Minetest-WorldEditAdditions/Chat-Command-Reference.md

Chat Command Reference

This is the full chat command reference for WorldEditAdditions. Having trouble finding the section you want? Try the quick reference instead, which has links to back to sections of this document!

Other useful links:

• WorldEditAdditions quick reference
• WorldEditAdditions Chat Command Cookbook
• WorldEdit Chat Command Reference
• we_env

Note: If anything in this reference isn't clear, that's a bug. Please open an issue (or even better a PR improving it) to let me know precisely which bit you don't understand and why.

//floodfill [<replace_node> [<radius>]]

Floods all connected nodes of the same type starting at pos1 with <replace_node> (which defaults to water_source), in a sphere with a radius of (which defaults to 50).

//floodfill
//floodfill water_source 50
//floodfill glass 25

//overlay <node_name_a> [<chance_a>] <node_name_b> [<chance_b>] [<node_name_N> [<chance_N>]] ...

Places <node_name_a> in the last contiguous air space encountered above the first non-air node. In other words, overlays all top-most nodes in the specified area with <node_name_a>. Optionally supports a mix of node names and chances, as //mix (WorldEdit) and //replacemix (WorldEditAdditions) does.

Will also work in caves, as it scans columns of nodes from top to bottom, skipping every non-air node until it finds one - and only then will it start searching for a node to place the target node on top of.

Note that all-air columns are skipped - so if you experience issues with it not overlaying correctly, try //expand down 1 to add an extra node's space to your defined region.

Note also that columns without any air nodes in them at all are also skipped, so try //expand y 1 to add an extra layer to your defined region.

//overlay grass
//overlay glass
//overlay grass_with_dirt
//overlay grass_with_dirt 10 dirt
//overlay grass_with_dirt 10 dirt 2 sand 1
//overlay sandstone dirt 2 sand 5
//overlay dirt 90% stone 10%

//layers [<node_name_1> [<layer_count_1>]] [<node_name_2> [<layer_count_2>]] ...

Finds the first non-air node in each column and works downwards, replacing non-air nodes with a defined list of nodes in sequence. Like WorldEdit for Minecraft's //naturalize command, and also similar to we_env's //populate. Speaking of, this command has //naturalise and //naturalize as aliases. Defaults to 1 layer of grass followed by 3 layers of dirt.

The list of nodes has a form similar to that of a chance list you might find in //replacemix, //overlay, or //mix - see the examples below. If the numberr of layers isn't specified, 1 is assumed (i.e. a single layer).

//layers dirt_with_grass dirt 3
//layers sand 5 sandstone 4 desert_stone 2
//layers brick stone 3
//layers cobble 2 dirt

//forest [<density>] <sapling_a> [<chance_a>] <sapling_b> [<chance_b>] [<sapling_N> [<chance_N>]] ...

Plants and grows saplings to generate a forest. A density value is optionally taken, which controls the overall density of the forest that is generated. The bonemeal mod is required - just like for the //bonemeal command.

The density defaults to 1, acts like a multiplier, and is not affected by the chances of all saplings listed (e.g. you can have a sapling with a chance of 1-in-50, and the overall density of the forest will be unaffected). For example, 2 results in a forest twice as dense as the default, and 0.5 a forest half as dense as the default density.

The tree types are provided as a list of names and 1-in-N chances, just like //overlay, //mix, //layers, etc. Unlike the aforementioned commands however, //forest has an additional layer of alias resolution to ease the process of determining what the name of the sapling is you want to use to generate forests with. See //saplingaliases for more details.

Saplings are placed with //overlay and grown using the same method that's used by the //bonemeal command. Up to 100 attempts are made to grow placed saplings. If all of those attempts fail (success is determined by whether the sapling is still present or not), the sapling is removed and the failure counter is incremented.

Currently, the following mods are known to have aliases registered:

• default
• moretrees (warning: these saplings don't appear to work very well this command - assistance in debugging this would be very helpful)
• cool_trees

If you like, you can also reference the full name of a sapling node instead. The only requirements for saplings to be supported by this mod are:

1. It can be bonemealed
2. It has the sapling group

For example, the first 2 examples below are functionally equivalent.

//forest aspen
//forest default:aspen_sapling
//forest 2 oak 3 aspen pine
//forest 0.5 acacia

//saplingaliases [aliases|all_saplings]

Lists all the currently registered sapling aliases in alphabetical order. These aliases can be used in the //forest subcommand.

Optionally takes a single parameter, which is the operating mode. Current implemented operating modes:

Mode	Description
aliases	The default. Lists all the currently registered sapling aliases in alphabetical order.
all_saplings	Spins through all the nodes currently registered in Minetest, and lists all the nodes that have the sapling group.

//saplingaliases
//saplingaliases all_saplings
//saplingaliases aliases

//fillcaves [<node_name>]

Fills in all airlike nodes beneath non airlike nodes, which gives the effect of filling in caves. Defaults to filling in with stone, but this can be customised.

Note that the entire cave you want filling must be selected, as //fillcaves only operates within the defined region (ref #50).

//fillcaves
//fillcaves dirt
//fillcaves brick

//ellipsoid <rx> <ry> <rz> <node_name>

Creates a solid ellipsoid at position 1 with the radius (rx, ry, rz).

//ellipsoid 10 5 15 ice
//ellipsoid 3 5 10 dirt
//ellipsoid 20 10 40 air

//hollowellipsoid <rx> <ry> <rz> <node_name>

Creates a hollow ellipsoid at position 1 with the radius (rx, ry, rz). Works the same way as //ellipsoid does.

//hollowellipsoid 10 5 15 glass
//hollowellipsoid 21 11 41 stone

//torus <major_radius> <minor_radius> <node_name> [<axes=xy> [h[ollow]]]

Creates a solid torus at position 1 with the specified major and minor radii. The major radius is the distance from the centre of the torus to the centre of the circle bit, and the minor radius is the radius of the circle bit.

The optional axes sets the axes upon which the torus will lay flat. Possible values: xy (the default), xz, yz. A single axis may also be specified (i.e. x, y, or z) - this will be interpreted as the axis that runs through the hole in the middle of the torus.

//torus 15 5 stone
//torus 5 3 meselamp
//torus 10 6 sandstone xz
//torus 10 6 wool:red y
//torus 25 10 dirt xz hollow

//hollowtorus <major_radius> <minor_radius> <node_name> [<axes=xy>]

Creates a hollow torus at position 1 with the radius major and minor radii. Works the same way as //torus does.

//hollowtorus 10 5 glass
//hollowtorus 21 11 stone
//hollowtorus 18 6 dirt xz

//line [<replace_node> [<radius>]]

Draw a line from position 1 to position 2, optionally with a given thickness.

The radius can be thought of as the thickness of the line, and is defined as the distance from a given node to an imaginary line from pos1 to pos2. Defaults to drawing with dirt and a radius of 1.

Floating-point values are fully supported for the radius.

//line
//line stone
//line sandstone 3
//line glass 0.5

//hollow [<wall_thickness>]

Replaces nodes inside the defined region with air, but leaving a given number of nodes near the outermost edges alone. In other words, it makes the defined region hollow, while leaving walls around the edges of a given thickness (defaulting to a wall thickness of 1).

Note that all air-like nodes are also left alone.

//hollow
//hollow 2

//maze <replace_node> [<path_length> [<path_width> [<seed>]]]

Generates a maze using replace_node as the walls and air as the paths. Uses an algorithm of my own devising (see also this post of mine that has lots of eye candy :D). It is guaranteed that you can get from every point to every other point in generated mazes, and there are no loops.

Requires the currently selected area to be at least 3x3 on the x and z axes respectively.

The optional path_length and path_width arguments require additional explanation. When generating a maze, a multi-headed random walk is performed. When the generator decides to move forwards from a point, it does so path_length nodes at a time. path_length defaults to 2.

path_width is easier to explain. It defaults to 1, and is basically the number of nodes wide the path generated is.

Note that path_width must always be at least 1 less than the path_length in order to operate normally.

Note also that since WorldEditAdditions v1.10, the seed doesn't have to be a number (but it can't contain spaces due to the parsing algorithm used). Non-numbers are hashed to a number using a simple (non-crypto-safe) hashing algorithm.

The last example below shows how to set the path length and width:

//maze ice
//maze stone 2 1 1234
//maze dirt 4 2 56789
//maze glass 2 1 minetestiscool

//maze3d <replace_node> [<path_length> [<path_width> [<path_depth> [<seed>]]]]

Same as //maze, but adapted for 3d - has all the same properties. Note that currently there's no way to adjust the height of the passageways generated (you'll need to scale the generated maze afterwards).

Requires the currently selected area to be at least 3x3x3.

The optional path_depth parameter defaults to 1 and allows customisation of the height of the paths generated.

//maze3d glass
//maze3d bush_leaves 2 1 1 12345
//maze3d dirt 4 2 2
//maze3d stone 6 3 3 54321

//bonemeal [<strength> [<chance>]]

Requires the bonemeal (repo) mod (otherwise WorldEditAdditions will not register this command and output a message to the server log). Alias: //flora.

Bonemeals all eligible nodes in the current region. An eligible node is one that has an air node directly above it - note that just because a node is eligible doesn't mean to say that something will actually happen when the bonemeal mod bonemeals it.

Optionally takes a strength value (that's passed to bonemeal:on_use(), the method in the bonemeal mod that is called to actually do the bonemealing). The strength value is a positive integer from 1 to 4 (i.e. 1, 2, 3, or 4) - the default is 1 (the lowest strength).

I observe that a higher strength value gives a higher chance that something will actually grow. In the case of soil or sand nodes, I observe that it increases the area of effect of a single bonemeal action (thus at higher strengths generally you'll probably want a higher chance number - see below). See the bonemeal mod README for more information.

Also optionally takes a chance number. This is the chance that an eligible node will actually get bonemealed, and is a positive integer that defaults to 1. The chance number represents a 1-in-{number} chance to bonemeal any given eligible node, where {number} is the chance number. In other words, the higher the chance number the lower the chance that a node will be bonemealed.

For example, a chance number of 2 would mean a 50% chance that any given eligible node will get bonemealed. A chance number of 16 would be a 6.25% chance, and a chance number of 25 would be 2%.

Since WorldEditAdditions v1.12, a percentage chance is also supported. This is denoted by suffixing a number with a percent sign (e.g. //bonemeal 1 25%).

//bonemeal
//bonemeal 3 25
//bonemeal 4
//bonemeal 1 10
//bonemeal 2 15
//bonemeal 2 10%

//walls <replace_node>

Creates vertical walls of <replace_node> around the inside edges of the defined region.

//walls dirt
//walls stone
//walls goldblock

//scale <axis> <scale_factor> | <factor_x> [<factor_y> <factor_z> [<anchor_x> <anchor_y> <anchor_z>

Advanced version of //stretch from WorldEdit that can scale both up and down at the same time by transparently splitting it into 2 different operations. Scaling up is always done before scaling down.

Although the syntax looks complicated, it's really quite simple. The key concept to understand is that of the scale factor. It refers to how much the defined region should be scaled up or down by, and can be specified in multiple different ways:

Scale Factor	Meaning
1	Don't scale at all.
0.5	Scale down by 50%
2	Scale up by 2x, doubling the size
5	Scale up by 5x, quintupling the size
20%	Scale down to 30% of the original size
1/3	Scale down to 1 third of original size

In short, you can specify the scale factor directly, as a percentage, or as 1 number divided by another number.

Note: //scale always scales in the positive direction by default. This can be changed however - see below.

With this in mind, there are 3 forms that you can tell //scale how you want to scale the defined region:

Single Axis

If you just need to scale a single axis, you can tell //scale that like so:

//scale <axis> <scale_factor>

To give a concrete example:

//scale y 2

The above will scale the defined region in the positive y direction by 2 times, doubling the height. If you want to scale in the opposite direction, do this:

//scale -y 2

This will scale in the negative y direction by 2 times (again, doubling the height). Some more examples:

//scale z 50%
//scale -x 1/3

All axes

To scale on all axes at once, //scale takes the shortcut syntax of specifying a single scale factor:

//scale 2
//scale 200%

Both of the above will scale the defined region up by 2 times in all directions.

Multiple scale factors

If you want to specify different scale factors for difference axes, then //scale also supports a third syntax. Here's an example:

//scale 2 3 4

This will scale the defined region by 2x in the positive x, 3x in the positive y, and 4x in the positive z. As these are all scale factors, we can also use the syntax described above to scale up and down in the same operation:

//scale 50% 2 1/4

This will first scale in the positive y by 2x. Once that operation is completed, it will scale down to 50% size in the positive x and down to 25% size in the positive z. Note that if you want to scale down first and then scale up, you'll need to execute 2 separate commands.

If you want to change the anchor point of the scaling operation too, //scale supports a final syntax like so:

//scale 50% 2 1/4 1 -1 1

By adding 3 extra numbers for the x, y, and z axes respectively, we can control the direction //scale performs the scaling operation. A value of 1 or greater indicates the positive direction of the axis, and a value of -1 or less indicates the negative direction of the axis. I recommend by worldedit_hud_helper mod for easily determining which direction is which.

So in the above example, we scale in the positive x and z directions, and the negative y direction.

//replacemix <target_node> [<chance>] <replace_node_a> [<chance_a>] [<replace_node_b> [<chance_b>]] [<replace_node_N> [<chance_N>]] ...

Replaces a given node with a random mix of other nodes. Functions like //mix.

This command is best explained with examples:

//replacemix dirt stone

The above functions just like //replace - nothing special going on here. It replaces all dirt nodes with stone.

Let's make it more interesting:

//replacemix dirt 5 stone

The above replaces 1 in every 5 dirt nodes with stone. Let's get even fancier:

//replacemix stone stone_with_diamond stone_with_gold

The above replaces stone nodes with a random mix of stone_with_diamond and stone_with_gold nodes. But wait - there's more!

//replacemix stone stone_with_diamond stone_with_gold 4

The above replaces stone nodes with a random mix of stone_with_diamond and stone_with_gold nodes as before, but this time in the ratio 1:4 (i.e. for every stone_with_diamond node there will be 4 stone_with_gold nodes). Note that the 1 for stone_with_diamond is implicit there.

If we wanted to put all of the above features together into a single command, then we might do this:

//replacemix dirt 3 sandstone 10 dry_dirt cobble 2

The above replaces 1 in 3 dirt nodes with a mix of sandstone, dry_dirt, and cobble nodes in the ratio 10:1:2. Awesome!

Since WorldEditAdditions v1.12, you can also use percentages:

//replacemix dirt 33% sandstone 75% dry_dirt 10% cobble 15%

Note though that the percentages are internally converted to a 1-in-N chance and rounded down.

Here are all the above examples together:

//replacemix dirt stone
//replacemix dirt 5 stone
//replacemix stone stone_with_diamond stone_with_gold
//replacemix stone stone_with_diamond stone_with_gold 4
//replacemix dirt 3 sandstone 10 dry_dirt cobble 2

//convolve <kernel> [<width>[,<height>]] [<sigma>]

Advanced version of //smooth from we_env, and one of the few WorldEditAdditions commands to have any aliases (//smoothadv and //conv).

Extracts a heightmap from the defined region and then proceeds to convolve over it with the specified kernel. The kernel can be thought of as the filter that will be applied to the heightmap. Once done, the newly convolved heightmap is applied to the terrain.

Possible kernels:

Kernel	Description
box	A simple uniform box blur.
pascal	A kernel derived from the odd layers of Pascal's Triangle. Slightly less smooth than a Gaussian blur.
gaussian	The default. A Gaussian blur - should give the smoothest result, and also the most customisable - see below.

If you can think of any other convolutional filters that would be useful, please open an issue. The code backing this command is very powerful and flexible, so adding additional convolutional filters should be pretty trivial.

The width and height (if specified) refer to the dimensions of the kernel and must be odd integers and are separated by a single comma (and no space). If the height is not specified, it defaults to the width. If using the gaussian kernel, the width and height must be identical. Larger kernels are slower, but produce a more smoothed effect and take more nearby nodes into account for every column. Defaults to a 5x5 kernel.

The sigma value is only applicable to the gaussian kernel, and can be thought of as the 'smoothness' to apply. Greater values result in more smoothing. Default: 2. See the Gaussian blur page on Wikipedia for some pictures showing the effect of the sigma value.

//convolve
//convolve box 7
//convolve pascal 11,3
//convolve gaussian 7
//convolve gaussian 9 10
//convolve gaussian 5 0.2

//erode [<snowballs|...> [<key_1> [<value_1>]] [<key_2> [<value_2>]] ...]

Runs an erosion algorithm over the defined region, optionally passing a number of key - value pairs representing parameters that are passed to the chosen algorithm. This command is experimental, as the author is currently on-the-fence about the effects it produces.

Currently implemented algorithms:

Algorithm	Mode	Description
snowballs	2D	The default - based on this blog post. Simulates snowballs rolling across the terrain, eroding & depositing material. Then runs a 3x3 gaussian kernel over the result (i.e. like the //conv / //smoothadv command).

Usage examples:

//erode
//erode snowballs
//erode snowballs count 25000

Each of the algorithms above have 1 or more parameters that they support. These are detailed below.

Algorithm: snowballs

Based on the algorithm detailed in this blog post (direct link to the source code), devised by Job Talle.

Parameter	Type	Default Value	Description
rate_deposit	float	0.03	The rate at which snowballs will deposit material
rate_erosion	float	0.04	The rate at which snowballs will erode material
friction	float	0.07	More friction slows snowballs down more.
speed	float	1	Speed multiplier to apply to snowballs at each step.
max_steps	float	80	The maximum number of steps to simulate each snowball for.
velocity_hist_count	float	3	The number of previous history values to average when detecting whether a snowball has stopped or not
init_velocity	float	0.25	The maximum random initial velocity of a snowball for each component of the velocity vector.
scale_iterations	float	0.04	How much to scale erosion by as time goes on. Higher values mean that any given snowball will erode more later on as more steps pass.
maxdiff	float	0.4	The maximum difference in height (between 0 and 1) that is acceptable as a percentage of the defined region's height.
count	float	25000	The number of snowballs to simulate.
noconv	any	n/a	When set to any value, disables to automatic 3x3 gaussian convolution.

If you find any good combinations of these parameters, please open an issue (or a PR!) and let me know! I'll include good combinations here, and possibly add a presets feature too.

//count

Counts all the nodes in the defined region and returns the result along with calculated percentages (note that if the chat window used a monospace font, the returned result would be a perfect table. If someone has a hack solution to make the columns line up neatly, please open an issue :D)

//count

//subdivide <size_x> <size_y> <size_z> <cmd_name> <args>

Splits the current WorldEdit region into (<size_x>, <size_y>, <size_z>) sized chunks, and run //<cmd_name> <args> over each chunk.

Sometimes, we want to run a single command on a truly vast area. Usually, this results in running out of memory. If this was you, then this command is just what you need! It should be able to handle any sized region - the only limit is your patience for command to complete.....

Note that this command only works with WorldEdit commands, and only those which require 2 points (e.g. //torus only requires a single point, so it wouldn't work very well - but //set or //clearcut would).

Note also that <cmd_name> should not be prefixed with any forward slashes - see the examples below.

While other server commands can be executed while a //subdivide is running, //subdivide manipulates your player's defined region when running. This has the side-effect that you can check on where it has got up to with //p get for example - but means that attempting to change your pos1 & pos2 manually will have no effect until the //subdivide completes.

Warning: Once started, this command cannot be stopped without restarting your server! This is the case with all WorldEdit commands, but it's worth a special mention here.

//subdivide 10 10 10 set dirt
//subdivice 25 25 25 fixlight

//multi <command_a> <command_b> <command_c> .....

Executes multi chat commands in sequence. Intended for WorldEdit commands, but does work with others too. Don't forget a space between commands!

//multi //1 //2 //shift z -10 //sphere 5 sand //shift z 20 //ellipsoid 5 3 5 ice
//multi //1 //hollowtorus 30 5 stone //hollowtorus 20 3 dirt //torus 10 2 dirt_with_grass
//multi /time 7:00 //1 //outset h 20 //outset v 5 //overlay dirt_with_grass //1 //2 //sphere 8 air //shift down 1 //floodfill //reset

//many <times> <command>

Executes a single chat command many times in a row. Uses minetest.after() to yield to the main server thread to allow other things to happen at the same time, so technically you could have multiple //many calls going at once (but multithreading support is out of reach, so only a single one will be executing at the same time).

Note that this isn't necessarily limited to executing WorldEdit / WorldEditAdditions commands. Combine with //multi (see above) execute multiple commands at once for even more power and flexibility!

//many 10 //bonemeal 3 100
//many 100 //multi //1 //2 //outset 20 //set dirt

//ellipsoidapply <command_name> <args>

Executes the given command, and then clips the result to the largest ellipsoid that will fit inside the defined region. The specified command must obviously take 2 positions - so for example //set, //replacemix, and //maze3d will work, but //sphere, //torus, and //floodfill won't.

//ellipsoidapply set dirt
//ellipsoidapply maze3d dirt 4 2 2
//ellipsoidapply erode
//ellipsoidapply replacemix sand bakedclay:red bakedclay:orange
//ellipsoidapply layers desert_sand sand 2 desert_sandstone 4 sandstone 10

//scol [<axis1> ] <length>

Short for select column. Sets the pos2 at a set distance along 1 axis from pos1. If the axis isn't specified, defaults the direction you are facing. Implementation thanks to @VorTechnix.

//scol 10
//scol x 3

//srect [<axis1> [<axis2>]] <length>

Short for select rectangle. Sets the pos2 at a set distance along 2 axes from pos1. If the axes aren't specified, defaults to positive y and the direction you are facing. Implementation thanks to @VorTechnix.

//srect x z 10
//srect 3
//srect -z y 25

//scube [<axis1> [<axis2> [<axis3>]]] <length>

Short for select cube. Sets the pos2 at a set distance along 3 axes from pos1. If the axes aren't specified, defaults to positive y, the direction you are facing and the axis to the left of facing. Implementation thanks to @VorTechnix.

//scube 5
//scube z a y 12
//scube x z 3
//scube -z 12

//scloud <0-6|stop|reset>

Short for select point cloud. Sets pos1 and pos2 to include the nodes you punch. Numbers 1-6 designate how many nodes you want to punch before the operation ends. 0 or stop terminate the operation so that any further nodes you punch won't be added to selection. Reset terminates operation if one is running and resets the selection area.

//scloud 6
//scloud 5
//scloud stop

//scentre

Short for select center. Sets pos1 and pos2 to the centre point(s) of the current selection area. 1, 2, 4 or 8 nodes may be selected depending on what parts of the original selection are even in distance. Implementation by @VorTechnix.

//scentre

//srel <axis1> <length1> [<axis2> <length2> [<axis3> <length3>]]

Short for select relative. Sets the pos2 at set distances along 3 axes relative to pos1. If pos1 is not set it will default to the node directly under the player. The axis arguments accept x, y, z as well as up, down, left, right, front, back. Left, right, front and back are relative to player facing direction. Negative (-) can be applied to the axis, the length or both. Implementation by @VorTechnix.

//srel front 5
//srel  y 12 right -2
//srel left 3 up 5 -front 7
//scube -z 12 -y -2 x -2

//sstack

Displays the contents of your per-user selection stack. This stack can be pushed to and popped from rather like a stack of plates. See also //spush (for pushing to the selection stack) and //spop (for popping from the selection stack).

//sstack

//spush

Pushes the currently defined region onto your per-user selection stack. Does not otherwise alter the defined region.

If the stack is full (currently the limit is set to 100 regions in the stack), then it will complain at you but otherwise will have no effect.

Note that pos2 does not need to be defined in order to use this. if it isn't defined, then a pos2 of nil will be pushed onto the stack instead.

//spush

//spop

Pops a selection off your per-user selection stack and applies it to the currently defined region. If pos2 from the item popped from the stack is nil, then pos2 is explicitly unset. If the stack is empty, this has no effect.

//spop

//y

Confirms the execution of a command if it could potentially affect a large number of nodes and take a while. This is a regular WorldEdit command.

//y

//n

Prevents the execution of a command if it could potentially affect a large number of nodes and take a while. This is a regular WorldEdit command.

//n

Far Wand

The far wand (worldeditadditions:farwand) is a variant on the traditional WorldEdit wand (worldedit:wand). It looks like this:

It functions very similarly to the regular WorldEdit wand, except that it has a much longer range - which can be very useful for working on large-scale terrain for example. It also comes with an associated command to control it.

//farwand skip_liquid (true|false) | maxdist <number>

This command helps control the behaviour of the WorldEditAdditions far wand. Calling it without any arguments shows the current status:

//farwand

You can decide whether you can select liquids or not like so:

//farwand skip_liquid true
//farwand skip_liquid false

You can change the maximum range with the maxdist subcommand:

//farwand maxdist 1000
//farwand maxdist 200
//farwand maxdist 9999

Note that the number there isn't in blocks (because hard maths). It is however proportional to the distance the wand will raycast looks for nodes, so a higher value will result in it raycasting further.

Cloud Wand

The cloud wand (worldeditadditions:cloudwand) is a another variant the above Far Wand. It looks like this:

Unlike the other 2 wands, this wand functions in an additive manner. Left-click on a node to expand the currently defined region (creating a new one if one isn't defined already) to include that node. Right click to clear the currently defined region.

It has the range of the Far Wand mentioned above too, so you can select nodes from a great distance. It also abides by preferences set via the //farwand chat command.