Back Tools Mod — Guide

Easter Eggs

Helicopter Mode

A long-standing easter egg in iChun's mods, Helicopter Mode can be enabled in the configuration file. When active, the tools on your back will rapidly spin like helicopter rotors whenever you are in a state of flight (Creative mode), swimming, or using an Elytra.

Modder Integration

Developers can interact with Back Tools using IMC Messages sent between the Init and PostInit phases.

• Blacklisting: Send a message with the key "blacklist" and an ItemStack value to prevent an item from rendering.
• Manual Addition: Send a message with the key "backtool" and an ItemStack value to force an item to be recognized as a tool. The stack size of the ItemStack can be used to define the default orientation.

Core Mechanics

The primary mechanic of Back Tools is the "Last Equipped" logic. The mod tracks the item stack currently held in the player's main hand. When the player switches to a new item, the mod checks if the previous item qualifies as a "tool" or "weapon."

How it Works

1. Equip a Tool: Hold a sword, pickaxe, or bow in your main hand.
2. Switch Items: Change to a torch, food item, or an empty slot.
3. Visual Render: The tool you were just holding will now appear strapped to your back.
4. Replacement: If you equip a different tool (e.g., switching from a sword to a pickaxe), the pickaxe will become the new item rendered on your back once you switch away from it.

Rendering Logic

• 3D Models: Items are rendered using their actual in-game models, including enchantments and custom textures from resource packs.
• Positioning: Tools are typically oriented diagonally across the player's back.
• Visibility: By default, the tool is hidden if the player is wearing a cape or cloak to prevent visual clipping and overlapping textures.

Supported Items

Back Tools automatically supports all standard vanilla tools and weapons. It also uses a heuristic approach to identify modded items that extend the base Minecraft tool classes.

Modded Tool Support

The mod attempts to detect modded tools by checking if the item class is an instance of ItemSword, ItemTool, ItemBow, etc. Modders can further improve compatibility by sending an Inter-Mod Communications (IMC) message to Back Tools during the initialization phase.