Connected Textures¶

Connected Textures (CTM) connects matching blocks together, making them appear unified.

Different types of connected texture methods are available with different requirements and restrictions.

General properties¶

These properties apply for all CTM methods.

method¶

Type: String

Values: See contents

Required

Method to use when choosing a block's replacement texture:

• ctm: Standard 8-way method, 47 tiles.

• ctm_compact: Compact 8-way method, uses 5 tiles. Cannot be combined with any overlay method.

• horizontal: Connect to blocks on left and right only.

• vertical: Connect to blocks above and below only.

• horizontal+vertical: Connect horizontally, then connect vertically.

• vertical+horizontal: Connect vertically, then connect horizontally.

• top: Connect to block above only.

• random: Pick a tile at random.

• repeat: Repeat a fixed pattern over large areas.

• fixed: Use a single fixed tile, equivalent to random with only one tile.

• overlay: Overlay for block transitions, uses 17 tiles.

• overlay_ctm: Overlay variant of ctm method.

• overlay_random: Overlay variant of random method.

• overlay_repeat: Overlay variant of the repeat method.

• overlay_fixed: Overlay variant of fixed method.

Note

The overlay method can be combined with other methods if it comes before the other methods in the order alphabetically.

Warning

The ctm_compact method cannot be combined with any overlay method.

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated tile IDs

Required

List of replacement tiles to use.

Different methods require a different number of tiles: some need as many as 47, some need only 1. Each tile must be a separate image, just like terrain and item textures. Tiles can be specified in several ways:

• name → name.png

• name.png → name.png

• 8-11 → 8.png, 9.png, 10.png, 11.png

• <skip> → Skip this tile, continue with next CTM properties.

• <default> → Use the default texture for that block/tile.

• full/path/name.png → full/path/name.png

In all cases except the last (full path), the PNG file must be in the same directory as the properties file itself.

The formats can be mixed and matched: tiles=0-4 5 some/other/name.png.

Important

The overlay methods may use the special name <skip> for empty tiles to be skipped; overlay methods cannot use the <default> special name.

The order in which each tile name appears is its tile index. This index ordering is zero-indexed (starts from 0). It is ordered after expansion, for example: 0 1 3-5 6 counts as 7 tiles (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7), not 4.

Index ordering is independent of the tile names. For example, 1 2 3 0 name 30-35 would have the index ordering of

Index ordering example¶

Tile index	Tile name
0	1
1	2
2	3
4	0
5	name
6	30
7	31
8	32
9	33
10	34
11	35

matchTiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated tile IDs

Optional

List of tiles this method should apply to.

Multiple .properties file can refer to the same block/tile and they will be processed in alphabetical order by filename. All tile-based entries are checked before block ID-based ones; the first match wins.

matchBlocks¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated block IDs

Default: Implied from filename

Optional

List of blocks this method should apply to.

To refer to a tile from vanilla Minecraft, simply use its name in textures/block: matchBlocks=dirt To refer to a tile from a mod, its name must be known: matchBlocks=botania:blazeblock

Tiles output by CTM rules can also be matched by another rule; the tile name is simply the full path to the tile: matchBlocks=optifine/ctm/mygrass/1.png

Block format: (optional parts are in []) [namespace:]name[:property1=value1,value2...:property2=value1,value2...] For example:

• Short name: oak_stairs

• Full name: minecraft:oak_stairs

• Full name + properties: minecraft:oak_stairs:facing=east,west:half=bottom

If omitted and applicable, the value is inferred from the filename:

~/ctm/xxx/block_<name>.properties ⇒ matchBlocks=<name>

connect¶

Type: String

Values: block, tile, or state

Default: block for blocks, tile for tiles

Optional

The conditions under which two blocks should connect. For methods that connect to adjacent blocks, this rule specifies how the game should decide if two blocks should be connected:

• block: Connect if this block's name == neighbor block's name.

• tile: Connect if this block's tile texture == neighbor tile's texture.

• state: Connect if this block's full state (block + properties) == neighbor block's state.

faces¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Any of bottom, top, north, south, east, west, sides, or all

Optional

Limit CTM to certain faces of the block:

• bottom: Bottom face (negative Y).

• top: Top face (positive Y).

• north: North face (negative Z).

• south: South face (positive Z).

• east: East face (positive X).

• west: West face (negative X).

• sides: Shorthand for north south east west.

• all: All sides.

This works for all blocks, regardless of shape.

Note

If the block has the axis block state property, the face to check is appropriately rotated.

biomes¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated biome IDs

Optional

Biome restrictions. Modded biomes also can be used.

If the first character is !, the whole list is inverted. For example:

biomes=!jungle deep_ocean birch_forest

will match a biome that is neither a Jungle, Deep Ocean, or Birch Forest.

Note

Prefixing each biome name with ! does nothing.

heights¶

Type: List of integers or integer ranges

Optional

Height restriction, no limit.

minHeight¶

Type: Integer

Optional

Legacy property for heights.

maxHeight¶

Type: Integer

Optional

Legacy property for heights.

name¶

Type: String

Optional

Connect to containers which bear this name.

This is only for blocks which can be named, such as Beacon, Brewing Stand, Enchanting Table, Furnace, Dispenser, Dropper, Hopper, and Command Blocks.

Method properties¶

ctm: standard 8-way¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated 47 tile IDs

Required

List of the 47 tiles to use when connecting.

innerSeams¶

Type: Boolean

Default: false

Optional

Whether to show seams on inner edges when connecting to adjacent blocks.

ctm_compact: compact 8-way¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated 5 tile IDs

Required

List of the 5 tiles to use when connecting.

innerSeams¶

Type: Boolean

Default: false

Optional

Whether to show seams on inner edges when connecting to adjacent blocks.

ctm.<N>¶

Type: Integer

Optional

Compact CTM tile replacement. Allows definition of replacement tile for a specific CTM case.

<N> is the index of the tile from the full ctm method template (47 total tiles, indexed 0 to 46).

With ctm_compact and this option, more than 5 tiles can be defined.

Important

This is generally only used for special cases where you want to override the default behavior.

horizontal: horizontal only¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated 4 tile IDs

Required

List of the 4 tiles to use when connecting.

vertical: vertical only¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated 4 tile IDs

Required

List of the 4 tiles to use when connecting.

horizontal+vertical: horizontal then vertical¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated 7 tile IDs

Required

List of the 7 tiles to use when connecting.

vertical+horizontal: vertical then horizontal¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated 7 tile IDs

Required

List of the 7 tiles to use when connecting.

top: top face only¶

tiles¶

Type: String

Values: Tile ID

Required

The single tile to use when connecting.

random: random connect¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated tile IDs

Required

List of the tiles to use when connecting. May be any length.

weights¶

Type: List of integers

Optional

List of weights to apply to the random choice.

For example, for tiles=1 2 3 4; weights=10 1 10 5, tile 1 has weight 10, 2 has 1, 3 has 10, and 4 has 5. Weights do not have to total any value; in the above example, tiles 1 and 3 will each be used ~38% of the time.

The amount of numbers in this list should be equal to the amount in tiles but it does not have to be:

• If fewer: Missing weights are all the average of the defined weights.

• If greater: Extra weights are ignored.

randomLoops¶

Type: Integer

Values: From 0 to 9

Default: 0

Optional

Repeats the random function by this amount to increase randomness. Can be used to make different textures use different random patterns.

Warning

A high randomLoops value may decrease the chunk loading speed.

symmetry¶

Type: String

Values: none, opposite, or all

Default: none

Optional

Desired level of symmetry for the faces of each block.

Applies to standard 6-sided blocks only (e.g. dirt, glass, not fences).

• none: All 6 faces are textured independently.

• opposite: 2-way symmetry; opposing faces have the same texture, but each pair can potentially have a different texture.

• all: All 6 faces have the same texture.

linked¶

Type: Boolean

Default: false

Optional

Whether to link textures between related blocks.

If true, OptiFine uses the same random number seed for all blocks of a contiguous column. For example, the top and bottom halves of tall grass. This allows randomized textures that will remain consistent within each set of blocks.

If false, the two halves will be scrambled, chosen independently.

Important

For linked to work, multiple properties files with linked=true and the same number of replacement textures and same set of weights must be present. For example, double_plant_top.properties:

method=random
tiles=grass_top1 grass_top2 grass_top3
weights=1 2 3

repeat: repeated¶

width¶

Type: Integer

Required

The width of the repeating pattern.

height¶

Type: Integer

Required

The height of the repeating pattern.

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated tile IDs

Required

A list of tiles. The number of elements must equal width * height.

fixed: one texture¶

tiles¶

Type: String

Values: Tile ID

Required

Single tile to use.

overlay: texture atop¶

tiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated tile IDs, or <skip>

Required

List of replacement tiles to use.

The special name <skip> will skip the tile for its index position. Cannot use the <default> special name.

connectTiles¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated tile IDs

Optional

Connect only to blocks which are using the specified tiles.

connectBlocks¶

Type: List of strings

Values: Space-separated block IDs

Optional

List of blocks to connect to.

tintIndex¶

Type: Integer

Default: -1

Optional

What tint index to use for the tile's texture.

A value of -1 will disable tinting.

tintBlock¶

Type: String

Values: Block ID

Optional

The block used for the tile texture tinting.

Different blocks use different colors for the same tint index.

layer¶

Type: String

Values: cutout, or translucent

Default: cutout

Optional

The layer on which the overlay texture should be rendered:

• cutout: Transparent textures with mipmaps.

• translucent: Translucent textures with mipmaps.

External links¶

• Ewan Howell's CTM Converter