The reason for this is technical: what paint is applied to a tile is stored in a 5-bit number. A 5-bit number can only have 32 values (0 to 31, 0 being "not painted"), so there can only be 31 paints in the game at any given time.Why exactly does one paint have to go if echo paint is to be added? Even if it's one that isnt used by many it could still isolate the small amount of people who do and I find this wicked unfair, and could possibly ruin their builds, are there not any other alternatives?
Well won't echo paint remove the need for echo blocks? The cyborg has a lot of store space and I dont see why more blocks could just be added, people are mainly going to be using these for traps right? Why not make echo traps an item you can buy from the cyborg, or even craftable using echo blocks and Lihzard traps?The reason for this is technical: what paint is applied to a tile is stored in a 5-bit number. A 5-bit number can only have 32 values (0 to 31, 0 being "not painted"), so there can only be 31 paints in the game at any given time.
An alternative to replacing an existing paint would be to allocate another bit to the "paint number", which would allow you to add 32 additional paints, but the amount of available bits is limited (in fact, there most likely aren't any left to begin with) so that would be a very impactful decision. Replacing an existing paint is much less impactful, but of course does come with the side effect of potentially breaking existing builds, which is likely why the poll was initiated.
I'm not sure I agree with your premise: with echo paint you are able to hide entire builds from view, which opens far more possibilities for building than just echo traps do.Well won't echo paint remove the need for echo blocks? The cyborg has a lot of store space and I dont see why more blocks could just be added, people are mainly going to be using these for traps right? Why not make echo traps an item you can buy from the cyborg, or even craftable using echo blocks and Lihzard traps?
That is actually one of the main things that really rubbed me the wrong way, how it was sort of comparable to the mob votes.And people on Twitter are saying that "Negative Paint" should be removed.
One of the most unique and widely used paint in build details and people want it replaced with an invisible paint ... what a joke.
This is very dissapointing if they will go through with this.
No more giant Sakura tree builds , no more changing very nature how a lot of blocks look , no more making convincing looking waterfall splashes etc etc.
These twitter polls make my blood boil it's Minecraft mob votes all over again (worse actually since results of mob votes didn't end up in removal of existing features).
And people on Twitter are saying that "Negative Paint" should be removed.
One of the most unique and widely used paint in build details and people want it replaced with an invisible paint ... what a joke.
This is very dissapointing if they will go through with this.
No more giant Sakura tree builds , no more changing very nature how a lot of blocks look , no more making convincing looking waterfall splashes etc etc.
These twitter polls make my blood boil it's Minecraft mob votes all over again (worse actually since results of mob votes didn't end up in removal of existing features).
The latest official word on this is the following:That is actually one of the main things that really rubbed me the wrong way, how it was sort of comparable to the mob votes.
I also dont get changing the swords, they have been the way they are for this long yet just now they're changing it, I dont really get that.
They wouldn't have more bits, porting Terraria to a 64-bit architecture wouldn't impact this situation at all. It's a completely distinct discussion.they'd have more bits if they made it a 64 bit program, but it's honestly just best to leave the paint system where it is. Let TModLoader handle 64-bit tasks and DO NOT REMOVE NEGATIVE PAINT OR DYE OR I DIE
I am not entirely sure what to think of that post so i am still a bit on edge regarding the potential paint fiasco.So it seems like the existing paints are safe.
I know that porting Terraria to a 64-bit model would increase the RAM capacity from 4GB to... a larger number? At least on a 64-bit OS. Not too sure what *exactly* would have to happen to expand the paint types, but from what I know about data mining and modifying some games on the gamecube, I believe that more RAM would, at the very least, turn this impossible hypothetical into something that is possible. Worst case spaghetti code way, it might require a dev to know some assembly, set up some pointers to unused memory, and use the new space to store the additional information and methods needed (would take much more than 1 bit). Best case, just replace the paint ID data type with a larger data type in the IDE they use to make the game (via refactoring or whatever(like going from a float to an integer, or an integer to a double)).The latest official word on this is the following:
So it seems like the existing paints are safe. What that means for Echo Paint remains to be seen.
They wouldn't have more bits, porting Terraria to a 64-bit architecture wouldn't impact this situation at all. It's a completely distinct discussion.
The paint limit is not a RAM issue (at least not directly) but a consequence of how tile data is structured. Adding another bit (and if it were to come to that it would be most likely be a full byte rather than a single bit) would increase the RAM cost of holding the game world in memory (although not even by all that much), but it would also generally inflate world sizes, make world loading and saving slower and more prone to errors and data corruption, and likely impact performance to some extent (though to what extent is impossible to say without a bit of research). Which can be worth it, but for 32 extra paints it seems like a steep price. But having a 64-bit version of Terraria wouldn't help here either way.I know that porting Terraria to a 64-bit model would increase the RAM capacity from 4GB to... a larger number? At least on a 64-bit OS. Not too sure what *exactly* would have to happen to expand the paint types, but from what I know about data mining and modifying some games on the gamecube, I believe that more RAM would, at the very least, turn this impossible hypothetical into something that is possible. Worst case spaghetti code way, it might require a dev to know some assembly, set up some pointers to unused memory, and use the new space to store the additional information and methods needed (would take much more than 1 bit). Best case, just replace the paint ID data type with a larger data type in the IDE they use to make the game (via refactoring or whatever(like going from a float to an integer, or an integer to a double)).
But again, I just know about computers, not much about consoles. I bet there would be a lot more hoops to jump through with consoles, but I really have no clue on that front aha,,,
...do suggest some paint types or ideas to me if you'd like... This has really piqued my interest! With the TModLoader team making great progress towards their 1.4 version, AND with there being a 64-bit version of TModLoader (at least for 1.3), AAND with me having no other coding tasks to help me fill the ever growing darkness in my damned soul, I might get into Terraria modding! An extra paints mod sounds like a fun first mod that people would like, and maybe I can figure out a way to make paint animate and stuff so you can like, paint with glittery colors
ooooooh i am bookmarking your thread there, thanks!The paint limit is not a RAM issue (at least not directly) but a consequence of how tile data is structured. Adding another bit (and if it were to come to that it would be most likely be a full byte rather than a single bit) would increase the RAM cost of holding the game world in memory (although not even by all that much), but it would also generally inflate world sizes, make world loading and saving slower and more prone to errors and data corruption, and likely impact performance to some extent (though to what extent is impossible to say without a bit of research). Which can be worth it, but for 32 extra paints it seems like a steep price. But having a 64-bit version of Terraria wouldn't help here either way.
As for adding paints through mods, that's very difficult due to both the limitation mentioned above and having to hijack the existing paint system and its shaders. Nothing is impossible, of course, but I can't say the same for unfeasible, unfortunately. I wouldn't advise trying it for your first mod either way, although if you do want to try experimenting with shaders I've got you covered.