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Updraft: Parachutes, Gliders & Balloons

Parachutes, wingsuits, hang gliders, paragliders and hot-air balloons, flown in a living wind with thermals and ridge lift.
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Description

Updraft

Climb a mountain, read the wind, take a few running steps and leap. Updraft adds parachutes, wingsuits, hang gliders, paragliders, a paramotor and hot-air balloons, all flown in a living wind with thermals, ridge lift and gusts. Each piece of gear flies its own way, and each has a skill worth mastering: a flared landing, a thermal climb, a proximity line along a cliff, a bullseye on the landing target.

๐Ÿช‚ Parachutes

  • Four rigs: a forgiving Round Parachute that opens by itself if you forget, a steerable Sport Rig with a reserve, a BASE Rig that opens almost instantly for low cliffs, and a fast, unforgiving Swoop Rig.
  • A real opening: the pilot chute pulls out the bag, the lines stretch, the canopy fills with a tug.
  • Steer, brake, dive on the front risers, and flare just before touchdown to land on your feet. A PULL! warning, worked out from your speed and gear, tells you when it's the last moment to open.
  • Rare malfunctions: kick out of line twists, or cut away a spiralling main and open the reserve.

๐Ÿฆ… Wingsuits

Step off a cliff and press Jump to spread your wings. A few seconds later you're gliding, and a 150-block mountain gives a flight of several hundred blocks. Look down to dive and build speed, up to slow down. Fly close to the terrain for proximity points, and thread narrow gaps for a bonus. You can't land a wingsuit: open your parachute in time.

๐Ÿช Hang gliders, paragliders and the paramotor

  • Hang gliders in bamboo, canvas and breeze rods, from a gentle 7:1 glide up to a fast 13:1 cross-country machine. Run off a high place, or press Jump while falling.
  • Paragliders launch from a slope: lay the wing out, raise it overhead and run. Climb in thermals for as long as the sun shines, pull big ears to come down fast, and swing into wingovers.
  • The Paramotor takes off from flat ground and climbs on coal, charcoal, blaze powder or dried kelp you carry.

๐ŸŽˆ Hot-air balloons

Set one up, fuel it and climb in. Up to four people fly together: the pilot fires the burner and opens the vent, and everyone else gets the view. Heat lifts slowly, so a good pilot burns before the climb is needed. A balloon can't steer, but the wind turns with height, and the balloon panel shows the wind above and below you. There is no ceiling but thin air, around y=1560. It's also the perfect jump platform: climb out with a rig on and you're skydiving. Dye the envelope in two colours and six patterns.

๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ A living wind

  • Thermals rise over sunny, dry ground and drift downwind; circle in them to climb. Campfires and lava make small, strong ones.
  • Ridge lift rises up the windward face of hills; the lee side sinks.
  • The wind is calm near the ground, stronger higher up, and it veers with height. Rain and storms make it gusty.
  • A Wind Sock shows the wind at a spot, the HUD arrow shows it where you fly, and the Variometer beeps in rising air.

๐Ÿงฐ Gear and blocks

  • The Rigging Table packs canopies perfectly, sews in a new main after a cutaway, repairs gear, switches a rig's auto-open on or off, and dyes any canopy, sail, suit or balloon envelope with two dyes and six patterns.
  • Altimeter (height, climb rate, and a beep when it's time to pull), Variometer, Landing Target (land on it for a score) and the Jump Logbook, which records every jump and holds a Flight Manual written with your own key bindings.
  • The Harness Kit builds a rig into any chestplate, so you can fly in armour.
  • Gear wears with use (Unbreaking and Mending work) but never breaks in flight; worn gear just malfunctions more often. Gear that lands in water is wet and heavy until it dries.

๐Ÿ—บ๏ธ Out in the world

  • Abandoned Drop Zones: rare fenced decks on high mountain peaks, with a wind sock at the open edge, a Rigging Table and a chest of gear.
  • Twenty-one advancements walk you from your First Jump to Hop and Pop, Perfect Flare, Bullseye, Thermal Rider, Thread the Needle, Cross-Country, Balloon Pilot and Jump From the Balloon.

๐ŸŽฎ Controls

Action Default key
Open the parachute (while falling) / lay out a paraglider R
Cut away (then R for the reserve) hold V
Steer A / D
Brakes and flare S
Front risers, speed bar, track in freefall W
Spread a wingsuit, launch a hang glider Jump while falling
Paramotor throttle, balloon burner hold Jump
Balloon vent S
Landing roll, climb out of a balloon Sneak

Every key can be changed in Options โ†’ Controls โ†’ Updraft, and tooltips show your real keys.

๐Ÿ“ฆ Installing

  • Minecraft 26.3, Fabric: Fabric Loader 0.19.5 or newer and Fabric API.
  • Minecraft 1.21.1, Fabric: Fabric Loader 0.16 or newer and Fabric API 0.116.0 or newer.
  • Minecraft 1.21.1, NeoForge: NeoForge 21.1.197 or newer, and nothing else.
  • Every version is the same mod, with the same gear and tuning.
  • Optional on Fabric: Mod Menu, for a settings button in the mod list (NeoForge's mod list has one built in).
  • Install on both the client and the server.

โš™๏ธ Settings

/updraft config (or the settings button in the mod list) opens the settings. Players choose HUD position, scale and units, camera roll, FOV and shake, and a Reduced Motion mode. Server owners choose a realism preset (Arcade, Balanced or Realistic), malfunctions, landing damage, wind and thermal strength, gear wear, phantoms and the dimensions where flying is allowed. Every wing and the balloon are data-driven, so a data pack can retune how each one flies.


MIT license

Designed and playtested by Mebb

Updraft: Parachutes, Gliders & Balloons Team

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