The purpose of MinecraftByExample is to give simple working examples of the important concepts in Minecraft and Forge. If you're anything like me, a good code example is worth several screens worth of waffling explanation, and can very quickly explain the key concepts. I also find it much easier to adapt and debug something that already works, than to have to synthesize something from scratch and spend hours trying to discover the missing bit of information I didn't know about.

I've tried to keep the code simple and obvious and to resist the urge to be clever. The examples might not be the most efficient or succinct implementation, I've deliberately left the optimization to you.

Each example is split up to be totally independent of all the others. The only parts of the code which are common to more than one example are the MinecraftByExample, CommonProxy, ClientOnlyProxy, and DedicatedServer classes, which can be found here.

If you want more information and explanatory text about the concepts, the following links might be useful:

• Guide to how Minecraft works
• Forge Modding articles
• The Official Forge documentation
• Forge Tutorials listing
• List of Good Tutorials

####For earlier versions, see the relevant GitHub branch:

• MBE for Forge 1.8: 1-8final
• MBE for Forge 1.8.9: 1-8-9final
• MBE for Forge 1.10.2: 1-10-2final
• MBE for Forge 1.11: 1-11final
• MBE for Forge 1.11.2: 1-11-2final

##List of examples

• MBE01 - a simple cube
• MBE02 - a block with a more complicated shape
• MBE03 - a block (coloured signpost) with multiple variants- four colours, can be placed facing in four directions
• MBE04 - a camouflage ("secret door") block which dynamically changes its appearance to match adjacent blocks - uses IBlockModel.getQuads() and onModelBakeEvent()
• MBE05 - a 3D web which joins to neighbours in all six directions - uses IBlockModel.getQuads() and ICustomModelLoader
• MBE06 - several different types of block which use redstone
• MBE08 - how to add a creative tab for organising your custom blocks / items

• MBE10 - a simple item
• MBE11 - an item with multiple variants - rendered using multiple models and multiple layers
• MBE12 - an item that stores extra information in NBT, also illustrates the "in use" animation similar to drawing a bow
• MBE13 - customise Mining behaviour of Blocks and Items - several test classes that show how mining works
• MBE14 - an interactive helper tool to adjust the ItemCameraTransforms for your custom item
• MBE15 - a chessboard item with 1 - 64 pieces; uses ItemOverrideList.handleItemState(), IBlockModel.getQuads() and onModelBakeEvent()

• MBE20 - using a tile entity to store information about a block - also shows examples of using NBT storage
• MBE21 - using the TileEntitySpecialRenderer to render unusual shapes or animations

• MBE30 - a simple container for storing items in the world - similar to a Chest
• MBE31 - a functional container such as a Furnace or Crafting Table

• MBE35 - some typical example crafting recipes and furnace (smelting) recipes

• MBE40 - simple customisations of the heads up display (hotbar, health meter)

• MBE50 - shows how to use vanilla Particles; also how to generate your own custom Particles

• MBE60 - send network messages between client and server

• MBE70 - configuration file linked to the "mod options" button GUI on the mods list screen

• MBE75 - a tool to help you automate testing of your classes in-game.

• You can browse directly in GitHub, or alternatively, download it as a zip and browse it locally.

• If you want to install it and compile it, the basic steps for beginners are:

  1. Download the project as a zip.
  2. Unzip it to an appropriate folder on your computer, such as My Documents. (Or, if you know how to fork a project on GitHub and import it into a local git repository, you can do that instead)
  3. From the command line, run gradlew setupDecompWorkspace to install Forge and configure the project, this will take quite some time, maybe 20 minutes or more.
  4. From the command line, run gradlew idea if you are using IntelliJ IDEA, or gradlew eclipse if you are using Eclipse.
  5. If using IntelliJ:
     1. Open the project (open the MinecraftByExample.ipr file).
     2. It will ask you whether you want to import the "unlinked gradle project". This is optional. If you choose no, later on (when you publish your mod) you will need to package it up using the command line gradlew build, if you choose yes you can run the gradle build task from inside IntelliJ. For most users, there's no other difference.
     3. If you imported the gradle project, you should run the gradle task 'genIntellijRuns' afterwards to get the Run and Debug configurations.
  6. If using Eclipse:
     1. Open the Project.
     2. Right click on the project, select "Run As" > "Run Configurations..."
     3. Set the main class to "GradleStart"
  7. You should be able to start Minecraft now (using the Run or Debug configuration) and the mod will be loaded.

Head over here if this didn't make sense to you, alternatively this tutorial by diesieben07.

Check out this video for more help installing Forge.

With thanks to these helpful folks: alvaropp, yooksi, Brandon3035, twrightsman (greekphysique), Nephroid, Herbix, and Shadowfacts