minecraft on S Anand

Mon, 04 Nov 2024 11:28:41 +0000

Damn!

Villager trading is the fastest way to Fortune III

Mon, 28 Oct 2024 01:54:25 +0000

I asked o1-preview what the fastest way to get to a Fortune III enchantment was. My options were:

Using a Fishing Rod with Luck of the Sea III + Lure 3 and repeatedly fishing.
Using an Enchanting Table repeatedly until I get Fortune 3. Factor in the time that it would take to get the experience for these experiments
Making a Villager a Librarian and breaking their Lectern and setting it up again

In short:

Fishing would take ~30 hours IRL
Enchanting Table would take ~1 hour IRL, even with efficient XP gaining methods
Villager trading would take ~18 minutes IRL

No contest.

Looks like my intuition was right about this.

Sun, 13 Oct 2024 02:05:52 +0000

Bad Apple in #Minecraft?

Turns out it can be done. At 20 fps on the original resolution (512x384).

This is the most mind-blowing piece of engineering I’ve seen in some time!

https://purplesyringa.moe/blog/we-built-the-best-bad-apple-in-minecraft/

Fri, 29 Sep 2023 01:45:53 +0000

My PyCon talks are a way for me to learn. I usually pick topics I don’t know about.

But at PyCon India 2023 the organizers picked “Programming Minecraft with Python” - a talk I’d given before. So, I started exploring ways to game it.

(I like gaming things. It’s boring otherwise. Once, Infosys had me write a 400-page document. I began each page with a letter that spells out a poem.)

Sanjeev Sehgal and I were discussing Hasbro Gaming Studios and how Gramener could help with Gen AI, which gave me an idea.

What if AI could generate code to play Minecraft?

So welcome to JNTU Hyderabad at 11 am tomorrow for “AI Coding & Gaming: Programming Minecraft with Python”. I’ve no idea what’ll happen 🙂

https://in.pycon.org/2023/schedule/

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 04:54:02 +0000

I spent 10 hours this week mining for diamonds. I found just 8!

I badly need Fortune III on my pickaxe.

But today, my biggest worry is sorted out.

Diamond is back in usual quantities in Minecraft 1.17!

https://www.windowscentral.com/minecraft-bedrock-edition-1-17-2-hotfix

Thu, 04 Mar 2021 02:56:15 +0000

Unofficial Guide to Programming Minecraft with Websockets.

My daughter got me hooked on Minecraft. (If you see me staring intently at you during a Zoom call, I’m probably fighting a mob.)

As it turns out, Minecraft is pretty programmable. You can send it messages using websockets that can place blocks, create mobs, get information, and more.

None of this is officially documented, though. So I spent a few weeks reverse-engineering this and put together a guide to programming Minecraft.

https://youtu.be/bjanNXXwQbo

Here’s the full article with source code and examples: http://www.s-anand.net/blog/programming-minecraft-with-websockets/

May you live in exciting worlds!

Programming Minecraft with Websockets

Wed, 20 Jan 2021 03:40:09 +0000

Minecraft lets you connect to a websocket server when you’re in a game. The server can receive and send any commands. This lets you build a bot that you can … (well, I don’t know what it can do, let’s explore.)

Minecraft has commands you can type on a chat window. For example, type / to start a command and type setblock ~1 ~0 ~0 grass changes the block 1 north of you into grass. (~ means relative to you. Coordinates are specified as X, Y and Z.)

Note: These instructions were tested on Minecraft Bedrock 1.16. I haven’t tested them on the Java Edition.

Connect to Minecraft

You can send any command to Minecraft from a websocket server. Let’s use JavaScript for this.

First, run npm install ws uuid. (We need ws for websockets and uuid to generate unique IDs.)

Then create this mineserver1.js:

const WebSocket = require("ws");
const uuid = require("uuid"); // For later use

// Create a new websocket server on port 3000
console.log("Ready. On MineCraft chat, type /connect localhost:3000");
const wss = new WebSocket.Server({ port: 3000 });

// On Minecraft, when you type "/connect localhost:3000" it creates a connection
wss.on("connection", socket => {
  console.log("Connected");
});

On Minecraft > Settings > General > Profile, turn off the “Require Encrypted Websockets” setting.

Run node mineserver1.js. Then type /connect localhost:3000 in a Minecraft chat window. You’ll see 2 things:

MineCraft says “Connection established to server: ws://localhost:3000”
Node prints “Connected”

Now, our program is connected to Minecraft, and can send/receive messages.

Notes:

The Python equivalent is in mineserver1.py. Run python mineserver1.py.
If you get an Uncaught Error: Cannot find module 'ws', make sure you ran npm install ws uuid.
If you get an “Encrypted Session Required” error, make sure you turned off the “Require Encrypted Websockets” setting mentioned above.
To disconnect, run /connect off

Now let’s listen to the players’ chat.

A connected websocket server can send a “subscribe” message to Minecraft saying it wants to “listen” to specific actions. For example, you can subscribe to “PlayerMessage”. Whenever a player sents a chat message, Minecraft will notify the websocket client.

Here’s how to do that. Add this code in the wss.on('connection', socket => { ... }) function.

// Tell Minecraft to send all chat messages. Required once after Minecraft starts
socket.send(JSON.stringify({
  "header": {
    "version": 1, // We're using the version 1 message protocol
    "requestId": uuid.v4(), // A unique ID for the request
    "messageType": "commandRequest", // This is a request ...
    "messagePurpose": "subscribe", // ... to subscribe to ...
  },
  "body": {
    "eventName": "PlayerMessage", // ... all player messages.
  },
}));

Now, every time a player types something in the chat window, the socket will receive it. Add this code below the above code:

// When MineCraft sends a message (e.g. on player chat), print it.
socket.on("message", packet => {
  const msg = JSON.parse(packet);
  console.log(msg);
});

This code parses all the messages it receives and prints them.

This code in is mineserver2.js. Run node mineserver2.js. Then type /connect localhost:3000 in a Minecraft chat window. Then type a message (e.g. “alpha”) in the chat window. You’ll see a message like this in the console.

{
  header: {
    messagePurpose: 'event',        // This is an event
    requestId: '00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000',
    version: 1                      // using version 1 message protocol
  },
  body: {
    eventName: 'PlayerMessage',
    measurements: null,
    properties: {
      AccountType: 1,
      ActiveSessionID: 'e0afde71-9a15-401b-ba38-82c64a94048d',
      AppSessionID: 'b2f5dddc-2a2d-4ec1-bf7b-578038967f9a',
      Biome: 1,                     // Plains Biome. https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Biome
      Build: '1.16.201',            // That's my build
      BuildNum: '5131175',
      BuildPlat: 7,
      Cheevos: false,
      ClientId: 'fcaa9859-0921-348e-bc7c-1c91b72ccec1',
      CurrentNumDevices: 1,
      DeviceSessionId: 'b2f5dddc-2a2d-4ec1-bf7b-578038967f9a',
      Difficulty: 'NORMAL',         // I'm playing on normal difficulty
      Dim: 0,
      GlobalMultiplayerCorrelationId: '91967b8c-01c6-4708-8a31-f111ddaa8174',
      Message: 'alpha',             // This is the message I typed
      MessageType: 'chat',          // It's of type chat
      Mode: 1,
      NetworkType: 0,
      Plat: 'Win 10.0.19041.1',
      PlayerGameMode: 1,            // Creative. https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Commands/gamemode
      Sender: 'Anand',              // That's me.
      Seq: 497,
      WorldFeature: 0,
      WorldSessionId: '8c9b4d3b-7118-4324-ba32-c357c709d682',
      editionType: 'win10',
      isTrial: 0,
      locale: 'en_IN',
      vrMode: false
    }
  }
}

Notes:

The Python equivalent is in mineserver2.py. Run python mineserver2.py.
The official Minecraft docs say that the MCWSS protocol is outdated. But it seems to work.
The full list of things we can subscribe to is undocumented, but @jocopa3 has reverse-engineered a list of messages we can subscribe to, and they’re somewhat meaningful.
This Go package has code that explores the protocol further.
This chat has more details. There’s also an outdated list of JSON messages from @jocopa3.
Here’s a sample program that places a block in Minecraft

Build structures using chat

Let’s create a pyramid of size 10 around us when we type pyramid 10 in the chat window.

The first step is to check if the player sent a chat message like pyramid 10 (or another number). Add this code below the above code:

// When MineCraft sends a message (e.g. on player chat), act on it.
socket.on("message", packet => {
  const msg = JSON.parse(packet);
  // If this is a chat window
  if (msg.body.eventName === "PlayerMessage") {
    // ... and it's like "pyramid 10" (or some number), draw a pyramid
    const match = msg.body.properties.Message.match(/^pyramid (\d+)/i);
    if (match) {
      draw_pyramid(+match[1]);
    }
  }
});

If the user types “pyramid 3” on the chat window, draw_pyramid(3) is called.

In draw_pyramid(), let’s send commands to build a pyramid. To send a command, we need to create a JSON with the command (e.g. setblock ~1 ~0 ~0 grass). Add this code below the above code:

function send(cmd) {
  const msg = {
    "header": {
      "version": 1,
      "requestId": uuid.v4(), // Send unique ID each time
      "messagePurpose": "commandRequest",
      "messageType": "commandRequest",
    },
    "body": {
      "version": 1, // TODO: Needed?
      "commandLine": cmd, // Define the command
      "origin": {
        "type": "player", // Message comes from player
      },
    },
  };
  socket.send(JSON.stringify(msg)); // Send the JSON string
}

Let’s write draw_pyramid() to create a pyramid using glowstone by adding this code below the above code:

// Draw a pyramid of size "size" around the player.
function draw_pyramid(size) {
  // y is the height of the pyramid. Start with y=0, and keep building up
  for (let y = 0; y < size + 1; y++) {
    // At the specified y, place blocks in a rectangle of size "side"
    let side = size - y;
    for (let x = -side; x < side + 1; x++) {
      send(`setblock ~${x} ~${y} ~${-side} glowstone`);
      send(`setblock ~${x} ~${y} ~${+side} glowstone`);
      send(`setblock ~${-side} ~${y} ~${x} glowstone`);
      send(`setblock ~${+side} ~${y} ~${x} glowstone`);
    }
  }
}

This code in is mineserver3.js.

Run node mineserver3.js.
Then type /connect localhost:3000 in a Minecraft chat window.
Then type pyramid 3 in the chat window.
You’ll be surrounded by a glowstone pyramid.

Notes:

The Python equivalent is in mineserver3.py. Run python mineserver3.py.
The “requestId” needs to be a UUID – at least for block commands. I tried unique “requestId” values like 1, 2, 3 etc. That didn’t work.

Understand Minecraft’s responses

For every command you send, Minecraft sends a response. It’s “header” looks like this:

{
  "header": {
    "version": 1,
    "messagePurpose": "commandResponse",                  // Response to your command
    "requestId": "97dee9a3-a716-4caa-aef9-ddbd642f2650"   // ... and your requestId
  }
}

If the command is successful, the response has body.statusCode == 0. For example:

{
  "body": {
    "statusCode": 0,                  // No error
    "statusMessage": "Block placed",  // It placed the block you wanted
    "position": { "x": 0, "y": 64, "z": 0 }   // ... at this location
  },
}

If the command failed, the response has a negative body.statusCode. For example:

{
  "body": {
    "statusCode": -2147352576,        // This is an error
    "statusMessage": "The block couldn't be placed"
  },
}

To print these, add this to socket.on('message', ...):

// If we get a command response, print it
if (msg.header.messagePurpose == "commandResponse") {
  console.log(msg);
}

This code in is mineserver4.js.

Run node mineserver4.js.
Then type /connect localhost:3000 in a Minecraft chat window.
Then type pyramid 3 in the chat window.
You’ll be surrounded by a glowstone pyramid, and the console will show every command response.

Notes on common error messages:

The block couldn't be placed (-2147352576): The same block was already at that location.
Syntax error: Unexpected "xxx": at "~0 ~9 ~-1 >>xxx<<" (-2147483648): You gave wrong arguments to the command.
Too many commands have been requested, wait for one to be done (-2147418109): Minecraft only allows 100 commands can be executed without waiting for their response.
More error messages here.

Wait for commands to be done

Typing “pyramid 3” works just fine. But try “pyramid 5” and your pyramid is incomplete.

That’s because Minecraft only allows up to 100 messages in its queue. On the 101st message, you get a Too many commands have been requested, wait for one to be done error.

{
  "header": {
    "version": 1,
    "messagePurpose": "error",
    "requestId": "a5051664-e9f4-4f9f-96b8-a56b5783117b"
  },
  "body": {
    "statusCode": -2147418109,
    "statusMessage": "Too many commands have been requested, wait for one to be done"
  }
}

So let’s modify send() to add to a queue and send in batches. We’ll create two queues:

const sendQueue = []; // Queue of commands to be sent
const awaitedQueue = {}; // Queue of responses awaited from Minecraft

In wss.on('connection', ...), when Minecraft completes a command, we’ll remove it from the awaitedQueue. If the command has an error, we’ll report it.

// If we get a command response
if (msg.header.messagePurpose == "commandResponse") {
  // ... and it's for an awaited command
  if (msg.header.requestId in awaitedQueue) {
    // Print errors 5(if any)
    if (msg.body.statusCode < 0) {
      console.log(
        awaitedQueue[msg.header.requestId].body.commandLine,
        msg.body.statusMessage,
      );
    }
    // ... and delete it from the awaited queue
    delete awaitedQueue[msg.header.requestId];
  }
}
// Now, we've cleared all completed commands from the awaitedQueue.

Once we’ve processed Minecraft’s response, we’ll send pending messages from sendQueue, upto 100 and add them to the awaitedQueue.

// We can send new commands from the sendQueue -- up to a maximum of 100.
let count = Math.min(100 - Object.keys(awaitedQueue).length, sendQueue.length);
for (let i = 0; i < count; i++) {
  // Each time, send the first command in sendQueue, and add it to the awaitedQueue
  let command = sendQueue.shift();
  socket.send(JSON.stringify(command));
  awaitedQueue[command.header.requestId] = command;
}
// Now we've sent as many commands as we can. Wait till the next PlayerMessage/commandResponse

Finally, in function send(), instead of socket.send(JSON.stringify(msg)), we use sendQueue.push(msg) to add the message to the queue.

This code in is mineserver5.js.

Run node mineserver5.js.
Then type /connect localhost:3000 in a Minecraft chat window.
Then type pyramid 6 in the chat window.
You’ll be surrounded by a large glowstone pyramid.
The console will print messages like setblock ~0 ~6 ~0 glowstone The block couldn't be placed because we’re trying to place duplicate blocks.

Comments

Rodland 8 Mar 2021 12:45 am:Thanks for a great tutorial.However when I try to implement the chat listener (server2.js) i get an JSON error from MineCraft (in node.js console):“kryptert økt kreves” = “Needs secure connection”
Ready. On MineCraft chat, type /connect localhost:3000 Connected { body: { statusCode: -2147418107, statusMessage: ‘Kryptert økt kreves’ }, header: { messagePurpose: ’error’, requestId: ‘3522bb53-5256-4030-b827-4b411ae72a6c’, version: 1 } }
S Anand 8 Mar 2021 4:07 pm: Under Settings > General > Profile, please turn off the “Require Encrypted Websockets” setting. I’ve added this to the tutorial. Thanks for flagging this!
S Anand 2 Jan 2022 9:48 am: That’s right. Looks like you resolved it and changed localhost to minecraft-server.warpedwartwars.repl.co 👍
WarpedWartWars 21 Jun 2022 6:48 am: Got it working on localhost, using the Python mineserver3.py, but the message protocol seems to have changed, to this: {‘body’: {‘message’: ‘pyramid 32’, ‘receiver’: ‘’, ‘sender’: ‘WarpedWartWars’, ’type’: ‘chat’}, ‘header’: {’eventName’: ‘PlayerMessage’, ‘messagePurpose’: ’event’, ‘version’: 16842752}}
WarpedWartWars 15 Dec 2021 8:27 am: I tried this, as it seemed to be the best guide I could find. I made a Replit Repl: https://replit.com/@WarpedWartWars/minecraft-server?v=1 and I ran it, then tried “/connect localhost:3000” in Minecraft Bedrock 1.18.2, and I got “Could not connect to server: ws://localhost:3000”. I imagine I have to change “localhost” to something else.
someGuy 23 Feb 2022 8:11 am: This will be deleted in couple of days but some of the reasons people are getting issues connecting is because of UWP loopback restrictions source: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/34589522/cant-see-localhost-from-uwp-app to resolve this problem for windows: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/minecraft/creator/documents/scriptdevelopertools. run this in system administrator command prompt: CheckNetIsolation.exe LoopbackExempt -a -p=S-1-15-2-1958404141-86561845-1752920682-3514627264-368642714-62675701-733520436

Mining for Ancient Debris

Wed, 09 Dec 2020 04:00:28 +0000

I’ve been active on Minecraft for the last 6 months, thanks to my daughter. She keeps watching game videos for hours. I thought I’d see what the big deal was, and made one myself.

In this 5-minute clip, I’m mining for Ancient Debris in the Nether by placing beds – which explode when used in the Nether. That’s a quick way to clear large areas and is cheaper than TNT. Ancient Debris is used to make Netherite Scrap which makes Netherite ingots that can upgrade to Netherite weapons and armor – the strongest things in Minecraft.

Why do I care? Well, when my friend’s son said “You’re the only adult I know who plays Minecraft”, I felt 20 years younger 😊.

Comments

Thejesh GN 27 Dec 2020 7:54 am:
- Mincraft
- Bicycle
- Dogs made me popular amongst the kids in our apartment.

minecraft on S Anand

Villager trading is the fastest way to Fortune III

Programming Minecraft with Websockets

Connect to Minecraft

Subscribe to chat messages

Build structures using chat

Understand Minecraft’s responses

Wait for commands to be done

Comments

Rodland 8 Mar 2021 12:45 am:Thanks for a great tutorial.However when I try to implement the chat listener (server2.js) i get an JSON error from MineCraft (in node.js console):“kryptert økt kreves” = “Needs secure connection”

Mining for Ancient Debris

Comments