Help! I got lost in Nether!

No, actually I didn't, but that was a close call and I'm really curious how would one go about that one.

On my third or fourth visit to the Nether, I still didn't realize the risk, and didn't place marks that would help me get back to the origin (currently I like to use flint and iron to create big flaming arrows towards the exit, visible from afar.) I wandered past one hill, and then I couldn't locate the place I came from. I wisened up and started placing marks in form of torches, towers of netherrack with glowstones on top etc. The bunch of wood I had in my stash has proven invaluable as I ran out of steaks, and had to craft a bowl and start making mushroom soup. I realized the fastest way back would be to simply die, but since I had no clue where I was, that would mean losing my quite precious equipment, which cost me a lot of time and effort to gather and enchant, for that trip specifically. I also knew I had traveled rather far from the portal before starting placing marks, so the chances of finding it again by going in any random direction were rather slim.

By sheer luck I found one of the caverns I had explored before, and found my way back, but that was really a close call and I'd prefer to know any hints what to do in Nether if you're already lost (no Obsidian to build a new portal, not willing to die and forgot the direction to the exit.)

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9 Answers

I believe, basing on ReallyGoodPie's answer, I do know something that would work most of the time.

Unless you're a devout traveler and wandered for days away from the spawn point (not too smart, a creeper blows up you and your bed and you're back to spawn, days away from home - not to mention all three strongholds are between 640 and 1152 blocks from the spawn) we can assume your Nether Portal was somewhere within, say, 3200 blocks radius from 0,y,0 (that's like 9 maximum zoom-out maps!). Since coordinates in Nether are an eighth of the Overworld, that means the portal will be within 400 blocks from 0,y,0 (and you can estimate the radius by estimating the distance of the overworld portal from spawn.) You can also estimate the altitude (y) - 64 if that was the surface, more for hills, less for underground.

Now locate 0,y,0 using F3 and then travel in spiral around that point, trying to explore increasingly wider circle of terrain and controlling your distance using the coordinates. That way you shouldn't miss any terrain and be able to locate familiar areas and eventually the portal - 25 chunks radius isn't something beyond hope for exploring, and most people will have their homes (and portals) within 1000 radius, that's mere 8 chunks of Nether away from Spawn. (and if you remembered rough direction of your portal from spawn, using the Cobblestone Compass trick you can head straight for your portal from the "origin")

Another option, inspired by Loren: If you have enough wood, or a chest - or are near enough from the portal (say, aforementioned 0,y,0) - or are patient enough to locate a treasure chest at a fortress - write down your coords, dump all your equipment, suicide, then go, retrieve it all - stopping long enough to take note of the portal location this time.

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Everytime you go into the nether, I always usually do a couple of things, especially if it's my first time entering. Here's what they are:

• Take note of the coordinates. I usually open up notepad (or text edit on Mac) and then hit F3 while in Minecraft, and a bunch of text will be displayed like the image below. If you look where I have circled with my professional paint skills, you will see a bunch of coordinates. Take not of these in you text editor as you first step through into the nether and this will tell you exactly where your portal is. Be sure to take down the x, y, and z coordinates. IF you get lost, simply try and head back to these coordinates (simple enough). You only have to do this when using a new portal, as it will never change.

• Place cobblestone trails. Cobblestone does not naturally generate in the nether and due to the dark colors, it "stands out" quit nicely, meaning it is hard to lose your way.

If you are seriously already lost, there is no hope. You can walk around for hours upon hours only to realise (or not) you've been walking in the opposite direction of your portal. Always try and prevent this stuff before it happens.

Prevention is the best cure... or something like that

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Bring enough stuff to create a second portal. You will need the following:

• Flint And Steel (to ignite the portal)
• 10 Obsidian blocks (for the frame of the portal
• Bring a compass

When you get lost, simply build a portal and go through it. Upon entering the overworld, you can use your compass to find your way back to your spawn point.

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Assuming you are well and truly stuck in the nether (i.e. you mined the obsidian from around the portal and either threw the items in a lava lake, blew them up, or let them despawn), there may be one other way you can get back to the natural world without dying:

Surviving in the nether is a very similar situation to the "hardcore superflat survival" that my brother used to do (IDK why). While I agree that it's ridiculous, the same tactics used to survive in a superflat world can also be applied to the 'stranded in the nether' situation.

The basic tactics involved in surviving on superflat mode are described below (he did this with standard superflat, although the same tactics could be equally applied to other superflat modes):

1. When you start, the very first thing to do is find a village. Turn render distance to far, pick a direction, and start moving. Walk, don't run. If you see some sheep directly in your path, kill some to get 3 wool, then keep moving. Don't stop, even for night, until you come to a village, or you will probably starve before you get there.
2. Once you arrive, immediately go to the blacksmith shop and loot the chest, then use your 3 wool to build a bed. Inside the church tower is the safest place for now, so put the bed there, wait for night, and sleep.
3. Next few days, loot as much of the village as is useful. Take all the items from the blacksmith chest, the chest itself, at least 64 loaves of bread, and as many stacks of logs/wood planks as you can fit in your inventory. If you have/can craft both a diamond pickaxe and a bucket, freeze the lava and take the obsidian with you, too.
4. Pick a direction (not directly back the way you came) and go until you find another village. Loot that village, too.
5. Once you have a total of 10 obsidian (blacksmith chest loot, blacksmitsh shop lava), and have/can craft a flint-and-steel (dig up the road for flint), build a portal and light it.

A similar process can be used for the nether: Nether fortress chests have an 8.0% chance to contain between 2-4 obsidian blocks, and 19.2% chance of containing a flint-and-steel, so on average you will need to loot around 125 nether fortress chests to get the 10 obsidian you need to build a portal to escape.

For food, you can kill zombie pigmen for rotten flesh, or if you manage to find two chicken jockeys you can breed the chickens with nether wart. Note that there is no wood in the nether, so you will need to conserve your tool durability. It's unlikely you will be able to find enough iron for an anvil before you have enough obsidian to escape.

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My advice is to construct markers more often, and with materials that stand out. So instead of creating flaming arrows (flames are common, and blend in anyway), just plonk down a cobblestone block every 16 blocks or so as you travel.

This will give you a trail of breadcrumbs all the way back and it has the following advantages:

• It stands out since there's no natural cobblestone in the nether
• It can't be destroyed by ghasts
• It has a built in compass!
• It's very cheap

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You can use more methods. Try pressing F3 ,look at the XYZ and save them somewhere or remember them. When you need to go back,just make sure to get to the ones close to the coordinates. Otherwise,script a map.

Note: Do not be too worried if you can't find your man-made tunnel through netherrack. If you are far enough your tunnel will be filled with netherrack. Just make another one.

You can also build another portal,provided that you have enough obsidian. Then,you can either lit the portal with flint and steel,fire charge,or you can let blazes and ghasts to do this. Be careful,though,building another portal will teleport you to another place in the Overworld. (The location that you will be teleported will be X and Y multiplied by 8 than the position in Nether,according to the wiki). Just make sure you know the position of the house,or that you have noted them somewhere (either in a document or a screenshot,while having the coordinates on the screen). Portals are usually close to the origin (0,y,0). So,if you are really lost,press F3 and make sure you travel close to the origin.

Find a nether fortress, then drop all of your items in a chest. Die and go back to the fortress, but leave a trail of cobblestone. Take back your items and return to the overworld, following your trail.

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Why couldn't you just search for the last place you constructed a marker? You should have a fair understanding of how long it's been since you last built one -- build one with a noticeable difference where you are when you realise you're lost, and begin searching out around that, marking off areas as you go.

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It depends whether I'm on Single Player or Multi Player.

For single player, I'd take a book and quill with me and write the F3 co-ordinates, x, y and z. In fact, I use this for all places really.

Also, if I have no way to get out, as in no portals, there are two ways to get out.

Take suicide, this is the fastest option.

Look for Nether Fortresses, they have a small chance of having iron and obsidian. Also, you can get flint via the random gravel which spawns there. I've used this once before, and it took me over 3 hours.

For multi player, I've got a huge nether base, and I've set a warp there.

Hope this helped!

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