Knowledge Base (Posts about game)

Luanti mods that sound cool

bgstack15 — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 13:24:00 GMT

This is intended to be a living list of mods that sound interesting but don't quite make the cut for essential mods.

Interesting mods for Mineclonia

These sound interesting. Some of these I have investigated or used or even contributed to. These are listed in no particular order, but probably in order than I came across them.

Inventory admin

This lets an admin view and change inventory of other players. Haha, like the stadium guards checking those clear bags! This is from the same guy who wrote inventory_pouches, so it must be good! I haven't actually tried this one; I haven't needed to moderate players' inventories.

ContentDB scm

Extra Woolstuff

In case I want to add stairs and slabs made of wool. I haven't wanted those in my worlds yet, but I might. Same guy as Inventory Admin above! I like his work.

ContentDB scm

Protector

This sounds like the big, popular protection mod. I haven't needed protection on my servers because we have live moderators, but if I needed this, I would check this out first.

ContentDB scm

Magicsquare

I like this one, and use it on a few servers, but it's not essential. It would simplify survival games, for moving animals around, but I can play without it if I had to. It is a rapid replacement of its slightly earlier version known as "mobcrate." When I use this, I use my own fork with patches which have not yet been merged into upstream.

(no picture)

(no contentdb entry) Forum post scm: upstream mine

Invisiblocks

From TenPlus1 again (like Protector), this mod sounds more useful for creative mode, when making a game or puzzle map or something. The mob wall item works with Mobs Redo but not Mineclonia mobs. I wouldn't even want to waste my time asking Mineclonia devs to support it because it's not related to Mineclonia directly so they'd decline immediately. The invisible barrier and invisible light blocks are pretty great though.

I love this idea and implementation, but it's not directly related to survival gameplay, so it's hardly essential. Man, if I could get the MCL animals to obey the mob walls, I probably would put this on my survival servers. But fences work too (minus the mobs lag-jumping over them).

ContentDB scm

Ancient Stuff

A random idea from another supercreator michi16bit: some more armor and tools with a cool design!

ContentDB scm: no upstream mine

Italian Food for VoxeLibre

I helped this author with some mineclonia-related modding questions. I personally don't see the need for a million food mods in my survival worlds, but if I start adding any, I would start here.

ContentDB scm

Automatic Storage & Retrieval System

This adds a nifty way to throw tons of items in a single location and you can sort and search. You wouldn't to track individual boxes anymore. This works in Mineclonia, but it doesn't quite fit with the style of gameplay for it.

ContentDB scm

Whiter List (whitelist)

This uses a file in the world directory to manage a whitelist of users who can join the world. If I need this feature, this is the one I would use. There are a host of alternatives but this one uses a local file which appeals to me, instead of mod storage which is more obtuse to manage.

(no picture)

ContentDB scm

Bulldozer

Obvious. It has no recipe, because it's so powerful, so it is for creative mode only.

ContentDB scm

New Luanti mod: mcl_ruby_stuff

bgstack15 — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 13:07:00 GMT

I wrote another clone of mcl_emerald_stuff, which I named mcl_ruby_stuff. I also previously wrote mcl_lapis_stuff but I failed to have a separate post for that.

This mod today is only for Mineclonia and VoxeLibre. It is published in official ContentDB and in the internal ContentDB.

Description

You have to fashion rubies before you can make the gear.

Not only is this gear scaled for very late-game play, it also looks fashionable because it is red.

Using

Craft rubies based on the recipe chosen by the server admin. Craft with rubies to fashion all the ordinary gear like tools, armors, and horse armor. Equip the tools and armor!

Screenshots

Screenshot of armor and tools made with rubies

Screenshot of horse armor on a horse

Optional support

Mod farmtools has been requested to support this mod.

Alternatives

For a Minetest Game ruby experience, use mod Ruby Tools+. That mod is entirely unrelated to this one.

Settings

Once at installation time, configure the build recipe in minetest.conf, entry mcl_ruby_stuff.recipe. The options are the following. The recipe affects the strength of the equipment.

emerald_and_redstone_dust: 1 emerald + 1 redstone dust.

eight_redstone_dust: 8 redstone dust.

nine_redstone_blocks: 9 redstone blocks. This will make the strength of the equipment 2x that of emerald equipment.

Mod for Luanti: Highlighter Pen

bgstack15 — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 13:19:00 GMT

I wrote a novel Luanti mod, that works in any game. I have tested it specifically in the following games.

Description

This mod for Luanti adds highlighter pen tools. A player can highlight nodes, and erase highlights. The highlights persist after a safe server restart.

The canonical scm repo for this mod is at https://bgstack15.ddns.net/cgit/luanti/highlighter_pen, and an additional repo suitable for collaboration is at https://gitlab.com/bgsack15/highlighter_pen.

Using

Craft a highlighter pen. Right-click a node with the tool to set a highlight. Left-click to remove a highlight on a node.

Craft and use a blotter to remove highlights in a small radius (default radius is 3).

Dependencies

Vendors node_highlighter because that is not in ContentDB. You can also use that mod, and it will load that instead of using the vendored components.

Optional dependencies

Unifieddyes

Screenshots

Crafting recipe for a highlighter pen

Crafting recipe for a blotter

Screenshot of some highlight strokes in the world

Settings

How many nodes can a highlighter pen be used in survival mode on before the pen runs out (default 200)
Highlighter pen can erase all highlight-colors from a node (default true)
Using a highlighter in the air (an empty node) erases this color entirely, on all nodes (default false)
Blotter radius, where 1 is the single node that was right-clicked (default 3)

Current weaknesses

The blotter is the only component that respects core.is_protected, and only on the center of the usage.
Unifieddyes does not produce highlighter pens for each color variant for creative mode inventory; you have to craft them.

Script to stay synced to upstreams for Luanti mods

bgstack15 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 14:27:00 GMT

I added a script to my repo for initializing a Mineclonia installation that uses a separate location to synchronize my local repositories to the upstream paths, if they still exist.

files/2026/listings/mod-upstreams.sh (Source)

	`#!/bin/sh`
	`# Startdate: 2026-01-30-6 13:35`
	`# Purpose: List and track git remotes for Luanti mods I care about`

	`# Config`
	`host="http://server3/git/luanti"`
	`WORKDIR="${WORKDIR:-${HOME}/mod-upstreams}"`

	`# Functions`

	`ginit() {`
	`err() {`
	`printf '%s\n' "${@}" 1>&2`
	`}`
	`err "# ginit ${*}"`
	`if test "${#}" -lt 1 ;`
	`then`
	`err "Usage: ginit <repository_url> [branch_name] [dirname]"`
	`return 1`
	`fi`
	`REPO_URL="${1}"`
	`REPO_DIR="$( basename "${REPO_URL}" .git )"`
	`BRANCH_NAME="${2}"`
	`DIRNAME="${3}"`
	`if test -n "${DIRNAME}" ; then REPO_DIR="${DIRNAME}" ; fi`
	`if test -d "${REPO_DIR}" ;`
	`then`
	`err "Directory ${REPO_DIR} already exists. Changing directory to it."`
	`cd "${REPO_DIR}" \|\| return`
	`if test -n "${BRANCH_NAME}" ;`
	`then`
	`err "Switching to branch ${BRANCH_NAME}"`
	`git fetch --all`
	`# my old redirect trick to filter stderr`
	`{`
	`{`
	`# Use 'git switch' (modern) or 'git checkout' (older versions)`
	`# 'git switch -c' creates and switches to a new branch if it doesn't exist locally`
	`git switch -c "${BRANCH_NAME}" "origin/${BRANCH_NAME}" \|\| \`
	`git checkout -b "${BRANCH_NAME}" "origin/${BRANCH_NAME}" \|\| \`
	`git checkout "${BRANCH_NAME}"`
	`} 2>&1 1>&3 \| sed -r -e '/fatal: a branch named.*already exists/d' 1>&2`
	`} 3>&1`
	`fi`
	`else`
	`if test -n "${BRANCH_NAME}" ;`
	`then`
	`err "Cloning branch ${BRANCH_NAME} into ${REPO_DIR}"`
	`git clone -b "${BRANCH_NAME}" "${REPO_URL}" "${REPO_DIR}"`
	`else`
	`err "Cloning default branch into ${REPO_DIR}"`
	`git clone "${REPO_URL}" "${REPO_DIR}"`
	`fi`
	`if test -d "${REPO_DIR}" ;`
	`then`
	`cd "${REPO_DIR}" \|\| return`
	`git pull`
	`err "Changed directory to ${REPO_DIR}"`
	`else`
	`err "Failed to clone repository"`
	`return 1`
	`fi`
	`fi`
	`}`

	`sync_repos() {`
	`_origin="${1}"`
	`_dest="${2}"`
	`_branches="${3}"`
	`cd "${WORKDIR}"`
	`if ginit "${_origin}" ;`
	`then`
	`{ {`
	`git remote add dest "${_dest}"`
	`} 2>&1 1>&3 \| sed -r -e '/error: remote.*already exists/d' 1>&2 ; } 3>&1`
	`git pull --all`
	`echo "${_branches},main,master" \| tr ',' '\n' \| awk '!x[$0]++' \| while read branch ;`
	`do`
	`{ {`
	`git switch -c "${branch}" "origin/${branch}" \|\| \`
	`git checkout -b "${branch}" "origin/${branch}" \|\| \`
	`git checkout "${branch}"`
	`git push dest "${branch}"`
	`} 2>&1 1>&3 \| sed -r -e '/fatal: a branch named.*already exists/d' 1>&2 ; } 3>&1`
	`done`
	`fi`
	`}`

	`# sync_repos origin dest "branches,comma-separated"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/JamesClarke7283/enchantments_extractor "${host}/enchantments_extractor" "main"`
	`# enchantments_workbench is mine`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/camelia/farmtools "${host}/farmtools" "main"`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/Wuzzy/minetest_inventory_icon "${host}/minetest_inventory_icon"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/JamesClarke7283/inventory_pouches "${host}/inventory_pouches"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/ketwaroo/minetest-k-ambient-light "${host}-readonly/minetest-k-ambient-light" "main"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/ketwaroo/minetest-k-recycler "${host}-readonly/minetest-k-recycler" "main"`
	`# lava_furnace is mine`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/SilverSandstone/leads "${host}-readonly/leads" "main"`
	`# list_to_file is mine`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/minetest-mapserver/mapserver_mod "${host}-readonly/mapserver_mod" "master"`
	`# mcl_chiseled_bookshelf is mine`
	`# mcl_colored_chests is mine`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/TomCon/mcl_copper_stuff "${host}-readonly/mcl_copper_stuff" "master"`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/rudzik8/mcl_cozy "${host}/mcl_cozy" "master"`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/rudzik8/mcl_decor "${host}-readonly/mcl_decor" "master"`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/rudzik8/mcl_emerald_stuff "${host}/mcl_emerald_stuff" "main"`
	`# mcl_lapis_stuff is mine`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/ketwaroo/minetest-mcl-misk-recipes "${host}/mcl_misk_recipes" "main"`
	`sync_repos https://codeberg.org/rudzik8/mcl_morefood "${host}/mcl_morefood" "main"`
	`# milk_potion is mine`
	`# molten_sailor_mcl is mine`
	`sync_repos https://git.0x7be.net/dirk/mtimer "${host}/mtimer" "main"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/minetest-go/mtui_mod "${host}-readonly/mtui_mod" "master"`
	`# obsidian_extra is mine`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/LizzyFleckenstein03/playerlist "${host}/playerlist" "main"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/acmgit/minetest_poi "${host}/minetest_poi"`
	`# privs_per_world is mine`
	`sync_repos https://gitlab.com/cronvel/mt-respawn "${host}/mt-respawn"`
	`# safe_chest upstream is gone, so I guess I am upstream now.`
	`# sync_repos https://github.com/smnoe01/safe_chest "${host}/safe_chest"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/mt-historical/snippets "${host}-readonly/snippets"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/DonBatman/myairwand "${host}-readonly/myairwand"`
	`sync_repos https://github.com/Twinsonian/magicsquare "${host}/magicsquare" "main"`

The purpose of this script is to make synchronizing to upstream easy. I tend to have very small changes to upstream. On occasion my changes get merged into upstream, and I don't need any feature branches! For some of these, I have private patches that have been declined by upstream or never sent to them in the first place.

This script also documents the mods I care about. Any of the "readonly" ones are ones for which I have no changes at all. I have changed my mind and have had to move some around, when I realized I wanted to patch them after all.

New Luanti csm: node_inv_read

bgstack15 — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 14:13:00 GMT

I wrote a new client side mod for Luanti that is an inventory cheat. Technically it doesn't work in Minetest Game, so it only works in Mineclonia. I couldn't figure that out.

This mod lets you punch any node, and if it has inventory, it will show all the inventories to you. I have tested it with up to 6 inventories. And if a node does not use the allow_metadata_inventory_put functions, you can even move items around!

Get the code.

Writing init script for explorer.lu

bgstack15 — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 13:52:00 GMT

Great artists steal, so I just copied the certmonger init script for Devuan and adapted it for running the explorer-lu instance.

files/2026/listings/explorer-lu (Source)

#!/bin/sh
### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          explorer-lu
# Required-Start:    $local_fs
# Required-Stop:     $local_fs
# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
# Short-Description: Run explorer.lu instance
# Description:       Explorer.lu is a featureful web app for examining Lego
#                    Universe data from whichever dataset is configured.
### END INIT INFO

PATH=/home/bgstack15/.cargo/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/bin:/usr/bin
DESC="explorer-lu"
NAME=paradox-server
DAEMON=/home/bgstack15/.cargo/bin/$NAME
DAEMON_ARGS=
export RUST_LOG=info
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
SCRIPTNAME=/etc/init.d/explorer-lu
DESTDIR=/usr/src/lu-explorer

. /lib/init/vars.sh
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

# Exit if the package is not installed
[ -x $DAEMON ] || exit 0

# Read configuration variable file if it is present
[ -r /etc/default/$NAME ] && . /etc/default/$NAME

# Load the VERBOSE setting and other rcS variables
. /lib/init/vars.sh

# Define LSB log_* functions.
# Depend on lsb-base (>= 3.0-6) to ensure that this file is present.
. /lib/lsb/init-functions

#
# Function that starts the daemon/service
#
do_start()
{
	# Return
	#   0 if daemon has been started
	#   1 if daemon was already running
	#   2 if daemon could not be started
	start-stop-daemon --start --background --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --chdir $DESTDIR --exec $DAEMON --test > /dev/null \
		|| return 1
	start-stop-daemon --start --background --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --chdir $DESTDIR --exec $DAEMON -- \
		$DAEMON_ARGS \
		|| return 2
	# Add code here, if necessary, that waits for the process to be ready
	# to handle requests from services started subsequently which depend
	# on this one.  As a last resort, sleep for some time.
}

#
# Function that stops the daemon/service
#
do_stop()
{
	# Return
	#   0 if daemon has been stopped
	#   1 if daemon was already stopped
	#   2 if daemon could not be stopped
	#   other if a failure occurred
	start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --retry=TERM/3/KILL/5 --chdir $DESTDIR --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
	RETVAL="$?"
	[ "$RETVAL" = 2 ] && return 2
	# Wait for children to finish too if this is a daemon that forks
	# and if the daemon is only ever run from this initscript.
	# If the above conditions are not satisfied then add some other code
	# that waits for the process to drop all resources that could be
	# needed by services started subsequently.  A last resort is to
	# sleep for some time.
	start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --oknodo --chdir $DESTDIR --retry=0/3/KILL/5 --exec $DAEMON
	[ "$?" = 2 ] && return 2
	# Many daemons don't delete their pidfiles when they exit.
	rm -f $PIDFILE
	return "$RETVAL"
}

#
# Function that sends a SIGHUP to the daemon/service
#
do_reload() {
	#
	# If the daemon can reload its configuration without
	# restarting (for example, when it is sent a SIGHUP),
	# then implement that here.
	#
	start-stop-daemon --stop --signal 1 --quiet --chdir $DESTDIR --pidfile $PIDFILE --name $NAME
	return 0
}

case "$1" in
  start)
    [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Starting $DESC " "$NAME"
    do_start
    case "$?" in
		0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
		2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
	esac
  ;;
  stop)
	[ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_daemon_msg "Stopping $DESC" "$NAME"
	do_stop
	case "$?" in
		0|1) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 0 ;;
		2) [ "$VERBOSE" != no ] && log_end_msg 1 ;;
	esac
	;;
  status)
       status_of_proc "$DAEMON" "$NAME" && exit 0 || exit $?
       ;;
  #reload|force-reload)
	#
	# If do_reload() is not implemented then leave this commented out
	# and leave 'force-reload' as an alias for 'restart'.
	#
	#log_daemon_msg "Reloading $DESC" "$NAME"
	#do_reload
	#log_end_msg $?
	#;;
  restart|force-reload)
	#
	# If the "reload" option is implemented then remove the
	# 'force-reload' alias
	#
	log_daemon_msg "Restarting $DESC" "$NAME"
	do_stop
	case "$?" in
	  0|1)
		do_start
		case "$?" in
			0) log_end_msg 0 ;;
			1) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Old process is still running
			*) log_end_msg 1 ;; # Failed to start
		esac
		;;
	  *)
	  	# Failed to stop
		log_end_msg 1
		;;
	esac
	;;
  *)
	#echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|restart|reload|force-reload}" >&2
	echo "Usage: $SCRIPTNAME {start|stop|status|restart|force-reload}" >&2
	exit 3
	;;
esac

:

I had to add the --chdir and --background parameters myself. I also greatly shortened the timeout for killing the app. It appears it doesn't listen to the first signal. But it's a very simple webapp that doesn't matter if it gets hard-killed.

LU Explorer tools

bgstack15 — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 14:27:00 GMT

README for lu-explorer-tools

This is a collection of tools that help set up a local copy of https://explorer.lu. You need a lot of assets, such as images, and a customized sqlite and fdb (database used by the game client). It's not either/or: It's both the sqlite and fdb files. The map files are optional.

All these tools help prepare the game contents, but you still need to compile the code for the site (https://github.com/LUDevNet/lu-explorer/) and point it to the output assets of these scripts.

Upstream

This project's upstream is at https://bgstack15.ddns.net/cgit/lu-explorer-tools
code for the real site

Screenshot showing a customized loot table 444 (Crux Prime enemies)

Alternatives

Visit upstream which shows you the vanilla dataset.

Reason for existence

By running your own copy of explorer.lu, you can point it at any fdb/sqlite combo, such as the Nexus Universe dataset, to view their loot tables and items. Note that their custom vendor items are defined in a vanity xml and not in the database.

Using

Start by preparing the client assets, e.g., to /usr/src/lu-explorer/res. That would be directory res/ from an unpacked client.

Some tools listed below are from the Assembly tools release tarball and are not from this lu-explorer-tools package.

First, you have to build a template fdb file. Res-patches is the path of the expanded internal patchsets.

tools/template-fdb /usr/src/lu-explorer/res-patches/res/cdclient.fdb template.fdb

Next, prepare the fdb from the original cdserver.sqlite file you wish to use. Use Assembly tools binary sqlite-to-fdb or https://fdb.lu-dev.net/.

sqlite-to-fdb template.fdb res/CDS
tools/sqlite-to-fdb template.fdb res-patches/CDServer.2025-11-09.batlordcape-in-loottable1.sqlite res-patches/cdserver.fdb

Run prepare-sqlite-from-fdb-and-locale.sh which adds the PRIMARY KEY constraints needed by the lu-explorer web app, and localized strings.

CDCLIENT_SCHEMA=cdclient_schema.sql.attempt1 ./prepare-sqlite-from-fdb-and-locale.sh res-patches/res/cdclient.fdb res-patches/locale/locale.xml res-patches/cdclient.sqlite

Next, prepare the images by converting the .dds files to .png files.

APPLY=1 INDIR=/usr/src/lu-explorer/res OUTDIR=/usr/src/lu-explorer/lu-res ./convert-res-to-lu-res.sh

For additional patches on top of a vanilla client, that are extracted to this input directory, run this.

VERBOSE=1 APPLY=1 INDIR=/usr/src/lu-explorer/res-patches/res OUTDIR=/usr/src/lu-explorer/lu-res ./convert-res-to-lu-res.sh

Optionally, retrieve the map contents, which are json format.

./fetch-luz-json.sh cdserver.sqlite

Dependencies

The Assembly git repo and its releases v2.
An unpacked client.
Be aware that the lu-explorer tool also depends on a packed client, because of directory versions/ and probably more.

Building

N/A

References

Inline.

compiling Darkflame Lego Universe for myself

bgstack15 — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 13:40:00 GMT

I wanted to try to make some code changes to Darkflameserver Lego Universe, which of course necessitates compiling the application.

I cloned the repository and made a branch, and wrote my changes. Of course I used the main branch, instead of whatever commit would have been the last tag. Once I got the compilation process working, my database was migrated to the latest schema.

While my changes worked, I learned that some interim commits which haven't been noticed yet broke the bananas and mermaid head item drops. They do not work at all! That is, none of those items drop, which will completely break the storyline missions. So I then reverted to the correct commit for whatever the last tag was, but my database had already been migrated. Apparently the project changed the datatype for a column for character id. And rather than trying to restore from backup (which I did have), I figured it would be easier to just rebase my commit on top of the commit that had updated that database schema change. That commit came before any of the faffing around with the bananas.

And all this took quite some time, to iterate and realize the problem, and decide the path to rollback.

So the next time I want to implement changes for myself in any project, I will work more carefully with commits.

My contributions to Nexus Dashboard for Darkflame Lego Universe, part 1

bgstack15 — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 13:53:00 GMT

I love the Darkflame server emulator for Lego Universe. Part of this server is the Nexus Dashboard, which is necessary for initializing users. It has auxiliary functions like admin messages to users, and approval of pet names.

This is a great dashboard, and I have spent some time recently adding features to this. Upstream hasn't looked at my pull requests, but I have added a number of features in my own branch of the code.

The major features I have added include:

Support working under a virtual path of the reverse proxy
Add Leaderboards!
Show equipped items on characters
Add an "Approve all" button for pet names

And minor features that I implemented:

Handle booleans from the config file better

My necessary Luanti mods for Minetest Game

bgstack15 — Tue, 09 Dec 2025 14:15:00 GMT

Overview

I recently published my list of mods for Mineclonia, and here is my list of mods I want for Minetest Game (ContentDB).

It's been said that most Minetest Game servers are just a mod soup that the admin wants. Well, it's true.

Mods I use for Minetest Game

Airutils

This is a dependency library and helper components for the specific airplanes added by other mods. I do not have any patches for this.

ContentDB scm

Automobiles Pack (automobiles_pck)

Written by the same prolific Luanti mod author Apercy as the previous mod, this one adds a bunch of cool ground vehicles. I never sent any patches, but I did submit a single bug report. I want automobiles, and this seemed to be the premiere way to get them!

ContentDB scm