Blockland Steam FAQ

Some basic information about Blockland and frequently asked questions that have popped up on the Steam discussion forums.

Introduction

I'm combining Wikipedia, Steam, and community info. Some things from the Basic Facts are missing and I would appreciate any help. Let me know if I missed any common questions or there is false info somewhere.

This guide will be updated every now and then. Please use your browser's search function (E.g. Ctrl+F) to find what you want faster.

Please do not ask questions in this guide. Post on the Steam discussions forums: http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/

Quick background on me so you have an idea of me when I present my personal opinions: I played the freeware version of the game in late 2008. I've been an active part of the community since early 2009 and have actively played the game for about three years. I have over 3000 hours of play time. I practically grew up with this game.

I am not the developer. This is an unofficial FAQ.

Since this is not on the store page yet:

Q: Is there a demo?

A: Yes: http://blockland.us/Download.html

Basic Facts

Name	Blockland
Logo
Developers	Eric "Badspot" Hartman (Active) Ben "kompressor" Garney (Drops by sometimes)
Publisher	Blockland LLC (Previously known as Step 1 Games LLC) (Owned by Eric Hartman)
Release Dates	November 2004 (Freeware: blockland.us) 24th of February, 2007 [forum.blockland.us] ( http://blockland.us/Store.html ) 3rd of May, 2013 ( http://www.amazon.com/Blockland-Download/dp/B00CHRFL76 ) 16th of December, 2013 ( Retail: Steam )
Engine	Torque Game Engine 1.3
Platforms	PC Macintosh
Known Supported OS	Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 (Need Mac OS info!)
Genre	Sandbox Indie
Modes	Singleplayer (No online activation required) Online (2 to ~150 players) LAN (2 to ~150 players)
Languages	English only
Cross-platform multiplayer	Yes
Controller support	No
Multi-monitor support	Yes (1)

(1) No explicit support as far as I know but it works.

Comparisons to Other Games

Q: How does Blockland compare to Minecraft?

A: The games have very little in common apart from sharing the genre and the fact that both games use cuboid shapes[en.wikipedia.org] as their main building objects.

Originally posted by Badspot (Developer):

Well there's no mining. Or crafting. It's a lot more of an FPS experience where you can jetpack around, blow things up and drive janky vehicles. The gameplay is entirely defined by what add-ons the person running the server decides to run. The building is based on lego-ish pieces rather than uniform cubes.

The visual style is very different: Minecraft has stylized pixel textures and the models have a heavy pixelized look while Blockland has solid colors with "beveled" edges and the 3D models have a stylized traditional low poly look. Blockland does include a wide range decals ("prints") that you can place on bricks and these can be things like letters, signs, and ground textures like grass. In Minecraft practically everything is constructed from cube shapes with sharp 90 degree angles. In Blockland shapes are generally more slated and beveled and there are round shapes as well.

In terms of physics Blockland has more advanced features. Bricks can be (temporarily) destroyed and they turn into physics objects that you can kick around. Basketballs also bounce like you would expect them to. In Minecraft generally everything just falls down and bounce a bit when they hit ground.

The gameplay is like night and day between these two games. Minecraft focuses more on survival. Keeping yourself alive by drinking health potions and eating food, killing random monsters, exploring a randomly generated world, gathering resources to build structures, leveling up, and crafting items and tools. Blockland has none of that. But! You can do all of this in Blockland. You just have to make these things yourself either by building them in-game or by scripting an add-on for it. Or by joining an online servers with such features.

Minecraft's Creative Mode is somewhat similar to Blockland. You have every block or brick ready for use and you never run out. You can quickly place down or destroy several blocks or bricks. You can freely fly around the world to make building easier. No need to worry about monsters or anything else killing you. You are free to create whatever you want.

Blockland has events which are not like redstone in Minecraft but it has the same idea. With events you can change brick colors, turn lights on and off, create bots, logic gates, and much much more. Minecraft's redstone is like electricity. You can toggle torches, play sounds, and make logic gates. Blockland's events are closer "higher-level programming language[en.wikipedia.org]" and Minecraft's redstone is more of a "lower-level programming language[en.wikipedia.org]".

Add-ons in Blockland is far easier to use than mods in Minecraft. You simply drag a ZIP file into a folder and enable the add-on in-game. You can also use them in online play and any players that join your server automatically download the server's add-ons. In Minecraft you need to add files to the game's JAR file and players need to have the same mods as the servers do in order to play in them.

Check out these Steam discussion threads for more opinions:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630800442907858133/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997784185496/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997744006606/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997733949493/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997769333265/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997741899228/

Q: How does Blockland compare to Roblox?

A: I have personally not played Roblox enough to compare the games. Please check out these threads on the Steam discussion forums for some comparisons:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997837942944/
http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997834339982/
This is what the developer said on Reddit:

Originally posted by Badspot (Developer):

Blockland has good controls.
Blockland can run at a smooth framerate.
Blockland has a gui that took more than 5 minutes to make with a real grown up mouse cursor and everything.
Blockland characters do not all look like this :>
Blockland has responsive weapons that look like they're from a functioning video game.
When walking down the stairs in blockland, it is very unlikely that you will fall through the floor or explode through the ceiling at random.

The strength of roblox is that it leverages free to play mind traps and social networking to aggressively ensnare the vulnerable minds of children. The strength of Blockland is that it's actually a functioning game that's kinda fun.

This comment is probably going to bite me in the ass at some point.

Q: How does Blockland compare to Garry's Mod?

A: I would personally describe Blockland as Garry's Mod with Legos. The games are rather similar but the visual styles are very different. Where in Garry's Mod you build things using existing content from other games leading to a mishmash of things welded together, Blockland has a much more consistent visual theme to it. In Blockland everything looks like it was designed to be together as the game has a fairly consistent style in it's 3D models. Garry's Mod can sometimes look like things made using whatever someone could get their hands on. It's not a bad thing and the scrapyard look is a theme to itself but it is very different from that of Blockland's.

Gameplay wise the games share similar mechanics with one crucial difference: physics. Garry's Mod is all about the physics. You can weld rocket boosters to a bath tub and fly around while dragging rag dolled bodies behind you. This is not possible in Blockland. In Garry's Mod one of the best thing you can do is make your own vehicles. Attach some deathlasers and a nuke launcher to that wooden crate structure with tractor wheels and off you go. You can build a structure like this in Blockland but I'm afraid it will not move.

The Wiremod in Garry's Mod is similar to Blockland's events although events are more simple. They can be expanded on by using add-ons but there are no advanced mathematical or logical operators, bitwise functions, or premade CPUs. While I'm browsing through the Wiremod wiki I can see things that can be done with Blockland's events at least to some degree, Garry's Mod is still more complex in this field.

Q: How does Blockland compare to Lego Universe?

A: I saw a screenshot of that game. Once. I shall direct you to this thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630799997695825172/

About Add-Ons

Q: What are "add-ons"?

A: Other games call them "mods" or "modifications" but that term is not very accurate for use in Blockland as add-ons do not modify the base game. Add-ons are ZIP files that contain scripts, images, and other files that add new content to the game. These could be new weapons, vehicles, game modes, environments and more.

Add-ons are hugely popular in Blockland and there are thousands of them. In my personal opinion the real meat of Blockland is in the add-ons. The base game is pretty good and can be fun in it's "default" state but you can easily triple the amount of content the game has to offer with add-ons.

Q: Where do I download add-ons?

A: These two website are practically the only two sources for add-ons. Some players may host their own add-ons on their own websites but everyone in the game uses these two sites. The Blockland Forums is the only proper source after Return to Blockland shut down.
Blockland Forums' Files section: http://forum.blockland.us/index.php#4
Return to Blockland Downloads System: http://forum.returntoblockland.com/dlm/index.php

Q: How do you install add-ons?

A: Move the ZIP files into your Steam\steamapps\common\Blockland\Add-Ons folder. Do not extract them.

Q: Does Blockland have Steam Workshop?

A: No yet at least, but we have RTB which is similar: http://returntoblockland.com/ RTB was shut down.

Q: Can I use add-ons in online play?

A: Yes.

Q: Will I be banned by Steam for using add-ons in singleplayer or multiplayer games?

A: No. Add-ons are not hacks.

Q: Will other players see my downloaded custom face or chest decals?

A: Only if they have downloaded that exact same face or chest decal. Generally speaking no. It's best to just stick to the default faces and chests.

Q: Are add-ons safe?

A: Add-ons from RTB Downloads System are guaranteed to be safe as they are checked by real humans before they are allowed to be downloaded. Add-ons from Blockland Forums are generally safe and if any add-on were to contain viruses or scripts that mess things up people would notice that fairly quickly and comment about it in the add-on's release thread. I've personally never come across an add-on with a virus or a script that would break things. I've only heard of three maybe four malicious add-ons in the past five years.

Any add-ons downloaded from any other sources than the two mentioned before could have anything in them.

Q: None of the add-ons I downloaded are in the game!

A: You can only enable custom add-ons by using the Custom gamemode when starting a game.

Q: What is this RTB I keep hearing about?

A: RTB or Return to Blockland is a very popular add-on made by one of the players. It is essentially an enhancement to game itself since it doesn't add any new content in terms of items or vehicles. It's Blockland's version of the Steam Workshop. I'll let the website speak for itself: http://returntoblockland.com/ The service was shut down in February of 2014.

Frequently Asked Questions | Part 1

Q: I bought Blockland before it got on Steam from blockland.us or Amazon.com. Do I have to buy the game again? Can I keep my old Blockland ID?

A: No need to buy the game again. Yes you can keep your old ID. The key conversion can be done here: https://blockland.us/steam-redeem.php
Linking your old Blockland serial to your Steam account will not prevent you from using the old Blockland launcher and you will be able to play the game without using Steam.

Q: Is there a demo?

A: Yes: http://blockland.us/Download.html

Q: How has Blockland not been sued by Lego yet?

A: Lego contacted Eric Hartman in 2006. Read this Blockland Forums thread: http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=4374.0

Q: Isn't Blockland just a Roblox clone?

A: Blockland was released as a freeware game in 2004. Roblox was released in 2005.

Q: Isn't Blockland just a Minecraft clone?

A: Blockland was released as a freeware game in 2004. Minecraft "Classic" was released as a freeware game in 2009.

Q: Isn't Blockland just a Garry's Mod clone?

A: Blockland was released as a freeware game in November 2004. Garry's Mod was released in December 2004.

Q: Is there a 4-pack?

A: Yes, check the store page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/250340

Q: Describe Blockland in one sentence.

A: Digital Legos online with mechanics similar to Garry's Mod.

Q: What is the goal of the game?

A: To spend time and have fun. Play with your friends or the online community. At it's core Blockland is a creative building game. A sandbox for you to play in. There is no narrative or missions of any kind. But you can make your own!

Q: Help! What does anything do? How do I build? How to use vehicles?

A: Play the tutorial. Also press F1 to open help. Press Start a Game, select Tutorial, press SELECT>>, and then LAUNCH GAME>>.

Q: is this game child friendly?

A: In singleplayer, yes. In online play, no. Even with the chat disable there are numerous ways to offend people. I would rate the game with the ESRB rating of Teen.

Q: Can I disable chat in online games?

A: You can only disable the chat entirely which hides it in online as well as singleplayer and LAN play. To hide the chat go to the Options dialog from the main menu. Select the Advanced tab and under Gui Options set Max Chat Lines to 0.

Q: Can I disable the swear word censor?

A: Yes. Open the Options dialog from the main menu and click on the Advanced tab. Scroll down to Gui Options and uncheck Censor Chat.

Q: "This is a civilized game. Please use full words."

A: This is the E-Tard filter. When starting an online server you must select the Custom option, go to the Advanced tab on the left side and make sure the E-Tard option does not have a full white dot next to it. If there's only a dot outline it means the option is disabled. The E-Tard filter blocks common shortened words like "u" for "you" and "y" for "why".

Q: Do I need to find blueprints or gather resources to get bricks to build with?

A: No. All bricks are available for use right away. New bricks are easy to download from various add-on sources for free.

Q: How much can I build in the game?

A: The game will load a maximum of 1048576 objects at any one time (including bricks, vehicles, etc.) but the save files may contain more objects than that.

Q: Is the world infinite? Can build as far away as I want to?

A: There is no developer-set limit but there is a hardware limit. Beyond a certain distance the 3D models in the game will start to warp and mangle up due to floating-point math errors. From a technical standpoint it is possible to build and travel in any direction infinitely but it won't be pretty or very playable.

Q: Does the game support 1080p? What is the maximum resolution? Are multiple monitors supported?

A: Yes. There is no maximum resolution as far I know. Use the console command

setres(x,y);

to set a custom resolution. Multiple monitors are not explicitly supported but they do work.

Frequently Asked Questions | Part 2

Q: Will there be a Steam Workshop?

A: No word from the developer yet. Please check out this thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/250340/discussions/0/630800443261642990/

Q: Mac version of the game doesn't save preferences!

A: Fix: Navigate to Steam\steamapps\common\Blockland\config\client and delete the prefs.cs file.

Q: Steam is constantly taking screenshots when I press some key!

A: Known bug. No known fix yet.

Q: What kind of maps are in Blockland?

A: There is only one map which was called Slate in the previous versions of the game. Nowadays it has no real name. The world of Blockland is an infinite flat plane but you can change the environment of this world. You change the texture image of ground plane. (E.g. grass, metal floor) You can add water or lava to the world. The sky texture image can also be changed. (E.g. a starry night, thunder clouds) The world lighting can also be modified. (E.g. morning, night) Precipitation may also be added. (E.g. rain, snow)

Q: What gamemodes are there? Can I deathmatch? Racing?

A: There are many different gamemodes and even more can be added with add-ons. Blockland comes with a minigame system which adds a basic deathmatch and team deatmatch gamemodes. There is also kart racing (little cars) and a platformer game. You can also create your own with a little bit of scripting knowledge.

Q: Can I build vehicles like cars or trains?

A: Yes but they will not move and you cannot drive them.

Q: The structures in the 2013 trailer were awesome! Where do I get them?

A: There are not many default builds (builds that come with the game) in the trailer. Almost all builds were made by the community and some of them (not many) are available for download on the Blockland Forum's Gallery section[forum.blockland.us]. You need to use the forum's search function and know the build's name and dig through some posts to find specific builds. Some build names were listed in the trailer's description on YouTube and there are a bunch of cool builds listed in this thread: http://forum.blockland.us/index.php?topic=245714.0

There is no way to get access to any community builds from inside the game. A majority of the builds visible in the trailer also use add-on added bricks and other content such as vehicles. Overall the 2013 trailer has very very little default content.

Q: Can I build maps in Blockland?

A: You can build pretty much anything in Blockland. This includes what other games define as maps. E.g. Big Islands, cities, villages, forests, underground laboratories and so on.

Q: Are there NPCs? Monsters? Enemies?

A: No but you can create bots. By default these bots just walk around and tend to hit things with a hammer but there also basic zombie bots that chase down players. You can also use the in-game eventing system to add more complex behaviors to bots such as following players, patrolling an area, or walking along a specified path.

There have been roleplaying game servers where there are monsters to kill merchants to barter with as well as your traditional zombie survival servers. These are not in the game by default but can be achieved by using add-ons.

Q: Does Blockland have crafting?

A: No. You can create an interactive crafting system with in-game events but by default there is no crafting system of any kind.

Q: Will there be more translations of the game?

A: No word from the developer yet. The game is only available in English.

Q: How do I get vehicles?

A: Open the brick menu and go to the Special tab. Scroll down and select the Vehicle Spawn brick. Plant it, equip your Wrench tool, and click the brick. The Vehicle Spawn dialog will allow you to spawn vehicles.

[BlocklandRunner]

The Blockland forums now isnt always the preferred way to download addons, nowadays, people either use the Forums, Blockland Glass, or the many Blockland Addon archives.

[๖polemos~]

blockland has a 4pack and mac works

[Critical Floof]

steam taking a screen shot is not a bug the key is f12

[Vitamin C4™]

somehow my luck is on (not off) and it autofix but thank you for info

[Demian]

@BOT BG
Please use the Blockland Forums to ask for help with technical issues: https://forum.blockland.us/index.php

[Vitamin C4™]

none of these questinons dont help me my one is : how to fix the infinty validtion key????

[lammyg]

Wow the decent guides always have 3 stars and below and the satire ones always have 4 and above and they're not even funny.

[KaiiBoi]

i alredy know that blocklnad is in grayys mod because i have it

[Demian]

Gino Games post a new thread in the Discussions and I'll answer you there.

[Uncle Sam]

What Resolution should I have it set to when im out of game and right click blockland then go to properties what resolution should I out in because I have a windows 7 and I changed reso and it says input not supported when I try to launch it. I have tried so many resolutions but none work.