Ore Configuration

Add world-generation placement rules (vein size, abundance, altitude, biomes) to an existing block.

Ore configuration doesn’t register a new block — it takes a block name that’s already registered (via block-config.yaml) and gives it world-generation placement rules: which biomes it can appear in, what altitude range, and how dense its veins are. This is how ore veins, gemstones, and any other biome-restricted, altitude-restricted block get placed during world generation.

File Location

ore-config: ore-config.yaml

Then create the file it points to, relative to your mod’s folder:

mods/<YourMod>/ore-config.yaml

The file is a single list of ore entries:

ores:
  - name: my_ore_block
    biomes:
      - YourMod:my_biome

name must match an already-registered block name, prefixed with your mod name unless it already contains a colon — same convention as every other catalog file.

Minimal Example

ores:
  - name: my_ore_block
    min-altitude: -50
    max-altitude: 0
    abundance: 0.15
    biomes:
      - YourMod:my_biome

Fields

Field	Default	Description
`name`	(required)	The block name to place — must already be registered in `block-config.yaml`.
`min-altitude`	(unbounded)	Lowest world-Y this ore can spawn at. Omit for no lower bound.
`max-altitude`	(unbounded)	Highest world-Y this ore can spawn at. Omit for no upper bound.
`min-depth-factor`	`0.0`	Lowest normalized within-world depth this ore can spawn at (`0.0` = surface/top, `1.0` = world floor). An extra gate on top of `min-altitude`/`max-altitude`. The world’s depth reference is set per world-builder preset (`world-floor-y`, and `world-ceiling-y` for cave worlds).
`max-depth-factor`	`1.0`	Highest normalized within-world depth this ore can spawn at. Leave `min`/`max-depth-factor` at their defaults for no depth restriction.
`noise-scale`	`1.0`	Noise sampling scale — higher values produce smaller, more frequent veins; lower values produce larger, sparser ones. Give a single number to scale both axes equally (the usual case), or a `{ x, y }` map to scale each axis separately, which stretches veins along one axis.
`abundance`	`0.1`	The fraction of eligible positions (inside the altitude/biome restrictions) that become this ore, from `0.0` (never) to `1.0` (every eligible block). This is a true, calibrated fraction: `0.1` really does fill ~10% of eligible positions, independent of the `noise-scale` values.
`deep-abundance`	(none)	Optional deep-end abundance. When set, effective abundance ramps linearly across the depth band — from `abundance` at `min-depth-factor` to `deep-abundance` at `max-depth-factor` — so richness scales with depth (set it above `abundance` for “deeper = richer”). Omit it to keep abundance flat.
`biomes`	(none)	Which biome names this ore can spawn in. An ore with no biomes never spawns.

Complete Example

Based on the real shipped ore config:

ores:
  - name: coal_ore
    min-altitude: -50
    max-altitude: 0
    noise-scale: 0.1
    abundance: 0.1
    biomes:
      - plains
      - desert
      - forest

  - name: iron_ore
    min-altitude: -50
    max-altitude: 0
    noise-scale: 0.05
    abundance: 0.05
    biomes:
      - plains
      - desert
      - forest

Stretched Veins

Pass noise-scale as a { x, y } map to scale each axis independently. A low x and higher y sample the noise slowly across and quickly down, producing wide, flat, horizontally-banded veins:

ores:
  - name: marble
    min-altitude: -80
    max-altitude: -20
    noise-scale: { x: 0.02, y: 0.08 }
    abundance: 0.08
    biomes:
      - plains

Depth-Scaled Ore (deeper = richer)

Use the normalized depth band plus deep-abundance to make an ore rarer near the top of its band and richer toward the world floor. The example gems appear only below the mid-point of the world and ramp from ~2% of eligible positions at that depth to ~12% at the floor:

ores:
  - name: deep_gem
    min-altitude: -3000
    max-altitude: 0
    min-depth-factor: 0.5
    max-depth-factor: 1.0
    noise-scale: 0.06
    abundance: 0.02
    deep-abundance: 0.12
    biomes:
      - cave_deep

The depth axis (0.0 at the top, 1.0 at the floor) is defined per world-builder preset by world-floor-y (and world-ceiling-y on cave worlds). Ores whose min/max-depth-factor are left at their defaults ignore depth entirely and behave exactly as before.

The altitude keys above are shown for illustration but are not needed when gating on depth: both bands are ANDed, and min/max-altitude default to unbounded. The usual pattern for a depth-banded ore is to set the depth keys and omit the altitude keys entirely, letting depth be the only gate.

Last updated Aug 22, 2026