
Ecological
A mod to make the Minecraft world more dynamic!
Screenshots






About this Mod

A mod to make the environment and its inhabitants feel more alive!
The Minecraft world is fundamentally a very boring place, everything is set from the beginning and past that, there's very little change.
This mod aims to modify the minecraft environment in such a way that it changes over time, providing some new unique mechanics and interactions between different gameplay elements. There are a lot of features that could be implemented into this mod in future - So suggestions are welcome.
What's New
Spoilers
Puddles
Puddles will spawn during the rain. They will slow you down slightly to walk through, and will spread during rainy weather.
Once it's no longer raining, they'll start to evaporate. Alternatively, you can use bottles or buckets to collect the water to get rid of them.

Improved Crops
The way crops work has been fundamentally overhauled - Grass no longer drops wheat seeds - instead, they now drop mixed seeds.
Mixed seeds most often won't grow into anything besides grass, however, they have a chance to grow into a random regular crop.
To grow crops, you'll have to find one of the following to get seeds (Or try your luck with mixed seeds):
- Wild Wheat
- Wild Potatoes
- Wild Carrots
- Wild Beetroot
The new wild crops will spawn randomly in your world, you can find them by simply exploring!
They are capable of growing on their own, over time more wild crops will appear nearby - Causing them to slowly spread.
Carrots now have their own seed type - Although you can still use carrots normally.

Growing Grass
Now, grass blocks have a chance to grow short grass above them naturally - And short grass is able to grow into tall grass.
This will often destroy crops and plants on grass blocks - So you might want to keep the grass under control around your base.
If farmland is close to grass blocks, it has a chance to start growing short or tall grass over it - Destroying your crops!

Responsive Forests
Trees can now spread! Over time saplings will grow nearby trees, allowing forests to spread over time.
Instead of just vanishing, leaves will now fall down to the ground once the parent tree has been removed.
Over time, leaves fallen on the ground will turn into leaf litter. Trees will also drop leaf litter neaby over time.
A full leaf litter block will turn the block under it into podzol after a while - Composting.
While a change to podzol, rather than directly related to trees - grass blocks will now spread to Podzol. This means that there will be small patches of grass inside of forests which are otherwise mostly podzol. As grass spreads to podzol, the leaf litter on the block will be removed.

Water Improvements
Some blocks are now able to erode while next to water:
- Deepslate -> Blackstone
- Stone & Blackstone -> Gravel
- Gravel & Sandstone -> Sand
- Grass, Podzol, Paths and Farmland -> Dirt
- Dirt -> Packed Mud
- Terracotta -> Red Sand
- Packed Mud -> Mud
Some erosion situations have a probability of producing one or more blocks:
- Coarse Dirt -> Gravel or Dirt
- Rooted Dirt -> Dirt or Moss
This process also applies to farmland - Meaning crops are unlikely to grow if there's too much water, as the farmland will erode back into dirt.

Buzzy Bees
Bees are now able to let flowers spread!
Unlike other plants spreading, the type of flower is completely random - It can be any, even those not usually naitive to the biome.
When a bee locks onto a plant to gather pollen, it has a possibility of spawning another random type of vanilla flower nearby.

What's Coming Next
These features aren't yet implemented, but are being worked on and are likely to make it to the mod, but it's subject to change!
Spoilers
Spreading Biomes (v0.4.0?)
- Under certain conditions, biomes will be able to spreadSupport
For feature requests, or help with problems, join the Discord Server or make an issue on tangled.sh.
You can use this project in modpacks if you'd like - No need to ask for permission, though, i'd love to see them!
Other Projects
Available Versions
How to Install Ecological on Your Server
Order Server
Order a Minecraft Java server with at least 4 GB RAM (6 GB recommended).
Set fabric Loader
In the panel under "Egg", select the fabric loader and matching Minecraft version (1.21.8).
Install Mod
Open the mod browser in the dashboard and search for "Ecological". Click "Install" – done! Alternatively, upload the .jar via SFTP to the /mods folder.
Compatibility
Mod Loaders
Minecraft Versions
1.21.8, 1.21.7, 1.21.6 (+6 more)
Server-side
✓ RequiredRecommended RAM
6 GB(min. 4 GB)Frequently Asked Questions
Ecological server crashes on startup – what to do?
Most common cause: wrong fabric version or insufficient RAM. Check the server log (latest.log) for "OutOfMemoryError" or "Mixin" errors. With Mado Hosting: ensure at least 4 GB RAM is allocated and the loader matches the mod version (1.21.8). You can switch loaders with one click in the panel.
Is Ecological compatible with fabric and forge and neoforge and quilt?
Ecological officially supports fabric, forge, neoforge, quilt for Minecraft 1.21.8, 1.21.7, 1.21.6. Note: Forge and Fabric mods are NOT cross-compatible – pick one loader and stick with it. The Mado dashboard automatically detects incompatible loader combinations.
Server lagging with Ecological – how to optimize performance?
Recommended RAM: 6 GB (per 5 players). Use /spark profiler to check if Ecological consumes the most tick time. Common fixes: reduce server view-distance to 8-10, install "performant" or "starlight" as supplementary mods on Forge. With Mado Hosting, your server runs on NVMe SSDs with dedicated CPU cores for minimal latency.
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Rent Modded Server
Install Ecological with just one click on your server.