Distant Starts

Source repository · Issues

Distant Starts is a Fabric mod for Minecraft Java that gives each player a personal initial spawn. World creators can choose nearby cooperative starts or distant territories. A maximum nearest-neighbor distance keeps the group from scattering across the whole map. The same rules work in singleplayer.

The development project targets Minecraft Java 26.1.1 and 26.2, Fabric, and Java 25, with shared gameplay and separate jars.

The first implementation is undergoing multiplayer validation. Placement constraints, bounded verified choices, protected waiting, persistence, commands, personal respawn, and optional Mod Menu defaults are implemented. See the specification and validation progress.

Why This Exists

Vanilla Minecraft, and most servers, put every new player at the same world spawn. That is a poor fit for a competitive even-start survival world, especially with Live Villages: if everyone lands in the same village, the first player to grab the Trade Board and the nearby farms wins by accident.

Distant Starts is meant to support two even setups:

• everyone starts near a village, but not the same village
• everyone starts in the wild and plants a Trade Board, or a War Banner if they want a pillager outpost instead

A world setting chooses one of those village rules for every player. Players can optionally pick a biome from the ones that are still legal.

Existing Mods

Several published mods spread or randomize spawns. None of them combine personal starts, a 1000-block minimum, a nearest-neighbor maximum, a world-wide village-near-or-away rule, and remaining-biome choice aimed at Live Villages even-starts.

The closest cousins are Spread Spawnpoints (min/max radii between spawns, but no village or biome-pick rules), Spread Em (Forge unique spawns with a biome blacklist), and spaced respawn (biome pick plus a 750-block minimum, plus unrelated keep-inventory rules). The comparison table is in docs/SPECS.md.

Implemented Behavior

• First overworld join assigns a personal spawn and teleports the player there.
• Default minimum separation is 1000 blocks.
• Default maximum distance to the nearest already assigned player is 3000 blocks.
• Village mode is either near_villages or away_from_villages for the whole world.
• Optional first-join biome choices show verified legal sites discovered within a bounded search. Search for more can add choices. Sharing a biome is allowed when another legal site remains.
• Death without a bed returns the player to their personal start, not the shared world spawn.
• Live Villages is optional. If it is present and village mode is away_from_villages, the player can be granted a Trade Board to found their own settlement.

Status

Both target builds pass 20 shared regression tests. Spacing configuration was visually checked on both targets. On 26.2, first assignment, no-bed death fallback, founding-item delivery, and save/restart/reconnect passed initial runtime checks; 26.1.1 also passed reservation/entry and the First Civilization personal-return integration. Broader village-mode, simultaneous-join, and recovery validation remain in progress. See validation progress for the tested scope and remaining acceptance work.

Build and test both targets with ./gradlew build; collect jars with ./gradlew collectReleaseJars. Run ./gradlew :mc26_1_1:runClient or :mc26_2:runClient, and the matching runServer task for dedicated servers. Each target keeps its own development world.

Commands: /distantstarts choices, choose <choice-id>, more, surprise, return, and claim. Operators use /distantstarts admin list, settings <setting> <value>, return <player>, reroll <player>, clear <uuid>, and clear_all CONFIRM_CLEAR_ALL. Mod Menu edits new-world defaults only; existing worlds keep their settings.

Requirements

• Minecraft Java Edition 26.1.1 or 26.2, using the matching jar
• Fabric Loader and Fabric API matching that version
• Java 25 or newer
• Mod Menu is optional and provides the config screen in the client

Creator spacing

World creation and Mod Menu now offer distance plus variance, with a live minimum/maximum preview. For example, 200 ±10% gives 180–220 blocks to the nearest existing start. The resulting bounds must fit within 16–30,000 blocks. The first player has no neighbor cap; larger groups can form chains. Village areas with 96-block radii can overlap below 192 blocks.

The mod retains its previous 1000–3000 default bounds; the companion development pack explicitly chooses the cooperative preset. Existing worlds preserve their saved distances. Operators may use /distantstarts admin spacing 200 10 for future assignments without moving existing starts.

Artwork, exports, and publication constraints: branding.