Best pack for designing structures?

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DVeagle74

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Jul 29, 2019
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After playing a crud load of Agrarian Skies I want a change of pace. Normally I go for a lot of tech or magic progression. Which is all fun, but I want to give a shot at making some cool looking buildings and worlds. So what pack offers the most diverse range of blocks to use?

Having Chisel would be a huge plus, but don't mind adding it. I was looking around in NEI with it in Crash Landing and thought it was awesome. Well before I died from rotten flesh >_>
 
Chisel is awesome. I would certainly recommend a pack with that included as it adds a lot of very nice blocks.
If you like a lot of variety then Geostrata might also be nice. Lots of different versions of cobblestone.
Also I recommend forge microblocks but I suspect that will be in almost every pack. With microblocks you can make really nice refinements on your buildings.
Finally in my builds I use essence infused blocks from magical crops. Some of these are also pretty cool.
 
I really enjoy monster with Carpenter added. The variety of things to carve is really nice, and you can do all the fancy Carpenters stuff as well.
 
Chisel, carpentersblocks, Geostrata, forgemicrothingummy for masonry and stuff

Natura, Forestry and B'o'P for wood detailing

And TiCo for clear glass, can't live without it :)

Thaumcraft/TT/Randomthings/ProjectRed for various lighting solutions beyond my usual "lol it's a lava trench" solution.
 
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One note about FMPIntegration, by it's nature it is somewhat invasive and leads to crashes with some blocks (startup, not while playing). I'm using the following settings to make it work:
Code: 
  S:bannedMods=BigReactors,TConstruct
  B:fullCube=true
That *should* handle Monster.
 
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I'm more familiar with mods than modpacks, but I'll list a few mods that I personally recommend for building.

Chisel-offers lots of new blocks made with vanilla materials. It also has two worldgen blocks that have a variety of textures.

Capenter's Blocks- lots of new shapes, angles and texture possibilities. Plus it give us the most lacking block in Minecraft, the vertical slab. Most vanilla, and many mod blocks can be used with the custom shapes provided

Railcraft - the stone varieties are well done. You have quite a few texture and brick options as well.

Extra Utilities has the builder's wand that helps with multiple block placement. The 1.6 version can only place 9 blocks at a time. In 1.7 the creative wand can be obtained in survival mode and it has a greater range for block placing.

Thaumcraft - The Wand of Equal Trade is something I consider indispensable when it comes to mod building. You can replace almost any block with another. It's perfect for rough draft design. You can build a structure from stone & cobble just to get the shapes you want. Then you can magically replace those blocks for more suitable materials. I love this foci and it's available pretty early on in TC research.

Microblocks - I'm not a huge fan of using them for general building but they are an option. You can get smaller sizes, strip, & bits which can add lots of detail and texture to a build. I used them in a base in 1.5, but I found it tedious to use them on a large scale because they are difficult to place. They're great for covering pipes and machines so having them is an advantage.

That's what I can think of right now. I hope this helps in some way.
 
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You could also consider Mariculture. The sawmill can make custom blocks using textures from different blocks on all 6 sides. Custom carpets allow for covers that are even thinner than FMP covers, unfortunately they only work on the floor.

Also there is SFM, the camouflage cables, espectally the advanced tiers, can be useful for some things as well =)
 
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Thanks for the suggestions, Carpentry looks very cool. And i was wondering how they got those sloped blocks!

Now only if Xycraft would update.
 
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DVeagle74 said:
Thanks for the suggestions, Carpentry looks very cool. And i was wondering how they got those sloped blocks!

Now only if Xycraft would update.
Click to expand...
Sloped Thingy (can't remember the name), then you just place a block over it and it will take that texture.
You can also make slopes even cooler and have them go different directions using the Carpenter's Hammer! :P
 
If you want to go really far there is the holographic display in OpenComputers, probably not technically a decorative block, but certainly versatile =)
 
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Theres infinite possibilities with Carpenters blocks. Did you know you can dye them? And layer transparent blocks like leaves on them? Aside from the obvious Chisel, MFR has some very nice looking blocks that arent just recolors of vanilla.
 
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Don't forget Stencils from OpenBlocks (I think that's the mod). It has a painter that you can use to make any conceivable color and color the canvas blocks along with many vanilla blocks for that perfect shade of chartreuse. You can layer stencils on the blocks as well for your own perfect pattern.
 
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Also, if you run out of Chisel Marble, it should be able to convert Project Red marble as well. There might be a config setting for that though.
 
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As for aesthetic mod I don't really know of a pack that has all of them.

If you aren't concerned about balance you can add Magical Crops, the essence blocks can make nice accents and essence glass apparently works with Carpentry's slopes.
There's also Artifice which is one of the weaker aesthetic mods as it lacks stuff, but it has a cool paver anti-paver blocks in both marble and basault that have connected textures. Pavers and antipavers essentially look the same but the textures don't connect with each other letting you make ornate pattens out of a material that looks the same. Can be a pain to track whether you are placeing a paver or anti-paver you need to pay a lot of attention, Waila however mitigate this.
Then you have Painted Stone self explanatory really, think it also has painted wood.
Open blocks has a painted stencil system that lets you paint patterns on to blocks, they can even overlay for some neat effects.
Natura adds a lot of nifty woods.
I've never played with it but I think forestry has a system for creating ornate wood patterns from their own woods.
 
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Charlotte's Utilities is a good mod for the layout blocks they add. They have several useful features
  • Wand of equal trade style replacement
  • Act like ladders
  • Not full blocks so you can place past them
  • Emit a bit of light to help when building
  • Several different colours which can be replaced independently
 
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