Suggestion: A way to know the materials list for a hut prior to committing to building it, and/or for the next levels.

[Shadizar]

Prerequisites

• [x] I am running the latest alpha version of MineColonies for my Minecraft version.
• [x] I checked the MineColonies/Structurize wiki and made sure that my feature does not already exist.
• [x] I made sure that this feature request is not a duplicate of any existing feature request.

Context

• Minecraft Version: 1.19.2
• MineColonies Version: 1.0.1420

Is your feature request related to a problem?

It would be very handy to know what you're getting into with a particular hut, so you can prep materials or plan expeditions...and making an item you can take with you to refer to, helps you avoid forgetting items.

Feature description

Suggestion: A way to know the materials list for a given hut, prior to committing to building it...and, separately, for the next levels. This will allow folks to plan ahead (Ah: I need to find a lot of quartz for this building...or, OK: For the next university level I will need a ghast tear).

Potential mechanisms (brainstormed...certainly lots of options, please expand in thread)

• If you have book and quill (not written on) in your inventory when you are previewing a building you are going to place, there could be a button "Get material list" , and the materials could be added to the book. For initial, it would be great if all the levels of the hut had an entry each, with the materials list.
• If you go to an existing building, you could do the same, in build options. This isn't as critical because you do see the list (but it would be a very handy checklist to carry on your explorations instead of memorizing or writing down...)

Notes or related things

Known limitations, potential complications:

• Of course schematics can change with mod updates; could be addressed by starting the book with "Accurate only as of <mod version/date>" or the like
• I'm not sure if Structurize/minecolonies has a performant way to get the data needed and to output it well
• Some notes on length from https://minecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Book_and_Quill

  Using this GUI, the player can write a single book up to 100‌[Java Edition only] or 50‌[Bedrock Edition only] pages long, with up to 798 characters per page. The player can write up to 79,800‌[Java Edition only] or 12,800‌[Bedrock Edition only] characters inside the entire book. No page may be longer than 14 lines and each line can have a width of 114 pixels (see pixel width of each character here).

  however the same page notes that the limitation is only for players...

  The in-game restrictions on books are not hard limits. Third party editors or commands can make books have more than 100 pages‌[Java Edition only] (2,147,483,639 pages), more than 256 characters per page (32,767 characters per page), can change author names, and can have colored titles, among other things. These books still function properly in vanilla Minecraft, meaning the player may encounter such books on adventure maps or multiplayer servers.[3]

Link to the thread on discord, where there was some discussion: https://discord.com/channels/139070364159311872/240841248750043137/1112784736365064393

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[MotionlessTrain]

Maybe some sort of extension to the resource scroll? DO blocks won't work very well if it is just on text

[Shadizar]

Sure, could be. I'm not too wedded to book+quill, was just a starting point. But, the goal is to have 1 per hut potentially, so there's that...keeping in mind there may not be a hut block placed yet even (i.e., you may be planning ahead)

[Shadizar]

in fact the way I was thinking of it is, you need not have it in the queue at all to create the book. So when you need to make, say, a new Cavern guard tower you could just pull the book off the shelf and into your inventory, along with a residence planner and maybe your upcoming uni, and go on a Collection Expedition

[kezmodius]

I could see it working well within the game design parameters if you could use a scroll (similar to the resource scroll) and right-click it on a hut block. That is a mechanic that the mod already has. If the hut block is already (for example) level 3, then level 4 and 5 materials would be loaded into the scroll. I don't see it working as well prior to the hut block being placed as that would require a whole new game mechanic to be introduced. You would also have to designate a particular style. That kind of material list would be useful to have on the wiki. But I think for in-game having it come from an already placed hut block would be better.

[Shadizar]

The problem is, the whole point of this is to get the materials list before you place the hut block....so the goal is, pick a style in the build tool, a category, and a hut/alt if there is one, then output it from the build tool's UI

If you have to place the build hut then you're semi committed and it adds extra unneeded steps for the user (you may decide not to build that style when you see the materials list)

[kezmodius]

I understand what your intent is (in terms of the planning), but my feeling is that when someone creates a colony most people go with one style - which means a semi-commitment to all the builds within that style regardless of material cost. In terms of deciding what style in the first place my idea above as to having more materials details on the wiki for each style would work as a meta planning instrument.

I am of course only coming from my play style perspective. I haven't been doing this all that long, nor experimented with doing mixed style cities. I do feel that in terms of having a materials list to plan your resource gathering expeditions, it is more likely to be needed after you have started those buildings and you are progressing through mid-game. Just my 2cents!

[Shadizar]

Even in the case you mention, a person might want to generate a materials list of some common buildings (residential, guard towers, big ones like Uni, townhall) prior to placement, so they can look through them and plan ahead. So, I believe even in the mono-style case you mention, being able to make the listings without hutblock placement is vastly preferable.

Especially because if you placed huts to find out, and then were like "this is super not my jam, I don't like or what I'll need to gather, then you would have to pick up all those huts and re-place them to do the planning (since the spacing and arrangement will be vastly diff for other styles)

I do think generating list prior to hut placement is a key component to the feature

[MotionlessTrain]

That is much harder, or at least less accurate. It can't factor in the terrain or already placed blocks, if there isn't anything placed at all (so it could show like you need to collect 1000 dirt, where that was just blocks underground, around a basement) When the hut blocks is already at the right location, it can do that

[Shadizar]

It'll be less a problem I think, as the items you mention are usually trivial resources (like dirt). I recommend solving this in 2 ways:

1. Up top: "This list could vary if some of the required blocks are already in place and therefore may not be needed."
2. In lists: a. "xx Solid placeholders <your fill block; usually dirt>" b. "yy Fluid placeholders <biome's fluid, or your fill block; usually dirt>"

i.e. this is a Schematic cost (like the View Resources in structurize's bounding box)...as this is the 'most stable' thing to report.

As noted in the initial; you'd also make a note up top like "Materials list created on ; if changes occur to schematics, the lists below are not updated" for example.

I believe the materials that folks need to know the most are hard to find things (like certain plants or high-cost crafts; or things hidden in some schematics like when folks tuck materials like prismarine underground); not as much for bulky like stone. Sure, some exceptions like steampunk copper exist...but that's covered anyway (it's not part of the placeholder stuff).

[Shadizar]

In any case even with caveats and limitations it would be way better than what folks can get pre-build now and the key pain point IMO is initial getting started, picking a good style for what you are comfortable gathering, etc. Like, some folks might be daunted by huge quartz and thus nether trips; others may not

[uecasm]

You can see a preview of level 1 resources very easily, just by placing the building and going to the Build Building screen. Though only for buildings that you've already researched.

Upgrades will similarly show you their requirements before you commit to the upgrade, so you can plan ahead, though by then you're usually committed to the style anyway.

Most styles use very similar "palettes" for their buildings, so if level 3 of one building introduces a lot of blackstone you can be pretty confident that the level 3 of most/all other buildings will do the same, though the exact amount might vary due to building size or design.

[Shadizar]

I realize you can view things on the spot...but again it's super handy to have it with you on your trip. I can't even count the number of times I went out and grabbed a bunch of stuff only to miss a few...and then for iterative buildings (like, I need a new guard tower) it would be awesome to just grab a book and look up what you are likely short of before you head out (and maybe multitask by gathering goods for a few huts in advance).

Additionally, when you are starting a style, the goal is to be able to output the materials list for all levels (so, the output for the uni would list all 5 levels, in 5 'chunks'). This helps you plan ahead for Big Stuff that may vary from styles. Examples, urban birch level 5 barracks needs a beacon. High level alt uni fortress needs a dragon head. Etc. Being able to preview at level 1 the build requirements is not at all adequate to gauge the cost of a style, really, and previewing doesn't always show all the items super clearly

[Thodor12]

This shouldn't even be that difficult to make, we literally have a window dedicated to showing materials used in a build. It's just only shown at certain conditions, like when placing decorations and what not.