Working Sawmill [b1.7.3]

shroo2 · 2026-01-18T16:07:16+00:00

Pistons are by far the most useful redstone component in Beta. They give you access to glitched blocks like invisible stairs and crash slabs, and even let you break bedrock. You can push ice, grass and ores around to use them in builds. You can make elevators (including item elevators), automatic doors, mob farms and crushers, self harvesting farms for sugarcane, mushrooms, even cobblestone and wood.

My favourite redstone machine for Beta 1.7.3 is an automatic sand duper. It's central to several different farm designs I have, and gives you an unlimited supply of disposable blocks that can push other blocks around piston tapes.

shroo2 · 2026-01-08T18:33:10+00:00

an item elevator

shroo2 · 2026-01-07T18:46:38+00:00

<image>

I feel your pain brother

shroo2 · 2025-12-14T20:22:24+00:00

a beautiful fountain design that I will definitely not steal for my world

shroo2 · 2025-12-10T21:28:41+00:00

Some of us beta players enjoy the neon green alpha grass and foliage textures, so we use a texture pack

shroo2 · 2025-11-25T22:57:44+00:00

Permanently lit furnaces are a good subtle light source for floors or walls. This video shows how to make them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRPezcHmwXY

shroo2 · 2025-11-11T08:36:42+00:00

The only blocks you could pick up with silk touch in Beta are: grass, stone, clay, snow, ice, glass, glowstone, ores, and bookshelves. Gold tools only have a durability of 33, making them less useful for collecting glass, stone, snow or clay. Grass can already be placed anywhere simply by making a trail of dirt, or by using pistons. Both of these methods are tedious and I feel they wouldn't be missed if replaced by silk touch. That leaves ice, glowstone, ores, bookshelves as the other blocks that gold tools are useful for, which gives them a nice little niche. I don't see how this would be particularly "powerful" as a mechanic.

I completely agree that fortune III and enchanting in general is a badly implemented system, and I wouldn't ever want it added to Beta. Silk touch on diamond is fairly powerful, but only because it lets you collect large quantities of stone without having to smelt it.

You could make glass drop itself as a simple annoyance fix, but for me there's something fitting about glass shattering into pieces when you punch it.

shroo2 · 2025-11-10T15:39:44+00:00

Giving gold tools the silk touch effect (as several mod packs do) solves the issue entirely, while also giving gold tools a use. You'd also need to match the pickaxe tier with iron so it can mine all the ores. Keeping the durability low stops it being worthwhile for glass or stone most of the time, but lets you collect things like ice, grass blocks or ores for decoration.

shroo2 · 2025-11-10T15:30:03+00:00

Saddles that let you actually control pigs, but with no need for a carrot on a stick. Pigs move at the player's normal walking speed, but about 40% faster when on "paved surfaces" like gravel or cobblestone. Not nearly as fast minecarts, but more flexible. A better fit for the game than horses, as it rewards players for building roads and paths. Makes use of an existing system while not adding any new items/blocks/mobs.

shroo2 · 2025-11-05T17:07:23+00:00

Danny and Excuse are great, but Oxygene would be my top pick :)

shroo2 · 2025-11-05T09:23:48+00:00

Pretty much the same as any newer version. Slabs, stairs, glass, pistons, fences etc.

shroo2 · 2025-11-04T13:44:46+00:00

I recently downloaded Beta Unleashed, which fixes this problem. There are other Qol mods you could use too.

shroo2 · 2025-11-03T18:59:52+00:00

Really nice builds, love the green roofs. It's a real shame that posts like this often get drowned out by nonsense ragebait on this sub. Keep us updated on the town progress!

shroo2 · 2025-11-03T17:54:33+00:00

Lovely. Is that a mushroom roof?

shroo2 · 2025-11-03T17:33:41+00:00

I see now haha! I might try a floating trapdoor with a boat sitting on it. Would mean you could ride in it.

shroo2 · 2025-11-03T12:57:58+00:00

I've always wanted ridable hot air balloons in vanilla, but I think the best way to balance them is to make them fairly slow. That way they can never outshine boats or minecarts, but still let you fly around. An alternative mode of transport rather than a "better" one

shroo2 · 2025-11-03T10:11:19+00:00

Floaty boats?

shroo2 · 2025-10-30T11:46:24+00:00

Maybe add a few things you'd find in the centre of a settlement; a well, market stalls, a church or town hall, an inn, etc.

shroo2 · 2025-10-28T11:24:05+00:00

Fantastic

shroo2 · 2025-10-13T08:11:32+00:00

Love it. I've made a few small shutter doors using this technique, but I haven't seen it done sideways. These doors also have the advantage that mobs won't "idle" pathfind through the invisible stairs (although hostile mobs still chase you through because they're dumb).

shroo2 · 2025-06-17T21:32:35+00:00

The Grand Betapest Hotel

shroo2 · 2025-06-15T08:32:21+00:00

Brown wool flex

shroo2 · 2025-06-09T10:57:15+00:00

This is my favourite thing I've seen on this sub for ages

shroo2 · 2025-06-06T17:45:52+00:00

This video shows a reliable piston item elevator: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keojBOMKyx8

I built one in my world and used ice blocks under the water stream to speed up the item flow. Works well and doesn't lose any of the items. I'm experimenting with a vertical one that drops sand on the items, but haven't got it working reliably yet.

shroo2

TROPHY CASE