So, been a bit since I last posted an update, but major progress has been made.

First off, the initial layout of the track has been completed. With that, excavation of the blocks inside the track has begun. I would like to send a big thanks to some people who really helped get the excavation to where it is. Tifreak8x and LittleMoonBeam both have put in several hours over the weekend helping to clear away a number of blocks from the infield of the track. Thanks also goes to ComicIdiot. He swung by today and offered to help clear out some blocks, and did so in dramatic fashion. While his time in isn't up there with the rest, he did clear out about 150,000 blocks today being the awesome admin he is. By my estimate, he easily took about one to two weeks off this project's timeline, if not more.

There is still a bit of excavation to do though. Comic did rectangular regions and those don't handle the turns nor the tri-oval very well. I didn't want to over step by having him do those, so work does continue. Turns 1, 2, and 3 are completely excavated. That leaves Turn 4, as well as a bit of the Tri-oval to finish up. Beacon have been moved into closer position to help speed these along and should be finished up this week sometime I believe.

Once the infield is leveled, the caution strip around the track can be laid down. With that, I will also build the layout to pit road, and start to fill the infield with the grass blocks. I am still in need of great quantities of yellow wool to finish this out. I did lay some out earlier today (I can only dig for so long, so I did do a bit of building off and on), so people can start to get a feel for the width of the racing surface. The packed ice will not be placed until the infield is complete though.
rivereye wrote:
Thanks also goes to ComicIdiot. He swung by today and offered to help clear out some blocks, and did so in dramatic fashion. While his time in isn't up there with the rest, he did clear out about 150,000 blocks today being the awesome admin he is. By my estimate, he easily took about one to two weeks off this project's timeline, if not more.


I'm glad you allowed me to help. I'm eager to see this on the server and even race on it myself! If there's anything you need to me to do me know. Even if it's filling the infield with grass, You can clear the area and hand me enough dirt to fill it so I can use those admin commands and then discard the dirt you handed me. Don't hesitate to ask Smile

I do think it was more than 150k, I don't believe I announced the blocks I removed towards the end but it wouldn't have bumped it up by much: Dirt, Grass, Gravel, Sand and, Water. I didn't remove grass after my first round of clearing per your request.
I am so glad to hear you are on board with this. It is support like yours that keeps this project going and drives me to complete it. There is a lot of infield to cover with grass as you can guess. I am not opposed to the help, but wont ask you to go out of your way for it.

Another update. Excavation was completed today, so now starts the build phase. The caution strip is laid down around the track, so people can now get a feel for the width of the racing surface. I have also laid out Pit Road, and well as placed the grass blocks between Pit Road and the Start/Finish Line. At this point, the next major step is as ComicIdiot mentioned is filling the infield in with grass blocks. There are two locations with chests full of it if people want to assist. The first is in the hut I setup just SW of the Start/Finish line, where the Nether Portal is. The 2nd Location is along the backstretch at the exit of Turn 2. Feel free to use as much as you need. Dirt block may also be used, as they will convert to grass over time. Make sure to keep the area lit up for mobs. The area to fill should be obvious, just don't go between the wool and cobblestone wall, nor between the two runs of packed ice that line Pit Road. If you have questions, send them my way.

Also, looking for design ideas for the Grand Stands.
river eye wrote:
There is a lot of infield to cover with grass as you can guess. I am not opposed to the help, but wont ask you to go out of your way for it.


Speak no mo fam.

33,013 blocks of grass placed in just a few seconds under 19 minutes. I left some of the inside turns for you guys and didn't replace any torches, so there's still a little work left for the infield. Good Idea
Alex wrote:
river eye wrote:
There is a lot of infield to cover with grass as you can guess. I am not opposed to the help, but wont ask you to go out of your way for it.


Speak no mo fam.

33,013 blocks of grass placed in just a few seconds under 19 minutes. I left some of the inside turns for you guys and didn't replace any torches, so there's still a little work left for the infield. Good Idea

Do you use World Edit, or something similar? That ability will probably be very helpful in this project.
There are certain commands admins have that can change a number of blocks in an rectangular fairly quickly. There is a limit to how many can be done at once, but that be gone around by doing multiple smaller areas. To do World Edit would require taking the server offline, doing the edits, and the bringing the server back up.

Also, from this point on, the majority of the work in more precision based though and not well done via those types of tools. There is also a sense of accomplishment by doing the work instead of just having a tool do the work for you. Him leaving a bit of work to do (finish filling in the corners, replacing torches) is just a small price to pay and I can't ask him to do more. The original build plan called for all manual work so no work has to be done that wasn't originally planned.
rivereye wrote:
from this point on, the majority of the work in more precision based though and not well done via those types of tools. There is also a sense of accomplishment by doing the work instead of just having a tool do the work for you. Him leaving a bit of work to do (finish filling in the corners, replacing torches) is just a small price to pay and I can't ask him to do more. The original build plan called for all manual work so no work has to be done that wasn't originally planned.


My train of thought with helping where I did was from my own experience. Clearing out large areas gets pretty numbing after a while, there's only so much of it I can do before I get bored or desire a change of pace. Same with placing blocks. Doing something at the size and scale that the Speedway is being build is just boggling. In a good way but those two numbing tasks are a HUGE part of it.

I figured if I was allowed to help in those two things it'd make other users job and tasks much more fun. I just did some research and math. Assuming helpers were using an Eff5 shovel on the dirt/grass along with Haste II from the beacons, I'd gander a guess they'd break those blocks as fast as the game allows which is 0.05s. So, if a user with that speed and dedication would have taken them 2 hours to break the (at least) 150,000 blocks I removed. That's of course not taking into account the multiple levels of blocks, any time spent mining the coal ore in the way, anything that might be out of reach if digging up or, etc etc.

I can't find any reliable sources for placing blocks - all my searched yield results for people asking how to place blocks faster - so I'll assume it takes 1 full second to place a block for each time the mouse is clicked. I'm not going to try and guess how many blocks can be placed per second if the button is held down. This is largely inaccurate and the helpers would likely be crouched and looking down as to not place blocks in front of them/on top of a freshly placed block. At this rate, it would have taken someone 9 hours to place all those blocks down. Of course time would have been spent breaking torches and placing the torches back on top of the grass.

So, between the two times. I think I saved anywhere between 13-18 man hours. Which doesn't seem like a lot - only 3 days of full time work! - but I don't think we have any minecrafters who are online that much and if they are, they probably couldn't be doing something that numbing for very long (I know I can't!). With that, I think it's reasonable to assume I saved a few weeks worth of work.
Update as it has been a while since I have posted about it.

First off, a huge thanks goes out to the people who have put numerous hours into this project as it stands. LittleMoonBeam and Tifreak8x stand out in terms of man hours they have helped place. Elemental has also placed a good amount of work, more on the design process in a creative world, but still helpful to the end goal. Comic, your work was invaluable in terms of man hours saved. I know a few people have helped in supplies and I would like to extend my thanks to you as well, even if I don't mention you by name.

Moving on though, the entire infield has been laid down to what should be its final level. The grass has been placed in and growing, as well as ensuring we have proper lighting around there. Sea Lanterns are a plenty in here, but allow lighting in a decent aesthetic, and there should be minimal if any snow cover due to its placement.

The track walls have been fully placed down, as well as the fencing that is going on top of them. The iron farms have worked hard to bring the necessary iron out there. I know mine will take quite a while to catch back up to having a well stocked pile again.

I have a preliminary layout done on the tunnels that lead under the entrance to Turn 1 and the exit of Turn 4 to allow access to the infield from outside the track. They will be completed once I have a better clue on how far I need to run them.

Modeling of the Grand Stands is now under way in my creative world testing environment. Once I have that finalized, laying that down can commence. Once that is completed, the rest of the major work will be placing overhead track lighting (which, will have to wait until The End opens up so that End Rods can be made up for the look I have currently in my head), and then placing of the track itself. Lets keep pushing to have the track finished up and get started racing.
The Grand Stands are up and complete on the server. A big thanks to Tifreak8x and LittleMoonBeam for helping me to procure some of the materials that I needed, as well as DrDnar for having his Nether Quartz readily available for purchase. A few people have been out to see them and the response has been good so I am ready to move on to the next phase of the project.

A quick list of things that needed to be completed:
    ⋅Entry Way into the Stands
    ⋅Finish up the tunnels under the track
    ⋅Victory Lane
    ⋅Cemetech Logo in infield
    ⋅Skybox/Control Room
    ⋅Track Lighting
    ⋅Track Placement


I am sure as I build, I will find something else that will need to be done, but we are inching ever so closer to race day. I am still looking for ideas on how to utilize Pit Road in a race setting.
Wow, been a long time since I have posted an update, but things have slowed a bit (motivation is diminishing a bit, this project is going on 2.5 months, can you blame me?). However, we are on the home stretch and the track will be up and running soon. At this point, the track is now usable and open for people to practice on. Going to have to discuss the race weekend format soon to really open this thing up.

However, there are a couple little things left to finish up. The quick job to finish up will be laying down a victory circle. Then all that is needed to do is finish up the track's entry way and hook the tunnels under the track up so that they are functional. Finally, I am waiting on someone (*cough* Kerm *cough*) to lay down a nice infield logo to really cap off the track. Ideally, I think we can have everything ready to go for Labor Day weekend. Not sure if that will be opening weekend though, but we shall see.
Went and flipped them switches from skybox. Much fun. 8/10 would flip again Very Happy

Haha

Hopefully I'll get better at bouncing off the walls at some point so I can compete in the races
Not sure if you saw rivereye, but I put some maps of the racetrack near the entrance.
Had kind of an unofficial race yesterday with lennart, J_A6, and LittleMoonBeam =P

Enjoy this edit Smile

I am glad people seem to be enjoying the track and getting some use out of it. Now we just need to have an actual server event there to kind of really kick things off. I guess I might have to poke the server mods and admins to see if they might be up to the idea and the task.

Also, I was down at the track today and saw a couple boats just scattered about. If you are going to leave a boat at the track, that is fine, but I do ask that they be parked in the pit stalls so as not to interrupt the flow of the track.
  
Page 2 of 2
» All times are UTC - 5 Hours
 
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum

 

Advertisement