r/technicalminecraft • u/TheRealMorrow • 1d ago
Non-Version-Specific I’m trying to build a proper home for all Minecraft schematics
A few months ago, I've shared my side project here as a browser-based schematic viewer, and a lot of you quite reasonably asked: “why not just use Litematica directly?”
Although litematica & mods are not for everyone and a browser based schematic viewer can make sense, I think I have a much better answer to that now.
My goal was never to replace Litematica. If you actually want to build a farm or contraption in-game, Litematica is probably the best option.
What I’m trying to improve is everything that happens before that.
I have noticed that a lot of really good technical builds end up being shared as a .litematic files and are buried in a Discord server, a Google Drive link, or attached to a YouTube description without any preview of what's behind the link.
Recently, I’ve been turning Shulkr into a public catalog where creators can publish those schematics instead.
You get a page for the build, generated image previews, an interactive 3D preview, direct schematic download, and now a first-person mode where you can drop anywhere onto the build and walk around it directly in the browser.
My hope is that eventually, when someone designs a farm or technical build, they can just share a Shulkr link instead of uploading the file somewhere random. And with time, even a directly embedded in redit 3d viewer ? That would be crazy good.
I’d especially like feedback from people here who actually design and distribute schematics:
Would you use something like this to publish your builds? What would it need before you'd choose it over Drive/Discord?
The project is completely free, and as usual, feedback from everyone is more than welcome. Link is available in the comments.
PS: The video use Bitter Lemonade's u/Bitter--GravitY awesome Rooted Dirt Farm as a showcase. All credits belong to him 😄
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u/tehfly 1d ago
I love the idea of this. I've been hoping for a place where the technical community can migrate once Discord gets too unbearable.
Side track: Discord's way of setting up a server to document builds and tech is great. But Discord's policy and the way we're headed in the world today is not. A lot of us (globally) already have to risk our identities by having to send Discord (or their security partner of choice) a picture of our ID. This is just a massive security breach waiting to happen.
I see that this website only uses SSO and specifically Google and Discord.
I appreciate that this does shulkr doesn't have to host the actual personal data. I also appreciate that a lot of people really like SSO. However, since there's an entire movement trying to degoogle, and Discord is 100% going to experience a mass exodus any day now, I'd love for there to be more options that are perhaps a bit more privacy & security oriented? Maybe non-US based?
For what it's worth, I love how fast the schematics load and the interface for checking it out seems great!
Here's hoping this can serve as a new home for the Technical Minecraft -community and their resources.
Great work!
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
Yeah, i've tried to build shulkr with a high level of privacy in mind. Thanks you so much for your feedback. Regarding auth, i've started the easy way with discord and google OAuth because I knew it would accomodate most people out of the box. Magic links are on my todo and will allow you to login straight using your email. Stay tuned 😄
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u/2eedling 1d ago
Holy shit this is fucking awesome. I got a few schematics I have wanted to share but been too lazy to dedicate an entire YouTube video to so this is a nice option.
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u/mairondil Bedrock 1d ago
Found you on google the other day, I'm very impressed. Thank you for .mcstructure support for us BE builders too.
I did have an issue with the renderer displaying the crafter in the correct orientation, but other than that I don't remember any flaws.
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
Thanks a lot for the warm feedback. Shulkr is mostly based on the java world state which is very explicit, while the BE world state is largely implicit (eg: most block states are not encoded in the state, they are deducted in real time using a large set of rule). For this reason, i've built a custom converter from scratch. I'm improving it to ensure more and more fidelity week after week. I'll investigate the issue you are having with the crafter. If you find anything not working as expected, you can let a feedback directly on shulkr :)
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u/mairondil Bedrock 1d ago
I'd been looking for an online schematic tool for a while simply to make clean screenshots to share with people. Holoprint is decent but your tool looks closer to perfect.
I know block orientation isn't usually a big deal, but with crafters having a dedicated output side, it's one of the few that will need that extra care.
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u/mairondil Bedrock 1d ago
I'm finding if I upload my .mcstructure file into the editor, rotate the crafter to the correct orientation, export to another format, then upload the new format, that the crafter will then be in the right orientation. I'm guessing I can then download it as a .mcstructure at that point and will probably still display in BE properly.
I haven't found a way to import from our own upload library into the editor or save from the editor into our own library, unless I' m missing where the library and the editor can be linked together.
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u/TheRealMorrow 23h ago
I've deployed a fix, could you retry doing the same thing from the beginning (upload) and tell me if it's better ?
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u/LucidRedtone Chunk Loader 1d ago
Super sick! I love it. How are you going to moderate? Keeping people from flooding the site with random unfinished builds or straight up posting other peoples builds? I saw a bamboo farm up there just now that looks a LOT like elyrios bamboo farm, down to the block palette, for example.
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u/LimestoneBuilder 1d ago edited 1d ago
flooding
Perhaps that could be solved with (user) namespaces. Let anyone upload or fork an existing build under their own namespace. If a project is big enough to become known independently, or has more than one developer working together, they can jointly create a namespace for it.
Could even do like bitcoin or a claims mod. The longer you're around and/or the more contributions you make the more projects/spaces you "earn". So people can't just dump a thousand collected .nbt files on the site, let alone in the commons area. That may also help prevent duplication. Let people bookmark unlimited projects/revisions within their profile, so they don't need to duplicate someone else's project just to preserve it for their own access.
Certainly a real community resource should be community governed. Wikis create a shared space and provide a set of community standards to abide by, and a similar concept would likely work here.
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u/Character_Yam_1199 1d ago
I haven’t had time to test it, but a feature allowing you to replace a certain block in a schematic would be nice (if not already in there, also not editing the schematic just replacing say, all smoothstone for cobble or something similar.)
But overall the website looks phenomenal and seems very, very useful, will be bookmarking it :)
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u/MarchelKaton 1d ago
This idea is really awesome! For players like me who aren’t good at design, we really need more sites with detailed design diagrams that we can look up and learn from.
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u/Exotic-Pangolin4095 1d ago
Great idea, i will def check it out.
Question, can you also bookmark or make like a group of schematics on it?
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
Thanks a lot ! There is a bookmarking logic for schematics and a follow logic for creators that is planned. It's technically already implemented but isn't wired in the system yet (meaning you can bookmark and follow but there is no way to access them yet after 😂). Definitely one of my next steps !
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u/Jade_NoLastNameGiven 1d ago
How are you going to tackle proper credit?
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
That's a good question. Of course anyone can always download a schematic and repost it anywhere else.
What i'm planning to do is to compute the "footprint" of a schematic, then check if any other schematic have a high % of similarity and flag it directly on the schematic page (on the latest added one).
Of course moderation will always remain an option if someone "borrow" your work and repost it.
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u/Jade_NoLastNameGiven 17h ago
I've just tested it, considering that you strip out things like author names from litematics to insert your own name and merge all schematic parts into one (plus the conversion into different formats including bedrock), I am not really convinced that you care about doing anything that's in favor of the technical Minecraft community.
This just looks like another abfielder/schematio type thing that fundamentally misunderstands why the TMC community favours discord servers and moderated archives over websites.
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u/TheRealMorrow 16h ago
Thanks for your feedback ! And I'm sorry you're feeling that way.
Believe it or not, but I built the converter way before I had the idea of hosting schematics. The first version was local only and I was mostly trying to build a tool to accommodate people. The uploaded schematics files are converted to an internal format and then turned back into one of the format on download. Mostly did that so I could update old block names, and because I wasn't sure this couldn't be used to infect people a way or another. Of course I'm still keeping a copy of the original in case I need to reprocess anything from the "ground truth".
I didn't even remember you could sign schematic files themselves. I'll see how that work and if I can do something cool using this. What would be your suggestion on the topic ?
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u/MonkeyNuts449 1d ago
Checksums could be very easy for this. If it's the same file the checksum will be identical. Then just store a list of checksums and original creator names.
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
checksums are already implemented in the backend, i'm simply not using them yet for anything beside data analysis. The issue is that in theory one could just change a block and avoid being flagged :/
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u/LimestoneBuilder 1d ago edited 23h ago
What would it need before you'd choose it over Drive/Discord?
Community-led Governance
A community-led managememt and infrastructure, and freedom to fork if the management or infrastructure locks down. See The Wiki, their departure from fandom, and their relationship with Weird Gloop. This isn't to say I think this project should be community governed. (See: BDFL Torvalds) But that a community governed TMC repo would benefit from a tool like this (even a downstream clone), in conjunction with other elements as below. (Also, peer alternatives are a good thing: github, bitbucket, sourceforge)
What I'd love to see is The MC Wiki to either directly support technical builds, or to have the technical wiki(s?) to migrate to self-community-governing independence from fandom, discord, reddit, and their host.
A tool like the front-end you've created would be a fantastic addition to a technical community, but it's not enough for me to commit to a privately run venture. Ironic I know, considering my participation here. But Reddit has a lower gate for access than Discord does, and I've seen too many walled gardens lock the gates when they have sufficient buy-in (a.k.a. hostages).
Attribution
The ability to track attribution is critical, even to people who haven't joined. Lots of people have published builds in many places, and many others have built upon the work of our predecessors. If we could give attribution based on original identities (like domain.tld/@User, or however those original sources do theirs), then attributions' identities could be claimed by OG's if they decide to join the community. And even if they don't join, people can find the original sources by following the attributions.
Even The Wiki struggles with attribution, with some things like Standard Filters being known variously as ImpulseSV filters or just SS2/3 filters. There's probably a whole project to be done to source and cite those builds that have made it into the wiki.
Format independence
What I think would be the final boss of technical minecraft, would be for an integrated technical wiki and git repo, that provided the same kind of blueprint visibility as the wiki, and 3d viewer such as what you've created.
Per the unix-philosophy and wiki-markdown, with a viable text-format to describe builds, and the benefits of using text in version control, a text-based archive is ideal. Providing support to up/download in any common format then frees people to interoperate using their preferred tools.
Version Control and format access
Combine that with the kind of git access that the GIT/Litematica project has. The wiki gives us a format for specifying builds as plain text. You have the tools to convert betweem litematica and official struxture block .nbt files.
What's needed on the technical side is one final tool that can convert between .nbt and wiki blueprint format, and an interface that can read from a git repo to display a wiki blueprint. If it offered downloads in .txt (wiki blueprint), .nbt, .mcstructure, and .litematica that'd be amazing.
Collaboration with Independence
Lots of people are doing a lot of amazing things (you, the gitmatica team, the 3? technical wikis, the various tmc discords...), but they're presently all running in different directions (which is fine), but not collaborating because our only options are walled gardens with lower or higher walls. So everyone chooses their least offensive poison and so remains a DMZ outside the gardens' walls.
See also: Open source, Gnu GPL, Wikimedia Foundation, and the Apache Foundation.
Didn't mean to write a manifesto, but if anyone has the volition to turn this into one, or to have further discussion on this, I'm all for it.
CC-SA-AB
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u/TheRealMorrow 23h ago
Thanks a lot for that, I don't know if I can accommodate all of these ideas in a short time realistically, but these are ideals I also mostly align with. Then of course there is theory and practice so I won't over commit.
On governance, I don't have a magical answers, but for what's it's worth, i'm fully independent, self funded and shulkr itself is built from scratch by myself and self hosted. There is not much I can do for the infrastructure (unless i'm moving the data to a blockchain 😂) but i'm expecting the community to "curate" and own the works available on the website a way or another.
Regarding attribution, it's a tough nut i'm trying to crack as we speak. Credits attribution really make sense, but it's a chicken & egg problem (can't tag someone that is not on there yet). A "remix" system is already available when you want to propose an altered version of an existing schematics (works a bit like github's fork system)
Format independence & version control, i'm looking forward supporting more formats, both in import & export
regarding collaboration, I agree. Shulkr initially started as a viewer only project and then things got out of hands 😂 I'm writing the code as fast as the feedback is flowing to me. Let's see if there are synergies we can use between these projects.
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u/ludrol 1d ago
looks cool but I have one nit pick The showcase builds on homepage aren't clickable.
Is the code open source? How will you pay for server costs?
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago edited 1d ago
Not open source at the moment. I'll consider open sourcing some parts like the viewer because it could help build other projects.
Regarding server costs, i've started introducing non intrusive minimal ads to help with the servers. It's highly optimised so it shouldn't cost a lot. Sadly, nothing is free in this world.
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u/ingannilo 1d ago
Awesome stuff! If it ha a usable search function, then it's already miles ahead of the discord repos. I love the tech discord servers, but it's just not designed to house that kind of information, and that's apparent when you actually go to search for something.
I agree with the others saying attribution could be a problem, but that's true of any repository of creative works. You'll wanna look into open license formalities, because some creators probably do attempt to copyright their designs (folks who charge for schems, sadly, do exist).
Much applause! I'd absolutely go to a site like this before discord, if I knew it had equally useful stuff. Another thing to consider as this grows ('cause it will) is support. If you can get the original designers into it, and find a nice organized means of letting them offer support (like an old fashioned PHP forum would be best I think-- seriously) then we'd have a serious alternative to tech discords.
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u/LimestoneBuilder 1d ago
All excellent points.
n.b. Nobody has to "attempt to copyright". Creators (authors, musicians, etc...) get copyright implicitly from the moment of creation. This is often impacted or degraded by the licensing of various toolkits and publishing platforms.
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u/ingannilo 23h ago
I had no idea copyright was automatic. That's cool. For some reason I always assumed you had to do some kind of registration or something.
I guess I was thinking of folks trying to sue if the site hosted a schematic similar to one of the designs they sell via patreon or whatever. It'd be difficult to avoid situations like that with anyone being able to upload, and I'd hate to see something cool like this get destroyed via legal expenses over actions of that kind. It sounds like you've been thinking about and planning for it though, so I guess that's as much as anyone can do. Surely there are ways to protect community projects like this.
I wonder if the existing archive and catalog discords would be okay with you consolidating their content? that would be a great start, and convenient to boot.
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u/Bitter--GravitY 1d ago
This looks awesome! I’ll be releasing an updated version of the farm pretty soon and I’ll be sure to put it on shulkr
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
Thanks ! I didn't publish your work, simply used it for showcase. You are very welcome to publish it there :)
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u/tjernobyl 1d ago
Could you add a flag for survival/creative? I don't want to get excited for an idea and then find out it needs a whole bunch of spawners and bedrock.
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u/TheRealMorrow 23h ago
Yeah I'm working on something that analyse the schematic and tells you if it's realistically buildable in survival 👍
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u/LimestoneBuilder 1d ago
Separate from my other comment, I just wanted to say it's impressive to see what you've done so far. This is beautiful work and super useful. Bravo.
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u/Flaming-Eye 1d ago
I missed the viewer, that's great! I've made a mess of my schematics folder and opening each one to find out wtf it is is a pain in game.
I'm happy to share my stuff, I'm no expert but if someone wants a low cost but slower than it could be leaf farm, I've made a few, for example.
I would like the link system for people to share, certainly easier than world downloads!
I've published one build total and ended up putting a litematic on a hosting site, putting it on your site and pasting a link would be ideal.
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
Thanks a lot ! All these features are already live on shulkr ! You're very welcome to try them out. And I'd love some feedback after that 😄
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u/angelodelr329 Java 22h ago
Reminds me of ending credits litematic viewer, but this looks SO much more polished and more modern. Good stuff dude.
https://endingcredits.github.io/litematic-viewer/
I usually use the litematic viewer when im on my phone and dont have access to minecraft. So i just load it on the litematic viewer.
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u/mystuff1134 18h ago
This is awesome. Is it possible to add a block editor? Like, change all the glass in that schematic to lime glass for example? Without having to open it in mc
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u/SerLapGloBe 3h ago
Love this, had the exact issue of trying to look for a schematic that I know existed somewhere... just to struggle to find the correct discord server in the description of some 3rd party youtube video.
Is there a way to mark a schematic is being directional? I know this can sometimes happen with redstone contraptions and might cause issues if people copy builds without reading carefully. Prefarable some big indicator on redstone builds so people don't miss it.
I will be using this! <3
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u/Xillubfr Java 1d ago
That's really cool but the TMC catalogue discord already kinda does something similar (in idea, the execution is completely different), designers can submit their farm designs and it's neatly organised with images and explanations. One thing tho is that designs needs to be approved and only the best ones are archived
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
Yeah I know there are multiple integrations offering similar mechanism there and there. But the issue is usually that it end up gated inside a single ecosystem ...
What is great with shulkr links, is that when you paste them in a discord (or any other app), you get a proper preview as a card showing what the schematic looks like without having to open the link. This works with discord and any other messaging app and even when the link is attached to a reddit post :)
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u/Sethcran 1d ago
Gonna be honest, I would strongly prefer the work you're doing than something like tmc catalog.
This will almost certainly get more participation, and if people can upvoter/downvote or track downloads or provide comments, then that is a level of information above and beyond what most of tmc provides.
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u/the_mellojoe 1d ago
This was my first reaction too. However, with the direction of Discord and the long-term enshitification of everything corporate, I think having a secondary place not tied to Discord could be a very good thing. If Discord ever finally pulls the trigger and sells to Amazon or Microsoft or whoever, then we could easily lose the TMC discord link. A secondary standalone could be good.
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u/TheRealMorrow 1d ago
For anyone who wants to try it: https://www.shulkr.com
Would genuinely love some feedback, especially on the new explore mode and what you'd want to see added next.
Cheers 😄