Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-34969473-20181104222507/@comment-33763020-20181106112513

This would be a nigh-impossible task technically, or the effort would be such that it takes time away from much more important features. You would basically have to re-code the whole of Minecraft as a game.

The short version:

Not possible in coding and makes little sense in realism. The alternative solution I wrote at the bottom is to impact your health/food/items for wear.

The long version:

Just imagine that currently fast-travel is simply a teleporting feature between point A and B, you are not actually making any movement, based on game coding, only according to the (theoretical) story-line. There are only 2 means of movement coded in MC: real-time movement (with or without any speed modification through potions, draughts, wading through water or quagmire, accelleration through explosions or free-falling, flying with an elytra in vanilla, etc.) and teleportation, which is basically a re-spawn at a different location. The former is the real-time game option, whereby chunks get loaded in and all entities appear as your relative position to the chunks, while the latter is simply spawning at a specific location and the chunks spawn in immediately, according to where you spawn. If computer capacity were endless, the chunks appearing would be immediate, but due to high processing power needed and "tick-time" that the game is based on, it takes time to load in. The map that you see is nothing more than a visual display of your position based on coordinates, while you are "physically" at a certain spot in the game.

If the "routing" feature would be implemented that you suggest, it would mean a new, third coding challenge to the original vanilla coding, with two possible solutions:

1. Still a real-time loading of your area (with or without visually seeing as you "speed" through the landscape), which would still mean that all the chunks need to be loaded in and the required processing power needed for this. You see how difficult it is currently to load in the chunks without seeing them appear only partically, especially when you're on horseback. Now imagine the same at a highly exallerated pace of up to factor 10,000-100,000, which would be how much faster you would travel than in real time (a few meters per second vs from one end of ME to the other).. It's basically impossible, due to the "ticks" required to actually create anything in the game, which is used to calculate how chunks and entities spawn. Tick-time would have to be reduced to a fraction of it (down to maybe 1 million ticks more per second!) and that means re-coding all of Minecraft (vanilla) just to enable a detail feature for a mod.. You get the picture.

2. No real-time chunk loading: although the game runs on real-time presence of the player, this new mechanic would mean some "parallel" system with an algorithmic system totally aside from Minecraft and somehow integrated into the mod, whereby you would theroetically be at some spot on the map, without actually any chunks loaded in. Since the gameplay however is based on player presense SOMEWHERE on the map on any given time, this would have to be like a parallel universe, whereby still time is kept track of, especially on server where time passes realistically for everyone else. This would be like asking the developers of PUBG to enable "block breaking and placement" in the game.. Totally superfluous and unnecessary, a huge task.

As for the sense of the interrupted journey for the sakes of immersion: I would disagree even with the concept. Sure there may be perils on the road, but if we assume that ANY time can be passing between travelling between points A and B (for example Mirkwood to a the Shire), be it 3 weeks to 3 years, as the fast travel does not account for any of the time travelled, then we may assume also that the player would choose the possibly safest way of travel and just go around any dangerous area. Thus free of interruptions. Sure, an invasion happens anywhere, but you can always outrun those if you want to or hide until it's over. We may even sum the few seconds of fast-travel as "you fast-travelled through this area and had some adventures, but survived and arrioved safe and well at your destination".

So the whole request by itself is not only technically impossible and extreme, but also from an immersion point of view irrealistic.

The reason I am this elaborate about your suggestion however, is because there is one element you mentioned that would make good sense and I would advise you to try this other suggestion in a separate post from this (extreme one): the implications of travelling on the player itself. Simply put: hunger, energy, equipment, loss of companions, etc. Technically it does not seem impossible to me to either reduce some of your possessions by a fixed amount or equal to the coordinate distance travelled (which is a simple mathematical calculation as the crow flies). So for example the boots you are wearing may be worn down by 1-5% (depending on material) after a fast-travel, which seems quite realistic. Your hunger may also increase or even your health affected, maybe the amount of food you have in your bag decreasing, etc. Ideally these would be in proportion to the distance travelled, though I am not familiar with the options for coding and whether (at all) a teleportation could be tied to any other calculation that can have impact at anything other than your location.

I would not involve "cold" or "dehydration" or even hunger to actually stop the player underway, as again we are back to square one regarding actual movement on a map, which is technically not possible. It would also create more problems: what if you would die of cold before reaching your location? Would travel be interrupted at death only? Or just shortly before that, when you have no means of heating up, putting clothes on, finding an alternative route? Far too complex to implement. If you want realism, then have sufficient food or clothing as a prerequisite for a long travel! For example if you are not wearing fur, you cannot fast-travel out of Forodwaith, without enough food you cannot travel through the Sahara, etc. Unfortunately, again this would require technical features to actually measure travel distance and I'm not sure whether such can be implemented. Also, it would not enable measuring of travel route, so it would not know whether you travelled through the desert, snow or the Shire, making the whole clothing-specific discussion obsolete. So I would avoid taking the type of area into the equation and just stick with hunger, health and clothing (endurance) reduction.

Anyway, these may indeed make for an interesting change and reconsider whether you are teleporting back-and-forth between that lucrative glass buyer in Dorwinion and that sandy beach in Lindon for thousands of coin profit at every turn, hampered only by the cool-down timer of the trader.. Currently it is far too easy to make good money because of the fast-travel system and your suggestion holds the seed of an improved mechanic, making the game much more realistic and immersive. So do make the alternative suggestion if you agree with it! :)