BetterPlace

BetterPlace

BetterPlace is a Spigot plugin that aims to create a better place, lol enhance the building experience in minecraft by adding new placement behaviors to blocks. Alleviating some of the hassles that come with repeated placing of blocks in awkward orientations. Sometimes blocks are just a pain to place (looking at you glazed terracotta).

While a chisel item is all fine and dandy, I felt there could be further improvements made to building that alleviate some pain. Mainly repetitive task of getting into position or placing and mining support blocks for other blocks. The goal of BetterPlace is not to re-implement functions of other plugins like a chisel, but to provide new features that integrate well with vanilla. Feature should always be simple, easily discoverable and understandable by anyone, intuitive, and most importantly not in the way of someone that does not want them or know how they work yet. The primary focus of BetterPlace is on placing blocks how need them to be in the world while not being totally overpowered and still being one block at a time :)

Features

• Rotation Lock: Inspired by Quark. Shift+Attack with a block (that can be rotated) to lock the blocks placement direction into the direction you are currently facing. Blocks are then placed as if you were still looking that way, so a piston or repeater faces back at you and stairs face away, just like vanilla.
• Inversion Place: Inspired by Create. Turn it on with /bpinvert, then sneak while placing to turn the block around. So a piston or observer would be facing away from you. Also works on top of a rotation lock or a copied blockstate.
• Quick Copy Blockstate: Sneak + pick block (middle click) on a block, or look at a block while holding the same block and run /bpcopy. Sneak + pick block needs Paper 1.21.4 or newer. The blocks state (facing, top/bottom half, repeater delay, comparator mode, note block tune, ...) is copied and every block of that type you place gets it too. Cleared just like a rotation lock. Which properties may be copied is configurable, grouped into options like direction that work the same on every block that can be turned. With /bpstates each player can choose which options actually get applied when placing.
• Glazed Terracotta Preview: While holding glazed terracotta a small glowing preview shows where, and how rotated, the block would be placed. Respects rotation lock, copied blockstates and inversion. Only you can see it, choose with /bppreview what it is shown for.

Configuration

Currently, there are the following options to customize BetterPlace:

• blacklist: You can exclude blocks from the plugins features here. By default, all blocks are included that could potentially be placed in an invalid state. These blocks are not supported by BetterPlace, but you still have the option to enable them anyway.
• blacklist-mode: blacklist (default) or whitelist. As a whitelist, the features only work on the listed blocks.
• inversion.enabled-by-default: Whether inversion placement is on for players that never used /bpinvert.
• copy-blockstate: Which block properties may be copied, grouped into options (one toggle each in /bpstates).
• preview: The preview mode for players that never chose one (default-mode), the size of the preview block, and which blocks get a preview.
• messages: Every text the plugin shows, with & color codes.

Edit the config.yml file to modify these options and apply them with /bpreload.

Commands

• /bpunlock - If you have a rotation lock or copied blockstate you can remove it with this command. Both are also disabled by deselecting the current item or punching air (without sneaking) but this is just an extra fallback. Punching a block keeps them.
• /bpcopy - Copy the blockstate of the block you are looking at. You have to hold the same block.
• /bpstates - Opens a dialog to choose which parts of a copied blockstate (direction, top/bottom, repeater delay, ...) get applied when you place (all are on by default). /bpstates <option> toggles a single one, for servers without dialogs (before 1.21.6).
• /bpinvert - Toggle inversion placement for yourself.
• /bppreview <glazed|clipboard|all|none> - Choose what the placement preview is shown for. glazed shows it for the blocks in preview.blocks, clipboard shows the held block with your copied blockstate applied, all shows both, none turns it off. Without an option it switches between off and on.
• /bpreload - Reload the config.yml.

Permissions

All permissions default to op.

• bplace.place.rotated - Required to use the rotation/placement lock feature.
• bplace.place.inverted - Required to use inversion placement and /bpinvert.
• bplace.place.copy - Required to copy blockstates (/bpcopy, sneak + pick block) and use /bpstates.
• bplace.preview - Required to see the placement preview and use /bppreview.
• bplace.reload - Required to use /bpreload.

Support and Issues

If you encounter any issues or have questions, please create an issue on the GitLab repository.