Hi gang! When Minecraft 1.8 hit the launchers many people complained because the game was pretty much unplayable for them (myself included) due to lag. It was one of the reasons why a lot of servers chose to stick to 1.7 for the time being and why some (like the Empire) added some tricks to allow newer clients (1.8 in this example) to connect to an older server version (1.7). A few people got together, studied the Minecraft sourcecode and noticed that there was a lot of room for improvement. Not much later OptiFine was born: a modification to the game which made the 1.8 version of the game actually playable. The problems which plagued 1.8 have long since been solved by Mojang but even so OptiFine can more than often still help you to speed up your Minecraft, make things look better or to give you all the tools needed to optimize things yourself. At the very least it will make Minecraft look a bit prettier and provide a lot of options which are used by popular resource packs. But I don't want to use mods! = Busting a myth OptiFine is considered to be a mod. After all: it modifies your game. It's also on the Empires approved mods page. However, despite what some of you think you do not need any weird gizmo's such as Forge or LiteLoader to make it work. If you use OptiFine it will simply modify your game, install those modifications in a new profile (so that you can always go back to the original game) and that's it. OptiFine is a mod, but if you use it you won't notice much differences in your games interface. How to get & install Optifine You can get OptiFine by going to the OptiFine website and simply clicking the 'download' section as shown above. If you're using the latest version of the game (you usually are when you're playing on Empire Minecraft) then you can simply get the latest version. To make it easier for you that version is normally on the top of the list. Do you love PVP and hate the new combat mechanics? Then don't despair: you can even use OptiFine to enhance your favorite older versions of Minecraft as well. Just scroll down and get the latest OptiFine version for the Minecraft version you want to use. OptiFine can be used from Minecraft 1.7 and up. Starting the installation All you have to do is to start the OptiFine jarfile. If you're using a modern Java version (and it has been correctly installed) then you can most likely simply double click on the jarfile to start the installer. If that doesn't work then you may need to repair your installation, or use the commandline and start it manually (example: java -jar Optifine_1.11.2_HD_U_B7.jar). Once started you'll soon see this: Obviously you'll see another path here, unless your real name is also Peter And that's all there is to it. When it's finished you can restart Minecraft and you'll notice that you now got a new profile called 'OptiFine'. Just select it, start it, and you're using OptiFine. What if I'm using Forge or LiteLoader? If you're using Forge then you don't have to start the jarfile: just copy (or move) it to your mods folder and all will be fine. If you're only using LiteLoader then you should install it as I described earlier, and then re-install LiteLoader afterwards while telling it to extend on the OptiFine version. Wait, I installed OptiFine but... nothing changed? Trust me: things changed. But this is why I'm so happy with OptiFine: It doesn't intrude on your game at all, you're still using the good old vanilla game without any fancy mods or such. However, open up your video settings and you will see something different: Video settings in vanilla Minecraft Video settings while using Optifine OptiFine provides a ton of options as you can see. Before you continue I seriously advice you to enable the option I highlighted: Dynamic Lights. Set this to either 'Fast' or 'Full'. Trust me: you'll love it (I'll explain in a moment). So what changed? Most changes work "behind the scenes" so to speak. Try pressing F3 (debug screen) and take a look at your FPS (top left corner of the screen). Chances are high that this number will be higher while you're using OptiFine in comparison to vanilla Minecraft (but not always!). For most people OptiFine speeds up the game. A lot... But wait, there's more! (disclaimer: screenshots weren't made on the Empire, so if you see something strange.. now you know why ) This is a picture of an Extreme Hills biome, a nice huge mountain with snowy peeks. Looks pretty cool, right? Well, add OptiFine into this mix and then you'll get this: Blocks which have a texture on top will also show this texture on the sides. If you take a closer look at the grass blocks in the foreground (or on the mountain) you'll notice that they're now green on all sides. Same applies to the snow blocks: instead of a small white strip of snow you now see a full white block. That's OptiFine's doing. But one of the most game changing features in my book has got to be the Dynamic Lights setting: AyanamiKun: a shiny bright example of... wait, what's going on here?! No, this isn't your classic example of a rogue light source (sometimes you can come across places which have no light source yet still light up). This is the result of OptiFine's dynamic light source setting. Every light block now also emits light when you're holding it (assuming it's on, redstone lamps obviously don't follow this principle). What you're seeing above is Aya holding onto a torch. If you're not using OptiFine then you'll simply see a dark area, nothing special. But for those who do you now get a mobile light source. But there's more.... Have you ever used a bow with the Flame enchantment? It's a really nice way to set hostile mobs (or hostile players in PVP) on fire. Yet when misfired then you're stuck with a fire source on a wall or something, totally useless: AyanamiKun's client, without OptiFine. Yeah, but that becomes very useful once you start to use OptiFine. Because this flaming arrow is also a light source, as such: My client, with OptiFine. I can't tell you guys how awesome this mechanic is when you're doing cave explorations. Is that dark cave you're heading into filled with hostile mobs or are you lucky enough that it's still empty? Shoot a few arrows into it and you'll soon find out! Maybe you'll get lucky and hit a mob at first try too And even though I heavily favor playing vanilla Minecraft (I normally only use Optifine + a resource pack) I'm still hooked on this mechanic. I mean... doesn't it make sense that whenever you're holding a torch it also radiates light around you? Bonus: finding your dropped stuff a whole lot quicker! When you die on the Empire your dropped items will be protected for the first 8 minutes (your friends can pick them up for you, see /fr list) and any compass you're holding will point you to your deathpoint (another awesome mechanic). Don't got a compass? Get a soulbound compass using: /assist new. So what if you died in a dark and gloomy forest while you also had some torches on you? Then there's good news, because if you're using OptiFine those torches will now emit light, making them much easier to find: A few torches, one enchanted bow and an arrow And there you have it! My first introduction post on OptiFine. If you haven't already I can really advice you to try it out for yourself. You don't have anything to loose because you can always go back to the vanilla (default) game by simply selecting the original profile. It won't change your stuff, it only adds a new option for you to try. But there's a whole lot more to OptiFine. There are quite a few options which you can tweak which can improve your graphics or your speed. But... care must be taken. It's usually best not to mess with them if you don't understand what they do (note: if you hover your mouse over an option it'll show on-screen help). So that's where my next post ("soon") will come into play. In the next part I'll be taking a closer look at some of the more advanced features of OptiFine. I'll also explain how you can make a backup of your existing settings and how to restore things when you do completely mess up
Another wonderful guide by the master ShelLuser That'll definitely help people with OptiFine. I personally really enjoy using it, and it's in every one of my modpacks! Keep up the awesome work.
