Getting rid of a lake?

[Deleted]

I have this ambitious project running, but I stumbeld accross a much larger lake then previous. How do I get rid of 50.000 blocks of water the quickest way? I'm in survival mode

[wartywarlock]

WorldEdit for single player. Assuming it works on the new version, you can just do a big
//drain water xxxx < change xxxx to be as big a radius as you think your pc will handle or the similar simply drains all water in the given radius, water will flow back in if any is left, with 50k blocks there's a good chance you'll be able to do it in 1 go.

//replacenear water xblockx xxxx < replace nearby water with block of your choosing. Again change xxxx to be a good size you figure wont crash.

[Deleted]

if you just need the surface covering lava buckets from a height so it spreads and solidifies,

if your after replacing down a few levels your best of doing like the netherlands do and doing some land "reclamation"

basically replace the area of water you want to use with dirt and then dig out the dirt from the middle using the outer edge of dirt to block the water geting back in.

[Deleted]

if you just need the surface covering lava buckets from a height so it spreads and solidifies,

if your after replacing down a few levels your best of doing like the netherlands do and doing some land "reclamation"

basically replace the area of water you want to use with dirt and then dig out the dirt from the middle using the outer edge of dirt to block the water geting back in.

I wanted to make an underwater railroad, but I actually build huge walls and "drenched" the water inside it with sand. Dug up the sand, created a tunnel and then let the water back in. Sadly, it won't fill up as it used to be and now there appeared 2 waterfalls. The whole landscape is ruined...

[wartywarlock]

It's not ruined, you just need to use a mod like WorldEdit. Don't try and make up for the short comings of the MC engine you'll just get pissed off. However if you absoutely *must* fill in the water manually then prepare for tedium!

If glass is G and water is W make the following shape then cut out the glass, the water will fall and fill in 100% of the area below. This is the only way short of mods with /flood or /fill commands. If you are lazy and satisfied with shity looking water you can do pattern 2, which is quicker but looks crap, and everyone looking will know you are lazy! The water of course should be at the level you want to surface to be at.


Side view:

WWWWWWWW
GGGGGGGGGG

Top View:

WWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWW


Lazy Alternative top view:

GWGWGWGWGW
WGWGWGWGWG
GWGWGWGWGW
WGWGWGWGWG
GWGWGWGWGW
WGWGWGWGWG


The lazy alternative leaves a lot of 'broken' water. Overhangs will need additional work

[Deleted]

Just use mcedit and save yourself a headache.

[Merendel]

I wanted to make an underwater railroad, but I actually build huge walls and "drenched" the water inside it with sand. Dug up the sand, created a tunnel and then let the water back in. Sadly, it won't fill up as it used to be and now there appeared 2 waterfalls. The whole landscape is ruined...

Water replicates if its touching 2 other water sorce blocks and has a solid block underneath it. If you want to fix that without mods build a platform 1 level below the surface that fills the gap of the waterfall. if your waterfall is strait as an arrow you may need to manualy add 1 or two blocks of water with a bucket to trigger the replication. If you use glass for your platform it will be invisable through the water once covered and you wont even need to remove it if you dont want to.

As to the OP wanting to remove a lake. Vanilla MC your best bet will be to use lava. put a lava sorce uphill so it flows into the water, mine out the resulting cobblestone, this will take a while but probably less than bucketing out. If you play with modded MC some mods have various methods of removeing water quickly. Buildcraft or red power there are options to pump the water out, Equivalent exchange has a power item that can be used to just vanish large chunks of water quickly. I'm sure there are other mods too but those are the ones that spring to mind quickly for me.

[Fuzzzie]

Install Equivalent Exchange, Craft a mercurial eye, target grass blocks and put the eye into extension mode, you can then cover up the lake fairly easily with 1 block of grass. If you want to completely fill it, charge the eye up more. It should fill in deeper.

[warishell999]

Uhhhhh, that is a very good question.... You could someow drain it, or keep stacking up soil from the bottom of the lake... If you have enough time and supplies and whatnot...

[Merendel]

Uhhhhh, that is a very good question.... You could someow drain it, or keep stacking up soil from the bottom of the lake... If you have enough time and supplies and whatnot...

Unless he's useing a mod like finite water you cant really "Drain" a body of water. Standing water is made up of what are called sorce blocks. Water can flow out of these blocks indefinatly unless you can somehow remove the block. All drilling a hole in the bottom of a lake into a cavern would do for example would be to make an infinite waterfall inside the cavern.

Without mods you only have 2 ways to get rid of water, remove the source block with a bucket or replace it with something else. For replacing you can either dump lava on it to make cobblestone blocks, Fill it up by hand 1 block at a time with whatever you have, or ideally use sand/gravel as you can fill from the top and work your way down without having to operate underwater. Considering every bit of water in a natural lake is a source block in its own right your going to be at it for a while if you want to remove by hand.