Cobblemon Catch Ball Rules

Cobblemon Catch Ball Rules is a Fabric mod for Minecraft 1.21.1 that lets server owners decide which Pokemon species can only be caught with specific Poke Balls, including custom balls added by Cobblemon add-ons or modpacks.

If a species is restricted and the player throws the wrong ball, the capture fails immediately.
If the ball is allowed, the mod hands the attempt back to Cobblemon's normal capture logic.

Why Use This Mod

• Create legendary or mythical catch rules without editing code.
• Make rare encounters feel more special.
• Keep rules in a simple JSON file that can be changed at any time.
• Support both Cobblemon's standard balls and custom balls from add-ons or modpacks, as long as you use the correct item ID.
• Preserve Cobblemon's normal catch formulas for valid balls instead of replacing the whole system.
• Reload config changes with a command instead of restarting the whole server.

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.21.1
• Fabric Loader
• Cobblemon >=1.7.3 <1.8.0

Config File

Path:

config/cobblemon_catch_ball_rules.json

Example:

{
  "consumeBlockedBall": false,
  "showPlayerMessage": true,
  "rules": [
    {
      "pokemon": ["mew", "mewtwo", "lugia"],
      "allowedBalls": ["cobblemon:master_ball"],
      "message": "&6&lLegendary rule! &r&7This Pokemon can only be captured with a &6Master Ball&7."
    }
  ]
}

Config Options

consumeBlockedBall

Controls whether a blocked capture should still consume the thrown ball.

• false: the mod refunds the ball after blocking the capture
• true: the ball is consumed even though the capture was blocked

showPlayerMessage

Controls whether the player receives the rule's message when a blocked capture happens.

• true: send the configured message
• false: block silently

rules

List of species-specific restrictions.

Each rule contains:

• pokemon: list of species IDs or species paths to match
• allowedBalls: list of allowed Poke Ball IDs
• message: message shown when the rule blocks a capture

Styled Messages

The message field supports Minecraft legacy formatting codes.

You can use either:

• & codes, like &6&lLegendary!

Example:

{
  "pokemon": ["mewtwo"],
  "allowedBalls": ["cobblemon:master_ball"],
  "message": "&4&lBlocked! &r&7This Pokemon can only be captured with a &6Master Ball&7."
}

• For the full list of Minecraft color/style codes and usage details, see the Minecraft Wiki: https://minecraft.wiki/w/Formatting_codes#Color_codes

Writing Rules

Pokemon IDs

You can use either:

• short species names like "mew"
• full IDs like "cobblemon:mew"

Ball IDs

Use full item-style IDs such as:

• "cobblemon:master_ball"
• "cobblemon:ultra_ball"
• "cobblemon:poke_ball"

Custom balls work too. If another mod or add-on adds a new catch ball, you can use that ball's item ID in allowedBalls the same way.

Example Rules

Only Master Balls for some legendaries:

{
  "pokemon": ["mew", "mewtwo", "lugia"],
  "allowedBalls": ["cobblemon:master_ball"],
  "message": "&6&lLegendary rule! &r&7This Pokemon can only be captured with a &6Master Ball&7."
}

Only Beast Balls for Ultra Beasts:

{
  "pokemon": ["nihilego", "buzzwole", "pheromosa"],
  "allowedBalls": ["cobblemon:beast_ball"],
  "message": "This Pokemon reacts only to a Beast Ball."
}

Allow several ball choices:

{
  "pokemon": ["articuno"],
  "allowedBalls": ["cobblemon:ultra_ball", "cobblemon:master_ball"],
  "message": "Articuno can only be captured with an Ultra Ball or Master Ball."
}

Reload Command

You can reload the config without restarting the server.

This is useful when you are adjusting rules on a live server or testing config changes in a singleplayer world.

Commands:

/ccbr reload
/cobblemoncatchballrules reload

Requirements:

• operator/admin level permission

What it does:

• reloads config/cobblemon_catch_ball_rules.json
• applies updated rules immediately to future capture attempts

Troubleshooting

If the config file is missing, the mod creates a default one automatically.

If the config file is invalid JSON, the mod regenerates it with defaults and logs the error during startup.

If your rules seem ignored:

• verify the species name or ID matches the target species
• verify the ball ID matches Cobblemon's actual Poke Ball ID
• check whether the species has a matching rule in your config