Where to get started making more complex block models [1.15.2]

[MistaOmega]

Hello fellow programming humans

 

I want to get into making different block models, ones that don't take up a full block space, an example could be something like a conduit from EnderIO.

 

Now sadly, despite loving the coding lifestyle, I can't for the life of me figure out how to go about it with my one single solitary remaining brain cell.
I'm asking in short, if anyone knows of some big documentation I can sink my head in to, or any other places I can find explanations for how I would go about doing such a thing, and if you've done it yourself, any particular things I should avoid doing
I'm pretty new to all this stuff, but I do have a fairly reasonable knowledge base for general java and OOP development, just a touch out of my depth here, because I don't really know where to start.

 

Thank you ❤️

Edited June 2, 2020 by MistaOmega
Added game version

[sciwhiz12]

Currently, there's no big complete authoritative source of documentation on many aspects of Forge modding; most modders go by reading tutorials and guides for simple to mid-level concepts, and either reading source code or asking for help on chats or forums like these for more difficult or niche concepts (minutiae of rendering, MC internals, custom dimensions/worlds).

 

Most big guides and tutorials are outdated; major updates to Minecraft means changes to its internals. For example, 1.8 started the process of moving from metadata to BlockStates, 1.13 had the Flattening and added datapacks, and 1.15 changed the rendering system.

 

Some guides and tutorials which I found and read are:

• the official Minecraft Forge documentation
• McJty's youtube tutorials (McJty is the modder for RFTools)
• TheGreyGhost's MinecraftByExample github
• TheGreyGhost's blog with explanations to key concepts
• these Minecraft Forge forums (search Modder Support or User Submitted Tutorials using Google)
• Choonster's TestMod3 (check the 1.14.4 branch)

Now, to answer your titular question:

 

Blockstate JSONs using the multiparts tag allow a quick and easy way to implement pipe- or fence-like models. Non-animated models can use JSONs, or OBJ files. For anying more complex or animated, use TileEntityRenderers (but if possible, always use normal models).The 1.15 update changing the rendering system simplifies it from learning OpenGL from scratch to mostly never needing it. See Block#getShape and related methods for how collision boxes work (look at vanilla code or above tutorials).

 

If you can't understand it yet, try looking at code from other mods and seeing how they do block rendering. Fork/clone a copy, and start reading and messing around with the code using the debug tool in your IDE. If you have any questions, please either reply or make a new thread detailing your issues or your questions.

[Ugdhar]

Also maybe take a look at BlockBench, it might be helpful for visualizing your block models. I have not messed with it much, so cannot vouch for how well it exports json/java for direct use in modding.

 

See if you can find a vanilla equivalent of what you are trying to make, and take a look at the vanilla models/code, and see how they do it. That's probably the best reference you can get right there, at least for some of the easier stuff. There should be a client-extras.jar or something similar in your IDE references that contains the vanilla jsons.

[MistaOmega]

@sciwhiz12, @Ugdhar
Thank you both, you've helped tremendously ❤️

[DavidM]

I previously made some pipes in one of my test mods here.

They can’t transfer items at the moment, but the models and connection to other pipes/inventories are functional.

Check out the block state file for it, which used the multipart feature of the model system.

[Ugdhar]

1 hour ago, DavidM said:

I previously made some pipes in one of my test mods here.

They can’t transfer items at the moment, but the models and connection to other pipes/inventories are functional.

Check out the block state file for it, which used the multipart feature of the model system.

It doesn't look like any of the assets are in that repo, so we can't see the blockstate for it.

[MistaOmega]

3 hours ago, DavidM said:

I previously made some pipes in one of my test mods here.

They can’t transfer items at the moment, but the models and connection to other pipes/inventories are functional.

Check out the block state file for it, which used the multipart feature of the model system.

Yeah I don't think the blockstate is in the assets folder ?

[DavidM]

8 hours ago, MistaOmega said:

Yeah I don't think the blockstate is in the assets folder ?

10 hours ago, Ugdhar said:

It doesn't look like any of the assets are in that repo, so we can't see the blockstate for it.

Ah sorry! I somehow forgot to push to remote for quite a while.

Anyways, here is the blockstate file.

(Note that by item_pipe I meant the model of the pipe that transfers item, as opposed to the item model of a pipe)

 

In addition, SixWayBlock can handles almost everything about the blockstate and collision boxes of a block that can connect to 6 directions (i.e. pipes). Check out the vanilla chorus plant for usage.

Edited June 4, 2020 by DavidM

[MistaOmega]

7 hours ago, DavidM said:

Ah sorry! I somehow forgot to push to remote for quite a while.

Anyways, here is the blockstate file.

(Note that by item_pipe I meant the model of the pipe that transfers item, as opposed to the item model of a pipe)

 

In addition, SixWayBlock can handles almost everything about the blockstate and collision boxes of a block that can connect to 6 directions (i.e. pipes). Check out the vanilla chorus plant for usage.

Thank you for the help man! Appreciate it ❤️