Making a New Biome
On this page, we'll show you how to make your very own biome.
Biome Settings
Basic Properties
Name: Your biome's name
Ground block: The block to replace the grass
Note: This block should have GRASS material and be tagged in forge:dirt Blocks tags for Forge mods for plants and trees to spawn properly in the biome.
Underground block: The block to replace the dirt
This block should be tagged in forge:dirt Blocks tags for Forge mods for plants and trees to spawn properly in the biome.
Colors:
Air color: The color of the sky
Grass color: The color to replace put on the grass blocks
Foliage color: The color to replace put on the leave blocks
Water color: The color of the water
Water fog color: The color of the fog under the water
Tree type:
Vanilla tree:
If you want a vanilla tree in your biome, select one of them in the list.
Custom tree:
If you want a custom tree, select this checkbox. (Unlocks 4 options below.)
Block for stem: The block for the log.
Block for branch: The block for the leaves.
Block for vines: The block for the vines. If you don't want vines, select the air block.
Block for fruits: The block for the fruits (like jungle trees). If you don't want fruits, select the air block.
Note: If you use Forge 1.16 or higher, you can select a vanilla tree type to use its shape for your custom tree.
Features
To remove a feature of your biome, set its value to 0.
Trees per chunk: The number of trees (the one you have chosen in the previous section) we will have in one chunk.
Grass per chunk: The number of tall grass
Seagrass per chunk: The number of tall seagrass
Vanilla flowers per chunk: The number of vanilla flowers (like the poppy)
Mushrooms per chunk: The number of mushrooms (Plant)
Big Mushrooms per chunk: Mushroom trees per chunk
Sand patches per chunk: Group of sand blocks (like for the andesite, diorite and granite)
Gravel patches per chunk: The same thing for the previous setting, but for the gravel.
Reeds per chunk: Sugar canes for example
Cacti per chunk: Number of cacti in one chunk
Dead bushes per chunk: Number of dead bushes in one chunk
Biome default features: Other features you can add to your biome
Structures
Structures with a checkbox are self-explanatory.
Generate village of type: The word in the list is the type of the village to spawn. Keep "none" to remove the village spawning.
Generate ocean ruins in this biome?:
- NONE: No ocean ruins
- COLD: Ocean ruins made of stone
- WARM: Ocean ruins made of sandstone
Effects
To use features of this page, you need to be on Minecraft 1.16.x or higher.
Biome music and sounds
Biome music: The music of the biome. This sound will be randomly played.
Ambient sound: An sound constantly played
Additions sound: This sound is played occasionally inside the biome.
Mood sound: The sound used in caves
Mood sound delay (in ticks): This value defines the time, in ticks, before the sound is played (loop).
Ambient particles
Enable particles: To have ambient particles, you have to enable this checkbox.
Particle type: The particle to use
Particle spawn probability (in %): The probability to spawn particles.
Note: This value is divided by 100 in the code.
Entity Spawning
A spawn entry is equal to an entity
Entity: The entity to spawn. Put only mobs, otherwise, the game will crash.
Spawn type: This parameter controls the spawning type for the biomes where his mob is defined to spawn in.
- A mob marked as Monster will only spawn in the dark or at night.
- A mob marked as Creature will spawn under direct sunlight on grass material blocks only. Do not use this spawn type with mob type living entities as they will not spawn
- A mob marked as Ambient will spawn under any conditions except if block type prevents it, but this category should be used for mobs with no gameplay effect such as bats
- WaterCreature will spawn in water, but with no other limitations
Spawn weight: This parameter controls the priority that the mob has over others when the game is choosing what mob to spawn. A higher weight means more mob spawns in the game will create this mob. Make this lower for animals, compared to monsters.
Min and max group size: The minimum and maximum set here set the size of groups that the mob will spawn in. Be warned that mobs that try to spawn in groups of over 20 will struggle to do so (mobs will rarely spawn).
Biome Generation
Generate biome in overworld: Can your biome be in the overworld?
Biome weight: This parameter controls how many times your biome will spawn on 1024 of the same biome type.
Biome temperature: The temperature of the biome. 0 is like the Snowy Tundra. 2 is like the Desert.
Raining possibility: Possibility to rain in the biome. If you put 0, there will not be rain in the biome.
Biome type: The type of the biome. Makes biome spawn near the selected type. Check help entry for examples.
Biome category: The category of biome.
Biome parent: Your biome will always spawn near to the biome selected (it will be used for biome borders and transitions).
Example: The deep ocean always spawns near the ocean biome.
Biome dictionary types: Biome types to help some mods to do the generation.
Biome base height: This parameter controls the height at which the biome is. Mountains have this parameter set to a big value for example.
Biome height variation: The height variation of the terrain. Higher is like a mountain, a lower value represents a flat plain, and 0 is like an ocean
1.18+ biomes
Biomes in Minecraft versions above (including) 1.18 act quite differently than before. The generation of these biomes is highly dependent on the following parameters:
- Weight
- Temperature
- Raining possibility
- Base height
- Height variation
You may need to tinker with these parameters to achieve the desired generation. If you set similar parameters to multiple biomes, they will compete for the same spot in the world and thus be smaller and more scattered. Optimally, make biome parameters diverse enough between your and also vanilla biomes to make biomes appear in the world consistently.
If your biome weight is small and it has parameters similar to some other biome, it may not generate at all. Keep in mind setting biome weight too big can cause other biomes from your mod, other mod, or even vanilla biomes to not generate at all.
World generator also tries to find the best match, but if you for example only have two biomes in dimension, it can happen that your biome that is set to spawn on flat regions (low base height) may generate in other regions too, as no better suitable biome will be found by the world generator.
Entity Spawning Tags
Some passive entities require tags to be able to spawn on custom grass blocks. Keep in mind that your grass block should be part of the grass material, and the grass block should have the tag for minecraft:dirt and forge:dirt still.
Below is a list of available tags that can be used to allow passive entities to generate and some other uses.
The tags should be under the MINECRAFT namespace and for the BLOCK tag type.
- animals_spawnable_on
- This allows for animals (chickens, cows, pigs, sheep etc.) to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:grass_block
- axolotls_spawnable_on
- This allows for axolotls to generate on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:clay
- foxes_spawnable_on
- This allows for foxes to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:grass_block
- minecraft:snow
- minecraft:snow_block
- minecraft:podzol
- minecraft:coarse_dirt
- goats_spawnable_on
- This allows for goats to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:stone
- minecraft:snow
- minecraft:snow_block
- minecraft:packed_ice
- minecraft:gravel
- mooshrooms_spawnable_on
- This allows for mooshrooms to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:mycelium
- parrots_spawnable_on
- This allows for parrots to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:grass_block
- minecraft:air
- minecraft:leaves
- minecraft:logs
- polar_bears_spawnable_on
- This allows for polar bears to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:ice
- prevent_mob_spawning_inside
- This tag prevents entities spawn spawning inside specific blocks like rails.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:rails
- rabbits_spawnable_on
- This allows for rabbits to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:grass_block
- minecraft:snow
- minecraft:snow_block
- minecraft:sand
- valid_spawn
- This controls valid spawn locations for players when they first spawn in the world.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:grass_block
- minecraft:podzol
- wolves_spawnable_on
- This allows for wolves to spawn on blocks.
- Default blocks
- minecraft:grass_block
- minecraft:snow
- minecraft:snow_block
Video Tutorial
If you prefer to watch the video, you can find the wiki page above summarized in a video: