Skip to main content
In this tutorial you’ll create your first custom mob and spawn it in your world. It takes about five minutes, and you don’t need to write any code.

​
Before you start

  1. Drop LodeEntities-<version>.jar into your server’s plugins/ folder.
  2. Start the server once (Paper or Folia, Minecraft 1.21.4 or newer). LodeEntities creates plugins/LodeEntities/ and generates its resource pack.
  3. Make sure you can run /le commands: you’re OP, or you have lodeentities.*.
A fresh install already has two mobs to look at, lodecreeper and lodefer, in plugins/LodeEntities/Mobs/. Try /le spawn lodecreeper (and then run). A Blockbench model of your own is optional. We’ll cover both paths.

​
Path A: A mob with a custom model

​
1. Drop in your model

Everything you write lives in plugins/LodeEntities/Mobs/. Give your mob a folder and put the .bbmodel exported from Blockbench inside it:
The file name is the model’s name, so keep it to lowercase letters, digits, _ and ..

​
2. Reload

Two things happen. LodeEntities rebuilds the resource pack with your model in it, and it notices toast isn’t used by any mob yet, so it creates one for you right beside the model, in Mobs/toast/toast.yml. The console confirms it: Loaded 1 mob(s).

​
3. Apply the resource pack

Players need the generated pack to see your model. It is written to plugins/LodeEntities/build.zip. Apply it to your own client for testing, or send it as your server resource pack. Already running Nexo or ItemsAdder? LodeEntities merges into their pack instead; see Nexo & ItemsAdder.

​
4. Spawn it

There it is: a pig wearing your model. Every auto-generated mob starts as a pig. Let’s fix that.

​
5. Make it yours

Open Mobs/toast/toast.yml. Your mob is waiting:
Every mob is a model (how it looks) plus a base (the vanilla entity underneath, which decides how it moves and fights). Change the base and add some character:
  • base: zombie makes it walk around and attack players like a zombie.
  • display is the name floating above it. &6 makes it gold.
  • health: 40 is 20 hearts: health is counted in points, 2 per heart.
Save, then:
Sir Toast lives, and he’s not friendly anymore.

​
Path B: A mob without a model

No Blockbench model? A mob only needs a base. Create plugins/LodeEntities/Mobs/guards.yml:
Then:
A beefed-up vindicator with a custom name. Everything in these tutorials works the same with or without a model.

​
Or do it in game

/le gui opens the Entities menu. New entity asks for an id and drops you into an editor where you set the base, health, name and everything else by clicking. The changes are written into the same YAML file. See Entities Menu.

​
What you’ve learned

  • Everything goes in Mobs/: a folder per mob keeps its model and its config together.
  • A mob is a base entity, optionally wearing a model, with whatever stats you give it.
  • /le reload applies changes. Auto-generated mobs start as pigs and are yours to edit; your edits are never overwritten.
  • Changes reach mobs spawned after the reload. Ones already in the world keep what they had.
health and display are two of about thirty settings a mob can carry; Mob Stats lists them all. Right now your mob looks the part but doesn’t do anything special. That’s the next tutorial: My First Effect.