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Minecraft: Java Edition
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GeoCaves
Сompletely overhauls underground ore distribution, adds unique cave vegetation, new geodes, decorative stone types, and, of course, dynamite! Made by DIV
GeoCaves
Полностью перерабатывает подземную генерацию руд, добавляет уникальную пещерную растительность, новые жеоды, декоративные породы и, разумеется, динамит! Сделано DIV
Regional Ore Distribution & Cave Ecosystems

GeoCaves is a vanilla Minecraft datapack that completely rewrites underground ore generation, adds biome‑specific cave vegetation, decorative stone layers, custom geodes, and TNT veins. Now every biome group has its own set of ores, cave plants, and hidden surprises – making mining a regional adventure.
Regional Ores
All vanilla ore entries are removed. Each biome group receives a fixed set of ores at specific heights (upper layer: y ≤ 32, lower layer: y ≤ -32). The table below shows the ores for each region and the list of biomes they cover.
| Icon | Region | Ores | Biomes |
|---|---|---|---|
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Mountains | Iron, Emerald, Diamond | Frozen Peaks, Jagged Peaks, Stony Peaks, Grove, Snowy Slopes, Windswept Hills, Windswept Gravelly Hills, Cherry Grove |
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Calm | Coal, Copper, Emerald | Plains, Sunflower Plains, Birch Forest, Old Growth Birch Forest, Meadow, Forest, Windswept Forest, Dark Forest |
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Arid | Gold, Redstone, Coal | Desert, Badlands, Eroded Badlands, Wooded Badlands, Savanna, Savanna Plateau, Windswept Savanna |
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Aquatic | Lapis, Copper, Gold | Ocean, Deep Ocean, Warm Ocean, Lukewarm Ocean, Cold Ocean, Frozen Ocean, Deep Lukewarm Ocean, Deep Cold Ocean, Deep Frozen Ocean |
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Tropical | Gold, Coal, Emerald | Jungle, Bamboo Jungle, Sparse Jungle, Swamp, Mangrove Swamp |
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Snowy | Iron, Redstone, Diamond | Snowy Plains, Ice Spikes, Snowy Taiga, Taiga, Old Growth Pine Taiga, Old Growth Spruce Taiga, Snowy Beach |
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Magical | Lapis, Diamond | Mushroom Fields, Flower Forest |
Special Biomes
Some biomes have their own unique ore sets:
| Icon | Biome | Ores |
|---|---|---|
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Deep Dark | Redstone, Iron, Diamond (all depths) |
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Dripstone Caves | Iron, Copper |
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Lush Caves | Gold, Emerald |
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Sulfur Caves | Redstone, Coal (only in 26.2+) |
Cave Ecosystems
Each of the 7 regions has its own unique cave vegetation – on floors and ceilings – so you can instantly recognise where you are, even deep underground.
Mountains

Calm

Arid

Aquatic

Tropical

Snowy

Magical

Compass – Always Know What to Mine
When holding a compass in either hand, an actionbar message appears showing the ores available in your current region. It updates once per second (20 ticks) to reduce performance impact.

There is also a convenient advancement system that tells you which ores belong to which region. To unlock an entry, simply visit the region and go underground.
New Geodes!
Amethyst geodes are now exclusive to the Magical region. In their place, we’ve added several new geodes with unique contents – and they appear not only in the Overworld, but also in the Nether and the End!
| Geode Type | Where to Find | Special Contents |
|---|---|---|
| Diamond | Mountain & Snowy biomes | Diamond ore, air‑filled |
| Emerald | Calm biomes | Emerald ore, slime blocks, froglight |
| Lapis | Aquatic biomes | Lapis ore, prismarine, sea lanterns |
| Amethyst | Magical biomes | Amethyst blocks, calcite, buds (tiny & giant variants) |
| End | Small End Islands | Raw iron/gold/copper blocks |
| Nether Quartz | Nether Wastes | Quartz ore, glowstone |
| Nether Diamond | Basalt Deltas | Deepslate diamond ore, filled with lava |

⚠️ Compatibility & Limitations
❌ Incompatibility with some other datapacks
GeoCaves completely overrides every vanilla overworld biome, as well as basalt deltas, nether wastes, and small end islands. This means it is incompatible with any other datapack that modifies biome JSON files (e.g., global ore rebalancing, world generation overhauls, etc.). Only one such datapack can be active at a time.
❌ Modded biomes
GeoCaves does not affect biomes added by mods or other datapacks. Those biomes will retain vanilla ore distribution, which breaks the regional balance.
Roadmap
- English translation
- No_Ore_Rebalance version (vanilla ores only, no vegetation)
- NeoForge version with support for popular biome mods
- Backport to Minecraft 1.21.5













