So the uncovered areas in the Wastelands/Frontier (the areas marked black on the live map), is it already determined what biome they will be or is that not made until someone enters the chunk? and if it's not determined til someone is in the chunk, if you leave the area without placing a block and come back later will it be the same? just curious
The biome (and basically everything else) is based on the seed. The unexplored areas have yet to be generated, but unless minecraft releases a terrain update, nothing will change if you go there today, or if you go there next month.
As soon as chunks are loaded in the waste and frontier, it is determined which biome they will be. If you come back later, it will still be the same biome. The Wastelands have a set seed (that is unknown to players). As soon as the world is generated, all biomes/land are set in stone and will not change. The Frontier has a set seed, too, but it's a little different. Biomes still will not change, but future land generation cannot be predicted because of updates. The world has the same seed, but land will be generated differently. This means new biomes will only be generated in previously unloaded arenas.
So the other thing I'm wondering about is if someone went into a previously unrendered chunk before but didn't place a block that would mean that the livemap would still be hidden in the area but the biome may be set, correct? So in the Frontier if someone were to be looking for something from 1.8 and the chunk was loaded but the livemap not revealed in 1.7 then they may not find it there?
Ayups. Indeed, then they'd go over only to find whatever was there. And if they don't place and/or remove blocks either the map will stay black.
