[weremook]

- 20 May 2021 12:54 #208011 Hi All! My son has wanted to play Minecraft for some time specifically Pixelmon -- he watches it on Youtube. He's turning seven soon and that's the age at which I told him he could play.

I've never played Minecraft, but I want to make him a great Pixelmon setup for his birthday. I'm a developer and Linux ninja. I build all the PCs for the family and have a number of different SBC (Raspberry Pis and such) around the house.

I see on the wiki that you need the Java version of Minecraft and works on several OSes so I think the WIKI has most of my software needs covered.

So my question is what's a good setup for a 7yo? Are there any favored peripherals? How well does a Rasberry Pi 4 handle Pixelmon? Any online safety concerns? Which mods? etc

[SKyTheThunder]

- 20 May 2021 19:30 #208017 Hi!

I'm personally not familiar with the Raspberry Pi and I haven't seen anyone attempt to play on it, so take this with a grain of salt.

Due to the amount of assets that come with implementing ~1000 Pokémon, Pixelmon needs at least 2 GB of RAM allocated to Minecraft. For Windows PCs we recommend to have at least 4, preferably 8 GB of RAM total available so there is enough left for the OS and other programs running alongside the game - I can't say how much that matters for a custom Pi setup.

Minecraft mainly relies on the CPU due to how its game loop is implemented, so we typically recommend that as the other focus for hardware. A semi-decent PC one will usually run fine as long as it isn't of the lowest tier you can get though. This also means that (unless you intend to run shaders) the GPU doesn't matter too much. Still, some internal graphics chips can have issues here and there.
To my untrained eye, the CPU Raspberry list on their site seems a bit weak for this, especially since MC heavily relies on a single thread for all its heavy lifting. You may want to look into that specifically.

For peripherals, the mod is set up with keyboard and mouse in mind. Technically you should be able to rebind it to any input device Minecraft recognizes - however, we're using a large number of key binds for various aspects of the game (see https://pixelmonmod.com/wiki/Controls), which makes it hard to map all that to smaller devices.


Online safety is always a concern in a multiplayer environment. While we keep our own content to the standard of both Minecraft and Pokémon, we have no control over interactions with other players on servers. As a whole our player base is very friendly and well behaved, which is reflected in the server owners/staff we're in contact with - but as with all communities there can be black sheep out there.

The only mod you technically need is Pixelmon itself. We have guides for installation available here: https://pixelmonmod.com/wiki/Installation
For inexperienced users we typically recommend installing via a modpack launcher, as they will do the setup of Minecraft and Forge (the modding framework) for you and come with a pre-selected modpack. If you prefer full control and less bulk around the game, you can also install them manually though.

Aside from the main Pixelmon mod, we have various sidemods that add additional features, commands and tools to the game. Most are intended for use on servers, but some are useful for map-makers or to tweak the game to your liking in singleplayer as well. None of them need to be installed client-side if they're running on the server you play on. The only exception is GameShark, which will only be functional if installed on both ends (fully optional even if the server has it).
Wiki pages: https://pixelmonmod.com/wiki/Sidemods
Downloads: https://pixelmonmod.com/downloads.php

Pixelmon is also fully compatible with Biomes 'O Plenty, which is a mod that adds a lot more variety to the environment and terrain. Many servers use it, which is why we usually recommend having it installed.
Download: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/biomes-o-plenty/files/all?filter-game-version=2020709689%3A6756

In general, Pixelmon should be compatible with most other mods. Due to our change in gameplay focus however, only few see somewhat common use.


For a new player - especially if they don't have experience in either Pokémon or Minecraft - the game can be a bit overwhelming at first. Pixelmon deactivates hostile mobs and setting the difficulty to "Peaceful" will deactivate the risk of starvation, so dying shouldn't be much of a concern, reducing early game pressure. But there are still a lot of gameplay mechanics they are confronted with pretty quickly. For that we have a number of guides available, ranging from basic introductions to technical details: https://pixelmonmod.com/wiki/Guides
Additionally, several Youtubers have made extensive video guides; your son may already be familiar with those.

I hope that covers your questions. If not, or if you come across other questions or issues, feel free to ask us any time - here on the Forums or in our Discord chat: https://discord.gg/pixelmon

[weremook]

- 21 May 2021 01:35 #208021 Thank you so much. You definitely steered me around a few pitfalls. I'll let you guys know how it goes.