Better Nether Fortress
| Fortress | |
|---|---|
| Mod | YUNG's Better Nether Fortresses |
| Dimension | The Nether |
| Spacing | 57 chunks, separation 38 (mod default ~30, ×1.92 pack spread factor) |
| Observed | none in 26 km² sample |
| Biomes | 16 |
| Loot tables | 4 |
| ID | betterfortresses:fortress |
Better Nether Fortress is a Nether structure added by YUNG's Better Nether Fortresses. It replaces the vanilla Nether fortress with its own larger, more varied layout, its own chest loot and its own monster spawns. Vanilla fortresses are disabled by default, so in the pack this is the fortress players find. It matters to players because it is the only source of the fortress's chest loot and the blaze-, piglin- and wither-skeleton-heavy spawns inside it.
Generation
The structure generates in the Nether dimension in every Nether biome, including the Nether biomes added by other mods that carry the Nether biome tag. The sixteen biomes it can appear in are listed in the generated table below. Placement follows a fixed grid. The pack sets the spacing to 57 chunks and the separation to 38 chunks, which is wider than the mod's default of 30 and 20 chunks, so fortresses are rarer than in the default configuration. Each fortress is kept at least 10 chunks away from vanilla Nether complexes such as bastions. No fortress was observed in the 26 km² sample used to measure structure density in the pack.
The start piece of a fortress is placed between Y 80 and Y 100. The structure is up to 46 pieces long and reaches up to 116 blocks from its centre. With the Create mod installed, a Create variant of the keep is used as the start piece. It uses Create blocks and entities. Without Create, the standard keep is used.
Vanilla Nether fortresses are blocked by the mod, so /locate structure minecraft:fortress fails with an error. Use /locate structure betterfortresses:fortress instead. Any other mod's structure of the vanilla fortress type is also suppressed while the option is on.
Layout
The fortress is built from several families of pieces:
- Keep: the central building, with a tower variant and stairway pieces.
- Bridges: walkways with arch pieces. Some bridges have a blaze room, a battle bridge variant, and chest or terminator end pieces.
- Halls: large chambers with a room variant, 29 prop variants and terminator pieces that close off the ends of hall branches.
- Mob pieces: pieces that contain piglin, skeleton and wither skeleton placements.
The block processors replace placeholder blocks as the fortress is placed. Some nether bricks become red nether bricks, magma blocks or cracked nether bricks, with magma blocks only at or below Y 31 and cracked bricks only at or below Y 33. Some diorite placeholders become lava. About 10% of nether wart placeholders are removed.
Inhabitants
The fortress's monster spawn list is set by the structure rather than by vanilla fortress spawns. Each entry has a weight and a minimum and maximum count:
| Mob | Weight | Count |
|---|---|---|
| Blaze | 10 | 2 to 3 |
| Zombified Piglin | 5 | 4 |
| Wither Skeleton | 8 | 5 |
| Skeleton | 2 | 5 |
| Magma Cube | 3 | 4 |
The spawns apply within the bounding box of each piece. Wither skeletons have the second highest weight after blazes. Vanilla monster spawning on nether bricks also applies inside this fortress, so monsters spawn on its nether brick floors.
Blazes and wither skeletons are the main threats. Blazes shoot fireballs and wither skeletons inflict the Wither effect, so a player who enters a fortress without fire resistance and enough health is at risk.
Loot
Chests draw from three of the mod's loot tables (keep, quarters and storage). Bridge chests use the vanilla Nether fortress table. The best loot is the following:
- Arcane Essence appears in about three quarters of the chests in every table. It comes from Iron's Spells 'n Spellbooks, which the pack adds to the fortress's chests.
- Diamonds appear in about 37 to 40% of quarter and storage chests.
- Iron, gold and nether wart appear at high rates in the quarters chests, with iron ingots and gold ingots in more than half of them.
- Magma cream, fire charges and nether quartz are the main loot of the storage chests.
- Blazing Fishing Rods from Tide appear at 15 to 20% in every table. The pack adds Tide's loot to these chests.
- Bombs appear in the quarters table at 15%.
The keep table also includes gunpowder, flint, coal, string, leather armour and stone swords. The generated table below gives the exact percentages for each table.
Biomes (16): Nether Wastes, Soul Sand Valley, Crimson Forest, Warped Forest, Basalt Deltas, Black Ice Glaciers, Crystalline Chasm, Erupting Inferno, Undergrowth, Visceral Heap, Withered Abyss, Mycotoxic Undergrowth, Blackstone Basin, Infernal Holt, Glistering Meadow, Redstone Abyss (Removed)
Mobs placed in the structure: Piglin, Skeleton, Wither Skeleton
Chest loot: betterfortresses:chests/keep
| Item | Chance | Avg. stack |
|---|---|---|
 Arcane Essence | 75.0% | 4.1 |
 Gunpowder | 38.0% | 2.4 |
 Scroll | 31.3% | 1.0 |
 Flint | 31.3% | 2.4 |
 Coal | 30.7% | 2.4 |
 String | 30.3% | 2.2 |
 Air | 29.7% | 0.0 |
 Blank Runestone | 19.0% | 1.0 |
 Leather Pants | 17.7% | 1.0 |
 Blazing Fishing Rod | 17.7% | 1.0 |
 Leather Cap | 17.0% | 1.0 |
 Stone Sword | 13.7% | 1.0 |
 Leather Boots | 13.3% | 1.1 |
 Leather Tunic | 13.0% | 1.0 |
 Smithing Template | 11.0% | 1.0 |
 Chainmail Helmet | 10.7% | 1.0 |
 Bomb | 10.3% | 2.1 |
 Iron Sword | 8.3% | 1.0 |
 Chainmail Chestplate | 7.7% | 1.0 |
 Iron Tier Upgrade | 7.3% | 1.0 |
 Chainmail Leggings | 6.7% | 1.0 |
 Gold Tier Upgrade | 6.0% | 1.0 |
 Chainmail Boots | 5.3% | 1.1 |
 Golden Boots | 5.3% | 1.0 |
 Golden Helmet | 5.0% | 1.1 |
 Golden Sword | 5.0% | 1.0 |
 Golden Leggings | 4.3% | 1.0 |
 Iron Horse Armor | 4.3% | 1.0 |
 Blue Bomb | 4.3% | 1.0 |
 Saddle | 3.7% | 1.0 |
 Golden Chestplate | 3.3% | 1.0 |
 Diamond Horse Armor | 2.7% | 1.0 |
 Golden Horse Armor | 2.7% | 1.0 |
 Ring of Expediency | 1.0% | 1.0 |
 Frostward Ring | 1.0% | 1.0 |
 Emerald Stoneplate Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
 Silver Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
 Amulet of Teleportation | 0.7% | 1.0 |
 Amulet of Concentration | 0.3% | 1.0 |
 Conjurer's Talisman | 0.3% | 1.0 |
Chest loot: betterfortresses:chests/quarters
| Item | Chance | Avg. stack |
|---|---|---|
| Arcane Essence | 77.0% | 4.1 |
 Iron Ingot | 58.0% | 5.0 |
 Nether Wart | 57.0% | 4.1 |
 Gold Ingot | 56.7% | 4.8 |
 Gold Nugget | 56.7% | 4.9 |
 Iron Nugget | 54.0% | 4.8 |
 Diamond | 37.3% | 1.2 |
| Air | 32.0% | 0.0 |
| Scroll | 30.0% | 1.0 |
| Blazing Fishing Rod | 19.0% | 1.0 |
| Blank Runestone | 16.7% | 1.0 |
| Bomb | 14.7% | 1.9 |
| Gold Tier Upgrade | 8.3% | 1.0 |
| Iron Tier Upgrade | 5.7% | 1.0 |
| Blue Bomb | 5.0% | 1.0 |
| Conjurer's Talisman | 1.3% | 1.0 |
| Silver Ring | 1.0% | 1.0 |
| Amulet of Concentration | 0.7% | 1.0 |
 Ring of Recovery | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Emerald Stoneplate Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
 Fireward Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
 Heavy Chain | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Frostward Ring | 0.3% | 1.0 |
 Ring of Invisibility | 0.3% | 1.0 |
| Amulet of Teleportation | 0.3% | 1.0 |
Chest loot: betterfortresses:chests/storage
| Item | Chance | Avg. stack |
|---|---|---|
| Arcane Essence | 77.0% | 4.0 |
 Magma Cream | 48.3% | 1.2 |
 Fire Charge | 46.7% | 1.1 |
| Diamond | 40.3% | 1.1 |
 Nether Quartz | 38.3% | 6.2 |
| Gold Ingot | 37.7% | 3.4 |
| Iron Nugget | 36.0% | 2.4 |
| Gold Nugget | 34.7% | 3.5 |
| Scroll | 33.3% | 1.0 |
 Raw Gold | 32.7% | 2.9 |
| Air | 28.7% | 0.0 |
| Blazing Fishing Rod | 15.0% | 1.0 |
| Bomb | 14.3% | 2.1 |
| Blank Runestone | 12.7% | 1.0 |
| Iron Tier Upgrade | 6.0% | 1.0 |
| Gold Tier Upgrade | 5.7% | 1.0 |
| Blue Bomb | 3.0% | 1.0 |
| Conjurer's Talisman | 1.0% | 1.0 |
| Emerald Stoneplate Ring | 1.0% | 1.0 |
| Ring of Expediency | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Amulet of Concentration | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Ring of Recovery | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Fireward Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
 Poisonward Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Heavy Chain | 0.3% | 1.0 |
| Ring of Invisibility | 0.3% | 1.0 |
| Silver Ring | 0.3% | 1.0 |
| Amulet of Teleportation | 0.3% | 1.0 |
Chest loot: minecraft:chests/nether_bridge
| Item | Chance | Avg. stack |
|---|---|---|
| Arcane Essence | 73.7% | 4.1 |
| Gold Ingot | 48.0% | 2.6 |
| Saddle | 36.7% | 1.2 |
| Scroll | 30.7% | 1.0 |
| Air | 27.0% | 0.0 |
| Golden Horse Armor | 26.0% | 1.2 |
 Flint and Steel | 21.3% | 1.1 |
| Golden Chestplate | 21.0% | 1.1 |
| Iron Horse Armor | 21.0% | 1.1 |
| Blazing Fishing Rod | 20.3% | 1.0 |
| Diamond | 19.0% | 2.1 |
| Bomb | 18.7% | 2.0 |
| Iron Ingot | 16.7% | 3.3 |
| Golden Sword | 16.3% | 1.1 |
| Nether Wart | 14.7% | 5.5 |
| Diamond Horse Armor | 14.0% | 1.0 |
| Blank Runestone | 12.3% | 1.0 |
 Obsidian | 8.7% | 3.1 |
| Gold Tier Upgrade | 7.0% | 1.0 |
| Smithing Template | 6.7% | 1.0 |
| Iron Tier Upgrade | 6.7% | 1.0 |
| Blue Bomb | 3.0% | 1.0 |
| Fireward Ring | 1.7% | 1.0 |
| Ring of Expediency | 1.0% | 1.0 |
| Amulet of Concentration | 1.0% | 1.0 |
| Heavy Chain | 1.0% | 1.0 |
| Ring of Invisibility | 1.0% | 1.0 |
| Poisonward Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Silver Ring | 0.7% | 1.0 |
| Amulet of Teleportation | 0.3% | 1.0 |
The fortress also has item frames that are randomised when it is placed. The frames hold a weapon, a loot item, a study item, a mess hall item or an alchemy item, and each has a set chance of being filled. Frames with a stone or iron sword placeholder can hold a sword, axe or shield, with netherite swords the rarest at 0.5%. Frames with an iron ingot placeholder hold gold nuggets at 20%, gold ingots at 10% or nether wart at 10%. Frames with a cobweb placeholder hold a book at 40% or an enchanted book at 10%. Server operators can change these odds in the mod's configuration.
Tips
Bring fire resistance, armour and a ranged weapon, since blazes and skeletons can attack from a distance across the bridges. Players looking for a specific item should check the loot percentages above, since Arcane Essence and Blazing Fishing Rods appear in every table.
Players can also find a fortress with the find fortress advancement, which triggers on either a vanilla or a Better Nether Fortress. Fortress explorer maps from the Morevillagers mod can point to this structure.