Hey there,

1.9 added an interesting mechanic to resource packs (aka texture packs) which allows specifying a texture/model for a tool for every durability. This opens up some interesting possibilities for us, because it allows us to effectively add new items (with new model&texture) to the game without overwriting existing ones. The new items would be unobtainable by modifying the tool they are based on, because it would be tied to special NBT-tags, for anyone who cares, here is more information about it.

Previously something like this was out of question, because it would require every user to install a specific mod to be able to play, which drives away a lot of new players. With a resource pack though it would be non-essential to have it installed.

Minecraft has a built in prompt to download and install resource packs, which does everything needed on it's own. For example this prompt could be tied to a message in chat which you can click to install the pack, which is sent from time to time if you dont have the pack yet.

Also for those of you that are worried about not being able to use their own resource pack, be aware that resource packs "stack". Have you ever wondered why you can activate multiple resource packs at once and modify their order? That's because resource packs dont have to specify every single texture, but instead can also decide to only change specific texture and leave everything else to the layer below (with the lowest layer being the default textures). For us that means the only texture changed would be the ones on wooden hoes with unbreakable nbt tags or something like that.

Downside of this is obviously that it kinda sucks if someone decides to not install the pack, because he will see all "special" items as normal wooden tools (though it would still have the name & lore)

It also kinda adds another barrier for newfriends, like "Do I really have to install this?".

Being able to make new types of swords, armour and general items (instead of just using existing items with lore) would be cool though and could also be brought to great use for stuff like the namelayer gui, where often there's no good item to fit the functionality of the button.

There was some talk about this internally, but there no strong feelings yet whether we should use this or not, which is why I'm making this thread to get some feedback. Also feel free to ask any questions on this topic, I'll answer them as far as I can.

Civcraft resource pack yay or nay?

Edit:

Replies seem mostly in favor of it, so lets go one step further, who would be interesting in making textures for this? Bonus points if you can give examples of your work and double bonus if you have experience with 3D-modelling.