J3553x

So, further testing my block behavior idea has proven to be correct. If I want to alter the way that the world generates I don't actually need more assets to the game I just needed to change how the blocks themselves behave. Unfortunately my understanding of how things work verses my ability to make things work has proven to be my only constraint. Two things that broke a little when I did this... Or well three things. Block culling behind the blocks that now dynamically change shape lead to me being able to cleanly see through the world. Water surfaces no longer touching the shore because the shoreline itself shrank back by half a block. Grass and other ground cover floating above the slopes because they're still technically constrained by the world being voxels... So, I created a custom plane for each behavior shape that takes on the texture of the block that the shape its touching at it's connection points. So if there is air: no texture. If theres a rock: the plane is a rock. That way the block is still being culled, but you can see it because I'm projecting the blocks texture onto the custom filler. Then I changed water at the world generation level to flood the coast by a block. And finally I gave all "ground cover" Inverse Kinematics. Their bounding box still sits where it would in the voxel world, but the visual object itself now adjusts to the floor. The next thing I'm considered if I want to add slopes to is Glacier Ice blocks... Because the slope has mesh. And standing on a glacier slope might be shenanigans..

So awhile ago I had put out a request for someone to help me recreate a minecraft mod that I could not find. The mod essentially changed how cubes were rendered based on a set of rules and it changed the voxel world into a PSX style terrain that reminded me of the original Tomb Raider games. Very simplistic, but apparently doesn't exist. So ignoring the fact that I might have slid timelines again; I set out to make the mod myself. Especially since I have received a few requests from what I could only describe as 'bots' to pay them to make my mod for me. I decided not to do that. I also decided that this may not be a mod that I share, because I pulled up blockbench, made all of the shapes that I wanted. Created 90-ish textures, and then deleted them, grabbed some code from other places to create a probe block that changes behavior based on what is around it. And gave up. It worked... ish. But I am an idiot. Maths is not my strong suit and looking at code makes my eyes cross in the opposite direction. So, I used my one advantage: My house is solar powered, on a battery, and I have my own server stack. Hosting my own AI, giving it a 30 page manual on it's behavior, instructions, and purpose for existing, I gave it my old code and access to all of my assets that I had created for this mod. And it said, and I quote, "Dude, wtf is this?" Anyway, a week of vibe coding later I have a functional block behavior model. It add nothing to the game except some new shapes for blocks to model based on a series list of prerequisites. I have only turned it on for sand, currently. But eventually I will have it working for all top soils and other sedimentary blocks.

Hello, In one of my other, now deleted, threads I was asking if someone could create a mod that merges all of the meshes of a build within a given area. Think the copy & paste/ blueprint function in world edit for example, but where the selected geometry is turned into one, singular mesh and has all of the hidden faces deleted. This was mainly to help me make one of my oldest saves playable due to the sheer amount of chisel work and near full height map builds within a 150 chunk radius. Originally I had pulled my blueprints out of Vintage Story into blender where I did exactly what I wanted and turning my builds into a singular object. Then with some vibe coding I was able to place them back into the world and-- --It was ugly. It didn't snap to the grid properly so I couldn't even put the doors, hatches, and ladders back in without nudging it pixel by pixel. The lighting didn't work correctly. And while I couldn't walk through the structure object myself: everything else sure asf could. BUT! I had my frames back.. It had achieved the ultimate goal that I had wanted it to achieve. The structure was there and visible from the outside, but it wasn't functional. So I was thinking, "What if I build out modules like when I kit-bash structures in Unreal Engine and build that way?" And then I thought.. "Wait, isn't this how they design their worlds in fortnite?" So I went down that rabbit hole and tried to vibe code "fortnite" into Vintage Story and that was successfully awful. I don't know how to code and vibe-coding has been really iffy for me. So I am once again asking for help: To basically rip-off the building mechanic of RUST/ ARK/ Conan Exiles/ Whatever other open-world survival builder with the 3x3 modular building mechanic. And it doesn't have to be limited to 3x3; It can be as modular as you want. It just needs a database of styles that you can select and build from in order to assist in massive world-building projects. It just needs to snap-to-grid and light properly. Eventually I want to turn all of my builds and objects into camps, villages, dungeons, and objects that are generated with the world for me to explore an infinitely generatable Fantasy RPG. Unfortunately for me looking at code makes my eyeballs lose focus and drift in opposite directions while blinking asynchronously. You know? "Me artist, ooh ooh, you magic art shapes into game. Please."

Hello everyone, I’d like to request a mod that dynamically changes how certain terrain blocks are rendered and meshed in Vintage Story. The idea is to introduce a simplified “marching cubes” style system to create PSX-style slopes and hills for sedimentary blocks while keeping everything else cubic. Vintage Story is such a unironically pretty game and I've weirdly been feeling nostalgic while playing. I'm starting to miss my old Playstation, Gamecube, and the OG xBox. BUT, I don't want to change every surface of the block. I only want to adjust the top points leaving the bottom of the cubes to be square. This is VERY important. When I was thinking about how to explain this idea, or if there were any examples I could give, one of my friends pointed out the "No Cubes" mod for Minecraft and when I looked it up I thought, "Ew, f*ck no. Didn't Optifine have an add-on or option or something that implemented a lite isosurface extraction method that only changed the top of blocks?" and apparently I'm from a different timeline, because he had no idea what I was talking about and we literally used it for a year. But when I tried looking it up I've gotten 0 hits, So.. I would like to do it for Vintage Story. The Cube-World look is Iconically Minecraft. Lets get Vintage Story that retro vintage look. Purpose of the Mod Make all of the natural clay, soil, gravel, sand, and path blocks (collectively “sedimentary blocks”) render dynamically with sloped tops in addition to flat cubes. This should NOT include manufactured dirt blocks, or manufactured blocks of any kind. And will likely need to exclude the listed sedimentary blocks blocks if there is a block above it. This would allow hills, banks, dunes, and other soft terrain to look more natural, without changing stone, wood, metal, or crafted blocks. Desired Behavior Only the top four vertices and their middling points are allowed to shift. If sedimentary blocks share diagonal neighbors, their shared vertices dynamically adjust, creating simple slope shapes. Based on combinations of raised/lowered corners and center points, sedimentary blocks should be able to form all of these simple slope shapes: Flat cube (default). Single wedge / slope (one side slopes downward). Standing wedge / ridge (two central vertices raised with the corners lowered). Corner ramp (one corner raised/3 corners lowered). Diagonal ramp (one corner lowered/ 3 corners raised). Pyramid / standing peak (all corners lowered around a raised center, or vice versa). The goal is to cover all possible wedge/angle variations that can be formed with only top-vertex adjustments. Shapes should connect smoothly between sedimentary blocks, forming soft hills, rolling landscapes, and beachfronts that gently breaks into the water. Non-sedimentary blocks (stone, ores, trees, constructed blocks, etc.) always remain perfect cubes and prevent slopes from forming against them. Snow will also need to build up accordingly otherwise, due to the exclusion rule, the whole game will revert back to being Minecraft during the winter season. Which would be crazy. Why? I don't even know. I just don't feel it while I'm playing. I'm tired of Minecraft, Dawg. Lets be real. It's been 15 years. This game is gorgeous and with the texture details of the game, it's incredibly beautiful terrain generation, lighting, and water.. Why Cube? Voxels are cool and there are definitely some interesting uses for them. I specifically love the chisel work I can do. I also really love the blacksmithing in game. But does everything have to be cubes? We can mix it up a little.. Just no circles and cylinders. Sharp shapes and objects only. It would also have the added benefit of optimizing the amount of faces rendered. By one, but thats still one less thing rendered. Especially when you consider how many blocks you render at a any given time. The game also stutters more when you start chiseling tf out of stuff. I'm rambling at this point. I got the idea while wanting to go home and play Vintage Story at a party. So I'm kinda drunk. But please.. Don't let my dreams be memes.