YUNG's Better Nether Fortresses in FTB Skies 2

Same as in the All the Mods 10 2.12 guide

YUNG's Better Nether Fortresses rebuilds Minecraft's Nether fortresses from the ground up. Instead of the vanilla maze of bridges, you get fortresses that are much larger, more complex and more rewarding to explore.^[1]

The mod is purely about world generation. It changes the fortresses you find in the Nether and doesn't add a crafting chain. That makes it a good fit if you enjoy exploring and want your Nether trips to feel like a real adventure.^[1]

What a fortress looks like

Each fortress has three parts. Knowing them helps you get your bearings once you're inside:^[1]

• The bridge networks, which link the fortress together across the Nether.^[1]
• The Keep, the fortress's central structure.^[1]
• The Lava Halls, which extend deep underground.^[1]

Compatibility

The mod is designed to work alongside other worldgen mods, including Nether biome mods. It also has built-in Create compatibility: when Create is installed, some parts of a fortress have a chance to spawn using Create pieces. Create is optional and isn't required for the mod to run.^[1]

This pack ships version 3.1.3 of the mod for NeoForge on Minecraft 1.21.1.^[2]

Unverified The sources don't confirm whether Create is in this pack, so it's unverified whether you'll see Create pieces in your fortresses.

Unverified The sources don't describe where these fortresses fit in this pack's progression. The mod has no quests in this pack and isn't on the ATM Star path.

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.1 guide

Good news: there's nothing to craft before you start with this mod. YUNG's Better Nether Fortresses is a worldgen mod that redesigns Nether fortresses from the ground up, so your first step is simply finding one in the Nether.^[1]

Compared to vanilla, these fortresses are much larger, more complex and more rewarding. Each one has three parts: the bridge networks, the Keep, and the Lava Halls that extend deep underground.^[1]

What to expect when you go exploring

• Expect a much bigger structure than a vanilla fortress. Look for the bridge networks first, then the Keep, and remember the Lava Halls go deep underground.^[1]
• If Create is installed, certain parts of the fortress have a chance of spawning with Create pieces. This is an optional feature, so you may or may not see it.^[1]
• The mod is intended to work with other worldgen mods. With Apocalyptic Fortress, that mod's fortress spawns alongside the Better Fortress. With Bygone Nether, Better Fortresses spawn instead of its enhanced vanilla fortress.^[1]

Vanilla fortresses

The mod has a config option called disableVanillaFortresses, which controls whether vanilla Nether Fortresses are disabled. I can't confirm its value in this pack, so check your config before you assume which fortress types you'll run into.^[3]

Unverified The sources I have don't show any in-pack recipes, quests or items for this mod, so there is no crafting order to follow here. If you find a recipe or quest tied to it, treat it as unconfirmed until it's verified.

Same as in the FTB Skies 2: Aero 1.8.0 guide

This mod is all about world generation. The sources for it describe how a fortress is built and placed, not machines, power or item handling, so this section walks through how a Better Fortress comes together in the pack. The mod splits each fortress into three parts: the bridge networks, the Keep, and the Lava Halls that extend deep underground.^[1]

Where fortresses generate

Fortresses can appear in biomes in the Nether tag. A second tag, for other mods' Nether biomes, is optional, so it does nothing if no mod provides it. The structure is toggled on in the pack's config (fortress.fortress is true).^[4][5]

Placement uses a random spread with a spacing of 30 and a separation of 20, set in fortress.spacing and fortress.separation. The salt is 784,827,271 (fortress.salt). These pack values match the ones in the mod's own structure set file.^[6][7]

The mod also keeps its fortresses away from vanilla's Nether complexes. The structure set has an exclusion zone of 10 chunks around the structure sets in its avoid tag, which lists the vanilla Nether complexes.^[6][8]

How a fortress is assembled

A fortress is built from jigsaw pieces. It starts from the Keep and grows outward up to a size of 46, within 116 of the center. The start height is picked between 80 and 100. The terrain adaptation setting carves the terrain at the top of the structure and does nothing at the bottom.^[9]

The start pool holds the normal Keep and, when Create is loaded, a Create version of the Keep. That Create piece is marked as a priority piece. The mod page describes this as an optional Create integration, so Create is not required.^[1][10]

• The Keep itself is made of a well, a left side and a right side. The well ignores bounds and skips terrain adaptation.^[11]
• Tower stair pieces are built from top, middle, chainable, bottom and tower base parts. The top stair piece can appear at most once. The chainable stair piece only needs a bottom cutoff of Y 30.^[12]
• Battle bridges have a start piece (at most 3), plus straight, gate, split and pillar pieces. With Create loaded there is also a Create gate variant, marked as a priority piece.^[13]
• Bridge chests: the chest piece can appear at most 6 times. The empty variant has a weight of 12 against 1 for the chest.^[14]
• Blaze rooms: one forced blaze room is guaranteed (max 1). More blaze rooms and several broken variants, each up to 2, need a depth of at least 28. The plain blaze room has a weight of 5 and each broken variant has a weight of 1.^[15]
• Mob props: the mobs pool has a piglin, a wither skeleton and a skeleton piece, each with equal weight.^[16]

What spawns inside

The structure overrides monster spawns, using the bounding box of each piece. The weights and group sizes are listed below.^[9]

• Blaze: weight 10, groups of 2 to 3.^[9]
• Zombified piglin: weight 5, groups of 4.^[9]
• Wither skeleton: weight 8, groups of 5.^[9]
• Skeleton: weight 2, groups of 5.^[9]
• Magma cube: weight 3, groups of 4.^[9]

Item frame decorations

The pack's item frame config defines separate item lists for alchemy, loot, mess hall, study and weapon rooms. Every list has a default item of air, for example alchemyItems.defaultItem. The sources don't explain exactly how the listed values are used, so treat them as the pack's tuning numbers. Each entry is listed below with its own value.^[17]

• Alchemy rooms: alchemyItems.entries.minecraft:fire_charge is 0.2.^[17]
• Alchemy rooms: alchemyItems.entries.minecraft:magma_cream is 0.3.^[17]
• Alchemy rooms: alchemyItems.entries.minecraft:quartz is 0.3.^[17]
• Loot rooms: lootItems.entries.minecraft:gold_ingot is 0.1.^[17]
• Loot rooms: lootItems.entries.minecraft:gold_nugget is 0.2.^[17]
• Loot rooms: lootItems.entries.minecraft:nether_wart is 0.1.^[17]
• Mess hall: messHallItems.entries.minecraft:cooked_porkchop is 0.3.^[17]
• Mess hall: messHallItems.entries.minecraft:porkchop is 0.3.^[17]
• Mess hall: messHallItems.entries.minecraft:gold_ingot is 0.2.^[17]
• Study: studyItems.entries.minecraft:book is 0.4.^[17]
• Study: studyItems.entries.minecraft:enchanted_book is 0.1.^[17]
• Study: studyItems.entries.minecraft:paper is 0.1.^[17]
• Study: studyItems.entries.minecraft:writable_book is 0.1.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:golden_sword is 0.05.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:golden_axe is 0.05.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:iron_sword is 0.025.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:iron_axe is 0.025.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:stone_sword is 0.025.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:stone_axe is 0.025.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:shield is 0.025.^[17]
• Weapons: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:netherite_sword is 0.005.^[17]

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.2 guide

The sources here don't show a tier ladder for this mod, so this section covers what they do confirm: where the fortress generates and what a couple of its chests hold.^[18][19][20]

Where to find it

The fortress can generate in any biome tagged as a Nether biome. Biomes in the optional in-nether common tag are included too, if that tag exists.^[18]

It is placed with an enhanced random spread, using spacing 30 and separation 20. It also keeps its distance from the vanilla Nether complexes: the exclusion zone is set to 10 chunks, so you won't find one of these fortresses right on top of a vanilla one.^[21][22]

Loot worth knowing about

The beacon chest is split into separate pools. One pool gives a few rolls of either Arrow or Fire Charge, both at weight 5. The other pool rolls once for a Bow. A bow without enchantments is the most common result (weight 20). Next comes a bow enchanted at level 10 (weight 10), then one enchanted at level 20 (weight 5).^[19]

The extra chest is a single pool of basic materials. The iron and gold entries are weighted like this:^[20]

• Iron Nugget and Iron Ingot (weight 25 each)^[20]
• Gold Nugget and Gold Ingot (weight 50 each)^[20]

The rest of the pool is Leather, String, Glowstone Dust and Quartz. All of these have weight 50.^[20]

Unverified The contents of the other fortress chest types (hall, keep, obsidian, puzzle, quarters, storage, worship and others) live in the mod's loot table data files, and the sources here do not show them, so what they hold is unconfirmed.

Better Nether Fortresses keeps its settings in a few small files under config/betterfortresses. Here is exactly how this pack sets the ones you are most likely to look at.^[23][24][25]

Fortress toggle

The fortress structure is switched on in this pack: fortress.fortress is set to true.^[23]

Fortress placement

Placement lives in the structure placement config file. This pack sets fortress.spacing to 30 and fortress.separation to 20. The salt, fortress.salt, is 784,827,271.^[24]

Item frame contents

The file itemframes.json has a block for each category: alchemy, loot, mess hall, study and weapons. In every category the pack sets the default item to minecraft:air, for example alchemyItems.defaultItem and weaponItems.defaultItem. Each category then lists items with a number next to them. Here is what the pack has:^[25]

• Alchemy: alchemyItems.entries.minecraft:fire_charge is 0.2, alchemyItems.entries.minecraft:magma_cream is 0.3 and alchemyItems.entries.minecraft:quartz is 0.3.^[25]
• Loot: lootItems.entries.minecraft:gold_ingot is 0.1, lootItems.entries.minecraft:gold_nugget is 0.2 and lootItems.entries.minecraft:nether_wart is 0.1.^[25]
• Mess hall: messHallItems.entries.minecraft:cooked_porkchop is 0.3, messHallItems.entries.minecraft:porkchop is 0.3 and messHallItems.entries.minecraft:gold_ingot is 0.2.^[25]
• Study: studyItems.entries.minecraft:book is 0.4, while studyItems.entries.minecraft:enchanted_book, studyItems.entries.minecraft:paper and studyItems.entries.minecraft:writable_book are each 0.1.^[25]
• Weapons, gold: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:golden_axe and weaponItems.entries.minecraft:golden_sword are each 0.05.^[25]
• Weapons, iron, stone and shield: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:iron_axe, weaponItems.entries.minecraft:iron_sword, weaponItems.entries.minecraft:shield, weaponItems.entries.minecraft:stone_axe and weaponItems.entries.minecraft:stone_sword are each 0.025.^[25]
• Weapons, netherite: weaponItems.entries.minecraft:netherite_sword has the lowest number of any weapon entry, at 0.005.^[25]

FTB Skies 2 1.23.0 ships YUNG's Better Nether Fortresses at version 1.21.1-NeoForge-3.1.5. The mod has been in the pack since FTB Skies 2 1.0.1 or earlier, so it has been there from the early releases.^[26]

3.1.5: vanilla-style mob spawns

The one change I can point to from the mod's own changelog is in 3.1.5, the version this pack uses. It fixes a long-standing issue where the spawn behavior of Nether Fortress mobs (Wither Skeletons, Blazes and so on) in Better Fortresses didn't match vanilla fortresses. With the fix, vanilla-style mob farms should now be possible.^[26][27]

If you want to build a Wither Skeleton or Blaze farm in one of these fortresses, you are on the version that has this fix.^[26][27]

The sources I have include no pack changelog entries for this mod, so I can't tell you whether FTB Skies 2 changed anything about it between releases.^[26]