VeinMiner — a gameplay mod for fast mining of an entire ore vein or block cluster in Minecraft

VeinMiner — a gameplay mod for fast mining of an entire ore vein or block cluster in Minecraft

VeinMiner breaks a connected vein of any ore or other configured blocks of the same type in a single hit — from diamond ores to a pillar of wood logs. The same author has two other editions of the project (a data pack for vanilla and a plugin for Paper/Purpur).

Configuration 

Instead of a chat menu, there is a dedicated command /veinminer with subcommands, a file config, a permission system, and block groups. 

Demonstration of the mod using iron and gold ores

Commands 

Permissions to use the commands are granted to everyone by default.

How to add a block to the allowed list 

By default, the mod vein-mines only those blocks that are on the allowed list. If a block is not listed, it is broken one by one, just like in pure vanilla. 
To add a block, use the command: /veinminer blocks add

You can add not just one block, but an entire tag in one line — this is a group of blocks that Mojang pre-grouped logically. For example, #minecraft:logs — all types of wood logs together.

Other vanilla tags work the same way: #minecraft:planks, #minecraft:coal_ores, #minecraft:diamond_ores, #minecraft:leaves. Some mods add their own tags in a separate namespace (for example, #c:storage_blocks from Common Tags) — these can be linked too. 

                  Adding all wood types to the list 

General parameters for commands

Modification — /veinminer settings <parameter> <new value>. 

Output of /veinminer settings with possible parameters

Block groups 

Blocks from the same group are broken together as one type — for example, copper_ore + deepslate_copper_ore in the same group will allow breaking a cluster of connected blocks in a single click. By default, the config is already set up so that all types of ores are broken together if they are connected. A single block can also be part of multiple groups. If no tool is specified for the group, it will work with any. If one is specified, it works only with it. 

Commands for block groups

• /veinminer groups create <name> [<block1>] [<block2>] — create a group

• /veinminer groups edit <name> add-block <block> — add a block to the group

• /veinminer groups edit <name> remove-block <block> — remove a block from the group

• /veinminer groups edit <name> add-tool <item> — restrict the group by tool

• /veinminer groups edit <name> remove-tool <item> — remove the restriction

Creating a new group

Conclusion 

VeinMiner removes the repetitive clicking during mining. The mod does not change loot, does not affect balance, and does not require custom blocks or infrastructure. Therefore, it is suitable for most players. 

It works not only with ores. If you add wood, stone, or dirt to the allowed list — everything connected in a single chunk of the same type breaks together. 

As for downsides — on very large veins (50+ blocks at once), the client lags from the massive amount of simultaneous item drops. mergeItemDrops helps partially: it collects everything into one stack, but it doesn't completely eliminate the root cause.