This is about the structure of the data packs, not about Minecraft structures.

Location of structures

The Minecraft structures are stored in the polystruct data pack. It mostly uses the following directory structure, although for some building classes the directory structure might be less extensive.

<building_class> / <biome> / <sequence> / <build_type> / <structure_part>

Name	Description	Example
building_class	Class for the building	village, hamlet
biome	Biome the build is for	plains, snowy
sequence	Sequence (to support variants)	01, 02
build_type	Generation type of the build	regular, ruin
structure_part	Part of the structure	center, road

The sequence is to support multiple variants. For instance, if I want to create a new plains village with a different build style, then I create one in a new sequence. The polygame data pack will randomly pick one (this is done by joining the pools for all the variants in a single pool, for which I use a shell script).

Template pools

Location of template pools

The same directory structure is used for the template pools. The main difference is that the <structure_part> is no longer a directory, but a JSON file named after the part (but in plural).

For instance, while all road structures for the 1st plains village are located in village/plains/01/regular/road/ (inside the structures directory of the data pack), the pool for the road items is in village/plains/01/regular/roads.json (inside the template_pool directory of the data pack).

Combining structures

Structures are combined to build the complete structure set. For this, certain standard jigsaw combinations (connectors) are used.

Roads

Roads are all defined in the roads.json file. Connectors for roads use level definitions:

• polystruct:road_level0 is for the main road. Level-0 roads are allowed to turn left or right, or split, at which point the road becomes a level-1 road.
• polystruct:road_level1 only contains straight roads. The intention of a level-1 road is that it is equally significant as a level-0 road (e.g. 3 blocks wide).
• polystruct:road_level2 only contains straight roads. These are smaller roads than level-1 roads.

It isn’t necessary to have all three levels at play. Some of my villages only have level09 and level-1 roads.

Decoration

Decoration is defined in the decors.json file. Connectors for decoration use the following definitions:

• polystruct:lamp is a lamppost or other means of recurring lighting within a village. Jigsaws here must be aligned, and the idea is that a north-facing build has its light directed eastward (right hand side). Make sure that both jigsaws are set to “Aligned”!

Triggering full builds

While minecraft nowadays supports placing structures through commands, I do want to support triggering a full build through a jigsaw. This allows me to place full builds at the location I want, and with the /place jigsaw command this becomes even easier than before.

To support this, the starting point of a build (like residential areas) have a jigsaw with a connector name polystruct:generator. You can then generate that build directly with the following command:

/place jigsaw polystruct:hamlet/plains/centers polystruct:generator 7 ~ ~ ~

Triggering structures

Structures that are part of a larger build use the polystruct:struct connector.

/place jigsaw polystruct:hamlet/plains/01/ruin/structs polystruct:struct 7 ~ ~1 ~

The receiving jigsaw is always one up (on top of the ground) in the builds, hence the need to place it one level higher than ground.

Initially I used polystruct:structure so some parts of the data pack might still use that.

Triggering interior

Some builds separate the outside of a structure from the inside. This allows me to randomize the interior of buildings, and facilitate more rapid development of structures.

The jigsaw for a room is always at the most left side in the room, facing to the side of the door to the room.

The receiving connector uses a connector based on the type of room:

• polystruct:studio for an interior that covers a complete living space, including bed and workstation
• polystruct:bedroom for an interior that covers a bedroom only
• polystruct:livingroom for an interior that covers regular living space
• polystruct:workplace for an interior covering the workstation and working space

Randomizing structures

Generic structures, like the rooms, will be stored in a location that has generic instead of a biome name. These structures are always built with two main pallettes for wood (oak and warped wood) and stone (stone and mossy stone brick). These will then be converted into the right pallette through datapack processors oak_to_*, warped_to_*, stone_to_* and mossy_stone_to_*.

By providing all these processed entries in a pool, we can effectively provide more randomized interiors.