I decide to explore beyond the village to try and get a lay of the land. I come across a small farmhouse in the middle of the plains. It’s unoccupied, the cows and a horse left to fend for themselves. Maybe I could make this a home?

With Christmas around the corner I don’t have much time to develop the mod, so I thought I’d talk about someone else’s mod instead. I’ve been working on a modpack that includes mods I think complement butterflies well.

My philosophy when creating this mod pack hasn’t quite been a Vanilla+ experience. More of a “Vanilla Plus Plus”. I’m generally avoiding tech mods, magic mods, and dungeon/rpg mods, but I’m not necessarily steering away from mods that alter the game’s mechanics.

My main focus has been on farming/fishing mods, mods that add new mobs, and structure mods. One of the structure mods I’ve included is Adorabuild: Structures. This mod adds 85 new structures to all dimensions of vanilla Minecraft. I’m using the 1.20.1 version, but they have support for Minecraft up to and including version 1.20.4.

Some of the structures it adds are fairly benign. Chests hidden around trees for example. They seem minor, but just these simple additions adds a little bit of flavour to exploring a Minecraft world. Did I see something in that tree? Why is that trapdoor there?

Other structures are functional, neutral places. Stables, a library, a log cabin in the mountains. These usually have some minor loot and could serve as starter bases for people starting out. Some structures are a little more interesting.

You may come across a prison where illagers are holding villagers hostage. An apiary in the middle of nowhere where you can keep bees. Large structures beneath the lava in the nether, or smaller fortresses and piglin outposts.

Even the End hasn’t been spared. I’ve yet to explore the End with the mod installed, but the mod’s description and screenshots show there is more to discover in the final dimension.

For many of the larger structures, advancements have been added, giving completionists goals to complete. They help guide the player, showing them what there is left to discover when exploring the world.

Aside from the new structures and advancements, Adorabuild: Structures adds nothing else to the game. This helps to make the mod feel like it could be a part of vanilla Minecraft, which makes it perfect for Vanilla+ modpacks.

These new structures add a little bit of depth to the world. It encourages the player to explore more, in the hopes of finding something interesting along the way. The details are small, but the details make the world feel a little bit more lived in, more complete.

I’ve included this mod in my main modpack for a while now, and it makes exploring the world more interesting. No longer do I just go out in search of specific structures. I just explore, and am excited to see what I might find.

I find a library built high up in the mountains. It must have belonged to some great sage. The shelves are filled with books containing enchantments. If I can learn how to use them they may help me survive this hostile world.