With Hellim’s Slabs, Stairs & Pillars, a single block space is no longer limited to a single material or shape. Slabs, stairs, and pillars can share the same position as long as their geometry does not overlap, opening the door to much more detailed building designs.
After calculating all supported positions, directions, and compatible combinations, the mod currently allows:
- 47 fundamental shapes and orientations
- 153 valid two-part arrangements
- 80 valid three-part arrangements
- 9 valid four-part arrangements
- 289 valid single-block arrangements in total
- 149 unique geometric silhouettes
And those numbers are calculated before different material combinations are included. Using different woods, stones, bricks, metals, and mod-supported materials multiplies the number of visual possibilities even further.
# 🟨 Mixed Slabs
Two slab materials can occupy the same block space when placed in complementary halves.
You can create:
- Two different horizontal slabs in the upper and lower halves
- Two different vertical slabs facing opposite sides
- Interior and exterior wall surfaces made from different materials
- Thin walls with different finishes on each side
- Slab pairs where either half can be broken independently
For example, the exterior side of a wall can use bricks while the interior uses wooden planks, all within a single block.
# 🟩 Slabs and Pillars
A slab fills half of a block, leaving enough room for two quarter-sized pillars. Each part can use its own material.
Possible combinations include:
- A vertical slab with two vertical pillars beside it
- A horizontal slab with two horizontal beams above it
- A top slab with decorative beams underneath
- Three-material wall sections
- Structural frames and detailed trim inside one block
- Quarter-block accents added to otherwise simple slab walls
Each slab and pillar remains an independent part that can be placed or removed separately.
# 🟥 Stairs and Pillars
Pillars can fill the empty quarter inside supported stair shapes.
This works with:
- All four rotations of vertical stairs
- Straight vanilla stairs
- Lower stairs
- Upside-down stairs
- Stairs facing either horizontal axis
- Different materials for the stair and its filler pillar
This makes it possible to add contrasting corner details, supports, trim, or decorative inserts without changing the outer stair geometry.
# 🟦 Multi-Material Assemblies
Up to four compatible parts can share a single block space.
Examples include:
- Four differently colored vertical pillars
- Four horizontal beams arranged in layers
- A vertical slab with two pillar accents
- A vertical stair with a contrasting pillar insert
- A horizontal slab combined with directional beams
- Three-part and four-part architectural details
- Fully occupied blocks assembled from several independent materials
Even when the result looks like a complete block, every colored section remains a separately placed component.
# 🟪 Targeted Placement and Removal
Composite blocks remain fully editable after placement.
You can:
- Add the complementary half to an existing slab
- Fill the remaining space beside a slab
- Add a pillar to the empty corner of a stair
- Continue centered slabs and pillars in the same alignment
- Target one specific slab inside a mixed block
- Break one pillar without destroying the surrounding parts
- Replace individual materials while keeping the rest of the assembly intact
This system is inspired by the precision of KleeSlabs, expanded to support mixed materials, vertical shapes, stairs, and pillars.
# 🟫 Mixed-Direction Pillars
Pillars are not limited to a single direction. Vertical and horizontal pillars can share one block when their occupied areas do not overlap.
You can build:
- A vertical post connected to a lower horizontal beam
- Raised L-shaped frames
- North–south and east–west beams
- Pillars centered on opposite block edges
- Two horizontal beams crossing at different heights
- Three-axis frames using vertical and horizontal parts together
These arrangements are especially useful for window frames, structural supports, beams, furniture, railings, and decorative architecture.
# 🌊 Built for Survival Building
These are functional Minecraft blocks rather than decorative entities or visual tricks.
They support features such as:
- Waterlogging
- Collision and selection shapes matching the visible geometry
- Material-specific textures and sounds
- Independent placement and targeted breaking
- Face culling between touching surfaces
- Recipe Book, JEI, and EMI recipe visibility
- Configurable alternate placement controls
- Placement guide lines
- Continued placement from existing slabs and pillars
# 🏗️ More Detail, Less Space
The goal of Hellim’s Slabs, Stairs & Pillars is to give builders more control without requiring larger structures or sacrificing usable space.
A wall can have two different surfaces. A stair can contain a contrasting corner. A single block can become a detailed frame assembled from several materials. With 289 valid arrangements across 149 unique geometric shapes, even one block can become a meaningful part of a build.
More features, integrations, and building tools are already being explored. 💙
