The Lost Cities in Project Infinity 0.1

The Lost Cities turns the Overworld into a huge abandoned civilization. You explore ruined skyscrapers, apartment blocks, factories, roads, highways, bridges, tunnels, subways and parks. There are also flooded areas and underground rooms full of loot and dangers.^[1]

The cities are built into the normal terrain, so the mod can be combined with other biome and terrain mods. A selectable profile decides how the world looks, for example sprawling city regions, rare cities separated by wilderness, heavily damaged ruins or safer buildings. It can also run on the server only, so vanilla clients can connect.^[1]

This pack includes The Lost Cities 1.20-7.5.5.^[2]

Where the quest book puts it

In the pack's quest book, the quest "Visit the LOST CITIES" quest is in the chapter "The Beginning", which is in the "Storyline" group and is chapter 4 of 44 in the book. The quest asks you to visit the dimension.^[3]

The quest book lists it after an untitled checkmark quest (a quest in "The Beginning"), which itself comes after "Welcome" quest. No quest in the chapter is listed as coming after it.^[3]

The quest book lists the same untitled checkmark quest before several other early travel and access quests: "Hunting Dimension" quest, a quest in "The Beginning", "Visit THE NETHER" quest, "Dungeon Pass" quest, a quest in "The Beginning", a quest in "The Beginning", "Visit the END" quest and "Visit the TWILIGHT FOREST" quest. So the Lost Cities visit sits beside these as one of several early destinations.^[3]

In this pack the way to Lost Cities runs through the quest book. Follow the early quests and you will reach the one that asks you to visit it.^[3]

Unverified No Lost Cities crafting recipes were found for this pack, so there is no item to craft first.

Where it sits in the quest book

The quest "Visit the LOST CITIES" quest asks you to visit the Lost Cities. It is in the chapter "The Beginning" (group Storyline, chapter 4 of 44) and is a dimension task, so you complete it by travelling there. It comes after "Welcome" quest and then an untitled checkmark quest, a quest in "The Beginning".^[3]

Other quests come after that same untitled quest too: "Visit THE NETHER" quest, "Visit the END" quest and "Visit the TWILIGHT FOREST" quest ask you to visit other dimensions, and the a quest in "The Beginning" quest asks for a mining portal item.^[3]

What you will find there

Lost Cities turns the Overworld into an abandoned civilization, with ruined skyscrapers, roads, bridges, subways, parks and underground rooms full of loot and dangers. The look of the world depends on the selected profile.^[1]

In this pack, the lostcities:lostcity dimension is set to the biosphere profile. The other pairing in the same setting is lostworlds:abyss with biosphere_caves. You can change this in profiles.dimensionsWithProfiles. The biosphere profile's own values are in config/lostcities/profiles/biosphere.json.^[4]

The pack also sets profiles.heightSampleSize to 3, where the mod's default is 1. Higher values sample fewer chunks, which is faster but less accurate. profiles.optimizedHeightmap is false.^[4]

The Lost Cities is a world generation mod, so its core mechanics are not machines or power networks. The mod transforms the Overworld into an abandoned civilization, and what matters for you is which profile a dimension uses, what the dimension itself looks like, and the values inside each profile. The pack's configs cover those, so here they are.^[1]

The Lost City dimension

The pack ships its own data file for the Lost City dimension type. It is 512 blocks tall, with a minimum Y of -64 and a logical height of 512. It has skylight and no ceiling, and it uses the overworld visual effects.^[5]

The same file sets a few rules you will notice in play. Beds work and respawn anchors work. Raids are disabled, and the dimension is not piglin safe. The monster spawn light level and the monster spawn block light limit are both set to 2.^[5]

Which profile a dimension uses

A profile is the set of rules that decides how a world is built. In this pack, profiles.dimensionsWithProfiles maps dimensions to profiles. The Lost City dimension uses the biosphere profile, and the Lost Worlds abyss dimension uses biosphere_caves.^[4]

Unverified What the biosphere and biosphere_caves profiles actually contain is set in config/lostcities/profiles/biosphere.json and config/lostcities/profiles/biosphere_caves.json. The sources here do not show those files.

Every profile file in the sources carries a note that it is read only. If you want something different, copy it to a new name and edit the copy.^[6][7][8][9]

Performance settings

• profiles.heightSampleSize is set to 3 in this pack, within a range of 1 to 100. It is the size of the chunk grid used for heightmap sampling. The default of 1 samples every chunk, while higher values sample fewer chunks, which is faster but less accurate.^[4]
• profiles.optimizedHeightmap is false here. Turning it on uses a slightly more efficient algorithm, but the config warns it may not be fully compatible with other terrain generation mods.^[4]

What a profile controls

The profile files are split into groups: cities, cityspheres, client, explosions and lostcity. The lostcity group holds most of the rules. Profiles differ in the details, but the ones in the sources share the same structure. Streets use the HIERARCHICAL_GRID_V1 generation mode and highways use INTERCITY_NETWORK_V1. Buildings have at most 8 floors, with a stone base block and water as the liquid.^[6][7][8][9]

The profiles in the sources also generate loot and spawners. Explosions have a 0.002 chance for large ones and a 0.03 chance for mini ones, and both are restricted to cities.^[6][7][8][9]

onlycities

• lostcity.description reads "The entire world is a city", and the profile is marked public.^[9]
• cities.cityChance is 0.2.^[9]
• cities.cityMinRadius is 50.^[9]
• cities.cityMaxRadius is 256.^[9]
• lostcity.ruinChance is 0.05, so ruins are rare.^[9]
• lostcity.buildingMaxCellars is 3.^[9]

rarecities

• The profile is described as "Cities are rare" and is marked public.^[8]
• cities.cityChance is 0.001.^[8]
• cities.cityMinRadius is 50.^[8]
• cities.cityMaxRadius is 128.^[8]
• Its ruin chance is 0, so buildings there are intact.^[8]

bio_wasteland

• lostcity.description reads "Private wasteland for biospheres", and the profile is not public.^[7]
• cities.cityChance is 0.00800000037997961.^[7]
• cities.cityMinRadius is 30.^[7]
• cities.cityMaxRadius is 80.^[7]
• lostcity.buildingMaxCellars is 1.^[7]
• lostcity.ruinChance is 1.^[7]
• It avoids foliage and water, as set by lostcity.avoidFoliage and lostcity.avoidWater, which are both true.^[7]

void_outside

void_outside is described as "Private wasteland for space" and is not public. Its city chance is 0, and railways and highway supports are turned off.^[6]

Infrastructure

Railways are on in bio_wasteland, rarecities and onlycities, and off in void_outside. Of those, only rarecities lets railways end (railwaysCanEnd is true there and false in the others). Highway generation also differs: in rarecities it does not require two cities, while lostcity.highwayRequiresTwoCities and lostcity.highwayRequiresTwoCities are both true.^[6][7][8][9]

Cityspheres are the same in every profile in the sources. cityspheres.citySphereChance is 0.7 and cityspheres.monorailChance is 0.8.^[6][7][8][9]

Unverified The remaining profiles (default, safe, ancient, tallbuildings, largecities, nodamage, wasteland, atlantis, floating, space and cavern) each have a file in config/lostcities/profiles. The sources here do not show their values.

The Lost Cities does not have a tier ladder in this pack. What the pack gives you is a single quest that sends you to the dimension, and that is where its progression ends.^[3]

Where the quest book puts it

"Visit the LOST CITIES" quest sits in the chapter "The Beginning", in the Storyline group. It is chapter 4 of 44 in the book, and it holds 58 quests. The quest's task is a dimension task, so you complete it by visiting the dimension rather than handing in an item.^[3]

It comes right after the untitled checkmark quest a quest in "The Beginning", which itself follows "Welcome" quest. That same checkmark quest also unlocks the other travel quests in the chapter: "Visit THE NETHER" quest, "Visit the END" quest, "Visit the TWILIGHT FOREST" quest and "Hunting Dimension" quest. It also unlocks "Dungeon Pass" quest and the three mining portal quests a quest in "The Beginning", a quest in "The Beginning" and a quest in "The Beginning". Nothing in the chapter comes after the Lost Cities quest.^[3]

How the pack changes the dimension

The pack ships its own data file for the Lost City dimension type. It sets the world height and logical height to 512, with a minimum Y of -64.^[5]

• The dimension has skylight and no ceiling, it is natural, and it is not ultrawarm.^[5]
• Beds and respawn anchors both work there.^[5]
• Raids are off, and the dimension is not piglin safe.^[5]
• Monsters spawn at light level 2 with a block light limit of 2, and ambient light is 0.^[5]
• It uses the overworld effects and the overworld infiniburn tag.^[5]

Unverified The sources for this pack show no crafting tiers or recipes for The Lost Cities, so there is no tier-by-tier breakdown to give you here.

The pack's quest book has one quest for The Lost Cities. It is in the chapter "The Beginning", in the Storyline group.^[3]

Visit the LOST CITIES

The quest is "Visit the LOST CITIES" quest. What it asks of you is to visit the Lost Cities dimension. Its only task is a dimension task, so you don't hand in any items.^[3]

Where it sits in the chapter

The chapter opens with "Welcome" quest, a checkmark quest. An untitled checkmark quest, a quest in "The Beginning", comes after it, and "Visit the LOST CITIES" quest comes after that one in turn.^[3]

Several other quests unlock from that same untitled checkmark quest, so you can take them in any order you like:^[3]

• "Visit THE NETHER" quest, "Visit the END" quest and "Visit the TWILIGHT FOREST" quest, which also ask you to visit a dimension.^[3]
• "Hunting Dimension" quest, which asks for frame items, the hunting dimension item and a dimension visit.^[3]
• "Dungeon Pass" quest, which asks for chiseled stone bricks and a dungeon pass.^[3]
• a quest in "The Beginning", a quest in "The Beginning" and a quest in "The Beginning", which each ask for a mining portal item.^[3]

No other quest in the chapter comes after "Visit the LOST CITIES" quest.^[3]

Lost Cities is driven by profiles. Depending on the profile selected, the world can have sprawling cities, rare cities separated by wilderness, heavily damaged ruins, safer buildings, tall skylines or domed cities. Below are the settings you are most likely to care about and what this pack sets them to.^[1]

Which profile each dimension uses

profiles.dimensionsWithProfiles ties dimensions to profiles. In this pack, lostcities:lostcity uses the biosphere profile and lostworlds:abyss uses the biosphere_caves profile.^[4]

Unverified The biosphere.json and biosphere_caves.json profile files are in config/lostcities/profiles, but the sources here do not show their values. Open those two files to see exactly how cities are set up in those dimensions.

Heightmap settings

profiles.heightSampleSize is set to 3 in this pack (allowed range 1 to 100). The config describes the default as 1, which samples every chunk, so this is a pack change. Higher values sample fewer chunks, which is faster but less accurate.^[4]

profiles.optimizedHeightmap is false here. If you turn it on, a more efficient heightmap algorithm is used, but the config warns it might not be fully compatible with some other terrain generation mods.^[4]

What the pack's profiles set

Here are the key values in the profile files this pack ships. Chance values are fractions, so 0.01 means 1 in 100.^[10]

• default.json ("Default generation, common cities, explosions"): cities.cityChance is 0.01, explosions.explosionChance is 0.002, explosions.miniExplosionChance is 0.03 and lostcity.ruinChance is 0.05.^[10]
• rarecities.json ("Cities are rare"): the city chance is 0.001, the maximum city radius is 128 and the ruin chance is 0.^[8]
• onlycities.json ("The entire world is a city"): the city chance is 0.2 and the maximum city radius is 256.^[9]
• safe.json ("Safe mode: no spawners, lighting but no loot"): spawners are off, loot generation is off and lighting generation is on. The city chance is 0.01.^[11]
• ancient.json ("Ancient jungle city, vines and leafs, ruined buildings"): explosions.explosionChance and explosions.miniExplosionChance are both 0, lostcity.ruinChance is 0.9 and lostcity.vineChance is 0.1.^[12]
• bio_wasteland.json ("Private wasteland for biospheres"): cities.cityChance is 0.00800000037997961.^[7]
• void_outside.json ("Private wasteland for space"): the city chance is 0 and railways are turned off.^[6]

Project Infinity 0.1 0.0.51.4-hotfix-2 ships The Lost Cities 1.20-7.5.5. The mod has been in the pack since 0.0.45.4 or earlier. The notes below come from the mod's own changelogs, and they only cover the releases I have changelogs for, so versions in between may have changes that aren't listed here.^[2]

1.20-7.5.5 (the version in this pack)

This is the biggest update of the bunch, and it touches terrain, roads and rails. Here are the highlights:^[13]

• The current chunk's city style is now exposed through the API, including outside cities, so other mods can match styles away from city centers.^[13]
• Fixed overlapping terrain-height samples near coordinate axes that could break multibuilding generation. Size-2 sampling is now deterministic, and floor-selection errors name the failing building and floor.^[13]
• Steep terrain-to-city transitions are less regular, and floating vines left behind by terrain correction or invalid supports are gone.^[13]
• Added world-style and city-style bridge support settings, plus world-style highway support settings. These include reusable vertical support parts, and legacy part metadata is preserved.^[13]
• Added separate north-south and east-west railway spacing profile options, with safe surface-station slopes and highway avoidance.^[13]
• Fixed numeric profile fields replacing your temporary input while you type multi-digit values.^[13]
• Removed the code that tried to clean up blocks above smaller explosions, because it could leave weird chunk-sized gaps, especially in highways.^[13]
• Avoided villages and structures now keep a terrain-transition ring when flattening is disabled, which prevents sharp chunk-edge cliffs next to cities.^[13]

Earlier releases

• 1.20-7.5.2: the changelog entry is about Testfill, which didn't require op to use.^[14]
• 1.20-7.5.1: fixed a crash when switching to a space or spheres profile in the world customization screen before creating the world.^[15]
• 1.20-7.4.13: TqLxQuanZ fixed an issue where multibuildings did not spawn when a railway was below.^[16]