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Dynamic Trees Mod Wiki

An exhaustive guide to the Dynamic Trees mod, detailing its realistic growth mechanics, unique item systems, and extensive addon compatibility for Minecraft.

8 sections · 1,005 words

Overview#

Dynamic Trees is a comprehensive overhaul of Minecraft's tree growth and behavior. Instead of static, block-based structures that pop into existence, trees in this mod are living, multi-block entities that grow progressively from seeds to maturity. They branch out naturally, respond to their environment, and can be felled with a single cut at the base. The mod aims to create a more immersive and aesthetic forestry experience while maintaining the classic Minecraft style.

Core Mechanics#

Natural Growth

Trees grow in distinct stages: Seed -> Sapling -> Bush -> Small Tree -> Mature Tree. Growth is handled via random block ticks, similar to vanilla crops, but follows complex algorithms unique to each species.

  • Environmental Factors: Growth rate and maximum size are influenced by the biome's temperature and rainfall. Trees grow faster in lush, wet biomes and slower in cold or arid regions.
  • Light Requirements: Trees will not grow in total darkness. If a tree is starved of light (e.g., covered by a roof), its leaves will die, and branches will eventually rot away.
  • Obstacle Avoidance: Branches will attempt to grow around obstacles rather than clipping through them, leading to unique shapes in dense forests.

Rooty Soil & Fertility

Every dynamic tree begins at a Rooty Soil block. This block acts as the tree's heart, providing nutrients and managing its growth.

  • Fertility Level: Rooty soil has a fertility value (0–15). As the tree grows, it consumes fertility. Once depleted, growth stops.
  • Fertilization: Applying Bone Meal to rooty soil increases its fertility, allowing a tree to grow beyond its natural mature size.
  • Redstone Integration: A Comparator placed against a rooty soil block will output a signal strength corresponding to the soil's fertility level.

Felling and Physics

Dynamic Trees introduces realistic felling physics. Breaking the bottom-most trunk block causes the entire tree to fall.

  • Yield: The amount of logs and sticks dropped is proportional to the total volume of wood in the tree. Thicker branches yield more logs.
  • Safety: Falling leaves and branches can soften a player's fall, though falling on them may destroy the leaves.
  • Tools: Axes with the Fortune enchantment increase the log yield from felled trees.

Items and Tools#

Seeds

Seeds replace vanilla saplings as the primary way to plant trees. They can be found naturally, dropped from decaying leaves, or crafted.

Seed Type Description
Acorn Grows into a Dynamic Oak Tree.
Spruce Cone Grows into a Dynamic Spruce Tree.
Birch Catkin Grows into a Dynamic Birch Tree.
Jungle Pod Grows into a Dynamic Jungle Tree.
Acacia Seed Grows into a Dynamic Acacia Tree.
Dark Oak Seed Grows into a Dynamic Dark Oak Tree.

Specialized Tools

  • Dendrometer: A tool used to inspect trees. Right-clicking a tree displays its species, current fertility, and its "JoCode" (a DNA-like string representing its structure).
  • Woodland Staff: A creative-only tool used for forest management. It can copy a tree's structure (JoCode) and paste it onto viable soil to instantly recreate the tree. It can also be used to prune or grow specific branches.
  • Dirt Bucket: Used in crafting recipes to convert between vanilla saplings and dynamic seeds.

Potions and Alchemy#

Potions are applied directly to the Rooty Soil or the base of the trunk to alter a tree's state. All potions are brewed starting from a Biochar Base.

Potion Effect
Biochar Base The foundation for all tree alchemy. Created by brewing Charcoal with a Thick Potion.
Potion of Burgeoning Rapidly increases growth and fully fertilizes the soil until the tree reaches maturity.
Potion of Depletion Completely depletes the soil's fertility, halting all further growth.
Potion of Fertility Instantly sets the soil's fertility to maximum.
Potion of Transformation Changes the species of an existing tree while attempting to preserve its current shape.
Potion of Gigas Transforms a tree into its "Mega" variant (e.g., Mega Spruce or Mega Jungle).
Potion of Persistence Converts dynamic leaves into vanilla leaves and depletes the soil, effectively "freezing" the tree in time.
Potion of Defoliance Kills the tree by destroying its leaves and causing the branches to rot away.

Recipes#

Seed Crafting

Dynamic seeds can be obtained by combining a vanilla sapling with a Dirt Bucket in a shapeless crafting recipe. This process is reversible.

  • Seed: 1x Vanilla Sapling + 1x Dirt Bucket
  • Vanilla Sapling: 1x Dynamic Seed + 1x Dirt Bucket

Brewing Recipes

Potions are brewed in a standard Brewing Stand using the Biochar Base as the starting point.

  • Biochar Base: Thick Potion + Charcoal
  • Potion of Depletion: Biochar Base + Slime Ball
  • Potion of Burgeoning: Biochar Base + Gunpowder + Glowstone Dust
  • Potion of Transformation: Biochar Base + [Specific Tree Seed]

Tree Species#

Each tree species uses a unique growth algorithm to mimic its real-world counterpart:

  • Oak: Balanced growth with wide, spreading canopies. Often develops thick trunks.
  • Spruce: Tall and conical. In cold biomes, they can grow significantly larger.
  • Birch: Generally shorter and thinner, often found in dense clusters.
  • Jungle: The tallest trees in the mod, capable of reaching immense heights with complex vine-covered structures.
  • Acacia: Grows in flat, umbrella-like shapes with crooked branches.
  • Dark Oak: Extremely thick trunks (2x2 or larger) with dense, heavy canopies.
  • Cactus: (With Dynamic Trees Plus) Grows in segments, branching out in arid biomes.

Addons and Compatibility#

Dynamic Trees is designed to be highly extensible. Many popular mods have dedicated addons to make their trees dynamic.

Mod Name 1.21.1 1.20.1 1.19.2 1.18.2 1.16.5
Dynamic Trees Plus 🦊 🔨 🔨 🔨 🔨
Biomes O' Plenty 🦊 🔨 🔨 🔨 🔨
Quark - 🔨 🔨 🔨 🔨
Twilight Forest - 🔨 🔨 🔨 -
Ars Nouveau 🦊 🔨 🔨 🔨 -
Nature's Aura - 🔨 🔨 🔨 🔨
Forbidden & Arcanus 🦊 🔨 🔨 🔨 🔨
Tectonic ⬇️ ⬇️ 🔨 🔨 -
Regions Unexplored 🦊 🔨 - - -
TerraFirmaCraft - 🔨 - 🔨 -

Key: 🦊 NeoForge, 🔨 Forge, 🧣 Fabric, ⬇️ Native Compatibility, 🔌 Sinytra Connector Required.

Configuration#

The mod's behavior can be heavily customized via the dynamictrees-common.toml and dynamictrees-client.toml files.

  • plantRate: Controls how often seeds dropped on the ground will self-plant. Setting this to 0.0 prevents forests from spreading automatically.
  • replaceVanillaSaplings: If enabled, planting a vanilla sapling will automatically convert it into a dynamic seed and plant it.
  • worldGen: Can be toggled to prevent dynamic trees from generating during world creation, allowing vanilla trees to spawn instead.
  • fancyAnimation: (Client-side) Toggles the smooth falling animation when a tree is felled. Disabling this can improve performance on lower-end systems.