world gen how small is too small?

[SunshineFaith]

I don't actually want a tiny world.  Just smaller so I can see more of the world without walking 50k blocks.  Are there any drawbacks to going lets say to a 100k or 256k world? I wonder how far you would put the polar distance with a smaller world.  Anyone? Thoughts please. 

[Streetwind]

Note: lowering the world size doesn't actually make the geography smaller. It just moves a hard cutoff world border closer to the world spawn.

The only number you need to adjust (and the only one you can adjust) is pole-equator distance. This influences how quickly it gets warmer as you move south, or colder as you move north; and this, in turn, influences how quickly the flora and fauna changes. It does nothing for the east-west axis, nor does it influence geology (rock strata, land forms, etc).

I played with 15k once. You can try it, but it felt a bit too small. You can basically see the temperature change as you walk. 25k is probably a saner choice. It's half the default value.

[SunshineFaith]

18 minutes ago, Streetwind said:

Note: lowering the world size doesn't actually make the geography smaller. It just moves a hard cutoff world border closer to the world spawn.

The only number you need to adjust (and the only one you can adjust) is pole-equator distance. This influences how quickly it gets warmer as you move south, or colder as you move north; and this, in turn, influences how quickly the flora and fauna changes. It does nothing for the east-west axis, nor does it influence geology (rock strata, land forms, etc).

I played with 15k once. You can try it, but it felt a bit too small. You can basically see the temperature change as you walk. 25k is probably a saner choice. It's half the default value.

I did know that the equator distance was going to make the biggest difference but I was thinking just a smaller map in general.  Will that be easier for say a server or even a potatoe computer? My computer isn't a potatoe but was wondering about that.  I mean I will never get to the rest of the world at 1 million so I was thinking smaller might be just better for saves and what not.  Thanks for your help. 

[Streetwind]

World size doesn't affect performance either, unless you have a habit of generating the entire world at once

Only the area you uncover takes disk space. Only the area inside your view distance takes performance.

[SunshineFaith]

3 minutes ago, Streetwind said:

World size doesn't affect performance either, unless you have a habit of generating the entire world at once

Only the area you uncover takes disk space. Only the area inside your view distance takes performance.

oh, I wasn't 100% sure.  Thanks.  

[SunshineFaith]

I went with 512k world with 25k polar distance..  how can I make the mountains not so tall.  Seems this map has a ton of mountains at the start.  I'm sure that is random but I don't care for huge mountains.  Which setting will adjust that?  

[Streetwind]

Well, partly.

Upheavel elevates part of the terrain. That can result in mountains, but more often results in shifting an entire region 20-30 blocks upwards.

The fact that the world is very jagged, noisy, and filled with ultra-steep slopes is due to the landforms the terrain generator is working with. You have absolutely zero influence on those outside of using a mod.