If skeletons are spawning, then the skeleton merchant can spawn. That simple, no other requirements. Besides the gold and valid suitable housing, NPC spawn chances are also affected by how well "filled" their housing is with background wall. The "speedrunner" housing style that only uses the minimum amount of wall will often take significantly longer before the NPCs spawn. Other than that, there's nothing I can offer. Nothing about the map affects vanilla NPC spawning other than the Remix seed layer differences.

For some reason, merchant isn't spawning for me, even though i built a second house for him and have the gold in my inventory.

The skeleton merchant never once showed up in 7 hours. I tried 2 different layers

There are plenty of other issues as well. For example, I don't like that you can simply craft so many vanilla items like heart crystals. From the perspective of adding compatibility to my mod, I have no problems writing simple recipe replacement code or mob drops that affect how Calamity works. The primary problem is the precious resource of free time WHILE having a working and motivated brain. The close secondary problem is knowledge of all the detailed changes Calamity makes and how I should tie it in to my progression. I have a couple people I can discuss the last bit with who have already done most of the theory crafting, but it still takes time. My goal is always to change as little as possible while still crafting a unique and brain breaking puzzle experience.

@Freedbot Maybe ask the calamity authors to put in a way to get slag as a mob drop? For the sake of skyblock challenges like this?

@Samwell Calamity has been brought up a LOT over the years. There's a couple vital things missing you'd have to cheat in. I don't plan on ever making a version of this for Calamity because at that point you're already installing mods. At some point I will update my Skyblock Brutalism mod with Calamity support, but it involves a good amount of reworking recipes for both mods. Currently, the only solution I have is to play the Skyblock Brutalism Mod Collection and add Calamity and Cheat Sheet, then only cheat in the items you need when you're absolutely certain. I don't know the exact requirements or I'd have already done the update, but I'm told that the biggest thing is just enough brimstone slag to create that biome.

has anyone ever tried this with calamity?

Huh. I've been using the steam workshop for like a decade and i dont remember that being there. I guess im just blind. Thanks

Um. Scroll to the top of this workshop page. Look below the title, but above the pictures. Click "Change Notes".

Is there a changelog somewere so i can read what has changed between the versions?

The small number of blocks and the old man make for a bad spawn rate, but 15 minutes is exaggerating. Slight strategy optimization spoiler: Platform down into the brown layer. Just 2 deep in is enough for cavern mobs, but if you space platforms so that you can't get back up to spawn, but can survive the fall damage, then you can get out of the large range of the old man. If no critters spawn, you've done it.

Build a dotted line mob spawn "cage", blocks for ceilings and walls, platforms for floor. Adjust the dotted line so that the floor platforms have no ceiling blocks above them. Spawning has a higher chance to succeed on surfaces that have no ceilings/higher ceilings.

Wait on a higher platform just far enough that the ceiling of the box is just off the bottom of the screen so mobs can spawn in it, but not on it. Drop down every few seconds to check for mobs. If you stand there trying to "accumulate" them, they'll just despawn without you knowing.

Why do ermines not spawn like it takes like 15 minutes just to have a something spawn on my blocks in underground am i doing something wrong?

@Satan The first sentence in the description has the link to the other difficulties. Keep in mind that FTW makes the in-game difficulty listing one level higher than the download file is labeled. The secret seed changing the difficulty description was patched after this map was released.

As for the insane early grind... Yes, it is painfully rough due to the strictness of minimalism, but that same minimalism has made this the most popular out of all the projects I've made. If you want a more balanced and complete playthrough, consider the "Brutal Skyblock" map or "Skyblock Brutalism" mod/collection. They each have 3 modes to chose from, and even the most difficult have less starting grind than Shimmering Skies.

Master mode LOCKED skyblock is a joke. you play for 6 hours, with trickling spawns of 1 zombie every 30 minutes. waiting for the fucking skele merchant, just for him to spawn with 6 monsters, ruining the time you spent.

Congrats

Ayyyy I finally beat it (MLord beaten).

Did the "official" version where you don't use the chest or altar as well.

Amazing map honestly

@Valshmere It's an effect of the Zenith seed. One of the few effects specific to Zenith. Some enemy in hell drops lava. It's just not lava slimes.

lava slimes arent dropping lava when i kill them

We did the math at one point. The statistics of getting enough potions to grow cactus vs the ideal method is astronomical. There is a right method and place for farming. It'll still take between 7-14 hours to get your first NPC, and that sucks, but it sucks a lot less than trying to get potions from slimes for sand.

Oh right, I got a little Cactus grown from sand after a mimic finally dropped a Magic Mirror (which shimmers down into Glass then Sand, and Sand can randomly spawn cactus). That's probably the intended method. But for me it was mostly the potions.

There could be a proper guide on Steam if someone started one here, as with another skyblock map. Seems like it'd be easier to consult than hours of YouTube longplay. I don't feel qualified tho.

Your comment is interesting because what I did seems like it wasn't the optimal method. Got ore and bombs from slimes, shimmered the ore down into dirt. But that was >1 drop, and no furniture. Think my first workbench was from Cactus from Swiftness Potions... painful.

Thought King Slime was the intended method because that seems to be true for some skyblocks without the health requirement. Would indeed be a block considering the difficulty of getting heart crystals (I miss those).

Anyway: Cobweb can be had from Jungle Creeper spit (world seed), or shimmering Dangersense Potions from Wooden Crates. Crimson Seeds on Mud creates Crimson Jungle Grass, and Vicious Mushrooms can be crafted into Crimson Powder which can be shimmered into Purification Powder, for use on the Crimson Jungle.

I won't spoil too much here. I won't stop others from spoiling things here. The reason I point to the discord is because it's an easier system to deal with than making steam posts and because there is no proper guide, just pinned messages in the help channel as myself and others come up with more optimal methods. Ideally I'd like to just link some well edited youtube playthroughs, but youtubers have only just recently taken up these maps, and the series aren't done yet.

King Slime is not the intended method for acquiring your first blocks. He has a health requirement before he'll spawn. Yes, Christmas would drastically help in getting early blocks faster, but in order to actually progress, you're after a specific drop from a deep mob farm where only a couple mobs spawn. Just getting lucky once will provide enough material for dirt bombs as well as a furniture source.

Hm, that puts me in a quandary, because I figured it out and was going to spoil it here before I saw your comment. It seems you'd prefer I didn't, but I would rather not force people to make a Discord account just to get tips on a Terraria skyblock map...

You said "Do not change the date on your computer to Christmas to get present drops, it isn't faster than the intended method and I don't encourage you to mess with your computer/phone/console like that." However, it is definitely faster to farm gel and candy cane blocks simultaneously rather than just farming gel until Slime King shows up with the Solidifier, and some of the drops are useful starting gear. The official Terraria wiki recommends the RunAsDate utility rather than messing with one's system clock.

I won't spoil it here, but I do promise ice, snow, and jungle are all available. I will say that there is a way to get snow other than snow globes, but in order to get enough to make a biome, you probably still will want to resort to them via wave 15 of the Frost Moon making it christmas for an in game day. If you've played during actual christmas... lucky you. If you've artificially change the date... 4shame. Personally, I just didn't bother with snow at all. It's a rough grind for little reward.

Water is obtained by shimmering lava buckets. Lava buckets are obtained by picking up lava dropped by bats in the underworld.

I couldn't tell you how to get more ice/snow, unfortunately. I'm still trying to figure out that and how to get any jungle.

I shouldve checked the wiki /x

For anyone lost, you won't find much more than the tips section here, and I don't get notified as quickly as I'd like by Steam. I know it's annoying, but the discord is a place with tons of fast answers and many pinned solutions. Sky fishing works fine as normal in sky or space. Water is available by shimmering something else.

is the space layer too low down for sky fishing?

i dont understand how im supposed to get water or how im supposed to get more than 20 snow blocks ( if you even can )

If you can figure out how to get the campfire glitch (or philosopher's stone) to work without wire I'd love to know how. I really want to somehow get wire so that I can make statue farms, teleporters, set up a real dungeon & lihzhard temple etc.

And non-craftable statues are obtainable through the same glitches, as well as being able to convert crafted statues into other kinds.

If I can figure anything out I'll let you guys know.

The glitch to edit and cycle item ID's is quite cool, but I can't picture myself ever using it in a run. Even if it didn't feel wrong, it doesn't really shoehorn in well into any skyblock challenge. Really, all the game needs for more minimal or "perfect" skyblock maps is the means to get certain resources like dungeon bricks, temple bricks, altars, hellstone, and a hellforge. Skyblock progression control/variety is also rather limited. More stages for locked chests or mining levels late game would be nice. More means to acquire resources depending on what you start with would also add variety. I have some plans on how I'd execute a skyblock mod, but I'd need to take a coding course before I try again.

so far, i can make a campfire hover but dont have a second person to finish it with

though in my free time, im trying to develop a campfire breaking glitch utilizing the off mode to transmute items without wire

sadly...

Can't even use transmuation/philosopher's stone glitch either since there's no mechanic for wire.

No glitches or exploits other than duping liquid with buckets. Shimmering your axe is debatably helpful, but it's a minor inconvenience later.

are you supposed to using the exit-while-dead glitch to double equipment?

where do we get cobwebs also i shimmered my starting tools,playing normal,what do i do now

Ahh, had no idea there was a changelog. Joined the discord and found it.
Great minds think alike

Also found the guide on how to edit my world, so will definitely be doing that!

@Porky Minch, You're late to the party. Check the changelog and the dates on it. I haven't checked, but I don't *think* it has enabled more NPC's. They are certainly still locked in TEdit, and the other combined seeds might contribute to undoing that effect.

lol :)

Today I learned that jungle mimics have an "attack" where they spit a bunch of items at you. Some of these are unobtainable in regular play like red bricks (clay), ash, ice bricks, smooth marble and granite, silt, and slush. Also a bunch of other less important blocks.

If you changed the map to also be a celebrationmk10 world then we'd have access to all those goodies. Although it would also allow the princess to spawn, which maybe you'd consider to be too OP. (I'd say it's not, and that all it really does is avert the agonising heart crystal grind.)

I said *should*. Do not underestimate the power of procrastination. :P

thank u

I certainly should write up a guide... I'd probably just make a google doc or a curseforge tab. However, I've been hoping that someone would actually put a somewhat competent full playthrough up on youtube that I could link back to.

i ment like a steam guide

Jump on Discord and ask, my dude.

how do u play this?

finally done with legendary mode, the hardest part was by far mechdusa

the expert map is in master mode