Ecological

Ecological

A mod to make the Minecraft world more dynamic!

by
2.9K Downloads
fabricforgeneoforgequiltadventureworldgen
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Screenshots

Puddles
Growing Forests
Wild Crops
Growing Grass
Improved Water
Buzzy Bees

About this Mod

Title text - It says ecological with a piece of wheat off to the right
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.

Puddles scattered around a plains biome, with a large tree in the background and a smaller one slightly closer. The puddles look similar to flowing water, but are static. They are scattered mostly randomly, but mostly in clusters.

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.

A patch of beetroots growing in a savannah biome, with various acacia and oak trees present in the background

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!

A small, 9x9 farm full of wheat. It is surrounded by fences and oak logs, in a plains biome, with a swamp in the top left barely visible. There is a sheep looking contemplative in the top right. The wheat farm has several wheat crops missing, instead replaced with grass and tall grass - They have become overrun by weeds!

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.

Some out-of-place cherry blossom trees in a plains biome. There are a couple saplings visible on the ground where new trees are naturally growing, as well as some wheat-seed-esque plants which will eventually grow into additional saplings. There are also some oak trees in the distance that have spread, and some jungle leaves on the ground to the right which have fallen from a destroyed tree. An additional detail pictured is the leaf litter - Which now spawns around leaves, as plains biomes do not usually generate leaf litter.

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.

A waterfall, with some gravel and mud blocks below the waterline and across the shores showing signs of erosion over time. Behind the waterfall is a birch forest.

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.

A picture of a forest with several types of flowers in view around a beehive, and some bees flying around. Closest to the camera is an Oxeye daisy, sunflower, peony and some cornflowers. The forest is made up of a mix of birch and oak wood, with a plains biome off to rhe right visible in the distance

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 spread

Support

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

Banner for another minecraft mod of mine, Notebook.

Available Versions

Ecological v0.3.1 - 1.21.6, 1.21.7, 1.21.8beta
MC 1.21.6, 1.21.7, 1.21.8fabric, quilt
August 26, 2025
Ecological v0.3.0 - 1.21, 1.21.1 Forgebeta
MC 1.21, 1.21.1forge, neoforge
August 24, 2025
Ecological 0.3.0 - 1.21, 1.21.1beta
MC 1.21, 1.21.1fabric, quilt
August 24, 2025
Ecological v0.3.0 - 1.21.4, 1.21.3, 1.21.2beta
MC 1.21.2, 1.21.3, 1.21.4fabric, quilt
August 24, 2025
Ecological v0.3.0 - 1.21.5beta
MC 1.21.5fabric, quilt
August 24, 2025

How to Install Ecological on Your Server

1

Order Server

Order a Minecraft Java server with at least 4 GB RAM (6 GB recommended).

2

Set fabric Loader

In the panel under "Egg", select the fabric loader and matching Minecraft version (1.21.8).

3

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

fabricforgeneoforgequilt

Minecraft Versions

1.21.8, 1.21.7, 1.21.6 (+6 more)

Server-side

Required

Recommended 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.

Rent Modded Server

Install Ecological with just one click on your server.

Recommended RAM
6 GBab €12/mo
Min. 4 GB | +1 GB pro 5 Spieler
Create Server Now
1-Click Mod Install
NVMe SSD Storage
DDoS Protection included

Details

License
Mozilla Public License 2.0
Server-side
Required

Supported Versions

1.21.81.21.71.21.61.21.51.21.41.21.31.21.21.21.11.21