Catenary - Decorative Chains and Ziplines

This datapack introduces aesthetic hanging structures known as catenaries to Minecraft. They are created using special fireworks that allow precise placement of anchor points without being constrained by the standard block grid. After installation, you can ride along catenaries like ziplines.

Creating Catenaries

Catenaries are crafted on a special workbench made from 2 planks and 2 chains. Interacting with it opens an interface with three material slots. The first slot holds the material for the catenary rope - various ropes and chains are suitable. The button on the left controls the curvature of the structure.

The other two slots are for decorative elements. They are optional - you can use only the first slot. Items placed here will hang below the rope and can emit light. You can combine different decorations in the two slots to create alternating patterns. The left button controls the spacing between decorative elements.

A special type of decoration - "spellings" - is created by placing any sign in the first decoration slot. In this case, the second slot accepts material for setting the "font". The spelling displays text assigned when renaming the item on an anvil, using player heads. The font changes the textures of these heads.

Placing and Removing Catenaries

To place a catenary, click the item on a block. This selects that location as one of the endpoints. You'll see colorful particles moving from your cursor to that location. When placing the item in another spot, a catenary is created between the two points. The minimum and maximum distance between points can be changed in settings.

After placement, the catenary has two thick end nodes. Clicking on them with a new catenary item allows selecting this node as an endpoint for a new structure, enabling multiple catenaries to connect at one point.

Left-clicking any node destroys the catenary, returning the used item. To prevent accidental destruction, you can wax a catenary by clicking with honeycomb. Any axe removes the wax, allowing the catenary to be broken again.

Ziplines

Clicking with a bow on an end node lets you ride the catenary like a zipline. The mechanics use realistic physics with acceleration and drag, so you can't simply go upwards against gravity. When reaching the end of one catenary and there's another connected to the node, riding continues on the new catenary with momentum preserved.

Two craftable items make ziplines even more interesting:

Zipline Mount Pad

A placeable block resembling a pressure plate. When an entity steps on it, it automatically starts riding the nearest zipline (within 3 blocks from the platform center, located 2 blocks above). Now even non-player mobs can ride ziplines!

Zipline Lift Upgrade

Applied by clicking on both end nodes of a catenary. Turns the structure into a one-way route: movement is only possible from the first clicked point to the second. Speed is fixed at 6 blocks per second, even against gravity! This allows using ziplines as lifts.