remember when we used to play minecraft for fun instead of dopamine? i'll admit, it's often difficult to tell the difference, but the end goal of this modpack is to accomplish that again.

notable features/ technical details you'll want to know:

(note: this is nowhere near a complete feature list)

mod count has been kept down to a nice, even 64
can't punch trees. find some gravel and break it against a hard surface to make flint shards. use a stick and a flint shard to make a knife. harvest grass with a knife for plant fiber. you can then make other tools using sticks, flint, and plant string.
many wood blocks can no longer be crafted the usual way. use a saw block.
spyglasses can be equipped to a curios slot and scrolled in and out for vanilla-friendly zoom
enchanting tables are no longer craftable and must be found in ancient cities
no jei - the vanilla recipe book has been revamped and contains all recipes in the game whether you've unlocked them or not
atlases can be equipped to a curios slot for a vanilla-friendly minimap and worldmap
terrain generation is completely overhauled using terralith and tectonic
ingame seasons and day/night cycle are synchronized with real life - for maximum accuracy use /gamerule isHemisphereNorth true/false to set your hemisphere.
the phases of the moon significantly affect how bright it is during the nighttime
players can overheat or freeze to death without proper gear when exposed to adverse conditions
server owners can use the webdisplays mod to host ingame movie nights with the homies

my recommendations for playing this pack:

above all else, take it slow. don't play to grind and gear up quickly, play to discover terralith's rocky mountains or build cute, cottagecore little cabins. play to do something fun with friends who moved away. play to enjoy yourself, not to minmax and automate everything. think of it like an antithesis to gregtech and dawncraft.
don't play too much, for two reasons. first, if you play constantly you're much more liable to burn through all your ideas before new ones can form and you'll inevitably lose interest. second, you need to go outside. to quote james halliday, "reality sucks, but it's the only place you can get a decent meal." go get that meal with some friends, go for a run, play with your dog, etc. not only is it healthy for you, i guarantee you'll find you enjoy the game more afterwards too. this game can be a phenomenal refuge from the parts of life that suck, but it's important to be able to face those parts head on sometimes.
use the default sound settings and if possible, the Complimentary Unbound shaders already preinstalled with the modpack. leave the music on. let yourself sink into that feeling. and if you can run the shaders, do. i recommend not changing any shader settings either; there's a reason they're configured the way they are.
don't go to the end. you don't need elytra to fly; i've put immersive aircraft in here.
if you really need to go to the end, do it with nothing stronger than half enchanted diamond gear. preferably iron, honestly. and bring friends. everything in life is always better with friends.
don't play alone. there's a reason this modpack includes voice chat. it's made to be played on a server or multiplayer of some kind. like i said, everything in life is always better with friends.

a quick note from the creator:

yeah. this is a bit of an odd way to do a modpack. i'm sure you've guessed by now that there's more behind it than just getting back the old minecraft feels.

i'm going to college next fall, halfway across the continent from everyone i love. i want some way to stay with them in a sense and i'm hoping if i put these ever so carefully selected mods on a server with them then it will, against all odds, keep us all connected.

there are little bits and bobs from my life up until now sprinkled throughout the modpack. little easter eggs, i guess. nothing that would affect gameplay or anything, just things that most likely only someone who knows me personally would understand and might make anyone else stop and be puzzled for a second. i wanted to add that as a disclaimer because with the way my brain works i would assume they were clues to some sort of larger puzzle and agonize over trying to figure it out. not clues, just sprinklings of nostalgia.

personal meaning aside, i'm proud of this modpack and i do truely believe, if perhaps narcissistically, that it could help people enjoy minecraft again if they play it correctly. so why not give it a shot? plus, if people enjoy it enough curseforge will give me amazon gift cards.

oh, and p.s.

i have a list of movie pirating websites that work perfectly with the webdisplays mod. i'm not gonna post them publically though for obvious reasons so if you want 'em, dm me.

get lost here