Troubleshooting Block and Item Rendering

It's pretty certain that the first time you try to create a block or an item, it will probably wind up looking like this:

The dreaded missing texture / missing model.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things you have to get exactly right before your blocks and items will render properly, and it's often not easy to discover what the problem is.

You can find working examples of a simple block (MBE01) and a simple item (MBE10) here.

Alternatively, this troubleshooting flowchart below might help.

Old version of the troubleshooter.

Before you start

If the problem appears after you have been testing your mod for a while, it is worth taking 2 minutes to start Minecraft, generate a new test world, and see if you still have the problem.  Sometimes the remapping of block and item IDs (that happens when you add and remove blocks or items to your mod) can lead to subtle mismatches and very confusing bugs.

Is it a Block problem, an ItemBlock problem,  or an Item problem?

A Block problem will look wrong when you place it in the world, for example

Block problem

An Item or ItemBlock problem will show up when you are holding the block  in your hand or in the inventory.  (An ItemBlock is the Item that represents your Block when it's not in the world, i.e. in the inventory or in your hand.  It is automatically created when you register a Block.)

ItemBlock problem or Item problem

An Item problem looks the same as an ItemBlock problem except that it doesn't have a Block of course.

If you have a Block problem, go to Blocks Step 1 below.
If you have an Item (or ItemBlock) problem, go to Items Step 1.
If you have both, solve the Block problem first.

Blocks - Step 1 - Registration

Does your block appear in the creative tabs?  If not, the problem is probably one of the following:

1. Your Block registration is not being called (must be called during preInitialisation)
   

   GameRegistry.registerBlock(blockSimple, "mbe01_block_simple");

2. You have passed the wrong block to registerBlock, or the block instance is null.
3. You haven't set the appropriate creative tab in your Block

public BlockSimple()
{
  super(Material.rock);
  this.setCreativeTab(CreativeTabs.tabBlock);   // the block will appear on the Blocks tab in creative}

Blocks - Step 2

If you place your block in the world, can you see it at all?

Invisible block

If you can see the outline, but no block (with or without the blue square), then your Block.getRenderType() is probably wrong [MT81].  Either delete it or override to return 3.

// render using a BakedModel (mbe01_block_simple.json --> mbe01_block_simple_model.json)

// not strictly required because the default (super method) is 3.

@Override

public int getRenderType() {
  return 3;
}

The blue square (see picture above) on blocks which are transparent (or only take up part of the cube) is caused by isOpaqueBlock()==true when it shouldn't be [MT80].

Problems with transparency are often caused by getBlockLayer() [MT82].

Blocks - Step 3 - Check the console for error messages

If you place your block in the world, does it look like this?

Missing block texture / missing block model.

If not, this troubleshooting guide probably won't help you.

Otherwise, it's time to look at the console for error messages related to your block.  Unfortunately, these vary wildly from one version of Forge to the next.
For version 1.8-11.14.1.1334, use this description of symptoms.
For version 1.8-11.14.1.1441 and higher, including Forge 1.8.9, use this description of symptoms.

Alternatively, you could browse the list of common mistakes for simple blocks here, or blocks with variants here.

A good place for a breakpoint:
ModelLoader::VanillaLoader::

public IModel loadModel(ResourceLocation modelLocation)
{
  try {
    return loader.new VanillaModelWrapper(modelLocation, loader.loadModel(modelLocation));
  } catch(IOException e) {

// ADD A BREAKPOINT HERE AND LOOK AT THE EXCEPTION
    if(loader.isLoading) { //ToDo: Make this less gaging, hides missing models..     // holding error until onPostBakeEvent    } else {

      FMLLog.log(Level.ERROR, e, "Exception loading model %s with vanilla loader, skipping", modelLocation);

    }
    return loader.getMissingModel();
  }
}

or in 1.8.9:
ModelLoaderRegistry::getModel(...)

try {
    model = accepted.loadModel(actual);
} catch (IOException e) {
    throw e;   // BREAKPOINT HERE
} catch(Exception e) {
    FMLLog.log(Level.ERROR, e, "Exception loading model %s with loader %s, skipping", location, accepted);  // BREAKPOINT HERE
    model = getMissingModel();
}

and if you are having trouble figuring out where Forge is looking for your assets folder:

public IResource getResource(ResourceLocation location) throws IOException
{
    IResourceManager iresourcemanager = (IResourceManager)this.domainResourceManagers.get(location.getResourceDomain());  // breakpoint here.

--> the resourcemanager will contain the path, eg
C:\Users\TGG\IdeaProjects\MinecraftByExample1-8-9\out\production\MinecraftByExample1-8-9

Items Step 1 - Registration

For ItemBlocks skip to step 2 because this is not relevant unless you are manually registering the ItemBlock (in which case - check your Block is registered before your ItemBlock!).

Otherwise - does your Item appear in the creative tabs?  If not, the problem is probably one of the following:

1. Your Item registration is not being called (must be called during preInitialisation)
   

   GameRegistry.registerItem(itemSimple, "mbe10_item_simple");
   

2. You have passed the wrong item to registerItem, or the item instance is null.
3. You haven't set the appropriate creative tab in your Item

public class ItemSimple extends Item
{
  public ItemSimple()
  {
    this.setCreativeTab(CreativeTabs.tabMisc);   // the item will appear on the Miscellaneous tab in creative  }
}

Items Step 2- ItemCameraTransform problem

Does your model have the right appearance, but is the wrong size, is distorted, or is sitting at the wrong angle in the inventory, your hand, or in third person view?

ItemCameraTransform problem

If so, you have a problem with the ItemCameraTransform information in your item model json.  See here for more information.

Otherwise, contine to step 3...

Items Step 3 - Check the console for error messages

A useful clue is given by the appearance of the item in the inventory and in your hand.

If it looks like this, i.e. 3D, then it is a "missing model".

Missing model

If it looks like this, i.e. 2D, or it has the correct shape but the wrong texture, then it is a "missing texture".  Your block model is being registered and loaded correctly, but the texture filename is probably wrong.

Missing texture

Next step is to look at the console for error messages related to your block.  Unfortunately, these vary wildly from one version of Forge to the next.
For version 1.8-11.14.1.1334, use this description of symptoms.
For version 1.8-11.14.1.1441 and higher, including Forge 1.8.9, use this description of symptoms.

Alternatively, you could browse the list of common mistakes for simple items here, simple itemblocks here, or itemblocks with variants here.