Explorer's Tools

Small tools and tweaks for explorers.

Minecraft 1.21.1 · NeoForge 21.1.248+ · no required dependencies (Ars Nouveau and JEI optional)

Every feature can be switched off on its own; see Configuration.

Items

Features

• Compass attunement. The Fortress Finder is one datapack "attunement"; packs can add more finders that point a compass at any structure or structure tag (see Datapacks). Vanilla structures that another mod has switched off are skipped automatically (see Mod compatibility), so a finder never stalls the server searching for something that will never generate.
• /afk. After a 3-second countdown you're parked: frozen in place and protected from all harm. Hunger, drowning, fire and mobs can't touch you, and you can't use items, break or place blocks, attack, drop items or open inventories. Chat still works. Other players see an [afk] tag. Run /afk again to return. Operators (permission level 2) can toggle anyone instantly with /afk <player>. By default AFK players don't count toward sleeping through the night, and no mobs spawn naturally around them. Optionally, idle players go AFK automatically (off by default) and come back on any activity.
• Wandering trader → villager. Offer a wandering trader an emerald block and it may settle down as a villager of the local biome's type (5% chance, 40% once it has refused you before). Every offer costs one block.
• Evoker glow. An evoker glows for 10 seconds whenever it summons vexes, so you can find the caster.
• Structure spell protection (needs Ars Nouveau). Break, Animate Block, Intangible, Pull and Explosion can't remove or move blocks inside protected structures (by default, ocean monuments and YUNG's desert temples). Only blocks inside the structure's actual pieces are guarded: blocks outside them are affected normally, even in the same cast. Pull still works on mobs, explosions still deal damage, and every other spell works everywhere.
• JEI pages (needs JEI) for what isn't a crafting recipe: Mossy Amethyst infusion, Portal Rod binding, and every compass attunement, including datapack ones.

Configuration

Explorer's Tools has two config files.

config/explorerstools-common.toml: feature switches

One enabled switch per feature, all true by default. Changes need a restart. A disabled feature's items stay registered (so worlds don't lose them) but leave the creative tab and JEI and do nothing; its recipes, drops and /afk command disappear. On a server, the server's switches win: clients receive them when they join.

config/explorerstools-server.toml: tunables

A copy in a world's serverconfig/ folder overrides it for that world.

Datapacks

Explorer's Tools reads five kinds of data. Replace mypack with your own namespace.

Compass attunements

Each finder is a JSON file at data/<namespace>/explorerstools/attunement/<name>.json. Using its item in the main hand, with a compass in the off hand, points one compass at the nearest matching structure in the current dimension. The bundled Fortress Finder is data/explorerstools/explorerstools/attunement/fortress_finder.json.

Example, data/mypack/explorerstools/attunement/bastion_finder.json:

{
  "item": "minecraft:ender_eye",
  "structures": ["minecraft:bastion_remnant"],
  "target_name": "Bastion Remnants",
  "name": "Bastion Compass",
  "name_color": "#55FFFF",
  "consume": false,
  "dimensions": ["minecraft:the_nether"],
  "description": {"text": "Use in the Nether with a compass in your off hand", "color": "gray"},
  "found_message": {"text": "The compass turns toward a bastion", "color": "aqua"},
  "not_found_message": "No bastion nearby"
}

To remove the Fortress Finder's attunement, or change it, override that file in your own pack. Attunements load when the world loads, so a new or edited one needs a restart (not just /reload).

Surface Warper uses

How many warps a Surface Warper holds (its durability) is a NeoForge data map. The mod's built-in data sets it to 3 in data/explorerstools/data_maps/item/surface_warper_uses.json. To change it, put a file at that same path in your datapack. Keep the explorerstools namespace: a data map's files live under the data map's own namespace, not your pack's.

{
  "values": {
    "explorerstools:surface_warper": { "uses": 5 }
  }
}

uses must be at least 1. The new value applies on /reload, including to warpers already in the world, and the server sends it to clients so their durability bars match. If you lower it, a warper that has already used up the new total breaks on its next use.

Tags

Example: protect woodland mansions from spells, in data/explorerstools/tags/worldgen/structure/spell_protected.json:

{
  "values": [
    "minecraft:mansion",
    {"id": "#minecraft:village", "required": false}
  ]
}

Example: point the Fortress Finder at a modded fortress too, in data/explorerstools/tags/worldgen/structure/fortress_finder_targets.json:

{
  "values": [
    {"id": "mymod:blackstone_fortress", "required": false}
  ]
}

Example: never land on pointed dripstone or sweet berry bushes, in data/explorerstools/tags/block/unsafe_landing.json:

{
  "values": ["minecraft:pointed_dripstone", "minecraft:sweet_berry_bush"]
}

Tags add to the defaults. Put "replace": true at the top to start from an empty list instead.

Recipes and the feature_enabled condition

Every bundled recipe is an ordinary JSON recipe that can be overridden at the same path (data/explorerstools/recipe/<name>.json): mossy_amethyst, fortress_finder, portal_rod, portal_rod_unbind and wither_skeleton_skull. Each carries the explorerstools:feature_enabled condition, which is also available to your own recipes and loot modifiers. Its feature is a section name from the common config (surfaceWarper, compassAttunement, portalRods, witherSkullFragment, afk, traderConversion, evokerGlow or structureSpellProtection).

Example: a cheaper Fortress Finder that goes away along with the feature, in data/explorerstools/recipe/fortress_finder.json:

{
  "neoforge:conditions": [
    {"type": "explorerstools:feature_enabled", "feature": "compassAttunement"}
  ],
  "type": "minecraft:crafting_shapeless",
  "category": "misc",
  "ingredients": [
    {"item": "minecraft:compass"},
    {"tag": "c:ingots/nether_brick"}
  ],
  "result": {"id": "explorerstools:fortress_finder", "count": 1}
}

Loot modifiers (explorerstools:add_item)

The Wither Skull Fragment drop is a NeoForge global loot modifier of type explorerstools:add_item, which adds count (default 1) of item to a loot roll when every condition passes. Override data/explorerstools/loot_modifiers/wither_skull_fragment.json to change the drop, or add your own; new modifiers must also be listed in data/neoforge/loot_modifiers/global_loot_modifiers.json.

Example: fragments from wither skeletons in Nether fortress chests too, in data/mypack/loot_modifiers/fortress_fragments.json:

{
  "neoforge:conditions": [
    {"type": "explorerstools:feature_enabled", "feature": "witherSkullFragment"}
  ],
  "type": "explorerstools:add_item",
  "conditions": [
    {"condition": "neoforge:loot_table_id", "loot_table_id": "minecraft:chests/nether_bridge"},
    {"condition": "minecraft:random_chance", "chance": 0.25}
  ],
  "item": "explorerstools:wither_skull_fragment",
  "count": 2
}

and in data/neoforge/loot_modifiers/global_loot_modifiers.json:

{
  "replace": false,
  "entries": ["mypack:fortress_fragments"]
}

Mod compatibility

Handled out of the box, with nothing to configure. None of these are required.

The "skipped when disabled" checks read each mod's own config, so they follow whatever that mod is set to. These mods replace a vanilla structure but leave its placement registered; without the check, a search for the vanilla structure would generate chunk after chunk looking for one that never appears.

License

GPL-3.0-only