Fairlands

Fairlands is a server-focused Fabric mod for Minecraft 26.1.x. It makes multiplayer survival worlds fairer without removing danger: death still matters, spawn stays worth building in, and PVP is less dependent on destructive edge cases.

Status

This repository targets Minecraft 26.1.2 with Fabric Loader 0.19.2, Fabric API 0.149.1+26.1.2, Loom 1.16.1, Mojang mappings, and Java 25.

Core server rules and the first world progression pass are implemented and ready for local multiplayer testing.

Side

Fairlands is designed as a server-side gameplay mod:

• Required on the server.
• Not required on vanilla clients.
• Works in singleplayer when installed locally.
• Optional on the client only for local singleplayer or future UI polish.

Dependencies

Runtime dependencies:

• Fabric Loader 0.19.2 or newer.
• Fabric API for Minecraft 26.1.2.
• MidnightLib 1.9.3+26.1-fabric, bundled into the Fairlands jar.
• Java 25.

Optional compatibility:

• Exploration Reloaded's exploration-reloaded:map_book is kept on death when that mod is present.

Features

Partial KeepInventory

• Enabled by default through fairlands:partial_keep_inventory.
• Disabled automatically when vanilla keepInventory is enabled.
• Keeps equipped armor when keepEquippedArmor is enabled.
• Keeps tools and weapons when keepToolsAndWeapons is enabled.
• Keeps empty maps, filled maps, recovery compasses, and items tagged fairlands:keep_on_death.
• Keeps configured allowlist items from MidnightLib config.
• Drops normal inventory items as usual.
• Restores kept items after respawn, preserving original slots when possible.
• Drops kept items safely if the original slot and inventory are full.

Default kept tool/weapon groups include swords, axes, pickaxes, shovels, hoes, spears, bows, crossbows, tridents, maces, shields, shears, flint and steel, fishing rods, brushes, buckets, elytra, carrot-on-a-stick, and warped-fungus-on-a-stick.

Death Penalty And XP

• Applies a configurable negative effect after respawn.
• Default effect is Weakness for 180 seconds.
• Creative and spectator players do not receive the death penalty.
• Caps vanilla-style XP drops with fairlands:death_xp_drop_cap.
• Restores a percentage of total XP after respawn with fairlands:death_xp_keep_percent.
• Default XP behavior drops up to 1000 XP and keeps 50% of eligible total XP.

Respawn Setup

• Restricts respawn point setup to a configurable radius around world spawn.
• Default radius is 2000 blocks, configurable with fairlands:respawn_setup_radius.
• Applies in all dimensions.
• Beds can still be slept in outside the allowed area.
• Beds and respawn anchors outside the allowed area do not set the player's respawn point.
• Players receive a chat message when a respawn point is blocked.

Spawn Safe Zone

• Only applies in the Overworld.
• Default radius is 700 blocks.
• Blocks PVP inside the protected zone.
• Prevents destructive explosions from breaking blocks inside the protected zone.
• Blocks wither spawning inside the protected zone.
• Does not block normal player building or mining.
• The respawn setup restriction uses its own larger radius, so only bed and respawn anchor spawn points are limited beyond the safe zone.

For local dedicated-server testing, vanilla spawn-protection in run/server.properties should be 0; Fairlands' spawn safe zone handles gameplay protection separately.

Creepers And Explosions

• Creepers do not break blocks by default.
• Creeper explosion radius is increased by 1 by default.
• Creeper block damage and radius bonus are gamerule-controlled.
• Spawn-zone explosion protection also applies to destructive explosions such as TNT, End crystals, respawn anchors, and TNT minecarts.

Combat Damage Caps

Fairlands caps specific player damage sources to reduce one-shot or destructive PVP edge cases:

• End crystal player damage: 8 by default.
• Respawn anchor player damage: 8 by default.
• TNT minecart player damage: 8 by default.
• Mace smash player damage: 16 by default.
• Spear player damage: 14 by default.

These caps only apply when the damaged entity is a player.

PVP Combat Logging

• Enabled by default with fairlands:pvp_combat_logging.
• When one player damages another, both players enter PVP combat.
• Combat state lasts 15 seconds by default.
• A red bossbar shows the remaining combat timer.
• Disconnecting during the timer stores a penalty for reconnect.
• On reconnect, max health is reduced to 50% for 10 minutes by default.
• If a player disconnects again during the penalty, the remaining time is preserved for the next reconnect.
• The penalty is removed automatically when it expires.

Feedback Command

• Adds /feedback <message> for players.
• Feedback is written to run/fairlands-feedback.log.
• Console command sources cannot submit feedback.
• Players receive a success or failure message in chat.

Recipes

• Rotten flesh can be smelted into leather.

Invisibility Tab Hiding

• Enabled by default with fairlands:hide_invisible_players_from_tab.
• Players with the Invisibility effect are hidden from other players' tab list.
• A hidden player still sees their own entry, shown in italic, as a reminder that others cannot see them.
• Visibility is resynced when the effect changes and when players join.

Visible Player Count

• Enabled by default with fairlands:hide_invisible_players_from_count.
• The server-list ping reports only visible players: players with the Invisibility effect are excluded from the online count and the player sample.
• This is what Discord bots and server-list tools read when they ping the server. The count refreshes within about 5 seconds of an invisibility change (vanilla status cache interval).
• Other mods can read the same value directly: com.akitain.fairlands.visibility.PlayerVisibility.visiblePlayerCount(server) and visiblePlayers(server).
• Note: this adjusts the status/ping count only. The Query protocol and RCON list still report the raw count.

World Progression

• Enabled by default with fairlands:world_progression.
• Affects new Overworld ore generation only.
• Existing generated chunks are not rewritten.
• Near world spawn, ore vein attempts are reduced to 45% by default.
• Between the inner radius and normal radius, ore density interpolates back to vanilla.
• Beyond the normal radius, ore generation is vanilla density with a 10% bonus attempt chance by default.
• The system targets vanilla ore tags for coal, copper, iron, gold, redstone, lapis, emerald, and diamond ores.

Default distance bands:

• Inner radius: 2000 blocks.
• Normal radius: 6000 blocks.
• Far bonus starts beyond 6000 blocks.

Operator debug commands are included for playtesting actual generated ore counts:

/fairlands_debug world_progression here
/fairlands_debug world_progression at <x> <z>
/fairlands_debug world_progression samples
/fairlands_debug world_progression count here <chunkRadius>
/fairlands_debug world_progression count at <x> <z> <chunkRadius>
/fairlands_debug world_progression count samples <chunkRadius>

The count commands force-load and scan generated chunks around the target position. chunkRadius is intentionally small: 0..2 for single-position scans and 0..1 for sample scans.

Config

Fairlands writes its config through MidnightLib. Current config options cover death behavior:

• keepEquippedArmor: default true.
• keepToolsAndWeapons: default true.
• keepOnDeathAllowlist: default ["exploration-reloaded:map_book"].
• deathPenaltyEnabled: default true.
• deathPenaltyEffect: default minecraft:weakness.
• deathPenaltyDurationSeconds: default 180.
• deathPenaltyAmplifier: default 0.

Gamerules

/gamerule fairlands:partial_keep_inventory true
/gamerule fairlands:death_xp_drop_cap 1000
/gamerule fairlands:death_xp_keep_percent 50
/gamerule fairlands:restrict_respawn_setup true
/gamerule fairlands:respawn_setup_radius 2000
/gamerule fairlands:creeper_block_damage false
/gamerule fairlands:creeper_explosion_radius_bonus 1
/gamerule fairlands:spawn_protection true
/gamerule fairlands:spawn_protection_radius 700
/gamerule fairlands:spawn_protection_pvp true
/gamerule fairlands:spawn_protection_grief true
/gamerule fairlands:spawn_protection_explosions true
/gamerule fairlands:end_crystal_player_damage_cap 8
/gamerule fairlands:respawn_anchor_player_damage_cap 8
/gamerule fairlands:tnt_minecart_player_damage_cap 8
/gamerule fairlands:mace_smash_player_damage_cap 16
/gamerule fairlands:spear_player_damage_cap 14
/gamerule fairlands:hide_invisible_players_from_tab true
/gamerule fairlands:hide_invisible_players_from_count true
/gamerule fairlands:world_progression true
/gamerule fairlands:ore_progression_inner_radius 2000
/gamerule fairlands:ore_progression_normal_radius 6000
/gamerule fairlands:ore_progression_inner_vein_percent 45
/gamerule fairlands:ore_progression_far_bonus_percent 10
/gamerule fairlands:pvp_combat_logging true
/gamerule fairlands:pvp_combat_tag_seconds 15
/gamerule fairlands:pvp_combat_log_penalty_seconds 600
/gamerule fairlands:pvp_combat_log_health_percent 50

fairlands:spawn_protection_grief is kept for existing worlds and currently mirrors fairlands:spawn_protection_explosions.

Development

Use JDK 25 for Minecraft 26.1.x development.

./gradlew build
./gradlew runServer
./gradlew runClient

For local dev clients launched by Loom, the dedicated dev server may need online-mode=false in run/server.properties.

Testing

• Death: verify armor, tools, weapons, maps, filled maps, allowlisted items, and tagged items are kept while normal inventory drops.
• XP: verify dropped XP is capped and part of total XP is restored after respawn.
• Death penalty: die in survival and confirm Weakness is applied after respawn.
• Respawn setup: sleep outside the allowed area and confirm the bed does not set spawn.
• Spawn safe zone: confirm players can still build and break blocks, while PVP, destructive explosions, and wither spawning are blocked.
• Creepers: confirm creepers have a larger blast radius but do not break blocks by default.
• Combat caps: test End crystals, respawn anchors, TNT minecarts, mace smash attacks, and spears against players.
• Combat logging: hit another player and confirm both players get a bossbar timer. Disconnect during the timer, reconnect, and confirm max health is halved for 10 minutes with a chat message.
• Feedback: run /feedback <message> and confirm run/fairlands-feedback.log records the entry.
• Invisibility: with two players online, apply Invisibility to one player and confirm they disappear from the other player's tab list.
• Ore progression: generate new chunks near spawn and far from spawn, then compare ore density. Near-spawn chunks should have fewer ore veins; chunks beyond fairlands:ore_progression_normal_radius should be vanilla density with a small bonus chance.
• Ore progression debug: run the /fairlands_debug world_progression ... commands as an operator to count real generated ore blocks.

Planned Scope

• Add rare-biome rewards after ore progression is playtested.
• Consider biome placement experiments only after the lower-risk progression systems are stable.
• Tune default damage caps, spawn radius, death penalty, XP retention, and world progression values after multiplayer testing.

The world progression design notes are tracked in docs/world-progression.md.

Documentation References

• GitHub repository: https://github.com/Aqu1tain/fairlands
• Fabric 26.1 porting guide: https://docs.fabricmc.net/develop/porting/
• Fabric Loom documentation: https://docs.fabricmc.net/develop/loom/
• Fabric project creation guide: https://docs.fabricmc.net/develop/getting-started/creating-a-project

License

Fairlands is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. See LICENSE.