[turtle]

I like the new cow skin personally.

[709]

New sandstone texture is keen. I like it.

Are the stone bricks different? Do they have a bit more definition? I think they look better in the ocean thing, but it could be that the lighting is different now.

[drewprops]

I didn't say that I didn't LIKE the new cows (I don't, actually, but that doesn't matter), I was just wondering what had happened to them... I think that's what they look like in the original texture pack isn't it?

Overall I like the refinements that Brad has made to each update.

In fact, besides the cows, I can't think of any textures that I flat out don't like.... bricks, maybe? Not sure. I'd have to look at them online again though. Stone paver/block things are neat. I do like them. It would be neat if we have more building materials, but that's up to Jeb/Notch to implement.

...

[Bryson]

The new texture pack has done me a lot of favours, as Sandstone is now much more distinct from sand. Helpful when you're building a huge Sandstone slab over what used to be a desert.

[drewprops]

The interesting thing about sandstone is that when you put two slabs together they just make one big sandstone block again, unlike stacking stone slabs. I need to throw some sand and sandstone together and take a look... appreciate anything that can be done to visually distance the two (while keeping sandstone nice and reflective for structural work)


...

[709]

Originally Posted by drewprops The interesting thing about sandstone is that when you put two slabs together they just make one big sandstone block again, unlike stacking stone slabs. I need to throw some sand and sandstone together and take a look... appreciate anything that can be done to visually distance the two (while keeping sandstone nice and reflective for structural work) ...

Sandstone and cobble slabs act the same as before, ie: 2 stacked on one another create 1 "whole" block. I agree it would be cool to have a half-sandstone block option that could stack, but in the old days half-stone was (is?) a separate entity with graphic edges. Sandstone and cobble never were.

[Brad]

Originally Posted by 709 Are the stone bricks different? Do they have a bit more definition?

Yes, that exactly! I tweaked the contrast a bit and brought out the edges.

Originally Posted by drewprops I didn't say that I didn't LIKE the new cows (I don't, actually, but that doesn't matter), I was just wondering what had happened to them... I think that's what they look like in the original texture pack isn't it?

Yes, the spotted cows are new with this texture update. I thought I had already distributed the new cow in the last update, but I've seen enough reports to the contrary that I'm convinced I must have been running with it on my local machines without having posted it to AN. Whoops!

In any case, the "new" cow is a spin off the original spotted MC cow texture. I'm not sure how much I like it either, to be honest, but I wanted to give it a try since the brown cow looked a bit like a retarded bear (no offense to any bears present), and most other texture packs I've seen stick with the spotted cow breed.

What do the rest of you guys think about the spotted cow? Better or worse? If the consensus is that it's a step backwards, I'll gladly pull it and revert to the old cow texture.

Originally Posted by 709 Sandstone and cobble slabs act the same as before, ie: 2 stacked on one another create 1 "whole" block. I agree it would be cool to have a half-sandstone block option that could stack, but in the old days half-stone was (is!) a separate entity with graphic edges. Sandstone and cobble never were.

Correct! Smooth-stone slabs are the one special exception to the rule because they get their own whole texture, and the texture itself includes the horizontal line through the middle to indicate the two stacked half-slabs. The other slab blocks (wood, sandstone, etc) reuse the main textures. For the half-slabs, the texture is shifted down so the top of the block always aligns with the top of the texture, but for two half-slabs stacked together, the look is indistinguishable from the original source block.

[709]

Originally Posted by Brad Yes, that exactly! I tweaked the contrast a bit and brought out the edges.

Phew! I though so, but since OptiFine got broken (and my lower world subsequently got filled with deep fog) I wasn't sure. I approve!

Haven't seen a cow yet, so I have no opinion on those, but I'm pretty sure it would be "meh, cow".

[709]

OMG.

Brad, could you incorporate all of this into your pack?

[Robo]

[Bryson]

I have a tiny weeny request. I love the "slab"-ness of the new sandstone texture, but it's very slightly greener than ragular sand, so it looks a bit off when they're right next to each other. Can the texture be slightly less green?

Signed:
The guy with a huge building made of sandstone.

[Elysium]

Originally Posted by Bryson I have a tiny weeny request. I love the "slab"-ness of the new sandstone texture, but it's very slightly greener than ragular sand, so it looks a bit off when they're right next to each other. Can the texture be slightly less green? Signed: The guy with a huge building made of sandstone.

I demand arkosic sandstone.

[billybobsky]

Really? You like the slab-ness? (its great for floors or the appearance of ceiling tiles but walls???)

[709]

I like the new sandstone texture generally, but agree that it looks completely out of place au natural. Not sure that there's a happy medium, honestly. Either it has defined edges that look great for floors and ceilings or undefined smooth edges that look great for everything else. Myself, I'm on the fence. I have sandstone in place in both situations, and while I love one I lament the other. Maybe a backing-off of the color and edging to make it more sand like would alleviate all issues.

Think sand with a 10% opacity cobble texture.

[billybobsky]

It is a shame that the textures in the game cannot come with random filters, since sandstone is a generally boring color (can be grey to beige to red, but not much else) but when extracted shows remarkable variability. If *that* could be captured things would be better.

That being said: I have found some *high resolution* repeating textures for sandstone online that can be easily rasterized to 16x16 to create a nice texture. One point: if the top and bottom of the texture remained 'slab'like the sides don't need to look the same. While it might be awkward (haven't seen it obviously) to see such contrast between top and sides, artfully done it is probably acceptable.

[Brad]

Don't mind me... I'm just updating the texture pack for the pending Minecraft 1.2 release. Same link as always, and it's backwards compatible with 1.1. So, no reason not to get it now.

Originally Posted by Bryson but it's very slightly greener than ragular sand, so it looks a bit off when they're right next to each other. Can the texture be slightly less green?

Sandstone how has an average hue of 43°, same as sand. It was 48° before. Good catch!

Originally Posted by drewprops I didn't say that I didn't LIKE the new cows (I don't, actually, but that doesn't matter)

I've reverted to the old style now.

[Brad]

Updated again for 1.2.4!

The formerly smooth sandstone is now rough again since there's a new smooth sandstone block.

[Brad]

Buuuump!

Updated for Minecraft 1.3.1. Go get.

Also, I'm going to configure the new server (when I relaunch it) to offer these textures when you try to connect. That way you won't have to manually download the updates, in theory...

[Bryson]

So, the server made me download a texture pack.

But it seems really different to the old one. The chests are weird and the ores look nasty....is something odd happening? Or is this new version really that different?

[Brad]

I haven't changed anything since my last post. Maybe you just now got the 1.3-updated pack?

[Bryson]

Yes, I meant when the update came. Did you change the chests and ores at that point?

[Brad]

Yep, I updated them with 1.3.1.

Also, surprise update time! Download is in the same place, or if you connect to the AN server, it'll download and install autogamically if you have server textures enabled.

I've cleaned up a bunch of textures and items (including chests), but most notably I've added support for randomized mobs and natural textures. If you're using OptiFine (if you're not, what the hell is wrong with you? ), enable these features at:

Options: Video Settings: Quality: Random Mobs: ON
Options: Video Settings: Quality: Natural Textures: ON

I also added basic support for connected textures, but it needs some tweaking. I would recommend leaving this feature off for now. The all-clear glass that I generally use is probably too clear for connected textures. I need to go in and add a few specs to make the glass more visible in large areas. This is especially bad when you have a building made of glass panes.

[drewprops]

I thankfully have Dellphi to explain many of these things to me!

And thanks Brad


...

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Brad Options: Video Settings: Quality: Random Mobs: ON

BTW, here's a preview of what Random Mobs provides:



Variety! The passive mobs are just different shades/hues. The skins I put in for the hostiles are far more varied and interesting.

[Brad]

Updated again, this time to include some tweaks to support Tekkit! Go grab it from the usual URL.

For Tekkit use, you'll need to copy it into:
~/Library/Application Support/techniclauncher/tekkit/texturepacks/

Tekkit won't auto-update/install textures like the current vanilla Minecraft server does. So, you'll have to drop this into place yourself.

[Brad]

Surprise! I've updated the texture pack again. This time it includes support for Minecraft 1.4.7 and Direwolf 5.1.1. It should offer to install automagically the next time you connect to the server. If you decline or you want to download it to use elsewhere, go grab it from the usual URL.

For Feed The Beast use, you'll need to copy it into the appropriate mod's directory. For Direwolf20, that would be:
your_feedthebeast_folder/Direwolf20/minecraft/texturepacks/

Just as with previous versions of the pack, I strongly encourage using OptiFine's settings to enable random mobs and connected textures. I went to a lot of trouble to make extra mob textures that look good with this pack! Those settings are here:

Options: Video Settings: Quality: Random Mobs: ON
Options: Video Settings: Quality: Natural Textures: ON

[Robo]

Thanks again for all your work Brad! The glass looks so much better with your texture pack and the spiffy connected textures in OptiFine!

[turtle]

Thanks for your work on this Brad!

Do you keep updating the texture pack since you posted this? Regularly when I log in it tells me it's updating it again. Just wondering.

[Brad]

Negative, ghost rider. Does it actually download fully each time? Or just flash up really quickly while it's checking? The latter is a normal part of the process.

Though, I did just *now* update the textures again.

Go download/update! This has some tweaks for the metal chests, ladders, and a few other small things that were bothering me.

[turtle]

Originally Posted by Brad Negative, ghost rider. Does it actually download fully each time? Or just flash up really quickly while it's checking? The latter is a normal part of the process. Though, I did just *now* update the textures again. Go download/update! This has some tweaks for the metal chests, ladders, and a few other small things that were bothering me.

It has downloaded a few times it has checked but not every time. Sad part is I'm stuck and unable to do something until it figures out if I need the update.