Minecraft Beta 1.7.3 compatible world generator
The goal of the i73 project is to create a generator with the capability of generating terrain that is practically identical to the default Beta 1.7.3 generator. This means that given the correct configuration, the produced terrain should be identical aside from non-deterministic things like Decorators. However, i73 will also have many features added over the default generator.
i73 will support a level of configurability that is at least as good as the Customized world type in modern versions. Since many parts of the old world generation remain in modern versions, many of the same parameters exist in both versions.
Unlike the default generator, i73 will allow library users to access many generation components directly. This customization allows easy learning from the content of the code as well as the possibility of alternative implementations of Minecraft world generations building on the generation primitives expressed in i73. Some examples of primitives include the default noise generators, default decorators, caves, terrain shaping and painting, and biomes.
In addition to the exposed generation primitives to Rust code, i73 will also provide an interface accessible through the command line, interprocess communication, and a C-compatible interface. This makes i73 accessible from practically any environment, and allows many use cases including biome correction, generating huge sections of the world (without Bukkit plugins/spawnpoint changing hacks), and generating chunk data for access in a server implementation.
i73 internally uses a palette-based system for storing block data. Not only is this fast and space efficient, it is also in line with the 1.9 protocol chunk format meaning that chunk data generated either from the Rust API, IPC, or C interface can be sent over the wire directly. The use of palettes also allows the internal block type to be changed, which will make changing/removing the ID limit much easier than in the Notchian minecraft implementation. This also makes i73 very likely ready for the 1.13 Chunk Format teased by the Minecraft devs, which is said to use palettes.
// TODO: Finish this README. Installation, status, etc.