Distant Ores

What is Distant Ores?

Distant Ores is a NeoForge mod for Minecraft 1.21.1 that adds a custom placement modifier: distantores:distance_from_origin. This modifier controls whether an ore vein spawns based on how far the chunk is from world origin (0,0,0).

It works with any modded ores, you just need to make a datapack for it. I've included all you need to know below to make your own.

This can be installed just on the server if you need, clients do not need it installed for it to work.

The mod ships with no ore generation of its own. All ore behaviour is defined by datapacks, which you choose based on your world type.

Preset Datapacks

Three presets are available on my page, and linked below:

Sky Islands, designed for sky island worlds. Removes vanilla underground ore generation and replaces it with sky-altitude ore generation (Y 60–350). If you have a sky island world with terrain underneath, coal, iron, and copper still generates underground for players who dig below the islands.

Vanilla Terrain, designed for standard overworld terrain (vanilla or modded terrain). Keeps vanilla Y ranges but applies the distance modifier, so rarer ores become more common the further you travel from spawn. Note that this meaningfully changes early game progression — digging straight down at spawn will yield coal and iron as normal, but diamonds, gold, redstone, and lapis will not appear until you've travelled outward. Exploration unlocks depth, rather than depth being a given from the start.

Create Addon, adds zinc ore (from Create) to the distance system. Works alongside either preset. Requires Create to be installed. This is a good pack to show you how you can add support for any other modded ores!

Distance Scaling

The distantores:distance_from_origin modifier controls spawn chance based on horizontal distance from (0, 0). Three values define the curve:

Field	Description
`base_chance`	Probability of spawning at or before `min_distance`. `0.0` = never, `1.0` = always.
`min_distance`	Distance at which scaling begins.
`max_distance`	Distance at which the ore reaches 100% spawn chance.

Between min_distance and max_distance, the chance scales linearly from base_chance to 1.0.

Default Values

Ore	Base chance	Starts scaling	Fully unlocked
Coal	1.0	Always	Always
Iron	1.0	Always	Always
Copper	0.6	0 blocks	1,000 blocks
Redstone	0.0	1,000 blocks	4,500 blocks
Gold	0.0	1,000 blocks	5,000 blocks
Lapis	0.0	1,000 blocks	5,000 blocks
Emerald	0.15	0 blocks	5,000 blocks
Diamond	0.0	4,000 blocks	10,000 blocks

Adding a Custom Ore

You can add any ore to the Distant Ores system with a simple datapack - no modding required. The Create Addon datapack is a working example you can copy from.

A datapack needs three things for each ore:

1. Configured Feature

Defines what block to place and how big the vein is.

data/<yourmod>/worldgen/configured_feature/myore.json

{
  "type": "minecraft:ore",
  "config": {
    "discard_chance_on_air_exposure": 0.0,
    "size": 9,
    "targets": [
      {
        "state": { "Name": "yourmod:my_ore" },
        "target": {
          "predicate_type": "minecraft:tag_match",
          "tag": "minecraft:stone_ore_replaceables"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Increase size for larger veins (vanilla iron is 9, coal is 17).

2. Placed Feature

Defines where the ore spawns, how often, and the distance modifier.

data/<yourmod>/worldgen/placed_feature/myore_sky.json

{
  "feature": "<yourmod>:myore",
  "placement": [
    {
      "type": "minecraft:count",
      "count": 8
    },
    {
      "type": "minecraft:in_square"
    },
    {
      "type": "minecraft:height_range",
      "height": {
        "type": "minecraft:uniform",
        "min_inclusive": { "absolute": 60 },
        "max_inclusive": { "absolute": 350 }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "distantores:distance_from_origin",
      "min_distance": 2000.0,
      "max_distance": 7000.0,
      "base_chance": 0.0
    },
    {
      "type": "minecraft:biome"
    }
  ]
}

count is how many vein attempts per chunk. height_range sets the Y band. Remove the distantores:distance_from_origin block entirely if you want the ore to ignore distance.

Use "type": "minecraft:trapezoid" instead of "minecraft:uniform" for a bell-curve distribution (more ore near the middle of the range).

3. Biome Modifier

Tells NeoForge to inject your feature into the world.

data/<yourmod>/neoforge/biome_modifier/add_myore.json

{
  "type": "neoforge:add_features",
  "biomes": "#minecraft:is_overworld",
  "features": [ "<yourmod>:myore_sky" ],
  "step": "underground_ores"
}

If the ore already generates in the world through vanilla or another mod, you should also remove that existing generation - otherwise you'll end up with two versions of the ore spawning at once. For completely new ores with no pre-existing generation, skip this step.

data/<yourmod>/neoforge/biome_modifier/remove_vanilla_myore.json

{
  "type": "neoforge:remove_features",
  "biomes": "#minecraft:is_overworld",
  "features": [ "<vanillamod>:ore_myore" ],
  "steps": "underground_ores"
}

Overriding Distance Values

If you want to change when an ore unlocks - for example, making diamonds require 20,000 blocks instead of 10,000 - you can override the placed feature with a datapack.

Create a file at the exact same path as the original:

data/distantores/worldgen/placed_feature/diamond_sky.json

Copy the original content and change the distance values:

{
  "feature": "distantores:diamond",
  "placement": [
    { "type": "minecraft:count", "count": 7 },
    { "type": "minecraft:in_square" },
    {
      "type": "minecraft:height_range",
      "height": {
        "type": "minecraft:uniform",
        "min_inclusive": { "absolute": 60 },
        "max_inclusive": { "absolute": 350 }
      }
    },
    {
      "type": "distantores:distance_from_origin",
      "min_distance": 10000.0,
      "max_distance": 20000.0,
      "base_chance": 0.0
    },
    { "type": "minecraft:biome" }
  ]
}

Datapacks loaded later take priority, so your override will replace the preset's version.

Notes

The distance modifier works in any dimension, not just the overworld. A datapack targeting #minecraft:is_nether or #minecraft:is_end will work just as well.
Only newly generated chunks are affected. Existing chunks will not change.
Y generation and distance are independent. An ore's height range is always respected regardless of distance - there is no situation where diamonds appear on the surface.
The mod does nothing with no datapack installed - it registers the placement modifier but changes nothing about world generation on its own.