Minecraft TerraFirmaCraft mod: Features and installation guide

Survival in Minecraft isn't very realistic. For example, food doesn't expire, there are only a handful of animals around, none of which try to hunt players, and different environments don't have temperature differences in ways that really matter. Thankfully, there are mods that make the survival experience much more realistic and interesting, such as TerraFirmaCraft.

Everything that you need to know about how exactly TerraFirmaCraft overhauls survival can be found detailed below, along with a guide on how to install the mod yourself.

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Main features of TerraFirmaCraft

The surface looks much more wild using TerraFirmaCraft (Image via Mojang)

• Latest game version: 1.20.1
• Creator: Dries007

TerraFirmaCraft's official CurseForge page touches on the major ways that it overhauls the vanilla experience. The underground has been completely redone and is now made up of disparate layers of rock types, with rare massive, multi-ore veins replacing traditional Minecraft ore generation.

The surface is also markedly different. There are seasons to take into account, along with weather and temperature. Natural environments are also much livlier. There are many new plants, crops, fruits, and even animals to find.

Speaking of the seasons changing, you'll also need to take into account food's changes to survive the winter. Food now has different nutritional values depending on the item and can even expire over time. You'll need to manage your hunger, thirst, and nutrition while out and about to stay alive.

A player knapping a knife head out of stone (Image via Mojang)

You'll also need to contend with a fully fledged technology tree. You'll need to slowly work your way towards the tools you're familiar with by collecting sticks and stones off the ground before using a new knapping interface to shape the stones into useful tools. From here, you can follow the guidebook all the way to iron, and better, gear.

The guidebook is a tab accessible from within the inventory that allows players to quickly reference a bunch of useful Minecraft mod information, such as crafting recipes, mechanics, and features. The inventory also contains other useful information, such as the date, temperature, and hunger and thirst information.

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Steps to add TerraFirmaCraft survival to Minecraft

1) Launch CurseForge

The CurseForge home page (Image via CurseForge)

TerraFirmaCraft only has a CurseForge page. That means you'll need to launch any alternative Minecraft launcher able to pull from their mod repository. This includes CurseForge itself, as well as other launchers like Prism Launcher and ATLauncher.

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2) Search for the TerraFirmaCraft mod

The search results for "TerraFirmaCraft" (Image via CurseForge)

CurseForge website: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/terrafirmacraft

Assuming you're using the base CurseForge application, you'll want to use the search bar located near the top of the window to search for "TerraFirmaCraft." The name is distinct enough that it should be the top result.

The link provided above will also take you to the mod. CurseForge's official website is able to automatically open the application to install a mod, making that process also quite easy.

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3) Install it

The prompt to install TerraFirmaCraft (Image via CurseForge)

Installing the mod from within CurseForge is incredibly simple. All you need to do is hit the orange "Install" button to the right of the mod's name. This will prompt you to either make a new Minecraft modpack for the mod, or add it to an existing installation. You can do either, depending on your needs.

CurseForge will only show compatible profiles when trying to add a mod, so you shouldn't need to worry about game version issues.

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4) Try to survive

The guidebook should make surviving, and even thriving, much easier (Image via Mojang)

Now that you've installed the mod, you'll need to make a new Minecraft survival world.

From here, it's recommended that you spend a few minutes reading through the guidebook located within the inventory. This will teach you the basics of resource gathering and crafting in the early game of TerraFirmaCraft, which is very different than the base game.