Salt tablet recipe (bug? intended?)

[EricLease]

I just installed Better MC a couple days ago, came across the Beserker, which as I found out is from Galosphere, and found out about the salt tablet (I was excited to make one, seems pretty cool). I tried the recipe and it showed what I hoped was a visual bug - the preserved flesh as the output, not the salt tablet. Repro: add preserved_template, preserved_flesh, pink_salt_shard to smithing table, it shows preserved_flesh as output. I tried it, and indeed it gave me preserved_flesh, consuming the template. I ate the [preserved?] preserved_flesh , reducing the durability from 100%, and tried again (had gotten 2 tablets as the drop from Beserker, or maybe in a 2nd in a chest?). I don't think it actually had anything to do with the durability, but the 2nd time it showed the correct preview (salt_tablet) and worked when I picked up the resulting item (it is very cool!). I don't work with java, MC modding, or anything like that, but I am a software developer, so I did some research and dug in a bit. I think you have two conflicting Smithing transform recipes. One is defined in the GRecipeProvider.java (line 52), to create the salt tablet), and one is defined somewhere else... config or data I think, a json file, which is to upgrade items to add "preserved" attribute. I believe what happened is the preserved_flesh doesn't have the preserved attribute, so it passes the boolean check for "is not preserved" for the recipe that adds the preserved attribute, and that first time I actually got a perserved_flesh that was preserved. So the second time I put it in the smithing table it failed that check and fell back to the salt tablet recipe. I'm not sure what the most elegant solution is for this, but it seems to be deterministic, not a race condition, which recipe is tried in which order, so it can probably be resolved relatively easily. Maybe it's intentional?

Additionally when I was digging around I noticed the unlock for that recipe transform on line 52 is the smithing template, whereas it should be the template and the other component it consumes, likewise you unlock NETHERITE_INGOT (the base MC advancement) when it should probably be derived from the ingot param passed to that method... but maybe that's because you would have to create a new set of advancements, maybe just a shortcut/hack? idk, like I said I don't work in this space at all, just seemed like a bit of a smell.

p.s. Sorry, that seemed like just criticism. Love the features of the mod!

[EricLease]

Found the other location again: crafting/PreservedTransformRecipe.java, isBaseIngredient(ItemStack itemStack)

If my conclusion was correct, that recipe is taking precedence over the salt tablet recipe, and in that method you could probably just add an additional check to the return, to ensure the item is not preserved_flesh. Then it would fallback to the salt tablet recipe and work as expected...if that is what is expected.

[EricLease]

I was thinking about this some more last night and realized that this is probably a known issue. The only way to allow both salt tablet creation and the ability to preserve "preserved flesh", using the current item/recipe/workstation set is to have this behavior. So my "solution" would remove the ability to create twice preserved flesh... which may be why this behavior is in the mod currently. I understand, but I would argue it's poor player experience to not explain why they seem to have just wasted a preserved template if they were trying to create the salt tablet.

A few possible solutions:

1. Simply add UI elements, tooltips or something to indicate that the preserved flesh needs to be preserved 2x to create the salt tablet. Basic example of state transformation changing recipe in UI - stripped logs vs. reg. logs
2. Create a "transformation workstation" - this follows the pattern of other custom workstations already in the mod, and separates the concept of "preserving" or "transforming" from smithing upgrade. The salt tablet recipe could still use the smithing table, they could both still use the preserved template, or a system for both salt tablet and preservation could be designed around the new workstation. You already have precedent for this sort of thing in your modpack, and personally I think this is the best solution.
3. Create a new recipe/item, e.g. "twice preserved flesh" or "embalmed flesh" or something, and make that the required item to create the salt tablet instead of the base preserved flesh. This is effectively the same solution as point 1 above, just implemented as a distinct item rather than a tooltip. I actually like the lore this implies, that if you keep preserving the flesh it transforms into something else.