For those who haven't been paying attention to history, here's a recap: ever since the game was still in alpha over a decade ago, people have been requesting the ability to make stairs and slabs out of all of the major construction materials: glass, obsidian, dirt, whatever. There were even Bukkit plugins to make this happen. Since then, every time a totally unnecessary wacky new material has been added to the game (purpur? seriously?), Mojang has wasted absolutely no time making stairs and slabs out of it, but older and more important materials have been neglected.
I'm wondering if that's changed in the past few updates, and if not, if there are any plans.
For all the special ed kids out there who are about to scream "vAgUe" like you did last time, get a grip. You know what stairs and slabs are. You know the recipe is always the same regardless of the material. You know the hardness and durability are always proportional to those of the material you make them out of.
Obsidian slabs/stairs? Support.
I like the prospect of explosion-proofed buildings actually having slabs and stairs to ease movement. Then just lever behind a sideways anvil and piston door with ancient debris...
And slightly off the main question, dirt is a no from me, because it's not a construction material but a type of soft soil that makes up for much of the terrain For the same reason no sand, gravel, netherrack, snow slabs/stairs either... But end stone, deepslate and stone should be exempt from that due to their sturdiness and solidity.
Glass... kinda makes sense, but it asks for a followup with color variants. The same about terracotta or concrete.
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
dirt is a no from me, because it's not a construction material but a type of soft soil that makes up for much of the terrain For the same reason no sand, gravel, netherrack, snow slabs/stairs either...
Sand and gravel are a false analogy. They fall when you remove the block under them. They are in fact made of many tiny pieces held together by nothing. Dirt, by contrast, holds together well enough that you can make tunnels through it both in the game and in real life.
Snow can behave either way depending on whether you're talking about freshly fallen show (which behaves like sand/gravel) or compacted snow blocks (which behave like dirt).
Netherrack is just fancy red rocks from hell. We can already carve it into bricks and then make stairs and slabs out of those bricks. Why wouldn't we be able to skip the brick-making part?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
416 stone 296 stone slab (150 blocks) 149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
Just add slabs und fences und stairs made of every block!
Vertical slabs and quarter blocks too!
It would really help in many builds.
Minecraft as a sandbox game that is so popular should elevate "sandbox" standars, instead of focusing on RPG elements.
Firstly, I think yes, we could do with more slabs, stairs, and in general variations on existing building materials- but there's definitely such a thing as taking it too far. I really don't want to get into the vertical slabs argument, but suffice to say regardless of whether it's a slippery slope, too many block variations I think would cause the opposite problem. The right amount should encourage creative building, while too many would be excessive- there is such a thing as a happy medium.
There are plenty of blocks that ought to have more variations, however; when the only reason for adding the new variation is that it would be more aesthetically pleasing and good for building... it's a decent reason, but not a good enough reason to add new variations for every block in the game, of which there are already well over 600 unique block types, (According to a brief trip to the Minecraft Wiki). Dirt slabs in particular have already been considered by Mojang, but were unable to be implemented into terrain generation. Trying to stay on topic, obsidian slabs... Maybe? I guess I'm kind of neutral, I for one would never use them for the same reason I would never make a diamond slab, Obsidian is just rare and irritating enough to get that while an obsidian structure might be impressive, I wouldn't deem it worth my time.
That being said, I'm certainly open to the idea of more variation in general- especially in regards to more wooden blocks, (Crafting tables, Wooden tiles, that sort of thing- maybe a carpentry block similar to the stonecutter?); along with more chiseled stone types, pillars, etc.
The main reason why most older blocks do not have stair and slab variants is because the game could only support 256 unique block types; even if you used metadata you are limited to only 2 stair types per block since they have a total of 8 different states (east/south/west/north and up/down), so to add stairs for e.g. stained clay, which is a single block with 16 variants (2 blocks and 17 variants if you include the unstained block), you'd need to use at least 8 new blocks (Mojang decided to only have one type of stair per block but I've added "double" stair blocks to my own mod), which was only changed in 1.13 (technically, the game had basic support for 4096 block types since 1.2 but items were handled in such a way that blocks could only use IDs below 256 without work-arounds, as is done by Forge).
Even in 1.13 there are technical issues with adding a huge number of new blocks, which all need to be stored in memory (the main issue is block models, which is a big reason why newer versions require so much more memory; previously they would be almost free as every stair block used the same simple rendering method, which in turn used the rendering method used by all "cube" blocks to render 2-3 cubes per stair block; of course, the downside of this is you can't use resource packs to change block models).
While there aren't obsidian stairs/ slab in Minecraft yet, I know a Fabric mod that adds these. The mod is called Blockus, and it also adds a lot more building blocks to the game. You can choose to avoid these, however, because there's no world generation fixes.
Firstly, I think yes, we could do with more slabs, stairs, and in general variations on existing building materials- but there's definitely such a thing as taking it too far... too many block variations I think would cause the opposite problem. The right amount should encourage creative building, while too many would be excessive- there is such a thing as a happy medium... it's a decent reason, but not a good enough reason to add new variations for every block in the game, of which there are already well over 600 unique block types
Oh, Mojang is definitely suffering an opposite sort of problem: they are creating waaaaay too many useless new materials that nobody ever asked for instead of expanding the uses for the classic materials. Mojang could remove 80% of existing materials from the game and I think most people either wouldn't care or would welcome the change. But the existence of one mistake should never be used as an excuse for failure to correct another.
Dirt slabs in particular have already been considered by Mojang, but were unable to be implemented into terrain generation.
Why would that be in any way a relevant consideration when slabs of ANY type don't spawn naturally?
That being said, I'm certainly open to the idea of more variation in general- especially in regards to more wooden blocks, (Crafting tables, Wooden tiles, that sort of thing- maybe a carpentry block similar to the stonecutter?); along with more chiseled stone types, pillars, etc.
God no. No more chiseled anything, no more polished anything, and definitely no new types of wood or stone. That's exactly what this game already has too much of.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
416 stone 296 stone slab (150 blocks) 149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
Likewise, I've only added stair/slab variants to my own mod when they actually have a use in a naturally generated structure; for example, I only added a stairs variant for "quartz sandstone" since a new structure I added doesn't need slabs, and even then "quartz sandstone stairs" are actually a variant of sandstone stairs (same block ID but different data values), much as I added spruce/birch/jungle wood fences by using data values (these and spruce/birch/jungle wood pressure plates, also using data values instead of entirely new block IDs, were mainly added so mineshafts and villages can have biome-specific wood types for every block; in all, I've added more than 200 new blocks to TMCWv5, plus even more variants which can't be obtained as items, yet only used around 20 new block IDs, so even when including blocks added in older versions there are still around 70 IDs left).
Some of the blocks I've added have been more for fun, such as wall variants when I've never actually used them in survival, but I'd have not added them if it meant making entirely new blocks (vanilla 1.6.4 has cobblestone and mossy cobblestone walls as a single block, leaving 14 unused data values which I took advantage of to add more variants basically for free).
Tell that to whoever wrote the Wiki then, or even change it yourself; "natural" generation means anything that is placed during world generation, regardless of whether it is terrain or a structure (which is anything other than bedrock/stone and the surface dirt/grass/sand/etc, with caves being the only structure that is placed during initial terrain generation so they may also be considered terrain). In any case, the fact that they naturally generate means that they have a clear purpose in the game, as opposed to blocks that can only exist if the player has crafted them.
Tell that to whoever wrote the Wiki then, or even change it yourself; "natural" generation means anything that is placed during world generation, regardless of whether it is terrain or a structure (which is anything other than bedrock/stone and the surface dirt/grass/sand/etc, with caves being the only structure that is placed during initial terrain generation so they may also be considered terrain). In any case, the fact that they naturally generate means that they have a clear purpose in the game, as opposed to blocks that can only exist if the player has crafted them.
Natural means terrain. Structures are, in the context of the fictional in-game universe, crafted and placed by NPCs, most of whom are long dead before the player shows up.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
416 stone 296 stone slab (150 blocks) 149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
Oh, Mojang is definitely suffering an opposite sort of problem: they are creating waaaaay too many useless new materials that nobody ever asked for instead of expanding the uses for the classic materials. Mojang could remove 80% of existing materials from the game and I think most people either wouldn't care or would welcome the change. But the existence of one mistake should never be used as an excuse for failure to correct another.
Why would that be in any way a relevant consideration when slabs of ANY type don't spawn naturally?
God no. No more chiseled anything, no more polished anything, and definitely no new types of wood or stone. That's exactly what this game already has too much of.
If they removed 80% of the existing materials as you insisted, this would destroy numerous builds people put together.
I surely hope you're not talking about prismarine, blackstone, or purpur blocks, which do get used for some builds FYI.
Firstly, I think yes, we could do with more slabs, stairs, and in general variations on existing building materials- but there's definitely such a thing as taking it too far. I really don't want to get into the vertical slabs argument, but suffice to say regardless of whether it's a slippery slope, too many block variations I think would cause the opposite problem. The right amount should encourage creative building, while too many would be excessive- there is such a thing as a happy medium.
There are plenty of blocks that ought to have more variations, however; when the only reason for adding the new variation is that it would be more aesthetically pleasing and good for building... it's a decent reason, but not a good enough reason to add new variations for every block in the game, of which there are already well over 600 unique block types, (According to a brief trip to the Minecraft Wiki). Dirt slabs in particular have already been considered by Mojang, but were unable to be implemented into terrain generation. Trying to stay on topic, obsidian slabs... Maybe? I guess I'm kind of neutral, I for one would never use them for the same reason I would never make a diamond slab, Obsidian is just rare and irritating enough to get that while an obsidian structure might be impressive, I wouldn't deem it worth my time.
That being said, I'm certainly open to the idea of more variation in general- especially in regards to more wooden blocks, (Crafting tables, Wooden tiles, that sort of thing- maybe a carpentry block similar to the stonecutter?); along with more chiseled stone types, pillars, etc.
Agreed, if people want the game restricted to alpha blocks they can go back to playing Alpha Minecraft or the versions that existed before the aquatic update.
Part of Minecraft has always been about building, not just surviving. We shouldn't be restricted to mods just to get materials that make builds look nicer.
Nobody ever said that. Go attack strawman arguments somewhere else.
It's not a strawman, you claimed 80% of the materials in the game can be removed without a complaint, and yet you cited zero polls to back up your arguments. Also just because you don't like those blocks doesn't mean they should be removed, what about people who do? should they get their builds griefed by Mojang because of your own biased opinion?
For those who haven't been paying attention to history, here's a recap: ever since the game was still in alpha over a decade ago, people have been requesting the ability to make stairs and slabs out of all of the major construction materials: glass, obsidian, dirt, whatever. There were even Bukkit plugins to make this happen. Since then, every time a totally unnecessary wacky new material has been added to the game (purpur? seriously?), Mojang has wasted absolutely no time making stairs and slabs out of it, but older and more important materials have been neglected.
I'm wondering if that's changed in the past few updates, and if not, if there are any plans.
For all the special ed kids out there who are about to scream "vAgUe" like you did last time, get a grip. You know what stairs and slabs are. You know the recipe is always the same regardless of the material. You know the hardness and durability are always proportional to those of the material you make them out of.
Some materials are supposed to be indicated as too soft, squishy, brittle, or hard, to make partial blocks out of. These blocks are regarded as natural or delicate and seem as a different class of blocks and have a different connotation and value.
I don't want stairs and slabs of every block in the game. The fact you can slab raw, unpolished blocks is already enough to me.
It removes the point of some blocks being natural parts of the world, thus rough and unfinished, unchangeable, not yet molded.
It reminds us that we the players are not in complete control, the world still has teeth and still has things we cannot overcome, control, or change.
Having everything be slabbable or stairable would deaden the game to me somehow, make everything feel under player control, technical, factory-driven. It wouldn't feel like a survival, exploration, game. You'd no longer be a visitor to the world but the owner. That's one fast way to make a big place feel small.
I've heard that adding glass stairs ect is difficult bc of transparency.
Personally i want as many stairs, slaby ect as possible, for more building options.
I don't understand why they haven't been added jet. Like concrete stairs for example.
There are of corse blocks wich wouldn't make sence. Like sponge stairs.
Leaf stairs and slabs on the otherhand have been requested some times now.
They would spice up building nature environment.
Imo some of these "unlogical" blocks could be added for creative mode only.
Like smooth quarts stuff.
There is no reason that leaves as slabs or stairs make more sense than sponge versions. The literal calculation of water drainage on sponge pieces is easy. It's more about:
'does this make sense in terms of how you create the block?'
'does it look realistic or doable?'
'does it look sightly?'
For me, making stairs out of natural blocks feels as cursed as putting circles in Minecraft. And glass too, because it's fragile in the same way that leaves are weak. How can you stair/slab such a thing? Silk Touch crafting table?
Obsidian slabs/stairs? Support.
I like the prospect of explosion-proofed buildings actually having slabs and stairs to ease movement. Then just lever behind a sideways anvil and piston door with ancient debris...
And slightly off the main question, dirt is a no from me, because it's not a construction material but a type of soft soil that makes up for much of the terrain For the same reason no sand, gravel, netherrack, snow slabs/stairs either... But end stone, deepslate and stone should be exempt from that due to their sturdiness and solidity.
Glass... kinda makes sense, but it asks for a followup with color variants. The same about terracotta or concrete.
You can certainly use non-obsidian blocks in an obsidian structure for stairs and slabs.
Glass, concrete, and terracotta are fragile or brittle. Obsidian is hard, but may be too hard to cut.
I don't personally like raw stones being stair-able but logically it makes sense.
I am not so much about 'real life realism' as 'rules of the game'. Blocks that need a shovel, hoe, shears, or silk touch, to be mineable speedily or in order to actually get blocks, shouldn't be 'cuttable'.
You wouldn't expect a stonecutter to do that, would you?
Actually, maybe a stonecutter variant for fragile and soft blocks would make sense.
A melting device like glass blowing in real life, or pottery making.
Since we're getting pottery architecture in 1.18, this seems reasonable.
Sand and gravel are a false analogy. They fall when you remove the block under them. They are in fact made of many tiny pieces held together by nothing. Dirt, by contrast, holds together well enough that you can make tunnels through it both in the game and in real life.
Snow can behave either way depending on whether you're talking about freshly fallen show (which behaves like sand/gravel) or compacted snow blocks (which behave like dirt).
Netherrack is just fancy red rocks from hell. We can already carve it into bricks and then make stairs and slabs out of those bricks. Why wouldn't we be able to skip the brick-making part?
The blocks need to do more than 'not fall'. Holding enough well to stay together doesn't necessitate holding well enough to cut into pieces, except maybe with a specialized table for the job.
Just add slabs und fences und stairs made of every block!
Vertical slabs and quarter blocks too!
It would really help in many builds.
Minecraft as a sandbox game that is so popular should elevate "sandbox" standars, instead of focusing on RPG elements.
That's a matter of taste.
I don't mind these blocks in creative mode, *maybe*, but to me getting them in survival as easily as wood stairs...it sort of takes away from the intrinsic values of current sculpt-able and non-sculpt-able blocks. It would also feel 'too easy', to be able to make functional small blocks from any big solid block.
I would say they should be earned by getting some more complex crafting appliance specialized for 'natural' or 'weak' blocks.
Firstly, I think yes, we could do with more slabs, stairs, and in general variations on existing building materials- but there's definitely such a thing as taking it too far. I really don't want to get into the vertical slabs argument, but suffice to say regardless of whether it's a slippery slope, too many block variations I think would cause the opposite problem. The right amount should encourage creative building, while too many would be excessive- there is such a thing as a happy medium.
There are plenty of blocks that ought to have more variations, however; when the only reason for adding the new variation is that it would be more aesthetically pleasing and good for building... it's a decent reason, but not a good enough reason to add new variations for every block in the game, of which there are already well over 600 unique block types, (According to a brief trip to the Minecraft Wiki). Dirt slabs in particular have already been considered by Mojang, but were unable to be implemented into terrain generation. Trying to stay on topic, obsidian slabs... Maybe? I guess I'm kind of neutral, I for one would never use them for the same reason I would never make a diamond slab, Obsidian is just rare and irritating enough to get that while an obsidian structure might be impressive, I wouldn't deem it worth my time.
That being said, I'm certainly open to the idea of more variation in general- especially in regards to more wooden blocks, (Crafting tables, Wooden tiles, that sort of thing- maybe a carpentry block similar to the stonecutter?); along with more chiseled stone types, pillars, etc.
Finally, someone who's looking to see a compromise here.
A Carpentry table and some other tables for particularly hard, soft, or brittle blocks would make more sense to me in terms of balance. Stairs of everything turns blocks into cookie cutter collections or collect-em-all card sets. Removing their variety and uniqueness in utility and purpose.
Not to mention the sheer number of block IDs needed.
The main reason why most older blocks do not have stair and slab variants is because the game could only support 256 unique block types; even if you used metadata you are limited to only 2 stair types per block since they have a total of 8 different states (east/south/west/north and up/down), so to add stairs for e.g. stained clay, which is a single block with 16 variants (2 blocks and 17 variants if you include the unstained block), you'd need to use at least 8 new blocks (Mojang decided to only have one type of stair per block but I've added "double" stair blocks to my own mod), which was only changed in 1.13 (technically, the game had basic support for 4096 block types since 1.2 but items were handled in such a way that blocks could only use IDs below 256 without work-arounds, as is done by Forge).
Even in 1.13 there are technical issues with adding a huge number of new blocks, which all need to be stored in memory (the main issue is block models, which is a big reason why newer versions require so much more memory; previously they would be almost free as every stair block used the same simple rendering method, which in turn used the rendering method used by all "cube" blocks to render 2-3 cubes per stair block; of course, the downside of this is you can't use resource packs to change block models).
While there aren't obsidian stairs/ slab in Minecraft yet, I know a Fabric mod that adds these. The mod is called Blockus, and it also adds a lot more building blocks to the game. You can choose to avoid these, however, because there's no world generation fixes.
That's a fair compromise. How do you produce the blocks though? I assume some sort of fabric machine for things like sponge, wool, etc and then what for obsidian and gem blocks?
Oh, Mojang is definitely suffering an opposite sort of problem: they are creating waaaaay too many useless new materials that nobody ever asked for instead of expanding the uses for the classic materials. Mojang could remove 80% of existing materials from the game and I think most people either wouldn't care or would welcome the change. But the existence of one mistake should never be used as an excuse for failure to correct another.
Why would that be in any way a relevant consideration when slabs of ANY type don't spawn naturally?
God no. No more chiseled anything, no more polished anything, and definitely no new types of wood or stone. That's exactly what this game already has too much of.
Some people like the wood/stone variety but I agree that without distinct functions, it gets boring and a bit pointless to keep adding.
Slabs in nature would make sense for dirt blocks...they would look natural.
"Oh, Mojang is definitely suffering an opposite sort of problem: they are creating waaaaay too many useless new materials that nobody ever asked for instead of expanding the uses for the classic materials. Mojang could remove 80% of existing materials from the game and I think most people either wouldn't care or would welcome the change. But the existence of one mistake should never be used as an excuse for failure to correct another."
I agree there are far too many new materials, I never bother with 90% of them.
That said, it doesn't mean I want to completely 'solid set' existing block types either, it defeats a lot of what makes them varied and realistic.
The idea of 'dirt wall' and 'obsidian wall' seems interesting and useful but a bit silly when you think about it...how do you make such things out of such 'difficult' blocks?
For those who haven't been paying attention to history, here's a recap: ever since the game was still in alpha over a decade ago, people have been requesting the ability to make stairs and slabs out of all of the major construction materials: glass, obsidian, dirt, whatever. There were even Bukkit plugins to make this happen. Since then, every time a totally unnecessary wacky new material has been added to the game (purpur? seriously?), Mojang has wasted absolutely no time making stairs and slabs out of it, but older and more important materials have been neglected.
I'm wondering if that's changed in the past few updates, and if not, if there are any plans.
For all the special ed kids out there who are about to scream "vAgUe" like you did last time, get a grip. You know what stairs and slabs are. You know the recipe is always the same regardless of the material. You know the hardness and durability are always proportional to those of the material you make them out of.
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
I've heard that adding glass stairs ect is difficult bc of transparency.
Personally i want as many stairs, slaby ect as possible, for more building options.
I don't understand why they haven't been added jet. Like concrete stairs for example.
There are of corse blocks wich wouldn't make sence. Like sponge stairs.
Leaf stairs and slabs on the otherhand have been requested some times now.
They would spice up building nature environment.
Imo some of these "unlogical" blocks could be added for creative mode only.
Like smooth quarts stuff.
My projects:
-are abandoned for now. I might pick 'em up in the future.
For now i'm working on a private modpack that suit's my own playstyle.
I am gonna stay in modded 1.12.2 untill my potato dies. No mercy! :Q
Obsidian slabs/stairs? Support.
I like the prospect of explosion-proofed buildings actually having slabs and stairs to ease movement. Then just lever behind a sideways anvil and piston door with ancient debris...
And slightly off the main question, dirt is a no from me, because it's not a construction material but a type of soft soil that makes up for much of the terrain For the same reason no sand, gravel, netherrack, snow slabs/stairs either... But end stone, deepslate and stone should be exempt from that due to their sturdiness and solidity.
Glass... kinda makes sense, but it asks for a followup with color variants. The same about terracotta or concrete.
Dwarf gamer found:
Buildings - square, not round
Materials - from rubble mound
Dark caves - lit 'n' cleaned out
Settlements - deep underground
Farmability - to grinder bound
Shields - made creepers but sound
Axes and crossbows - taking mobs out
Sand and gravel are a false analogy. They fall when you remove the block under them. They are in fact made of many tiny pieces held together by nothing. Dirt, by contrast, holds together well enough that you can make tunnels through it both in the game and in real life.
Snow can behave either way depending on whether you're talking about freshly fallen show (which behaves like sand/gravel) or compacted snow blocks (which behave like dirt).
Netherrack is just fancy red rocks from hell. We can already carve it into bricks and then make stairs and slabs out of those bricks. Why wouldn't we be able to skip the brick-making part?
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
Just add slabs und fences und stairs made of every block!
Vertical slabs and quarter blocks too!
It would really help in many builds.
Minecraft as a sandbox game that is so popular should elevate "sandbox" standars, instead of focusing on RPG elements.
Firstly, I think yes, we could do with more slabs, stairs, and in general variations on existing building materials- but there's definitely such a thing as taking it too far. I really don't want to get into the vertical slabs argument, but suffice to say regardless of whether it's a slippery slope, too many block variations I think would cause the opposite problem. The right amount should encourage creative building, while too many would be excessive- there is such a thing as a happy medium.
There are plenty of blocks that ought to have more variations, however; when the only reason for adding the new variation is that it would be more aesthetically pleasing and good for building... it's a decent reason, but not a good enough reason to add new variations for every block in the game, of which there are already well over 600 unique block types, (According to a brief trip to the Minecraft Wiki). Dirt slabs in particular have already been considered by Mojang, but were unable to be implemented into terrain generation. Trying to stay on topic, obsidian slabs... Maybe? I guess I'm kind of neutral, I for one would never use them for the same reason I would never make a diamond slab, Obsidian is just rare and irritating enough to get that while an obsidian structure might be impressive, I wouldn't deem it worth my time.
That being said, I'm certainly open to the idea of more variation in general- especially in regards to more wooden blocks, (Crafting tables, Wooden tiles, that sort of thing- maybe a carpentry block similar to the stonecutter?); along with more chiseled stone types, pillars, etc.
Cooking with Mindthemoods ~ Biomes ~ Archeology
---
~ My Portfolio ~ Skindex ~ Test ~ Discs ~
The main reason why most older blocks do not have stair and slab variants is because the game could only support 256 unique block types; even if you used metadata you are limited to only 2 stair types per block since they have a total of 8 different states (east/south/west/north and up/down), so to add stairs for e.g. stained clay, which is a single block with 16 variants (2 blocks and 17 variants if you include the unstained block), you'd need to use at least 8 new blocks (Mojang decided to only have one type of stair per block but I've added "double" stair blocks to my own mod), which was only changed in 1.13 (technically, the game had basic support for 4096 block types since 1.2 but items were handled in such a way that blocks could only use IDs below 256 without work-arounds, as is done by Forge).
Even in 1.13 there are technical issues with adding a huge number of new blocks, which all need to be stored in memory (the main issue is block models, which is a big reason why newer versions require so much more memory; previously they would be almost free as every stair block used the same simple rendering method, which in turn used the rendering method used by all "cube" blocks to render 2-3 cubes per stair block; of course, the downside of this is you can't use resource packs to change block models).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
While there aren't obsidian stairs/ slab in Minecraft yet, I know a Fabric mod that adds these. The mod is called Blockus, and it also adds a lot more building blocks to the game. You can choose to avoid these, however, because there's no world generation fixes.
Oh, Mojang is definitely suffering an opposite sort of problem: they are creating waaaaay too many useless new materials that nobody ever asked for instead of expanding the uses for the classic materials. Mojang could remove 80% of existing materials from the game and I think most people either wouldn't care or would welcome the change. But the existence of one mistake should never be used as an excuse for failure to correct another.
Why would that be in any way a relevant consideration when slabs of ANY type don't spawn naturally?
God no. No more chiseled anything, no more polished anything, and definitely no new types of wood or stone. That's exactly what this game already has too much of.
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
Really?
https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Slab#Natural_generation
Only 14 different structural uses for slabs, and covering the majority of slab types.
The same also goes for stairs, with 18 different structural uses for them:
https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Stairs#Natural_generation
Likewise, I've only added stair/slab variants to my own mod when they actually have a use in a naturally generated structure; for example, I only added a stairs variant for "quartz sandstone" since a new structure I added doesn't need slabs, and even then "quartz sandstone stairs" are actually a variant of sandstone stairs (same block ID but different data values), much as I added spruce/birch/jungle wood fences by using data values (these and spruce/birch/jungle wood pressure plates, also using data values instead of entirely new block IDs, were mainly added so mineshafts and villages can have biome-specific wood types for every block; in all, I've added more than 200 new blocks to TMCWv5, plus even more variants which can't be obtained as items, yet only used around 20 new block IDs, so even when including blocks added in older versions there are still around 70 IDs left).
Some of the blocks I've added have been more for fun, such as wall variants when I've never actually used them in survival, but I'd have not added them if it meant making entirely new blocks (vanilla 1.6.4 has cobblestone and mossy cobblestone walls as a single block, leaving 14 unused data values which I took advantage of to add more variants basically for free).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Structures aren't natural.
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
Tell that to whoever wrote the Wiki then, or even change it yourself; "natural" generation means anything that is placed during world generation, regardless of whether it is terrain or a structure (which is anything other than bedrock/stone and the surface dirt/grass/sand/etc, with caves being the only structure that is placed during initial terrain generation so they may also be considered terrain). In any case, the fact that they naturally generate means that they have a clear purpose in the game, as opposed to blocks that can only exist if the player has crafted them.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Natural means terrain. Structures are, in the context of the fictional in-game universe, crafted and placed by NPCs, most of whom are long dead before the player shows up.
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
If they removed 80% of the existing materials as you insisted, this would destroy numerous builds people put together.
I surely hope you're not talking about prismarine, blackstone, or purpur blocks, which do get used for some builds FYI.
Agreed, if people want the game restricted to alpha blocks they can go back to playing Alpha Minecraft or the versions that existed before the aquatic update.
Part of Minecraft has always been about building, not just surviving. We shouldn't be restricted to mods just to get materials that make builds look nicer.
I am, in fact, talking about those blocks.
Nobody ever said that. Go attack strawman arguments somewhere else.
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
It's not a strawman, you claimed 80% of the materials in the game can be removed without a complaint, and yet you cited zero polls to back up your arguments. Also just because you don't like those blocks doesn't mean they should be removed, what about people who do? should they get their builds griefed by Mojang because of your own biased opinion?
don't make threads if you intend to flame people.
Some materials are supposed to be indicated as too soft, squishy, brittle, or hard, to make partial blocks out of. These blocks are regarded as natural or delicate and seem as a different class of blocks and have a different connotation and value.
I don't want stairs and slabs of every block in the game. The fact you can slab raw, unpolished blocks is already enough to me.
It removes the point of some blocks being natural parts of the world, thus rough and unfinished, unchangeable, not yet molded.
It reminds us that we the players are not in complete control, the world still has teeth and still has things we cannot overcome, control, or change.
Having everything be slabbable or stairable would deaden the game to me somehow, make everything feel under player control, technical, factory-driven. It wouldn't feel like a survival, exploration, game. You'd no longer be a visitor to the world but the owner. That's one fast way to make a big place feel small.
There is no reason that leaves as slabs or stairs make more sense than sponge versions. The literal calculation of water drainage on sponge pieces is easy. It's more about:
'does this make sense in terms of how you create the block?'
'does it look realistic or doable?'
'does it look sightly?'
For me, making stairs out of natural blocks feels as cursed as putting circles in Minecraft. And glass too, because it's fragile in the same way that leaves are weak. How can you stair/slab such a thing? Silk Touch crafting table?
You can certainly use non-obsidian blocks in an obsidian structure for stairs and slabs.
Glass, concrete, and terracotta are fragile or brittle. Obsidian is hard, but may be too hard to cut.
I don't personally like raw stones being stair-able but logically it makes sense.
I am not so much about 'real life realism' as 'rules of the game'. Blocks that need a shovel, hoe, shears, or silk touch, to be mineable speedily or in order to actually get blocks, shouldn't be 'cuttable'.
You wouldn't expect a stonecutter to do that, would you?
Actually, maybe a stonecutter variant for fragile and soft blocks would make sense.
A melting device like glass blowing in real life, or pottery making.
Since we're getting pottery architecture in 1.18, this seems reasonable.
The blocks need to do more than 'not fall'. Holding enough well to stay together doesn't necessitate holding well enough to cut into pieces, except maybe with a specialized table for the job.
That's a matter of taste.
I don't mind these blocks in creative mode, *maybe*, but to me getting them in survival as easily as wood stairs...it sort of takes away from the intrinsic values of current sculpt-able and non-sculpt-able blocks. It would also feel 'too easy', to be able to make functional small blocks from any big solid block.
I would say they should be earned by getting some more complex crafting appliance specialized for 'natural' or 'weak' blocks.
Finally, someone who's looking to see a compromise here.
A Carpentry table and some other tables for particularly hard, soft, or brittle blocks would make more sense to me in terms of balance. Stairs of everything turns blocks into cookie cutter collections or collect-em-all card sets. Removing their variety and uniqueness in utility and purpose.
Not to mention the sheer number of block IDs needed.
Is it worth it, in short?
That's a fair compromise. How do you produce the blocks though? I assume some sort of fabric machine for things like sponge, wool, etc and then what for obsidian and gem blocks?
Some people like the wood/stone variety but I agree that without distinct functions, it gets boring and a bit pointless to keep adding.
Slabs in nature would make sense for dirt blocks...they would look natural.
"Oh, Mojang is definitely suffering an opposite sort of problem: they are creating waaaaay too many useless new materials that nobody ever asked for instead of expanding the uses for the classic materials. Mojang could remove 80% of existing materials from the game and I think most people either wouldn't care or would welcome the change. But the existence of one mistake should never be used as an excuse for failure to correct another."
I agree there are far too many new materials, I never bother with 90% of them.
That said, it doesn't mean I want to completely 'solid set' existing block types either, it defeats a lot of what makes them varied and realistic.
The idea of 'dirt wall' and 'obsidian wall' seems interesting and useful but a bit silly when you think about it...how do you make such things out of such 'difficult' blocks?