Mapgen Parameters
All map generator algorithms have a few common parameters, plus any mapgen-specific options such as noise parameters or threshhold values. Only mapgen-generic parameters are listed here; mapgen-specific ones are listed in the corresponding mapgen wiki page.
Mapgen parameter source precedence
There are several sources which the map generator may retrieve parameters from. In order from highest precedence to lowest they are:
- Hard-coded
- Lua mods
- map_meta.txt
- Game-specific config file
- Global config file
- Default settings (set in defaultsettings.cpp)
- Default object constructor values
List of mapgen parameters
Mapgen name
The name of the map generator algorithm being used. Currently supported:
| Mapgen name | Developer responsible | Description |
|---|---|---|
| v6 | kwolekr, celeron55 | The current default map generator. Uses an improved Mapgen v2 algorithm for base terrain; terrain is generated entirely using 2D Perlin noise. |
| v7 | kwolekr | The next generation map generator with an emphasis on generating interesting and playable terrain. Has full support for the internal biome infrastructure and uses a mixture of 2D and both positive and negative 3D noise for terrain. |
| indev | proller | Mapgen v6 with some interesting experimental features and tweaks added, such as floatlands, terrain that gets higher in scale the further the from the origin, and extremely large caves. |
| math | proller | Generates terrain based off of 3d fractals, e.g. Mandelbulb. Not intended to be used for a traditional game of Minetest. |
| singlenode | celeron55 | Places only a single node everywhere, namely the one aliased to mapgen_singlenode (by default air). Intended to be used by mods that perform total mapgen takeovers. |
Seed
A 64-bit unsigned integer value. At this time, only the lower 32 bits are currently used for randomization.
Water level
The y coordinate at which water starts being placed, for mapgens that do place water.
This is also the position at which blocks are assumed to be underground if no block above is present, and thus is not given sunlight.
Flags parameter
The flags parameter is a set of booleans indicating whether or not a certain option is enabled. Flags can be a combination of the possible values detailed in the table below.
Like all other config and Lua flag fields, they are represented as a comma-delimited string.
E.g. the flag string "trees, caves, flat" would direct the Mapgen to create flat terrain with trees and caves.
An exhaustive list of currently recognized Mapgen flags:
| Lua/config flag name | Internal constant | Respected by | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| trees | MG_TREES | v6, indev | Place trees on the map according to the tree noise distribution. |
| caves | MG_CAVES | v6, indev, v7 | Carve out caves from the terrain. |
| dungeons | MG_DUNGEONS | v6, indev, v7 | Randomly place dungeons onto the map. |
| flat | MG_FLAT | v6, indev, v7 | Make all terrain occur at the y position 0, resulting in a flat map. Note that this attribute does NOT turn off trees, caves, or any other feature. |
| nolight | MG_NOLIGHT | v6, indev, v7, singlenode | Do not calculate lighting; instead leave set to 0 (total darkness). This is intended to be set by custom Lua map generators, NOT end users. |
| v6_jungles | MGV6_JUNGLES | v6, indev | Place 0.3-style jungles on the map according to v6's own  Note: not biome
humidity noise distribution. |
| v6_biome_blend | MGV6_BIOME_BLEND | v6, indev | Dither nodes between biomes to create a transition between them. |
| v7_mountains | MGV7_MOUNTAINS | Place 3d noise-defined mountains. Currently, not user-accessible. | |
| v7_ridges | MGV7_RIDGES | Place 3d noise-defined rivers and ridges. Currently, not user-accessible. |
Chunk size
The side length (in MapBlocks) of the cubic area that is generated at once. Default is 5; larger values take longer to generate but blocks generate quicker on average and could produce larger, more intricate caves and dungeons.
Don't mess around with this if you don't know what you're doing! This parameter cannot be modified through the Lua API.
Mapgen Parameter Lua API
The task of getting and setting mapgen parameters is much trickier than it seems it should be. For this reason there exists a small but effective set of API for accomplishing this.
minetest.register_on_mapgen_init()
Reading the configuration file for parameter overrides is incorrect, since there are many other sources the mapgen parameters could be set according to. Further, since the map metadata is only loaded after the mods have initially run and before the environment has been created, a direct query cannot be made. For this reason there is a callback that can be registered on mod load, using minetest.register_on_mapgen_init(), which runs on mapgen initialization. If certain decorations, or nodes, etc. must be registered according to the mapgen being used or any other mapgen params, this is the appropriate callback in which to perform these tasks.
minetest.register_on_mapgen_init(function(mgparams)) is passed a table containing the mapgen parameters currently being used.
Valid fields of mgparams are: mgname, seed, water_level, flags