Building with BlockCompanion

Building with BlockCompanion

Ghost blocks

• Near-solid ghosts where a block is missing, red over a different block (or the right block facing the wrong way), orange where something is in the way. Grass, flowers, water and snow do not count as in the way.
• The world replaces the ghost: a cell with the right block shows nothing, and everything updates the moment a block is placed or broken.
• Ghosts use the game's own block models, so your resource packs apply. They are drawn up to 64 blocks away by default (Ghost distance in settings, up to 256 or unlimited).
• The schematic's box shows while the selection tool (a stick by default) is in hand. Show boxes in settings keeps it on.

Placing the schematic

Moving, turning and mirroring need the selection tool in hand, so scrolling the hotbar never knocks a build out of place.

• Look at a box, Shift+scroll to move it one block per notch, Ctrl+scroll to turn it, M to mirror it.
• Lock a placement (Y, or the Placement step) at Position, In place or Everything. A locked box has a blue outline.
• Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y undo and redo moves, turns, mirroring, locks, layers and views.
• Loaded schematics, positions, turns, layers and locks are saved per world and server.

Building

• Easy place (on by default, H): look at a ghost and right-click with its block to place exactly that block, turned the right way. It works in survival on vanilla and Paper servers.
• Auto place (off by default): missing blocks within reach place themselves from the blocks you carry.
• Pick block (middle click) on a ghost selects its item.
• The info panel shows progress; the crosshair hint says what a wrong block should be. The HUD editor lets you move and size them.
• Material helper: holding a block marks the nearest ghosts that need it.

Layers

PgUp / PgDn step through the levels of the box you look at. By default levels build up (the current one and everything below); Insert switches to one level at a time. Finishing a level steps to the next.

Resource list

N opens every item the build needs: how many, how many are placed, carried, in your linked chests, and how many are still to get.

Linked chests: hold the stick and Ctrl+right-click a chest, barrel or shulker box to link it, again to unlink. Contents are counted when you link it and each time you close it.

AutoBuild

When your linked chests hold everything a placement needs, Start AutoBuild (schematic screen, Resources step) has the server build it for you, like Create's Schematicannon. In creative it needs no chests.

It runs on the server, so it needs BlockCompanion there: always in singleplayer, and the mod or the Paper plugin on a server. Options per build: speed, order (bottom up, top down, nearest first, by block), replace mode, ignore air, skip missing, radius, and only build the block in hand. The server owner can limit it; on Paper the permission is blockcompanion.autobuild.