Superflat

An image of Superflat in Snapshot 12w01a.

Superflat (sometimes called Flatlands) is a World Type, first introduced to Minecraft in Snapshot 12w01a, replacing the normal varied terrain of The Overworld with a thin flat layer of dirt.

The terrain consists of one layer of Bedrock, two layers of Dirt, and one layer of Grass; the surface of the world is completely flat and at height y = 4, with the exception of villages. Since the height limit (256) is unchanged, there is then slightly less than one-third more vertical height available to build above-ground structures as compared to a normal world. Mobs spawn as normal, including slimes; however, there is no “Void Fog” as would ordinarily be caused by being close to the bottom, even for areas that are completely shielded from sunlight, whether in survival or creative mode.

Because of there being chests in villages, and villages frequently spawning near the spawn point, it is possible to use Superflat as a challenge map. However, the high amount of slimes makes this extremely difficult.

The Nether and The End generate normally; they are not flat. In order to create a Superflat world in SMP, the level-type flag in server.properties must be "FLAT", instead of "DEFAULT".

[edit] Future

Jeb considered adding a spawn chest to this world type should the player wish to use it for survival sometime after Minecraft 1.1^[1]. Spawning chests are now an option in Snapshot 12w16a.

[edit] Gallery

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  Slimes spawning in the Superflat world.

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  An NPC Village generated on a Superflat world.

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  A Village spawned in Superflat world type.

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  Another Village generated in the Superflat world type.

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  A map of a Superflat world.

[edit] Resources that can be found in Superflat world

The resources below can always be found, regardless of the "Generate structures" option.

Icon	Dec	Hex	Block type
	00	00	Air
	02	2	Grass
	03	3	Dirt
	07	07	Bedrock

The resources below can only be found if the "Generate structures" option is enabled.

Icon	Dec	Hex	Block type
	04	4	Cobblestone
	05	5	Wooden Planks
	09	9	Stationary water
	11	B	Stationary lava
	13	D	Gravel
	17	11	Wood
	35	23	Wool
	43	2B	Double Stone Slabs
	44	2C	Stone Slabs
	47	2F	Bookshelf
	50	32	Torch
	53	35	Wooden Stairs
	54	36	Chest
	58	3A	Crafting Table
	59	3B	Wheat Seeds
	60	3C	Farmland
	61	3D	Furnace
	64	40	Wooden Door
	65	41	Ladder
	67	43	Cobblestone Stairs
	72	48	Wooden Pressure Plate
	85	55	Fence
	101	65	Iron Bars
	102	66	Glass Pane

Village chests may contain those items:

Icon	Dec	Hex	Block type
	6	06	Sapling
	49	31	Obsidian
	257	101	Iron Pickaxe
	260	104	Red Apple
	264	108	Diamond
	265	109	Iron Ingot
	266	10A	Gold Ingot
	267	10B	Iron Sword
	297	129	Bread
	306	132	Iron Helmet
	307	133	Iron Chestplate
	308	134	Iron Leggings
	309	135	Iron Boots

Most mob drops can also be found by killing them.

[edit] Bugs

• If the player breaks the Bedrock barrier, the player can see that the Void has the same color of the sky while the player is above y=0, but looks normal (black) when the player is below y=0.
• There is no consistent spawn point unless the player has slept in a bed; the player may respawn far from the previous spawning location without anything in sight. This may be due to the lack of ground at the usual height of about 64.
• If you play in a super flat world generated in 1.1 in snapshot 12w06a, the snapshot may change the biome to snow and will cause any un-generated chunks to form as a normal world, this can also happen if you play a superflat world in versions 1.0.0 or below. In addition, this will cause the void particles to appear above ground.
• If you overwrite a superflat world with a default world of the same name, some chunks (and sometimes massive areas) may remain superflat, though the grass color will change with the biome.

[edit] Trivia

• Although extremely flat and barren, a player can survive and even flourish in a superflat, as long as Generate Structures is on. The player has access to mob drops, as well as wheat found in NPC Villages.
• With Generate Structures on, the player also has access to the materials that the NPC villages are constructed. Blacksmith chests sometimes have saplings, which would allow the player to grow trees otherwise unavailable. Wood found in villages or grown from saplings can be used as fuel, or smelted into charcoal. There can also be found lava at a blacksmith's, and water used on the farms, to make an infinite supply of stone. However, unless they find iron or a bucket in a chest or kill an Iron Golem, this is nearly impossible. It is also possible to find obsidian in a blacksmiths chest in an NPC village.
• The Nether is unaffected by the Superflat world type, generating normally if visited from a Superflat Overworld, although the players' portal in the nether would spawn very close to the bottom bedrock. Visiting the Nether is normally extremely hard, as you would need to get a bucket (possibly from a village chest) and take water from a well and pour it on the lava in multiple blacksmiths (Obsidian blocks can also be found in the blacksmiths chests). Then, you would need to mine it with a diamond pickaxe made from blacksmith chest diamonds and light it with a Flint and Steel made from Flint from the paths and Iron Ingots from blacksmith chests. It is also possible, though extremely rare, for Lightning to light a portal. Alternatively, you could create a portal using a mold made of dirt and lava, placing water on the lava after each step. However, you would have to visit five different forges (which have two lava source blocks each) to obtain the amount of lava necessary for this.
• While Strongholds can not generate on these worlds, a player may visit The End in SMP by spawning an Ender Dragon, killing the spawned Ender Dragon and travelling through the End Portal created upon its death. Like the Nether, the End is unaffected by the Superflat world type.
• NPC Villages seem to spawn more frequently on superflat worlds than normal worlds, possibly due to the fact that villages spawn more often on flat areas, such as a desert or plains.
• When pressing F3, it always says that the biome is "Plains".

[edit] References

1. ↑ jebtweet:157391432179662848