ItemDespawnToWhat

Let items about to despawn quietly transform into something else before they disappear.

Chicken rotting into rotten flesh? Eggs hatching into chickens? Saplings planting themselves? — All fully customizable.

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What This Mod Does

In vanilla Minecraft, dropped items on the ground disappear naturally after a while.
This mod lets you define custom conversion rules that trigger just before items despawn.

You can configure conversions through a GUI or config files, and attach optional conditions to each rule.

Three Conversion Types

Type	Description
Item → Item	Spawns a new item drop when the source item despawns
Item → Entity	Spawns an entity when the source item despawns
Item → Block	Places a block nearby when the source item despawns

egg hatch in 1 second

Combinable Trigger Conditions

All conditions are optional. Leaving a condition blank means no restriction. When multiple conditions are set, all of them must be satisfied for the conversion to trigger.

Condition	Description
Dimension	Only triggers in specified dimensions (e.g. Overworld, Nether, End)
Outdoor	No opaque blocks between the item and the sky above it
Surrounding Blocks	Checks all six adjacent directions; supports block IDs or block tags (prefix with `#`)
Catalyst Items	Requires a specific item drop to be in the same block space; optionally consumed
Inner Fluid	Requires the item's block to contain a specific fluid (supports waterlogged blocks); optionally consumed
Result Limit	Caps the number of existing conversion results within a radius to prevent infinite accumulation

Getting Started

Visual Configuration GUI

This mod includes an easy-to-use rule editor GUI.

gui_edit

gui_reedit

How to open it:

Keybind: Unbound by default — assign one in Options → Controls
Command: /conversion_config edit (requires OP permission or singleplayer)
Main Menu Button: Top-right corner of the game's main screen

If you prefer editing JSON directly, config files are located in .minecraft/config/itemdespawntowhat/.

Defining Conversion Rules

Common Fields

Field	Description	Default	Constraints
`item`	Registry ID of the source item	—	Required
`result`	Registry ID of the conversion result	—	Required
`conversion_time`	Seconds the item must remain on the ground before converting	`300`	1 – 300
`result_multiple`	Output quantity multiplier per conversion	`1`	At least 1
`dimension`	Restricts the conversion to a specific dimension	(no restriction)	—
`need_outdoor`	Whether the item must be in an outdoor (sky-exposed) location	`false`	—
`surrounding_blocks`	Block conditions for all six adjacent directions	(no restriction)	Supports tags
`catalyst_items`	Required co-located item drop condition	(no restriction)	—
`inner_fluid`	Required fluid condition in the item's block	(no restriction)	—

Item → Entity Only

Field	Description	Default
`result_limit`	Max number of the same entity type allowed nearby; skips conversion if exceeded	`30`
`entity_age`	Age of the spawned entity (negative values produce babies)	`-24000`

Item → Block Only

Field	Description	Default
`radius_limit`	Maximum radius for outward block placement	`6`
`block_of_item`	When enabled, automatically uses the block form of the source item (source must be a block item)	`false`

Saving & Reloading

In the GUI:

Click Add to Cache to queue up more rules
Click Apply to File to save all cached rules to disk

Then run in-game:

/conversion_config reload

This hot-reloads the config without restarting the server.

Configuration Examples

Chicken → Rotten Flesh (200 seconds, no conditions)

{
  "item": "minecraft:chicken",
  "result": "minecraft:rotten_flesh",
  "conversion_time": 200
}

Egg → Chicken (Overworld only, on a hay bale)

{
  "item": "minecraft:egg",
  "result": "minecraft:chicken",
  "conversion_time": 5,
  "dimension": "minecraft:overworld",
  "surrounding_blocks": {
    "down": "minecraft:hay_block"
  },
  "result_limit": 30
}

Sapling → Auto-planted (on dirt, must be outdoors)

{
  "item": "minecraft:oak_sapling",
  "result": "minecraft:oak_sapling",
  "block_of_item": true,
  "conversion_time": 30,
  "need_outdoor": true,
  "surrounding_blocks": {
    "down": "#minecraft:dirt"
  }
}

Notes

Conversion time is capped at 300 seconds, matching vanilla's maximum item lifetime. This mod does not modify the natural despawn timer — to extend it, pair this mod with something like Custom Item Despawn Duration.
Returned items and death drops are excluded from conversion checks. Items returned after a failed conversion, and items dropped on player death, must be picked up and re-thrown before re-entering the conversion pipeline.
Catalyst items cannot be the same as the source item — such a config will be rejected at load time.
Item → Item conversions cannot use the same item as both source and result, to prevent infinite conversion loops.
To find item IDs: Press F3 + H to enable advanced tooltips. Hover over any item and its registry name will appear at the bottom of the tooltip.

Multiplayer

Config files are stored server-side and automatically synced to connecting clients.
The hot-reload command requires OP permission.
The config GUI and keybind are only available in singleplayer or on a local server.

Item Despawn To What