A vanilla+ quality-of-life mod that fixes the hundred small annoyances of survival and makes the world feel alive, with birds, waves and starry nights, and towns and treasures worth the trip. No new ores, no magic, no machines: it's the same game you know, just smoother and a lot less empty.
Free and open source · Singleplayer and servers · Jar on GitHub
Nothing to fight, collect or craft, just the animals that make a place feel inhabited, from the first flocks of the morning to the frogs at night. They're always there, and they never change how the game plays.
Geese in a V, black crows, white gulls near the coast, calling as they pass. Very rarely, a great cloud of starlings.
Now and then a robin flies in and lands on a tree top near you, hops about and sings, and flies off as you come near.
Butterflies flit around flowers, and pollen drifts over the grass.
A small bush on four legs, a bit different on each one, its chest glowing when it's about to blow.
On some nights, banks of plankton drift in warm seas and light up wherever the water is stirred: the waves on the shore, a boat's wake, a swimmer.
In vanilla, the weather is just rain or no rain. Here mornings, storms and nights each have their own mood, and their own sounds. Nothing to equip, and none of it changes the game.
Some mornings start in a light mist that fades with the sun, the far trees melting into it.
When it rains in the desert, the view closes in, the wind howls and the sand piles up on the dunes.
The snowy lands get a blizzard instead: snow blows past on the wind, even thicker in a thunderstorm.
A faint band across the night, shaped like the real one, with shooting stars crossing it.
Every other clear night over snowy land, green and violet auroras hang to the north.
I made this mod because even though I love Minecraft, I'm usually frustrated by it: the worlds feel empty, exploration is not really rewarded, some mechanics are really annoying and I clearly don't want to get a PhD to master redstone. I'm not a fan of modpacks either: way too many settings everywhere, each mod with its own style, and some just don't “feel” like Minecraft to me. So I made the one I wanted to play.
I didn't add any new resources, tiers or dimensions. Every new tool is unlocked by equipping an item you already know (a compass, a clock) or one crafted from vanilla items (a backpack, a world map, a barometer).
Leaves that take forever to decay, “Too Expensive!”, boats stuck on a pixel, the enchanting table's “…?”: each fix is small, but together they really change how the game feels.
The interface keeps Minecraft's pixel style and sounds, tools only show up once you equip their item, and you can remap every key.
Flocks cross the sky, waves break on the shore, crickets sing through warm nights. Nothing to fight, collect or craft, just what makes a place feel inhabited.
Towns, taverns, lighthouses on the coasts, furnished mansions, temples with real treasures, a pirate's booty hidden in a lush cave: going out there finally pays off. And less friction doesn't mean less challenge: the sea is murky and dark now, so a dive is a real trip you get ready for.
That's exactly my problem with modpacks: a dozen mods means a dozen visual styles and as many config screens. Cassonade looks the same everywhere and there's nothing to configure, on purpose: each feature works one way, as close to vanilla as possible.
Everything I added, one by one.
54 more slots, crafted from leather, string and a bundle.
Backpack Upgrade Template + Backpack + Hopper, at a smithing table
Keys B opens and closes it
All the little gestures vanilla is missing.
Equip a compass to see where you are.
Keys + / − zoom · R rotates · N toggles markers
Every chunk you have explored, on one map.
Keys M opens the map · Space recenters
Equip a clock to know when night falls, a barometer to know when rain will.
Barometer Clock + Lightning rod
Fast travel, but only once you've “finished” the game.
Waystone World map + chorus fruit + 5 chiseled stone bricks
A clearer lens and a finer zoom, and a naturalist's spyglass that reads what it sees.
Naturalist's Spyglass Spyglass + Book + Sculk sensor
Keys Scroll wheel zooms in and out
The sea is no longer a clear blue pool: its depths are murky, dark and full of things you see too late.
Diving Mask 5 Leather + Glass Pane
Exploring finally pays off: bigger villages, taverns, and treasures worth the trip.
Always know what to do next.
Keys J journal · L advancements · K tracker
Equip a sculk compass to know who is after you.
Sculk Compass Compass + Sculk sensor
Right-click a ripe crop: it is harvested and replanted.
All the little things that annoyed me, fixed one by one.
This is the web designer in me: a cleaner, warmer look for every screen, still in Minecraft's style.
The same blocks in a better light, and you don't need a shader pack: lights with a color, and a deeper sky.
Each moment as you know it in vanilla, and the same moment with Cassonade.
| Storage and items | Vanilla | With Cassonade |
|---|---|---|
| Running out of blocks | Open the inventory, find more | The hand refills from the inventory |
| Messy chests | Sort by hand | One click to sort, one click to stash |
| Sorting items with hoppers | Redstone item sorter | A filter slot in every hopper |
| A sign on a chest | Clicking it edits the sign | Clicking it opens the chest |
| An item frame on a chest | Clicking it turns the item | Clicking it opens the chest |
| Named chests | The name only shows once opened | Look at one: its name shows |
| Ender chests | Silk Touch, or 8 obsidian | Drop themselves with any pickaxe |
| Crafting and workstations | Vanilla | With Cassonade |
|---|---|---|
| Repairing at the anvil | “Too Expensive!” | Any repair you can pay for |
| Renaming at the anvil | Costs levels, even when that is all you do | Free when renaming alone |
| Enchanting table | One enchantment, then “…?” | Every enchantment the option will give |
| Enchanting offers | Change only once you enchant something | A Reroll button under the offers draws new ones, its price written on it: 1 level, then 2, 4, 8…, back to 1 once you enchant |
| Mending and Infinity | Incompatible on a bow | Work together |
| Enchantment levels | Some top out at II or IV | Every one tops out at I, III or V |
| Furnaces | Watch the arrow fill | One small line: time left, how much more the fuel will cook, and the experience it holds |
| Grindstone | The experience it gives back is a surprise | Shown before you take the item |
| Cutting planks | Only the crafting table, a few pieces at a time | A woodcutter, iron ingot over three planks: stairs, slabs, fences and more, in a wood-toned stonecutter window |
| Crafting 64 buttons | 64 blocks | 4 blocks (recipes give fair amounts) |
| Nether wart blocks and packed ice | No way back | Crafted back into 9 nether wart, or 9 ice |
| Dyed wool, carpets, beds, terracotta and glass | Stay dyed for good | Washed in a water cauldron, a whole stack for one level of water |
| Concrete powder | Place it by water, block by block | Hardened in a water cauldron, a whole stack for one level of water |
| Filled maps | Stay drawn for good | Wiped blank in a water cauldron, for one level of water |
| Nature and time | Vanilla | With Cassonade |
|---|---|---|
| Cutting down a tree | Leaves decay one by one for minutes | Leaves fall right away, drops included |
| Walking under trees | Leaves at head height | Taller trunks, two blocks of air under the canopy |
| Harvesting crops | Break, collect, replant | Right-click: harvested and replanted |
| Composter | 1 bone meal, after a delay | 8 bone meal, right away |
| Farmland | Turns back to dirt when you jump on it | Players never trample it, on foot or riding |
| Paintings | A random one, the largest that fits | Sneak and scroll: go through all that fit |
| Snow | Break it, all layers at once | Right-click with a shovel: one layer comes off, for one snowball |
| Daytime | 10 minutes, then night falls | 20 minutes, the night is unchanged |
| Nights | Just as dark, monsters every night | Lighter under a full moon, which keeps monsters off the surface |
| Going to bed | 5 seconds to skip the night | 2.5 seconds |
| Sweet berry bushes | Thorns hurt through any armor | Leggings and boots stop them |
| Your bed | Villagers claim it and sleep in it | They leave the one you respawn in alone |
| Iron golems and fire | They walk through it and burn | They go around it |
| Your dogs, cats and fire | They follow you through it and burn | They go around it |
| Bees and the sea | They wander off over the ocean, for good | They turn back at the shore |
| The far sea | Sun and kelp show through the distant water | A clean horizon, and murky, dim depths |
| Moving villagers | Boats, rails, trapping | Put them on a lead |
| Wandering traders | Their departure time is hidden | Their trade screen shows how long they have left |
| Building and decorating | Vanilla | With Cassonade |
|---|---|---|
| Double doors | Open each door separately | Both open together |
| Doors, trapdoors and gates | Snap open and shut | Swing on their hinges |
| Ladders | Placed one by one, from the bottom | Click a ladder: it grows up, or down when looking down |
| Dirt paths | Walked like any other ground | 15% faster on them, on foot or on horseback, like on a road |
| Item frames | Always show their frame | Shears hide the frame, the item stays on the wall |
| Armor stands | One piece at a time | Alt-click: your whole armor swaps with the stand's; sneak-click: the next pose |
| Armor stand arms | Only with commands | Placed with arms; shears take them off, two sticks put them back |
| Reading the world | Vanilla | With Cassonade |
|---|---|---|
| Books in a chiseled bookshelf | Take a book out to read its title | Look at its slot to see its title, with its enchantments or author |
| Books on a lectern | Open it to know which book it is | Look at the lectern to see its title and author |
| Note blocks | Count the clicks to know the note | Look at one: its note shows |
| Jukebox | Its song only shows when it starts | Look at one: its song shows |
| Redstone | Guess a wire's power from its glow | Redstone in hand: a wire's power, whether a block is powered |
| Waxed copper | Looks the same as unwaxed | Honeycomb or axe in hand: waxed or not |
| Adventure and combat | Vanilla | With Cassonade |
|---|---|---|
| Villages | All about the same size | Now and then, a town: three times the houses, closer together, around a market square |
| Village streets | Torches on fences | Lanterns on posts in the village's wood or stone |
| Village houses | Cobblestone foundations, walls and wells | Mostly stone bricks, some mossy or cracked |
| Village churches | A church and its tower, a brewing stand for the cleric | A tavern behind its tower, or a small inn under an awning: bar and kegs, tables, a fireplace, and the tavern keeper at the brewing stand |
| Woodland mansions | Cobblestone walls, sparse rooms, torches, modest chests | Stone brick walls, furnished rooms, lanterns, barrels and richer loot |
| Coasts | Beaches and stony shores, nothing built | Rarely, a lighthouse and its keeper, its light flashing far out at sea at night |
| Mineshafts | Corridors, rails and a chest now and then | One or two miners' camps: a straw bed, a cold campfire and a barrel of their things |
| Lush caves | Moss, azaleas and glow berries | Very rarely, a pirate's booty: a pile of barrels full of gold and gems |
| Jungle temples | Bones, rotten flesh and a little gold | Two treasures more per chest: emeralds, diamonds, enchanted books, gold |
| Fast travel | Commands, or Nether tunnels | Waystones, once you reach the End: one click to another, in any dimension |
| Flying with armor | Elytra or chestplate | Both, in their own slots |
| Boats on land | Stuck on a 1-pixel step | Glide over paths, farmland, carpets, snow |
| Nether portal | 4 seconds of warping and noise | Step in, you're through |
| Building a Nether portal | Obsidian only | Crying obsidian works too |
| Burning | Flames rise past the crosshair | Flames stay low on the screen |
| Raising a shield | It hides the middle of the screen | It stays lower, out of the way |
| Cobwebs | Slow to break, nothing without a sword or shears | Break at once by hand, and give their string |
| Poison | One potion takes you down to half a heart | Half as long, half as often |
| Netherite sword | Three hits for most monsters | Two hits |
| Netherite pickaxe on deepslate | Slower than on stone | As fast as on stone, at once with Efficiency V and Haste II |
| Death screen | Buttons locked for a second | Respawn immediately |
| Getting hit | The screen flashes red | A red arc points where the hit came from |
| A mob in tall grass | The hit cuts the grass | The hit goes through to the mob |
| Baby zombies | Hard to hit | A little easier to aim at |
| Blazes | They shoot from 48 blocks, lost in the fog | They spot you from 24 blocks, so you see them coming |
| Sweeping a sword | Also hits your own wolf or horse | Spares the animals you tamed |
| Torch in hand | Lights nothing until placed | Lights up around you |
| Colored lights | Every light gives the same warm glow | Soul fire lights blue, redstone red, copper green, amethyst purple |
| Writing and menus | Vanilla | With Cassonade |
|---|---|---|
| Editing a book | Pages only added at the end, Esc loses what was written | Insert or delete a page anywhere, and Esc saves |
| Editing a sign | No mouse, copy line by line | The mouse places the cursor and selects; copy and paste take the whole sign |
| Your name in the chat | Easy to miss | A soft bell, and your name in gold |
| Going back in menus | Only Esc | Mouse button 4 too, unless bound to something else |
Every key can be changed in Options → Controls → Key Binds → Cassonade. Letter keys, + and − follow the character printed on your keyboard, so they work on AZERTY and other layouts too.
Backpack
World map
CompassDisplay choices (minimap zoom, rotation and hiding, markers, quest tracker) are remembered between sessions.
Some vanilla recipes eat a whole block for a single button, which always felt wrong to me. I only changed how many items a recipe gives, never its shape or when you unlock it.
Stairs and slabs can also be crafted back into full blocks, without loss, wool back into its 4 string, a nether wart block into 9 nether wart and packed ice into 9 ice.
.jar files in the mods folder of your Minecraft directory.On a server, install the mod on the server and on every player's game. In singleplayer, there's nothing else to do.
A free, open-source vanilla+ Fabric mod for Minecraft 26.3 that does three things. It gathers quality-of-life (QoL) features: a backpack, a compass minimap, a world map with markers, inventory sorting, right-click harvest, a quest journal and dozens of small fixes. It makes the world feel alive, with birds, sounds, colored lights and a real sea. And it gives you more to find out there: towns, taverns, furnished mansions and hidden treasures. I made it to replace a whole stack of mods with one consistent mod that still feels like vanilla Minecraft.
No. There are no new resources, tiers or dimensions, and every feature is unlocked by equipping a vanilla item or one crafted from vanilla items. You still mine, build, explore and fight the same way.
Yes. Install it on the server and on each player's game. On a server without the mod, the game stays playable and everything that happens on your screen still works: the living world, the lights, the interface, inventory tooltips and conveniences. But the equipment slots are not offered, so nothing worn works (backpack, minimap, world map, clock, elytra slot, combat awareness), and the mod's items, recipes, structures and rules are not there.
Minecraft 26.3 with Fabric Loader 0.20.1 or later, Fabric API and Java 25. Forge and NeoForge are not supported.
There's no settings screen, on purpose: each feature works one way, close to vanilla, so there's nothing to tune. Features you don't equip stay hidden: no compass, no minimap. Key bindings live in Options → Controls → Cassonade, and display choices (map rotation, markers, quest tracker) are remembered.
Yes. Cassonade is released under the GPL-3.0: you can ship it in a modpack, and change it or reuse its code as long as your version stays under the GPL-3.0, credits its author and publishes its source.