BetterNether — a mod for global improvement, modification, and expansion of the Nether in Minecraft

BetterNether — a mod for global improvement, modification, and expansion of the Nether in Minecraft 

BetterNether overhauls the Nether into a multi-layered zone with 22 biomes, new plants, mobs, and structures. Instead of the five vanilla biomes and two types of structures, a full-fledged ecosystem emerges — from jungles and swamps to inverted forests growing upside down from the ceiling. Progression goes beyond vanilla netherite: you can mine unique ores and forge tools and armor from them. 

Biomes

All new mod biomes are volumetric — they generate not only horizontally but also vertically. At the same X/Z coordinate, there might be one zone at the top and a completely different one at the bottom. Each biome has its own color, so the location is immediately readable without F3.

Among the new landscapes are Nether Jungles with thick greenery and their own mob type, Magma Lands with elevations of glowing magma blocks, Bone Reefs with white coral clusters, and Crimson Pinewoods — a denser version of the Crimson Forest. Soul Plains, Flooded Deltas, Gravel Deserts, Inverted Forests where mycelium hangs from the dimension's ceiling, and Nether Swamps with lava ponds and their own wood type also generate. 

The vanilla Crimson Forest, Warped Forest, Nether Wastes, and Soul Sand Valley don't disappear — they become part of the updated map alongside the new zones.

Nether Jungle with a characteristic green haze and dense vegetation

 Bone Reefs with spikes

New Mobs

The mod adds several creatures — both passive and hostile. Among the passive are the Firefly, Flying Pig, and Hydrogen Jellyfish. 

The Hydrogen Jellyfish explodes upon taking damage — it's better to keep your distance and destroy it from afar.

Among the hostile mobs are the Jungle Skeleton, Skull, and Naga. They spawn in various mod biomes and diversify the dangers of hell beyond vanilla fortresses and bastions.

A Hydrogen Jellyfish explosion after being hit

Nether City

Besides fortresses and bastions, a new massive structure generates in the dimension — the Nether City. It is the mod's largest structure: blocks of houses connected by bridges and narrow streets, parks with pig statues, separate rooms with chests, and altars. Spawns are rare — it might take several thousand blocks to find, so stumbling upon a city by chance is unlikely.

An aerial overview of a Nether City 

Materials and Equipment

The mod adds two custom ores and variants of two vanilla ones.

Cincinnasite is the primary mid-tier metal. In terms of stats, it sits between iron and diamond. It is used to forge tools, armor, rails, buckets, and a special Cincinnasite Forge that smelts ores twice as fast as a regular furnace. 

Nether Ruby is the top-tier equipment. The weapon and armor parameters are close to diamond, and they also have their own Ruby's Fire enchantment:

• sword and armor — add knockback and set targets on fire upon attack

• pickaxe — automatically smelts mined ore 

Nether Lapis Lazuli and Nether Redstone are variants of vanilla ores for the Nether. 

Two full sets of new armor on mannequins

Config

Settings are located in config/betternether/. There are many toggles — separate flags for each biome, plant, and structure. Below are the key parameters that noticeably affect the game. All others have a true/false format to enable/disable specific elements and should only be touched for specific tasks (disabling a biome, removing a plant, forbidding a structure).

client.json — client side

default_game_rules.json — behavior rules

world.json — generation

Conclusion

BetterNether overhauls the monotony of the vanilla Nether in the mid and late game. Two tiers of equipment and 22 biomes make the dimension a self-sufficient zone. It is suitable for long survival playthroughs and modpacks where the Nether is intended to be a zone equal to the Overworld in Minecraft, rather than a brief stage before the End.