CREDIT TO FANCY TOASTS, The recipe unlocked animation is based off the vannila fancy toast.

Project M.A.S — Matter Analysis System

Guide your players without telling them where to go.

Project M.A.S lets modpack creators lock crafting recipes behind the world itself. Instead of writing quest text that says "go to the Nether" or placing an NPC to explain progression — just lock the recipe behind a Nether block. Players will naturally explore, find the block, scan it, and unlock the recipe. No hand-holding. No walls of text. Just exploration.

Why modpack creators use it:

Natural progression — Players discover what to do by interacting with the world, not by reading instructions.
Works with any mod — Lock recipes from any mod behind any block. Create, Mekanism, Botania, vanilla — doesn't matter.
Zero UX friction — No custom GUIs, no NPC dialogue, no quest book entries to maintain. The Scanner item and glow effects are the entire interface.
JEI integration — Locked recipes are hidden from JEI automatically. Players only see what they've unlocked.
Per-player — Each player progresses independently. World data persists across sessions.
Fully data-driven — Define everything in a single JSON config. No code changes needed.

How it works for your players:

They find a block that glows (you configured which block unlocks which recipe).
They right-click it with the Scanner.
A scan progress bar fills up on their HUD.
When the scan completes, the recipe unlocks with a toast notification.
They can now craft the item.

That's it. The glow effect on the block is the only hint they need.

Slot	What to show
How stuff that need to be scanned look while holding scanner
Scanning
New Recipe Unlocked

Optional 4th: A short GIF (~5 seconds) of the full loop — player approaches glowing block, scans it, toast notification pops up.

Example configs for modpack creators:

Lock the recipe for an iron pickaxe behind iron ore — players must mine iron before they can craft the tool to mine it:

{
  "item": "minecraft:iron_pickaxe",
  "unlock_block": "minecraft:iron_ore"
}

Mekanism example:

{
  "item": "mekanism:digital_miner",
  "unlock_block": "mekanism:osmium_ore",
  "scan_time": 15.0,
  "glow_color": "0x00FF88"
}

Make players explore the Ocean before crafting anything Netherite Sword:

{
  "item": "minecraft:netherite_sword",
  "unlock_block": "minecraft:sponge",
  "scan_time": 20.0,
  "glow_color": "0xFF5500"
}

Server commands (for pack testing require op):

Command	What it does
`/m.a.s lockrecipe <player> <recipe>`	Re-lock a recipe for a specific player. Useful for pack resets or testing progression flow.
`/m.a.s unlockrecipe <player> <recipe>`	Unlock a recipe for a specific player. Bypass scanning for testing or admin override.

Optional integrations:

Create + Flywheel — Add a Linker item so players can link themselves to Create machines. Machines use the linking player's recipe unlocks.
Research Teams — Players can form teams and share unlocked recipes. One person scans, the whole team benefits.
Sable — Optional dependency scanner doesn't scan through sublevels

Dependencies:

Dependency	Required?
NeoForge	Yes
Veil	Yes
Sable	Optional
Create + Flywheel	Optional
JEI	Optional