Vanilla Backport guide for FTB Skies 2 1.5.1 to 1.10.2

Vanilla Backport brings content from newer Minecraft versions to older ones, while trying to stay as accurate to vanilla as it can. It is built for players who are stuck on a specific version but don't want to miss out on newer content.^[1]

This pack ships Vanilla Backport 1.1.4.3, the NeoForge build for Minecraft 1.21.1.^[2]

What it focuses on

The developer says the mod mainly adds content features such as blocks, entities and even world generation. Technical changes are not a priority.^[1]

The mod aims to make almost anything toggleable, so if you don't want a feature there is most likely a config value to disable it. I can't confirm from the sources which specific options this pack changes.^[1]

Where it fits in the pack

You meet this mod right at the start. The quest a quest in "?" in the "the_beginning" chapter has an item task for vanillabackport:dried_ghast. That makes it one of the early items you work toward.^[3]

I can't confirm anything else about this mod's role in the pack's progression from the sources.^[3]

Vanilla Backport brings newer Minecraft content into this pack. The only quest tied to this mod that the sources confirm is in the Beginning chapter, so that's where we start, and then we move on to the mod's main wood set and a few decorative blocks.^[1][3]

First, craft a Dried Ghast for the quest

Quest a quest in "?" in the Beginning chapter asks you to hand in a vanillabackport:dried_ghast. It unlocks after an earlier quest in the same chapter. It's the quickest way to see the mod in action, and it's a plain crafting-table recipe.^[3][4]

Dried GhastMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear
Ghast Tear	Soul Sand	Ghast Tear
Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear

Recipe id: vanillabackport:dried_ghast

This is the mod's own recipe, not one the pack added.

Next, get Pale Oak going

Pale Oak is the mod's main wood set. The pack adds a Farming for Blockheads market entry for the vanillabackport:pale_oak_sapling, so you have a way to get a sapling without hunting for one.^[4]

Once you have a vanillabackport:pale_oak_log, turn it into vanillabackport:pale_oak_planks. This is a shapeless recipe, so it's quick to do.^[4]

From the planks you can make the usual wooden set, such as vanillabackport:pale_oak_slab, vanillabackport:pale_oak_stairs and vanillabackport:pale_oak_door.^[4]

Then, Pale Moss

The pack adds its own recipe for vanillabackport:pale_moss_block, so you can make it without exploring for it. Once you have the block, vanillabackport:pale_moss_carpet is a simple craft from it.^[4]

8× Pale Moss BlockAdded by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves
Moss Block	Manipulation Essence	Moss Block
Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves

Recipe id: ftb:ars_nouveau/manipulation_essence_to_pale_moss_block

This recipe was added by the pack.

Finally, resin and the Creaking Heart

The resin line starts with a vanillabackport:resin_clump and gives you decorative building blocks: vanillabackport:resin_brick and vanillabackport:resin_bricks, plus slabs, stairs, walls and vanillabackport:chiseled_resin_bricks. The recipes for the brick and the bricks block are shown below.^[4]

If you want a vanillabackport:creaking_heart, get a vanillabackport:resin_block ready first. Here is the exact in-pack recipe.^[4]

This section is usually about machines and automation, but Vanilla Backport doesn't work like that. It brings content features from newer Minecraft versions, such as blocks, entities and world generation, and the developer says technical stuff doesn't have a priority. So the interesting "mechanics" here are world generation and mob behaviour toggles in the config.^[1]

The mod aims to make almost anything toggleable, so if a feature bothers you, there is most likely a config value that disables it. Below are the values this pack sets, with what each one controls.^[1]

Pale Garden and creaking behaviour

• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.generatePaleGarden]] is true in this pack, so Pale Gardens can generate in the overworld.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.spawnCreakingFromHearts]] is true, so creakings can spawn from a vanillabackport:creaking_heart.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.spawnCreakingHeartsFromSaplings]] is false in this pack, so creaking hearts do not spawn from pale oak saplings.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.generateResin]] is true, so resin generates after you hit a creaking.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.paleTradesFromWanderer]] is true, so the wandering trader has trades from the pale garden.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-client.toml#The Garden Awakens.fadeMusicOnPaleGarden]] is true, so the music fades out when you enter a pale garden. This one is a client-side setting.^[6]

You can also craft a vanillabackport:creaking_heart yourself instead of waiting for one to turn up.^[4]

The pack adds its own route to vanillabackport:pale_moss_block through an Ars Nouveau recipe. Once you have the block, vanillabackport:pale_moss_carpet is crafted from it.^[4]

8× Pale Moss BlockAdded by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves
Moss Block	Manipulation Essence	Moss Block
Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves

Recipe id: ftb:ars_nouveau/manipulation_essence_to_pale_moss_block

This recipe is added by the pack, it is not part of the mod itself.

Nether and elytra tweaks

• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#Summer Drop.generateDriedGhasts]] is true, so dried ghasts generate in Nether Fossils.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#Summer Drop.dropLeashConnectionsOnFireworkBoost]] is true, so all leash connections are dropped when you use a firework rocket while flying with an elytra.^[5]

If you'd rather craft a vanillabackport:dried_ghast than hunt for fossils, there is a recipe for it.^[4]

Dried GhastMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear
Ghast Tear	Soul Sand	Ghast Tear
Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear

Recipe id: vanillabackport:dried_ghast

A mod recipe that uses a ghast tear and soul sand.

Vanilla Backport doesn't have tiers in the usual modded sense. What the pack gives you is one quest checkpoint and a few short crafting chains: the Dried Ghast, Pale Oak wood, Pale Moss and the resin line. Here's the order I'd follow.^[3][4]

The quest checkpoint

The pack's one quest for this mod, a quest in "?", sits in the "the_beginning" chapter. Its task is the vanillabackport:dried_ghast, and it comes after another quest in that chapter.^[3]

Dried GhastMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear
Ghast Tear	Soul Sand	Ghast Tear
Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear	Ghast Tear

Recipe id: vanillabackport:dried_ghast

This is the mod's own recipe, not changed by the pack.

Pale Oak wood

Any pale oak log can be crafted into vanillabackport:pale_oak_planks, and the planks lead to the wooden building pieces such as slabs, stairs, doors, fences and signs.^[4]

The pack adds extra routes on top of the mod's own recipes. A Create cutting recipe turns vanillabackport:pale_oak_log into vanillabackport:stripped_pale_oak_log and also gives Tree Bark from Farmer's Delight. Other cutting recipes turn planks into slabs, stairs, doors, fences, fence gates, trapdoors, buttons, pressure plates and signs.^[4]

The pack also adds a vanillabackport:pale_oak_sapling to the Farming for Blockheads market, so you don't have to hunt for one.^[4]

Pale Moss

The pack adds its own way to make vanillabackport:pale_moss_block, using Ars Nouveau's Manipulation Essence. Once you have the block, the mod's own recipe turns it into vanillabackport:pale_moss_carpet.^[4]

8× Pale Moss BlockAdded by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves
Moss Block	Manipulation Essence	Moss Block
Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves

Recipe id: ftb:ars_nouveau/manipulation_essence_to_pale_moss_block

This recipe is added by the pack.

Resin and the Creaking Heart

The resin line starts at the vanillabackport:resin_clump and ends at vanillabackport:resin_bricks, with a vanillabackport:resin_brick step in between (both recipes are below). From the bricks you can make slabs, stairs and walls, and the stonecutter also handles those and vanillabackport:chiseled_resin_bricks.^[4]

Clumps also convert to and from a vanillabackport:resin_block. That block is what you need for the vanillabackport:creaking_heart, along with a Pale Oak Log.^[4]

Harnesses

There's a vanillabackport:white_harness and a harness in every other dye colour, such as the vanillabackport:red_harness and vanillabackport:blue_harness. Each one uses the mod's own recipe, shown below for the white one.^[4]

White HarnessMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Leather	Leather	Leather
Glass	White Wool	Glass

Recipe id: vanillabackport:white_harness

The other colours use the same recipe with wool of their own colour.

Vanilla Backport adds the pale oak family and a few other modern blocks, and this pack wires some of them into other mods. Everything below comes from recipes the pack adds itself, so you won't find these connections in the mod on its own.^[1][4]

Create: stripping pale oak

With Create's cutting recipes, you can strip pale oak without an axe. Cutting a vanillabackport:pale_oak_log gives you a vanillabackport:stripped_pale_oak_log and also a Tree Bark from Farmer's Delight. Cutting vanillabackport:pale_oak_wood works the same way and gives vanillabackport:stripped_pale_oak_wood plus tree bark.^[4]

Stripped Pale Oak Log, Tree BarkAdded by the pack

Cutting (create)

• Pale Oak Log

Recipe id: create:cutting/runtime_generated/compat/vanillabackport/pale_oak_log_to_stripped_pale_oak_log

Stripped Pale Oak Wood, Tree BarkAdded by the pack

Cutting (create)

• Pale Oak Wood

Recipe id: create:cutting/runtime_generated/compat/vanillabackport/pale_oak_wood_to_stripped_pale_oak_wood

Ars Nouveau: Pale Moss Block

The pack adds a crafting recipe that turns a regular moss block and Pale Oak Leaves into a vanillabackport:pale_moss_block, using Manipulation Essence from Ars Nouveau. Here is the recipe:^[4]

8× Pale Moss BlockAdded by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves
Moss Block	Manipulation Essence	Moss Block
Pale Oak Leaves	Moss Block	Pale Oak Leaves

Recipe id: ftb:ars_nouveau/manipulation_essence_to_pale_moss_block

Mekanism: leaves into Bio Fuel

Surplus vanillabackport:pale_oak_leaves can go into a Mekanism crusher. The pack adds a crushing recipe that turns them into Bio Fuel, so a pale oak tree farm can feed your Bio Fuel supply.^[4]

2× Bio FuelAdded by the pack

Crushing (mekanism)

• Pale Oak Leaves

Recipe id: ftb:biocrushing_vanillabackport_pale_oak_leaves

Lychee: Resin Clump

The pack adds a Lychee item-inside recipe that connects vanillabackport:resin_clump to Integrated Dynamics through Crystallized Menril Chunk, with Magma Cream also involved. Here is the recipe:^[4]

Quests

The only quest in the sources that involves this mod asks you to obtain a vanillabackport:dried_ghast (a quest in "?"). It only uses an item from Vanilla Backport, so it is not a cross-mod link.^[3]

Vanilla Backport shows up in one quest chapter in the pack, "the_beginning". It's a single quest, so this section is short.^[3]

The quest a quest in "?" has no title in the quest file. Its only task is to hand in a vanillabackport:dried_ghast.^[3]

Order matters here. The quest unlocks after a quest in "?" in the same chapter, so finish that one first.^[3]

Unverified The quest file doesn't say how to obtain the Dried Ghast, and it lists no rewards for this quest. Check in-game before you plan around it.

Vanilla Backport is built so that almost any feature can be toggled in its config. If a backported feature doesn't suit your world, there's most likely an option to switch it off. Here are the options you're most likely to care about, and how this pack sets them.^[1]

Pale Garden options

• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.generatePaleGarden]] is true, so Pale Gardens can generate in the overworld.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.spawnCreakingFromHearts]] is true, so creakings spawn from creaking hearts.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.spawnCreakingHeartsFromSaplings]] is false, so creaking hearts do not spawn from pale oak saplings. This is the only option in the common config that the pack sets to false.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.generateResin]] is true, so resin generates after you hit a creaking.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#The Garden Awakens.paleTradesFromWanderer]] is true, so the wandering trader offers trades from the pale garden.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-client.toml#The Garden Awakens.fadeMusicOnPaleGarden]] is true. This is a client-side option, and the music fades out when you enter a pale garden.^[6]

Summer Drop options

• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#Summer Drop.generateDriedGhasts]] is true, so dried ghasts can generate in Nether Fossils.^[5]
• [[config:config/vanillabackport-common.toml#Summer Drop.dropLeashConnectionsOnFireworkBoost]] is true, so all leash connections are dropped when you use a firework rocket while flying with an elytra.^[5]

Unverified The sources show the values this pack uses but not the mod's own defaults, so it's unconfirmed whether any of these values, including the false setting for creaking hearts from saplings, were changed by the pack.

FTB Skies 2 1.10.2 ships Vanilla Backport 1.1.4.3 (the NeoForge 1.21.1 build). The mod was first included in FTB Skies 2 1.5.1 or earlier, so it has been in the pack for a long time.^[2]

What changed in 1.1.4.3

This is the version you're running, and most of its changes are about happy ghasts. Here is the rundown.^[2][7]

• New content: a lava chicken music disc, dropped from chicken jockeys, and a dennis painting.^[7]
• Players now dismount a happy ghast once underwater, and happy ghasts are immune to fall damage.^[7]
• Ghastlings can now follow happy ghasts.^[7]
• Happy ghast movement got a pass: smooth movement was added, the rider position was reworked, and happy ghasts now try to float closer to the floor or nearby structures.^[7]
• Rendering: an AgeableMobRenderer was added to properly render adult and baby models.^[7]
• Compatibility tweaks: happy ghast collisions no longer break with lithium/radium, leash rendering no longer breaks with pehkui, and boat leashing avoids breaking with small boats.^[7]
• Fix: an invalid position visiting check.^[7]

Unverified No pack changelog entries for this mod were available, and only the 1.1.4.3 mod changelog was provided. What changed in earlier versions of the mod, or whether the pack changed any of its values, is unverified.