Hacks for Minecrafters: Redstone: The Unofficial Guide to Tips and Tricks That Other Guides Won't Teach You
2 Hacks for Minecrafters Redstone Where Do You Get Redstone You get redstone by mining redstone ore at levels 16 and lower Each block of ore will get you 4 or 5 redstone and more if you are mining with a Fortune-enchanted pick Witches sometimes will drop redstone when they die and priest villagers may also trade it Redstone machines or contraptions have three main elements devices power and the signal that transmits power to the device A redstone device is an object that performs an action when it receives power Redstone power comes from specific power source blocks such as redstone blocks and torches You can extend the reach of this power through trails of redstone dust Here is the one of the simplest redstone contraptions a trap door activated by a button
INTRODUCTION 3 This trapdoor is activated by a button on the next block The power source is the button which gives out a temporary power signal when it is pressed While that signal exists the trapdoor opens When the signal disappears the trapdoor closes You don’t need any redstone dust if the power source is right against the device However if you want the button to be farther away from the trapdoor you would have to connect the trapdoor and the button through redstone dust This button is placed farther away from the trapdoor so you use redstone dust to carry its signal The best way to understand redstone is to learn by doing When you read about the devices in the first three chapters play around and hook them up together to see what happens When you make one of the projects and it works make it again and add your own changes to see what works and what doesn’t
4 Hacks for Minecrafters Redstone Redstone dust and devices like torches repeaters and compar ators can be uprooted by water destroying contraptions Make sure when you finish a contraption to protect it from accidental water placement by walling it off It is much easier to start learning redstone in Creative mode where you have access to all items to play with If you don’t each project has a complete list of components so you can gath er these before beginning Placing blocks and items for a contraption can sometimes be tricky In the projects in order to place a block in a certain loca tion you may need to first place other temporary blocks that the first block can rest on You’ll want to remember to remove any temporary blocks so it can help to choose a specific type of material for these blocks like red wool Sometimes to place objects like hoppers on top of others you may need to shift-right-click holding the shift button while right-clicking Some objects always place to face you like pis tons You may need to move around a bit or place some tem porary blocks to stand in the right place in order to place these correctly Use a special block like red wool for temporary blocks you use to stand on or to help place objects This will help you remember to remove them later
INTRODUCTION 5 If you complete a project but it isn’t working the way you think it should go through the steps to check if everything is in place and pointing in the right direction Important first things to check when a contraption doesn’t work include Are repeaters comparators and redstone dust pointing in the right direction Are any blocks being powered that shouldn’t be What isn’t receiving power that should be Is a redstone torch turning off a signal Should any repeaters have delays Many of the contraptions in this book are based on mechanisms that other Minecraft players have created and shared online in forums or on video-sharing sites like YouTube Making con traptions following other people’s designs is a great way to start understanding redstone However you will start to understand even more when you take these contraptions apart and put them back again slightly differently to figure out exactly how they work Note This book’s projects were created in Minecraft 1 8 1 for PC If you are playing with a different version of Minecraft you may find some differences For the latest information on a device or item check the Minecraft Wikipedia at Minecraft gamepedia com
