Mob Settings

Mob Settings

Customize mob drops, spawning, stats, experience and despawning in Minecraft — for both vanilla and modded mobs!

Mob Settings is a lightweight, highly configurable mod that gives you control over how mobs behave in your world.

Want zombies to drop diamonds, bats to spawn on beaches, creepers to stop spawning in plains, blazes to appear only in one modded dimension, tankier skeletons, or double experience in the Nether? Mob Settings makes it possible through an in-game config screen or a simple config file!

Features

• Remove drops — strip items out of a mob’s normal loot.
• Extra drops — give any mob additional drops with a custom amount and chance, with optional Looting support.
• Remove or reduce spawns — stop a mob spawning in a biome, or just make it rarer.
• Add spawns — make mobs spawn naturally in any biome.
• Per-dimension rules — set spawns, attributes and experience differently in each dimension, which is useful for modded dimensions that reuse vanilla biomes.
• Biome tags — target whole groups of biomes, like #minecraft:is_nether or #c:is_forest.
• Attribute overrides — change a mob’s health, speed, armor, damage, size and more.
• Experience modifiers — multiply or remove the experience a mob drops.
• Despawn ranges — choose how far from players a mob can be before it despawns.
• Light level spawn restrictions — only let a mob spawn naturally within a light level range.
• Short, simple rules — leave out what you don’t need. Optional fields have sensible defaults, and zombie means minecraft:zombie.
• In-game config screen — edit everything from the Mods menu with searchable lists of mobs, items, dimensions, biomes, biome tags and attributes.
• Works with modded mobs — anything registered in the game can be configured by its ID.

Writing Rules

Each rule is a line of fields separated by |.

• * means “all”. Use it in place of a mob ID to apply a rule to every mob, and in place of an item, dimension or biome where noted. In attributeOverrides and experienceModifiers, * doesn’t include players; add a minecraft:player line for them.
• Optional fields can be left out. Leave them off the end of a line, or write ? to skip one and set a later field. Dimensions and biomes default to all of them.
• The namespace is optional for vanilla. IDs without one use minecraft, so zombie and minecraft:zombie are the same. Modded IDs still need theirs.
• Specific lines win. In attributeOverrides, experienceModifiers and despawnRanges, a line for a specific mob beats a * line, whatever order they’re in.

In-Game Config Screen

Open Mods → Mob Settings → Config to edit every option without touching the file.

• Each rule is shown as a plain sentence, like “Zombie drops 2 Diamond (25% chance)”.
• Pick mobs, items, dimensions, biomes and biome tags from searchable lists instead of typing IDs.
• Attributes are filtered to the ones the chosen mob actually has, and each shows its allowed range and the mob’s normal value.
• Optional fields can be left blank, and the sentence shows the default they use.
• Hover any field for an explanation of what it does.
• Invalid entries are highlighted in red, so mistakes are easy to spot.
• The entry editor fits rules with many fields, even on smaller screens.

Everything is saved to the same config file, so you can mix the screen and manual editing freely.

Custom Mob Drops

Removals are applied first, then extra drops are added. Extra drops from this mod are never removed.

Remove Drops

Remove items from a mob’s normal drops, either every time or with a chance.

removeDrops = [
    "minecraft:zombie|minecraft:rotten_flesh",
    "minecraft:skeleton|minecraft:bone|0.5",
    "minecraft:cow|*"
]

• Zombies never drop rotten flesh.
• Skeletons drop bones only half as often.
• Cows drop nothing at all.

Removals apply to every kill, regardless of dropOnlyOnPlayerKill. They also cover equipment and items the mob picked up.

Extra Drops

Add extra drops to any living mob.

• Choose the item, the amount (default 1), and a drop chance from 0.0 (never) to 1.0 (always, the default).
• Add T as the last field to let Looting add 0 to 1 extra items per level.
• Optionally require a player kill for extra drops with dropOnlyOnPlayerKill.

dropOnlyOnPlayerKill = true

extraDrops = [
    "minecraft:bat|minecraft:dirt",
    "minecraft:bat|minecraft:rotten_flesh|3|0.5",
    "minecraft:zombie|minecraft:diamond|2|0.25|T",
    "*|minecraft:emerald|?|0.1"
]

• Bats always drop 1 extra dirt when killed by a player.
• Bats have a 50% chance to drop 3 rotten flesh.
• Zombies have a 25% chance to drop 2 diamonds, with more from Looting.
• Every mob, including modded ones, has a 10% chance to drop an emerald.

Custom Mob Spawning

Spawn rules can target a dimension and a biome after the mob. Both default to all of them, the same as writing *. Anywhere a biome is asked for, you can also use a biome tag (#minecraft:is_nether, #c:is_forest).

Targeting a dimension: a single ID after the mob is always the biome. To target a dimension in every biome, skip the biome with ?, like minecraft:zombie|minecraft:the_nether|?.

Order: removeSpawns runs before addSpawns, so your own added spawns are never removed. Rules for every dimension are applied first, and rules for a single dimension are applied on top of them, with removals still coming before additions.

Remove or Reduce Spawns

Stop a mob spawning naturally, or add a percentage to make it rarer instead.

removeSpawns = [
    "minecraft:creeper|minecraft:plains",
    "minecraft:spider",
    "minecraft:zombie|50",
    "minecraft:phantom|minecraft:the_end|?",
    "minecraft:skeleton|minecraft:the_nether|#minecraft:is_nether"
]

• Creepers no longer spawn in plains.
• Spiders no longer spawn naturally anywhere.
• Zombies spawn half as often in every biome.
• Phantoms no longer spawn in the End dimension.
• Skeletons no longer spawn in Nether biomes, but only in the Nether dimension.

This works on spawns from vanilla, datapacks and other mods.

Tip: *|*|* plus a few addSpawns lines leaves only those mobs spawning. A line that is only * is ignored, so you can’t clear every spawn by accident.

Add Spawns

Make mobs spawn naturally in biomes, with your own spawn weight and group sizes. The weight is required. The minimum group defaults to 1, and the maximum defaults to the minimum.

addSpawns = [
    "minecraft:bat|minecraft:beach|10|1|3",
    "minecraft:zombie|minecraft:desert|50|2|4",
    "minecraft:cow|20|1|2",
    "minecraft:blaze|minecraft:the_nether|minecraft:nether_wastes|10",
    "minecraft:wolf|#c:is_forest|8|2|4"
]

• Bats spawn on beaches with a weight of 10, in groups of 1–3.
• Zombies spawn in deserts with a weight of 50, in groups of 2–4.
• Cows spawn in every biome with a weight of 20, in groups of 1–2.
• Blazes spawn one at a time in Nether Wastes, but only in the Nether dimension.
• Wolves spawn in every forest biome, including modded forests.

Spawn weights are relative to the other spawns in the biome, not percentages. Most hostile mobs use 100 and farm animals around 10. Normal spawning conditions such as light and space still apply.

Spawning Notes

• This only affects natural biome spawning. Spawner blocks, spawn eggs, commands and other mods’ mechanics are not affected.
• Rules for every dimension also affect animals placed during chunk generation, but they don’t affect structure spawns (fortresses, ocean monuments, witch huts, pillager outposts).
• Rules for a single dimension do affect structure spawns, but they only apply to spawning after chunks have generated, because one biome can be shared by several dimensions.

Light Level Spawn Restrictions

Only let a mob spawn naturally within a light level range (0–15). The minimum defaults to 0 and the maximum to 15.

lightSpawnRestrictions = [
    "minecraft:zombie|?|7",
    "minecraft:pig|10"
]

• Zombies only spawn at light level 7 or darker.
• Pigs only spawn at light level 10 or brighter.

Spawn eggs, spawners, commands and breeding are not affected.

Mob Stats and Behavior

Attribute Overrides

Change a mob’s base attributes, such as health, speed, armor, attack damage or size, in every dimension or just one.

attributeOverrides = [
    "minecraft:zombie|minecraft:max_health|40",
    "minecraft:zombie|minecraft:the_nether|minecraft:attack_damage|6",
    "minecraft:skeleton|minecraft:movement_speed|0.35",
    "minecraft:creeper|minecraft:scale|2",
    "*|minecraft:armor|4",
    "minecraft:iron_golem|minecraft:armor|0"
]

• Zombies have 40 health (20 hearts) and spawn at full health.
• Zombies that spawn in the Nether deal more damage.
• Skeletons move faster.
• Creepers are twice their normal size.
• Every mob except players gets 4 armor points, and iron golems get 0 (the specific line wins).

Changes apply when a mob spawns or is loaded. The dimension is where the mob first spawned, so its stats don’t change if it travels. For the same attribute, a line for a specific mob wins over a * line, then a line for one dimension wins over a line for every dimension. The config file lists every vanilla attribute with its allowed range, and modded attributes work by ID.

Experience Modifiers

Multiply the experience a mob drops, from 0 (none) to 1000.

experienceModifiers = [
    "minecraft:zombie|2",
    "minecraft:zombie|minecraft:the_nether|2.5",
    "*|minecraft:the_end|0"
]

• Zombies drop double experience.
• Zombies drop 2.5x experience when they die in the Nether (the more specific line wins).
• No mob except players drops experience in the End, apart from zombies, whose first line still applies.

The dimension is where the mob dies, and only one line applies to each death. A line for a specific mob wins over a * line, then a line for one dimension wins over a line for every dimension. Fractions become a chance of one more point, so 1 experience at 1.5x gives 1 or 2.

Despawn Ranges

Set how far a mob can be from the nearest player before it despawns.

despawnRanges = [
    "*|64",
    "minecraft:zombie|32"
]

Within this distance of a player the mob never despawns; beyond it, the mob despawns right away. A specific mob’s range overrides the * range. Mobs that normally never despawn (named, tamed, persistent, etc.) are unaffected.

Modded Mob Support

Mob Settings doesn’t rely on a fixed list of supported mobs. Every entity, item, dimension, biome, biome tag and attribute is looked up from the game’s registries, so content from other mods works out of the box.

extraDrops = [
    "examplemod:custom_mob|minecraft:diamond"
]

addSpawns = [
    "examplemod:custom_mob|minecraft:forest|15|1|2",
    "examplemod:custom_mob|examplemod:custom_dimension|minecraft:plains|5"
]

Replace examplemod:custom_mob with the registry ID of a mob from another mod. In the in-game screen, modded mobs, items, dimensions and biomes appear in the search lists automatically.

Configuration

Settings are stored in config/mobsettings-common.toml.

Setting	Format	Description
dropOnlyOnPlayerKill	true / false	Only give extra drops when a player gets the kill
removeDrops	entity|item|[chance]	Remove items from normal drops
extraDrops	entity|item|[count]|[chance]|[looting]	Add extra item drops
removeSpawns	entity|[dimension]|[biome]|[percent]	Remove or reduce natural biome spawns
addSpawns	entity|[dimension]|[biome]|weight|[minGroup]|[maxGroup]	Add natural biome spawns
attributeOverrides	entity|[dimension]|attribute|value	Change a mob’s base attributes
experienceModifiers	entity|[dimension]|multiplier	Multiply the experience a mob drops
despawnRanges	entity|range	Set despawn distance from players
lightSpawnRestrictions	entity|[minLight]|[maxLight]	Limit natural spawns by light level

Fields in [brackets] are optional: leave them off the end of a line, or write ? to skip one and set a later field. biome can be a biome ID, a biome tag (#namespace:tag) or *.

Applying changes:

• addSpawns and removeSpawns apply after reloading the world (or restarting the server). The config screen will prompt you.
• All other settings apply as soon as the config is saved.
• Invalid entries are logged as a warning with the reason, so you can find out why a line isn’t working.

Multiplayer: the server’s config decides how mobs behave. Edit the config file on the server; the in-game screen edits your local copy.

Existing configs keep working: older config files are upgraded automatically the first time they load. Spawn and attribute lines without a dimension are rewritten with a * dimension and mean the same as before. The configVersion setting tracks this, so please don’t edit it.

Legacy Version — Minecraft 1.12

Mob Settings started as a mod for customizing vanilla mobs using individual Forge configuration sections, with support for custom drops, spawn biomes, group sizes and spawn weights.

For example, the original Bat configuration looked like this:

bat {
    I:batAmountMobDrops <
        1
        3
        0
    >

    S:batMobDrops <
        minecraft:dirt
        minecraft:rotten_flesh
        minecraft:stone
    >
}

Take control of your mobs, customize your world’s spawning, and make Minecraft your own!