I’m using metamorphic rocks to build my home. How do I get the right texture when placing my rocks like the one circled below? I’ve tried placing rocks from different angles but not sure if this is totally random or if there is a proper way of achieving this?
Blocks will orientate differently depending on where you targeted to place it, so if your reticule was targeting the ground when you placed it it’ll go one way or if you targeted the side of the previous block it’ll go another,
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That’s not it. I’ve tried that approach as well. Upper right, lower left, dead center, etc…
Edit. You might be right. i tried placing the rock against another rock, and I got the right texture. Basically,
to the rear but side, if that makes any sense. Whereas any other angle wouldn’t give me the texture. Kinda frustrating because in order for this to work, I need another rock layer in order to get that texture.
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for rocks/blocks like metamorphic, there are two orientations other than sideways.
if you want to mesh with the naturally respawned or generated blocks, you have to be looking at the top or bottom face of a block, and be facing north or south.
If you face east or west the texture won’t line up exactly against naturally generated blocks.
[edit] to answer your original question you would have to be looking at the side of the block behind the one you’re placing
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As ctrl-64 said, some block like refined ones, follow another rule.
This drive me crazy. Now I just put them the best I can and don’t push it to far… to keep my sanity 
To further illustrate my point, if there is a block like the beacon or wood block below, and I place my reticule against those 2, then I get what’s circled on the left. If there is no block, then I can’t place the reticule against anything and forced to point up or down, and I get what’s circled in red. I’m facing east in this screenshot
@ctrl-64 - I just tried placing the rock by standing on it or looking up (facing north or south), and I got the lined texture on the right.
Yeah, this drives me batty. Ugh.
yep that is correct… although not sure what is happening with the bottom right block, looks like it was placed against the block to the right of it…
but yes, to get the texture on the left thats how you have to do it.
Left is top texture as usually seen in the wild and right is the side texture. Left is the riven texture of what would normally be the top or bottom of the block and the other is the strata that would normally be seen as the side. If you look at the side of an adjacent block when placing it you’re effectively putting it on it’s side. To get the riven texture to always match up you either have to be always facing east/West or north/south.
This drives me nuts too. I’d like a modifier key that means on placement you can rotate as you wish before you actually place. For example, hold caps lock, rotate/orient, left click to place. If no rotation desired, just left click like now.
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Incorrect. It is very close but not exactly the same. Some textures don’t have this differential but try it with metamorphic rock.
I think you mean that strata stones is on the left and riven stones are on the right. At least, that’s what a google image search revealed 
Sorta. Facing E/W or N/S will yield the left texture in the image below if there is an adjacent block. If no adjacent block, then it won’t matter what direction I’m facing. I’ll still get the texture on the right in my image. Which sucks because I need to put an additional layer of blocks just to get the right texture.
I have nowhere near as much knowledge as google but from personal experience I was a landscape gardener for over a decade and used to lay a lot of natural stone paving and I’ve always known the rough texture on the top as riven and from what I remember of geology at school, layers of rock that have built up over time and seen from the side as a cross section are known as strata, I’m probably wrong but that’s just my interpretation of it. I think of it as a ream of textured paper, from the top you see the texture but from the side you see the layers of paper that it’s made up of
I have just tried placing the rock facing east and west and the texture always tiled with no seams it also always tiles with no seams when placed faced north and south but when placed the e/w and n/s next to each other that’s when I could see the seams.
Blocks placed north and south alternating, no seam.
Blocks placed east and west alternating, no seam.
Blocks placed ‘east and south’ and ‘west and north’ alternating, you can see the tiling.
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Once you know which texture appears on what orientation, you need to pay attention to the orientation of the preplace hashing. It tells you how the block will be oriented before you place it. There’s nothing random about how the textures appear and you have complete control over it – assuming you can place a block with the desired orientation at all. Many a time I’ve been creeping out over the edge of a (seemingly) miles-high construction job just to get the block orientation right. Then LITERALLY UNPLAYABLE pops up and I’m down on the ground again (thankfully it’s a fall of dozens of metres so I’m not dead, unlike a fall of one block).
Used to be there was a skill you could learn to let you rotate blocks to get the right texture, but that’s gone now.
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Your orientation matters, but sometimes it glitches anyway. Idk if they fixed the glitching.
I spend most of my time ensuring that all blocks are placed down while I face north.
There are some block patterns that cannot work in multiple ways. Overall you just have to take the time to figure out which direction is needed if you are trying to use the patterns.
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