This next OP release is smaller than the last, in terms of overall scope, but is still quite complex in implementation.

Much of this is that I am replacing some earlier "hackish" solutions with some which seem to be a little more flexible (for instance, replacing a "lamp_on" and "lamp_off" block pair with "lamp" and an "active" flag).

Ultimately, proceeding with the planned feature changes would probably be possible without sorting this out, but it would be quite ugly and would only compound these hacks further.

That said, I think that this part of the change is working, and just needs to be carved up to make sense. Next, I need to do something to generalize how "output direction" is handled, since that is currently also handled with special block types (5 blocks for a "hopper", for each of the 5 output blocks).

Still, whenever I get mired in some kind of refactoring, I always worry if I am wasting my time (as much refactoring does fall into the domain of yak shaving). I think that this will make more sense, though, and really should be improved.

I also think I figured out why the blocks in distance have black surfaces and it is because my previous solution to them being transparent was wrong. I don't think it was odd blending, I think it is a naive mipmap approach. Requires verification, though.

The work continues,
Jeff.