Mod Name: Ruins

Authors:
Creator: Justin Bengtson (d00dv4d3r) 
- updated to 1.1 by kolt666
- updated and overhauled since 1.2.3 by AtomicStryker

Version: see changelog in mod file
License: none/public domain


WHAT IT DOES:
Adds procedurally-generated ruins randomly into the game world, which are created from user-defined template files.  This mod comes with some default template files, but if you would like to see a certain template in the game all you have to do is create it.


HOW IT DOES IT:
This hooks into the chunk generation using the methods provided in ModLoader to create the ruins.  You can create anything you like procedurally using template files, even complete structures (I just provide extra rules for creating ruins...)

Templates are loaded for each biome, and a generic set of templates are kept that can be used in all biomes (although spawning conditions for each template must still be met.)  The mod will first check to see if a biome-specific template will be used or whether it will use a generic template.  Chances for either are provided per biome.

You can alter global options for ruin spawning by editing ruins.txt using your favorite text editor.  Options are provided for normal and nether.

Each template has a weight.  All of the template weights for a specific biome, as well as the generic templates, are added together to get a total weight for that biome from which a random number is generated to determine which template to load.  For instance, if you have five templates for a specific biome with weights 10, 10, 5, 5, and 1, the total of these is 31.  A template with a weight of 1 has a 1 in 31 chance of spawning under those weight conditions.

Please see the template_rules.txt file for more information on creating templates for this mod.  The file is set up so that you can simply copy it to the mods/resources/ruins folder and being editing it.


BIOME SPECIFIC FEATURES
The v5 release included an advanced feature for biome-specific templates.  In the mods/resources/ruins folder you will find a folder specific to each biome.  If you place a template in one of those folders it will only be available to spawn in that biome.  If you place a template outside the biome-specific folders, in the root mods/resources/ruins folder, it will be considered a generic template that can spawn in any biome, conditions permitting.

The ruins.txt file now has variables for each biome, giving the chance that a biome-specific template will be used as opposed to a generic template.  If a biome-specific template is not available when asked for, no template will spawn.


IDIOSYNCRACIES:
Sometimes ponds will appear underneath the ruins, causing floating blocks.  Since these are generated after the ruins, I am not sure how to deal with that.

The treasure chest generation is probably still overblown right now, although I changed some spawn rates in v5.  Now, an Easy chest has a 4% chance of spawning a better loot stack, a Medium Chest has a 8.8% chance, and a Hard Chest has a 13.6% chance.  The numbers were 5% (normal), 35% and 70% in previous versions.  The better stack has the rarer items some players were concerned about.

I have also increased the rate of no item showing up for a given stack (between 4 and 8 stacks are generated per chest, with more in the harder chests), from 5.2% to 8.6% in Easy Chests, from 4.8% to 9% in Medium Chests, from 2.8% to 9.4% in Hard chests.

All percentages are approximate and all of this will become moot once custom treasure chests are implemented.


HOW TO INSTALL:
1. Install Forge
2. Copy everything found in /setup/ folder into your .minecraft/ folder
3a. Enjoy.
3b. Edit /mods/ruins.txt, and any template files for weight, to fine-tune your experience.


INCOMPATIBILITIES:
None that I know of at this time.


THE DOWNLOADED TEMPLATES FOLDER
What the name suggests

THE SCHEMATIC CONVERTER FOLDER
What the name suggests. Do not bugger me on how to use it.

THE SRC FOLDER
Is for developers who are interested in my code.  If you aren't a developer (or don't know or care what source code is) you can safely ignore/delete it.

This mod and all code is considered public domain by the author; have fun.  I normally release my code under a modified BSD license, but having read about Notch's future intentions I decided to go this route, especially since I am modifying a game that is still in development under a more restrictive license.


DISCLAIMER:
I am in no way interested in creating custom template files for you.  I have given you the tools to do it yourself; please learn them or find someone else to do it for you.