🔧 Custom Ore Gen

Custom Ore Gen completely overhauls Minecraft's ore generation by replacing vanilla distribution with a latitude-based system driven by the world's Z coordinate, and adds a complete intermediate equipment tier between iron and diamond: Diamond Shards.

After months of reworking, version 4.0 is a full rewrite — rebuilt from the ground up for NeoForge 1.21.1, dropping KubeJS entirely in favor of fully data-driven biome modifiers, and introducing a brand-new world of latitude exploration (Configurable).

🎯 Overview

A mod that:

• Replaces all vanilla overworld ore generation with a latitude system (north = cold, south = hot, middle = temperate)
• Adds a new intermediate equipment tier: Diamond Shards
• Encourages north/south exploration to gather specific resources
• Locks the Deep Dark to cold northern latitudes as a legendary feature
• Ships custom ultra-wide terrain through its Lithosphere companion mod
• Automatically integrates with Biomes O' Plenty, Create and Mekanism

🌍 Latitude-Based Ore Generation

The world is split into three latitude bands running along the Z axis. Travel north or south to change which ores you can find — your Z coordinate, not your biome, decides the ores (Emeralds being the biome-tagged exception).

⚠️ Note: Deepslate Shard Diamond Ore is the only progression ore that spawns in ALL zones, ensuring accessible early-game progression wherever you start. When you create a world, your spawn point is automatically relocated to temperate dry land so you always begin in a balanced area.

🧭 Use the Ore Biome Finder item or the /ores command to see exactly which ores are available at your current Z coordinate — the output is color-coded per zone (cold = aqua, hot = gold, temperate = green, shard ores = light purple).

💎 Diamond Shard Tier — New Progression

A complete set of tools and armor that bridges the gap between iron and diamond.

⚙️ Available Equipment

✅ The Paxel combines the functions of pickaxe, axe, and shovel into a single tool — affecting every block mineable by those tags.

🛠️ All stats above are the defaults — every durability, speed and damage value, plus the cold/hot zone thresholds and ore drops, is configurable in custom-ore-gen-common.toml.

🧪 Shard → Diamond Conversion

9 Diamond Shards → 1 Diamond (3×3 crafting grid).

🛡️ Armor Recipes

• Helmet: 5 Diamond Shards
• Chestplate: 8 Diamond Shards + 1 Diamond
• Leggings: 7 Diamond Shards + 1 Diamond
• Boots: 4 Diamond Shards

⚙️ Repair any Diamond Shard equipment with Diamond Shards on an anvil.

🔍 Ore Biome Finder

A handy tool to instantly know which ores are available at your current latitude.

🎮 Alternatives:

• Craft the Ore Biome Finder item (check JEI for the recipe).
• Use the /ores (or /ore) command — it shows your X/Z position, the zone determined by Z, the cold/hot thresholds, and a color-coded list of findable ores.

📦 Installation & Dependencies

⚠️ Mandatory Requirements

• Minecraft: 1.21.1
• NeoForge: 21.1.x
• Lithosphere: 1.7+ (required — provides the custom ultra-wide terrain the mod is balanced for)

🌐 Optional but Recommended

• Biomes O' Plenty — ore generation automatically extends to all its biomes.
• Create — ore-processing compat (crushing/milling shard diamond ore, mixing shards → diamond).
• Mekanism — enriching compat for shard diamonds.

🚫 The mod does not use KubeJS anymore. Vanilla ores are fully removed via NeoForge biome modifiers — no scripts, nothing to run.

🎮 Gameplay & Progression

1. Initial Stage Start in the temperate band and mine Deepslate Shard Diamond Ore (available everywhere) to obtain Diamond Shards.

2. First Equipment Craft Diamond Shard tools (or the versatile Paxel) for better efficiency than iron.

3. Targeted Exploration Travel north or south along the Z axis to reach different ore zones:

   • North (Cold): Lapis and Deepslate Diamonds
   • South (Hot): Pure Gold, Redstone, Copper
   • Mountain biomes: High Emeralds
   • Rare biomes: Lower Emeralds

4. Final Progression Combine 9 Diamond Shards to create a regular Diamond and access vanilla diamond equipment.

📊 Equipment Statistics Comparison

🌟 Key Features

• 🗺️ Latitude Exploration: the Z coordinate — not the biome — decides your ores
• 🌌 Legendary Deep Dark: locked to cold northern latitudes only (via a safe mixin)
• 🚀 Custom Ultra-Wide Terrain: ships with Lithosphere for a fresher, wider world
• ⚔️ Balanced Progression: Diamond Shard tier bridges the iron–diamond gap
• 🚫 No Vanilla Ores: fully removed via data-driven biome modifiers (no scripts)
• 🌍 Modpack Friendly: automatic integration with any biome mod through the Z system
• 🎨 Dedicated Creative Tab: all mod items in the "Custom Ore Gen" tab
• 🛠️ Versatile Tools: the Paxel saves inventory space
• 📊 In-game Info: Finder item + /ores command with color-coded zones
• ⚙️ Fully Configurable: zone thresholds, tool stats, armor values and ore drops

🆕 What's New in 4.0

Version 4.0 is a ground-up rebuild. Highlights:

• Full NeoForge 1.21.1 port — left Forge 1.20.1 and KubeJS behind; everything is now data-driven biome modifiers.
• Latitude ore system — ores are now distributed by Z coordinate instead of biome categories, so it works with any biome mod out of the box.
• Ultra-wide custom terrain — bundled through the Lithosphere companion mod.
• Legendary Deep Dark — the Deep Dark now only generates in cold northern latitudes, making it a true endgame destination.
• Auto spawn relocation — new worlds start on temperate dry land automatically.
• Create & Mekanism compat — recipes for crushing, milling, mixing and enriching shard diamonds.
• Color-coded /ores & Ore Finder — clear, readable output that explains the Z mechanic.
• Polished ore behaviour — all 4 vanilla diamond features are properly removed, and copper now uses the correct deepslate texture underground.

💡 Existing worlds from older versions are not compatible — create a new world after installing 4.0.

📝 Important Notes

• ⚠️ Create a NEW world after installing. Chunks generated before installation keep their old ore distribution.
• The cold/hot zone thresholds default to Z = ±8000 but are fully adjustable in the config.
• Emeralds remain biome-based (mountain and rare-biome tags), not latitude-based.
• All Diamond Shard equipment can be repaired with Diamond Shards.

🎯 Why Choose Custom Ore Gen?

Because it brings logic to exploration (travel the world to find specific ores), smoother progression (a real iron-to-diamond bridge), and seamless integration with many modded biomes — all without tedious configuration.

Happy mining! 🌍⛏️✨