Balanced Ore Detector

Balanced Ore Detector

Fully configurable Ore Detectors that do not break the balance of the game, and still make prospecting a challenge, without forcing you to hollow out the entire world.

by
10.9K Downloads
fabricneoforgeadventureequipmentutility
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Screenshots

Focused Coal Detector
Finding diamonds
Mod Menu
Focused Void Detector
Focused Gold Detector
Diamond Detector

About this Mod

Balanced Ore Detector (Fabric and NeoForge)

Old Minecraft worlds look like swiss cheese. The underground, especially around level 10, is hollow and ugly.
I have never liked it, and I decided to design various detectors to find ores without hollowing out the entire world.
These ore detectors do not print out the type and coordinates of the found ores, and they do not scan the entire world.
That would be cheating.
But they do help finding ores a little faster than mining.

They all operate by echo location. When they are used on a solid surface, they emit three loud bangs, which get reflected from certain blocks. Each detector emits different sounds which get reflected differently. The volume of the echo, and the time till it returns, depend on the distance of the block. The pitch and the particles that may appear help to identify the block.

There are two variants of each detector: basic and focused. The focused ones use a narrower beam, therefore they are better for deceting ores, but they are more expensive.

The Void Detector emits a sound that is reflected from non-solid blocks, like air, water, lava and some other partly transparent blocks.

Crafting a Void Detector Crafting a Focused Void Detector

The Coal Detector emits a sound that is reflected best from coal, copper, iron and quartz ores and from a few other things that are made of these materials.

Crafting a Coal Detector Crafting a Focused Coal Detector

The Iron Detector does not detect coal, but, in addition to copper, iron and quartz, it detects gold, redstone and lapis.

Crafting an Iron Detector Crafting a Focused Iron Detector

The Gold Detector is the most universal. It detects iron, gold, redstone, lapis, diamonds and emeralds, but unfortunately it is insensitive to coal and copper.

Crafting a Gold Detector Crafting a Focused Gold Detector

And the Diamond Detector is the best to find the most precious ores, diamonds, emeralds and ancient debris in the nether.

Crafting a Diamond Detector Crafting a Focused Diamond Detector

All detectors have long, but limited usability.

Screenshot

Every major feature of the mod is configurable in the Mod Menu.

Screenshot

Requires (Fabric)

Compatibility

Tech Reborn

Since 1.1.0

  • the Coal Detector detects galena, tin, lead, ruby and sapphire,
  • the Iron Detector detects galena, tin, lead, ruby, sapphire, silver and bauxite,
  • the Gold Detector detects silver and iridium,
  • and the Diamond Detector detects iridium, pyrite, cinnabar, sphalerite, tungsten, sheldonite, peridot and sodalite.

Applied energistics 2

Since 1.1.0

  • Coal and Iron Detectors detect certus quartz too.

License

Standard MIT license. Feel free to learn from it and incorporate it in your own projects.

Source code

Available on GitLab or on GitHub.
The source code has lots of comments to help learning Minecraft modding.

Thanks

Thanks to Kaupenjoe for his excellent Modding By Kaupenjoe: Minecraft Modding 1.20.X for Fabric course.

See also

My other mods on Modrinth and on CurseForge.

Available Versions

Balanced Ore Detector 1.2.8+neo+mc1.21.11release
MC 1.21.11neoforge
April 4, 2026
Balanced Ore Detector 1.2.8+fabric+mc1.21.11release
MC 1.21.11fabric
April 4, 2026
Balanced Ore Detector 1.2.7+neo+mc1.21.11release
MC 1.21.11neoforge
January 8, 2026
Balanced Ore Detector 1.2.7+fabric+mc1.21.11release
MC 1.21.11fabric
January 8, 2026
Balanced Ore Detector 1.2.6+neo+mc1.21.11release
MC 1.21.11neoforge
December 16, 2025

How to Install Balanced Ore Detector on Your Server

1

Order Server

Order a Minecraft Java server with at least 3 GB RAM (4 GB recommended).

2

Set fabric Loader

In the panel under "Egg", select the fabric loader and matching Minecraft version (1.21.11).

3

Install Mod

Open the mod browser in the dashboard and search for "Balanced Ore Detector". Click "Install" – done! Alternatively, upload the .jar via SFTP to the /mods folder.

Compatibility

Mod Loaders

fabricneoforge

Minecraft Versions

1.21.11, 1.21.10, 1.21.9 (+13 more)

Server-side

Required

Recommended RAM

4 GB(min. 3 GB)

Frequently Asked Questions

Balanced Ore Detector 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 3 GB RAM is allocated and the loader matches the mod version (1.21.11). You can switch loaders with one click in the panel.

Is Balanced Ore Detector compatible with fabric and neoforge?

Balanced Ore Detector officially supports fabric, neoforge for Minecraft 1.21.11, 1.21.10, 1.21.9. The Mado dashboard automatically detects incompatible loader combinations.

Server lagging with Balanced Ore Detector – how to optimize performance?

Recommended RAM: 4 GB (per 8 players). Use /spark profiler to check if Balanced Ore Detector 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 Balanced Ore Detector with just one click on your server.

Recommended RAM
4 GBab €8/mo
Min. 3 GB | +1 GB pro 8 Spieler
Create Server Now
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NVMe SSD Storage
DDoS Protection included

Details

License
MIT License
Server-side
Required

Supported Versions

1.21.111.21.101.21.91.21.81.21.71.21.61.21.51.21.41.21.31.21.2+6 more