Better Than Wolves [MODERN PORT]

A faithful port of Better Than Wolves (originally by FlowerChild for Minecraft 1.5.2) to Forge 1.20.1.

This is not a rewrite. The port runs the original FC game code verbatim on top of a compatibility bridge that translates modern Minecraft's APIs back into the APIs FC was written against. All block, item, entity, recipe, and tile-entity behaviours come from the original BTW 4.B0000003 sources. The original progression, the difficulty curve, and unforgiving hunger are preserve. The link to the original source code can be found here.

DISCLAMER

There are many issues and unimplemented features in this mod. I am one man. I cannot implement everything. This is an ongoing project that is currently in its alpha phase. Play the game as it is meant to be played! Modern Vanilla features will either need to be balanced, changed, or scraped depending on how they interact with the BTW progression loop. This is not done (yet) but it should be soon.

What Better Than Wolves Is

BTW is a total-conversion survival mod that throws out Minecraft's ease-of-life shortcuts and rebuilds the game around a multi-stage tech tree. Early game is hard, resources are scarce, food matters, sleep costs you, et cetera. The payoff is one of the best tech progressions ever shipped in a Minecraft mod: windmills, waterwheels, axles, gearboxes, mill stones, saws, anvils, cauldrons, crucibles, kilns, soulforges, and the soul-steel endgame.

If you've never played BTW before, do not expect vanilla Minecraft + extras. Expect a different, harsher, more rewarding game.

Core Content Included

Progression & Tech

• Full mechanical-power network: windmills, waterwheels, horizontal/vertical axles, gearboxes, hand cranks
• Mill stone, saw, anvil, chopping block, turntable, pottery wheel
• Hibachi + stoked fire, kiln, cauldron, stoked cauldron, crucible,
• Soulforge and the steel progression
• Bellows, detector blocks, pulleys

Farming & Food

• Hemp cultivation, flax-style fiber processing
• Animal husbandry loop with FC's health/nutrition rules
• Cooking, baking, knitting, dying

Combat & Survival

• Composite bow, battleaxe, warhammer, mattock, steel tools
• Gloom, hunger, fat, and health penalty system (four separate debuff tracks)
• FC's food scale (0–60) driving penalty gates

World & Mobs

• All FC blocks, plants, ores, and worldgen-facing content
• FC's custom animal behaviours and drop tables
• Hardcore spawn, costly sleep, FC's death penalties

Integration

• Full JEI support (optional). Cauldron, stoked cauldron, crucible, and mill stone recipe categories are browsable in-game.

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.20.1
• Forge 47.3.0 or newer
• Java 17
• JEI 15.3.0.8+ (optional, recommended)

Installation

1. Install Forge 1.20.1.
2. Drop the BTW jar into your mods/ folder.
3. (Optional) Drop JEI 15.x into the same folder.
4. Launch. Create a new world. Read the field manual before your first night.

Tip: BTW assumes a fresh world. Do not apply it to an existing save.

Compatibility Notes

This port runs the original FC code through a runtime bridge. Other Forge mods generally work alongside it, but a few caveats apply:

• Food/hunger mods will conflict — BTW replaces the vanilla food system with its own penalty model.
• Combat overhauls (that add attack cooldown tuning, dodge mechanics, etc.) may not mesh with FC's pre-1.9 combat.
• Tool-durability overhauls (mending changes, unbreakable tool mods) break FC's repair economy on purpose.
• Early-progression mods (copper/brass tech trees, quest mods, mining mods) typically don't need to conflict but were not explicitly tested.

If you are bundling BTW in a modpack, keep its progression in mind — many "quality of life" mods trivialise FC's intended difficulty curve.

Known Limitations (Beta)

This is an ongoing port. The following are in progress:

• Some visual polish (cracked pottery overlay, specific animated textures)
• A handful of FC tile-entity renderers
• Certain late-game FC entities still use placeholder models
• Network sync timing on some multi-player edge cases
• Full compatibility with every modded dimension is not guaranteed

Bug reports with log files are welcome. "I tried to use X and it didn't drop Y" reports with a latest.log are the most useful.

Credits

• FlowerChild — original author of Better Than Wolves for Minecraft 1.5.2. This port contains his code verbatim. All gameplay design credit belongs to him.
• Mojang — Minecraft.
• MinecraftForge team — the Forge 1.20.1 modloader.
• mezz — JEI.
• SpongePowered — Mixin.