YUNG's Better Dungeons guide for All the Mods 10 1.0 to 8.1

YUNG's Better Dungeons is a worldgen mod that completely redesigns Minecraft's dungeons. It reworks the vanilla dungeons and adds three new ones: Catacombs, Fortresses of the Undead, and Spider Caves.^[1]

The pack ships version 1.21.1-NeoForge-5.1.4 of the mod. There's nothing to craft and nothing to unlock. You just explore the world and run into the new dungeons.^[2]

Who it's for

If you like exploring and want underground structures that feel more like real adventures than the vanilla cobblestone room, this mod is for you. It's meant to work with other worldgen mods, including YUNG's Better Mineshafts, YUNG's Better Strongholds, YUNG's Extras, YUNG's Bridges and Repurposed Structures.^[1]

Nether dungeons

The mod's project page describes an opt-in Nether feature that adds small dungeons scattered through the Nether. It says you have to turn it on manually in the mod's config. That note was written for the 1.19.2 release, so I can't confirm it applies to this pack's version.^[1]

Unverified The sources don't confirm the config option name or its default value for the Nether dungeons in this pack's version, so check the mod's config file in your instance before relying on it.

Where it fits in progression

Unverified No quests in this pack involve this mod, and it is not on the ATM Star path. The mod also has no in-jar guidebook, so there's no extra in-game documentation to point you to. Treat it as optional exploration content rather than a required progression step.

Good news: you don't need to craft anything to get started with this mod. YUNG's Better Dungeons redesigns Minecraft's dungeons and adds three new ones: Catacombs, Fortresses of the Undead, and Spider Caves. Your first step is simply to go exploring.^[1]

What to do first

1. Look for an upgraded Monster Room. It is the mod's take on the small dungeon, and finding one unlocks an advancement.^[1][3]
2. Go hunting for the three new dungeon types: a Catacomb, a Fortress of the Undead and a Spider Cave. Each has its own advancement.^[1][3]
3. Once you have seen them all, you complete the advancement for exploring all of the Better Dungeons.^[3]

Advancement checklist

The mod's advancements work as a handy checklist, with one for each kind of dungeon.^[3]

• Small dungeon: find an upgraded Monster Room.^[3]
• Zombie dungeon: set foot in a Catacomb.^[3]
• Skeleton dungeon: enter a Fortress of the Undead.^[3]
• Spider dungeon: discover a Spider Cave.^[3]
• All dungeons: explore all of the Better Dungeons.^[3]

Things the config can change

The mod has a config that controls a few things you may notice. One option stops vanilla dungeons from spawning, and its tooltip recommends turning them off because the Small Dungeons are very similar in design. Others set the minimum and maximum number of guaranteed chests in a small dungeon and the maximum number of banners. You can also toggle mob heads, decorative Nether blocks such as soul sand, and ore blocks in the corners of small dungeons.^[3]

Small Nether dungeons are described as an opt-in feature that has to be enabled in the config. If they are on, blazes from them can have a chance to drop blaze rods and wither skeletons can drop wither skeleton skulls, and each of those has its own toggle.^[1][3]

Unverified The sources here do not show which of these options this pack changed from the mod's defaults, including whether vanilla dungeons are removed or small Nether dungeons are enabled. Check the mod's config file in the pack. They also show no crafting recipes or quest chapter for this mod.

This one is short, and that's by design. YUNG's Better Dungeons is a structure mod that redesigns Minecraft's dungeons, so nothing in the sources describes machines, multiblocks, power, fluids or item automation. There's nothing to set up or wire together. What you get is different dungeons to find, plus a handful of config options that change how they generate.^[1]

What the mod changes

The mod redesigns the vanilla dungeons and adds three new ones: Catacombs, Fortresses of the Undead, and Spider Caves.^[1]

• Small Dungeons are the upgraded version of the vanilla Monster Room. The mod's own tooltips say they are very similar in design to the vanilla ones.^[3]
• Catacombs are the zombie dungeons. Their config has a setting for how far the game will look when it tries to generate a surface entrance staircase.^[3]
• Fortresses of the Undead are the skeleton dungeons.^[3]
• Spider Caves are the spider dungeons.^[3]
• Small Nether dungeons are scattered through the Nether. The mod's project page calls them an extra opt-in feature that has to be enabled manually in the config.^[1][3]

The mod has an advancement for each dungeon type: finding a Small Dungeon, entering a Fortress of the Undead, discovering a Spider Cave and setting foot in a Catacomb. There is also one for exploring all of the Better Dungeons.^[3]

Config options that shape the dungeons

These are the options the mod's tooltips describe. The sources don't include the pack's config values, so I can't tell you which of them are on or off here.^[3]

• enableHeads: whether dungeons may place skeleton skulls and other mob heads. The tooltip says this may be useful for modpack creators.^[3]
• enableNetherBlocks: some dungeons can rarely spawn Nether-related blocks such as soul sand, soul campfires and soul lanterns. These are purely decorative, nothing progression-breaking like Ancient Debris. Setting it to false stops them from spawning.^[3]
• removeVanillaDungeons: whether vanilla dungeons are prevented from spawning. The tooltip recommends disabling them, since the Small Dungeons are so similar.^[3]
• Small Dungeon chests: there are minimum and maximum counts for the chests guaranteed to spawn in a single Small Dungeon, and a separate maximum for banners.^[3]
• enableOreProps: whether Small Dungeons can rarely place ore blocks in their corners. If it's false, any ore from a corner prop is replaced with air.^[3]
• Small Nether dungeons: you can turn them on or off, cap the banners in each one, and choose whether the blazes inside have a chance to drop blaze rods and whether the wither skeletons can drop wither skeleton skulls.^[3]
• zombieDungeonMaxSurfaceStaircaseLength: the longest distance checked when a Catacomb tries to generate a surface entrance staircase. The tooltip warns that making it too large may cause problems.^[3]

Unverified The pack's actual config values are unconfirmed, including whether small Nether dungeons are enabled and whether vanilla dungeons are removed. The sources also don't cover loot tables, chest contents or dungeon spawn rates, so check those in-game.

All the Mods 10 8.1 ships with YUNG's Better Dungeons version 1.21.1-NeoForge-5.1.4, which is the newest release in the changelogs I have. The mod has been in the pack since All the Mods 10 1.0 or earlier. There are no pack changelog entries for this mod, so what follows comes from the mod's own changelogs.^[2]

Mod releases

• 5.1.4 (the version in this pack): fixes rare crashes that could happen when structures intersect because processors applied mismatched NBT. It also adds a Brazilian Portuguese translation.^[2][4]
• 5.1.3: fixes an issue where feature mixins could cause worldgen deadlocks.^[5]
• 5.1.2: lowers the minimum version requirements so the mod works on both 1.21 and 1.21.1.^[6]
• 5.1.0: the port to 1.21.1. It fixes Small Nether Dungeons ignoring the config and always spawning, and updates the structure NBT files.^[7]

If you were seeing worldgen hangs or crashes around overlapping structures on older builds, the 5.1.3 and 5.1.4 fixes are the ones that address those, and both are already included in this pack.^[2][4][5]