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How far should I place torches in a planar huge room?

If I have a nice field cleared to muck about in, what's the best way to light it up so no hostile mobs can spawn? What if I use torches? What if I use Glowstone so it's all still flat?

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marked as duplicate by Nick T, Raven Dreamer Sep 7 '11 at 22:38


I have had it with these MF snakes on this MF plane! –  bwarner Sep 7 '11 at 22:13

1 Answer 1

Glowstone provides a luminescence of 15, whereas torches only provide 14. However, placing the glowstone block in the ground reduces the area that it lights up to that of a torch, whereas placing a torch on the ground lets it provide maximum light while still remaining flat to walk on, just not to look at.

It all comes down to choice really. Do you mind looking at torches sticking out of the ground, or are you willing to use as much glowstone as you need to keep it lit?

Light loses one level per block traveled from it's source. Mobs spawn at light levels of 7 and lower. This means that if you were to place torches (or glowstone in the ground), you would be required to place a torch every 15 blocks (leaving 14 torchless blocks) in order to keep mobs from spawning, while using the least amount of resources.

O = Torch
+ = Block


Should keep monsters from spawning (if not, leaving 13 torchless blocks will)

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If I understand the light algorithm, placing glowstone in the ground (so it stays flat) would provide equivalent light as a torch placed on the block above it. –  Raven Dreamer Sep 7 '11 at 21:39
I'm looking for the pattern required to fill a field, not just a number –  Nick T Sep 7 '11 at 21:58
@Nick T, Just edited my answer to include what you were looking for. Keep in mind you'll also need to go up/down as well as sideways obviously, I just didn't want to use up 14 more lines in my answer. –  Mr Smooth Sep 7 '11 at 22:15
@Nick T - if you're just looking for a pattern, aren't you asking a duplicate of this question? –  Raven Dreamer Sep 7 '11 at 22:21
@Raven looks like it –  Nick T Sep 7 '11 at 22:29
