v0.13:Getting Started

v0.13 · Older This article is about the current version of Mystcraft. More Info

Mystcraft is a mod based on the universe introduced by Cyan's groundbreaking 1993 game, Myst. It allows you to create and travel to dimensions, called Ages, by "writing" books with symbol pages that describe aspects you wish the Age to have. A Descriptive Book, when completed, has a panel that will transport the player into the Age it describes.

Be warned: Mystcraft-based transportation between vanilla dimensions, dimension from other mods, and Mystcraft Ages are one-way. A Linking Book or two will allow you to return. It is possible to get stuck in a dying Age, unable to return to the Overworld.

Any book used (Linking or descriptive) will stay behind. Returning requires either another book, or some tool from another mod. Finding and jumping into a Star Fissure will also return you to the overworld.

Resources Needed

The three most frequently used resources are: sugar cane, leather, and ink sacs. Setting up cane and cow farms near a squid-spawning body of water is helpful, though not strictly required. A wheat farm will help with increasing your herd.

Other resources required for a minimal setup:

• 5 smooth stone
• 12 planks
• 3 iron ingots
• 3 sand, smelted into glass, and crafted into glass bottles
• 1 feather

Some extra wood and a piece of string will allow you to make a Book Stand or Lectern, and the useful Symbol Portfolio

Equipment

To write custom Ages, craft and place:

• Ink Mixer
• Book Binder
• Writing Desk (2 blocks wide)

The Writing Desk has two primary functions: organizing symbols, and making duplicates/copies of them. It is NOT necessary, but the balance of available symbols might not be sufficient if you do not have a way to make duplicates of them.

Craft at least one Ink Vial and put it in the upper-left box in the ink mixer's interface. The ink itself will go into the center of the mixer, making a black circle, and depositing the emptied vial in the upper-right box. Put paper in the lower-left box and, provided ink is available, a Link Panel Page will appear in the lower-right box.

Put leather in the book binder, in the square slot on the left side of the interface.

Create and Travel to a Random Age

Take a Link Panel Page from the ink mixer and put it in the wide grey space of the book binder. The "Missing Link Panel" warning will go away. In the text box at the top of the book binder interface, type the name you give to this Age. (In Myst: The Book of Atrus, the title character named his first Age Inception.) If you have additional symbol pages, they would be added after the link panel in the grey box to narrow down the specifics of your Age; however, the minimum requirement for creating a descriptive book is just a name, a piece of leather for the cover, and a linking panel.

Take your descriptive book out of the book binder. Right click with it in your hand and it will open to the linking panel.

Note: Clicking on the link panel will take you to this new Age with no way back!

Craft a Linking Book by combining a link panel page with a piece of leather in any crafting grid. It will begin as a grey, unlinked book. Right-clicking on the ground (or other nearby object) with an unlinked linking book in your hand will forever link it to that place. Doing this in the Overworld will allow you to get back. The standard link panel page can only be used to travel across Ages/dimensions. (Intra-demension linking is possible by making different ink in the ink mixer.)

It's best to bring a few book stands or lecterns with you as well. Linking transports you, but not the book that remains behind as you travel to the new Age. Books on the ground lose durability, especially if they get wet. Book stands and lecterns protect the books from this damage.

Once you have a descriptive book, one or more linked linking books, and a book stand or two, you're ready to travel. Place down a book stand/lectern and put your Age descriptive book on it. Open the book and click the linking panel on the first page. Once you arrive in the new Age, place another book stand in a safe place and put your return linking book on it.

Now you're thinking with Mystcraft!

Next Steps

What to do next is up to you. Some ideas:

• Quickly link back to the Overworld because this Age is hazardous!
• Explore this Age because it's not too hazardous (maybe even quite pleasant)
• Seek out symbol pages in either the Overworld or your new Age so that you can be more specific about your Age design next time
• Set up a transportation hub with a collection of linking books to useful points of interest in the universe
• Trick your enemies into linking to Ages with no return book to trap them
• Link yourself into an Age with no linking book to see if you can find a way back to the Overworld (there are a few possibilities with a little luck)
• Learn about Instability or Writing by reading these articles (spoilers!), or try to figure those things out in-game

External links

Tutorial (detailed) playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFYVR-tqmunWjoBJydHMNdeHC6PDjh7ns (Written for an older version, but still 98%+ accurate.)','utf-8'),(218,'The descriptive book is an object crafted in the Book Binder. It creates and allows travel to a new custom dimension, known as an "Age." The Ages can be random, or crafted carefully by writing a description of the desired Age with symbol pages.

Use

The safest way to use a descriptive book is to place it on a lectern or book stand first. To use a book displayed in this way, right click to open the book to the first page, then left-click the linking panel to travel to the Age described.

The same process is used with a book held in the hand, but at the risk of damaging or destroying the book itself (see Warnings:Dropped Books, below).

With books that have been written with symbols, opening the book and then clicking on the folded page corners allow you to turn the pages and review which symbols were used, and in what order. This is useful to learn about the grammar of writing, or to figure out why an Age is not what you expected.

A book on the ground is picked up by sneak-right-clicking with an empty hand.

Warnings

One Way Trip

All links to new Ages are one-way. It is highly recommended that you carry one or more linking books with you. Without a return linking book, you may become trapped in the new Age if there is not a star fissure to jump into. Otherwise, hope that the materials necessary to create ink, paper, and other supplies are available on this Age in order to write new Ages in search of a star fissure.

Dropped Books

A descriptive book used to link to an Age does not follow the user. If protected by a lectern or book stand, it remains safe. However, if the book was held in the user's hand when they linked, it will drop to the ground and begin taking damage which cannot be repaired. The rate of damage is faster when exposed to liquid, such as during rain or if dropped into a lake or other body of water. Books dropped into lava are almost instantly destroyed.

Instability

Main Page: Instability
Sometimes Ages are written poorly. Common writing problems include an insufficiently specific description, greed (an Age made entirely of diamond ore, for example), including contradictory elements, or simply not following the grammar used by the special form of the D'ni language known as "The Skill" or "The Art." When writing errors are made, Ages can exhibit features known collectively as instability.

Instability can manifest subtle ways, such as the occasional unexpected onset of undesirable potion effects, or in more spectacular and highly hazardous ways, such as a rain of destructive meteors. A particularly insidious form of instability is Decay, which as its name suggests, causes the very substance of the Age itself to decay, eventually leading to its complete destruction over time. Being trapped in a decaying Age is problematic.

Crafting

In a book binder, put leather in the square slot on the left side of the interface and a link panel page plus, optionally, any desired symbol pages in the wide dark field underneath. Right-clicking on the dark field with a collation folder will empty the contents of the folder, in order, into the book binder for ease of composition and binding.

Name the Age in the text box at the top, and the bound descriptive book will appear in the square box at the right of the interface.