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GUI (Without GUI Library)

Please read it before you start

GuiContainer Class

The GuiContainer class, found in the net.minecraft.client.gui package, is responsible for managing the rendering of textures using OpenGL. It extends the GuiScreen class, which in turn extends Gui, a utility class for drawing shapes and textures with the help of the tessellator and GL11.

The constructor of the GuiContainer class accepts a parameter of type Container, which will be discussed later.

public GuiContainer(Container container) {
    Minecraft mc = Minecraft.getMinecraft(this);
    this.xSize = 176; // Width of the GUI
    this.ySize = 166; // Height of the GUI
    this.inventorySlots = container;
    this.guiTooltip = new GuiTooltip(mc);
    this.guiRenderItem = new GuiRenderItem(mc);
    this.itemDragHandler = new GuiItemDragHandler(mc, this, this.guiRenderItem);
}

If you want to draw a texture, there are two key methods you need to override: drawGuiContainerBackgroundLayer and drawGuiContainerForegroundLayer.

  • The drawGuiContainerBackgroundLayer method is responsible for drawing the background of your GUI.
  • The drawGuiContainerForegroundLayer method is used for drawing text or other elements that appear on top of the background.

Container Class

The Container class manages slots and related functionality. If you need to modify how your interface handles slots, you'll need to extend this class.

For examples of how to modify it, you can refer to the following classes:

  • ContainerFurnace
  • ContainerWorkbench
  • ContainerChest

These, along with others, can be found in the package net.minecraft.core.player.inventory.

Drawing on drawGuiContainerBackgroundLayer

To draw something in the background/foreground layer, use the following pattern:

GL11.glColor4f(1f, 1f, 1f, 1f); // Set the color for the texture or shape
// Load the texture
GL11.glBindTexture(GL11.GL_TEXTURE_2D, mc.renderEngine.getTexture("assets/textures/.../something.png"));
// Disable effects like blending for a clean texture draw
GL11.glDisable(GL11.GL_BLEND);
// Use a method inherited from the GUI class to draw the texture
drawTexturedModalRect(x, y, textureXcoord, textureYCoord, textureWidth, textureHeight);

To draw text use it

// With shadow
this.fontRenderer.drawString("TEXT", x, y, textColor);
// No shadow
this.drawStringNoShadow(this.fontRenderer, "TEXT", x, y, textColor);

This code sets the drawing color, binds the texture, disables unnecessary effects, and then uses the inherited drawTexturedModalRect method to render the texture on the screen.

So, how can I draw my custom GUI without the GUI library?

To handle the drawing of a custom GUI without relying on the GUI library, you'll need to manually calculate the positions of textures, manage timing for animations, and use loops and math to handle positioning, scaling, and movements.

Resources and examples

https://github.com/UselessSolutions/BTA_Babric_LegacyUI

https://github.com/UselessBullets/bta-ironchests