The Aether
The Aether is a mini-biome that can be found in the outer fifth of the world in the Underground or Cavern layers. It is generated once upon world creation and is always located on the same side of the world as the Jungle biome. The biome features a large pool of Shimmer in its center that is surrounded by a few Gem Trees. Faelings occasionally fly above the pool.
Players can also create artificial Aether biomes by placing Shimmer in the Underground or Cavern layers. An Aether biome requires at least 300 tiles of Shimmer.
While in the Aether, a unique background effect that resembles the star-filled sky of Space will appear. This effect will also display over tiles that are in complete darkness.
Contents
- Shimmer Slime(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)(from most slimes entering Shimmer)
- Aether(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
- Snow (Otherworldly)(Desktop, Console and Mobile versions)
Generation
The Aether always generates on the same side of the world as the Jungle.
The game will generate the Aether by randomly selecting a tile in a zone (see below for technical info about this zone's size and the number of generation attempts in the zone)[1]; then check a 211×211 to 249×249 (size is determined randomly) rectangular area centered on the chosen tile for the following:[2]
- The borders of the area must be at least 50 tiles away from the world borders.
- The area must have no Ebonstone or Crimstone Blocks (unless in a Don't dig up / Get fixed boi world).
If the area passes the check, then the tile is considered valid, and the Aether biome will be generated centered on the tile. Otherwise, continue the process of selecting and checking random tiles. Internally, the Aether biome will be considered a 200×200 rectangular area centered on the valid tile (the bottom-right tile of the four center tiles is the center), and no other structures will overlap with it.[1]
Zones
To better describe the size of the zone, we first set a coordinate system to describe tile location in a world: (all values below are in tiles)
- The coordinates of the top-left tile in the world is (0,0), while the coordinates of the bottom-right tile is (
mX
,mY
), wheremX
is the world width andmY
is the world height (i.e. the positive direction of X and Y axis is "left to right" and "top to bottom", respectively). - The height of the border between Surface and Underground layers is
S
(Y =S
). - Similarly, the height of the border between Underground and Cavern layers is
C
(Y =C
). - When selecting a random tile (X,Y), the respective coordinate will be a random number between these values: X =
[X1, X2)
; Y =[Y1, Y2)
The size of the first zone is determined as following:
- Zone A
- Y axis:
- Minimum depth is Y1 =
(S + C) ÷ 2 + 50
, and the maximum depth is Y2 =[(mY - 250) × 2 + C] ÷ 3
. - If Y2 is more than
mY - 460
, then Y2 is set tomY - 460
. - If Y2 ≤ Y1, then Y2 is set to
Y1 + 50
.
- Minimum depth is Y1 =
- X axis:
- The range is X1 =
200
, X2 =mX × 0.11
; or X1 =mX × 0.89
, X2 =mX - 200
, depending on the side of the world.- This effectively makes the selected tile in the outer 11% of the world, and at least 200 tiles away from the world borders.
- The range is X1 =
Then, randomly select a tile inside Zone A. If it failed to pass the check mentioned above, then the game will try 20000 times to find a valid tile inside another zone (Zone B):
- Zone B
- Y axis:
- Y1 is set to
(S + C) ÷ 2 + 20
. Y2 is unchanged.
- Y1 is set to
- X axis:
- X1 and X2 are unchanged.
If those attempts all failed, then the game will continue to select random tiles in another zone (Zone C), until a valid tile is found:
- Zone C
- Y axis:
- Y1 is set to
S + 120
. Y2 is unchanged.
- Y1 is set to
- X axis:
- Range is set to X1 =
200
, X2 =mX × 0.2
; or X1 =mX × 0.8
, X2 =mX - 200
, depending on the side of the world.
- Range is set to X1 =
- Celebrationmk10 Zones
In Celebrationmk10 worlds, the first scanning zone is different from other worlds. Also, in addition to the Aether biome, most water pools in this zone are replaced with Shimmer pools.
The size of the first zone (Zone A) in a Celebrationmk10 world is determined as following:
- Y axis:
- Minimum depth is Y1 =
S + 150
, and the maximum depth is Y2 =(C + S + 200) ÷ 2
. - If Y2 ≤ Y1, then Y2 is set to
Y1 + 50
.
- Minimum depth is Y1 =
- X axis:
- Same as the range of Zone A in other worlds.
- Process generation
After determining the zones, the game will first try 10000 times in Zone A.
If no valid tile is found, then try another 10000 times in Zone B.
If still no valid tile found, then continue to select random tiles in Zone C.
Notes
- Since Terraria's world is not dynamically updated, worlds generated pre-1.4.4 will always lack an Aether biome.
- Before defeating the Moon Lord, the Aether is the only source of Shimmer. This means it is finite and cannot be replenished.
- However once defeated, the Bottomless Shimmer Bucket becomes available and can be used to create unlimited Shimmer.
Tips
- The Guide's name can be used to find the Aether's horizontal location upon world creation.
- Note that this method may not always work, as it only calculates the position of the first generation zone (Zone A). Since the Aether cannot overlap with Ebonstone or Crimstone Blocks in regular worlds, if it fails to generate in Zone A, it will generate in another zone, rendering this method invalid.
- If the original Guide has died, a world with the same World Seed can be created to find the original Guide's name.
- First, find the number (n) corresponding to the Guide's name in the table below.
Guide name n Joe 0.000 Connor 0.0278 Tanner 0.0566 Wyatt 0.0833 Cody 0.1111 Levi 0.1389 Luke 0.1667 Jack 0.1944 Scott 0.2222 Logan 0.2500 Cole 0.2778 Asher 0.3056 Bradley 0.3333 Jacob 0.3611 Garrett 0.3889 Dylan 0.4167 Maxwell 0.4444 Steve 0.4722 Brett 0.5000 Andrew 0.5278 Harley 0.5556 Kyle 0.5833 Jake 0.6111 Ryan 0.6389 Jeffrey 0.6667 Seth 0.6944 Marty 0.7222 Brandon 0.7500 Zach 0.7778 Jeff 0.8056 Daniel 0.8333 Trent 0.8611 Kevin 0.8889 Brian 0.9167 Colin 0.9444 Jan 0.9722
Trivia
- In Greek mythology, Aether is the personification of the bright upper sky.
- The Aether's name uses the archaic spelling of the word æther, with the Latin letter æ separated. In modern English, aether is normally spelled ether.
History
- Desktop 1.4.4.4: Fixed it being possible for the Aether to spawn too high up in worldgen to properly form its visual effects.
- Desktop 1.4.4: Introduced.
- Console 1.4.4: Introduced.
- Switch 1.4.4: Introduced.
- Mobile 1.4.4: Introduced.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.5 source code, method
GenerateWorld()
inTerraria.WorldGen.cs
. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9. - ↑ Information taken from the Desktop 1.4.4.5 source code, method
ShimmerMakeBiome()
inTerraria.WorldGen.cs
. There may be inaccuracies, as the current Desktop version is 1.4.4.9.