WorldShift is a NeoForge challenge world-generation mod for Minecraft. It creates isolated challenge universes with heavily altered terrain while retaining as much native Minecraft progression as practical.
WorldShift is currently under active development. Back up existing worlds before installing or upgrading.
SparseChunks leaves isolated 16×16 Vanilla chunks surrounded by void. Surviving chunks are selected deterministically from the challenge seed and never touch, including diagonally.
SparseBlockChunks retains one full-height, Vanilla-derived block column in every chunk. The columns preserve a thin sample of native biomes, caves, fluids, ores, structures, and vegetation on a regular 16-block grid.
RandomBlockChunks assigns one deterministic replacement material to each chunk while selectively retaining important progression and navigation infrastructure. Its creation-only TNT Mode can restrict TNT chain reactions, allow normal TNT behavior, or remove TNT from the replacement pool.
SliceWorld cuts Vanilla terrain into deterministic floating prisms with empty space between them. Its creation-only initial spawn mode can favor a more usable starting fragment or preserve the harder first-safe-candidate behavior.
StructureWorld retains blocks produced by native Minecraft structures while removing ordinary terrain and biome decoration, leaving structures suspended in the void. Its creation-only initial spawn mode can prefer a Village or use the broader first-safe-structure search.
The current gallery shows SparseChunks gameplay.
Open the WorldShift menu with:
/worldshift- the configurable Open WorldShift key binding, which defaults to G
The persistent Vanilla-style chest interface separates challenges into Chunk Challenges and World Challenges. Each challenge has its own action submenu for creation, entry, leaving, and current-state feedback, plus a Settings page for common and challenge-specific controls. The root menu also provides access to the challenge timer.
- Five isolated challenge universes, each with dedicated Overworld, Nether, and End dimensions
- Challenge-local inventory, equipment, Ender Chest, experience, position, health, hunger, effects, game mode, and flight state
- Native-style Nether and End portal routing within each challenge universe
- Challenge-local
keepInventoryandadvance_timesettings - Creation settings for SliceWorld, StructureWorld, and RandomBlockChunks
- One persistent shared timer per challenge universe
- Independent native clocks for Vanilla and each challenge universe
- English and German localization
- Server-authoritative, multiplayer-aware state and timer handling
Each challenge universe has one shared timer across its Overworld, Nether, and End. An operator starts the timer; it advances while at least one player is inside that universe, pauses automatically when the universe becomes empty, and resumes when a player returns unless it was manually stopped.
The timer appears as a minimal gold Actionbar value. Visibility is stored per player and does not affect the shared timer.
/worldshift timer start— start the active challenge timer (operator)/worldshift timer stop— stop the active challenge timer (operator)/worldshift timer reset— reset and stop the active challenge timer (operator)/worldshift timer show— show the timer for the executing player/worldshift timer hide— hide the timer for the executing player
Current built-in challenge IDs are:
sparsechunkssparseblockchunksrandom_block_chunkssliceworldstructureworld
<challenge> below accepts one of these IDs. Compatible add-ons may register additional namespaced challenges.
| Command | Purpose | Permission |
|---|---|---|
/worldshift |
Open the WorldShift GUI | Player |
/worldshift help |
Show the command overview | Everyone |
/worldshift info |
Show versions and loaded challenge information | Everyone |
/worldshift list |
List registered challenge types | Everyone |
/worldshift create <challenge> |
Stage creation of a challenge universe; creation may require a restart | Operator |
/worldshift enter <challenge> |
Enter a ready challenge universe | Player |
/worldshift leave |
Return to Vanilla | Player |
/worldshift gamerule <challenge> keepInventory [true|false] |
Query or change challenge-local inventory retention | Query: everyone; change: operator |
/worldshift gamerule <challenge> advance_time [true|false] |
Query or change challenge-local time advancement | Query: everyone; change: operator |
/worldshift setting <challenge> spawn_mode [balanced|hardcore] |
Query or set the creation-only SliceWorld or StructureWorld spawn mode | Query: everyone; change: operator |
/worldshift setting random_block_chunks tnt_mode [restricted|unrestricted|disabled] |
Query or set the creation-only RandomBlockChunks TNT mode | Query: everyone; change: operator |
/worldshift timer start|stop|reset|show|hide |
Control or display the active challenge timer | Start/stop/reset: operator; show/hide: player |
Minecraft's native /time command operates on the clock of the current universe. Challenge and Vanilla timelines can therefore diverge naturally.
Requirements:
- Minecraft Java Edition
26.2 - NeoForge
26.2.0.66 - Java
25
Install the matching NeoForge version, place worldshift-0.1.6-0.4.jar in the instance or server mods directory, and start or restart Minecraft or the server. Challenge creation uses a restart-required bootstrap process.
WorldShift is actively developed for the versions listed above and is not intended for other Minecraft versions. Compatibility with arbitrary world-generation mods has not been verified, and full real multi-client gameplay testing remains ongoing.
Challenge reset and deletion commands are reserved but not implemented. Chunks generated by older development builds are not automatically regenerated when world-generation behavior changes.
WorldShift exposes APIs for extending its GUI and resolving physical dimensions to logical challenge universes. Technical documentation is available here:
Historical verification notes remain available in the docs directory.
The Gradle wrapper and required project files are included.
Windows:
gradlew.bat buildLinux/macOS:
./gradlew buildThe resulting JAR is written to build/libs/worldshift-0.1.6-0.4.jar.
WorldShift is a hands-on learning project developed with AI-assisted development tools. Gameplay design, architecture decisions, manual testing, and verification remain part of the human-led development process.
WorldShift is available under the MIT License.