From Cauldron to SpongeForge - The Map Conundrum

Server Discussion
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Hello again, members of the never-ending internet!

It seems my hands have been tied by a problem I’m facing. I can already imagine the number of people full of intent to murder me for even having used Cauldron but please, hear me out I say!

I am all for moving over the server to the land of sponges and yellow, full of fuzzy words and new developments you see but before that, I must explain a few things (might want to check your watch on this one!).

The Cauldron server being what it is, was modded and on 1.7.10, having run for a number of months now and having been built up, it’s a pet project of mine and few other to have some Minecraft fun, but after so long we’ve finally agreed to try and move the server to SpongeForge considering that most of the important mods we use seem to be available for 1.12.2 and the plugins department can mostly be accounted for with replacement.

So we got to work, and by that, I mean I got to work. A part of being the owner and all means you have to do all the heavy lifting and whatnot when anything needs to get done on the server end. ^^"

Indeed, I did my homework. I went and installed a billion mods, retrieved and set-up a SpongeForge server locally and cracked the Enigma code on the way back. After a few days of this, plus retrieving some plugins for the Sponge part, I ran it successfully on a newly-generated test world. And it worked wondrously! \o/

But now, I wouldn’t be here if that was the end now, would I? Reaching the final stages of preparing to port over, I retrieved the map from the old host and placed it in the SpongeForge server area and then… there was a problem.

The log came up with an error telling of how the save predated 1.7.10 and needed to be opened in 1.7.10 or 1.8 to be used. So the headache part of doing this all started here. I tried my hardest with my mightiest weapons (besides my amazing looks) but it was no match for my encased desktop.

I tried re-downloading the map, but to no avial. I tried opening it (successfully) in single-player and then using the map/save in the server area but the problem remains.

It’s not exactly the most viable option to try set-up 1.8 with similar mods and most of them don’t support it (the whole super update thing back then really did kill modding for the version I guess ^^"), and loading it without any mods would get rid of a significant number of important blocks.

I’m being driven crazy by lines on a screen. I need help. If anyone has any clues, mind getting back to me on this one?

[Server Log for Error]

P.S.
Apologies if this is in the wrong area. It’s kind of hard to find anywhere to post this darned thing.

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Translating a modded world between any two major versions of Minecraft is a difficult exercise. Doing so between five major versions has a low probability of success. The mods themselves are largely the culprits; the mechanics under-the-hood evolve and change, and some are forced to abandon some things to do them new ways. It’s common for many Wgen mods to expect you to create a new world between all major versions, as (at the very least) block IDs will change, and some will disappear entirely.

Even the seed of the world you used will probably give an entirely different result, as the game itself has changed significantly since Cauldron’s heyday. Only the vanilla portions of map saves can reliably be translated, and that can often leave ugly voids. I would recommend, sad and difficult as it may be, to begin a new world with the mods you settle on.

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Oh my. A team leader.

But indeed, I did an inkling of a feeling it might be like that (though more so something I didn’t want to consider but was staring from the back of mind).

If someone such as yourself has said as such, I imagine that will be the best answer I will receive (not to deter anyone if they do have another opinion to share of course). It would be quite a sad and difficult process as you say so it would take some convincing on my part for the others who invested their time but I do think it would likely be worth it to move on to SpongeForge.

My mindless ramblings aside… Thank you. I appreciate your straightforward answer.

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As @Inscrutable said, transferring modded worlds across that many versions is a task fraught with peril, starting your world afresh is likely the best solution to your troubles. That being said, you don’t have to abandon everything from your old world. Using WorldEdit or similar tools you could export buildings as schematic files from 1.7.10, then import and paste them into your 1.12.2 world. Now this is a bit more involved and may require a bit of terrain smoothing to get your builds looking properly in place. You should also note that this process will likely only properly work for vanilla blocks, but it’s better than nothing.

If you’re just going to start afresh without any links to the old server, then just remember that you have plenty of time. 1.7.10 was released over 4 years ago and clearly had quite a bit of staying power. Given how significant the update to 1.13 is going to be, there’s a good chance that 1.12.2 will be quite similar with regards to mods. Here at Sponge we’ve already stated that 1.12.2 will be in Long-Term Servicing, so you have plenty of time to get ready before encouraging your users to move across. Plan it out, come up with something interesting and your userbase will likely jump into a new and exciting world with plenty of enthusiasm.

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Oh, someone else has spoken! A Spongineer at that! (An entertaining title to say the least).

A perilous task you say? Immediately jumps off a cliff.

For the matter of WorldEdit, the admin team did use it quite extensively, enough that it is an idea that makes me question why I hadn’t thought of such a thing. You are a community manager and Spongineer for a reason I suppose (I really like that title :joy:)

Indeed, it would be better to port some of the important locations. Some terrain smoothing is a small price to pay for time spent on entire regions. Even just vanilla blocks allows for something to pass through at least.

I had seen the announcement (It’s kind of hard to miss, being at the top of each forum page and all), so your point holds weight on the staying power part. It’s good to know that I wont have to go through this trauma again anytime soon ^^". Thanks to both you and @Inscrutable for your replies! -

Your combined pools of wisdom have given me some much needed knowledge. Thanks again! ^^

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Hmm, I am not sure why you are so salty about it

In my opinion, it doesn’t even have to do anything with Sponge. SpongeForge is just a mod like other mods you use. SpongeForge, Thermal Expansion, Industrial Craft, Vehicles, etc…

You are trying to port worlds and mods that were developed in 1.7.10

Even before get to SpongeForge, there should be a lot of problem at the level of Forge server alone. Because you are trying to load the mods that were compatible in Forge 1.7.10 onto a Forge 1.12.2, like @Inscrutable said, lots of things are internally changed.

And If you are still in doubt, just take out SpongeForge and start the forge server alone. I’m pretty sure it should’t work.

If that’s the case, there are not much Sponge Team can do about your situation. SpongeForge is contributing nothing on your problem.

So your first job is to port 1.7.10 mods and worlds into 1.12.2 Forge server. If that succeeds, you may drag and drop the SpongeForge in the mods folder.