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OK then the latest update was a rather big one. It boasts so many good changes. So naturally many people are just trying to wrap their heads around what just happened. It's allot to take in on such seemingly small amount of changes.
custom blocks have been greatly improved now. below is a snip from the update that shows exactly just what got done.
OK now then, many are probably scratching their heads about now and asking, "What does this all mean and how does it improve the custom blocks?"
well let me answer this as simply as I can to explain why this is so huge.
what the above spoiler is going on about, is that now we can create custom configured (which now includes things with scripted effects, like doors and other specific mechanic) blocks, which do not change/reset in future updates, unless something is actually changed for the specific block. Also, here is the most important part. All of that can be made with its own unique textures.
So in as stupid friendly words as I can manage, what that all means now, is that in theory, we can make new blocks from already added blocks in the game. this means that if I wanted to, I could make a set of block that could be used to build objects from blocks that actually look like what they are trying to emulate. a chair for example, or sofa would just need to be made from a hull block and re-textured to look like upholstery items and pasted to the desired hull shapes.
and all of that I can keep in a file which can also in theory, open up and share with everyone else simply by letting them download or connect to my server. So think about that, the mod section of the community content page may be just about to get a whole lot bigger.
The possibilities alone for making custom decorative items. Is just so huge! There is just no way scheema could ever go back and devote time to make all these things for us. So this is just a clue as to what he wants to make the game do, hes provided the modding TOOLS to now make custom decorative blocks. so now its our turn to help him out, lets start making those new blocks. Now we can make new blocks, so its time to get to it and mod.
custom blocks have been greatly improved now. below is a snip from the update that shows exactly just what got done.
An admin can place the texture sheet and their normals (if needed) into ./StarMade/customBlockTextures/64, 128 and 256 as custom.png and custom_NRM.png. The game will create a the default structure when starting it once with the update. These textures are packed into pack.zip when starting the game and sent to the clients. The clients can accept or decline the download. Server admins are responsible for their content.
The adaptive BlockConfig works in a similar matter. Copy the BlockConfigImportTemplate.xml in ./StarMade/customBlockConfig/ to ConfigImportTemplate.xml. This file is a stub with two examples. The file will merge with the current block config, only replacing fields that changed, or adding a new block if it didn't exist before. In the blocks.properties there have meen made 256 values to use which won't get overwritten by something else in the game.
Clients ask for a hashcode before downloading so they can verify if they already have the textured cached for that server, so each client only needs to download the textures once, or when they changed.
The adaptive BlockConfig works in a similar matter. Copy the BlockConfigImportTemplate.xml in ./StarMade/customBlockConfig/ to ConfigImportTemplate.xml. This file is a stub with two examples. The file will merge with the current block config, only replacing fields that changed, or adding a new block if it didn't exist before. In the blocks.properties there have meen made 256 values to use which won't get overwritten by something else in the game.
Clients ask for a hashcode before downloading so they can verify if they already have the textured cached for that server, so each client only needs to download the textures once, or when they changed.
OK now then, many are probably scratching their heads about now and asking, "What does this all mean and how does it improve the custom blocks?"
well let me answer this as simply as I can to explain why this is so huge.
what the above spoiler is going on about, is that now we can create custom configured (which now includes things with scripted effects, like doors and other specific mechanic) blocks, which do not change/reset in future updates, unless something is actually changed for the specific block. Also, here is the most important part. All of that can be made with its own unique textures.
So in as stupid friendly words as I can manage, what that all means now, is that in theory, we can make new blocks from already added blocks in the game. this means that if I wanted to, I could make a set of block that could be used to build objects from blocks that actually look like what they are trying to emulate. a chair for example, or sofa would just need to be made from a hull block and re-textured to look like upholstery items and pasted to the desired hull shapes.
and all of that I can keep in a file which can also in theory, open up and share with everyone else simply by letting them download or connect to my server. So think about that, the mod section of the community content page may be just about to get a whole lot bigger.
The possibilities alone for making custom decorative items. Is just so huge! There is just no way scheema could ever go back and devote time to make all these things for us. So this is just a clue as to what he wants to make the game do, hes provided the modding TOOLS to now make custom decorative blocks. so now its our turn to help him out, lets start making those new blocks. Now we can make new blocks, so its time to get to it and mod.
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I'll have to be on the lookout for some custom block packs (or whatever they're called) if anyone puts them on here (hint hint).