LivingThings guide for All the Mods 10 2.12

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.1 guide

LivingThings is a mob mod. It adds a lot of new creatures to Minecraft so the world feels more alive. The pack includes version 1.21.1-2.3.1 for NeoForge.^[1][2]

The roster is wide: elephants, giraffes, lions, sharks, penguins, ostriches, flamingos, crabs, mantarays, raccoons, owls, koalas, snails, monkeys, peacocks and seahorses. It also has some Nether and End-flavoured mobs: the Ancient Blaze, the Nether Knight, and the Baby Enderdragon.^[1]

What you will run into

• Savanna biomes are home to lions, elephants, giraffes and ostriches. Lions are listed as dangerous. Elephants and giraffes get angry if you attack them. Ostriches run fast and can be ridden without a saddle.^[3][4][5][6]
• Oceans have sharks, which are fast and hunt players. They also have mantarays, and seahorses in warm and lukewarm oceans.^[7][8][9]
• Elephants can be tamed with apples. Once tamed, you can equip them with a saddle and then a chest.^[4]
• The Baby Enderdragon is hatched by placing a dragon egg on top of a purpur pillar. Chorus fruit is its taming item, and tamed ones follow you around.^[10]
• The Ancient Blaze is a Nether boss with 125 hearts of health. You summon it with a Jack o'Lantern on top of two glowstone blocks, and it drops a helmet when it dies. The helmet gives Fire Resistance while worn.^[11][12]

LivingThings doesn't add machines or a tech tree, so getting started is really about two things: crafting the Lexicon so the mod documents itself, and turning the meat you get from new animals into food. There's only one crafted item in the mod, and the pack changed its recipe, so start there.^[1][13][17]

Step 1: Craft the Lexicon

The LivingThings Lexicon is a Patchouli book that holds the knowledge about the mobs and items the mod adds. It's the fastest way to look up a mob's health, its breeding items and which biomes it spawns in while you're out exploring. The pack changed this recipe from the mod default, so check the one below rather than going off memory.^[1][13][17]

LivingThings LexiconChanged by the pack

Crafting Shapeless

• Book
• any lapi gems

Recipe id: livingthings:lexicon

Changed by the pack.

Inside the book the mobs are split into hostile, neutral and passive groups. Hostile mobs might attack you on sight, neutral mobs only defend themselves if you hit them first, and passive mobs will never hurt anyone.^[14][15][16]

Step 2: Go hunting for meat

Your first real payoff from this mod is food. Five of the new animals drop raw meat, and all of it can be eaten raw or cooked for something better. Savanna is the best early hunting ground, since lions, elephants, giraffes and ostriches all live there.^{[3][4][5][6][18][19][20][21][22]}

• Raw Lion Meat drops from lions, which live in all Savanna biomes. They're dangerous, with 10 hearts of health and 2.5 hearts of attack damage, so bring armour.^[3][21]
• Raw Elephant Meat drops from elephants, also found in all Savanna biomes. With 30 hearts and 3.5 hearts of attack damage they're the toughest of the bunch, and they get angry when you attack them.^[4][19]
• Raw Giraffe Meat drops from giraffes in all Savanna biomes. They have 15 hearts and 2 hearts of attack damage, and like elephants they fight back.^[5][20]
• Raw Ostrich Meat drops from ostriches in all Savanna biomes. They have 10 hearts and can be ridden without a saddle, which is handy early on.^[6][22]
• Raw Crab Meat drops from crabs in Swamp and Beach biomes, 1-2 per kill alongside 0-1 Crab Shell. At 4 hearts and half a heart of attack damage they're the safest target.^[18][23]

Step 3: Cook it

Every raw meat smelts into its cooked version, and each one also has campfire and smoker recipes, so a campfire next to your hunting spot is enough to get going. Later on the pack adds Ender IO alloy smelting recipes for all five meats, so they slot straight into an automated cooking setup once you have the machines.^{[17][24][25][26][27][28]}

Cooked Lion MeatMod recipe

Smelting

• Raw Lion Meat

Recipe id: livingthings:cooked_lion

Campfire and smoker versions exist too.

Cooked Elephant MeatMod recipe

Smelting

• Raw Elephant Meat

Recipe id: livingthings:cooked_elephant

Cooked Giraffe MeatMod recipe

Smelting

• Raw Giraffe Meat

Recipe id: livingthings:cooked_giraffe

Cooked Ostrich MeatMod recipe

Smelting

• Raw Ostrich Meat

Recipe id: livingthings:cooked_ostrich

Cooked Crab MeatMod recipe

Smelting

• Raw Crab Meat

Recipe id: livingthings:cooked_crab

Cooked Lion MeatAdded by the pack

Alloy Smelting (enderio)

• Raw Lion Meat

Recipe id: enderio:smelting/livingthings/cooked_lion

Added by the pack for Ender IO alloy smelting; the other four meats have matching recipes.

LivingThings is a mob mod, so its "machinery" is a set of JSON config files plus the behaviour baked into each creature. In this pack every mob gets its own file under the livingthings config folder, and those files control where it spawns, how big its groups are, how much health and damage it has, and which colour and size variants it can roll. Everything below comes from those pack files and the in-game lexicon.^{[1][31][32][33]}

Spawning: weights, groups and per-chunk caps

Each mob file holds a spawnBiomes list. Every entry names a set of biomes and gives that set a spawn weight plus a minimum and maximum group size, so one mob can be common in one biome family and rare in another. Alongside it, maxSpawnedInChunk limits how many of that mob can pile up in a chunk.^[31][34]

• Crabs use river, beach, swamp and mangrove swamp at weight 60, in groups of 5 to 8, capped at 4 per chunk.^[31]
• Koalas show the multi-entry style nicely: weight 50 in jungle and sparse jungle, 25 in bamboo jungle and 10 in savanna plateau, always in groups of 3 to 8 with a cap of 5.^[34]
• Monkeys take jungle, sparse jungle and windswept savanna at weight 50 and bamboo jungle at 25, in groups of 4 to 7, capped at 7 per chunk.^[35]
• The savanna crowd shares one entry shape: elephants, giraffes, ostriches and peacocks all spawn in savanna, savanna plateau and windswept savanna at weight 15 in groups of 3 to 5. Peacocks additionally get the jungle entries at weight 50 and 25.^{[36][37][38][39]}
• Lions are the rarer savanna predator at weight 12, in groups of 2 to 4, capped at 4 per chunk.^[32]
• Water mobs spread wide: mantarays list every ocean type plus rivers at weight 12 in groups of 2 to 5, while flamingos take rivers and swamps at weight 26 in groups of 3 to 6.^[40][41]
• Owls cover forests, birch and dark forests, flower forest, wooded badlands, the taigas and cherry grove at weight 22, in groups of 3 to 6.^[42]
• Nether knights use a different block: no biome list, just a spawn weight of 15 and a spawn count of 1 to 2, fitting their role as fortress guards.^[43][44]

Stats come from the same files

Health, attackDamage and movementSpeed are all config-driven, and the pack's values are what you actually fight. The lexicon lists stats in hearts, which lines up with the files at two health points per heart: the lion's 10 hearts is health 20 with attackDamage 5, and the elephant's 30 hearts is health 60 with attackDamage 7. Speed is on the vanilla attribute scale, so a koala at 0.17 really is the slowpoke it is described as, while a lion sits at 0.33.^{[3][4][32][34][36][45]}

Variant rolls

Several mobs roll a variant on spawn from weighted tables. Crabs pick a colour from red 45, white 45 and blue 10, then a size from small 30, normal 30, large 25 and extra large 15. Mantarays use the same size spread with an even blue and brown colour split.^[31][40]

• Giraffes roll colour1 and colour2 at 50 each, with an albino weight of just 1.^[37]
• Lions roll colour1 at 99 against white at 1, and a separate gender roll of 50 male to 50 female.^[32]
• Owls split evenly between black, brown and white at 33 each.^[42]

Taming, riding and breeding loops

Interaction is per-mob rather than a shared system. Elephants are tamed with apples, after which they take a saddle and then a chest, and only tamed ones breed with wheat. Ostriches can be ridden without a saddle at all, and the pack leaves canBeRidden enabled. Baby enderdragons are tamed with chorus fruit and will then follow you around. Owls tame with wheat seeds, and snails can be recoloured by right-clicking or sneak-right-clicking them with any dye.^{[4][6][10][38][46][47]}

The ostrich has the mod's most involved loop, and it is the closest thing here to an automatable farm.^[6]

1. Feed two ostriches wheat; once they are in love, one walks to the nearest sand block and builds a nest there, or reuses an empty nest nearby.^[6]
2. The ostrich lays an egg into the nest, and the egg needs time before a baby hatches.^[6]
3. Right-click a nest that contains an egg to pop the egg out as an item; an ostrich that was about to build a nest can also drop one.^[48]
4. Place that egg back into any ostrich nest to hatch a baby. Mining a nest without silk touch destroys it and leaves a few sticks.^[48][49]

A couple of mobs give you more than drops: shroomies plant at least one mushroom when you hand them one, and seahorses can be scooped up by right-clicking them with a water bucket.^[50][51]

Summoning rituals

Two mobs are built rather than found. Place a jack o'lantern on top of two glowstone blocks to summon the Ancient Blaze. It stays invulnerable while it charges its 6 large fireballs, and the sticks orbiting it show how many it has stored; the pack sets largeFireballAmount to 6, a charging time of 200 and a large fireball chance of 20. On death it drops its helmet, which grants fire resistance while worn, and spawns 4 normal blazes to avenge it, matching the blazeSpawnCount of 4. Its pack stats are health 250 and attackDamage 6, and peacefulDespawn is enabled.^[11][12][52]

The Baby Enderdragon is hatched by placing a dragon egg on top of a purpur pillar. In this pack it gets health 10, a follow range of 64 and a flying speed of 0.5.^[10][53]

Drops, cooking and automation

Five mobs give raw meat that can be eaten as-is or cooked: crab, elephant, giraffe, lion and ostrich. Each has the full vanilla set of heat recipes, so a furnace, smoker or campfire all work.^{[17][18][19][20][21][22]}

Cooked Lion MeatMod recipe

Smelting

• Raw Lion Meat

Recipe id: livingthings:cooked_lion

The same smelting, smoking and campfire recipes exist for crab, elephant, giraffe and ostrich meat.

For automation, the pack adds an alloy smelting recipe for every one of those five meats, so you can run meat processing through a machine line instead of hand-feeding furnaces.^[17]

Cooked Lion MeatAdded by the pack

Alloy Smelting (enderio)

• Raw Lion Meat

Recipe id: enderio:smelting/livingthings/cooked_lion

Added by the pack; the other four meats have matching recipes.

Other drops are simple: sharks leave 0 to 3 shark teeth and 1 to 2 raw cod, and those teeth can be used for arrows or crafted into bone meal. Crabs drop 0 to 1 crab shell, which has no listed use. Monkeys drop 1 to 2 leather and 0 to 1 banana, and the pack's global config keeps doBananaDrops on with a bananaDropChance of 45; bananas also come from breaking jungle leaves.^{[7][29][30][33][54][55]}

The Lexicon

All of the in-game mob and item information is delivered through a Patchouli book, the LivingThings Lexicon, and the pack has changed its recipe.^[1][13][17]

LivingThings LexiconChanged by the pack

Crafting Shapeless

• Book
• any lapi gems

Recipe id: livingthings:lexicon

Unverified The nether knight's named weapons (six sword names and four axe names) sit in its config with a weaponDropChance of 15, but the sources do not spell out whether that number is a percentage or how the name is chosen.

LivingThings doesn't have machines, ores or tech tiers. Its progression is about where you travel and what you can survive, and the in-game guide sorts everything it adds into passive mobs that never hurt anyone, neutral mobs that only fight back when you attack them first, and hostile mobs that come after you.^[14][15][16]

Step one: the Lexicon

Start with the LivingThings Lexicon. It's the mod's own book of knowledge about every mob and item it adds, so it doubles as your progression checklist. Note that this pack changes the crafting recipe from the mod default, so check the one below rather than an older guide.^[13][17]

LivingThings LexiconChanged by the pack

Crafting Shapeless

• Book
• any lapi gems

Recipe id: livingthings:lexicon

Changed by the pack.

Tier 1: overworld animals by biome

The first tier is just exploring. Almost every animal is biome-locked, so your early checklist is a travel plan.^[23][54][56]

• Forests and plains: raccoons (5 hearts) and snails, which live in nearly all biomes like forests, swamps and plains and drop 1-2 slime balls. Owls spawn in forest biomes and can be tamed with wheat seeds.^[46][47][56]
• Jungles: monkeys (3 hearts, dropping 1-2 leather and 0-1 banana) and koalas (5 hearts, 1-2 leather). Peacocks show up in savannas and jungles.^[45][54][57]
• Swamps, beaches and rivers: crabs (4 hearts, dropping 1-2 raw crab and 0-1 crab shell) and flamingos.^[23][58]
• Oceans: mantarays drop 1-2 raw cod, and seahorses live in warm and lukewarm oceans and can be scooped up with a water bucket.^[8][9][51]
• Snowy biomes and mushroom fields: penguins, and shroomies that plant at least one mushroom when you hand them one.^[50][59]
• Savannas: ostriches, which can be ridden without a saddle, plus giraffes, elephants and lions.^[3][4][5][6]

Tier 2: food from your kills

Crabs, elephants, giraffes, lions and ostriches all drop raw meat. Every one of them is edible raw and smelts into a cooked version, so the moment you have a furnace, campfire or smoker you have a stable food supply out of the animals you're already fighting.^{[18][19][20][21][22]}

Cooked Lion MeatMod recipe

Smelting

• Raw Lion Meat

Recipe id: livingthings:cooked_lion

This pack also adds Ender IO alloy smelting recipes for all five meats, so once you have that machine running you can batch-cook Cooked Crab Meat, Cooked Elephant Meat, Cooked Giraffe Meat, Cooked Lion Meat and Cooked Ostrich Meat alongside the rest of your smelting.^[17]

Cooked Lion MeatAdded by the pack

Alloy Smelting (enderio)

• Raw Lion Meat

Recipe id: enderio:smelting/livingthings/cooked_lion

Added by the pack.

Tier 3: mobs that fight back

The middle of the mod is the dangerous wildlife. Lions have 10 hearts and hit for 2.5, giraffes have 15 hearts and hit for 2 when angered, and elephants are the big one at 30 hearts and 3.5 hearts of damage. Sharks are worse in their own way: 11 hearts, 3 hearts of damage, and they actively hunt players in every ocean biome.^[3][4][5][7]

Sharks are the one animal with a real crafting payoff, dropping 0-3 shark teeth and 1-2 raw cod. The teeth can be used for arrows or crafted into bone meal.^[7][30]

When you head to the Nether, watch for Nether Knights guarding the fortress.^[44]

Tier 4: the boss and the endgame pets

The Ancient Blaze is the mod's boss and the top of its progression. You summon it with a ritual by placing a jack o'lantern on top of two glowstone blocks. It has 125 hearts, deals 3 hearts a hit, and stays invulnerable until it has charged up its 6 large fireballs, which you can count by the sticks flying around it. It also throws unlimited small fireballs, and on death it drops its helmet and spawns 4 normal blazes to avenge it.^[11]

That drop, the Ancient Helmet, is the reward worth the fight: it grants Fire Resistance while worn.^[12]

The other true endgame item is the baby enderdragon, hatched by placing a dragon egg on top of a purpur pillar. It has 5 hearts, is tamed with chorus fruit, and a tamed one will follow you around.^[10]

LivingThings keeps one config file per mob in the config/livingthings folder, plus a small global file. Every value below is what this pack ships with, so if a mob feels tougher or rarer than you expect, this is where to look.^[31][33][52]

Global toggles

• ambientMode is false in this pack, so the mod is not running in ambient mode.^[33]
• doBananaDrops is true and bananaDropChance is set to 45, so banana drops are enabled with that chance value.^[33]

The dangerous ones

The Ancient Blaze is the heavyweight of the mod here: health is 250 and attackDamage is 6, with movementSpeed at 0.25. It can spawn and can attack (canSpawn and canAttack are both true), and peacefulDespawn is true so it clears out on Peaceful.^[52]

• chargingTime is 200, and blazeSpawnCount is 4, so it calls in blazes in batches of that size.^[52]
• largeFireballChance is 20 and largeFireballAmount is 6, that is the big-fireball volley you need to break line of sight for.^[52]

The Nether Knight is the other fight worth respecting: health is 180, attackDamage is 10 and movementSpeed is 0.26. Its weaponDropChance is 15, and the named weapons it can carry come from weaponNames.swordNames and weaponNames.axeNames.^[43]

Nether Knight spawning uses spawning.spawnWeight of 15 with spawning.minSpawnCount 1 and spawning.maxSpawnCount 2, so you meet them alone or in pairs rather than in packs.^[43]

Baby Ender Dragons are enabled too: canSpawn and canAttack are both true, with health 10, followRange 64, flyingSpeed 0.5 and maxSpawnedInChunk 5.^[53]

Quality-of-life switches

• canBeRidden is true, so ostriches are rideable in this pack.^[38]
• allowAllMeatAsFood is true, which widens what you can feed lions.^[32]
• Sharks hit hard and fast for a passive-world mob: attackDamage 6, health 22 and movementSpeed 1.05, capped at maxSpawnedInChunk 3.^[60]
• Elephants are the beefiest overworld animal here with health 60 and attackDamage 7, and canAttack is true.^[36]

Rare variants

If you are hunting shiny variants, the weights tell you how long you will be looking. Albino giraffes sit at colorWeights.colorAlbinoWeight 1 against 50 and 50 for the two normal colours, and white lions are colorWeights.colorWhiteWeight 1 against 99 for the standard coat. Blue crabs are less brutal at colorVariants.colorBlueWeight 10 versus 45 red and 45 white.^[31][32][37]

Spawn caps and biomes

Every animal file carries a maxSpawnedInChunk value and a spawnBiomes list, so you can thin out or relocate anything that clutters your world. Monkeys have the highest cap at 7, sharks the lowest at 3, and snails crawl at movementSpeed 0.1 with a cap of 6. Peacocks and penguins also expose a talk interval (200 for peacocks and 180 for penguins) if their noise is getting to you.^{[35][39][60][63][64]}

Unverified These are the pack's shipped values; which of them differ from the mod's own out-of-the-box defaults could not be confirmed from the available sources.

All the Mods 10 2.12 ships LivingThings 1.21.1-2.2.0 (the NeoForge build). The mod has been in the pack since All the Mods 10 1.0 or earlier. Here's what the mod's own changelogs list for the most recent versions.^[65]

1.21.1-2.2.0 (the version in 2.12)

• The default values of the NetherKnight config were changed.^[66]
• Item and entity tags were updated and created.^[66]
• The banana item got a new texture.^[66]

1.21.1-2.1.3

The custom argument type was removed. This fixes some incompatibilities with other mods.^[67]

1.21.1-2.1.2

• Fixed advancements unlocking all recipes at world start.^[68]
• Fixed the dependencies not allowing Minecraft 1.21.^[68]

Unverified No pack changelog entries for this mod were available, so which pack releases picked up each of these mod versions is unverified.