OTG can be installed both as a Spigot plugin and as a Forge mod. As a Forge mod, players are required to have the mod installed client-side. The Spigot plugin does not require the single player mod to be installed, however certain features (foliage/grass/sky/fog colours & biome names in F3 menu) will not function properly for custom biomes.

Below is an outline of the different methods of installation for the various platforms. Be aware that without installing a world preset OTG will replace the overworld with an approximation of vanilla worldgen and the configs OTG driving that in mods/openterraingenerator/worlds or plugins/openterraingenerator/worlds.

1.16 and above

OTG can be installed as a Spigot/Paper plugin or as a Forge mod using the same OTG .jar file. Fabric is not yet supported.

As a Spigot/Paper plugin, OTG is not required client-side. For Forge servers, the client-side mod is required, but we intend to lift this requirement before 1.0.0. When OTG is run server-side without a client, features like foliage/grass/sky/fog colors don’t work fully (plain colors instead of gradient colors), and features like dimension portals for Forge are disabled.

Installation instructions for each platform are included below. Please be aware that without installing a world preset OTG will use its default preset, which is made to look like a vanilla overworld. The Default preset is unpacked when Minecraft loads to /config/OpenTerrainGenerator/Presets/Default/ for Forge or /plugins/OpenTerrainGenerator/Presets/Default/ for Spigot/Paper. Configuration files can be edited with any text editor.

Forge Installation Instructions

The process for installing presets is slightly different depending on whether you are installing OTG for your client or for a server.

Forge Single Player

  1. Go to files.minecraftforge.net to download & install the latest recommended Forge release for Minecraft 1.16.5.
  2. Run Minecraft once to create the /mods folder (usually found at C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\mods\).
  3. Download OpenTerrainGenerator.jar and put it in the .minecraft/mods folder.
  4. Install a world preset

Note: If you experience long world loading times, increase memory allocation. OTG usually requires 2GB+ memory to be assigned to Minecraft (depending on world preset).

Forge Server

  1. Go to files.minecraftforge.net to download & install the latest recommended Forge release for Minecraft 1.16.5.
  2. Download OpenTerrainGenerator.jar and put it in the server’s mods folder.
  3. Install a world preset
  4. Configure server.properties
  5. (Optional) Include a DimensionConfig.yaml file to define custom OTG Overworld/Nether/End and add OTG dimensions.

Note: If you have already generated any chunks with vanilla or other world settings, delete the level.dat and region files of your main world to get one with the correct level type.

server.properties

Set level-type: otg and generator-settings: presetname. presetname should match either the folder name of one of your installed presets (/config/OpenTerrainGenerator/Presets/ for Forge), or the name of a .yaml file in the /OpenTerrainGenerator/DimensionConfigs/ folder.

Dimension configs / Modpack configuration (SP&MP)

Dimension configs can be used for Forge MP servers to assign custom OTG Overworld/Nether/End/dimensions, or to define a non-OTG overworld with OTG Nether/End/dimensions. For Forge SP, if a dimension config called Modpack.yaml is found, the world creation menu is replaced by a custom screen that locks settings and allows users to create a new world with 1 click, using the settings from Modpack.yaml.

To create a dimension config file, add a .yaml file to /OpenTerrainGenerator/DimensionConfigs/ (create DimensionConfigs folder if necessary). For Forge MP, the .yaml file is used by setting its filename (without .yaml) as server.properties generator-settings. When the MP server is started, the dimensions in the .yaml file should be created automatically.

The .yaml file should look as follows:

#TODO: Provide instructions for modpack devs.
---
Version: 1
ModpackName: "My Awesome Modpack"
Overworld:
  NonOTGWorldType: "flat"
  NonOTGGeneratorSettings:
  PresetFolderName:
  Seed: 10
Nether:
  PresetFolderName: "AlienJungle"
  Seed: 11
End:
  PresetFolderName: "NewBB"
  Seed: 12
Dimensions:
- PresetFolderName: "Wildlands"
  Seed: 14
  PortalColor: "beige"
  PortalMob: "minecraft:zombified_piglin"
  PortalIgnitionSource: "minecraft:flint_and_steel"
  PortalBlocks: "REDSTONE_BLOCK"
Settings:
  GenerateStructures: true
  BonusChest: false
GameRules:
  DoFireTick: true
  MobGriefing: true
  KeepInventory: false
  DoMobSpawning: true
  DoMobLoot: true
  DoTileDrops: true
  DoEntityDrops: true
  CommandBlockOutput: true
  NaturalRegeneration: true
  DoDaylightCycle: true
  LogAdminCommands: true
  ShowDeathMessages: true
  RandomTickSpeed: 3
  SendCommandFeedback: true
  SpectatorsGenerateChunks: true
  SpawnRadius: 10
  DisableElytraMovementCheck: false
  MaxEntityCramming: 24
  DoWeatherCycle: true
  DoLimitedCrafting: false
  MaxCommandChainLength: 65536
  AnnounceAdvancements: true
  DisableRaids: false
  DoInsomnia: true
  DrowningDamage: true
  FallDamage: true
  FireDamage: true
  DoPatrolSpawning: true
  DoTraderSpawning: true
  ForgiveDeadPlayers: true
  UniversalAnger: false

Dimensions only:

If left empty, portal settings from the preset’s WorldConfig are used.

Mod Compatibility (Forge)

OTG uses MC biome categories and Forge Biome Dictionary tags for its biomes. Modded mobs, resources and structures should spawn in OTG worlds, provided they are configured correctly.

Mods that add carvers (caves, ravines) like Yung’s Better Caves also work, OTG’s carvers should be automatically disabled when using them.

Terrain/Biome generation mods like TerraForged, Biomes o’ Plenty, Oh the Biomes You’ll Go etc can be used with OTG. However, modded biomes will only spawn in OTG worlds if the OTG preset includes mod compatibility configs for the biomes. This can be done via template biomes using biome category and biome dictionary tags (see WorldConfig BiomeGroups/TemplateBiomes and BiomeConfig TemplateForBiome). Other mods are not able to spawn OTG biomes properly, this is something we’ll look at for the future. Note that it is also possible to make a non-OTG (modded or vanilla) overworld with OTG Nether/End and dimensions.

When using Quark, set "Improved Sleeping" = false in quark-common.toml, or you won’t be able to sleep in OTG dimensions.

When using Biomes o’ Plenty, set use_world_type = false in client.toml or OTG’s custom world creation screen for modpack configs won’t work properly.

When using 1.12.2 presets with OTG 1.16.5, some mods don’t work due to missing biome categories or biome dictionary tags in OTG biomes, configured via the BiomeConfig (.bc) files. Ice and Fire requires the “overworld” tag for example, which is not configured for 1.12.2 OTG presets. Presets are being updated and will be released on CurseForge. Users can also manually add categories/tags to BiomeConfig (.bc) files (BiomeCategory:, BiomeDictTags:).

Mod recommendations (Forge)

ChunkPregenerator integrates seamlessly with OTG world creation UI and provides pre-generation/preview features for all dimensions.

Spigot/Paper Installation

  1. Set up the server in the normal way.
  2. Download and put OpenTerrainGenerator.jar into the server’s plugins folder.
    • Alpha builds of OpenTerrainGenerator 1.17.1 for Paper are available on our Discord server.
  3. Install a world preset
  4. Specify OTG as the generator for your desired world:
    • With MultiVerse: use the generator flag to define OTG and the desired preset, for example: “-g OpenTerrainGenerator:Wildlands”
    • Without, add a generator entry for each desired world to your Bukkit.yml file, for example: 
      worlds:
 world_name:
   generator: OpenTerrainGenerator:Wildlands

Although players do not require an OTG client for Spigot/Paper servers, using a Forge OTG client enables features like complex foliage/grass/sky/fog colors.

1.12 and below

The instructions below are preserved for legacy users. The installation process for 1.16 and above differs from that for 1.12 and below.

Forge Installation Instructions

The process for installing presets is slightly different depending on whether you are installing OTG for your client or for a server.

Forge Single Player

  1. Go to files.minecraftforge.net to download & install the latest recommended forge corresponding to the version of Minecraft you want to use.
  2. Run Minecraft once to create the /mods folder (usually found at C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\mods\ ).
  3. Download OpenTerrainGenerator.jar and put it in the .minecraft/mods folder.
  4. Install a world preset

Note: OTG usually requires 2gb+ memory to be assigned to Minecraft (depending on world preset). If you experience long/never ending world loading times, increase memory allocation.

Forge Server

  1. Go to files.minecraftforge.net to download & install the latest recommended forge corresponding to the version of Minecraft you want to use.
  2. Download the OpenTerrainGenerator.jar put it in the server’s mods folder.
  3. Install a world preset
  4. Go to the server.properties file and set level-type to OTG and ensure level-name is set to your world pack name (e.g. Biome Bundle).

If you have already generated any chunks with vanilla or other world settings, delete the level.dat and region files of your main world to get one with the correct level type.

Spigot Installation Instructions

The tutorial for setting up a Spigot server for the first time is here.

  1. Set up the server in the normal way.
  2. Download and put the Open Terrain Generator .jar into the server’s plugins folder.
  3. Run the server once to create the /plugins/OpenTerrainGenerator folder (delete the world afterwards).
  4. Install a world preset

Spigot Installation Video Tutorial

Although clients do not require Forge or OTG installed when joining a Spigot server running OTG, it is recommended that clients do install them if the world preset in use makes heavy use of custom foliage, grass or sky colors.

Spigot console command permissions

The following console commands can be be used with Spigot permissions plugins:

For a description of each of them see the usage page.

Other Tips

Versions & Platforms

The newest releases of OTG are available only for Minecraft 1.12.2, both for Spigot and Forge. Older versions are available for 1.10.2 and 1.11.2.

Mod Compatibility

Open Terrain Generator works well alongside most other mods and has Forge Biome Dictionary integration to help with modded resource placement, as well as mob spawning rule inheritance to allow biome creators to apply automatic compatibility with mods which spawn mobs on a per biome basis. There are some exceptions, of course. Below are a list of mods that are known to cause incompatibilities or other problems:

There are other mods that can cause issues if added after the world is created, mostly mods that add new biomes. This can crash the game in v8, and can lead to unintended behaviours in v9. It’s strongly advised to not add any mods post world creation.

Sponge Server

OTG does not officially support Sponge. The mod is not tested with Sponge, nor does OTG interact directly with the Sponge API. That being said, newer versions of OTG should work with Sponge.

If you’re running Sponge alongside a permissions plugin (like LuckPerms), then you should be extra careful which version of OTG you use. OTG v9 contains a vital fix for permissions for Sponge, and using any version below v9 opens your world up to serious damage from players. OTG v9 adds the following permissions for Sponge servers: