I’ve been making a modpack to roughly recreate 1.6.4 in 1.20.1, and lighting is an important factor in actually making it feel right. Mainly just using Nostalgic Tweaks for this.

I couldn’t find a single discussion dedicated to this, and answers to similar questions online have been contradictory. That, and most posts immediately jump to beta lighting. Simply looking at the different versions isn’t too helpful for the untrained eye, and I’m not sure if there are subtle differences I’m missing. Hence, asking online.

Etho’s main world is an example of what I’m thinking of, though that was made in release versions. And I don’t mean a poly world. Specifically hunting for a world that was created as far back as beta or earlier and has been in use since (at least on and off use), updated when each version of the game came around. It could be from some let’s play, or even just some random dude on reddit or another forum.

Edit: a server is also an option, like 2b2t, although that doesn’t qualify since it hasn’t consistently updated

I've been working on my first worldbuilding project. Instead of doing something easy for a first time attempt like elemental magic, I decided to make a system that integrates into the structure of the world and serves as an explanation for many different kinds of magic because of "themes." This was definitely a dumb choice and I am posting a simplification of it here to see if it makes any sense to people.

This is just an overarching foundation for how magic generally works and is meant to be the base for several different magic systems in the setting to build off of. Specifics are nonexistent and will be worked on eventually. All terms are also temporary and are purely so I had a name for things I was figuring out.

Background

The setting technically isn't actually a simulation like in sci-fi, but with the way it's structured it's effectively the same thing and could be used in that context. This specific structuring is the core inspiration for how magic works in this setting and has to be clarified to understand magic fully.

Reality is split into two halves; the primordial and the physical realities. The primordial reality is the "real" world, an endless dimension of writhing energy that constantly interacts with itself. These interactions form logic and code which determine the physical reality, a collective hallucination made up and determined by the primordial reality. The physical reality is the world as we know it; space, matter, energies, and rules to do with universes and their life cycles. Every single thing has code behind it; objects, places, people, phenomena, and even concepts have definitions and rules stored away in the primordial reality.

Basics of Magic

Magic, at its most simplest definition, is the manipulation of reality's code to bring a desired effect. Since gods are energetic beings that live alongside the code, they inherently have this power. But mortals, physical beings existing within the primordial reality's hallucination, exist at a level of separation from the code and are unable to view or effect it.

Entanglement solves this issue. When the code of something becomes excited enough, usually from godly interference or disruption, the code begins working both ways, meaning it becomes sensitive to changes in the physical reality. What this means is that occurrences within the physical reality can directly effect the code. A limb falling from a tree entangled with its own code could cause it to inexplicably combust, or for the limb to shoot off into the sky, among other possibilities.

Mortals can utilize entanglement to directly view the primordial reality and manually change the code. The conscious mind and the code of reality are both energetic systems, different kinds of computers. Thus, it is theoretically possible for them to connect and interface with each other. If entangled material is in close proximity to the brain, the code can detect the mortal mind through that material. Through this observation, a mortal could concentrate and connect with the code, glimpsing into the primordial reality.

What Magic Actually Looks Like

In universe, magic isn't as simple as plugging a USB into the code of the world itself (though a sci-fi setting may actually be able to do that under these rules). The main location this setting focuses on, the planet of Ruapua, is a fantasy world, but it is still a primitive and developing civilization in the grand scheme of things. Technology is archaic, and the use of magic here is less focused and more like that early steam engine that was made to spin döner two hundred years before steam engines were fully realized.

Shocked quartz is the most commonly accessible form of entangled matter on Ruapua and are pretty much your standard "mana crystals." Thousands of years ago the gods brought about a great cataclysm, scorching the planet and leaving it magically unstable and entangled. The world has somewhat healed since then, but the entangled quartz remains in the most ravaged areas. This quartz is the key to magic use in Ruapua. With some in possession, there are two ways to go about doing magic; direct and indirect.

Direct Magic

Direct magic is the act of using entangled material to directly view the code of reality so you can modify it and create whatever physical effect you need. This can either be a quick and immediate effect that doesn't last long, or it can be a longer lasting modification to the code, an enchantment. Reality doesn't like to be modified though and will degrade all modifications over time. The most skilled mages are able to make enchantments that can survive decades, and if the enchantment is used over and over again than it will only become more entrenched and permanent in the code.

In general, however, to make any change in the code requires an immense amount of effort, skill, and mental strength. The code isn't receptive to foreign entities like mortals. Mortal minds are also limited by physical biology; they view the primordial reality like looking through a pinhole, giving a limited view of the whole. If that view widened, the brain would be overwhelmed with information and would literally short circuit. Most of a master mage's career revolves solely around slowly mapping out the primordial reality so that any actual magic they do is safer and more efficient. The limitations of mortal minds means that magic use will always be limited for them as well. Slowly healing a wound is doable, setting your opponent on fire is tricky but possible, and moving a boulder is very mentally taxing. You can forget about doing "summon nuke" or anything more significant than that; that would require modifying your own physical brain so you can actually handle doing such things. That, or getting yourself entangled, but most who attempt that only give themselves seizures and brain damage.

Indirect Magic

Indirect magic is the far more common and much safer alternative for magic use. Over the thousands of years since the cataclysm, many enchantments have been made within the sphere of code encompassing Ruapua. Many have been made by historical mages, and many more by the gods that still reside on the planet. Some are leftovers from the ancient period before the cataclysm, but some are natural byproducts of a magically unstable world unconsciously rewriting its own code. Indirect magic is the simple action of tapping into these preexisting enchantments rather than making new ones.

This form of magic does not require viewing the primordial reality, but entangled material like shocked quartz is still necessary to make any action possible. All enchantments have a key in the form of a ritual. This can be as simple as a specific flick of a wand, or as complicated as forming a giant transmutation circle across the country. Entanglement allows the code to detect if the specific physical ritual has been performed, and if so the enchantment will trigger and deliver the requested physical effect.

Thanks to its open rules, indirect magic is extremely diverse. Different cultures will have their own styles of rituals, and there are guilds and entire fields of study dedicated to specific kinds of magic like healing, transformation, etc. Direct magic also overlaps here as mages will make new enchantments for these fields. Once a new enchantment has been made, mages will usually trigger it via rituals instead of going into the code over and over again. These new enchantments are unstable compared to the older ones, but the more they are performed the more consistent the effect becomes.

Indirect magic is generally less powerful than direct magic. Very few people have had the means or reasons to perform the complicated rituals for an enchantment like "summon nuke," even if there are some people who would; the enchantment thus degrades and vanishes as no one uses it. Most magic use is simply folk magic; low stakes and minor effects but far more accessible to the average person. Since so many people are using these enchantments, they are the most consistent and reliable kind of magic you can do.

Indirect magic is unreliable, however, in that once an enchantment has been made and consistently used they are very difficult to change again. This becomes an issue when the enchantments that are available do not suit one's specific needs. There are many enchantments for getting a bountiful harvest, but very few for stripping the iron out of your opponents blood. More than half of all enchantments on Ruapua are different iterations of the same "heal" spell made by different communities throughout history. If you want to do something hyper specific with magic, or something more powerful than what the main enchantments can do, than you'll have to attempt direct magic and its difficulties.