BlockSettings.md

Block Settings

Block settings are the physical properties of a block: how hard it is, what it sounds like, how it lights, how pistons treat it. They are the block_properties value on a block, written inline or shared as a named entry.

Named entries go in block/property, with the file name as the id:

obsidian_addons/ExamplePack/content/examplepack/block/property/stronk.json

{
  "hardness": 3.0,
  "resistance": 3.0,
  "sound_group": "minecraft:stone",
  "map_color": "STONE",
  "luminance": 0
}

A block then references it, or spells the same object out inline:

{
  "information": {
    "block_properties": "examplepack:stronk"
  }
}

Fields

Field	Default	Meaning
parent	—	Id of another settings entry to inherit from.
hardness	3.0	Time to break. -1 makes the block unbreakable.
resistance	3.0	Explosion resistance.
instant_break	false	Breaks in one hit regardless of hardness.
sound_group	minecraft:stone	A vanilla sound group id, or the id of a custom one from block/sound_group.
map_color	STONE	Colour on maps — a vanilla map colour name.
luminance	0	Light emitted, 0–15.
powered_luminance	-1	Light emitted while powered, for blocks with a powered state. -1 means unused.
is_emissive	false	Renders full-bright, like a texture that glows.
collidable	true	Whether entities collide with it at all.
slipperiness	0.6	Friction. Ice is 0.98.
velocity_modifier	1.0	Multiplies movement speed on the block, like soul sand.
jump_velocity_modifier	1.0	Multiplies jump height from the block, like honey.
randomTicks	false	Receives random ticks. Required for the on_random_tick event.
dynamic_boundaries	false	The shape changes at runtime, so it is not cached.
push_reaction	NORMAL	Piston behaviour — see below.
translucent	true	Whether light and the faces behind it come through. Solid blocks should say false.
drop	minecraft:stone	Legacy drop field; prefer a loot table.

Mining, fire and physics

Field	Default	Meaning
mineable	—	The tool that mines it: pickaxe, axe, shovel or hoe.
requires_tool	false	Only drops when broken with the right tool. Needs mineable; see below.
tool_tier	—	Lowest tier that may mine it: stone, iron or diamond. Needs requires_tool.
ignited_by_lava	false	Catches fire from lava next to it.
replaceable	false	Placing a block into it replaces it, the way grass and snow layers work.
liquid	false	Treated as a fluid for movement and rendering.
bounce_restitution	—	How much of a bounce it gives. Slime is 0.8.
fall_damage_reduction	—	How much fall damage it takes off. Hay bales take off 0.8.
no_terrain_particles	false	No breaking or footstep particles.
offset_type	none	How the block is nudged in place: none, xz — as flowers are — or xyz.
instrument	—	The sound a note block above it plays, e.g. bass, bell, harp.

Mining tools

The game never reads a tool off the block; it reads the block's tags. mineable puts the block in minecraft:mineable/<tool>, which is what makes that tool break it quickly, and tool_tier puts it in minecraft:needs_<tier>_tool, which is what makes anything weaker fail to drop it. Both tags are generated for you and appended to vanilla's, so nothing you already have is replaced.

That makes requires_tool on its own a trap: with no mineable the block is in no tool tag, so no tool is ever the correct one and the block drops nothing however it is broken. Obsidian warns about this in the log rather than generating anything. A whole ore is all three together:

{
  "hardness": 3.0,
  "resistance": 3.0,
  "mineable": "pickaxe",
  "requires_tool": true,
  "tool_tier": "iron"
}

Wood and gold are the bottom of the tier ladder and have no tag of their own — leave tool_tier out for a block any tool tier can mine.

Solidity

These four are left to the block's shape unless you say otherwise, which is usually what you want. Set one only when the shape gives the wrong answer.

Field	Meaning
force_solid	Forces the game's idea of whether the block is solid.
redstone_conductor	Whether redstone runs through it.
suffocating	Whether standing inside it suffocates.
view_blocking	Whether it blacks out the view of a player inside it.
spawnable	false stops mobs spawning on it.

Inheriting

parent names settings to start from — either an entry in block/property or, inline, another set written out. Fields the child writes win; every field it leaves out keeps the parent's value:

{
  "parent": "examplepack:stronk",
  "luminance": 15,
  "requires_tool": true
}

Chains are followed to a depth of 8, which is also what stops a set of settings that inherits from itself.

push_reaction

Value	Effect
NORMAL	Pushed and pulled normally.
BLOCK	Immovable.
DESTROY	Breaks and drops when pushed.
IGNORE	Ignored by pistons.
PUSH_ONLY	Pushed, but not pulled.

An unrecognised value throws while the block is being registered, so the block does not load.

Custom sound groups

sound_group accepts any namespace other than minecraft, resolved against the pack's block/sound_group directory:

{
  "break_sound": "examplepack:block.cheese.break",
  "step_sound": "examplepack:block.cheese.step",
  "place_sound": "examplepack:block.cheese.place",
  "hit_sound": "examplepack:block.cheese.hit",
  "fall_sound": "examplepack:block.cheese.fall"
}

All five sounds must resolve; a custom group naming a sound that does not exist fails the blocks using it.

Older spellings

Settings have been renamed more than once. The old names are still read — translated to the current ones before anything else happens — and each one that turns up is named once in the log, so a pack written against an older Obsidian keeps working while you bring it up to date. A file that uses both spellings keeps the current one.

Older name	Read as
blast_resistance, explosion_resistance	resistance
destroy_time, break_time	hardness
friction	slipperiness
light_level, light_emission	luminance
map_colour	map_color
piston_behavior, piston_behaviour	push_reaction
random_ticks, ticks_randomly	randomTicks
requires_correct_tool, requires_correct_tool_for_drops	requires_tool
blocks_movement	collidable
blocks_light	force_solid
burnable, flammable	ignited_by_lava
sound	sound_group
solid	translucent, which means the opposite

liquid and replaceable kept their names and are real settings again.

Removed: block materials

Minecraft no longer has a Material class, so the old blocks/materials files are gone, along with the material field that named one. A material is still read for the two things it stood for that survive — the block's sound group and its map colour — for the vanilla materials stone, metal, wood, nether_wood, bamboo, wool, glass, ice, dirt, soil, grass, sand, gravel, snow, plant, leaves, clay, water and lava. Anything the file sets itself wins. Everything else the material used to decide — face culling, movement blocking — now comes from the block's type and shape.

is_light_block is gone: give the block luminance instead. fireproof was never a block setting; it belongs in item settings.

See also

• Blocks — where settings are referenced from.
• Item Settings — the item-side equivalent.