Pro Tips for Creating Your Own Minecraft Mod

In this post, we will explore how to create mods for Minecraft and the different mods you can create in the game.

What is a Minecraft Mod?

Before we go to specifics, let us first discuss what Minecraft mods are.

Short for modifications, mods in general mean any changes or modifications made to a game that alters the gameplay. These changes can be simple like changing the color of game elements; or complex like introducing new characters or items.

In Minecraft, mods can add or remove content to the game or change how it is played. They can also change the way blocks, items, and mobs appear, grant players with special abilities, change or add new landscapes and terrain and more.

Minecraft mods are not created nor reviewed by the developers. They are made by modders who usually do modding as a hobby. They are available through third-party websites.

Why Are Minecraft Mods Popular?

Some games can get boring after a while especially those that have a linear progression. Once you finish them, there is little incentive to play the games again.

To make video games more interesting, many gamers who have some programming skills started to create mods to make the games replayable and more exciting.

Minecraft is not by any means a one-path, predictable game. Even without mods, players can do a lot with it, and play it over and over again. But Minecraft mods make the game even more interesting and increase its replay value.

Also, modders get satisfaction in creating mods. Modding can also sometimes lead to getting better careers for them.

How Do I Get Minecraft Mods

There are lots of websites that host Minecraft mods such as Minecraft Mods, Planet Minecraft, CurseForge, MCreator, and more.

Are Minecraft Mods Free?

Most Minecraft mods are available for free.

How To Create Minecraft Mods?

There are two ways to create Minecraft mods. The traditional way to make mods involves a bit of coding knowledge. The other way is to use Mcreator which does the coding part for the user.

How to Create Minecraft Mods with MCreator?

MCreator is an open-source software used to make Minecraft Java Edition mods, Bedrock Edition Add-Ons, and data packs. Coding knowledge is not required as it uses an intuitive easy-to-learn interface, although you still can with its integrated code editor.

To get started, you need to download MCreator. Be sure the version you download matches the version of Minecraft that you have. Then you need to install the software on your computer. MCreator works in Windows, Linux and Mac.

Once installation is complete, you will be prompted to create your workspace. Just put the name you want for your workspace and click Create Workspace. It will take some time to set up but after it’s done, you will see a Workspace tab on the top left of the screen. Click on it to start creating your mods.

On the left side of your screen, you will see a plus sign. Clicking on it will show you the list of elements you can make such as block, biome, food, and more.

Here are the steps in creating a mod block in MCreate.

Click on the + icon to show the elements and then click on the block icon.
Enter the name of your new block.
A new tab bearing the name of your block will appear.
You can change the texture of your block here. You will see the block laid out flat. Click on one side and hit create a texture from scratch and it will generate a new transparent image. You can use a texture from templates to add to your block and edit it or create your own using the drawing tools.
Once you’re done, hit save this texture and enter the name that you want for it.
Go back to your block and click on it. You will now see the texture/s that you have saved. Choose it to apply to your block.

To create mod structures and biomes, watch the video tutorials below.

How to Make Your Own Structures Using MCreator

How to Create Basic Biomes Using MCreator

How To Create Minecraft Mods The Traditional Way

The traditional way to make Minecraft mods involve a bit of coding skills particularly Java. Here are the steps for creating mods for Minecraft 1.19.

First, download the following software to your computer.

Java Development Kit or JDK. This is a cross-platformed software development environment that offers a collection of tools and libraries necessary for developing Java-based software applications and applets. The most popular JDKs include Oracle JDK, AdoptOpen /Eclipse Temurin JDK, and Azul Systems. Eclipse is free and open-source and can be downloaded here.
Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This is a software application that helps facilitate the development of other applications. Examples are Eclipse IDE and IntelliJ IDEA. We are going to use IntelliJ for this tutorial.
Forge. Forge is a free, open-source server that allows players to install and run Minecraft mods. You can download forge here.

You can download and install JDK and IDE as you would any other software. But downloading and installing Forge is a bit different. When you download Forge, you will get a ZIP file that you need to extract using WinZIP or any compression utility. Unpack the file into your desired location, where you want your Mod Projects created. Now copy the directory structure for the next step.

Next, open IntelliJ.

You will see the following buttons: new project, open, and get from vcs. Click the open button. Paste the directory that you copied earlier then select the folder which contains the extracted Forge files. Click on Trust Project and a new window will appear.

It will start configuring for a while. Just ignore the error messages that will show. When it is done, you should get a message saying build successful.

Next, ensure that IntelliJ settings are correct.

Go to file>project structure> and then check if the SDK is selected to 17 and that the Language Level is SDK 17. Adjust these settings if necessary and hit apply.

Then go to File>Settings>Build, execution, deployment>build tools>gradle. Make sure that the gradle JVM is project SDK. Make necessary changes then hit apply.

Make some changes in the build.gradle file.

Go to build.gradle file. Look for the line with “version” written on it and change the numbers next to it into 0.0.1-1.19.

Look for the line containing the word “group = com.yourname.modid.”. Replace com with net and yourname with your name. Replace modid with whatever you want to use as long all the letters are in lowercase and there are no spaces in between.

Below that line, you will see archivesBaseName = ‘modid’. Replace modid with the name you chose above.

Find the line containing “examplemod”. Double-click it to select the entire word and then press control +R. In the replace field, put in the designated modid you used earlier and then hit replace all.

Click the elephant icon to load the gradle changes.

Change the Content and Location of the ExampleMod Class.

Open the examplemod class.

Look for the line that contains public static final\ String MODID = examplemod. Change examplemod to the modid you defined earlier.

Find the line that contains public class ExampleMod and change ExampleMod to your modId. Capitalize your modid in this line since the style rules for Java indicates that public class names should be capitalized.

Change the package structure “package com.example.examplemod” to “package net.yourname.modid“. Remember that this is the same name and modid that you have defined earlier in the build.gradle file. To do this, click on examplemod and then press shift F6. Replace it with net.yourname.modid. Click on refactor. After doing this, the package structure on the left will change.

Make changes in the mods.toml file.

Expand the resource folder on the left side of the screen and then the METAINF folder then select and double click the mods.toml file to show its content on the right side of the screen.

Look for the line which contains modId = “examplemod”. Replace “example mod” with your modId you created earlier.

Find the line that has the display name and change the value to to your modId.

Look for the line that says author and change the value to your name.

Run genIntelliJRuns Task.

Go to gradle tab on rightmost part of the screen. Expand the Tasks and expand forgegradleruns. Double click genIntellijRuns. Wait for the process to end.

Start Minecraft in the Dev environment

Under the forgegradleruns look for run client and double click it. This will run Minecraft in the dev environment.

Start building your mod.

The previous steps show how to set up the workspace for modding Minecraft. Watch the tutorials on how to create mods in Forge below.

How to Create Minecraft Custom Items Using Forge.

How to Create Custom Blocks in Minecraft Using Forge

How to Create Recipes and Loot Tables Mod Using Forge

Summary

Minecraft mods refer to any changes or modifications made to a game that alters the gameplay.

Minecraft mods can add or remove content to the game, change the way blocks, items, and mobs appear, grant players with special abilities, change or add new landscapes and terrain and more.

Minecraft mods make the game even more interesting and increase its replay value.

Mods are created by hobbyists and are not reviewed by Mojang/Microsoft.

The traditional way to make mods requires coding knowledge, specifically Java.

MCreator is software that lets you create mods even without coding knowledge.