Item / trading

Transfer papers

How a horse changes hands. Sign a paper against a horse you own and whoever holds the paper can claim that horse — and the paper is drawn as the horse itself, so you can see which one it is.

How they work

  1. Craft a blank transfer paper: 8 paper in a ring around 1 horse hair. This is the one shaped recipe in the mod.
  2. Right-click a horse you own with the blank. It becomes a signed paper for that horse. You can also buy signed papers from the cowboy.
  3. Whoever holds the signed paper can redeem it for the horse.
A signed paper is drawn as the horse

Not as a piece of paper — as the actual animal, in its own coat, shrunk into the item slot. It is the same picture in your inventory, in your hand, on the ground and in a trader’s window. A stall of six papers is six different horses at a glance rather than six identical papers you have to read the names off.

Things worth knowing

  • One blank per craft. Eight paper and a hair is a deliberate act, not a stack you carry around.
  • Signed papers never stack, because two of them are never the same horse. A paper’s name is the horse’s name.
  • Only you can sign your blank, and only against a horse you currently own. Once signed, anyone holding it may redeem it.
  • The picture works off a snapshot taken when the paper was signed, so it still draws the right horse even if that horse is far away, sold on twice, or dead.
ItemRecipe
Blank transfer paperShaped: 8 × paper around 1 × horse hair
Signed transfer paperRight-click a horse you own with a blank; or buy one from the cowboy

What each one carries

ItemRecipeWhat it carries
Blank transfer paper Shaped: 8 × paper around 1 × horse hair paper_bearer — the crafter, stamped on at the bench
Signed transfer paper Right-click a horse you own with a blank; or buy one from the cowboy horse_deed — the horse's id, name, breed, breeder, and its genetic and epigenome codes, which are what let the item draw as the horse
  • A signed paper is drawn as the horse it names, not as a paper: the mod's HD horse mesh in that horse's own generated coat, shrunk into the slot (client/TransferDeedRenderer). It works off the deed's own snapshot of the genome, so a paper for a horse that is unloaded, sold on twice or dead still draws the animal it was written for.
  • A signed paper never stacks. Two of them are never the same item, and a stack could not show you which horse is which. Its name is the horse's name, so a cowboy's merchant window reads as a list of horses rather than a list of identical papers.
  • The blank is bound; the signed one is not. Only the bound player can sign, and only against a horse they currently own. After that it is a bearer instrument and anyone may redeem it.

Full mechanics on Villagers & transfer papers, which stays the source of truth for the trade itself.

Known gaps

  • The blank transfer paper reuses the research-paper texture. The signed paper no longer needs art at all — it draws as the horse — but its sprite is still what the game throws as particles when one breaks.
client/TransferDeedRenderer; components paper_bearer and horse_deed.