better cave Miner

Better Cave Miner

Build your skills through survival work: mine natural ores, fell trees, dig earth, harvest crops and catch fish. Each profession has its own progress, with stronger abilities earned over time.

How to play

• Pickaxe: vein mining unlocks at level 5. Mine matching connected natural ores; sneak to break just one.
• Axe: from level 5, sneak and break a log to fell a limited group of connected logs. At level 12, keep matching saplings stocked to replant suitable roots.
• Shovel: from level 5, sneak and dig supported earth to use limited batch excavation.
• Hoe: from level 5, sneak and harvest a mature crop to replant using a real inventory seed.
• Fishing rod: successful vanilla bites earn fishing XP. Open-water catches improve rewards from level 5.

Press K for profession progress and J for the journal/workshop. Controls can be rebound.

Choose your path

At level 10 in each profession, choose Speed, Preservation or Yield. One permanent choice per profession gives you a reason to specialize. Increasing XP costs, tool wear, hunger and batch limits keep progression earned.

Craft the Miner's Hammer and Lumberjack's Axe for heavier work after reaching the matching profession's level 15. Check their recipes in-game.

Prepare for the dark

Craft and upgrade a wearable headlamp. New lamps start empty: wear one in the helmet slot and use coal or charcoal in the air to refuel. To toggle it, hold the lamp and sneak-use it, then equip it again.

Caver's / Reinforced / Expedition lamps hold 60 / 180 / 360 seconds of fuel and illuminate 5 / 8 / 11 blocks. Light is local to the wearer and does not change monster spawning.

Keep exploring

Profession advancements recognize your work. The Trips screen tracks unique biomes and deep cave regions with one-time rewards. Repeated visits do not grant repeated payouts.

Installation

Choose the file matching your Minecraft version and loader. Install on client and server. Fabric also requires the matching Fabric API; Forge and NeoForge use separate files.

The new beta supports 1.20.1, 1.21.1, 1.21.11, 26.2 and 26.3. Use Java 17+ for 1.20.1, Java 21+ for 1.21.x, and Java 25+ for 26.x. Older downloads have different features.

This is a beta. Back up existing worlds before testing; shader, protection-mod and broader modpack compatibility remains under validation.

Artwork is illustrative. Gameplay GIFs show actual staged survival gameplay with level 20 pre-unlocked to demonstrate abilities.

Better Cave Miner

Better Cave Miner is a Fabric mod that adds a mining progression system to Minecraft.
The mod is focused on making ore mining feel more rewarding by adding Mining XP, levels, unlockable mining upgrades, mining statistics, a progress HUD, and a craftable headlamp for cave exploration.

It does not replace Minecraft’s mining system. Instead, it adds progression and utility features around ore mining.

When you break ore blocks, you earn Mining XP.
As your Mining XP increases, your mining level goes up. Higher mining levels automatically unlock mining-related upgrades.

These upgrades are designed to help with cave mining, ore gathering, visibility, and long mining sessions.

Mining Progression

The mod adds a separate mining level system.

Mining level is based on Mining XP:

• Every ore you mine gives Mining XP.
• Connected ores mined through vein mining give additional XP.
• Mining streaks can give a small XP bonus.
• Your mining level increases as your total Mining XP increases.

Mining progression is saved per player.

Vein Mining

Vein Mining allows connected ore blocks of the same type to be mined together.

This feature is limited by your mining progression.
At lower levels, only small groups of connected ores can be mined. Higher progression allows larger connected ore groups.

Vein Mining is not unlimited. It has a maximum number of extra blocks based on your current unlock level.

Ore Sense

Ore Sense scans the area around a mined ore block.

When enough nearby ore blocks are detected, the mod shows a small message telling you how many nearby ore blocks were found.

Ore Sense does not mark exact block positions.
It only provides a nearby ore count.

Mining Streaks

The mod tracks mining streaks when ore blocks are mined close together in time.

Higher streaks can give a small extra XP bonus.
The streak is shown as a short action bar message when it becomes high enough.

Mining Stats

Better Cave Miner tracks several mining statistics for each player:

• Total ores broken
• Completed veins
• Best mining streak
• Total Mining XP earned
• Average ores per vein

These stats can be viewed in the Mining Journal screen.

Mining HUD

The mod adds a compact mining HUD.

The HUD appears while holding a pickaxe and shows:

• Current mining level
• Mining XP progress toward the next level
• Remaining XP needed for the next level

The HUD is designed to stay small and only appear when relevant.

Mining Dashboard

The Mining Dashboard shows your mining progression in a larger screen.

It displays:

• Current mining level
• XP progress
• Skill unlock status
• Current levels for each mining skill

Default key: K

Mining Journal

The Mining Journal shows your mining statistics.

It displays your recorded mining activity, including ores broken, veins completed, best streak, total XP earned, and average ores per vein.

Default key: J

Caver’s Headlamp

Better Cave Miner adds a craftable item called the Caver’s Headlamp.

The headlamp can be worn in the helmet slot.
When worn, it provides client-side light while exploring caves.

The headlamp has durability and slowly loses durability while being used.

Its light range improves as your mining level increases.

Crafting

The Caver’s Headlamp is crafted using:

• Copper Ingots
• Redstone Torch
• Iron Helmet

The exact recipe is available in-game through recipe viewers or the vanilla recipe book when unlocked.

Commands

The mod includes the /bcm command for checking or managing mining progression.

Available command features include:

• Viewing mining info
• Adding Mining XP
• Setting mining level
• Adding skill levels
• Resetting mining progression

Some commands are mainly useful for testing, server management, or debugging.

Design Goal

Better Cave Miner is designed for players who want mining to feel more progressive without turning it into a completely different system.