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Balanced Ore Detector

Fully configurable Ore Detectors that do not break the balance of the game, and still make prospecting a challenge, without forcing you to hollow out the entire world.

FabricNeoForge
Loaders
FabricNeoForge
Downloads on Modrinth
18.1K
Followers on Modrinth
22
versions
49
Updated
August 4, 2026Aug 4
Published
in 2023
Finding diamonds — Screenshot · swipe

At a glance

Runs on Fabric and NeoForge
For Minecraft 1.20.2–1.20.6, 1.21.1–26.2
Needed in the game and on the server
Latest version — 1.4.2+fabric+mc26.2 from August 4, 2026
Requires Fabric API and Cloth Config API
License MIT — free
Where it's needed
In gamerequiredOn serverrequired

Needed both in the game and on the server

Game versions1.20.2–1.20.6, 1.21.1–26.2

Balanced Ore Detector (Fabric and NeoForge)

Old Minecraft worlds look like swiss cheese. The underground, especially around level 10, is hollow and ugly.
I have never liked it, and I decided to design various detectors to find ores without hollowing out the entire world.
These ore detectors do not print out the type and coordinates of the found ores, and they do not scan the entire world.
That would be cheating.
But they do help finding ores a little faster than mining.

They all operate by echo location. When they are used on a solid surface, they emit three loud bangs, which get reflected from certain blocks. Each detector emits different sounds which get reflected differently. The volume of the echo, and the time till it returns, depend on the distance of the block. The pitch and the particles that may appear help to identify the block.

There are two variants of each detector: basic and focused. The focused ones use a narrower beam, therefore they are better for deceting ores, but they are more expensive.

The Void Detector emits a sound that is reflected from non-solid blocks, like air, water, lava and some other partly transparent blocks.

Crafting a Void Detector Crafting a Focused Void Detector

The Coal Detector emits a sound that is reflected best from coal, copper, iron and quartz ores and from a few other things that are made of these materials.

Crafting a Coal Detector Crafting a Focused Coal Detector

The Iron Detector does not detect coal, but, in addition to copper, iron and quartz, it detects gold, redstone and lapis.

Crafting an Iron Detector Crafting a Focused Iron Detector

The Gold Detector is the most universal. It detects iron, gold, redstone, lapis, diamonds and emeralds, but unfortunately it is insensitive to coal and copper.

Crafting a Gold Detector Crafting a Focused Gold Detector

And the Diamond Detector is the best to find the most precious ores, diamonds, emeralds and ancient debris in the nether.

Crafting a Diamond Detector Crafting a Focused Diamond Detector

All detectors have long, but limited usability.

Screenshot

Every major feature of the mod is configurable in the Mod Menu.

Screenshot

Requires (Fabric)

Compatibility

Tech Reborn

Since 1.1.0

  • the Coal Detector detects galena, tin, lead, ruby and sapphire,
  • the Iron Detector detects galena, tin, lead, ruby, sapphire, silver and bauxite,
  • the Gold Detector detects silver and iridium,
  • and the Diamond Detector detects iridium, pyrite, cinnabar, sphalerite, tungsten, sheldonite, peridot and sodalite.

Applied energistics 2

Since 1.1.0

  • Coal and Iron Detectors detect certus quartz too.

License

Standard MIT license. Feel free to learn from it and incorporate it in your own projects.

Source code

Available on GitLab or on GitHub.
The source code has lots of comments to help learning Minecraft modding.

Thanks

Thanks to Kaupenjoe for his excellent Modding By Kaupenjoe: Minecraft Modding 1.20.X for Fabric course.

See also

My other mods on Modrinth and on CurseForge.

FAQ

How to install Balanced Ore Detector?

Install Fabric for your Minecraft version, download Balanced Ore Detector for the same version and loader, put the file into the mods folder and launch the game with the loader profile.

Which Minecraft versions does Balanced Ore Detector support?

Balanced Ore Detector has builds for Minecraft 1.20.2–1.20.6, 1.21.1–26.2.

Is Balanced Ore Detector needed on the server?

Needed in the game and on the server

License and source
MIT Licensefree to use and share with credit to the author
Original — Modrinth↗Files unchanged, verified with SHA-512Is this your mod? For rights holders

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