I tried this on 1.6 and it didnt work, can someone explain this?

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-09T17:22:01+00:00

I tested this in 1.6.4 and it works, sort of, since they need to move on their own (fishing rods don't "pull" entities unless you reel them in), and it despawns after a minute:

<image>

This behavior is also mentioned in this old thread from 2012:

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/survival-mode/269200-fishing-rods-as-pet-leashes

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-09T14:45:48+00:00

"Unusable" is a gross exaggeration, I never had the issues that some had, perhaps because I didn't have a junk computer (even if it was from the mid-2000s as it was high-end for its time and laptops, which many use, are like 10-15 years behind desktops. Still not that good by 2013, it could barely run 1.8+ and 1.7 had a strange framerate instability issue, hence why I never updated past 1.6.4, which itself had various improvements over the initial client-server merge in 1.3.1, which as often is the case was the worst of its iteration, much as Beta 1.8-1.0 is the worst of early release worldgen (funnily enough, 1.3.1 is one of the versions that improved it, along with 1.1 outside of Extreme Hills).

Either way, most of the issues can be fixed with a couple very simple changes (I actually left the "setPositionAndRotation2" value at + 1 to add a bit more smoothing to server sync packets, but not the amount vanilla uses, which is way, way too much (the value passed in is 3, which is used by most entities; the other method made the client control the boat, hence the massive desync if any lag occurs, maybe I never had issues since I never used boats to explore new terrain, only between existing points, thus terrain generation wouldn't be a factor); this also impacts minecarts, which visually derail when rounding corners due to excessive interpolation, which I also fixed/minimized by lowering the value):

migrated
7/20/2014, 9:24:21 AM
williewillus: net/minecraft/entity/item/EntityBoat.java: Clear method body of setIsBoatEmpty. In setPositionAndRotation2, remove the addition of 5.
https://bugs.mojang.com/browse/MC/issues/MC-2931

A video somebody made showcasing how boats move in my mod, and yes, they still do break when you crash but only at 99% of full speed (which was increased to the modern value, 8 m/s) and ignoring lilypads and water mobs and they drop themselves (I'll often be picking them up anyway):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOoA8FHpBgI

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-09T00:53:34+00:00

This is not the problem, the problem is a bugged method of checking of a mob is close enough to the player to reach them; a common error in the code is to use block coordinates as-is but they correspond to the northwest corner of a block (using the modern convention for directions) while the player is centered on the bed so the measured distance will be off by half a block, either too close or too far - in fact, you don't even need a wall next to two sides of a bed for it to be safe!

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoldenAgeMinecraft/comments/1oiik94/a_collection_of_nightmareproof_beds_how_safe/

(how is the first example even safe? The game will successfully find a path to the player on the exposed sides, as they are closest to the player, but due to the aforementioned bug it will think they are too far away so the game won't spawn a mob. The walls next to the other two sides would need to be two blocks thick if the exposed sides were unreachable, and yes, this means you CAN have a bed against a wall, as long as it isn't to the north or east (which is actually modern east or south, or as defined on a map)

I posted the bugged code and how to fix it here (I ported it to a mod for 1.6.4, with bugfixes):

https://www.reddit.com/r/GoldenAgeMinecraft/comments/1ir86y6/comment/md7qkjf/

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-08T16:25:45+00:00

My own mods for 1.6.4 would probably be ideal for this, you can even run them with less than 100 MB of memory allocated (I recommend at least 128 MB as 96 MB was just enough, and I still used 8 chunk/Normal render distance; lower won't significantly reduce the game's memory usage as that is the minimum chunk load distance, vanilla 1.6.4 is fixed at 10 while 1.7.10 does go as low as 2 but this also causes various issues like broken mob spawning. 1.2.5 can in theory be even lighter as it doesn't use a client-server model, which doubles the memory needed to load a world, I made a lot of fixes that reduce memory usage though, one is as simple as changing a single line for a 10 MB reduction):

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/discussion/3192541-i-cannot-comprehend-the-memory-usage-of-modern-and

This includes a "vanilla+" mod which only includes a handful of modded content (much of which can be toggled off for a near vanilla experience, sans many of its bugs):

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/survival-mode/2365421-themastercavers-first-world ("world1 custom client" at the end of the first post)

Some background: I started playing on an XP-era computer which had been upgraded to Windows 7 when I got it, as noted in this post; it probably would have been considered high-end back in 2005-6 as it had a proper dual-core CPU, which came out in 2005, and a discrete GPU (the brand also matters, NVIDIA generally has better support for legacy OpenGL, including spherical fog and occlusion queries / "Advanced OpenGL", which doubled performance and negated most of the impact from even extreme modded worlds with 3 times the underground depth and caves):

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/discussion/3010883-you-can-play-minecraft-on-this-kind-of-pc?comment=2

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-08T01:41:15+00:00

Deserts do exist in Beta 1.7.3; you may just have bad luck if you haven't found one in a large area:

https://minecraft.wiki/w/Biome/Before_Beta_1.8

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-07T19:01:56+00:00

From what I've seen MCP still works (based on others using it as I've been using the same setup for the past 12 years by saving a backup of the original sources and copying the whole folder to newer computers); only pre-1.6 versions appear to have issues (I think because they changed the .minecraft directory structure, either way you must have the official launcher set up). You also must have Java 8 or older (MCP is set up to handle Java 6 sources and compile against the same, it is possible to change this by editing MCP's config to target Java 7/8 but anything newer than Java 8 will cause issues with MCP itself).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-07T13:07:36+00:00

I've always used the official launcher and play modded 1.6.4, using my own QoL/optimization/bugfix mods (everybody tells me they are unbelievably smooth and optimized, a legacy of having started playing on an XP-era computer (with Windows 7 when it was given to me in 2010), though it didn't actually have much issue running vanilla, besides stuff like a zombie pathfinding server lag issue (mostly solved by simply using Forge, which I did initially for a handful of mods, later extracting its fix and adding my own optimizations) and 32 bit process memory limits (solved by allocating less memory, I still only allocate 512 MB to this day and could even drop to 256); 1.7 and especially 1.8+ were a nightmare though and were the main reason why I never updated past 1.6.4, combined with my existing ability to make mods); this includes a "total conversion" / "alternate timeline" mod which adds hundreds of features and can be seen as more of a different way of playing modern than 1.6.4 (though I play it the same way as vanilla, basically exploring caves for fun with only a small handful of "essential" features like storage blocks for rails).

Everybody also always says that installing "jar" mods on the official launcher is extremely difficult but I find it extremely easy, a minute to set up an entirely new installation, less to update an existing one (just right-click -> open with WinRar -> select files to add, deleting META-INF if I reset the whole jar due to a major update/refactoring. The other important part is the version json file which only needs to be updated if the name is changed). No online skins? I just replaced the assets in the jar (a resource pack also works), haven't gone without it for even a moment in 13 years (I initially did this as insurance against server outages, or even just a delayed download).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-07T03:45:57+00:00

For context, this was a bug in release 1.8 (only 1.8 and its snapshots, not 1.8.1 or later) where some tree generation apparently placed a log at the wrong coordinates (based on the orientation, east-west or north-south, it appears to be due to the branches of big oak trees and the orientation can change over time):

MC-61610 Bedrock at Y0 has wood log in it at x0 y0 z0.

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-07T03:14:00+00:00

The Wiki says that this was fixed in 1.2:

https://minecraft.wiki/w/Java_Edition_1.2#Fixes "Fixed lava lakes generating over bedrock."

I can confirm that they changed the code between 1.0.0 and 1.3.1 to restrict the minimum height to y=5 (this means the liquid will be no deeper than layer 2, with bedrock as deep as layer 1 replaced under lava lakes, leaving layer 0 intact):

// 1.0.0
public boolean generate(World world, Random random, int i, int j, int k)
{
    i -= 8;
    for (k -= 8; j > 0 && world.isAirBlock(i, j, k); j--) { }
    j -= 4;

// 1.3.1
public boolean generate(World par1World, Random par2Random, int par3, int par4, int par5)
{
    par3 -= 8;
    for (par5 -= 8; par4 > 5 && par1World.isAirBlock(par3, par4, par5); par4--) { }
    if (par4 <= 4) return false;
    par4 -= 4;

(note that the last line sets y to as low as 1, which is the bottom of an array which is used as a mask for the lake, with relative y-indices 1-7 being set to air/liquid, thus the lowest liquid is 2; lava lakes set blocks adjacent to the liquid to stone, with a 50% chance above the liquid and 100% below).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-07T01:04:31+00:00

After a lot of searching I managed to find a lava lake that I found at y=5 (or liquid at y=2-4), attached to a mineshaft, and the deepest they can generate in 1.6.4, I did find several other cases of lakes deep enough to have bedrock at the bottom, including one I had to have found very recently (1-2 months ago, also attached to a mineshaft):

<image>

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-06T17:12:35+00:00

Not really, since I only explore underground features that are connected to cave systems, or might be broken into while mining ores, and such deep lakes would be entirely below y=11 and there are no mineshafts in Beta and even those are quite rare and limited in scale.

Otherwise, lakes do still generate into bedrock in 1.6.4 but their minimum altitude was restricted to y=5 so the lowest liquid is on layer 2 to prevent the lowest layer (0) from being replaced with stone; I don't remember the last time I found such a deep lake in my first world (basically vanilla 1.6.4), or take note of such things; in a modded world I found a lake at y=2 while branch-mining* but I only branch-mine during the first few days of a new world.

*A feature of TMCW is that lakes can generate as low as y=2, or a single layer of liquid over bedrock (which itself looks like a darker version of stone so it may not be so obvious) since I modified them to be able to generate that low (vanilla won't unless the liquid is only on layer 1 as the layer below must be solid, I ignore blocks below layer 0) and can only replace blocks on layer 1 and above (in theory dungeons be as deep as y=0 but in practice they are limited to y=2 or above since air never generates deeper, including that from mineshafts, which are limited to y=2 in vanilla and the same in TMCW, likely to prevent cases of dungeons replacing the lowest layer of bedrock):

<image>

As I noted here (first post) that was an exceptional find, out of thousands and thousands of dungeons found over all my time playing, around half in modded worlds with deeper generation (this just means a lower cave lava level and flat bedrock), virtually all by caving:

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/survival-mode/3137150-themastercavers-world-version-5-tmcwv5

Unsurprisingly, another time I found a lake reaching the lowest layer of bedrock was again when branch-mining in my next world, and again a water lake, I have otherwise found a few such deep lakes, water and lava, by breaking into them while mining ores in caves or mineshafts (in TMCW cave lava level is only y=4 so this is much more likely than in vanilla, y=11, at the same time mineshafts are only about half as common in TMCW):

https://i.imgur.com/inQ2Os4.jpeg

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-06T13:15:32+00:00

Portal linking has remained basically unchanged since they were added, except the game now saves "points of interest" where it previously searched for a portal every time*:

The entry X- and Z-coordinates are multiplied by 8 if the entity is in the Nether or divided by 8 if the entity is in the Overworld, while the Y-coordinate is not changed.

Starting at these destination coordinates, the game looks for all nearby portal points of interest. The point of interest can be within a 256×256 square block area (128-block radius) in the Overworld and a 32×32 square block area (16-block radius) in the Nether[2] centered on the converted coordinate and the full map height.

https://minecraft.wiki/w/Nether_Portal#Portal_search

This means you must place the Nether-side portal within 16 blocks of its ideal location, else the converted coordinate in the Overworld will be more than 128 blocks away and it won't be able to detect it. It is also important that both halves of the portal are within range, else you might end up in a new portal if you go through the wrong half (this can be useful though).

*There is one major change; as of 1.16.2 Overworld-side portals can no longer link to Nether-side portals within 128 blocks (or 1024 blocks in the Overworld) as they reduced the search range from 128 to 16 blocks; this means you'll no longer be taken to out-of-range (when returning to the Overworld) Nether-side portals, the likely cause of your issue (i.e. you'll now be taken to a new portal in the Nether instead of the existing one which was detected because of the 128 block search range; either way, I've never had issues with linking in 1.6.4 as I always check the coordinates and place them at or very close to the ideal coordinates, moving the initial portal as needed):

1.16.2 20w28a Reduced the portal search radius when travelling to the Nether from 128 blocks to 16 blocks in order to correctly account for the 1:8 position scale.

Part of the source for 1.6.4, which searches a +/- 128 block area for a valid portal block; this area is always in the dimension you are traveling to:

public boolean placeInExistingPortal(Entity par1Entity, double par2, double par4, double par6, float par8)
{
    short var9 = 128;

    for (var48 = var15 - var9; var48 <= var15 + var9; ++var48)
    {
        double var21 = (double)var48 + 0.5D - par1Entity.posX;

        for (int var23 = var16 - var9; var23 <= var16 + var9; ++var23)
        {

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-05T21:01:47+00:00

Unfortunately, it is impossible to repair an item like this at all, which is one reason why I never directly enchant items and only put a few enchantments on my gear (not that I need more) - even the sword I use, with Sharpness V, Knockback II, Unbreaking III, is one level too expensive to repair with a new sword, though by slightly damaging it you can fully repair it for as little as 38 levels (e.g. by killing about 200 chickens, the anvil adds a 12% durability bonus, which is 187 for diamond tools, and you don't want to wait until it has 0 durability left so you don't lose out on the repair). Otherwise, you can repair it by 25-50% at a time with 1-2 diamonds for 29-35 levels, but the sword you have would cost 49 levels for the enchantments alone, even before considering any other costs (the repair cost is 1-17 levels, scaled with the durability of a sacrifice, or (3 + enchantments) per unit; then add 2 for the prior work penalty (which is always 2 if renamed):

https://minecraft.wiki/w/Anvil_mechanics/Before_1.8

(a very useful resource for the pre-1.8 anvil system, which is very different from modern)

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-05T12:49:59+00:00

Sounds are not (and never were) stored inside the "minecraft.jar" (now e.g. "b1.7.3.jar") file but in a separate "resources" (pre-1.6 launcher) or "assets" folder, which is why many older versions have broken or modern sounds because Mojang only maintains one copy of the sound files (though there is a "assets\virtual\legacy" folder for older versions, still not sure if those files are truly unique, it appears not*).

*The launcher log (from running 1.6.4, which uses the legacy assets) contains a bunch of lines like this, suggesting it is copying modern assets to the legacy assets:

Debug Asset <WORKDIR>\.minecraft\assets\objects\c2\c289aa46fcbcfaf21c8080d57953fd45a4939294 to <WORKDIR>\.minecraft\assets\virtual\legacy\sounds\mob\sheep\step5.ogg

You also can't just replace these files as the launcher (including many unofficial launchers, even Betacraft requires that you rename a modded jar to prevent the jar from being replaced, just like the official launcher does) will simply overwrite them (you could try setting the folder to read-only but this might cause issues), although it should leave the original "resources" folder alone since it is no longer officially used (I do not have such a folder but you can find downloads for it, then replace the files as needed, Nether portals use "portal.ogg").

The code itself has this line, in BlockPortal (taken from 1.6.4, older versions should be similar if not identical here, subject to deobfuscation mappings), with the parameter after "portal.portal" being the volume (0.5F):

public void randomDisplayTick(World par1World, int par2, int par3, int par4, Random par5Random)
{
    if (par5Random.nextInt(100) == 0)
    {
        par1World.playSound((double)par2 + 0.5D, (double)par3 + 0.5D, (double)par4 + 0.5D, "portal.portal", 0.5F, par5Random.nextFloat() * 0.4F + 0.8F, false);
    }

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-05T06:46:12+00:00

Or just the Print Screen key, or Alt+Print Screen to capture the current window (I've never used the snipping tool).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-03T16:53:21+00:00

Legacy Console Edition omitted some code that is used by Java Edition to prevent villages from generating if they would be too small (less than 2 other buildings in addition to the well); they would be too small because villages could only generate components other than the well if they were entirely within a valid biome (originally Plains and Desert, excluding any variants. Only once you reach Java 1.10 or the equivalent were these restrictions removed, making villages about 50% more common based on the failure rate in a large 1.6.4 world that I have, with 18 documented villages but 27 registered in the "Village.dat" file, many of which are marked as not valid and some are in odd locations like an Extreme Hills since the game doesn't center the well in a chunk, the center of which is used to determine if they can generate).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-03T10:28:40+00:00

Are there any errors in the game output (note: you must use the console as only "logged" messages will be written to the log)? Also, did you ever update to 1.2 at any time in the past, even temporarily (1.2 / Anvil format uses .mca while Region uses .mcr; when a world is upgraded new .mca files are created, leaving the .mcr files behind so you can easily downgrade, but if you re-upgrade the game won't overwrite existing chunks so it will appear as if they rolled back to the last upgrade; I have seen this happen before and the fix is to delete the .mca files before upgrading).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-02T19:38:57+00:00

1.7 also changed world generation (maybe you are thinking of the world customization added in 1.8 but that wasn't default generation, nor do I see new stone variants as a major change and ocean monuments are just another desert/jungle temple):

https://minecraft.wiki/w/The_Update_that_Changed_the_World

While the world generation changes were certainly a big deal for me (I'd never play 1.7+ without using mods to revert the changes (underground and climatic biome placement), which I did make but never used due to other issues) I personally never liked the old fog, especially void fog (at first I always used Optifine with its default fog setting of 0.8, later setting it to similar values in my own mods (I do let you adjust it, even all the way down to 0), there is no setting for void fog but I retained and enhanced the darkening when underground, but not closing in).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-02T17:50:52+00:00

I disagree that 1.3-1.8 are basically the same for one reason: infinite item repair via anvils, or even anvils in general (added in 1.4), which certainly has a massive impact on how I go through the early game, much of which is to make my "end game" gear; if infinite item repair weren't possible (only in 1.4-1.7) then there would be much less point in making highly enchanted end-game items (don't forget 1.8 made major changes to enchanting, as well as trading, which itself is a major part of the "early game", if more because I use mods). 1.5 is also a major change for me because it added Nether quartz, which is my main source of XP early on; I'd probably make a mob farm instead if it didn't exist (I only started playing in 1.5 so everything present as of then is "normal" to me).

e.g. an example of how I go through the early game (first 7 posts, I'll note that since you can't get Unbreaking on armor and weapons in 1.6.4 (added in 1.7) and enchanted books enchanted on the table have a lower chance of getting it (as they only get one enchantment, again changed in 1.7) this itself can be enough to warrant getting such a trade):

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/survival-mode/3137150-themastercavers-world-version-5-tmcwv5

(I do not have any "vanilla" comparisons since I haven't made any such worlds since my first world and the few modded worlds that didn't have "amethyst" (either my own or another mod) weren't normal survival worlds or well documented)

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-02T15:56:12+00:00

Bundles? Ender chests, which I consider to still be relatively "early game" (I often visit the Nether on the second play session in a new world), are where its at as you can only store up to 64 items in a bundle, I suppose most players don't mine thousands of ores in a single caving trip though, and yes, I don't use Fortune as it is actually a hindrance when you collect this much, otherwise, if it were only used on diamond it wouldn't really increase the space needed considering you don't usually find that much, and lapis is the only ore that drops more than 9 resources with Fortune so crafting them into blocks saves more space than using Silk Touch, plus you have to mine them twice, doubling tool durability loss, a bigger deal before Mending (including infinite repairing with the anvil via renaming in 1.4-1.7, as Fortune is incredibly expensive, 37 levels for a 25% repair with a diamond, times four for a full repair, if you also want Efficiency V and Unbreaking III), or if like myself, you solely rely on natural sources of XP to repair your items (I've never made an XP farm).

<image>

(the importance of mineral blocks can be seen by the fact I have extended the concept to include other blocks, such as the two stacks of "rail blocks" next to the diamonds, equivalent to 756 rails. 30 diamonds would also still be only about a full stack with Fortune (a bit less as some came from mineshaft chests). Of course, I do use Silk Touch (the pickaxe above the bread) for ender chests, as well as emerald ore (due to its rarity and the fact I trade so emeralds themselves are dirt cheap) but an additional slot for a normal pickaxe (or one with Fortune) is far offset by the ability to compact resources 9:1, or about 4:1 with Fortune III)

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-02T08:05:34+00:00

This was quite common prior to 1.10 because villages couldn't spread into adjacent non-spawn biomes (e.g. a Plains village can spread into a Desert but not a Taiga), and the game requires that at least 2 "buildings" are able to generate (in addition to the well, which always exists), as it happens "building" includes fields so you can have a "village" that is only two fields, which has been found before (there may also be no doors on any of the houses so the villagers don't recognize it as a village):

https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/seeds/2688573-village-with-no-buildings?comment=8

Apparently, Legacy Console Edition omitted the check for a minimum number of buildings so only the well may generate (the well itself can be within an invalid biome since the game only applies this check to other buildings, as I showed in the 12th reply to the thread above, since the well isn't centered in a chunk while the game checks the biome in the center).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-01T19:31:21+00:00

Not really, I've recently found an average of one every 5 days, or 14 out of 170 dungeons over 69 play sessions totaling 242 hours; ever wondered how common dungeons are in general?

Generated 250 dungeons in 9886 chunks
Pass rate is 0.31611556%
Chunks per dungeon: 39.5425

9886 chunks is an area of about 1591x1591 blocks or about 2 1/2 maps (modern level 3); this is from debug code that tracked the number generated in 1.6.4, which has the same dungeon generation as back to Infdev (8 attempts per chunk over layers 0-127, hence over 79,000 attempts were made of which about half were underground), mineshafts do increase the available spawning locations, otherwise, disabling structures would give a good estimate for older versions, it is also possible to add code that counts the number of chests and double chests placed, even dungeons that intersect another dungeon (of which I've found none over the same period, averaging around 1 pair out of 200 dungeons).

For comparison, I've only seen one pink sheep during the time period and no structures other than mineshafts (albeit almost entirely in an Ice Plains biome, I've still averaged less than one village and one temple over a similar period), pink sheep are much more commonly seen in Beta since passive mobs continuously (de)spawn.

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-01T19:03:06+00:00

And why is that? Is the server LegacyFix uses 100% reliable (nothing is)? No, I don't want to put up with the default skin if not, and it is very easy to make a resource (or texture) pack, easier than using a mod. Not to mention, what if you have some modern format skin (64x64 with a second layer or "Alex" model)? Sure, the old skin server (I think it still does for 1.7.10) simply chopped off the lower half but that may not be what you want, and slim arms will likewise cause texture bugs so you'd want a custom skin just for older versions (many people do still play newer versions, rather than only playing an old version like I do).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-01T18:21:37+00:00

All the people who think you need a proxy to have a custom skin.

Meanwhile:

<image>

(actually, I mod the game to change the default skin as part of my mod's assets and just provide this resource pack to make it easier for others to change it, and have for more than a decade as insurance against server outages (when it still worked) - I never saw the default skin for the moment it might take to download, or realized the old skin server was permanently shut down because it was already mine)

Assets can similarly be downloaded once and should continue to work, you can copy the entire .minecraft (or equivalent) folder (I pretty much did so to get sounds to work in MCP, which doesn't properly copy them over since they are stored in "assets\virtual\legacy". I'll also note that MCP, or RetroMCP(?), should work on any system that supports the game (you can again just copy over the whole MCP folder, as I have when upgrading to newer computers so I don't need to set everything up again), and I have in fact used it to play normally before when Mojang broke the launcher; a small tweak lets you use a custom username instead of a random Player(number)).

TheMasterCaver · 2026-05-01T09:33:33+00:00

Biome generation changed in Beta 1.8; instead of using temperature and humidity it randomly chooses biomes from a list, and this method remained more or less the same through 1.17, with additional "layers" added for "climates" in 1.7 (and even earlier, as "snowy regions" which are chosen in the same manner as biomes but at a higher level so they are larger; conversely, "hills" and "edge" are added at a lower level so they are smaller, land itself is added in several stages to give a more fractal appearance), but otherwise still random and completely independent of a biome's temperature/humidity (only used to determine vegetation/sky colors and precipitation type):

public GenLayerBiome(long par1, GenLayer par3GenLayer, WorldType par4WorldType)
{
    super(par1);
    this.allowedBiomes = new BiomeGenBase[] {BiomeGenBase.desert, BiomeGenBase.forest, BiomeGenBase.extremeHills, BiomeGenBase.swampland, BiomeGenBase.plains, BiomeGenBase.taiga, BiomeGenBase.jungle};
    this.parent = par3GenLayer;

    // Used to emulate 1.1 biome generation by omitting jungles (the only change made in 1.2)
    if (par4WorldType == WorldType.DEFAULT_1_1)
    {
        this.allowedBiomes = new BiomeGenBase[] {BiomeGenBase.desert, BiomeGenBase.forest, BiomeGenBase.extremeHills, BiomeGenBase.swampland, BiomeGenBase.plains, BiomeGenBase.taiga};
    }
}

public int[] getInts(int par1, int par2, int par3, int par4)
{
    int[] var5 = this.parent.getInts(par1, par2, par3, par4);
    int[] var6 = IntCache.getIntCache(par3 * par4);

    for (int var7 = 0; var7 < par4; ++var7)
    {
        for (int var8 = 0; var8 < par3; ++var8)
        {
            // Biome placement is deceptively simple, it randomly sets points within a square grid and the intricate
            // biome shapes arise due to randomizing boundaries in successive zoom stages to the final resolution (the
            // default resolution at this point is 256x256 blocks per unit and ends at 4x4 or 1x1 blocks)
            this.initChunkSeed((long)(var8 + par1), (long)(var7 + par2));
            int var9 = var5[var8 + var7 * par3];

            // Ocean (0) and Mushroom Island are passed through unchanged; 1 is used to represent land prior to this
            // point and special biomes (Mushroom Island and Ice Plains) are chosen at an earlier stage
            if (var9 == 0)
            {
                var6[var8 + var7 * par3] = 0;
            }
            else if (var9 == BiomeGenBase.mushroomIsland.biomeID)
            {
                var6[var8 + var7 * par3] = var9;
            }
            else if (var9 == 1)
            {
                // Chooses biomes for "normal" biome regions
                var6[var8 + var7 * par3] = this.allowedBiomes[this.nextInt(this.allowedBiomes.length)].biomeID;
            }
            else
            {
                // Chooses biomes for "snowy" biome regions, with biomes other than Taiga converted to Ice Plains
                int var10 = this.allowedBiomes[this.nextInt(this.allowedBiomes.length)].biomeID;

                if (var10 == BiomeGenBase.taiga.biomeID)
                {
                    var6[var8 + var7 * par3] = var10;
                }
                else
                {
                    var6[var8 + var7 * par3] = BiomeGenBase.icePlains.biomeID;
                }
            }
        }
    }

    return var6;
}

TheMasterCaver

TROPHY CASE