worldgen of a custom block

[arctic roost]

hello,

We are a very small community server with just 2 hands of player, originally we came all from an other server and decide to stay together as the former server closed. There the server had as a theme "Dinosaurs" as we liked that theme i was thinking of using a datapack to implement some cool stuff. This server is not a pay to win server, i pay everything from my own pocket to keep our small community alive.

i am completely new in the topic datapack or creating datapacks. i have an idea in mind which in my eyes is perfectly fitting to a datapack. i will try to roughly describe it and also what is already in place.

basic idea:

[arctic roost]

My thinking was, as we want to use the Stardust Labs - Terralith Datapack as a base, to create something only for us. in total the datapack should work like this:

• starting a world generation the custom block generation should only take place in a specific height in the world, similar to the ore generation (but since i recently saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF9QL0P_4fg&t=1413s i was thinking to generate the custom blocks only in a custom generated Geodes)
• you can mine that custom block only with a special tool e.g archeology brush to get to correct block
• if not the custom block should drop some other predefined loot with e.g random chance (coal ores, copper ores, iron ores with higher chance, and redstone, lapis and emerald ore with less chance)
• after the custom block is mined correctly the player should be able to use that custom block to extract Dinosaur DNA or prehistorical plant DNA both with random chance in a special call it "Extractor Block" the player should have the chance to get different Dinosaur DNA and different prehistorical plant DNA but only let´s say parts of a DNA (so you need several Custom Blocks to get a complete DNA)
• after that the player could use an "Incubator Block" to try to combine same DNA to a complete DNA profile, also that with a chance if it works or not. At the end the player should be able to bring a Dinosaur to life (models, Texturepack for the Dinos already exist, i bought that already, so the player should be able at the end to spawn a mythicmob)

That gives you maybe a smart idea and overview what my plannings are. The custom block texture is already available and a first try of a worldgen also, but i think not in the best way

[native wadi]

the problem is that you can't really add a custom block with datapacks... The way we do it is to use an existing block and then use display entities to display a different texture overlayed onto that block. Then interaction and placement handling has to be created from scratch. The sad thing though is that you can't generate a block together with entities using worldgen, the only way to do this is to use a structure. Do note however that since you're using entities, the blocks aren't going to be lag efficient so building blocks aren't a good idea.

[gleaming glade]

Technically fossils support entities since they generate structures, but that is a slipper slope

[arctic roost]

can i upload what the freelancer tried as a solution?

[gleaming glade]

What for?

The worldgen isn't the problem here, it's that data packs do not support custom blocks in the way you're thinking/wanting

A lot of this is in theory still doable but may require some shifting of perspectives, or compromises to behavior/appearance

[arctic roost]

i am an absolute noob in this, you now this guys who have an idea but don´t know on how to get the result? 🙂 that´s me ... i don´t realy have an idea on what is realy doable or not or what has to change

in the files i have it seems that a glass block is placed with a custom model data which is then the texture of the fossilblock

[gleaming glade]

That's basically the way you'd have to do it, yeah

With data packs*

[arctic roost]

then a better topic would be "worldgeneration with a block with a specific texture" or?

[gleaming glade]

It's the same issue

[arctic roost]

okay, just thinking, the "solution" for my plan could be i let a custom geode spawn in the world, which includes e.g glass_block which then has custom model data?

[gleaming glade]

Unfortunately that's not possible. The custom model data is not and cannot be a property of the block, it's a property of a completely separate entity, which geodes cannot spawn as part of their generation

[arctic roost]

okay, thank you for your answers, then i have to rethink the whole thing and try to find a different way on how to get that blocks into the game

[arctic roost]

sorry for asking an additional question, since i have to change the way, is it then possible to use that geode generation with loot-chests and loot-table or is the chest/barrel itself also seen as entity?

[gleaming glade]

Those aren't entities, but they are what are called "block_entities". Geodes and other features can generate them, but they can't specify any NBT for them