Getting Started
Alex's Caves introduces five new, expansive cave biomes that generate across the Overworld. Because the contents of these biomes are so strange, powerful, and mysterious by their very nature, they are all understandably quite rare - similar to Mushroom Fields biomes in the vanilla game. This presents a challenge in finding these biomes and learning about their wondrous contents. However, by following this guide, you should be well on your way to discovering one or more of these rare caves...
Underground Cabins
The first step to finding an Alex's Caves biome will be to head to your nearest underground cabin. These are subterranean structures that can be found in most Overworld biomes. Inside any underground cabin should be both a Spelunkery Table and a barrel containing some Cave Tablets. There is also a chance for a copy of the Cave Compendium to appear here.
If you are having trouble locating an underground cabin, head towards the nearest abandoned mineshaft. With luck, there could be a map inside a chest there to lead you to a cabin! Cartographer villagers can also occasionally sell Underground Cabin Locator maps.
Researching with the Spelunkery Table
The Spelunkery Table found in the underground cabins can be used to turn Cave Tablets into Cave Codices by translating them into something less arcane. To begin this process, place a tablet and a paper in the Spelunkery Table, and try to guess the correct possession of the hidden word using the context of previous guesses. There are only five guesses per level in this minigame, and three levels required to produce a cave codex. If any level is failed, or the process of translation is interrupted, the cave tablet will be destroyed.
Cave Codex
Once a Cave Codex is researched, it can be used for two purposes. Simply using the item in your main hand will unlock more info pertaining to the codices' biome in the Cave Compendium. There are four chapters for every biome that can be unlocked this way, and they are unlocked in the sequential order of:
- General
- Resources
- Inhabitants
- Utilities
Once all four chapters have been unlocked, there is no new information that can be added to the compendium by codices.
Luckily, they have a second use - they can be crafted into Cave Biome Maps.
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Cave Biome Map | Paper + Cave Codex |
Cave Compendium
The Cave Compendium is the in-game guide for Alex's Caves. Although it is not all-encompassing, it should provide you with enough content about each cave biome for you to feel comfortable exploring and using their mechanics, items, blocks and mobs.
This book can be obtained in two ways. It has a roughly 50% chance of spawning as loot in an underground cabin. If this does not happen, it can be crafted from any cave tablet, a book and a golden nugget.
| Name | Ingredients | Crafting recipe |
|---|---|---|
| Cave Compendium | Book + Gold Nugget + Cave Tablet |
Even if no research is done on any caves, there will still be introductory pages to read within the Cave Compendium that essentially summarize how to add new information to it. Although this book is not necessary for progression and exploration of Alex's Caves, it makes a great in-game companion to the mod's content.
Cave Biome Map
Cave Biome Maps can be crafted with just a single codex, and can be used to find the nearest biome of the codex's type. Since the biomes added by Alex's Caves are all somewhat rare, these Maps can take a while to load and will display ellipses on their texture while doing so. Once this is done, they will fill up, and if held indicate the rotation of the player relative to the targeted biome.
If a biome is not within 10,000 blocks of the player while using the map, it will warn the player that the biome cannot be found nearby. Unlike vanilla locator maps or /locate, the Cave Biome Map does not load chunks on the main thread, meaning the game should still be playable while they are searching for biomes.
Once you have a map to the biome you're looking for, it's time to begin your actual journey there. These biomes can be many thousands of blocks away, so be sure to bring all you need to travel, such as a bed, food, and possibly a mount.
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