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. It is usually found under the left beach or undeground jungle.
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 shows the star-filled sky of Space, with multicolored stars, blackening the entire background but the stars. This effect will also display over tiles that are in complete darkness.
Contents
Notes
- To create the Aether biome, the area must be at between 50 tiles below surface and 430 tiles above the bottom true world edge (i.e. most part of the underground and cavern layers) besides the Shimmer tile count limit.
- 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, meaning it is finite and cannot be replenished.
- However once defeated, the Bottomless Shimmer Bucket becomes available and can be used to create unlimited Shimmer.
Generation

This world was generated in 1.4.4.8.1 with the seed "1.1.2.436095035".

This world was generated in 1.4.4.8.1 with the seed "2.1.1.748851262".

This world was generated in 1.4.4.8.1 with the seed "3.1.1.870771933".
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).
- Note that this is only a generation restriction. The Aether biome still remains all of its functionalities in hybrid biomes that include the Corruption/Crimson.
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 10,000 times in Zone A.
If no valid tile is found, then try another 10,000 times in Zone B.
If still no valid tile found, then continue to select random tiles in Zone C.
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 (the numbers are in the table below).
- Then, substitute n into the equation in the table below to calculate the horizontal location of the Aether biome shown on the Compass (in feet, 1 tile = 2 feet). Note that the Aether is always on the same side of the world as the Jungle.
- The completed list of possible Aether's horizontal locations in the table below.
Guide Name n Small
Medium
Large
Left Right Left Right Left Right Joe 0.0000 3800 3276 6000 4992 8000 6552 Connor 0.0278 3785 3291 5972 5020 7960 6592 Tanner 0.0566 3770 3306 5943 5049 7918 6634 Wyatt 0.0833 3756 3320 5916 5076 7879 6673 Cody 0.1111 3742 3334 5888 5104 7839 6713 Levi 0.1389 3727 3349 5860 5132 7799 6753 Luke 0.1667 3713 3363 5832 5160 7759 6793 Jack 0.1944 3698 3378 5804 5188 7719 6833 Scott 0.2222 3684 3392 5776 5216 7678 6874 Logan 0.2500 3669 3407 5748 5244 7638 6914 Cole 0.2778 3654 3422 5720 5272 7598 6954 Asher 0.3056 3640 3436 5692 5300 7557 6995 Bradley 0.3333 3625 3451 5664 5328 7517 7035 Jacob 0.3611 3611 3465 5636 5356 7477 7075 Garrett 0.3889 3596 3480 5608 5384 7437 7115 Dylan 0.4167 3582 3494 5580 5412 7397 7155 Maxwell 0.4444 3567 3509 5552 5440 7357 7195 Steve 0.4722 3553 3523 5524 5468 7316 7236 Brett 0.5000 3538 3538 5496 5496 7276 7276 Andrew 0.5278 3523 3553 5468 5524 7236 7316 Harley 0.5556 3509 3567 5440 5552 7195 7357 Kyle 0.5833 3494 3582 5412 5580 7155 7397 Jake 0.6111 3480 3596 5384 5608 7115 7437 Ryan 0.6389 3465 3611 5356 5636 7075 7477 Jeffrey 0.6667 3451 3625 5328 5664 7035 7517 Seth 0.6944 3436 3640 5300 5692 6995 7557 Marty 0.7222 3422 3654 5272 5720 6954 7598 Brandon 0.7500 3407 3669 5244 5748 6914 7638 Zach 0.7778 3392 3684 5216 5776 6874 7678 Jeff 0.8056 3378 3698 5188 5804 6833 7719 Daniel 0.8333 3363 3713 5160 5832 6793 7759 Trent 0.8611 3349 3727 5132 5860 6753 7799 Kevin 0.8889 3334 3742 5104 5888 6713 7839 Brian 0.9167 3320 3756 5076 5916 6673 7879 Colin 0.9444 3305 3771 5048 5944 6633 7919 Jan 0.9722 3291 3785 5020 5972 6592 7960
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 currentDesktop 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 currentDesktop version is 1.4.4.9.