Blocks & Decoration Renovate some block behaviour in Journey's End to prevoius or alternate it.

The one change that really grinds my gears is the gemspark block behavior. I loved using those for improvised single-block lamps, but they now look so awful that I thought they were bugged the first time I saw them in my old world. They have absolutely zero reason to merge with other blocks, and I really hope the devs address this, as gemspark blocks do not have any alternatives.
 
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I've been thinking about potentially making a mod that creates accent blocks for every block that got blending changes in 1.4 so that people can have both. I'm likely not the only one contemplating it, either.
 
I've been thinking about potentially making a mod that creates accent blocks for every block that got blending changes in 1.4 so that people can have both. I'm likely not the only one contemplating it, either.
That would be nice to have. I liked using the gemspark blocks a light up flooring and wall lights, the blending changes pretty much screwed them all up.
 
Mark my words, 6 months from now, the so called majority won't be taking full "advantage" of the merging blocks because it eliminates depth and sharpness from smaller detailed builds
Can confirm. Balconies here would have looked better in 1.3, as glass wasn't blending. The change to Palladium columns however is simply abysmal, may as well kiss them (and Crimtane ones) goodbye. But what's even more interesting is that snow/ice still don't blend with dirt.
Best Regards, majority of players. Although i didn't cared about lack of merging in 1.3 at all. Was non-issue for me.

On a by-the-way note, i think game graphics became "material" enough to justify creation of completely new tileset mod. Nuanced shades on some tiles are starting to look silly with this blending.
 

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This change killed gemsparks. I used to use them as a form of lighting, because single or 1x2s of them looked 'advanced' or like a lightsource contained inside of something. They could look magical, or technological, depending on how you placed them with other objects and blocks. The merging ruins it, they now blend with nothing. They look good with nothing. And that's just gemsparks, that's not saying anything about how bad this makes most existing stone slab builds look.

At the most absolute bare minimum, merging should be controllable with the hammer. We literally already have a tool that changes how a block is shaped in the environment, and I don't understand why we aren't given this option. Just let us hammer it. Put merge/unmerge as an extra option in at the end of the sloping cycle.
 
Went to check things myself and it's not as bad as i thought. Or rather some blocks were crappy even in 1.3. Ask me, i still would rather revert it back, because:

— Gemspark is objectively worse in 1.4. You simply will never build like this anymore, if you want to use anything other than Accent Slab.
— very volumetric Dynasty wood texture effectively mandates it to not blend (i haven't checked how it works with stones, but i guess it works poorly)
— Crystal is a weird change. It had very unique texture, especially when colored. Now it's just a purple mess no different than Granite.

However, if i was in charge, i definitely would de-blend some earlier tiles:
— Crimtane Brick. Very poor "inside" tile for what seems to be a nice and shiny metal beam, plus it has literally the same texture as Crimtane wall. Considering it's a "brick", i see there certainly were conflicting priorities during its development.
— Adamantine Beam. It kinda works with new Accent Slabs, but inner architect in me says it should represent internal structure of steel/concrete buildings, and thus be unblendable with any bricks.
— Palladium Column. Just no. Its blending with every single tile completely defeats its entire purpose.
— Meteor and Sunplate blocks. They have this shiny outline that might be useful for detailing akin to Gemspark blocks, but their internal tiles are just worse versions of Ebonstone Brick and Shroomite Plating respectively.
maybe Glass, although i have other ideas on how to make it work via tileset

Thoughts?

Edit: and yeah, i'm fine with Accent Slab being added, i already use it.
 

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Yep, checked Dynasty Wood and it simply doesn't work.

Couple of kopeks on Stone Accent Slab: it is weird IMO to lock it behind graveyard (graveyard is currently used to craft blocks unobtainable through normal gameplay, plus i for one, would like to use SAS as a default option), and its inventory management is messy.
I think new inventory sprite is advisable, and its recipe should change
from
1 stone, HWB in Graveyard
to
edit: 1 stone or 1 stone slab, HWB
Of course SAS should be craftable back to Stone Slab, akin to platforms
 

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It's a shame seeing all those linked builds getting ruined by a bad decision. The better part of a decade worth of art up in smoke. There isn't even a proper competitor to jump ship to. Terraria has the monopoly to this genre and relogic is liable to continue making changes to something that truly isn't broken.

The developers were extremely out of touch with the builders. the people who stick with the game when the hype dies. For shame, Redigit, Cenx, Leinfors, and all the art directors. You have no clue who are your most dedicated players.
 
Maybe they're going to do it in 1.4.2, who knows? It's still too early to say anything really.
Unfortunately I really doubt it. That seems like quite a big change to add, especially in an update that is most likely never coming.
 
Unfortunately I really doubt it. That seems like quite a big change to add, especially in an update that is most likely never coming.
I just reread the wiki and it's actually 1.4.1.2, not 1.4.2, my bad. But still, it could be added it in that update. I don't think it's really that big of an addition, since all of the non-blending block were coded to specifically work like that, so they could just copy the texture and coding of the non-blending blocks, add Ecto Mist to the recipe and you're done. Then again I could be wrong and it's actually extremely complicated to add.
 
I just reread the wiki and it's actually 1.4.1.2, not 1.4.2, my bad. But still, it could be added it in that update. I don't think it's really that big of an addition, since all of the non-blending block were coded to specifically work like that, so they could just copy the texture and coding of the non-blending blocks, add Ecto Mist to the recipe and you're done. Then again I could be wrong and it's actually extremely complicated to add.
The blending thing actually wouldn't be that hard, it'd just be a noticeable straight line between two tiles instead of what you see with a lot of blocks and dirt. This would actually be relatively easy to add if they made a new tool that could change how blending between two tiles were, now that I think of it (I actually already suggested this idea in an above comment in this thread).
 
Unfortunately I hit a several month work stoppage on the mod I mentioned in this thread due to my laptop's harddrive dying. I'm looking forward to getting back to the project after my upcoming move this week, but I have no ETA on it right now.
 
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