TorchMaster in FTB Skies 2

Same as in the All the Mods 10 2.12 guide

TorchMaster is a small, focused mod that gives you blocks for controlling where mobs can spawn. The headline item is the Mega Torch, a special torch that stops mob spawning in a configurable radius around it, and the mod also includes other spawn-control blocks like the Dread Lamp.^[1]

The idea comes from RWTema's Extra Utilities 1, and the modern version is built for multiple loaders. This pack ships the NeoForge build for Minecraft 1.21.1, version 21.1.5-beta, which has been part of the pack since a very early build.^[1][2]

Who it's for

If you're tired of mobs creeping into the dark corners of your base, your mob farm's collection area, or a sprawling machine room you don't want to light up block by block, TorchMaster is the tidy answer. One torch covers an area instead of you spamming light sources everywhere.^[1]

What it does not block

The Mega Torch is only meant to stop "natural" spawning from low light levels. Mob spawners keep working, and the mod includes special handling for vanilla spawners so they aren't affected. Spawners from other mods are expected to work too, so you can safely park a Mega Torch near a spawner-based farm without shutting it down.^[1]

This mod sits outside the pack's main progression. It isn't on the ATM Star path and there are no quests covering it, so treat it as a quality-of-life convenience you pick up whenever your base gets big enough to need it.^[2]

Unverified The exact radius values, recipes and config keys for the Mega Torch and Dread Lamp in this pack aren't covered by the available sources. Check the in-game recipe viewer and the mod's config file to confirm the values this pack uses. This site does hold FTB Skies 2's own recipes, read from the pack itself: look the item up in the item browser.

TorchMaster is all about controlling mob spawning with simple blocks. Here is the order I would make things in, and why.^[1]

First: the Mega Torch, to stop hostile spawns

Start with the Mega Torch. It prevents natural spawning of hostile monsters in a big radius around it. In this pack that radius is 64 blocks in each direction, a cube with the torch at its centre, which matches the mod default. It is set by General.megaTorchRadius.^[3][4]

Mega TorchMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Torch	Torch	Torch
any diamond gem	any log	any diamond gem
any gold storage block	any log	any gold storage block

Recipe id: torchmaster:megatorch

It only blocks natural spawns, so mob spawners still work. The pack keeps this behaviour, as set in General.blockOnlyNaturalSpawns. It also blocks village sieges by zombies, because General.blockVillageSieges is enabled.^[1][4]

The pack's config also puts irons_spellbooks:necromancer on the Mega Torch block list override, so those spawns are denied too. You can edit that list in General.megaTorchEntityBlockListOverrides.^[4]

Second: the Dread Lamp, to stop passive spawns

Next is the Dread Lamp. It prevents natural spawning of passive animals like squids, bats or ocelots in a big radius. The pack uses a radius of 64 blocks, the same as the mod default, from General.dreadLampRadius. Its block list override is empty in this pack.^[3][4]

Dread LampMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Obsidian	Obsidian	Obsidian
any glass panes	Glowstone	any glass panes
Obsidian	any black dye	Obsidian

Recipe id: torchmaster:dreadlamp

Third: the Feral Flare Lantern, for invisible lighting

The Feral Flare Lantern places invisible lights. In this pack it tries to place lights within a radius of 16 blocks, aims for a light level of 10, and attempts placement every 5 ticks. It can place at most 255 lights. All of these match the mod defaults.^[3][4]

Feral Flare LanternMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	any gold ingot	Empty slot
any glass blocks	any glowstone dust	any glass blocks
Empty slot	any gold ingot	Empty slot

Recipe id: torchmaster:feral_flare_lantern

Fourth: the Frozen Pearl, to clean up the lights

The Frozen Pearl clears residual lights from a Feral Flare Lantern. Each removed light uses one charge, and the pearl has 1,024 charges in this pack, the same as the mod default. This is set by General.frozenPearlDurability.^[3][4]

Frozen PearlMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Ice or Packed Ice	Empty slot
Ice or Packed Ice	Ender Pearl	Ice or Packed Ice
Empty slot	Ice or Packed Ice	Empty slot

Recipe id: torchmaster:frozen_pearl

Same as in the All the Mods 10: To the Sky 2.0.4 guide

TorchMaster is all about controlling mob spawning and lighting with a handful of placeable blocks. The mod describes itself as a way to control mob spawning with simple blocks like the Mega Torch and the Dread Lamp.^[1][5]

Mega Torch: stopping hostile spawns

The Mega Torch prevents natural spawning of hostile monsters in a big radius around the torch. It is meant to block natural spawning from low light levels, while mob spawners should keep working. The mod has special handling for vanilla mob spawners, and spawners from other mods should work as well.^[1][5]

The mod's config has an option that changes this. If the option for blocking only natural spawns is disabled, the Mega Torch and the Dread Lamp also prevent spawns from Minecraft spawners. A separate option makes the Mega Torch prevent village sieges by zombies when it is enabled.^[5]

Mega TorchMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Torch	Torch	Torch
any diamond gem	any log	any diamond gem
any gold storage block	any log	any gold storage block

Recipe id: torchmaster:megatorch

Dread Lamp: stopping passive spawns

The Dread Lamp does the same job for passive animals. It prevents natural spawning of animals like squids, bats or ocelots in a big radius around the lamp.^[5]

Dread LampMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Obsidian	Obsidian	Obsidian
any glass panes	Glowstone	any glass panes
Obsidian	any black dye	Obsidian

Recipe id: torchmaster:dreadlamp

Both the Mega Torch and the Dread Lamp have an entity block list override option in the config, so you can customize which mobs are affected. The config tooltip points to the Torchmaster wiki on GitHub for the details.^[5]

Seeing the range

The mod includes a screen called Torchmaster Volume Range Display. It shows the effective range in each direction in blocks, and it has a toggle to turn the range display on or off. Use it to check how much ground a torch or lamp covers.^[5]

Feral Flare Lantern: automatic lighting

The Feral Flare Lantern places invisible lights. Its screen is titled Light placement and has a line of sight setting. With line of sight enabled, the lantern only lights spaces it can see, so lights are not placed behind walls. With it disabled, the lantern lights spaces even behind walls and does not need a clear view.^[5]

The mod's config also controls how the lantern behaves. You can set how many lights it may place in total (a hard cap), the minimum light level before it tries to place a light, the circular radius in which it places lights, and how often it attempts to place them.^[5]

Feral Flare LanternMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	any gold ingot	Empty slot
any glass blocks	any glowstone dust	any glass blocks
Empty slot	any gold ingot	Empty slot

Recipe id: torchmaster:feral_flare_lantern

Frozen Pearl: cleaning up lights

The Frozen Pearl clears residual lights from a Feral Flare Lantern. Keep it handy if a lantern has left invisible lights behind that you want gone.^[5]

Frozen PearlMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Ice or Packed Ice	Empty slot
Ice or Packed Ice	Ender Pearl	Ice or Packed Ice
Empty slot	Ice or Packed Ice	Empty slot

Recipe id: torchmaster:frozen_pearl

Debug commands

The mod also adds troubleshooting commands. A command dumps entities to the log file, and another dumps torches to the log file.^[5]

Unverified The exact spawn-blocking radius of the Mega Torch and Dread Lamp, and the values this pack uses for the Feral Flare Lantern settings, are set in the mod's config. The sources here do not show those values.

Same as in the All the Mods 10 2.12 guide

TorchMaster is a small mod in this pack, and there's no quest line pointing you toward it, so progression here is driven entirely by what each item costs to craft. The pack ships three craftable TorchMaster items, and all three use the mod's own recipes rather than pack-specific overrides, so nothing has been made cheaper or more expensive than the mod intends.^[6]

Tier 1: Feral Flare Lantern

The Feral Flare Lantern is the cheapest of the three and the natural first craft. It only asks for early-game materials you'll have long before you touch diamonds, which makes it the entry point into the mod.^[6]

Feral Flare LanternMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	any gold ingot	Empty slot
any glass blocks	any glowstone dust	any glass blocks
Empty slot	any gold ingot	Empty slot

Recipe id: torchmaster:feral_flare_lantern

Tier 2: Mega Torch

The Mega Torch is the mid-tier step up. It's a bigger investment than the lantern, so plan on making it once you've got a diamond and some gold banked rather than on your first night out.^[6]

Mega TorchMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Torch	Torch	Torch
any diamond gem	any log	any diamond gem
any gold storage block	any log	any gold storage block

Recipe id: torchmaster:megatorch

Tier 3: Dread Lamp

The Dread Lamp is the last of the three. Its recipe leans on materials you gather from deeper mining trips, so it slots in after you've established a base and have obsidian on hand.^[6]

Dread LampMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Obsidian	Obsidian	Obsidian
any glass panes	Glowstone	any glass panes
Obsidian	any black dye	Obsidian

Recipe id: torchmaster:dreadlamp

Unverified The in-game effects of each item, including spawn-blocking ranges, light radius and any config options that tune them in this pack, aren't covered by the sources used for this page. Check the item tooltips and the pack's TorchMaster config in-game before you build around a specific radius.

TorchMaster has a lot of options, but only a handful change how the pack plays. Everything lives in General.megaTorchRadius's file, config/torchmaster.toml. For the numeric settings below, the pack uses the mod's default value. The one setting that is clearly customized for this pack is the mega torch block list.^[4]

Radius settings

• General.megaTorchRadius is 64. The radius is measured in each direction as a cube with the torch at its center. This matches the mod default.^[4]
• General.dreadLampRadius is also 64, again a cube centered on the lamp, and again the mod default.^[4]

What the mega torch blocks

The pack sets General.megaTorchEntityBlockListOverrides to add irons_spellbooks:necromancer. The + prefix adds an entity to the block list, which denies its spawns, so the mega torch is set up to stop that mob too. A - prefix would do the opposite and let a mob spawn again.^[4]

General.dreadLampEntityBlockListOverrides is an empty list in the pack, so the dread lamp has no overrides.^[4]

• General.blockOnlyNaturalSpawns is true. The mega torch only blocks natural spawns, meaning those from low light levels. Setting it to false would also block spawns from spawners.^[1][4]
• General.blockVillageSieges is true, so the mega torch blocks village sieges from zombies.^[4]
• General.lycanitesMobsBlockAll is true, so the mega torch blocks all natural spawn attempts from Lycanites Mobs in its radius.^[4]
• General.aggressiveSpawnChecks is false. Turning it on would make the spawn check more aggressive and override the CheckSpawn results of other mods.^[4]

Feral flare and frozen pearl

• General.feralFlareRadius is 16, the radius in which the feral flare tries to place lights.^[4]
• General.feralFlareMinLightLevel is 10, the target minimum light level it places lights for.^[4]
• General.feralFlareTickRate is 5. A value of 1 would mean every tick, so the flare tries to place lights every 5th tick.^[4]
• General.feralFlareLanternLightCountHardcap is 255, the maximum number of invisible lights a feral flare lantern can place. Setting it to 0 disables light placement.^[4]
• General.frozenPearlDurability is 1024. Each removed light uses one charge from the pearl, and 0 would disable durability.^[4]

Finally, General.beginnerTooltips is true, so certain items and blocks show extra information in their tooltips.^[4]

FTB Skies 2 1.22.0 ships TorchMaster 21.1.10 (the NeoForge build for Minecraft 1.21.1). The mod was already in the pack by 1.0.1 or earlier, so you have been using it for a long time.^[7]

Unverified The pack changelogs have no entries for TorchMaster, so which TorchMaster version each pack release shipped, apart from 1.22.0 using 21.1.10, is unverified. The notes below come from the mod's own changelog.

21.1.10 (the version in your pack)

• Dread Lamps and Mega Torches can now be waterlogged. Dread Lamps are excluded, because invisible lights cannot be placed underwater for now.^[8]
• The Feral Flare Lantern has line of sight support. Right click a placed lantern to configure it. With it off (the default) the lantern places lights anywhere in its working range, and with it on it will not try to place lights behind walls.^[8]
• Dread Lamps and Megatorches get a volume renderer overlay with a color cycler. Right click one in the world to open the simple config menu. The visualization is per-client, and you can pick different colors to tell volumes apart in different surroundings.^[8]
• The overlay draws the big box volume plus a small 1-block box around the torch, so you can still see the torch through blocks.^[8]
• Invisible light blockstate warnings in the log at startup are fixed.^[8]

Earlier changes worth knowing

• 21.1.7 added support for preventing phantoms from spawning through the player insomnia mechanics.^[9]
• 21.1.6 re-added the Frozen Pearl, which removes residual lights from the Feral Flare Lantern. 21.1.8 then fixed the Frozen Pearl recipe.^[9]
• 21.1.5 turned off TorchMaster's spawn logging in the debug log by default, to reduce potential wear on storage drives. If you need it, launch the game with -Dtorchmaster.enableDebugLogging=1.^[9]
• 21.1.3 fixed spam related to config auto fixing on NeoForge.^[9]
• 21.1.4 added a missing TorchMaster command from previous versions.^[9]
• 21.1.1 re-enabled mob spawn blocking during chunk generation inside blocking volumes, fixed spawner blocking not working when blockOnlyNaturalSpawns is set to false, and fixed the Feral Flare Lantern not rendering its stand.^[9]
• 21.1.0 improved the blocking logic and fixed a crash when Architectury is installed.^[9]
• 21.0.1 fixed invisible light blocks not being replaceable by other blocks, and updated the mod to Minecraft 1.21.1. 21.0.0 was the first release for Minecraft 1.21.^[9]

The changelog also lists several Fabric-only crash fixes (joining a world, a village siege, spawning a warden in an ancient city). Since this pack runs the NeoForge build, you can ignore those.^[7][8]