Ideas

[SuperLlama88888]

To-Do, planned features

• Could we use #define USE_COLOR_MASK in a material to apply opacity?!?!? Except it seems to be CHANGE_COLOR instead and COLOR_SECOND_TEXTURE in horses
• Putting the pack creator inside an addon and creating it inside the addon? But saving the file won't work... unless we use @minecraft/server-net to upload it to a server but that's only BDS (I think)
  • Since HoloPrint is made in JavaScript it'd mostly be portable inside an addon, but web APIs would need replacements with other libraries. I also hope we can access vanilla textures in addons.
  • I haven't looked at the capabilities of the Scripting API with the Editor but if we could put it in there, it would be even better!
  • The docs mention the "experimental_custom_ui" capability in manifest.json that apparently allows HTML to make UIs - I'm thinking it's OreUI but I haven't seen anyone talk about it so I assume it must nonfunctional. If anyone knows anything about this please reach out.
  • If Jigarbov Production's special "registry" between addons is made publicly available, it could allow another addon on the target world to load the data and somehow render the ghost blocks? IDK how we'd render it then because currently the hologram is hard-baked into the geometry file, and IDK if using hundreds/thousands of entities each rendering a single block would be performant.
  • Even if this registry is also accessible in resource packs, constructing the geometry on the fly would be hard.
• Changing armour stand item to show different models
• Hologram tint overlay toggleable
• Item frame/something other than armour stand??? Item frame is impossible in a resource pack alone, other entities would be possible but they would move. Tamed wolves perhaps?
• Using block models from JE?
  • This would require Bedrock-Java mappings, I think Amulet's super-format could be used. The Amulet format is a universal format for all MC versions in both editions in the last 10 years so would work well.
    • Again, the problem with autogeneration of block geometries is that different textures from resource packs and custom blocks from addons would still need to be done the classic way - how we're doing it currently.
    • Also, due to it being a webpage we want to really minimise performance. We don't want to crash peoples' phones when they try to generate a pack. I fear that using these existing, big-data, high-level solutions could make it less accessible to some players.
    • Note that in Java Edition, block model geometries are available in resource packs already.
      • I've been using these geometries as a guide, and I think if we can achieve what we need just with this repo it will be faster than relying on other projects (which would be unspecialised)...
• Full auto-generation of block geometries (including UVs) all within Bedrock Edition???
  • Use the scripting API to generate all blocks in the world with all states - much like the Java Edition debug world
    • Problem: Fences, glass panes, iron bars, and stairs don't rely on block states for their visual appearance, so it'll have to place blocks around them then
  • Using the structure block .glb export mode only on Windows 10, we export all the blocks into JSON (glb can be turned easily into gltf which is json)
  • Then, when a structure file is uploaded, it looks up the block geometry from the previous step.
  • Many features of HoloPrint such as block scaling, adding the outlines, creating a minified texture atlas, armour stand + player controls etc. would still be needed.
  • Support for resource packs and custom blocks from addons would have to be done in a different way.
  • Could this be done in GitHub Actions on a Windows machine???
    • The two biggest problems are getting Minecraft on a GH Actions machine and interacting with the client without a screen.
    • Looking at the (awful) protocol docs for the StructureTemplateDataResponsePacket seems like only the structure NBT is transmitted, not the .glb.
    • This is done entirely on the client, which would be harder to simulate in GitHub Actions. Perhaps something fun with Amethyst?
    • Further investigation (i.e. decompilation, static analysis) would be required if we wanted to go down this path, but I think it'd be the most rewarding solution in the long run.
    • Looks like it's a class MinecraftglTFExporter stored in D:\a_work\1\s\handheld\src-client\common\3DExport\MinecraftglTFExporter.cpp
• Hitting armour stands to change models? inspired by Indyficcient
  • Since items are already used for other hologram controls, this makes it a bit simpler I think. may be annoying though? look at https://wiki.bedrock.dev/entities/non-mob-runtime-identifiers.html#minecraft-armor-stand
• Fix hologram in smithing table UI

About addons

• Behaviour packs would open so many possibilities for HoloPrint packs, but would also be inaccessible to people without access to the server's settings. I don't know much about behaviour packs but I'm guessing it would be quite powerful. Here's what I think we could do:
  • Item frame as the base entity? Not possible in resource packs, and if we're using a behaviour pack we might as well provide an easier way to show holograms than using item frames.
  • Cycling through layers with UI? Impossible in a resource pack
  • Pick-blocking ghost blocks: Maybe in an addon? We'll need to be able to detect middle clicks, do a raycast, then change what the player's holding.
• Regarding a generalised behaviour pack that interacts with generated resource packs: Pretty sure this would be possible. The server would just have to tell the armour stand to do something, but I don't have any experience with the Scripting API.