Author Topic: ►►►How to replace Brick Textures entirely client sided  (Read 1999 times)

Hello! Today I'll be teaching you how to edit your cache.db to point to your own custom brick textures that will show up on servers and your own!
GUIDES: http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=280349.0
Before doing this, make sure your game is closed and you don't have this running, otherwise this might not work for you.
I am not responsible for anything you can possibly damage editing your cache.db. Proceed the following steps with caution.
Also, this seems to work for the steam version only as of now, unless you have the brick textures selected as read-only, this tutorial is for steam only for right now.

Hello! I'm making a tutorial after finding out a neat way for some of the people who don't use shaders out there to fix Brick Textures!
For this tutorial, I'm going to be using Manty's Brick Textures, which you can download here.
You're going to need a program called Sqlite Expert. It's a free version so theres no need to worry about paying for it, head over to the download section and grab the personal version.
We also need to grab the SHA1 of Blockland's Brick Textures, I'll make it easy for you and leave the SHA1's here, they're the same for every cache.db.

Quote
ffb06aeea8388d4e166bca1d6a5ca dbdc74ca5f2 - brickTOP
92122e47fac26fea3a0b4d32e19a4 4fa425984b0 - brickSIDE
95047ef708a1b6b62e4eba6cb7945 d1517e98a8b - brickRAMP
6174a39abf253faa44de7050c331b 4bbdb80f27e - brickBOTTOMLOOP
8bc1ec1b29173dae4a9a45783fd8f 6dc6d7ffb13 - brickBOTTOMEDGE

The SHA1 of each texture is different, so for example brickTOP is a series of numbers and letters, and brickSIDE is different.
Alright, you're going to want to put your brick textures in your base/data/shapes folder, which can be found at "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Blockland\base\data\shapes" for steam users. Simply drop them in there and it'll ask to replace the files,  click Yes.
Now open Sqlite Expert and Click "File" and go to "Open Database". A window titled "Select database file" will pop up, simply navigate to your Blockland folder and click on the cache.db.
You should now see something like this:


Click on blobs, and you'll get another window like this:


Now click on "Click here to define a filter" and press Enter. You should now be able to search for certain SHA1's.

Alright, here's the tricky part. Remember those SHA1's I gave you earlier? Copy brickTOP's SHA1, which is "ffb06aeea8388d4e166bca1d6a5ca dbdc74ca5f2". And paste it into the filter, and hit enter. You should now see something like this:

Double click on the little texture under the "data" tab, which you will then get a window to pop up and you will see several buttons, click on "Image Editor".
You should now see this:

Click on "Load", you'll get another window that says "Open".
Navigate to your "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Blockland\base\data\shapes" directory and double click on the brickTOP texture.
You should now have the window change to this:


Your SHA1 should now be focusing on using the custom texture, in this case when I used Manty's, it changed to this:


Click OK and OK again on the Record Editor window and do the same for every other texture, it's best to go top to bottom on the list so it helps more when finding the right texture.

Do the same steps listed above with every other SHA1, follow down the list and proceed onto "brickSIDE" and whatnot. Be careful.

When following through this tutorial, make sure to not mess anything up with your cache.db.
If this is done right this will work. It has worked for me many times and with many different custom textures.
Anything you do that messes up your cache.db I am not being withheld responsible for. Do this at your own risk.
« Last Edit: June 08, 2015, 03:21:50 AM by Maxxi »

Q/A
Will this break my game?
No, if you do these required steps properly you will be able to see your textures that you put in on other peoples servers! Your Blockland Install will be untouched.
How does this work?
Editing the cache.db will make the database think that the custom textures you added seem to be default, so on other people's servers, you will be able to see your textures that you added in.
Will I have to edit the SHA1 of the textures in any way?
No, you simply have to edit the data that the SHA1 points to, so Blockland thinks that your data (the custom textures you added) are the default, essentially taking place of Blockland's default textures.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2015, 08:42:25 PM by Maxxi »


i just edit the image files

will it work on in every servers?
« Last Edit: May 09, 2015, 06:31:52 PM by 77x5ghost2 »

will it work on in every servers?
Yes... That's what client sided means.

i just edit the image files
Cache.db acts as a "save" for every texture, backing them up for use. It also acts as a permanent storage for seeing textures on different servers, and different hashed downloads, hence why it gets bigger every time you go on a server.
Simply editing the files only edits them on your server, it will not affect you seeing them on other servers.
Replacing the data of the SHA1's in the cache.db with the custom textures people want to use makes the cache.db think that the custom textures are the default, rendering them on every server like in v19.
will it work on in every servers?
Yes, editing the database will completely replace the textures and the cache.db will think that the custom data replaced in the SHA1's is actually Blockland's default, so while also showing up on your server, it will also show your custom textures on other people's servers as well.
This is a very useful guide for those who do not use shaders, as night-time lighting affects the bricks, giving them a white outline. This fixes that.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2015, 08:24:00 PM by Maxxi »


You forgot to mention some Brick Textures are not compatible with shaders and completely break the effect.

Are those Manty's Old Textures or the New Shader Compatible ones?

Please don't do this, it is not recommended for some odd reason badspot stated a very long time ago, it has to do with updating or something.

Please don't do this, it is not recommended for some odd reason badspot stated a very long time ago, it has to do with updating or something.
feel like i'd remember this, but at any rate i have had no issues with it for years so i don't really see why it'd be worth worrying about


This actually doesnt work.
Cache.db acts as a "save" for every texture, backing them up for use. It also acts as a permanent storage for seeing textures on different servers, and different hashed downloads, hence why it gets bigger every time you go on a server.
Simply editing the files only edits them on your server, it will not affect you seeing them on other servers.
Replacing the data of the SHA1's in the cache.db with the custom textures people want to use makes the cache.db think that the custom textures are the default, rendering them on every server like in v19.

If you don't change the cache.db properly, you wont be able to see your textures in other people's servers, only yours.

You forgot to mention some Brick Textures are not compatible with shaders and completely break the effect.

Are those Manty's Old Textures or the New Shader Compatible ones?.
Could you link me the new shader compatible ones? I could add them to the OP.
I use Manty's old ones but I don't mind losing the effect of shaders.


oh, wait, i didn't see that you wanted them client sided, nevermind then
i never even play on other servers enough to notice

This actually doesnt work.
Cache.db acts as a "save" for every texture, backing them up for use. It also acts as a permanent storage for seeing textures on different servers, and different hashed downloads, hence why it gets bigger every time you go on a server.
Simply editing the files only edits them on your server, it will not affect you seeing them on other servers.
Replacing the data of the SHA1's in the cache.db with the custom textures people want to use makes the cache.db think that the custom textures are the default, rendering them on every server like in v19.

If you don't change the cache.db properly, you wont be able to see your textures in other people's servers, only yours.
Could you link me the new shader compatible ones? I could add them to the OP.
I use Manty's old ones but I don't mind losing the effect of shaders.
Unfortunately I lost the shader compatible ones when I replaced them with my 125% Studs that are shader compatible.

I will upload them in a bit.
Also in order to make studs work with shader they need to be transparent, but making the 50% transparent will not work, the opaque areas need to be removed, look at the default studs and then look at manty's studs and you will notice what I'm talking about.

Isn't the alpha channel used for reflectance/gloss/whatever?

Also note that the way OP described will only replace the default brick textures in servers. If you join a server with custom ones you'll see those instead.
« Last Edit: May 09, 2015, 08:51:44 PM by Zeblote »

Isn't the alpha channel used for reflectance/gloss/whatever?

Also note that the way OP described will only replace the default brick textures in servers. If you join a server with custom ones you'll see those instead.
I must've described it wrong, Even if it replaces the default brick textures in servers it will also override from seeing custom ones in other people's servers aswell.