Chunk By Chunk | One Chunk at a Time Mod

Start Confined to a Single Chunk

Most mods add content to an already huge world. Chunk By Chunk does the opposite, sealing your save down to one 16x16 chunk and forcing you to earn every extra block of map. The land beyond your starting column is locked and inert, so the only way forward is to mine what you have, craft with it, and slowly unlock the surrounding terrain.

That turns exploration into a progression goal instead of a given. It suits survival players who want a tighter, more deliberate pace, and it works nicely alongside world generation overhauls like William Wythers Overhauled Overworld or the picks in our top world gen mods roundup.

Beyond that first chunk the world is sealed off. Every block you need has to come from inside the starting column of terrain, which makes early stone, dirt, and ore feel far more valuable than they do in vanilla.

Grow the World With the World Forge

Expansion runs on a clear crafting chain. Mine stone and dirt from your starting chunk, then feed them into the World Forge to crystallize them into World Crystals. Those crystals compress further into World Cores, and World Cores are the currency you spend to craft Chunk Spawners.

Your first World Forge is tucked away in a chest at the bottom of the initial chunk, so dig downward before you start tunneling outward. That same chest hands you an initial Chunk Spawner to crack the world open.

Chunk Spawners do exactly what the name suggests. Place one and it generates a fresh chunk next to your existing territory, gradually stitching a playable map together out of nothing.

World Crystals can then be crafted into valuable World Cores, and those cores are what you pour into Chunk Spawners to keep the map growing.

Shape Expansion With Themed and Unstable Spawners

Random growth is only one option. Biome themed Chunk Spawners let you hand pick the kind of terrain you pull in, so you can assemble a custom cluster of biomes instead of trusting the world generator. Keep in mind that ocean themed chunks still arrive full of water.

Unstable Chunk Spawners go the opposite direction. They yank in a chunk from a random point anywhere in the world, which is handy when you want variety or a gamble on what shows up next.

Planning matters once the map gets bigger. The World Scanner maps out unspawned chunks around you and can detect a specific block or liquid you feed it, powered by World Crystals or Cores. Drop in a scanner, find the biomes or ores you actually want, then spend cores to pull them in.

Late on, the World Mender automates the busywork. Give it cores or spawners and it spawns chunks outward from its position on its own, so you can step back while your base keeps growing.

Configure Your Run

Most settings live in the mod config screen. On Fabric and Quilt you need the Mod Menu mod installed to reach that screen from the main menu, while Forge exposes it directly.

How to Install Chunk By Chunk

1. Install your loader of choice, then drop the matching JAR into your mods folder.
2. Launch the game and create a new world. Chunk By Chunk only seals the world on fresh saves, so it will not retrofit an existing map.
3. Open the config screen and tune spawn costs and expansion rules before you start playing.

If you have never set up a modded profile, our how to install Minecraft mods guide walks through the loader install and mods folder step by step. Players using Fabric or the Quilt loader can follow those same steps, since the mod ships for each of them.

Chunk By Chunk FAQ

Is Chunk By Chunk still being updated?

The last release on the project page is from February 2024. It runs on the versions it shipped for up to that date. An unofficial fork has since continued the same concept for newer Minecraft, but the original project has not put out a new build since early 2024, so check the project page for the current status.

Do I need any other mods installed?

No. Chunk By Chunk has no required dependencies. The only optional extra is Mod Menu, which Fabric and Quilt players add to reach the in game config screen.

What happens to chunks outside my starting area?

They are sealed and petrified. You cannot walk into them, mine them, or interact with them until you spawn them in with a Chunk Spawner. The world looks normal at a distance, but only your unlocked chunks are actually playable.

How should I start a run?

Mine down first. Your World Forge and first Chunk Spawner sit in a chest at the bottom of the starting chunk, so reaching it early unlocks the whole crafting chain. From there, stockpile stone and dirt for World Crystals before you spend cores on spawners.