before 2010, is still running Windows XP or an equivalent version of Mac, and/or has 2GB of RAM or less, I would recommend not to play Minecraft and save your money.
• Note: This tutorial is using the 2.0 launcher, which differs greatly from the 1.x Launchers.

Obtain a copy of Minecraft

First of all, you need to create a Mojang account. Go to The Minecraft.net registration website and fill in the information.

After you have created the account, click on the Store to buy Minecraft. If you do not want to buy Minecraft, you can play with the Demo version. However, this only lets you play on a world for 1 hour and 40 minutes, then does not let you access the world. You also cannot turn on cheats or start on Creative Mode.

When you are done buying, click on Download, and download the minecraft made for your system. If you cannot find it, just download the Linux/Other version.

The Launcher

If you did not use the green button to download, or run Linux, you are going to need Java. Otherwise, install minecraft, and start the launcher. It will download the Java runtime and the launcher. They are 40Mb, and could take up to a minute or two depending on your internet.

When the launcher starts up, you will need to log in. After you are logged in, you can start Minecraft. It is best to play with what Minecraft comes with on Default. Hit "Play" and wait for minecraft to download all required files. As the files are up to 100MB, this could take a while depending on your internet speed.

The Client

To run the client, you are going to need:

• At least 150MB of free space to start your world
• At least 1.5GB of unused RAM, and more RAM as your world grows larger
• More free space as the world grows larger.
• A good 1/3 of your CPU

I recommend at least 500MB of free space.

When you start the client, you are going to see 3 buttons (2 on demo). They say Singleplayer, Multiplayer, and Realms (Start Demo World and Reset Demo World on Demo). This book focuses on singleplayer, and it assumes that you do not have a world created. Proceed to the next chapter.

How to make your Minecraft faster

After building a lot of stuff in your world, you are going to notice that Minecraft gets laggier. This is due to several factors, which are usually lack of RAM and a CPU that cannot handle it.

Minecraft cannot access all of your RAM, it can only access what you have allocated it. In default Minecraft, this is 1GB. You are going to want to allocate more RAM. NOTE: DO NOT ADD MORE THAN 1GB OF RAM IF YOUR COMPUTER HAS 4GB OF RAM, UNLESS YOU ARE ONLY RUNNING MINECRAFT. A recommended amount of RAM is 3GB. To add more RAM, we are going to tweak the Java coding on your profile, which is easy.

To open up your profile, you have to exit Minecraft and go into your launcher. You then click on "Launch Options", and then turn on "Advanced Settings". After that, click on the profile, and turn on "JVM Arguments". From there, find the code -Xmx1G. Replace the 1 with 3, for 3 gigabytes, or any other number from 2-4. There is no need to add more than 4GB, because Minecraft will not use the RAM, and it will go to waste.

Then launch minecraft.

Starting a World

Using minecraft takes some mastry, but afterwards it is easy.

World creator menu

Assuming this is starting off from where we last left off, you are going to click on Singleplayer, than New World. If you are on Demo, click the first button, and a world will be generated for you.

If you have bought the name, you will be presented with a bunch of options. For now, either change the name to whatever you want to call your world, or press create. If you changed the name, also press create.

Minecraft Mechanics/Controls

Note: This guide is using Minecraft version 1.11.2, so the controls may differ depending on the version you are playing.

Moving

1. W - Move up
2. A - Move left
3. S - Move down
4. D - Move right
5. Left Control - Sprint
6. SPACE - Jump
7. Left Shift - Sneak

World interaction

1. Button 1 - Break a block/hit an object. Button 1 is your left mouse click. If a block does not break instantly, you have to hold down left mouse click.
2. Button 2 - Place an object/defend with sword/shield. Button 2 is your right mouse click. When defending, you have to hold down right mouse click.
3. Button 3 - Pick a block. This will only work in Creative Mode. It puts the block you are looking at into your hotbar.
4. Q - Drop the item you have selected on your hotbar.

Hotbar/Inventory

1. 1 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
2. 2 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
3. 3 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
4. 4 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
5. 5 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
6. 6 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
7. 7 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
8. 8 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
9. 9 - Move to the hotbar slot of this number.
10. E - Open up your inventory.
11. F - Swipe items to your second slot.

Other

1. NONE - Highlight Spectators
2. F2 - Take a screenshot
3. NONE - Toggle Cinematic Camera
4. F11 - Go to Fullscreen
5. F5 - Toggle your Perspective

Changing the controls

If you want, you can change these controls by pressing esc, clicking on options, clicking on controls, clicking on the control you want to change, and then tapping the key you want to use.

The first day

The first day of any Minecraft world influences all future decisions, and can make the difference between thriving, survival, or death. Managing your resources is important as well as getting food and keeping yourself safe.

The very first seconds

Structures

The first thing to look for are structures. Things like shipwrecks, jungle or desert temples, or villages help to jump-start a player's journey, sending them from the wood age to the iron age or higher. Villages are particularly helpful as they provide a ton of food in the form of hay bales and wheat which can be crafted into bread, making a lot of food, which is especially important early game when food options are more scarce.

Wood

If you can't find any structures, the next best thing is to look for wood to craft basic tools with, either in trees or abandoned mineshafts, although trees are preferred as there are few hostile mobs in forests.

Once you have found wood, look at it to highlight it, and then break it by holding down the Break Block control, which is usually left-mouse click. When you break one block, move your field of view until another block of wood is highlighted, and then break it by holding down the Break Block control. Repeat this with all of the other wood blocks. You may need to move under the tree, where the 2 blocks of wood were, in order to see the rest.

Basic tools

Crafting recipe:

Planks	Planks
Planks	Planks

This makes 1 crafting table.

In order to get planks, you have to craft the logs into planks. One log inside the crafting menu by itself equals four wooden planks of that type. Then, you want to craft some sticks with the planks, which can be done by 2 planks in a column, which makes 8 sticks. Make sure not to do one plank by itself, as that gives wooden buttons, which are used for redstone, which is unlocked later in the game.

Mining

Crafting recipe:

Cobblestone	Cobblestone	Cobblestone
	Stick
	Stick

This makes a stone pickaxe.

Use the planks and sticks to create a pickaxe. A pickaxe requires 2 sticks in a column starting from the bottom, and a plank for each space in the top row. After this, use the pickaxe to mine 19 stone to get 19 cobblestone. Use the cobblestone to make one stone pickaxe, axe, sword, shove, hoe, and a furnace. From there, you can mine directly for iron, or just mine for more stone and coal, as iron is already common enough to find within 10 minutes.

Iron

If you do happen to find iron ore on your first day, then feel free to mine it. This will drop 1 Raw Iron per iron ore, which you can bring up and smelt with a furnace using coal or wood. If there is no coal, then you can smelt wood to make charcoal, then use that for torches and iron. Gradually use the iron to make tools and a shield, which will protect you against zombies, skeletons, and Creepers, oh my! Crafting recipe:

Planks	Iron Ingot	Planks
Planks	Planks	Planks
	Planks

This makes 1 shield.

Food

While hunger may not be an issue on the first day, it is still important to get food for the second day or beyond. Use your stone sword to hunt some animals such as Cows, Pigs, or Sheep. Sheep have the added benefit of dropping wool, so killing three of them give you enough wool to make a bed, which is useful to skip future nights as well as avoid PhantomsAfter getting some meat, you can smelt it the same way you smelt iron to get the cooked version, which restores more hunger and saturation than the raw variants. Crafting recipe:

Wool	Wool	Wool
Planks	Planks	Planks

This makes a bed.

Farming

Animals will be good for a while, but they will eventually become scarce. When this happens, it is important to get a renewable food source, such as breaking grass to get seeds to plant in tilled soil made with a hoe to eventually grow wheat which can be used for bread.

First of all, you need to actually get the seeds or vegetables needed, either from mining grass (not the block), or defeating Zombies. After that, use a hoe to till a grass block or dirt block into farmland, then right click the farmland with the seed or vegetable. Congratulations! You have planted a crop!

Now you need to wait for a few days for the crop to grow. It is recommended to plant multiple crops at once to increase the output of food, and have water near the farmland to make the crops grow faster.

Shelter

Surviving the first night will be difficult without walls to block yourself from hostile mobs such as zombies and creepers. There are a few different options that a person can use for their shelter.

Cave Home

A cave home is when a player finds a cave and decides to make it into a living space. This is one of the quickest to set up, you only need the essentials and torches.

Advantages

• Only need torches
• Ores can be found

Disadvantages

• Mobs can be found
• Lava
• Have to wall off an area if the cave is too big

Cliff Home

To make a cave home, you may use the hole you just mined if it was into a cliffside or steep area. This is like a hole but you can actually see when it is daytime and is less cramped. Make sure to not dig into a cave! Or maybe do if looking for ores.

Advantages

• Surrounded by stone so non-flammable and explosion resistant
• You gain materials instead of losing them

Disadvantages

• Size is dictated by the terrain you mined into

• Not a lot of light can enter
• Can collide with a cave

Hole

This shelter just consists of you digging a three block hole in the ground, jumping in it, then sealing the top off to protect yourself from mobs. This is effective, but also a bit cramped and dark, and you don't really know when it will be sunrise.

Advantages

• Quick to make
• Mobs are not able to see you

Disadvantages

• Cramped
• Dark
• You don't know when it is daytime

Sky Block

This shelter consists of building up into the sky and avoiding mobs via them not detecting you. Make sure to build up at least 10 blocks!

Advantages

• Mobs are not able to detect or get to you
• See everything from up high

Disadvantages

• Can't jump down due to fall damage
• Long time to build then destroy

Proper House

Making a proper shelter from wood or stone can be rather time consuming and lead to it being unfinished by nighttime if it is 5 by 5 or more, but a 3 by 3 living space is sufficient for your current needs. Stone is preferable as it is not flammable and is better able to resist explosions by Creepers.

Advantages

• Can be expanded into a permanent shelter
• Proper protection from mobs
• Versatile

Disadvantages

• Takes a relatively long time to make compared to the other shelters
• Not safe to build at night
• Can be resource intensive due to 3*4 being 12 blocks per layer, and you want at least 2 so 24 blocks or more.

First Night

After your shelter has been constructed, the sun is probably setting and hostile mobs should start spawning. Stay in your shelter and mine a bit for ores like coal for torches or iron for iron tools if you want, but don't go down too much otherwise mobs will spawn in your home, which would be a problem. You can also just play another game to pass the time, but don't take too long, otherwise it will be day again! You can also expand your shelter to have more rooms like farming if you have seeds, or a future bedroom if you didn't have the time for a bed.

Wall

A wall is good for keeping mobs out of the proximity of your house, and can be made from wood or from stone. To keep out mobs you only need a fence or wall perimeter 1 high visually or a 1.5 high hitbox, but skeletons can still shoot over unless you make it into a 2 high wall.

Crafting recipe:

Planks	Stick	Planks
Planks	Stick	Planks

This makes 6 fences.