v0.3.1 has been released, it has a bunch of various tweaks (see the OP for the full changelog and download, as per usual). Here's info on the large stuff:
Layout Blocks handle creative mode interaction a lot better: I may have missed some interactions - I'll fix those as they're found, but now you won't consume/gain Layout Blocks in your inventory when interacting with them
Layout Block interaction with an empty hand now takes where you targeted on the block into consideration: Suggested by Wreckage so I decided to give it a shot, and I like it a lot - thanks again!
Wreckage posted his own image to explain what he meant when he suggested the feature, I altered the idea a tiny bit and I made an image overlaying the Layout Block texture so you can have a clear reference of the new controls:
Basically before if you right-clicked or sneak-right-clicked on a Layout Block with an empty hand you would chain blocks in a line on the opposite side of the block than what you clicked on. This functionality still exists and it occurs when you target the central area of one of the block's faces (represented by the angled arrow in that picture).
Now, if you click on one of the outer edges of a Layout Block, instead of placing/removing blocks on the opposite side - you can choose which side to add/remove them to/from by targeting somewhere within the respective area. I'm not the best at explaining, but the image is pretty self explanatory so test it out!.
Right now there is no in-game GUI overlay thingy (think in the style of the microblock placement overlay) to show where on the block you're aiming. This is for two reasons: one, I feel it's pretty intuitive and doesn't need one and two, I wanted to get feedback on the feature before I spent time adding in something that may not be needed (and just take up time/add clutter for no purpose).
With that said unless any big oversight/bug is found this should be the last 0.3 release. The next will be 0.4.0 and contain the first implementation of "Paint brushes" (for lack of a better name).
Enjoy!
It was worth quoting lol.
The new layout for the Layout blocks is wonderful. Keeping the center interaction was brilliant.
The only thing I keep messing up is rolling to an empty hand, I keep trying to right click with the block in hand.
Love it. Thanks a bunch.
The new layout for the Layout blocks is wonderful. Keeping the center interaction was brilliant.
The only thing I keep messing up is rolling to an empty hand, I keep trying to right click with the block in hand.
Love it. Thanks a bunch.
Woot, I'm glad you like it! Thanks again for the idea, it's a lot better than it was. Am I right so far in believing that a visual overlay isn't really needed? I can add one in without much problem if it would help though!
In terms of needing an empty hand, at the time that was just the best think I could think of to handle this type of usage. Every type of interaction with a layout block in your hand is already being used by the layout blocks, and interacting with a different item doesn't work because then you'd just swap out all the blocks. I think in 0.4.0 I may change it so right-clicking with any item that can't be placed OR an empty hand will work (that way you won't need to have an empty slot on your hotbar, something like a pickaxe or shovel, etc. would work fine)
Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
Just a few quick updates that I figured I should share:
Seeing as I'm planning to turn this into a large project and develop it for quite a while, I've created a Sourceforge project page for Charlotte's Utilities in order to better organize downloads, versions, changelogs, etc. and to have access to a basic wiki so I can add more detail about the mod without cluttering up the original post in this thread too much. All of the links in the OP have been updated to reflect the new change - bye bye Dropbox!
I've added a new section to the OP called "Planned & Requested Features" where you can find all of the well fleshed-out plans (I have more than what's listed, but nothing concrete for them yet) that I have or have been suggested to me by others, and what there state is in terms of inclusion in the mod. I've been asked a few times in various places if I could add something that I already have planned so I kinda just want to consolidate the information.
Finally, I found two small oversights with Layout Blocks that are in the current 0.3.1 release but they're nothing major - I updated the known issues list as you would expect, but they're already fixed for the coming 0.4.0 release.
I hope everyone's having a good weekend, I think I'm gonna take the rest of today to relax.
Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
A nice feature is if you sneak click a block onto a layout block it won't replace all the surrounding layout blocks of the same color. Hope that made sense. It's a cool mod and ill be keeping my eyes on it
Am I right so far in believing that a visual overlay isn't really needed? I can add one in without much problem if it would help though!
I don't think it really needs it. Like u said light weight is good.
After using these a lot it would be nice if I could place more replacement blocks. As of now if I am laying a bridge I can place several layout blocks in a row but when I replace them, I only get 4 at a time in front of me. Which leads to a small bug, if I am standing on the layout blocks to get the full 7 while changing I get stuck in the block below me. Hope that makes sense lol.
A nice feature is if you sneak click a block onto a layout block it won't replace all the surrounding layout blocks of the same color. Hope that made sense. It's a cool mod and ill be keeping my eyes on it
I can toss that in the next version for sure, I hadn't thought about it - thanks!
After using these a lot it would be nice if I could place more replacement blocks. As of now if I am laying a bridge I can place several layout blocks in a row but when I replace them, I only get 4 at a time in front of me. Which leads to a small bug, if I am standing on the layout blocks to get the full 7 while changing I get stuck in the block below me. Hope that makes sense lol.
Oh yah I think I know what I did - right now it's clearing the block then placing the new one, I can just change it so it simply overwrites what the block is and that should fix the falling through problem - if not then I'm pretty sure that's just something on Minecraft's end. I shall give it a shot! Until the next version is up (which should be like 2-3 days from now as an estimate) I suggest either trying to avoid standing on the block you're replacing or jump before swapping them to avoid falling through, hee hee.
Also yes I can easily make it place more at once, I'm trying to find a happy balance of "easy to replace a lot at once" and "dang it I didn't mean to do that, this is going to be so tedious to clean up" (aka placing a bunch of obsidian accidentally). Atm it replaces and breaks a 7x7x7 cube centered on your target, I can try something a lot larger like 15x15x15 and see how people like that. Or better yet I can just make it totally customizable in the config file.
Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
The paintbrush is almost ready. It works except I need to finish making the GUI for it, unless you want it to look like that of course. ^.^ Oh and.... yah pardon the art on the brush itself... there's a reason I'm not studying art
I'll be skipping 0.4 and going straight to 0.5 because I'm adding in two major features next release - you know one, the second is (somewhat of) a surprise
Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
Hey, I've got a techne model of a brush if you want to use that for the paint brush instead of a texture.
For now I'm just gonna stick with textures when I can - I haven't gone much into custom model rendering in Forge yet and I'd rather spend the dev time on getting awesome features implemented instead of learning how to make something look good in 3d instead of 2d. If you have a better texture than what I'm using though I'd be glad to put that in ^.^
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Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
This is great, I love small mods that add useful things to them. I have some ideas for a few random things I think would be useful if you'd like to take a crack at them. Like small thin wooden bridge blocks that can be placed like lily pads on waters surface...
This is great, I love small mods that add useful things to them. I have some ideas for a few random things I think would be useful if you'd like to take a crack at them. Like small thin wooden bridge blocks that can be placed like lily pads on waters surface...
Thanks
I'll definitely keep that idea in mind for the future - right now I'm working really hard on fully fleshing out the Layout Blocks and related tools. I feel like people are really enjoying those and I want to put as much into the system as I can.
Speaking of which, 0.5.0 is done - I just need to take some screenshots, make a video, and write up the description for the two new tools being added and post links. I'll be up tomorrow for sure!
Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
I'll definitely keep that idea in mind for the future - right now I'm working really hard on fully fleshing out the Layout Blocks and related tools. I feel like people are really enjoying those and I want to put as much into the system as I can.
Speaking of which, 0.5.0 is done - I just need to take some screenshots, make a video, and write up the description for the two new tools being added and post links. I'll be up tomorrow for sure!
v0.5.0b (we skipped 0.4 and 0.5.0, you didn't miss anything - don't worry!) is officially launched! Head to the OP to grab it from the usual download link(s) and be sure to let me know what you think or suggest anything obvious that I overlooked and whatnot. For now, here's a summary of the major changes and additions (see the OP for the detailed log):
Layout Paint Brush addedAkin to a balanced survival mode version of something like World Edit brushes, it's used to quickly place lots of Layout Blocks. Currently only 3 shapes but they're shapes that are highly flexible in use. More will be added as time goes on. Maximum sizes are set in the config file, only upper limit is your machine's hardware - the default limit is rather small for safety
Layout Morph Brush addedIt's almost like the younger sibling of Thaumcraft's Equal Trade wand focus. The Morph brush is used to turn blocks into Layout Blocks for manipulation. Careful, it deletes whatever you targetted!
The Layout Block break and replace cubic areas are now customizeableFor those of you wanting larger or smaller "mass edit" sizes, check the config file
That changelog makes this release seem a lot smaller than it actually is. The additional functionality that the two new brushes give you makes building SO much more enjoyable in survival mode. Enjoy! See this album on imgur if you want pictures, or check the OP!
Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
Figured people may be interested in this! I generally tweet stuff about development of the mod, but I obviously can't put long messages in there. If anybody is interested in detailed info on what's currently being worked on you can follow the development log here.
I post pseudo patch notes and thoughts on there that are both too long for twitter, and would be just obnoxious to spam the Minecraft Forums with.
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Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
Nice collection of mods you have made. Hope to see more in the future, great work on this.
Thanks!
You'll definitely see a lot more going into the future. The next version is probably a couple weeks out because I have a bunch of things planned, so stay tuned!
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Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
- It can no longer morph anything as or more hard than obsidian (in addition to its current restrictions)
- Durability down (1562 -> 1000)
What if I want to morph obsidian or hardened or infused stone? I can see how this would be a good thing for public or large servers where control is important but it is a bit of a restriction for small private servers like our own.
A more difficult recipe is good but the durability should be high if it is hard to come by I was thinking 3000. Ghast tears are very hard to get on our server.
Love the config options.
I wasn't sure if you still had the getting stuck in the block on the fix list still. Just a tiny mention.
Oh, just a thought. How about being able to right click (with the morph brush in hand) on existing layout blocks and morph blocks in the direction your clicking? Same thing as placing but morphing. I was changing walls in tunnels and thought that this would be very helpful.
Sorry I keep adding to this post lol.
While I was digging under our base trying to connect exits and entrances, I had a idea that would be a great addition to this mod. I was wearing the thaumcraft goggles and realized that seeing nodes thru rock is quite nice. What if you had something similar like a block or item that could be seen thru walls. A marker that could be seen so you could dig to it or just an underground marker that could be placed so you could find that spot again.
What if I want to morph obsidian or hardened or infused stone? I can see how this would be a good thing for public or large servers where control is important but it is a bit of a restriction for small private servers like our own.
A more difficult recipe is good but the durability should be high if it is hard to come by I was thinking 3000. Ghast tears are very hard to get on our server.
Love the config options.
I wasn't sure if you still had the getting stuck in the block on the fix list still. Just a tiny mention.
Oh, just a thought. How about being able to right click (with the morph brush in hand) on existing layout blocks and morph blocks in the direction your clicking? Same thing as placing but morphing. I was changing walls in tunnels and thought that this would be very helpful.
Sorry I keep adding to this post lol.
While I was digging under our base trying to connect exits and entrances, I had a idea that would be a great addition to this mod. I was wearing the thaumcraft goggles and realized that seeing nodes thru rock is quite nice. What if you had something similar like a block or item that could be seen thru walls. A marker that could be seen so you could dig to it or just an underground marker that could be placed so you could find that spot again.
I highly recommend reading through the replies to my post over on the crackpack subreddit. Some people were very concerned about balance regarding the two brushes in the mod and I can definitely agree with where they're coming from. This is a survival tool after all so I need to make sure it's not too powerful. I personally feel that Thaumcraft's wand focus of equal trade is too powerful of a tool to exist in survival no matter what the resource cost (set it to replace with something easily breakable or ladders and you can instantly punch a giant hole through any material really) and as such, I'm a little hesitant to give the morph brush in this mod any more power. I'll continue to monitor it for a bit but don't expect to see any large additions in the immediate future, sorry!
The durability for both brushes is something I'm still working out. I need to strike a good balance between making the brushes expensive to make, replace, and use, but not so expensive that it's frustrating. The durability use will probably be linked to the upcoming tiered system of layout blocks (see the crackpack reddit post about that) so if you're placing basic layout blocks durability will barely even be used - meaning you'll only have to pay the recipe once in a blue moon. Like I said above it's just going to take some time to hit that balance sweet spot. There are hardcore players that think 2 blaze rods, 2 eyes of ender, and a ghast tear is "first day material" and the super casual players (like myself) who've had a server running for over a week and haven't even found an enderman yet.
I like the idea of a "target block" that you can see through walls, I don't think that would be too powerful seeing as you'd have to go place the target block first. I'll look into adding something like that in the future for sure, atm though I want to work on a fine-tuning balance & exploit removing patch since the two new tools I just added both seem very highly controversial.
edit: Oh also, the "getting stuck in the block if you're standing on it when you swap it" thing is caused because Layout Blocks are 90% of a block tall, so when you swap a block beneath you the other block is generated over your feet. The only way I can really think to fix that is to make Layout Blocks a full block in size - but then you can't click behind them to place other blocks and you lose the visual effect of the clearly visible separated blocks. Basically I have to choose between telling players "don't stand on it when you swap, or jump before you do" and keeping all of the current functionality, or removing all the functionality listed above so players don't have to jump. Which would peoples prefer?
Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
Before you destroy your mod with "Muh Balanse"
The layout blocks are fine as is (Functionality wise), was upset with the powder "nerf" but thats okay.
Though maybe some way to "retract" blocks, but thats not really a big deal at all.
Also, dummies getting stuck in blocks need to just learn how to jump
Or get a jetpack.
For the regular layout brush, it does not need durability. Increase the price of the brush for all I care, just dont give it a durability. Or give it a large durability so I can just toss it into my reconstructor every few hours of use.
I dont use the whatchacallit brush because it destroys whatever Im changing it with. Give that a durability.
And/or give it a blacklist that server owners can config what can and cannot be morphed.
And give a brush + whatever high costing materials you want recipe.
Point is, dont break your mod in the search of "balance."
Before you destroy your mod with "Muh Balanse"
The layout blocks are fine as is (Functionality wise), was upset with the powder "nerf" but thats okay.
Though maybe some way to "retract" blocks, but thats not really a big deal at all.
Also, dummies getting stuck in blocks need to just learn how to jump
Or get a jetpack.
For the regular layout brush, it does not need durability. Increase the price of the brush for all I care, just dont give it a durability. Or give it a large durability so I can just toss it into my reconstructor every few hours of use.
I dont use the whatchacallit brush because it destroys whatever Im changing it with. Give that a durability.
And/or give it a blacklist that server owners can config what can and cannot be morphed.
And give a brush + whatever high costing materials you want recipe.
Point is, dont break your mod in the search of "balance."
In terms of retracting, do you mean how you can "auto place" layout blocks by right-clicking on one with an empty hand? You can currently retract them by sneaking and right-clicking.
As for durability, I've actually found a really nice system that I'm quite happy with - the durability is quite low numerically so it'll repair really fast in the reconstructor, and basic use of it practically doesn't use durability at all (it's a pretty detailed system, but just read that unless you abuse it or want to build the largest castle ever, repairing should be a non-issue)
The morph brush is also a tool I'm looking into a fair bit - there probably will be a bunch of configs for it like you said. It does already have a durability btw, it's a bit high though me thinks.
Thanks for the feedback
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Like to build? Check out Charlotte's Utilities - Layout Blocks, Brushes, Prospectors, and more!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
It was worth quoting lol.
The new layout for the Layout blocks is wonderful. Keeping the center interaction was brilliant.
The only thing I keep messing up is rolling to an empty hand, I keep trying to right click with the block in hand.
Love it. Thanks a bunch.
Woot, I'm glad you like it! Thanks again for the idea, it's a lot better than it was. Am I right so far in believing that a visual overlay isn't really needed? I can add one in without much problem if it would help though!
In terms of needing an empty hand, at the time that was just the best think I could think of to handle this type of usage. Every type of interaction with a layout block in your hand is already being used by the layout blocks, and interacting with a different item doesn't work because then you'd just swap out all the blocks. I think in 0.4.0 I may change it so right-clicking with any item that can't be placed OR an empty hand will work (that way you won't need to have an empty slot on your hotbar, something like a pickaxe or shovel, etc. would work fine)
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
Seeing as I'm planning to turn this into a large project and develop it for quite a while, I've created a Sourceforge project page for Charlotte's Utilities in order to better organize downloads, versions, changelogs, etc. and to have access to a basic wiki so I can add more detail about the mod without cluttering up the original post in this thread too much. All of the links in the OP have been updated to reflect the new change - bye bye Dropbox!
I've added a new section to the OP called "Planned & Requested Features" where you can find all of the well fleshed-out plans (I have more than what's listed, but nothing concrete for them yet) that I have or have been suggested to me by others, and what there state is in terms of inclusion in the mod. I've been asked a few times in various places if I could add something that I already have planned so I kinda just want to consolidate the information.
Finally, I found two small oversights with Layout Blocks that are in the current 0.3.1 release but they're nothing major - I updated the known issues list as you would expect, but they're already fixed for the coming 0.4.0 release.
I hope everyone's having a good weekend, I think I'm gonna take the rest of today to relax.
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
I don't think it really needs it. Like u said light weight is good.
After using these a lot it would be nice if I could place more replacement blocks. As of now if I am laying a bridge I can place several layout blocks in a row but when I replace them, I only get 4 at a time in front of me. Which leads to a small bug, if I am standing on the layout blocks to get the full 7 while changing I get stuck in the block below me. Hope that makes sense lol.
Oh yah I think I know what I did - right now it's clearing the block then placing the new one, I can just change it so it simply overwrites what the block is and that should fix the falling through problem - if not then I'm pretty sure that's just something on Minecraft's end. I shall give it a shot! Until the next version is up (which should be like 2-3 days from now as an estimate) I suggest either trying to avoid standing on the block you're replacing or jump before swapping them to avoid falling through, hee hee.
Also yes I can easily make it place more at once, I'm trying to find a happy balance of "easy to replace a lot at once" and "dang it I didn't mean to do that, this is going to be so tedious to clean up" (aka placing a bunch of obsidian accidentally). Atm it replaces and breaks a 7x7x7 cube centered on your target, I can try something a lot larger like 15x15x15 and see how people like that. Or better yet I can just make it totally customizable in the config file.
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
The paintbrush is almost ready. It works except I need to finish making the GUI for it, unless you want it to look like that of course. ^.^ Oh and.... yah pardon the art on the brush itself... there's a reason I'm not studying art
I'll be skipping 0.4 and going straight to 0.5 because I'm adding in two major features next release - you know one, the second is (somewhat of) a surprise
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
For now I'm just gonna stick with textures when I can - I haven't gone much into custom model rendering in Forge yet and I'd rather spend the dev time on getting awesome features implemented instead of learning how to make something look good in 3d instead of 2d. If you have a better texture than what I'm using though I'd be glad to put that in ^.^
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
I'll definitely keep that idea in mind for the future - right now I'm working really hard on fully fleshing out the Layout Blocks and related tools. I feel like people are really enjoying those and I want to put as much into the system as I can.
Speaking of which, 0.5.0 is done - I just need to take some screenshots, make a video, and write up the description for the two new tools being added and post links. I'll be up tomorrow for sure!
Edit: Early sneak peek for those interested
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
That changelog makes this release seem a lot smaller than it actually is. The additional functionality that the two new brushes give you makes building SO much more enjoyable in survival mode. Enjoy! See this album on imgur if you want pictures, or check the OP!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
I post pseudo patch notes and thoughts on there that are both too long for twitter, and would be just obnoxious to spam the Minecraft Forums with.
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
You'll definitely see a lot more going into the future. The next version is probably a couple weeks out because I have a bunch of things planned, so stay tuned!
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
What if I want to morph obsidian or hardened or infused stone? I can see how this would be a good thing for public or large servers where control is important but it is a bit of a restriction for small private servers like our own.
A more difficult recipe is good but the durability should be high if it is hard to come by I was thinking 3000. Ghast tears are very hard to get on our server.
Love the config options.
I wasn't sure if you still had the getting stuck in the block on the fix list still. Just a tiny mention.
Oh, just a thought. How about being able to right click (with the morph brush in hand) on existing layout blocks and morph blocks in the direction your clicking? Same thing as placing but morphing. I was changing walls in tunnels and thought that this would be very helpful.
Sorry I keep adding to this post lol.
While I was digging under our base trying to connect exits and entrances, I had a idea that would be a great addition to this mod. I was wearing the thaumcraft goggles and realized that seeing nodes thru rock is quite nice. What if you had something similar like a block or item that could be seen thru walls. A marker that could be seen so you could dig to it or just an underground marker that could be placed so you could find that spot again.
I highly recommend reading through the replies to my post over on the crackpack subreddit. Some people were very concerned about balance regarding the two brushes in the mod and I can definitely agree with where they're coming from. This is a survival tool after all so I need to make sure it's not too powerful. I personally feel that Thaumcraft's wand focus of equal trade is too powerful of a tool to exist in survival no matter what the resource cost (set it to replace with something easily breakable or ladders and you can instantly punch a giant hole through any material really) and as such, I'm a little hesitant to give the morph brush in this mod any more power. I'll continue to monitor it for a bit but don't expect to see any large additions in the immediate future, sorry!
The durability for both brushes is something I'm still working out. I need to strike a good balance between making the brushes expensive to make, replace, and use, but not so expensive that it's frustrating. The durability use will probably be linked to the upcoming tiered system of layout blocks (see the crackpack reddit post about that) so if you're placing basic layout blocks durability will barely even be used - meaning you'll only have to pay the recipe once in a blue moon. Like I said above it's just going to take some time to hit that balance sweet spot. There are hardcore players that think 2 blaze rods, 2 eyes of ender, and a ghast tear is "first day material" and the super casual players (like myself) who've had a server running for over a week and haven't even found an enderman yet.
I like the idea of a "target block" that you can see through walls, I don't think that would be too powerful seeing as you'd have to go place the target block first. I'll look into adding something like that in the future for sure, atm though I want to work on a fine-tuning balance & exploit removing patch since the two new tools I just added both seem very highly controversial.
edit: Oh also, the "getting stuck in the block if you're standing on it when you swap it" thing is caused because Layout Blocks are 90% of a block tall, so when you swap a block beneath you the other block is generated over your feet. The only way I can really think to fix that is to make Layout Blocks a full block in size - but then you can't click behind them to place other blocks and you lose the visual effect of the clearly visible separated blocks. Basically I have to choose between telling players "don't stand on it when you swap, or jump before you do" and keeping all of the current functionality, or removing all the functionality listed above so players don't have to jump. Which would peoples prefer?
Follow me on twitter @charlotte_c_b for updates! You can also find me in irc.esper.net as Ilandria
Development of my mods is made possible by Full Effect Hosting
The layout blocks are fine as is (Functionality wise), was upset with the powder "nerf" but thats okay.
Though maybe some way to "retract" blocks, but thats not really a big deal at all.
Also, dummies getting stuck in blocks need to just learn how to jump
Or get a jetpack.
For the regular layout brush, it does not need durability. Increase the price of the brush for all I care, just dont give it a durability. Or give it a large durability so I can just toss it into my reconstructor every few hours of use.
I dont use the whatchacallit brush because it destroys whatever Im changing it with. Give that a durability.
And/or give it a blacklist that server owners can config what can and cannot be morphed.
And give a brush + whatever high costing materials you want recipe.
Point is, dont break your mod in the search of "balance."
In terms of retracting, do you mean how you can "auto place" layout blocks by right-clicking on one with an empty hand? You can currently retract them by sneaking and right-clicking.
As for durability, I've actually found a really nice system that I'm quite happy with - the durability is quite low numerically so it'll repair really fast in the reconstructor, and basic use of it practically doesn't use durability at all (it's a pretty detailed system, but just read that unless you abuse it or want to build the largest castle ever, repairing should be a non-issue)
The morph brush is also a tool I'm looking into a fair bit - there probably will be a bunch of configs for it like you said. It does already have a durability btw, it's a bit high though me thinks.
Thanks for the feedback
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