PC Getting lost in mines

Tahaan

Tahaan

New member
Am I the only one who get so lost that I can't find the entrance to my mine after a while.  It all looks the same, passages often aren't even visible so I walk past them in the wrong direction when searching for the entrance, etc.  If I worked a mine for a while it is often quicker to just make a new exit whereever I am at that time.

I have one mine in particular that is just a crazy warren of twisty tunnels and cavernous rooms with no sense.  I don't go there any more because I can't find the ore I saw last time.

Any tricks you have please share?  I sometimes do trop some frames as I go.  This doesn't work because soon the whole mine is full of them.  Same with leaving torches up on the walls.  So breadcrumbs doesn't seem to help me much.

 
In A19 you can place the "arrow" shape as a wood block. Those make pretty good well... arrows.

 
I use torches on large mines for the main tunnels and use signs for directions - <insert ore> This way.

 
I usually take the mining part in an ordered fashion; doesn't really matter what the order is, any order will make the navigation a lot simpler. Some of my personal guidelines;

- dig straight lines when looking for a deposit underground. Makes for easy to spot "main routes"

  -- some side digs are fine, keep them short and straight so you can see it goes nowhere. If it manages to confuse you anyway, block it off with frames, or even with gravel/dirt.

- clear a deposit in some kind of order.. usually layer by layer from top to bottom, quite natural for deposits you uncover from the top soil; for underground you'll just have to decide the height you'll work down from. This leaves large open caverns instead of tunnel mazes.

- use your markers sparingly.. and only in positions where they'll make sense, right next to an exit tunnel. If you end up with a long enough tunnel system, consider making a floor for the main path(s). Just a stack of flagstone blocks goes a long way, you can't pretend you don't have the stone at that point... :) As a permanent block, flagstone is distinct from your "work frames", and draws some recognizable shapes in the environment making it easier to remember.

 
carry a stack of signs and arrow blocks, my mines have , in order from top to bottom (think a 3 part totem pole) Torch/Arrow/sign

yes its a hassle, and yes it may not be practical, but it saves confusion in larger mines and construction areas

 
I generally start with a 10x10 pit around a surface node, then follow the gravel wherever it leads. This ends up turning into fairly large branches being built off of the main pit, but generally the main pit is always visible. I try to keep the branches sort of squared away (level floors and such, frame supports if they get too wide) so it's not too much of a rat maze. If necessary I will put a torch on the "exit" side of the support pillars. I don't do tunnels in rock any more since the gravel will 100% lead to ore.

My problem is less about getting out of the mine and more about accidentally getting into it. If I forget to put up a fence or marker, guaranteed I will ride my bicycle right into the pit at least once.

JCrook1028 said:
My mines are straight lines, if I got lost in there I deserve to starve to death.
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I have, an embarrassing number of times, gotten 'lost' in a Minecraft branch mine. Two dozen perfectly straight tunnels and I get turned around. I always use the 'red right return' nautical rule for placing torches in the tunnels...so put a torch on the left wall as you go so that 'return' is down any hallway with torches on its right wall. I always use that rule, except when I don't. Then I get lost in my own damn mine.

 
Boidster said:
I always use the 'red right return' nautical rule for placing torches in the tunnels...so put a torch on the left wall as you go so that 'return' is down any hallway with torches on its right wall. I always use that rule, except when I don't. Then I get lost in my own damn mine.
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Came up with exactly this rule playing Minecraft w/ my kid, only my memory aid is "take the right way out".

 
You should at least put up walls in tunnels leading to areas where you have removed all the ore to stop you from going back into them. Put up some wood frames, maybe upgrade once to make it look decent. Also, you should never start another tunnel through a vein without completing any you may have already started. I tend to be very organized when mining, but you can be as messy as you want and still stop yourself from getting lost if you stick to doing this.

My mining is usually four 6x5 straight tunnels at bedrock going in each direction from below my base.  I finish the floor, walls, and ceiling as I extend out and place a torch or candle every 10 blocks or so. I will hit veins of ore randomly that will take me away from the main tunnel, but after I clear all that out, I'll fill the cavity with a bunch of wood frames for good measure, close off the opening coming from the main tunnel as if nothing was ever there, then continue expanding the main tunnel I'm in until I hit another vein. These tunnels eventually become my main navigation routes and I try to keep a separate vehicle for each of the four main tunnels. I branch off the main tunnels with 4x4 tunnels leading to cities and traders that ramp up to the surface.
Sometimes I will place signs at intersections, but that's more for fun than preventing myself from getting lost. 

 
I don´t see a problem with just making a new exit. It doesn´t waste too much time, neither to get out nor in planning. I generally start to mine the first  two layers of ore and don´t go down before i got everything on that height level, so everything collapses above me, than i go down, layer after layer. My mines are biiiig holes in the ground. Can´t get lost if there is no ceiling.

 
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As no one else has suggested this strategy - I will share the one I use with my friends:

Dig a 3x3 layer in the top dirt, put down wooden blocks leaving the centre empty.

Dig down at least 6 blocks (To avoid cave ins). Dig back up to one of the top blocks and put a ladder in so you can get out.

Then just dig all around you 2 blocks high (So, 7th and 8th blocks deep) so you can stand up and keep digging horizontally following the ore until you have a large space with all stone walls. If you get a mini cave in at any point reinforce with wooden blocks and use blocks to make a pillar so that area wont fall in again.

You will find all the ore(s) in that mine. Then once you have nothing but stone walls (So no more ore to be found) you can start removing each layer down until you have emptied it.

Yes it means you miss out on the ore in the first 6 layers of dirt (make it 8 if you want to be really safe re cave ins) but you will get every scrap from that point down.

My mines never have tunnels etc. I will take some screen pics when I log in next and post them here.

Cheers,

Adr

 
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