BlockDesigner 0.4.28

BlockDesigner 0.4.28

Reference images are built in, the Plugins window is redone with suggested plugins you can install in one click, and the BlockCompanion Plugin (formerly Resource Tracker) comes with BlockDesigner.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.28.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.28.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.28-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

New

• Reference images, built in: put pictures in the scene and build from them, like Blender's reference images. Add one with the picture button at the top of Layers, by dropping a PNG, JPEG, GIF or BMP on the window, or with Import. Move, turn and scale them with G / R / S, and right-click one for Properties…, opacity, which views it shows in, and whether it draws behind or in front of blocks. How new pictures start out is on the new Reference images page of Settings. Pictures are saved inside the project.
• Suggested plugins: Plugins › Manage plugins… lists the BlockDesigner team's plugins you don't have yet under Suggested to install, each with an Install button that downloads its newest release.
• BlockCompanion Plugin installed for you: BlockDesigner installs it, switched on, the first time it starts. If you uninstall or switch it off, it stays that way.

Changed

• Plugins window: each plugin is a card with its status, a settings button, Turn on / Turn off, uninstall and its log. Check for updates updates every plugin now. Install a plugin jar by dropping it on the drop box (or clicking it to pick the file).
• Reference Planes is no longer a plugin. If you have it, BlockDesigner stops loading it (the jar is renamed to end in .retired and you're told once) and keeps its settings, its key and the pictures in your projects.
• Resource Tracker is now the BlockCompanion Plugin everywhere in BlockDesigner.

BlockDesigner 0.4.27

BlockDesigner 0.4.27

You can now install or update mods in the game BlockDesigner takes its textures from while BlockDesigner is open.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.27.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.27.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.27-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

Fixed

• Mods no longer locked by BlockDesigner: it used to hold every mod, resource pack and game jar it took textures from open, so Windows wouldn't let you delete or replace them while it ran. Resource Tracker's Install mod failed with "BlockCompanion jar is in use", and so did updating those mods in a launcher. Now they can be deleted, renamed or replaced at any time, and BlockDesigner keeps showing the textures it loaded.

BlockDesigner 0.4.26

BlockDesigner 0.4.26

Edit a schematic from your game: in BlockCompanion, pick Edit in BlockDesigner on a loaded schematic and it opens here as your project (with Resource Tracker), ready to change.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.26.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.26.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.26-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

New

• Plugins can open a file as your project, such as a schematic a BlockCompanion game sends to edit. If your project has unsaved changes you're asked first (Save, Don't save, Cancel), as when BlockDesigner closes to update. A schematic opens as a new, unsaved project named after the file.
• The window comes forward when a plugin opens something you asked for in another app.

For plugin makers

• Plugin API 7: PluginContext.openFile(file, done) opens a .bdproj, or a .schem, .litematic or .nbt as a new project, and answers with an OpenResult (opened, cancelled or failed with a reason). ctx.ui().toFront() brings the main window forward. PLUGINS.md, the API reference and the wiki describe both.

BlockDesigner 0.4.25

BlockDesigner 0.4.25

Copy, cut and paste blocks, and duplicate as you drag: hold Ctrl when you grab the Move, Rotate or Scale gizmo and you move a copy, leaving the original where it was.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.25.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.25.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.25-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

New

• Copy, cut and paste blocks (default Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V; change them in Settings › Keybinds). Copy takes the selected blocks with their contents (chests, signs…) and any selected mobs. Cut copies them and deletes them in one undo step; blocks in locked layers are copied but stay.
• Pasting follows the mouse. After Ctrl+V the copied blocks hang under the cursor like an import: R or Alt+scroll turns them, a click or Enter puts them into the active layer, Esc or right-click cancels. The pasted blocks are then selected, ready for the Move gizmo.
• Copy, Cut and Paste in the Shift+right-click menu when blocks are selected or the clipboard holds something.
• Duplicate as you drag. Hold Ctrl as you press an arrow, square, the centre or a ring of the Move, Rotate or Scale gizmo: the selected blocks (or the selected layers) are copied and the drag moves, turns or scales the copy. It's one undo step, and right-click or Esc during the drag takes the copy away again.

Changed

• BlockEdit shares the clipboard. //copy and //cut fill the same clipboard as Ctrl+C, so //paste works after Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V after //copy.
• Right-click cancels placing an import or a paste, as Esc does.

BlockDesigner 0.4.24

BlockDesigner 0.4.24

Plugins look and work more alike: their main settings are in the Settings window, their keys can be changed like BlockDesigner's own, and their tabs are tidier and easier to read. Plugins can also switch the resource packs BlockDesigner shows blocks with, so Resource Tracker can show your build with the same textures as your game.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.24.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.24.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.24-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

Plugins: the updated plugins (AI Builder 0.2.0, Palette Tools 1.2.0, Pixel Art Generator 0.2.0, Reference Planes 1.2.0, Resource Tracker 1.3.0, Terrain Generator 0.2.0) need this version. Plugins you already have keep working.

New

• Plugin settings in the Settings window. A plugin's main settings, the ones you set once, have their own page under Plugins in Settings, with Reset to defaults. What you change while working stays on the plugin's tab. The gear on a plugin's tab and the Open settings… button on its Overview open it.
• Keys for plugin tools and actions. Settings › Keybinds has a group for each plugin: give its tools and its Plugins-menu actions any key, clear one, or reset it. Keys that clash show in red.
• Choose between importers. When two plugins can import the same kind of file (a .png, say), Import and drag and drop ask which one to use instead of always picking the first.
• Status dots on plugin pages. A plugin can show how a page stands on its button, for example Resource Tracker's link to your game.
• Tooltips in the Plugins menu. Each action says what it does.

Changed

• Plugin tabs open on their first page (or the one you used last). What a plugin adds, its version and its description are on the Overview, behind the info button at the end of the page bar. The Overview lists what you can use first, and what the plugin is and whether it runs at the bottom.
• Settings headings are in sentence case, like the rest of the app.
• Plugin options read better everywhere (transform, Import and Export windows, the tool options bar): grouped under headings, with a line of help, units after numbers, and an exact value box next to each slider. Rarely used options are folded away.
• The Import window scrolls when a plugin has many options.
• Dialogs of BlockDesigner and plugins now all follow your theme and light or dark mode the same way.

For plugin makers

• Plugin API 6: PluginContext.resourcePacks() lists the resource packs on top of the Minecraft assets, and useResourcePacks(packs) reloads with other ones and keeps them as the user's choice.
• API 6 also brings a UI kit (io.blockdesigner.plugin.ui): PanelScaffold, Section, Form, ActionBar, StatusBadge, Banner, EmptyState, ItemList, Segmented, Controls and Feather icons, in BlockDesigner's look in every theme, plus ctx.ui() for the app's options form, remembered forms and small dialogs. Options gets groups, advanced groups, help, units and enabledWhen. ctx.showPanel, ctx.setPanelStatus, ctx.openSettings and ctx.updateSettings are new. PLUGINS.md, the API reference and the wiki describe all of it; panels that don't use the kit look as before.

BlockDesigner 0.4.23

BlockDesigner 0.4.23

Projects are now saved in an open format that doesn't depend on any mod, the same one BlockCompanion will use in the game. There's also a new guide for plugin makers.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.23.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.23.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.23-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

Changed

• Projects use an open format inside. A .bdproj project now stores each layer as a Sponge Schematic v3 (.schem), an open, documented format that no single mod owns, instead of Litematica's format. Everything in a layer comes along: blocks, chest and sign contents, and mobs. This is the format BlockCompanion, the in-game companion mod, will read, so projects can move between the app and the game without Litematica or Create.
• Your existing projects still open, and they're saved in the new format the next time you save them.
• A project saved with this version won't open in BlockDesigner 0.4.22 or earlier (it says so instead of loading it wrong). Updates install by themselves, so this only matters if you share projects with someone on an old version.
• Importing and exporting .litematic, .schem and .nbt files works as before.

For plugin makers

• A plugin developer wiki in docs/wiki/: setting up a plugin project, the manifest field by field, how plugins are loaded, registering features, BlockEdit commands, storing data, automatic updates and what a release needs for them, testing, troubleshooting, and the .bdproj project file format. The README and PLUGINS.md link to it.

BlockDesigner 0.4.22

BlockDesigner 0.4.22

BlockDesigner's own tools get their own names: the command line is now BlockEdit, and shapes with symmetry are Easy Build.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.22.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.22.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.22-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

Changed

• The command line is now called BlockEdit. It is the same feature with the same commands (T or /): the key in Settings › Keybinds is "BlockEdit command line", and the tooltips, the shortcuts list (F1), the console and the README use the new name. Its block patterns like 70%stone,30%andesite still work the same way as WorldEdit's.
• The shape wheel is now the Easy Build wheel. Hold Alt in Build mode as before. Easy Build is the name for shapes and symmetry together.
• Your key binds and settings carry over unchanged.

Plugin makers: nothing changes in the plugin API; WorldEdit and its types keep their names.

Importing and exporting WorldEdit .schem files is unchanged, and is still called WorldEdit, because that's the program those files are for.

BlockDesigner 0.4.21

BlockDesigner 0.4.21

A cleaner console: warnings show once and at the right level, and a colour warning at startup is fixed.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.21.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.21.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.21-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

Fixed

• Warnings showed twice in the console, the second time as an error. Each warning now appears once, as a warning. Other lines Java prints count as warnings too, unless they report an exception or error.
• A colour warning at startup. The mode badge, the brush and eraser pill and the viewport's mode frame no longer log a warning about an undefined colour.

Changed

• JavaFX's "Unsupported JavaFX configuration" notice is now a grey debug line, hidden by the "Warnings & errors" filter. It's harmless: it only means JavaFX runs from the class path.

BlockDesigner 0.4.20

BlockDesigner 0.4.20

The paint brush gets a Replace mode, five new shapes and soft noise for natural-looking strokes. Stone and other grey textures are no longer too bright, side views get their own grid, and symmetry now switches on and off with M.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.20.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.20.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.20-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

New

• Replace mode for the paint brush. Paints over existing blocks with the held block and leaves air alone, so it only recolours what's there. Shuffle works with it. With the brush, Shift+X switches it on and back (the same key as Build mode's replace), or pick it from the Mode menu (default Alt+−).
• Five new brush shapes: Cylinder, Dome (sits on the surface you paint), Diamond, Disc (a flat circle) and Splatter (soft, ragged patches), alongside Sphere and Cube. Pick one from the Shape menu in the brush bar or the brush settings. Each has its own outline in the view.
• Brush noise. A Noise slider in the brush bar roughens the brush's edge with soft, rolling noise for natural-looking rock and terrain. It works with every shape and mode. In the full brush settings, Bumps sets how big the lumps are, and ↻ picks a new pattern. Going over a spot again gives the same lumps, so strokes don't fill in.
• Grids for side views. In the front, back, left and right orthographic views, a grid now stands on the wall behind the build, with a line at ground level, instead of the ground grid you'd only see edge-on.

Changed

• Symmetry starts off and M switches it on and off. It is off every time BlockDesigner opens; your mirror planes and centre are remembered. The symmetry settings moved to Alt+M (and the viewport's symmetry button). Shift+M still centres it on the aimed block. All rebindable in Settings › Keybinds.
• Splatter uses the same soft noise, so it makes patches instead of scattered single blocks.

Fixed

• Stone and other grey textures were too bright. Textures saved in greyscale (stone, andesite, some ores and many mod textures) came out far lighter than in the game. They now match, in the view and in the block icons.

BlockDesigner 0.4.19

BlockDesigner 0.4.19

A console at the very bottom left: everything BlockDesigner says, the errors behind a problem, plugin logs and your WorldEdit commands, in one place you can search and copy from.

Downloads

File	Use it if…
BlockDesigner-0.4.19.msi	You want a normal install. It installs for all users into C:\Program Files\BlockDesigner (Windows asks for admin). Installing over an earlier version upgrades it in place.
BlockDesigner-0.4.19.exe	Only for updating from 0.4.6 or earlier: their updater installs it for you. For new installs, use the .msi.
BlockDesigner-0.4.19-portable.zip	You don't want to install anything. Unzip it anywhere and run BlockDesigner.exe.

0.4.2 and later update to this by themselves. 0.4.0 and 0.4.1 need a one-time install by hand: download the .msi above.

Windows Smart App Control: this build still isn't code-signed. On PCs with Smart App Control switched on, Windows may block BlockDesigner from starting after an install or update.

New

• Console. Click the terminal button at the very bottom left of the window (or press Ctrl+`, rebindable in Settings › Keybinds) to open it above the status bar.
  • What it shows: status messages, warnings and errors (with the full error details), plugin log lines under the plugin's name, and every WorldEdit command with its result. Each line has its time and where it came from, coloured by how serious it is.
  • Find things: show everything, only warnings and errors, or only errors, and filter by text. Select lines and press Ctrl+C, or use the copy button, to paste them into a bug report.
  • Run commands: the line at the bottom runs WorldEdit commands like the command bar (the leading / is optional), plus help, clear, copy, errors and all. ↑ ↓ walk the history, Esc closes.
  • Error badge: errors that come in while the console is closed show as a red count on its button.
  • Drag its top edge to resize it; the height is remembered.
  • Now and then it has opinions of its own. They're grey, rare, and mostly for programmers.