Blocks

Note

These docs will only take care about polymer-related part of creation of blocks. You might want to see official Fabric Wiki for more in depth look into how to create blocks. You can skip some client side specific things, as it won't take effect server side (for example models and textures).

Creation of blocks

Creation of blocks, similarly to items, is mostly the same as vanilla. Only real difference is that your blocks need to implement Polymer's PolymerBlock interface. It exposes few defaulted methods for manipulation of client side visuals.

Default implementation

For most basic uses, there are default implementation of PolymerBlock:

• PolymerHeadBlock - It's an interface (!), that has basic implementation of player head based blocks, you still need to apply it to your Block class,
• SimplePolymerBlock - Same as vanilla Block.

Selecting base polymer block type.

To change base block, you need to override Block getPolymerBlock(BlockState state, PacketContext context) method.

Both of these methods can't return null. They can also point to other PolymerBlock instances, but keep in mind to make validation if it's configurable by user!

Example use:

@Override
public Block getPolymerBlock(BlockState state, PacketContext context) {
    return Blocks.BARRIER;
}

public Block getPolymerBlock(ServerPlayerEntity player, BlockState state) {
    return Something.isRedTeam(player) ? Blocks.RED_WOOL : Blocks.BLUE_WOOL;
}

Changing client-side and collision BlockStates

To change the blockstate visible on client and used for server side collisions, you need to override BlockState getPolymerBlockState(BlockState state, PacketContext context) method. You can return other BlockState of PolymerBlock, but keep in mind you can only nest them up to 32!

Example use:

Changing BlockState to furnace with the same facing, but inverted "lit" BlockState property

@Override
public BlockState getPolymerBlockState(BlockState state, PacketContext context) {
    return Blocks.FURNACE.getDefaultState()
            .with(AbstractFurnaceBlock.FACING, state.get(AbstractFurnaceBlock.FACING))
            .with(AbstractFurnaceBlock.LIT, !state.get(AbstractFurnaceBlock.LIT));
}

Sending additional data (signs/heads or even custom)

In case if you want to send additional (to more customize look on client for signs/heads or additional data for companion mod), you need to override onPolymerBlockSend(BlockState blockState, BlockPos.Mutable pos, PacketContext.NotNullWithPlayer context). Technically you can do anything there, but ideally it should be only used for packets.

Example use:

Sending data required to render player head with skin

@Override
public void onPolymerBlockSend(BlockState blockState, BlockPos.Mutable pos, PacketContext.NotNullWithPlayer context) { 
    player.networkHandler.sendPacket(this.getPolymerHeadPacket(blockState, pos.toImmutable()));
}

Using PolymerHeadBlock

PolymerHeadBlock is an interface extending PolymerBlock with methods prepared for usage of player heads as a block. To modify texture, you just need to override String getPolymerSkinValue(BlockState state, BlockPos pos, PacketContext.NotNullWithPlayer context) which should return texture value.

To generate it you can use websites like https://mineskin.org/.

Additionally, you can override BlockState getPolymerBlockState(BlockState state, PacketContext context) to change rotation of Player Head Block.

Example use:

Setting skin value for PolymerHeadBlock

@Override
public String getPolymerSkinValue(BlockState state, BlockPos pos, PacketContext.NotNullWithPlayer context) {
    return "ewogICJ0aW1lc3RhbXAiIDogMTYxNzk3NjcxOTAzNSwKICAicHJvZmlsZUlkIiA6ICJlZDUzZGQ4MTRmOWQ0YTNjYjRlYjY1MWRjYmE3N2U2NiIsCiAgInByb2ZpbGVOYW1lIiA6ICI0MTQxNDE0MWgiLAogICJzaWduYXR1cmVSZXF1aXJlZCIgOiB0cnVlLAogICJ0ZXh0dXJlcyIgOiB7CiAgICAiU0tJTiIgOiB7CiAgICAgICJ1cmwiIDogImh0dHA6Ly90ZXh0dXJlcy5taW5lY3JhZnQubmV0L3RleHR1cmUvNTczNTE0YTIzMjQ1ZjE1ZGJhZDVmYjRlNjIyMTYzMDIwODY0Y2NlNGMxNWQ1NmRlM2FkYjkwZmE1YTcxMzdmZCIKICAgIH0KICB9Cn0";
}

Textured, non-player-head blocks

See Polymer Textured Blocks extension for more informations

Using BlockEntities

The only thing you need to do to remove BlockEntity from being sent to client is registering its BlockEntityType with PolymerBlockUtils.registerBlockEntity(BlockEntityType types).

Getting Polymer Blocks client representation

If you want to get client-friendly representation of block, you need to call PolymerBlockUtils.getBlockStateSafely(PolymerBlock block, BlockState blockState, PacketContext context) method. It should return block safe to use (or air in case of failure).

Limitations

While it's supported, please limit creation of PolymerBlock light sources. Because of how Minecraft handles light updates on server/client, these can be little laggy (as it needs to be sent updates every time light changes) and not perfect, as client is emulating light by itself.

Similarly, client recalculates some BlockStates, which can cause some desyncs.