What Happened to Minecraft Mods?

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Why do modern Minecraft mods all follow the trend of vanilla plus? What happened to the big and crazy titans of modding days past? And why do all these modern mods feel so stale and lack excitement?

[youssefes]

I feel like what you said about the newer versions being more expanded might be the biggest cause. The more recent updates are done in large chunks with a specific theme, and feel like large scale expansions on what already exists in the game. The earlier versions really felt like a "blank state" of sorts, with the older updates being smaller and just adding a few new features that seemed fun or interesting at random (horses, mesa biomes, redstone, witches etc.). Large scale mods could really take the older versions of the game in unique directions without changing the feel of it too much, while doing so in the more "fleshed out" newer versions might feel strange or conflicting with vanilla.

The same goes for what you said about time. Smaller mods that add a particular feature fit easier and seem to be popular. Due to large mods being less played and updated, I think a lot of people now prefer downloading smaller mods to tweak the vanilla gameplay instead of larger mods that can completely alter the way people are comfortable playing. The large updates that add loads of new content are also intriguing, which causes modders and players to move to the latest versions quickly instead of settling for something like 1.12, which has tons of mods, and seems to me like the last "smaller scale" update that was released.

[harbinger]

As a mod developer I agree, the newer versions have allot to do by themselves so there isn't rlly a need for extensive world breaking mods to fill the emptiness the old versions had, like hell I don't remember the last time I just played purely 1.12 or 1.7.10 without something like biomes of plenty for example

[grantarmstrong]

Personally, I think that currently Minecraft modding goes through trends, there was a period of time where everything was magic/fantasy inspired, then everything became technology and farming resources, and now the modding community is spending all its time trying to compete on who can create the creepiest night dweller

[link]

As a mod developer, the reason why there aren't any "Overpowered" armor, items, or weapons, is because it's just not practical to make those types of mods. I do feel that as time goes on that those types of mods will be made though, by me, or others.

[keithwhitehead]

The way i feel is that newer mods are trying to add to minecraft by working off it, while old mods where added to it without thinking about how it fits into the game as a whole

[Im_Rosey]

"took 3 hours too make a pack" not me crying here cause everytime I make a pack for friends it takes me like 2 weeks

[djrobotzz]

i also think there is another factor. Although sounding strange, the 1.14 texture update may be the moment this change happened. Mods such as Create - although being one of the top mods - builds on top of this texture system. You could easily expect those textures to be in vanilla minecraft. Back in the day, every texture would be made by a different artist and in a different style, therefore allowing modders to use their own style.
Let's say you want to make new tools. What would you do? Well, copper tools, emerald tools, heck, maybe ruby tools. But what tools? Swords, pickaxes, always the same. Mods such as tinkers construct were so amazing because of the giant variety of tools that they had. It didn't matter if one mod added katanas and the other hammers, because the point was NEW content.
Now it feels more like mods are supposed to be put together. As if they were puzzle pieces that supported each other. I mean, have you ever seen a modpack with Create that doesn't have farmers delight? No, because they are meant for each other, mainly because of the same texture style.
I know it may seem weird to point out the 1.14 texture update as a major part of this problem, but it may actually one of the reasons. Modders can't develop their own style, because they are "forced" to follow mojang's texture style. I'm even going as far as saying that mods such as Create force them to do this. Not that Create is bad, just that many modders look up to this mod and hope to be incorporated into modpacks WITH Create.

[elginszeto]

Feels wrong to call twilight updated since the only thing that changes is the minecraft version, and still not having a final boss

[lotiythingy]

This might be not because of vanilla+ having less exciting energy and being less crazy but more because of porting and backporting which essentially limits mod creators from making over the top mods that still can be considered vanilla++ to playing it more save and not having to fix 5000 more issues because their mod was too humongous and complex

[CobaltSpace]

I think Minecraft updating more frequently makes it more difficult for mods to keep up. We were on 1.12 for so long that big mods were able to be “finished”. But after that, Minecraft updates haven’t given enough time for mod devs to finish a mod before the next version comes out, and with mods like create always sticking to the latest version, people don’t have time to do those kinds of mods anymore.

I think what may be needed is some kind of stable abstraction library over Minecraft that can make mods future proof as long as the abstraction library is updated.

[Goteryup]

I feel like the main issue is that the modding scene is oversaturated, vanilla+ is a lot easier to make because you already have a pretty good reference so tons of people made vanilla+ and vanilla+ is somthing that many people enjoy so people just keep on making them over and over again.

I also feel like it's not so much that there are less unique mod/modpacks but that there is a much larger amount of vanilla+ mods

[azireinn]

The reason the "Vanilla+"-esque mods are the top of every mod loader is because each of those mods appeal to almost everyone and can be thrown into any modpack despite it's theme. No matter if a pack is technology themed, exploration themed, magic themed, or just a general kitchen sink modpack, Vanilla+ mods will most often work and fit into those modpacks.

[phalamy]

Ironically i think its because of everyone having higher standards for mods. Especially modders themselves.
People look at hyper polished balanced mods and think they have to make theirs just as polished, leading to extremely long development times, during which they often die out.

Back in the day, there was basically no bar of quality for mods.
We just didn't notice because as kids, you don't care about these things.
Going back to a lot of the really popular big mods of the time, they are... Scuffed to say the least. We were distracted by how big and cool and flashy everything was we didn't notice they were held together with tape and toothpicks.

Just look at orespawn. That thing is a trashheap of stolen assets and code, nothing worked together, 0 balance or polish whatsoever, but we though it was the greatest thing to have ever existed.

[josephkeen]

I think it’s also the fact that Minecraft lost its simplicity in a way. I feel like Minecraft’s art style changes may have made it do that people don’t think that the more outlandish style of mods would fit. It honestly sucks since I’ve always thought of Minecraft as something that could fit a variety of settings and worlds, but now the game feels like it’s stuck in the same fantasy look for the most part.

[EtherialofNowhere]

I mean what is the last time you saw something like Thaumcraft? Researching your tech, insanity system, lore about ancients ascending beyond material planes of existence, dungeons and cool boses. And it is not like it felt super out of vanilla.

[TheRJaBee]

I think it’s that the mods you provided as examples of mods that aren’t made anymore literally still exist

[forged_spectre]

I think that 1.13's rewrite caused the downfall of the old style of mods. It made it so old modders would have to entirely redevelop their mods and I think that lost us many great developers

[GyroCoder]

As a certified old head: I (mostly) disagree.

You're not wrong that there are loads of (actual, not in the way people say Create is) Vanilla+ mods, but that feels like a trend people are chasing and past eras *definitely* had their trends. There was the ore-processing-obsessed throughput-oriented IC2 clone techmod era of 1.4.7-1.7.10ish, and the glut of magic mods circa 1.8.2 as everyone tried to be the Thaumcraft successor when Thaumcraft took a long time between updates. But, about Create. Create itself is at most visually vanilla+ but is mechanically, and in terms of the feel of playing it, is an absolute game-changer. The simple components you can combine into larger contraptions feels like an actual engineering task. The moving multi-block structures are *amazing*. It does not play like vanilla unless you're thinking of specifically advanced redstone contraptions, I suppose, and even then it's leagues ahead of that. It's Rotarycraft Pistronics. What modded-MC old head wouldn't want Rotarycraft Pistronics? Does Rotarycraft Pistronics sound vanilla+ to you?

Secondly, you seem to be focusing heavily on mods that add *progression*. But, let's consider mobs and worldgen for a moment. As far as mobs, with stuff like Kobolds, Alex's Mobs, Ice and Fire, Species, The Dawn Era, The Graveyard, Aquamirae, etc, we've come a long long way since the era of "it's literally just Mo Creatures." And WORLDGEN! My god. Terralith, Tectonic, Regions Unexplored, Biolith, Project Vibrant Journeys, Explorify, Structory, the Integrated series, Geophilic, Yung's Mods, Alex's Caves.... between all of these and the technological marvel that is Distant Horizons I think we're in a bit of a golden age for things that make the world seem vast, interesting, varied, and alive.

You're not completely wrong, though, I miss the huge variety of tech and magic mods. New tech mod production especially has dropped off a cliff (perhaps because people are worried they can't do better than Create, and *they're not wrong* but also I like the variety). I miss when weird crazy new stuff like Flaxbeard's Steam Power would always be coming out, and the creative (albeit unapproachable) mechanics of Factorization.

I don't know, I like mechanically-deep and very un-vanilla-like Minecraft experiences and as somebody who's building a 1.20.x pack, I don't feel like we're in a drought. Techmods specifically maybe, but if you count Create addons some of these are the opposite of vanilla (Destroy and The Factory Must Grow in particular get *deep*).

LASTLY AND IMPORTANT, if you want new (started after 1.12) thematically compelling and mechanically deep mods that feel like they've diverged from Vanilla completely, try Biomancy, Spectrum, Aylyth, Dragon Survival (remember 2 minutes ago when you noticed I have a furry avatar?), Miskatonic Mysteries, Alex's Caves (if you call it Vanilla+ I'm going to ask you in what world you could imagine Mojang making an acid cave full of nuke creepers), Crossroads, and Malum.

Farmer's Delight is also REALLY GOOD and it's new, but might count as Vanilla+ depending on how you look at it.

(P.S. don't be nostalgic for Draconic Evolution, it was BAD. according to my subjective opinion which is secretly the objective truth it was a BAD MOD and I don't miss it, rest in piss DE)

[AlmyTheAlien]

I don't think Minecraft mods have necessarily become smaller or less "impactful" or exclusively vanilla plus, the things people look for in bigger mods has just changed.

Things like Create, Scape and Run: Parasites (and the countless similar 'world infection' mods, ) Epic Fight Mod, Alex's Caves, the countless horror overhauls, the countless shonen anime overhalls, they all change the experience of playing a new Minecraft world completely. The difference is just that they focus more on expanding, replacing or reworking systems than adding another 50 hours of content and progression.

I feel like all the mods where you grind to make black hole guns and super swords that deal 200 damage and literal nukes were a product of their time. Both in the sense that we were all younger and had more free time and big numbers excited us more (just look at the MUGEN character arms race) and in the sense that Minecraft was less known and understood and it felt like there was more allure to kind of "conquering" and "mastering" its world. We didn't care that blowing up a Minecraft mountain with a nuclear missile was utterly pointless because DAMN. Blowing up a Minecraft mountain with a nuclear missile!

[AiriMagePRISM]

I really miss the crazycraft and skyfactory days. When the mods involved with those packs would update it felt like an entire sequel to Minecraft was released for a time.