(003) Where every jar tells a tale

🔎 Single Bean - True Adventure!

Released about a year ago but freshly updated to v5.0 just days ago, True Adventure! by k2k offers a nostalgic take on what Minecraft could have been. With around 500 downloads, this hidden gem forges its own route through the 1.12.2 landscape - and the latest update brings it to life more than ever.

True Adventure! asks a simple question: what if Mojang stayed on its original track? This comprehensive mod rebuilds core systems while expanding worlds with new mobs, structures, and dimensions. It strips away modern conveniences - hunger is gone, food heals directly, running is disabled in survival - forcing slower, more deliberate gameplay. Progression feels earned rather than rushed.

New visuals reshape familiar faces: villagers, illagers, and even the Iron Golem get player-style models. The health system has been rewired, the old beta-era bow mechanics restored, and bundles redesigned to fix what many felt were design missteps.

CurseForge (Download)

🔗 Changes with version 5.0

This update isn't just polish - it's a complete foundation overhaul. For starters, the entire codebase was cleaned up: remnants of MCreator (the tool used to build the original version) were stripped out entirely, along with countless bug fixes that followed. The mod now depends on FutureMC and Aether Legacy, and v5.0 integrates both deeply with cross-mod compatibility baked in.

The Nether got a full reimagining with custom biomes, structures, mobs, and resources - think classic Nether vibes without piglins or hoglins. The Aether received a major update too: four new biomes, fresh mobs, rebalanced armor and loot, refined textures, and a slew of new accessories. Crafting recipes across vanilla and the Aether have been overhauled, and loot tables rewritten to feel more deliberate.

On top of that, you get customizable beta-style tweaks (disable running, restore old bow mechanics, rewire the health system), new dungeons (snow, Nether, lush caves), villages to explore, and plenty of decorative blocks to build with. Apple and willow trees dot the landscape, while quivers and bundles hide in dungeons.

Tl;dr: If you've ever wondered what Minecraft might feel like under a different development direction - one that prioritizes atmosphere and simplicity over expansion - True Adventure! delivers that experience par excellence.

📝Roaster's Notes: Meet @desoroxxx.redstudio.dev

To keep the conversation brewing this week, I invited Luna Mira Lage - better known in the modding community as Desoroxxx - for a chat over a digital cup of coffee. We talked about her projects, linux distributions, bunnies, and why she'd rather sip tea than settle on a favorite coffee blend.

The Name Game

Enderman: Luna, before we dive in, I want to clarify something. You go by both your full name and Desoroxxx publicly. In an age where most modders keep their real identities private, that's pretty unusual. Which one do you prefer?

Desoroxxx: Funny you ask actually, I don't really know. These days you will mostly see me write "Luna Mira Lage (Desoroxxx)", as even though I have been attached to Desoroxxx over the years and find it more unique and it became a part of my identity, I do have a preference for Luna.

Oil & Coffee

Enderman: I saw the following post on Bluesky - which looked like coffee. Was that actually coffee, and if so, what's your favorite kind?

View post on Bluesky

Desoroxxx: The oil is actually beer, though this one has a roasty smell and taste.

I don't know what is my favorite kind of coffee; the best coffee I tasted was made by people really invested in it, most industrial coffees are really not my thing.

Maybe I'll find my favorite soon, because I very much got into tea (sipping one right now), and I want to get into making good coffee (I just need to find a local place that sells beans and equipment which won't take over my kitchen lol, Aeropress looks cool).

Running on Penguins

Enderman: You post about NixOS on the Atmosphere.12 I also happened to come across your flake on @tangled.org. What made you switch to NixOS and do you like it so far?

View post on Bluesky

Desoroxxx: Microsoft, and I love it, big shout out to them for that! More seriously, I wanted to switch for a while to Linux, and one day my Windows 11 said it could not update anymore unless I reset.

So I picked NixOS over my two other candidates VOID and Gentoo, because I wanted to unify my desktop and laptop, and I liked the idea of all my system defined in a Git repo. One thing I love is when I work on my Flake, it truly feels like I am building a place for myself, and a reset won't get rid of all the work I put into it.

(•ㅅ•)

Enderman: Luna, I couldn't help but notice - why the obsession with bunnies? :3

Desoroxxx: Let's just say I have been told I look like one, and they are just very, very cute.3

MWC Roadmap

Enderman: Let's talk projects. You are the Head Developer of the Modern Warfare Cubed project. A mod that introduces a plethora of new features to Minecraft, including an extensive arsenal of modern weaponry, new explosives, equipment, and more. What are the plans for the next major update?

Desoroxxx: Throwables (grenades) revamp with new models, new code driving them, better sounds; don't have a release date, but that's the thing I am working on.

Also rendering improvements, I have been trying to get that going ever since the start. However, I hit a few walls and lost at least a hundred hours of progress because I had to learn how to do things in such a large project.

Patching Philosophy

Enderman: In the last issue, I already covered OptiFine and whether it should be replaced. OptiNotFine aims to fix OptiFine, until something better comes. Why keep patching instead of replacing OptiFine entirely?

Desoroxxx: We will eventually get a replacement, whether done by me or someone else, but for now, OptiFine is the only thing that works, and it is a massive pain which I can ease with OptiNotFine.

Modpack Excursion

Enderman: Are you currently working on a modpack? I noticed a conversation in the Coalition discord.

Desoroxxx: Oh, well, yes, but no, it's complicated. I do currently have a modpack, which is for my semi-private server, which is a long-term (like, rest of my life long-term) server where the "goal" is to just build cool stuff.

There is also a plan for an Opticraft modpack, but since it started, other similar projects came out, so it is in limbo. And there might be other projects on hold, as I said, it's complicated.

Thriving in the Atmosphere

Enderman: Luna, what are your thoughts about the Atmosphere in general, as well as related applications like @tangled.org or @stream.place?

Desoroxxx: It's what the internet should always have been, one account, your account, that you own and control fully, which makes competition easier too. I am also brainstorming potentially making an app on the Atmosphere.

As for Tangled, it's the best of every world, collaboration is social and easy like GitHub, while allowing self-hosting and owning your data like Forgejo. Finally, for Streamplace, well, you can find me streaming there, every Saturday from 13:00 to 17:00 UTC, I do whatever, sometimes I play Paralives, sometimes I dev, sometimes a bit of both!

Essentials

Enderman: Quick curveball - one software you can't live without?

Desoroxxx: Ente Photos, I take a lot of pictures, and it's been a life saver for me, the privacy is solid, and the machine learning features are great; sometimes I want to show someone a picture I took, and I just search with natural language and it just works, and that is all on device.

What else?

Enderman: Awesome. Thank you for taking the time. Anything else you want to mention, or any socials where others can find you?

Desoroxxx: Most don't know, but I started being a content creator making videos on YouTube before making mods, and I am starting again soon! Follow me on the Atmosphere, I'll post whenever I publish a video, and it might not be on YouTube.

💬 Counter Talk

Alright what are the things discussed in various places?

🕸️ SpongeForge Gets a Second Life

SpongeForge is the Sponge API implementation on Minecraft Forge - it's a mod you load that unlocks plugin support alongside all your regular Forge mods. Perfect for servers wanting both mods and plugins without splitting the ecosystem.

But official Sponge support for 1.12 dropped ages ago, leaving legacy servers stranded on outdated, buggy builds.

Enter Refitbench, a sub-organization under CleanroomMC. They've refitted the old codebase to run cleanly with modern MixinBooter versions and Forge or Cleanroom (the Forge fork).

CurseForge

Modrinth

⛵ Proper Boats

Bluefire dropped a short video preview on the Coalition Discord of what looks like the end of all vanilla boats. The preview features a proper full-size boat with an animated sail, working back paddle, and - get this - you can actually walk, jump, and place entities on it.

Planned additions include proper collision, storage space, wood type customization, and potentially cannons (though that one's TBD due to needing a new control scheme).

🧽 Cleaning the Tables

Alright folks, that's the brew for this week. Thanks for sipping along. ☕️

Got a mod you think should get the Single Bean spotlight?
Hit reply or DM me on the Atmosphere.

Stay caffeinated,

~ Enderman

https://aturi.to/profile/did:plc:c7sqzkffymznwn6n3fuq6gvo/post/3mlcmanamus2j

https://aturi.to/profile/did:plc:c7sqzkffymznwn6n3fuq6gvo/post/3mlejly2q2k2i

During the interview her girlfriend commented something like "what if you just answered nothing BUT the bunny one", so Luna wrote an alternative answer: Well, let me tell you about bunnies, firstly they are the cutest creature that ever lived. They live in burrows they make themselves, they are true builders, some species even dig networks of burrows called warrens, and lives in colonies in them; tiny cities underground. Bunnies and rabbits are also subtly different, think of them as bouba and kiki. Have you ever even heard of the volcano rabbit? It's the most primitive leporidae (family of hares and rabbits), unlike other leporidae it isn't mostly silent as it will yell when danger is spotted, it's also extremely small. They live on and near volcanos in groups of two to five members. Something that is not very well known about bunnies is that they are a social animal. This is why they should always live with at least one other bunny, except in rare cases of a bunny being antisocial. It is also not very well known that they are as clean as cats, being able to perfectly use a litter. Though it is important to always keep them in an enclosed space, as many flying birds are predators to them. They do a perfect pairing with cats as cats think the one licking the other is superior where bunnies think that the one being licked is superior.