[MC-595] Low Domestic Spawn in Superflat Worlds/Passive mobs do not spawn on superflat outside of spawn chunks

When I create a superflat world, the spawn rate of cows/sheep/pigs/chickens seems to be incredibly low, whether it's run-of-the-mill superflat or a customized one. I see a group of animals roughly every 1-2km+. There tends to be some that spawn at world creation but it's essentially empty after that.

Linked issues

is duplicated by 1

MC-29372 horses dont spawn naturally on superflat worlds Resolved

Comments 21

Dylan Gibbs 2012-10-25T21:52:04Z

I have also noticed this. Just created a Superflat world and not an animal in sight!

Jonathan Haas 2012-10-27T12:27:57Z

I'm also seeing this. Steps to reproduce:

Create a new regular world, seed "plains", structures off.

You should spawn in a forest biome
Observe animal count

Create a new superflat world, preset "2;7,59x1,3x3,2;4;biome_1,decoration", seed "plains", structures off.

You should spawn in a (flat, but otherwise regular) forest biome
Observe animal count

Result:

In the regular world, there are cows and other animals nearly everywhere
In the flat world, I needed to travel around 1000m to find one small group of wolves

Expected:

Roughly same amount of animals in both worlds

Patrick Gorman 2012-11-04T15:40:50Z

As a better example:
Seed: 0
Spawn: x -595 z -790
Direction: South

2 groups of animals: x 551 z -790

Next group of animals(2 groups again): x 551 z 7209

Edit: Oh great, seeds don't even work anymore, I input a seed and it changes every time. :/

Jonathan Haas 2012-11-04T16:43:02Z

Seeds work, but Seed "0" ist just a placeholder for random seed. You should choose something else like "13", "42", or whatever to make it consistent.

Cad'ika Orade 2012-11-04T18:40:29Z

As I recall, animal spawn rates were reduced in Superflat world because Superflat was intened for building, not survival.

Making it an option for customized Superflats would probably be a good idea, though.

11 more comments

Jonathan Haas 2012-11-04T19:31:38Z

If this is the intention, they should lower also the spawn rates of hostile mobs and bats in superflat worlds. While you can disable hostile mobs by switching to peaceful, bats currently are quite annoying if you only want to build, test redstone, whatever.

But since the new world options made superflat worlds quite useable for survival gameplay, they should switch back to normal mob spawning. This is especially true for adventure maps and so on, where normal spawn rates are desired but the map creator wants to start from a flat world.

Ideally they should make an option for that, I agree.

Patrick Gorman 2012-11-04T20:53:15Z

Thx Haas, I'll post another test:
Seed 1 going south
1 group of sheep x924 z -569

I stopped at x924 z14000 because I got bored of looking for an animal but still couldn't find any.

I think by now it's pretty obvious that the animal spawn away from initial spawn is basically non-existant. Either there should be no animals with an option to turn them on(similar to the 'decoration' and other things in the superflat text code) or regular spawn with the option to turn them off.

Tails 2013-02-04T22:32:13Z

Is this still a concern in the current Minecraft version? If so, please update the affected versions in order to best aid Mojang ensuring bugs are still valid in the latest releases/pre-releases.

Danny Redmond 2013-03-15T13:18:54Z

not sure if possible already but other people should be allowed to add additional affected versions instead of just the person who created the thread

FireHunterX 2013-03-15T13:22:47Z

The Mods can add affected versions, and I can confirm this in 1.5

Liam Whitt 2013-08-10T22:31:34Z

Confirmed in 1.6.2. Created a Superflat Miner's Paradise (the one with the Extreme Hills biome), and I have not found an animal anywhere.

kumasasa 2013-08-11T09:00:49Z

Liam Whitt: Please attach the seed of the world (command /seed).

PTR_91 2013-12-12T15:14:43Z

Confirmed for 1.7.2 and 1.7.4

Chris Leach 2013-12-13T01:55:31Z

I am seeing a similar issue in 1.7.4 in any flat biome at night nothing spawns. I assumed it is a light sensitivity issue as super dark places like a roofed forest still get spawns. I wonder if there is any relation.

Ezekiel 2014-01-28T13:59:40Z

Is this still a concern in the latest Minecraft version 14w04b? If so, please update the affected versions in order to best aid Mojang ensuring bugs are still valid in the latest releases/pre-releases.

Helmuth Olsen 2014-01-30T18:41:16Z

just tested this in 14w05a, and the problem is still present. Docile mobs only spawn in your immediate spawn chunks, and new ones are never seen again if you venture away from that point.

Ezekiel 2014-07-25T01:59:42Z

Is this still a concern in the latest Minecraft version 14w30c? If so, please update the affected versions in order to best aid Mojang ensuring bugs are still valid in the latest releases/pre-releases.

galaxy_2alex 2014-10-23T20:11:35Z

This ticket is incomplete without the requested information, no response has been received within a reasonable time and we are assuming the issue has been resolved. If you are still experiencing this issue, we can reopen it at your request.

Helmuth Olsen 2014-10-23T20:29:05Z

please reopen this ticket, the problem is still occurring in 1.8

Alexander 2015-10-30T20:37:24Z

Confirmed for 15w44b.

I suggest changing the title of this to "Passive mobs do not spawn on superflat outside of spawn chunks".

Which is kind of what happens. Passive mobs do spawn normally around the spawn area, but do not do so beyond it.

FaRo1 2016-06-09T18:49:20Z

Currently testing in 1.10. Made a 10x10 grass square in spawn chunks and somewhere else.
First spawn: Outside spawn chunks.
Second spawn: Outside spawn chunks.
Third spawn: Ouside spawn chunks.
I think it can be said that it's fixed in 1.10.