Adding an Armor Trim

In this page you will learn how to add a new armor trim. As many other tutorials, we will be using tutorial as the namespace. This page is really a heavy spell check since we need to make a lot of files with specific names.

If you, and lets be real that's most of you, are just here to copy and paste, don't worry all important things are in big nice code blocks and the GitHub repo is at the end of this page. :)

In theory we don't need to add a new item since this is more data packed than it is modded, but if you would do this using only a data pack we would be missing the nice tooltip in the description of the armor trim item.

To register this item we need to register it as a new <yarn class_8052>.<yarn method_48418>(Identifier.of("tutorial", trimId)), where the trimId can be separate from the actual item name, but for ease of making we will use the same for both. For the rest we will just need the basic thingamajig of item registration. Here we assume you have written a convenient static register method (see items tutorial).

public final class TutorialItems {
    // adding a new SmithingTemplateItem named "TUTORIAL_ARMOR_TRIM" with the MODID as "tutorial" and trimid as "tutorial_trim" 
    public static final Item TUTORIAL_ARMOR_TRIM = register("tutorial_item_trim", SmithingTemplateItem.of(new Identifier("tutorial", "tutorial_armor_trim")));
}

and in the ModInitializer class, initialize the class yet, if you haven't done it yet:

public class ExampleMod implements ModInitializer {
    @Override
    public void onInitialize() {
        TutorialItems.initialize();
    }
}

And then just normal item textures if you desire so, but NO LANG, that comes later.

To make it work with the smithing table, which is the goal, we need to create three files.

First we need to create a armor trim info file. This file is named tutorial_armor_trim.json and goes under resources/data/<namespace>/trim_pattern/. These and any following names and paths have to be exactly like displayed (obviously you need to change namespace and item name, but you get what I mean).

Into this file we need to put these three things:

• asset_id, which is the before mentioned trimId
• description, which links to the lang file (we'll get to that later)
• template_item, which is the item we're using

And this is what that looks like in the json file:

resources/data/tutorial/trim_pattern/tutorial_armor_trim.json

{  
  "asset_id": "minecraft:tutorial_armor_trim",  
  "description": {  
    "translate": "trim_pattern.tutorial.tutorial_armor_trim"  
  },  
  "template_item": "tutorial:tutorial_armor_trim"  
}

The second file we need, is the smithing trim recipe.

The file can be named whatever, but it's recommended to name it something related like tutorial_armor_trim_smithing_trim.json and it is placed at resources/data/<namespace>/recipe/ (since 1.21) or resources/data/<namespace>/recipes/ (before 1.21). Other than that, this is just a recipe file and nothing interesting:

resources/data/tutorial/recipe/tutorial_armor_trim_smithing_trim.json

{  
  "type": "minecraft:smithing_trim",  
  "addition": {  
    "tag": "minecraft:trim_materials"  
  },  
  "base": {  
    "tag": "minecraft:trimmable_armor"  
  },  
  "template": {  
    "item": "tutorial:tutorial_armor_trim"  
  }  
}

Take note that only the last parameter ever changes and the first three stay the same.

The third file is technically optional, but we will still make it, because it's needed for the tag search in the creative inventory and maybe something else. It is named trim_templates.json and goes to resources/data/<namespace>/tags/item/ (since 1.21) or resources/data/<namespace>/tags/items/ (before 1.21).

Inside the file is:

resources/data/minecraft/tags/item/trim_templates.json

{  
  "replace": false,  
  "values": [  
    "tutorial:tutorial_armor_trim"  
  ]  
}

Now if we would theoretically test this, it would work but we would be greeted by the beautiful missing texture texture. So we need to:

Lets begin with making the trim textures first and then do the lang.

The first file we need just points to the different texture locations and that's pretty much it.

The file is named armor_trims.json and belongs into the directory resources/assets/<namespace>/atlases/. Inside is:

resources/assets/minecraft/atlases/armor_trims.json

{  
  "sources": [  
    {  
      "type": "paletted_permutations",  
      "textures": [  
        "trims/models/armor/coast",  
        "trims/models/armor/coast_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/sentry",  
        "trims/models/armor/sentry_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/dune",  
        "trims/models/armor/dune_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/wild",  
        "trims/models/armor/wild_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/ward",  
        "trims/models/armor/ward_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/eye",  
        "trims/models/armor/eye_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/vex",  
        "trims/models/armor/vex_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/tide",  
        "trims/models/armor/tide_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/snout",  
        "trims/models/armor/snout_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/rib",  
        "trims/models/armor/rib_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/spire",  
        "trims/models/armor/spire_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/wayfinder",  
        "trims/models/armor/wayfinder_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/shaper",  
        "trims/models/armor/shaper_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/silence",  
        "trims/models/armor/silence_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/raiser",  
        "trims/models/armor/raiser_leggings",  
        "trims/models/armor/host",  
        "trims/models/armor/host_leggings",  
 
        "trims/models/armor/tutorial_armor_trim",  
        "trims/models/armor/tutorial_armor_trim_leggings"  
      ],  
      "palette_key": "trims/color_palettes/trim_palette",  
      "permutations": {  
        "quartz": "trims/color_palettes/quartz",  
        "iron": "trims/color_palettes/iron",  
        "gold": "trims/color_palettes/gold",  
        "diamond": "trims/color_palettes/diamond",  
        "netherite": "trims/color_palettes/netherite",  
        "redstone": "trims/color_palettes/redstone",  
        "copper": "trims/color_palettes/copper",  
        "emerald": "trims/color_palettes/emerald",  
        "lapis": "trims/color_palettes/lapis",  
        "amethyst": "trims/color_palettes/amethyst",  
        "iron_darker": "trims/color_palettes/iron_darker",  
        "gold_darker": "trims/color_palettes/gold_darker",  
        "diamond_darker": "trims/color_palettes/diamond_darker",  
        "netherite_darker": "trims/color_palettes/netherite_darker"  
      }  
    }  
  ]  
}

Now, the file has a lot inside but the only change is this tiny part:

• trims/models/armor/tutorial_armor_trim
• trims/models/armor/tutorial_armor_trim_leggings

The rest is just vanilla code we cant go around.

The last two files we need for textures are tutorial_armor_trim.png and tutorial_armor_trim_leggings.png, just like we've changed above. And that's also where they go. Both go into directory resources/assets/minecraft/textures/trims/models/armor/.

But now the question is: How do I create these textures?

There are a lot of ways you could do this. For example you could: Use skindex or any other skineditor to have a 3d view of what you're doing, but that would give you one texture and you need two or you could edit existing trims and go free style, but the best way I've found so far is to take one of the armor textures and put it into a pixel editing tool of your choice and then also get the color palette and paint over the armor texture. Then, when you're finished drawing, you just erase the original armor texture. By doing it this way you know where the armor can be modified, or better said where it should.

With that done the trim effectively works, but in the tooltip of the armor trim and trimmed item we will have this ugly text: trim_pattern.tutorial.tutorial_armor_trim. Therefore we need to add translations (see lang).

In the en_us.json file under: resources/assets/tutorial/lang/, we need to put this, just mentioned, ugly text. Like this:

resources/assets/tutorial/lang/en_us.json

{  
  "trim_pattern.tutorial.tutorial_armor_trim": "Tutorial Armor Trim"  
}

But with this final step, we are done. Have fun with your new armor trims.

If you have any more questions you can ask them on the Farbic discord and ping me @herrchaos or just look at the source code of this tutorial at: GitHub