Better Explosion makes every blast feel like an event. Instead of resolving everything in a single instant, explosions release a visible shockwave that expands through the world and reaches players over time.
The mod aims for a cinematic result while staying close to the visual language of Minecraft and Create: readable shapes, restrained effects, and no unnecessary particle overload.
Note
Version 0.3.0 introduces a new central explosion visual built from layered fire, combustion, sparks, and smoke while keeping the established shockwave and ragdoll systems intact.
- 🌊 Physical shockwaves expand from the explosion center with speed and radius derived from explosion power.
- 🪞 World refraction follows the same trajectory as the server wave and dissipates without visibly stopping.
- 🔥 Layered fire and combustion replace the single vanilla explosion flash where Better Explosion provides the full visual.
- 🌫️ Expanding smoke clouds cool gradually, rise around nearby terrain, and dissolve as one connected volume.
- 🎨 Minecraft-style textures keep fire and smoke pixelated, readable, and varied without excessive particle noise.
- ❤️ Damage travels with the blast, preserving the explosion's original damage source and normal Minecraft calculations.
- 💨 Pressure reaches beyond direct damage, adding restrained supplemental damage without replacing the original hit.
- 🌀 Directional knockback reacts to strength, distance, armor, resistance, and Blast Protection.
- 🎥 Camera and sound feedback arrives with the wave and remains noticeable during ragdoll movement.
- 🧍 Optional physical ragdolls react to repeated shockwaves with articulated motion and controlled recovery.
- 📏 Different explosions feel different, from creepers and TNT to high-power Create Big Cannons shells.
Create Big Cannons is supported as an optional integration. Better Explosion reads CBC's separate block and entity power values while preserving the particles, smoke, debris, sounds, and camera effects that CBC already provides.
The new central fire-and-smoke visual is only used when an explosion does not already provide a complete presentation of its own, so CBC keeps its native visual identity.
Sable Player Ragdoll is optional. Standard and stronger shockwaves can launch the player as an articulated ragdoll with physical limb movement and controlled recovery.
When Ragdoll Reactions is installed, Better Explosion leaves ragdoll activation and release to that mod while continuing to provide the shockwave and its normal physical effects.
Explosions that use Minecraft's normal explosion pipeline are detected automatically. A modded explosion is not considered visually complete simply because it comes from another mod, so explosions without custom effects still receive the full Better Explosion treatment.
Mods with completely independent blast systems may need a small compatibility integration.
Please open an issue and include:
- your Minecraft, NeoForge, Kotlin for Forge, and Better Explosion versions;
- the source of the explosion and any involved mods;
- whether it happened in singleplayer or on a dedicated server;
- the relevant part of
latest.log; - a screenshot or short recording for visual, timing, camera, or ragdoll problems.
For compatibility reports, enable logCapturedExplosions, reproduce one explosion, and attach the captured explosion, planned effects, queued wave, and wave contact entries from the log.
Better Explosion is available under the MIT License.
Better Explosion is an independent project and is not affiliated with Mojang Studios, Microsoft, Create, Create Big Cannons, or Sable Player Ragdoll.