Everything a mod can use, in one page. Written to be handed to someone deciding whether the library covers what they need.
This page is not linked from the wiki; it exists to be shared by URL. Each row links to the page that explains it properly. For Minecraft Beta 1.7.3 on Ornithe (Fabric fork) or Babric, with or without StationAPI.
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|
retroapi entrypoint (RetroModInitializer.initRetro()) | Registration at the one moment it is safe: platform ready, before RetroAPI's own events, before recipes are sorted, before any world assigns ids. Fires identically with and without StationAPI, unlike the registration events. |
retroapi-client / retroapi-server | Sided halves for renderers, screens, particle factories / dedicated-server-only logic. |
| Named failures | A mod that throws during registration is reported by mod id and entrypoint, not as an anonymous trace inside RetroAPI. |
OSL init still works | Nothing is deprecated; both can be used side by side. |
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|
| 32,000 block slots, ids ≥ 256 | Block/Item arrays are grown; modded ids live outside vanilla's byte range. |
| Per-world id map | Content is anchored by namespace:name; numbers are leased per world and re-anchored on open. |
| Automatic id remap repair | When ids move, RetroAPI repoints crafting and smelting recipes, fuels and achievement icons; the crafting list is re-sorted. |
IdRemapCallback | Your own cached ItemStacks and raw ids get fixed too: remap.fix(stack), remap.map(id). |
| Multiplayer id sync | The server's table is applied on the client before any chunk or inventory packet is read. |
| Interface injection | Block/Item expose the builders with no cast, on Ornithe and Babric. |
| Feature | Call |
|---|
| Builder, or wrap your own subclass | RetroBlockAccess.create(Material), .of(block), .of(Ctor::new), .of(Ctor::new, Material) |
| Physical properties | .strength(h[, r]), .resistance, .light, .opacity, .sounds, .nonOpaque, .bounds |
| Indestructible | .unbreakable() |
| One texture | .texture(id), or .sprite(index) to reuse a vanilla sprite |
| Per-face textures, no JSON | .sided(top, side, front[, bottom]), .column(top, side), .textures(down, up, north, south, west, east) |
| Per-position color, no model | .tint(provider), plus RetroBlockColors.GRASS / .FOLIAGE |
| Overlay passes, no renderer | .overlay(texture[, tint]), .overlay(provider) - vanilla's grass-edge trick for any block |
| Orientation | .facing() (4-way), .facingAll() (6-way, dispenser rule) |
| Harvest rules | .mineable(tools…), .needsTool(tier), .tag(keys…), .alwaysDrops(), .effectiveTool(class) |
| Render type | .renderType(id) + RenderType.register(id, renderer) for a custom renderer |
| Block items | Created automatically; RetroMetaBlockItem for per-meta names, custom factories supported |
| Flammability | RetroFlammability (burn + spread chances, follows the block through id remaps) |
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|
| Up to 4096 states per block | Bits 0-3 ride vanilla metadata, bits 4-11 live in the region sidecar |
| Property types | RetroBoolProperty, RetroIntProperty, RetroEnumProperty, RetroCharProperty ('a'-'z', digits, or a set) |
| Interned immutable states | state.with(P, v), state.get(P), getByName, == comparison is valid |
| Read/write in the world | RetroStates.get/set, with block updates, re-render and server→client sync |
| Data-declared properties | "properties" in a blockstate JSON; code wins on conflict |
| State-aware drops and placement | Wide states survive break → drop → place instead of truncating to the nibble |
| Feature | Call |
|---|
| Builder, atomic id allocation | RetroItemAccess.create(), .of(item), .of(Ctor::new), AUTO_ID |
| Sprites | .texture(id), .layers(base, overlays…), .overlay(id) - layered with no model JSON |
| Held pose | .handheld() |
| Tool kinds | .tool(PICKAXE, AXE, …) - multi-kind paxels included |
| Tool tier | .tier(TIER), .tier(stack -> …), .tier((stack, block, player) -> …) (contextual; the player arrived in 0.3.1) |
Tools with no ToolMaterial | .miningSpeed(f), .attackDamage(n), .durability(n), .damageOnMine(bool) |
| Vanilla agreement | Item.isSuitableFor is answered from tags + tier, so drops, speed and the correct-tool check agree |
| Food | .food(health[, meat][, onEaten]) - a property, not a subclass |
| Armor | RetroArmor + RetroArmorTexture for full sets |
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|
mineable/<tool> and needs_<tier>_tool | Modern decoupled semantics: kind grants speed, tier and material gate drops |
| Material-inferred defaults | An untagged block behaves like the vanilla blocks it is made of, which is what stops "no tool can break my block" |
| Beta-accurate vanilla membership | Custom tools work on vanilla blocks, not only modded ones |
| Arbitrary block and item tags | RetroTagKey.block/item, RetroTags.addToTag/isIn/blocksIn/itemsIn/removeFromTag, live and mutable at runtime |
| Data files | data/<ns>/tags/{block,blocks,item,items}/… and StationAPI's layout; unioned with code |
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|
RetroBlockEntities.register | String-id registration that round-trips through chunk NBT |
BlockEntityLoadedCallback | Fires on first tick, after NBT is read and the world exists - the pass beta lacks |
RetroGuiRegistry / RetroGuis | Container + screen pairs, opened from either side, with window sync ids |
| Modded block entities in the sidecar | Survive save/load and world conversion |
| Feature | Call |
|---|
| Particle registry | RetroParticleRegistry.register(id, factory) - beta had no way to add one |
| Ready-made particle | RetroSpriteParticle: .lifetime, .scale, .gravity, .drag, .tint, .shrink |
| Spawn from common code | RetroParticles.spawn, .spawnCloud, .spawnOnBlock, .spawnVanilla |
| Multiplayer bridge | The protocol has no particle packet and vanilla's server listener is empty; RetroAPI forwards to players in range |
| Feature | Call |
|---|
| Dimensions | RetroDimensions.register(id, factory), stable serial ids, DIM<n> folders, forwarded into StationAPI when present |
| Portals | CustomPortal + teleporters, walk-in both directions, per-dimension travel messages |
| Biomes | BiomeBuilder (colors, weather, spawn weights), StationAPI-shaped |
| Editing existing biomes | RetroBiomes.addPassiveSpawn/addMonsterSpawn/…, additive so mods do not clobber each other |
| World features | RetroFeatures.ore/cluster/custom with .size, .count, .heightRange, .rarity, .meta, .replace(blocks…), .dimensions(…) - no mixin into the generator |
| Custom chunk generators | RetroWorldGen.createChunk/setBlockInChunk, correct in both storage models |
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|
| Expanded texture atlas | Sprites beyond vanilla's 256, animated textures from .mcmeta or from code |
| JSON models & blockstates | Multi-element models, variant tables, cullfaces, custom UVs, tint indices |
| Render layers | Cutout and translucent passes for modded blocks |
| Custom block renderers | BlockRenderContext: lit faces with smooth lighting, spriteOverride, flipTexture, faceRotation, renderAllFaces, renderFaceUv, renderFaceCorner - enough for connected textures |
| Voxel shapes | Multi-box outlines, collision and raytracing for non-cube blocks |
| Feature | What it gives you |
|---|
RetroVec3i | Immutable block position: arithmetic, offsets, rotation, distances, and world access (blockId, state, setBlock, blockEntity) |
RetroDirection / RetroFacing | Six and four directions with opposite, rotateLeft/Right, vector, face, fromPlacer, nearest |
RetroMultiblock | Patterns drawn as ASCII layers, matched in one facing or all four, with per-character position lists and fill(…) |
| Guarantee | How |
|---|
| Vanilla region data is never rewritten | Modded ids ≥ 256, extra state bits and modded item data live in a sidecar beside the region files |
| Removing the mod does not corrupt the world | The vanilla half was never touched; the modded half is simply absent |
| Ids may move between sessions | Per-world id_map.dat re-anchors everything by name |
| Backups | The retroapi/ folder is copied aside before structural changes |
| Verified, not asserted | Headless test: place modded content, save, reload, assert; then convert vanilla → flattened → vanilla and assert again |
| With StationAPI installed | Owner |
|---|
| Registration, ids, storage, atlas, recipes | StationAPI (RetroAPI forwards and stands down) |
| Entities, dimensions, components, particles, world features, multiblocks, sound/particle bridges | RetroAPI, unchanged |
| Your code | Unchanged, if you register from the retroapi entrypoint |