Minecraft Java Edition · Earth Overworld overhaul
There is more
beneath.
The familiar world above. A new world below.
SUBSTELLAR begins with the Earth underground.
01 / The working column
Depth is a
change of place.
From recognizable surface stone to the quiet of the Core. Each depth has its own ground, caves, and minerals.
- Working column
- Y=-352 through Y=319
- Sea level
- 63
- World height
- Working hypothesis
02 / Earth underground
Shallows
The world you know, before the deeper world begins.
- Base stone
- Vanilla underground
Vanilla ore ranges
Vanilla ranges, unchanged: coal, copper, iron, gold, redstone, lapis, diamond near the old floor, emerald in mountains.
03 / Earth underground
Deepwilds
Wide stone. Water. Room to explore.
- Base stone
- tuff
- Biomes
- fracture halls · river lowlands · grove
Minerals in this depth
Tin, zinc, silver, sulfur, apatite.
A threshold in stone
Light band
A warped stone threshold. The band stays solid, and the ore chart leaves it empty.
04 / Earth underground
Underreach
Still water and a closer kind of ground.
- Base stone
- dripstone block
- Biomes
- drip galleries · still lakes · tunnel maze
Minerals in this depth
Lead, nickel, bauxite, fluorite, salt, certus quartz, niter. Certus quartz generates as a mineral in this depth, not as a surface meteor. Salt is a mineral beside the lakes.
A threshold in stone
Dark band
The next descent is earned through stone. Aligned routes stop at the solid band.
05 / Earth underground
Abyss
Tighter passages. A quieter, darker world.
- Base stone
- polished deepslate
- Biomes
- close warren · magma vents · quiet vaults
Minerals in this depth
Osmium, uranium, cinnabar.
A threshold in stone
Magma band
The stone threshold below the three depths. Heat is localized; there is no lava sea.
06 / Earth underground
Mantle
A narrow crack through immense stone.
- Base stone
- Basalt
- Biomes
- basalt seams · cinder pockets · closed foundry
No chart minerals in this depth.
07 / Earth underground
Core
Pale stone. Rare cracks. The deepest quiet.
- Base stone
- Smooth quartz
- Biomes
- pale galleries · bright cracks · still heart
Minerals in this depth
Draconium. Only in the smooth quartz. None in the Mantle.
The current floor
Bedrock.
Y=-352
The bottom of the working world. Final coordinates remain a hypothesis.
02 / The ground under the look
Built in checkpoints.
The illustrated direction includes terrain still in progress. This status comes from the committed roadmap.
- 10.1Done
Ledges in uncut ground
A rare horizontal shelf in ordinary stone. Bands and the surface stay. The excavate pit is only the window.
- 10.2Done
Vertical routes
Sparse wandering routes beside ledges in the three upper depths; bounded collision and native checks passed. Aligned approaches preserve solid bands for mining. No lava sea. Expanded QA is deferred.
- 10.3Done
Chambers, arches, and pillars
Supported forms in each upper depth, narrow basalt fault ledges/ribs in the Mantle, and rare compact quartz galleries/buttresses in the Core. A Core contour repair passed local fresh functional and native checks; Final automated package gates are tracked separately.
- 10.4Done
Springs and basins
Shared upper-depth source/channel/fall/basin masks passed the fresh check and user inspection with accepted limitations. First-bank walkability, steep basin walls and broad water sheets are follow-up work in PHASE10_BACKLOG.md.
- 10.5Done
Wet stone
Automated fresh check passed; manual inspection deferred. Bounded existing ore-compatible materials beside intended rivers, lakes and springs.
- 10.6Done
A change of place
Regional/detail patches passed the automated fresh check; manual appearance inspection deferred. Strata that read as geology across a band, not a recolor.
- 10.7Done
Mineral clustering
Smaller attempt counts and larger configured deposits passed the automated check; wider balance/appearance QA deferred. A picture of the chart. The chart and the depths stay.
- 10.8Done
The look on that ground
Existing mineral colors are embedded in stone-faced cube models; static checks passed, runtime visual inspection deferred. Shader-off terrain/readability and targeted custom-ore appearance. Shader tuning, Complementary-based ambient cave visibility and dedicated oil sprites are backlogged. No shader-on/profile comparison or new custom lighting is required. Quartz and draconium do not emit light.
03 / The planet pays
Minerals follow the depths.
The chart is generated in the Overworld. The bands and Mantle have none. Draconium belongs to the Core; oil remains pockets beside the Underreach lakes.
| Depth | Minerals and constraints |
|---|---|
| Shallows | Vanilla ranges, unchanged: coal, copper, iron, gold, redstone, lapis, diamond near the old floor, emerald in mountains. |
| Deepwilds | Tin, zinc, silver, sulfur, apatite. |
| Underreach | Lead, nickel, bauxite, fluorite, salt, certus quartz, niter. Certus quartz generates as a mineral in this depth, not as a surface meteor. Salt is a mineral beside the lakes. |
| Abyss | Osmium, uranium, cinnabar. |
| Core | Draconium. Only in the smooth quartz. None in the Mantle. |
| Mantle + bands | No chart minerals. |
Liquids in the column
Sea water at Y=63, river water in the Deepwilds, lake water in the Underreach, crude oil pockets in the Underreach, lava in the magma-vent pockets, and the thin lava band under Y=-208. Crude oil is pockets beside the Underreach lakes. A bucket can pick it up. Machine fluids, including creosote, biodiesel, and the Mekanism acids and gases, are not world layers.