YUNG's Better Strongholds in FTB Evolution 2

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.2 guide

YUNG's Better Strongholds is a complete redesign of Minecraft's strongholds. It makes them much more complex and exciting while still staying true to the vanilla themes, so you still know you're in a stronghold, just a far bigger adventure than before.^[1]

Inside you'll find over 15 different rooms, various types of tunnels and hallways, staircases, traps, and even hidden areas. Take your time exploring, because there's more to find than in a vanilla stronghold.^[1]

Version in this pack

This pack ships YUNG's Better Strongholds 1.21.1-NeoForge-5.1.3. It has been included since the first version of the pack, or earlier.^[2]

Compatibility

The mod is intended to be fully compatible with every worldgen mod. Its project page names YUNG's Better Mineshafts, YUNG's Better Dungeons, YUNG's Extras, YUNG's Bridges, Better End, End Remastered and Repurposed Structures.^[1]

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.1 guide

This mod is different from most in the pack: it doesn't add gear for you to craft. It redesigns Minecraft's strongholds, so your first steps are about finding one and getting ready to explore it, not making a starter item.^[1]

Expect a lot more variety than in vanilla. The strongholds have over 15 different rooms, several types of tunnels and hallways, staircases, traps and even hidden areas, while still keeping the vanilla look.^[1]

What to do first

1. Track down a stronghold with Eyes of Ender, just like in vanilla. If Repurposed Structures strongholds are enabled, the Eye points to whichever stronghold is closest, whether it's a Repurposed Structures one or a Better Stronghold.^[1]
2. Watch for ruined sections. Small noodle caves can slightly destroy a stronghold if that option is enabled, but large caverns leave it unaffected.^[3]
3. Check the End Portal Frames when you reach the portal room. Each frame has a configurable chance to spawn already filled with an Eye of Ender.^[3]

Unverified No crafting recipes, quests or in-pack changed values for this mod could be confirmed, so there is no recipe to craft first. The default values of the ruin and filled-frame options in this pack are also unconfirmed.

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.2 guide

This mod has no machines, multiblocks, power, fluids or automation. The sources describe it as a complete redesign of Minecraft's strongholds, so the mechanics worth knowing are how the strongholds generate and what changes inside them. Everything below comes from the mod's own data files.^[1]

What a stronghold contains

The mod describes over 15 different rooms, various types of tunnels and hallways, staircases, traps and hidden areas, all while staying close to vanilla themes.^[1]

Where strongholds can generate

The stronghold is registered as a structure and grouped in a structure tag. Its biome list covers mountains, badlands, hills, taiga, jungle, forest, stony shore, mushroom fields, ice spikes, desert, savanna (including plateau and windswept), snowy plains, plains, sunflower plains, swamp, dripstone caves and lush caves. Several entries in that list are optional tags from other mods and loaders, so they only matter if those tags exist.^[4][5]

If Repurposed Structures strongholds are enabled, Eyes of Ender locate whichever stronghold is closest, whether it is a Repurposed Structures one or a Better Stronghold.^[1]

Ruins, portal frames and options

The mod's language file describes a ruin option and a portal frame option. The ruin option lets strongholds be slightly destroyed by small noodle caves, and they remain unaffected by large caverns. The portal frame option sets the chance for each End Portal Frame block to spawn already filled with an Eye of Ender. No config file for this mod is in the pack, so the sources here do not show the values this pack uses.^[3]

How rooms are dressed

When a piece is placed, the main processor list runs a series of processors: ruin, banner, ore, armor stand, item frame, rare block, redstone and leg. It then applies block swaps with the probabilities written in the data file. Here is what the main list does to the blocks:^[6]

• Red stained glass is turned into TNT with the unstable property set to false.^[6]
• Stone bricks can become mossy stone bricks (probability 0.30), cracked stone bricks (0.20) or infested stone bricks (0.05).^[6]
• Cobwebs are replaced with air at probability 0.7. Tripwire becomes cobweb at probability 0.1, and any tripwire left is replaced with air.^[6]
• Torches and wall torches are replaced with air at probability 0.9, and lanterns at probability 0.8. Most stronghold lights are therefore missing, so plan your lighting.^[6]

Some rooms use their own processor lists. The armoury has no rare block processor and none of the TNT, cobweb or tripwire rules, but it removes chests and barrels at probability 0.1 each.^[7]

The grand library skips the ore, armor stand and item frame processors but keeps the rare block processor. It removes chests at probability 0.4 and spawners at probability 0.75, so some of its loot and spawners will simply not be there.^[8]

Unverified The data files for several other rooms (library, mess, portal room, prison), statues, terminators and the main stronghold structure definition are not covered by the sources here, so their exact processing and layout are unconfirmed.

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.2 guide

There is no crafting ladder for this mod. The strongholds are a structure you find in the world, and what you get out of them comes from chest loot. The mod's structure tag lists a single entry, betterstrongholds:stronghold, so that is the structure these loot tables belong to.^[5]

Early game: the common chests

The common loot table is basic supplies. Each chest rolls on it a couple of times, so expect a handful of stacks rather than a jackpot.^[9]

• Iron Ingot is the most weighted metal (weight 10). Gold Ingot is much rarer (weight 1).^[9]
• Redstone and Coal drop in stacks, with coal (weight 10) more likely than redstone (weight 5).^[9]
• Food is the most common loot: Bread, Potato and Apple each have weight 15. Sticks, cobwebs and torches show up too.^[9]
• Single pieces include an Iron Pickaxe, a Wooden Pickaxe, an Ender Pearl, a Saddle and iron, golden and diamond horse armor.^[9]
• There is also a small chance (weight 1) of a randomly enchanted Book.^[9]

Deeper in: the crypt

Crypt chests roll more often than common ones. Most of the pool is junk like Bone (weight 10) and Bone Meal (weight 5), but the good stuff is in there: Diamond has weight 2, while Ender Pearl and Iron Sword each have weight 1.^[10]

The best find: YUNG's Better Sword

One special loot table holds a single roll with a single entry: a Diamond Sword named "YUNG's Better Sword". It comes randomly enchanted, so every one is different. If you spot it, grab it.^[11]

Unverified The mod also has other chest loot tables (armoury, library, mess, prison, treasure and trap, among others). Their contents are set in the mod's data files, and the sources here do not show them, so don't count on specific items from those rooms.

Same as in the All the Mods 10 2.12 guide

YUNG's Better Strongholds keeps its settings in a handful of JSON files under config/betterstrongholds/neoforge-1_21/, and in this pack they're all about what fills the decorative bits of a stronghold: the ore in the mining rooms, the rare blocks in the vault-style rooms, the armour on armour stands, and the items hanging in item frames. Each entry is a chance value, and each file has a fallback that's used when nothing rolls.^{[12][13][14][15]}

Ore chances

In ores.json the pack gives coal, iron and gold the best odds at 0.2 each, lapis and unlit redstone sit at 0.15, and diamond and emerald are the rare pulls at 0.05 each. If nothing else rolls, the block placed is plain coal ore, so a stronghold mining area will always look like it's worth swinging a pickaxe at.^[14]

• Coal, iron and gold ore: 0.2 each.^[14]
• Lapis ore and unlit redstone ore: 0.15 each.^[14]
• Diamond and emerald ore: 0.05 each.^[14]
• Fallback block when nothing rolls: coal ore.^[14]

Rare blocks

rareblocks.json is the one to look at if you're hunting treasure rooms. The pack sets gold, iron and quartz blocks to 0.3 each and diamond blocks to 0.1, with iron block as the fallback. Bumping blockChances.entries.minecraft:diamond_block is the single quickest way to make strongholds feel richer, or drop it if you think free diamond blocks skip too much of the early game.^[15]

Armour stands

armorstands.json splits into common and rare sets. For common helmets, chestplates, leggings and boots, chainmail and iron each sit at 0.3 and leather at 0.1, so most stands you pass will be wearing something usable. Rare stands go straight to diamond, with Diamond Helmet, Diamond Chestplate, Diamond Leggings and Diamond Boots each at 0.3. Every slot's fallback is air, which is why you'll find plenty of half-dressed or completely bare stands.^[12]

Item frames

itemframes.json covers two room types. Armoury frames lean on Bow, Iron Sword, Iron Axe and Shield at 0.1 each, with stone and gold gear, arrows and name tags at 0.05. Storage frames are heaviest on Paper and Map at 0.25 each, then cake, compass, flint, lead and slime balls at 0.05, the four seed types at 0.025, and a rabbit's foot at just 0.01. As with the armour stands, the fallback is air, so empty frames are expected.^[13]

Unverified These files only list chance entries and fallbacks, so anything about when edits take effect (for example whether already-generated strongholds are affected) isn't something the pack's config files confirm.

FTB Evolution 2 1.1.0 ships YUNG's Better Strongholds at version 26.1.2-NeoForge-6.1.1. The mod was first included in FTB Evolution 2 1.0.2 or earlier.^[16]

6.1.1, the version in this pack

The mod's own changelog for 26.1.2-NeoForge-6.1.1 lists three changes:^[17]

• Replacement of vanilla structures is improved in the /locate command, and in mods such as Explorer's Compass.^[17]
• An unsafe call to ServiceLoader#load is fixed.^[17]
• The mixin refmap is removed, which reduces log spam.^[17]

In practice, if you use /locate to hunt for a stronghold, this release is the one that makes the result line up better with the mod's replacement of the vanilla structure.^[17]

Unverified The sources here show no pack changelog entries for this mod, so which FTB Evolution 2 release first added it, and any version changes between pack releases, are not confirmed. Check the pack's own changelogs for that detail.