Unlocking Hidden Textures with the Useful Sides Mod
Minecraft has always been a game of creativity, where every block tells a story. But have you ever looked at a crafting table or a bookshelf and wished you could use just one of its detailed sides as a full block? The Useful Sides mod makes that possible, turning the hidden faces of vanilla blocks into standalone building materials. Instead of being limited to the default top or front texture, you can now extract any surface and place it as a complete block, opening up a world of subtle design possibilities.
What Exactly Is the Useful Sides Mod?
At its core, Useful Sides lets you isolate individual textures from blocks that have multiple distinct sides. Think of the crafting table — it has a top with tools, a side with a saw pattern, and a bottom with wooden planks. Normally, you only see these when the block is placed in a specific orientation. This mod gives you the power to take, say, the side texture and use it as a full cube, repeating that pattern on all six faces. It works with nearly every vanilla block that has more than one texture, so a solid diamond block with identical faces won’t qualify, but a jukebox, note block, or loom certainly will.
The Planing Table: Your Texture Workshop
The heart of the mod is the Planing Table, a new crafting station that handles the conversion. To craft it, you’ll need six iron ingots, two anvils, and one crafting table. That might sound steep early on, but the anvils alone hint that this is a mid-to-late-game tool for dedicated builders. Once placed, right-clicking the Planing Table brings up a clean, intuitive menu. You’re presented with a list of all viable blocks in your inventory. Pick the block you want to reskin, then choose exactly how many copies of the new textured block you’d like to produce. The interface even lets you preview which side of the original block you’re extracting, so there’s no guesswork.
Crafting the Planing Table Step by Step
- Gather 6 iron ingots, 2 anvils, and 1 crafting table.
- Open a standard crafting grid and arrange the ingredients: place the crafting table in the center, surround it with iron ingots in the remaining slots, and put one anvil in each of the two empty corners.
- Collect the Planing Table block and set it down in your world.
Once you’ve got the table, the process is simple. Insert the block you want to reskin into the input slot, select the desired face from the dropdown or visual picker, and adjust the quantity. The mod respects the original block’s properties — meaning your new textured block will retain the same mining duration, blast resistance, and even the same sounds when walked on or broken. That consistency is a huge plus for survival builders who don’t want to mix weirdly fragile blocks into their structures.
Which Blocks Work and Which Don’t
Most vanilla blocks with multiple textures are fair game. You can pull the side texture from a bookshelf to create seamless wooden panels, or grab the bottom of a smithing table for a dark metallic floor. However, there are a few exceptions. The Purpur Pillar is currently excluded due to an upcoming flattening change in the base game — a limitation the mod author notes is Mojang’s doing, not theirs. Other than that, almost every block from the creative inventory is supported. One important thing to remember: the transformation is permanent. Once you turn a crafting table into a block that displays only its side texture, you cannot revert it back to the original multiface block. Plan your conversions carefully, especially if resources are scarce.
Creative Uses in Builds
The mod shines in detailing. Instead of using full looms for their side pattern, you can now create thin accent walls that mimic fabric textures. The note block’s top makes an excellent smooth wooden tile, while the jukebox side offers a clean dark wood finish that’s hard to replicate otherwise. For modern builds, extracting the observer’s face gives you a technical-looking panel without the directional arrow. Even the humble composter yields a rich brown bark-like texture from its sides. Because the new blocks keep their original sounds, you can use them for hidden flooring that sounds like wood but looks like stone, adding an extra layer of immersion.
Getting the mod into your game is straightforward, and if you’re looking for a hassle-free way to manage your modded experience, many players find that using a dedicated launcher simplifies everything. The foxygame.net launcher, for instance, lets you browse and install mods like Useful Sides directly from its built-in menu, saving you from digging through file folders or worrying about version conflicts. It’s a flexible, modern tool that keeps your mods organized and ready to play without the usual setup headaches.
Limitations to Keep in Mind
While the mod is powerful, it’s not a universal retexturing tool. Blocks that are already uniform — like diamond, gold, or iron blocks — won’t appear in the Planing Table menu because there’s no alternate texture to extract. Also, the permanent conversion means you can’t use the same block for multiple purposes unless you craft extras beforehand. If you accidentally convert your last crafting table into a side-textured block, you’ll need to craft a new one from scratch. The mod also doesn’t add any new textures; it simply repurposes existing ones, so the visual style remains 100% vanilla-friendly, which is perfect for purists.
Why Useful Sides Deserves a Spot in Your Modpack
In a game where subtle details separate good builds from great ones, Useful Sides offers a simple yet transformative mechanic. It doesn’t overwhelm you with hundreds of new blocks, nor does it break the vanilla aesthetic. Instead, it cleverly reuses what’s already in the game, rewarding players who pay attention to texture details. Whether you’re designing a rustic tavern with custom wooden beams or a futuristic lab with smooth metallic panels, the Planing Table becomes an essential tool. The mod’s light footprint and straightforward recipe mean it fits seamlessly into both light vanilla-plus packs and larger kitchen-sink modpacks. Next time you’re staring at a crafting table, consider all the hidden sides you’ve been ignoring — and start planing.