Fix: Piston Arm Texture Missing When Retexturing Pistons in Bedrock

Why Is the Piston Arm Texture Missing When Retexturing Pistons?

Quick Answer: The piston arm texture (piston_arm.png) is missing from the bedrock-samples resource pack. Only piston_top_normal.png and piston_top_sticky.png are included. The arm texture is used when the piston extends. Extract it from the vanilla resource pack or create a custom one.

Details: Issue #133 (April 2026, 6 comments) details that the piston_arm.png texture is absent from resource_pack/textures/blocks/ in the samples. When the piston extends, the arm uses this texture. Without it, the extended piston shows missing texture (purple/black). To fix: 1) Extract piston_arm.png from vanilla resource pack (textures/blocks/piston_arm.png), 2) Add to your resource pack at textures/blocks/piston_arm.png, 3) Ensure piston_top_normal.png and piston_top_sticky.png are also present for the top faces. The sticky piston uses the same arm texture but with slime overlay logic.

# Extract from vanilla resource pack:
# 1. Get vanilla resource pack .mcpack
# 2. Rename to .zip, extract
# 3. Find textures/blocks/piston_arm.png
# 4. Copy to your pack at same path

# Required piston textures:
# textures/blocks/piston_top_normal.png
# textures/blocks/piston_top_sticky.png
# textures/blocks/piston_arm.png  <-- MISSING FROM SAMPLES
# textures/blocks/piston_bottom.png
# textures/blocks/piston_side.png

{
  "format_version": "1.12.0",
  "minecraft:client_entity": {
    "description": {
      "identifier": "minecraft:piston",
      "materials": { "default": "piston" },
      "textures": {
        "default": "textures/blocks/piston_top_normal",
        "sticky": "textures/blocks/piston_top_sticky",
        "arm": "textures/blocks/piston_arm"
      },
      "geometry": "geometry.piston"
    }
  }
}

Last updated: 2026-07-10