Flatter Signs: A Mode 13h Addon

A Fabric mod for Minecraft 1.20.1 that adds billboarding to signs when paired with the Mode 13h shaderpack.

Designed as an addon for Mode 13h: MS-DOSify!. Without the shaderpack you can still use the mod, but signs will render as a cross/hatch model (like vanilla grass/flowers), because Mode 13h is what actually converts those models into billboards.

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!An image of a flat billboarded sign glowing in the dark

🧾 Why This Exists

Mode 13h already billboards several objects for that crunchy DOS look — but signs are special: the moment you billboard them, the vanilla text rendering becomes useless (no “real” front face to draw on).

So Flatter Signs solves the readability problem by:

• making signs one-sided (like pre-1.20 behavior, fitting the “no backside” billboard logic),
• and printing the sign’s content in chat with a vanilla-style prefix: <Sign> Hello world!

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!Reading a sign prints the contents to chat

✨ Features

📌 Billboard-ready sign models

• Standing signs are turned into a cross/hatch model so Mode 13h can billboard them.
• All wood variants supported.
• Works with signs and hanging signs.

💬 Chat reading (right click)

• Right click a sign to print its text in chat with a <Sign> prefix.
• Shift + right click to edit the sign (since normal right click is now “read”).

🎨 Vanilla mechanics preserved (and made visible)

These interactions affect both the sign itself and the chat output:

• Dye a sign → the text printed in chat matches the dyed color.
• Glow ink sac → sign glows in the dark.
• Honeycomb (wax) → sign becomes non-editable (even with Shift+RMB) but still readable/printable.

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🪵 Resourcepack-friendly by design

• Signs use the item sign texture, so they stay compatible with any resource pack automatically.
• Wall signs are procedurally generated from the item texture: if your pack keeps the general vanilla sign silhouette, it should “just work” with no extra assets (otherwise, check Configuration below).

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⚠️ Known compromise

Wall Hanging Signs

Wall hanging signs are flat, not billboarded. Their shape makes true billboarding impractical, so this is the best balance between:

• readability,
• visual consistency,
• and not breaking the model into something uncanny.

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⚙️ Configuration

A simple .json config lets you enable/disable each feature independently (billboard model, chat printing, one-sided behavior, shift-to-edit logic, dye/glow/wax behavior, hanging sign support, etc.).

• Location: config/flattersigns.json (generated after first launch)

• Use case: keep only the bits you want if you’re not using Mode 13h.

• Resource packs with non-vanilla sign silhouettes may need:

  • wall_sign_texture_crop_height (1..16) — visible pixel height taken from the item texture.
  • wall_sign_texture_crop_offset (0..16, clamped) — vertical offset into the item texture before cropping.

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🧩 Compatibility

Platform	Minecraft	Works?	Notes
Fabric	1.20.1	✅	Native target
Forge	1.20.1	✅	Via Sinytra Connector + Forgified Fabric API
Without Mode 13h shaderpack	1.20.1	✅*	No billboard effect; signs appear as cross/hatch models

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✅ Quick usage cheat sheet

• Read sign: Right click
• Edit sign: Shift + right click
• Dye / glow / wax: Same items, same behavior — now reflected in chat readability too

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🖇️ Credits

• Mod & idea: HandLock_
• Made for: Mode 13h: MS-DOSify! shaderpack

“No backside, eyes up here!”