Forge Datagen

Data Generators

Data generators programmatically generate mod assets and data, defining file contents in code. The system is loaded by net.minecraft.data.Main; the generation class is net.minecraft.data.DataGenerator. The MDK build.gradle adds the runData task.

Existing files

References to non-generated files must exist on disk (for typo checking) via ExistingFileHelper (from GatherDataEvent#getExistingFileHelper). --existing <folder> and --existing-mod <modid> add validation sources; by default only vanilla assets/datapack are available.

Generator modes

• Client assets (--client, #includeClient): files in assets — models, blockstates, language files.
• Server data (--server, #includeServer): files in data — recipes, advancements, tags.
• Development tools (--dev, #includeDev): SNBT↔NBT conversion etc.
• Reports (--reports, #includeReports): dumps registered blocks/items/commands.
• --all includes everything.

Data providers

All providers implement DataProvider. Register them in GatherDataEvent via DataGenerator#addProvider.

Client assets:

• LanguageProvider — #addTranslations
• SoundDefinitionsProvider — #registerSounds (sounds.json)
• ModelProvider<?> — #registerModels (ItemModelProvider, BlockModelProvider)
• BlockStateProvider — #registerStatesAndModels (blockstates + models)

Server data (net.minecraftforge.common.data): GlobalLootModifierProvider (#start), DatapackBuiltinEntriesProvider (with RegistrySetBuilder). (net.minecraft.data): LootTableProvider, RecipeProvider (#buildRecipes), TagsProvider (#addTags), AdvancementProvider.