Overview#
The Unlit Campfire Mod is a gameplay enhancement designed to add a layer of realism and safety to Minecraft's fire-starting mechanics. By default, vanilla Minecraft campfires are placed already burning, which can be immersion-breaking and hazardous to the player. This mod ensures that both standard Campfires and Soul Campfires are unlit when first placed.
Beyond the initial placement state, the mod introduces a sophisticated burning mechanic where campfires require maintenance, can be extinguished by environmental factors like rain, and can be upgraded to burn infinitely using specific items. It is highly compatible with information HUD mods, providing real-time data on fire duration and status.
Core Mechanics#
Placement and Lighting
When a player places a Campfire or Soul Campfire, it will appear in its 'unlit' state. To start the fire, players must use traditional ignition methods such as a Flint and Steel, Fire Charge, or any other tool capable of lighting blocks. This prevents immediate fire damage to the player upon placement.
Lit Time and Extinguishing
Once lit, campfires are no longer permanent light sources by default. They operate on a timer system:
- Default Duration: 2000 game ticks (approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds).
- Automatic Extinguishing: When the timer reaches zero, the campfire will naturally go out. This behavior can be toggled or adjusted in the configuration.
- Run Out Indicator: As the fire nears its end (defaulting to 600 ticks remaining), the light level emitted by the campfire will begin to decrease, providing a visual warning to the player that the fire needs more fuel.
Environmental Interactions
- Rain Sensitivity: Campfires can be configured to extinguish when exposed to rain. This adds a survival challenge, requiring players to build shelters or roofs over their cooking stations.
- Particle Effects: While burning during rain, campfires produce significantly more smoke and steam particles (default factor of 2x), simulating the struggle of the fire against the moisture.
- Sleep Integration: If enabled, the time spent sleeping in a bed will be added to the campfire's tick counter, ensuring that fires do not simply vanish instantly while the player skips the night.
Fuel and Maintenance#
To keep a campfire burning indefinitely, players must interact with the block using combustible materials.
Adding Burnables
Players can right-click a lit campfire with burnable items to extend its lit time. This includes standard Minecraft fuels such as:
- Logs and Wood
- Sticks
- Coal and Charcoal
- Planks
Max Lit Time Extension: There is a limit to how much fuel a campfire can hold. By default, players can add up to an additional 2000 ticks of time beyond the base lit time. Once this cap is reached, no more fuel can be added until the timer drops.
Infinite Campfires
A campfire can be converted into a permanent light source that never extinguishes.
- Method: Use Magma Cream on a lit (soul) campfire.
- Item Tag: The mod uses the item tag
unlitcampfire:makes_campfire_infinite, allowing pack developers to add other items (like Blaze Powder or Fire Charges) to this functionality. - World Generation: Campfires found in naturally generated structures (like Taiga villages) are set to burn infinitely by default so that villages remain lit.
Campfire Destruction
For players seeking a hardcore experience, the mod includes an optional setting where campfires are destroyed entirely once they extinguish themselves. This forces players to craft new campfire blocks rather than simply relighting them.
Compatibility and HUDs#
The Unlit Campfire Mod is designed to work seamlessly with popular information display mods to help players track their fire's remaining life.
Jade and The One Probe
When looking at a campfire with either Jade or The One Probe installed, the HUD will display:
- Lit Time: The exact number of ticks remaining before the fire goes out.
- Infinity Status: Indicates if the campfire has been made infinite via Magma Cream.
Performance Optimization (Lithium/Canary)
If using optimization mods like Lithium (Fabric) or Canary (Forge), campfires are often 'put to sleep' when no items are cooking to save CPU cycles. To ensure the timers in this mod function correctly on older versions, the following line must be added to the lithium.properties or canary.properties file:
mixin.world.block_entity_ticking.sleeping.campfire=false
Note: In versions 1.20.4 and newer, this manual configuration is no longer required as compatibility is handled automatically.
Configuration#
The mod is highly customizable via the config file. Below are the primary settings available:
| Option | Default Value | Description |
|---|---|---|
campfireLitTime |
2000 | Ticks a standard campfire stays lit. |
soulCampfireLitTime |
2000 | Ticks a soul campfire stays lit. |
runOutIndicatorTime |
600 | Ticks remaining when light level starts to drop. |
extinguishDuringRain |
false | Whether rain puts out the fire. |
rainParticleFactor |
2.0 | Multiplier for particles during rain. |
breakCampfire |
false | If true, the block breaks when the fire goes out. |
addBurnables |
true | Allows adding logs/coal to extend time. |
maxLitTimeExtension |
2000 | Maximum extra time that can be added via fuel. |
affectedBySleepTime |
false | If true, sleeping adds to the lit timer. |
magmaCreamInfinite |
true | Allows Magma Cream to make fires permanent. |
generatedCampfiresInfinite |
true | Naturally spawned campfires never go out. |
Visual Enhancements#
For players who want full visual consistency, the mod author provides an optional resource pack titled Unlit Campfire Icons.
In the vanilla game, the item icon for a campfire in the inventory shows it already burning. This resource pack modifies the GUI icons for the Campfire and Soul Campfire items to appear unlit, matching the behavior of the mod when the blocks are placed in the world.
Gallery#
