Betterlands

Published by Sajevius on
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Upvotes: 49
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Project status
Stable
License
MIT License
Project members
Lead developer
Modification type
Supported Minecraft versions
1.16.5

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You may have already explored the vast expanses of the arid Badlands: roaming the red sands, traversing dangerous heights, mining for gold aplenty, and perhaps struggling for efficient survival. But now, it's time for some things to change around those hostile areas. And not all of the changes might be good. Will you be ready for it all? This, my friend... is Betterlands.


ABOUT

Betterlands is a small biome mod that adds new features centered around the badlands biome. Its aim is to make the biome look better and turn it into a more survivable place; giving players more options in interacting with it. The badlands might have been one of the more boring biomes in vanilla Minecraft... but with this mod, you can expect it all to change!

(Spoiler: this mod is just part 1 of 3 biome mods, as I'm planning to make a couple more biome expansion mods.)


FEATURE HIGHLIGHTS

 

I - Terrain Features

  • Juniper Tree - Meet the new type of tree exclusively found in the Badlands! Juniper trees offer a wood source of the same name and are the only source of juniper berries which grow on their leaves that aren't exposed to air above them. These juniper berries can be crafted into gin (that's right, the alcoholic drink mainly made of juniper berries)

juniper treejuniper berriesjuniper set

 

II - Blocks

  • Fossil Rocks - These are ore-like blocks that drop bone-related items when mined with any pickaxe. They are commonly found in the badlands & eroded badlands biomes (especially in mesas and plateaus), and they don't generate where there's air, water, or lava directly above them. Upon mining, they always drop bone and have a small chance to drop lizard bones, an item used to craft 5 bonemeals (and for comparison, that's 2 more compared to the amount of bonemeal you can craft from bones!)

fossil rocks

 

  • Terracotta Bricks - These are new types of bricks that would be good for building. They come in stairs, slab, and wall variants.

terracotta bricks

 

  • Terracotta Pavement - These will be great for building pathways! They also come in stairs and slab variants that allow for more building options.

terracotta pavements

 

  • Terracotta Roof Tiles - Can be used for building better roofs. They're slightly slippery and only come in default basic blocks.

terracotta roof tiles

 

III - Entities

  • Bighorn Sheep - these mammals spawn on top of wooded badlands plateaus, and will be the main source of meat in the badlands. That said, they drop bighorn meat which can be cooked. Their other drops are bighorn hide (used for crafting bighorn hide armor) and large horn (currently has no uses). Another thing: they can be bred with badlands bushes (however, their baby versions are as big as adult bighorns at the moment, and I'm still looking for a way to change that)

bighorn sheep

 

IV - Armor

  • Bighorn Hide Armor - Give yourself a bit of protection from some of the harmful elements of the badlands (or anywhere else) by equipping a set of armor crafted from bighorn hide! These are only on the same level as leather armor, so that means they have the same defense points & durability, but they will suffice for the most part before you could find or craft better armor.

bighorn hide armor

 


KNOWN ISSUES

  • Bighorn sheep's baby models are as big as mature bighorn sheep (Since 0.1.0 pre-alpha)
  • All kinds of fossil rocks don't drop themselves when mide with a Silk Touch pickaxe (Fixed in 0.2.0 alpha)
  • Badlands Bush & Brittlebush plants' hitboxes are too small (Fixed in 0.4.0 Beta)

(Feel free to report any issue/s to me, and I will try my best to fix them!)


NOTES

#1: There are a lot of recipes included in this mod (especially for the new terracotta blocks), so I recommend using JEI for easy recipe viewing.

#2: As always, I'm open to suggestions, and I can also accept valid criticism! Don't worry, I won't be mad as long as you won't be a jerk about it! ;)

#3: Feel free to add this to your modpack! :D

#4: This mod is now available on CurseForge! Its page there will serve as an archive for all versions, and only the latest ones will be uploaded here due to MCreator having a 4 mod file limit. So if you want to see all versions and perhaps even want an alternative to report an issue/make a feature request, you can visit the CurseForge page here!


PLANNED FEATURES

  • Rattlesnakes (progress: 16%)
  • Badlands Coyotes (CANCELLED)
  • Badlands Monitor Lizards (progress: 100%) <- NOTE: their "species" got changed to "gila monsters" so it's a tad bit different now
  • Flowering Cactus (progress: 20%)
  • Terracotta Lamps (progress: 6%)
  • Lizard Bones to be placed on top of blocks (progress: 23%)
  • Ancient Structures, including tombs (progress: 86%)
  • Possibility for Bighorn Sheep to ram you when you provoke them (progress: 100% completed)

(DISCLAIMER: Progress percentages might be inaccurate as they are merely estimations.)


MOD COMPATIBILITY

  • This mod is fully compatible with Better Badlands, so you can play modded Minecraft and have both of them installed without having to worry about a thing!

CREDITS

  • I was a bit inspired by two really good, already existing badlands-themed mod, Better Badlands and Better Badlands (yup, they have the same name XD, but they're actually two entirely different mods adding different content also relating to badlands; the first one is for 1.12 and the second is for 1.16)
  • Special thanks to everyone who voted for the badlands biome and gave me suggestions & feedback! And I promise that most of the suggestions won't be scrapped; remember, this mod is only beginning, and I believe there will be a long journey ahead for this mod where I can have time to add most of the suggested features, as well as future ones!
  • And of course, I want to thank MCreator's developers for making a good modding software; which made this mod idea possible, easier and quicker to achieve! As always, I will also try my very best to make this mod as well-polished as possible <3
Modification files
Betterlands-1.15.2-0.4.0 [beta].jar - Version 0.4.0 (Beta) for 1.15.2 [last beta before first stable release]Uploaded on: 05/09/2021 - 05:22   File size: 2.01 MB
Betterlands-1.15.2-0.5.0.jar - Version 0.5.0 for 1.15.2Uploaded on: 05/14/2021 - 07:47   File size: 2.07 MB
Betterlands-1.16.5-0.5.0.jar - Version 0.5.0 for 1.16.5Uploaded on: 05/14/2021 - 07:47   File size: 2.26 MB
Betterlands-1.16.5-210709b [0.6.0].jar - [LATEST] Snapshot 210709b for 1.16.5Uploaded on: 02/25/2022 - 04:20   File size: 2.46 MB
Changelog

Snapshot 210709b

  • Reorganized everything into a single creative tab
  • Bonemealing red sand will now produce either wilting bush or brittlebush, making those 2 plants renewable
  • Juniper berries now grow from branches that hang from juniper trees instead of directly on leaves
  • Made juniper berries grow slightly slower
  • Added food: golden juniper berries
  • Added horned cap (allows you to ram towards enemies as an attack)
  • Added fossils (items): brontothere bone, nimravid hipbone, archaeopteryx limb, dimetrodon ribs, mosasaur skull, megalania claws (these can be primarily used for crafting fossil armor)
  • Added fossil armor made from the fossils of extinct creatures! (fossil armor gives a chance to block arrows that hit the wearer. more armor pieces worn = higher chance)
  • Added mob: gila monster
  • Added advancement: Berry Bad (get poisoned from juniper berries)
  • Added overlays for warning the player when they're close to getting poisoned by juniper berries
  • Added more fossil rocks for naturally-generated terracotta colors, each having a chance to drop their respective unique fossil item
  • Added blocks: glossy terracotta blocks (+16 colors), terracotta rooftile ridges (+ 16 colors), settling clay (1st clay sedimentation stage), compacting clay (2nd clay sedimentation stage), cementing clay (3rd clay sedimentation stage)
  • Added artificial “sedimentation” mechanic, which slowly turns clay into claystone over time (stack 3 blocks of clay on a 4-deep water body to start artificially sedimenting)
  • Added a few quality-of-life changes
  • Bighorn sheep now have a chance to perform a ramming attack on mobs that damage them
  • Bighorn Hide armor can now reduce the knockback received from bighorn sheep ramming attack
  • All juniper-related plant stuff (e.g. leaves, berries, sapling) can now be composted
  • Reduced juniper sapling drop rate from juniper leaves
  • Renamed “badlands bush” to “wilting bush”
  • Walking on terracotta pavements will now give a slight increase in movement speed
  • Fixed wilting bush & brittlebush placement (valid ground & position)
  • Drinking milk will now completely cure juniper berry poisoning
  • [Bugfix] Juniper fences did not connect to other wooden fences
  • [Bugfix] Juniper wood stuff did not drop when destroyed with tools other than an axe & were slow to break
  • [Bugfix] One juniper tree variant's leaves were unintentionally persistent (didn't decay)
  • [Bugfix] Finally fixed baby bighorn sheep model being as big as adult bighorn sheep (their baby model is now scaled down properly, woohoo!)

0.5.0

  • Added support for Forge 1.16.5!
  • Added blocks:
    • claystone tiles/tile stairs/tile slab
    • gilded red sandstone stairs/slab/wall
  • Retextured items:
    • juniper berries
    • bighorn hide helmet
    • red sandstone brick
  • Retextured block:
    • juniper sapling
  • Changed recipe for gilded red sandstone bricks to use gold nuggets instead of ingots
  • Added recipes for the rest of terracotta tile colors
  • Juniper berries can now be crafted into white dyes
  • Badland bushes and dead bushes can now serve as fuel, with 120 burn time
  • Improved bone mealing for juniper sapling

0.4.0 Beta

  • Added blocks:
    • terracotta tiles
    • claystone
    • claystone fossil rock
    • polished claystone
    • claystone bricks 
  • Made juniper trees also generate on top of badlands plateaus
  • [Change] Retextured blocks:
    • badlands bush
    • juniper log
    • juniper sapling
    • juniper door & trapdoor
    • chiseled red sandstone bricks
    • gilded red sandstone bricks
  • [Bugfix] Fixed some errors with mod's block & item tags

0.3.0 Beta

  • Added a mod logo!
  • Added drink: gin
  • Added advancements:
    • Betterlands
    • Edible Seed Cones
    • Fossil Hunter
  • Added 1 smaller variant to the juniper tree
  • [Change] Retextured blocks:
    • juniper leaves & fruiting juniper leaves
    • juniper log & stripped juniper log
    • juniper door & trapdoor
    • brittlebush
    • chiseled red sandstone bricks
  • [Change] Retextured items:
    • juniper door
    • juniper berries
    • large horn
  • [Change] Juniper leaves no longer produce juniper berries when air is directly above them 
  • [Change] Redesigned structure: juniper tree
  • [Bugfix] Finally fixed floating juniper trees!
  • [Bugfix] Fixed (improved) juniper log & wood stripping procedure (there were cases of multiple stripping sounds playing before)

0.2.0 Alpha - Juniper Berries Update

  •  Added blocks:
    • fruiting juniper leaves (renewable source of juniper berries), juniper sapling (growable)
  • Added food:
    • juniper berries
  • Added juniper berries poisoning mechanic. Eat 12 berries in a quick succession & suffer the consequences! 
  • Drops of fossil rocks (all variants) are now affected by Fortune enchantment
  • [Change] Remodeled & retextured entity:
    • bighorn sheep
  • [Change] Retextured blocks:
    • juniper door
    • juniper log
    • juniper leaves
    • chiseled red sandstone bricks
    • gilded red sandstone bricks
    • brittlebush
    • terracotta pavements
  • [Change] Retextured armor:
    • bighorn hide armor
  • [Bugfix] Fixed a bug with fossil rocks (all variants) not dropping themselves when mined with a silk touch pickaxe

0.1.0 Pre-alpha

  • Added plenty of blocks:
    • fossil rock, terracotta fossil rocks, red sandstone bricks, red sandstone brick stairs, red sandstone brick slab, red sandstone brick wall, chiseled red sandstone bricks, gilded red sandstone bricks, cracked red sandstone bricks, terracotta bricks, terracotta brick stairs, terracotta brick slabs, terracotta brick walls, terracotta pavements, terracotta pavement stairs, terracotta pavement slabs, terracotta roof tiles, juniper log, juniper wood, stripped juniper log, stripped juniper wood, juniper leaves, juniper planks, juniper stairs, juniper slab, juniper fence, juniper fence gate, juniper door, juniper trapdoor
  • Added items:
    • large horn, red sandstone brick, bighorn hide, lizard bones
  • Added entity:
    • bighorn sheep
  • Added structure:
    • juniper tree (terrain feature)
  • Added armor:
    • bighorn hide armor set (bighorn hide cap, bighorn hide tunic, bighorn hide pants, bighorn hide boots)
  • Added creative tabs:
    • Betterlands Blocks, Betterlands Items, Betterlands Entities, Betterlands Combat, Betterlands Foodstuffs, Betterlands Decorations
  • Added all juniper woods (juniper log & wood, stripped juniper log & wood, and juniper planks) as fuels

This looks awesome! Can’t wait for a 1.16.5 version (if you are planning one that is; if not, that’s fine ofc)!

I still don't know how you can have no MOTW on both of your mods, they both deserve a lot more praise. If my mod doesn't win this week, I'm finally voting for someone else's mod, being you, haha :D Betterlands are priceless, you really know the soul of this biome (being one of my favourites, by the way, so I could be very critical XD)
By the way, if you ever create "BetterDesert", I can die in peace. I can only imagine how excellent that would be.

thank you so much! your mod is great too. haven't commented on the page but I'll say it here: I've tried it and it looks like a ton of effort was also put into it, I like it so far! love the guns (and the other weapons), the airship design, and the names of stuff (plus, steampunk is one of my favourite sci-fi genres). and if it doesn't win MOTW this time, I hope it at least wins someday :D
the badlands is also one of my favourite biomes, and this mod was honestly fun to make. seeing that it lacked features in Minecraft plus it luckily won on the biome vote I started (before this existed) really motivated me to make this. as for BetterDesert: we'll see if it happens when or after I make one more biome mod. but for now, hope you enjoy! <3

Haha, thank you so much, it was indeed my life for latest two months. By the way there's much more weapons coming in new version, so be prepared ^^ I'd also greatly appreciate any ideas, because as for "steampunk mod" it lacks a bit of steampunky-ness, and honestly I'm not sure what to introduce in that vein, despite my love for that aesthetics.
Yeah, I love how you introduced simple, yet so great ideas, making this pretty empty biome alive - but not devoid of that "barren" feeling I love. Playing modded Minecraft I didn't find any badlands yet, but that's because my spawn point was very unfortunate (the island right in the middle of ocean :D) - but I can't wait to finally make underground travel network and find badlands with all new things ^^

sorry, but terracotta stairs/slabs/walls have already been suggested a few times before by the Minecraft community, and there are already mods adding them (e.g.: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/vanilla-builders-extension), I likely wouldn't add those variants in this mod. but on the bright side, I can guarantee Terracotta Tiles & terracotta tile stairs/slabs coming in the next update! :)

Dude is this a nice Mod! How do you can improve or change a vanilla Biom?
Because I play in 1.16.4/5 and make a Jungle/Badlands/Desert and Swamp overhault at the Time, and now, where I see that you can change the Vanilla Bioms I also want to include it into my Mod. How do you make it, or is there a Video that discribe it?
Hope and would be glade if you can help me! And thanks in advanced! :)

Sorry for my bad English! :P

firstly, thank you! secondly, regarding what you need help with:
in MCreator, we can in fact improve vanilla biomes, and it's simple! I'm still on MCreator 2020.5, but I think support for custom structures mod element, along with other elements, were added on the first 2020.6 snapshot for 1.16.4, so this is now possible to make on those versions. in the generation options for plants, ores, structures, etc., there's a setting allowing you add biomes where you can restrict them to only generate in those selected biomes. it can be a vanilla or modded biome. that's mainly how I made this mod's new plants, trees, and stuff only in the badlands. hope this helps!

Wow how cool! But I am a bit dumb cause I am german and don't understand you the best, so is there a chance for me to getting photos from you(sorry I don't want you to spend your time for such a noob Modder like me! :P) ? It would help me a lot, because I understand what you want me to know, but I don't know where I can finde thees Options. So hopefully you can help me! :)

Oh man, I looked over it again and now I understand tank you so much!
And also sorry if my ideas for my Mod are now similar to yours, because if a human saw somethink cool and the human likes it, than he want to make it like that or at least similar to it.
That all is because I make at the Time three mods: 5% a hight quality Ore Mod that interackt with Vanilla Thinks , 60% My brand new Mobs and Creatures Mod and with a 35% of my time on my Jungle, Badlands, Desert and Swamp Overhaul (or how overhaul was written idk), only for information, ka why I said it. :P

you're welcome!
btw, many people have done biome overhauls or improvement mods already, and I think that if there are others having the same theme, it's ok. we've all got stuff we want to add/change after all, but the ones that are different from others are what give our mod a unique quality. even this isn't the first badlands mod; there were others before this too, such as Better Badlands (2 mods with that exact same aim & name but add different content!) and when I found out about them, instead of ripping them off, I just did my best to come up with & add badlands-related content that I think hasn't been added before. in some cases, there will be more than one way to do something, but it's fine; just try each one and/or go with what works best for you; that's what I think of mods with same theme but different content. just remember to do your own take on the chosen theme. for an analogy: we're on the same ocean but we have different boats!

lol for some reason I don't download many mods that I say are good and/or upvoted (not even RaolCraft) so I will download this right now

yeah, the Blockbench update has come to my attention (I've updated mine already) & I'm considering a 1.16.x version too... still been working on improving existing textures & fixing juniper tree structure appearance & generation as of late, so maybe I'll do it after a stable release comes out :D