Perlinescent Caves

• large, Minecraft Live 2020 style aquifers will generate in many areas
  • larger caves will sometimes support large aquifers to allow boating to be feasible
  • underwater magma has been redistributed to better help underwater exploration especially in more open spaces

• a type of cheese cave that is much wider than they are tall, and often very smooth in appearance
  • pancake caves come in many sizes, but can rarely become very massive, spanning past higher render distance ranges
  • pancake caves, under the right aquifer generation conditions, will sometimes relatively replicate the Minecraft Live 2020 "giant cave lake" boating scenery

• a type of spaghetti cave that is often much wider than vanilla spaghetti caves, and with very slow elevation change
  • udon caves that align with aquifer generation can often create "cave rivers"

• in addition to existing noodle caves, another group of noodle caves will generate that are slightly roomier, and will sometimes stretch more horizontally

• the classic "cave carver" type caves (pre-1.18) have slightly more unique shapes to them and are a little more prevalent
  • regular caves can be a little larger, especially in width
  • ravines can be a little longer, a little wider, curve a little more, and also generate in deepslate, down to lava level
    • this makes them feel more in-line with Minecraft 1.18+ cave generation

• glow lichen will generate more often in scattered patches compared to single isolated pieces
  • this also brings more contrast between spaces that are brighter and others that are darker
• glow lichen will generate much more in dripstone caves
  • this creates an overall 'glow' to the dripstone in some patches, simulating bioluminescent speleothem growth
• glow lichen will also generate more in some aquifers

• lush caves use the warm ocean color for any water

• aquifers will generate with some patches of kelp
  • this can bring some life to underwater cave explorations, supplementing some of the underwater magma and glow lichen
  • kelp will generate significantly more in dripstone caves

• occasional small dripstone patches will generate randomly in any cave, like in Minecraft 1.17

• mineshafts generate 1.5 times more often compared to vanilla
• mineshaft loot will include loot that may be helpful to water-related caving adventures

• geodes will generate with a wider variety of sizes and shapes
  • generation will sometimes relatively replicate the Caves & Cliffs Part II Trailer geode scene

• large copper and iron ore veins are a little more prevalent than before

The name, Perlinescent Caves, is inspired by the word "pearlescent", and "Perlin" noise that is a staple of world generation.

This pack is the culmination of over 3 years of exposure to learning more about game development, discussions around it, and the considerations of ideas that go into vanilla Minecraft. Individual ideas stood out for a while, starting originally with the desire to have more variation in geode generation, and materialized when I started up a Minecraft server with some friends.

Everything was centered around trying to maintain the base vanilla experience and principles. The highlight of the pack, cave lakes, were by far the most iterated on, primarily to find the right balance between aesthetics and functionality. It's easy to get cave lakes to generate, but it was a real challenge to get them to generate in a way that respects cave accessibility. What good are cave lakes/rivers, if it's extra difficult to traverse the underground because its too flooded and always getting in the way? Some aspects of this pack were to help give places for cave lakes/rivers to exist (pancakes and udon caves), some were to help spice up the aesthetics (kelp generation), and some were to help with traversibility (Mineshaft generation & loot, and extra noodles).

Most major caves you can find in the base vanilla game are respected-- that is, are in the same locations, and will be mostly or exactly the same shape, but overlapped with either cave lakes, or have additional caves intersecting them, or both. So you can use known seeds to put a new layer of paint over them.

The first ideas were made (January 2023). However, the vast majority of the work done came in a few shorter, large bursts of energy that often lasted a couple to few weeks with hours-long days of hyperfocus, with months-long lulls between. This pack has gone through over 400 iterations, and making datapacks was learned from scratch.

Yes, but not at the current time. Backports to Minecraft 1.19, and 1.18 will be done at an unknown time, likely in the next few months, and will be posted here. A backport to any version prior to Minecraft 1.18 is not possible with the way this was developed, and will not be considered.

The pack/mod for 1.20.x will be posted shortly, hang tight.

Yes, this pack will be prioritized as the game updates to newer versions, both major and minor.

For packs/mods that affect terrain/cave generation, the answer will generally be at least semi-compatible. If it has custom underground biomes, some features may not generate. Some may still generate different cave shapes and cave lakes/rivers. However, I won't be able to always provide answers to every specific case. Try making a copy of a world and testing it out before committing to it.

Please do! If making a video, please link to this Modrinth page.

I would love your feedback! If you have any dislikes, please be mature and constructive. Please reach out to me on my Patreon, or my social media linked there. I would also love to see screenshots of your adventures-- feel free to tag me!