One of the most common uses for WorldEdit is clearing large areas, and for perfectionists such as BlackMajor and me, we will do it in circles or spheres rather than a simple cuboid selection of the area.
In the last major update of WorldEdit, sphere selection was added. I've taken advantage of this new tool to create a new method for clearing large areas with little to no lag. It is an organised process but it is not at all difficult.
I will provide a layout in simple steps but first, I must strongly recommend you install the WorldEdit CUI. This is a client side mod which collaborates with the WorldEdit plugin on the server. There's nothing to it except that it provides a very detailed overlay of your selection so you know what you're about to edit without having to double check the block coordinates. I began using it over a month ago and I can't imagine WorldEdit without it. It's easy to install and I am happy to walk you through it if you do not understand.
Ok, back to clearing with spheres!
To begin, you must first type [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//sel sphere[/color][/font] (to revert back to cuboid selections, [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//sel cuboid[/color][/font])
Now, you have to first mark the centre of the sphere by left clicking a block.. then the radius by right clicking and viola, you have a sphere. Those with the CUI, it is imperative that you mark the centre before marking the radius. If you do not do this, WorldEdit will go "Oh! you didn't select a centre for your radius, let me SELECT THE FUCKING CENTRE OF THE WORLD FOR YOU" and just like that, you've made a selection of several BILLION blocks and the CUI lags java to less then 1 FPS and there is no way to fix it but to end the process in task manager and a few times, I've had to connect to the server with a client without the CUI and type [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//sel[/color][/font] to clear the selection.
Now, instead of simply setting the area to air as a means of deleting the terrain, this method involves replacing each block type with air. This requires much, much less memory and I cannot stress this enough. If the sphere has a radius larger than 25, do it in small steps by slowly expanding the sphere selection till you've reached your planned diameter.
With each selection, begin with sand and gravel: [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//replace 12,13 0[/color][/font]
This command replaces sand and gravel with air. 12 is sand and gravel is 13 while air is 0.
The reason we have started with sand and gravel is because these blocks abuse the memory as they drop in numbers reaching the thousands.
NOW we can do stone, dirt and grass. In the OverWorld, the number of stone will always be several times greater than any other block. It is this block that you must replace in steps by expanding the selection. Try very hard not to hit 50,000 blocks with each command. Anything over that will lag the server too much. And by the way, 50,000 is a very small number with WorldEdit.. considering a fair sized world numbers in the billions.
There are many more block IDs you need to change to air in this selection, but sand, gravel, stone, dirt and grass are the only significant numbers you need to cater for by slowly expanding. You don't have to worry about the other common blocks till you've reached the full size of the selection.
These are the remaining block IDs in a normal overworld generation:
4 cobblestone
5 woodplank
85 fence
82 clay
30 cobweb
48 mossycobblestone
54 chest
52 spawner
49 obsidian
21 lapis ore
73 redstoneore
14 goldore
15 ironore
16 coalore
56 diamondore
7 bedrock
Each group above represents three simple commands:
[color=#FF6347]//replace 4,5,85,82,30,48,54,52,49 0
//replace 21,73,14,15,16,56 0
//replace 7 0[/color]
Why three? Because the first two simply number in the thousands each, while bedrock easily numbers in the tens to hundreds of thousands. It is better to separate the process into steps yourself to preserve memory because WorldEdit is too stupid to do it itself.
If you follow the path heading south of Obsidia, you will find a large area where I used this method to clear 9 90 radius spheres from the terrain. I "crashed" the server only once and it was barely 2 minutes... that was simply because I got really lazy one night and I was the only player online. The other times where there were 5+ players on, I asked if they were experiencing any notable lag and they said no about 90% of the time.
This forum is here to help you and I will do my best to answer any questions you might have. Have fun, flex your creativity and show us what you've got!
In the last major update of WorldEdit, sphere selection was added. I've taken advantage of this new tool to create a new method for clearing large areas with little to no lag. It is an organised process but it is not at all difficult.
I will provide a layout in simple steps but first, I must strongly recommend you install the WorldEdit CUI. This is a client side mod which collaborates with the WorldEdit plugin on the server. There's nothing to it except that it provides a very detailed overlay of your selection so you know what you're about to edit without having to double check the block coordinates. I began using it over a month ago and I can't imagine WorldEdit without it. It's easy to install and I am happy to walk you through it if you do not understand.
Ok, back to clearing with spheres!
To begin, you must first type [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//sel sphere[/color][/font] (to revert back to cuboid selections, [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//sel cuboid[/color][/font])
Now, you have to first mark the centre of the sphere by left clicking a block.. then the radius by right clicking and viola, you have a sphere. Those with the CUI, it is imperative that you mark the centre before marking the radius. If you do not do this, WorldEdit will go "Oh! you didn't select a centre for your radius, let me SELECT THE FUCKING CENTRE OF THE WORLD FOR YOU" and just like that, you've made a selection of several BILLION blocks and the CUI lags java to less then 1 FPS and there is no way to fix it but to end the process in task manager and a few times, I've had to connect to the server with a client without the CUI and type [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//sel[/color][/font] to clear the selection.
Now, instead of simply setting the area to air as a means of deleting the terrain, this method involves replacing each block type with air. This requires much, much less memory and I cannot stress this enough. If the sphere has a radius larger than 25, do it in small steps by slowly expanding the sphere selection till you've reached your planned diameter.
With each selection, begin with sand and gravel: [font=Courier][color=#FF6347]//replace 12,13 0[/color][/font]
This command replaces sand and gravel with air. 12 is sand and gravel is 13 while air is 0.
The reason we have started with sand and gravel is because these blocks abuse the memory as they drop in numbers reaching the thousands.
NOW we can do stone, dirt and grass. In the OverWorld, the number of stone will always be several times greater than any other block. It is this block that you must replace in steps by expanding the selection. Try very hard not to hit 50,000 blocks with each command. Anything over that will lag the server too much. And by the way, 50,000 is a very small number with WorldEdit.. considering a fair sized world numbers in the billions.
There are many more block IDs you need to change to air in this selection, but sand, gravel, stone, dirt and grass are the only significant numbers you need to cater for by slowly expanding. You don't have to worry about the other common blocks till you've reached the full size of the selection.
These are the remaining block IDs in a normal overworld generation:
4 cobblestone
5 woodplank
85 fence
82 clay
30 cobweb
48 mossycobblestone
54 chest
52 spawner
49 obsidian
21 lapis ore
73 redstoneore
14 goldore
15 ironore
16 coalore
56 diamondore
7 bedrock
Each group above represents three simple commands:
[color=#FF6347]//replace 4,5,85,82,30,48,54,52,49 0
//replace 21,73,14,15,16,56 0
//replace 7 0[/color]
Why three? Because the first two simply number in the thousands each, while bedrock easily numbers in the tens to hundreds of thousands. It is better to separate the process into steps yourself to preserve memory because WorldEdit is too stupid to do it itself.
If you follow the path heading south of Obsidia, you will find a large area where I used this method to clear 9 90 radius spheres from the terrain. I "crashed" the server only once and it was barely 2 minutes... that was simply because I got really lazy one night and I was the only player online. The other times where there were 5+ players on, I asked if they were experiencing any notable lag and they said no about 90% of the time.
This forum is here to help you and I will do my best to answer any questions you might have. Have fun, flex your creativity and show us what you've got!