An ore[1][2][3] is a feature consisting of a natural deposit of ores or other blocks in the ground.
Generation[]
The ore feature has two types: ore blobs and scatter ores.
An ore blob is an ellipsoidal cluster of blocks. In the overworld, underground deposits of dirt and gravel are generated in this form, followed by the more precious ores, like coal, copper, iron, gold, redstone, diamond, emerald (in mountains biomes) and lapis lazuli. They can form only in stone, deepslate, andesite, diorite, granite and tuff[JE only]. Two or more ores can form next to each other and appear as an ore made of more than one material.
Each ore blob has a spawn size. The maximum number of generated blocks in a blob each spawn size corresponds to is shown in the table below[4]:
Spawn size | Max number of blocks |
---|---|
0 | 0 |
1 | 0 |
2 | 0 |
3 | 4 |
4 | 5 |
5 | 8 |
6 | 9 |
7 | 10 |
8 | 10 |
9 | 13 |
10 | 16 |
11 | 17 |
12 | 23 |
13 | 24 |
14 | 24 |
15 | 29 |
16 | 32 |
17 | 37 |
18 | 46 |
19 | 52 |
20 | 52 |
21 | 60 |
22 | 68 |
23 | 68 |
24 | 74 |
25 | 82 |
26 | 94 |
27 | 104 |
28 | 106 |
29 | 120 |
30 | 128 |
31 | 135 |
32 | 149 |
33 | 160 |
34 | 180 |
35 | 190 |
36 | 204 |
37 | 212 |
38 | 228 |
39 | 246 |
40 | 262 |
41 | 276 |
42 | 292 |
43 | 308 |
44 | 324 |
45 | 344 |
46 | 360 |
47 | 381 |
48 | 403 |
49 | 429 |
50 | 452 |
51 | 480 |
52 | 500 |
53 | 530 |
54 | 558 |
55 | 584 |
56 | 616 |
57 | 634 |
58 | 664 |
59 | 694 |
60 | 730 |
61 | 760 |
62 | 790 |
63 | 826 |
64 | 864 |
A scatter ore is a slightly dispersed cluster of blocks. Currently only ancient debris is generated in this form. Scatter ores also have a spawn size value. The maximum number of generated blocks in a scatter ore is just the spawn size.
There was also a deprecated ore type, which generates only one block in each generation attempt. It was used by emerald ore before 1.18.
List[]
Dimension | Block | Can replace |
---|---|---|
Overworld |
Andesite |
|
Andesite[JE only] |
||
The Nether | Ancient Debris |
|
Blackstone |
Netherrack | |
Netherrack Blackstone[BE only] |
Overworld[]
Blocks | Spawn size | Spawn tries per chunk | Minimum height | Maximum height | Ore concentrate[note 1] | Skipped when air exposed[note 2] | Biomes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Dirt | 33 | 7 | 0 | 160 | Uniform | 0 | All |
Clay | 33 | 46 | -64 | 256 | Uniform | 0 | Lush Caves |
Gravel | 33 | 14 | -64 | 320 | Uniform | 0 | All |
Granite | 64 | 2 | 0 | 60 | Uniform | 0 | All |
1⁄6 | 64 | 128 | |||||
Diorite | 64 | 2 | 0 | 60 | Uniform | 0 | All |
1⁄6 | 64 | 128 | |||||
Andesite | 64 | 2 | 0 | 60 | Uniform | 0 | All |
1⁄6 | 64 | 128 | |||||
Tuff | 64 | 2 | -64 | 0 | Uniform | 0 | All |
Coal Ore Deepslate Coal Ore |
17 | 20 | 0 | 192 | Triangle | 0.5 | All |
30 | 136 | 320 | Uniform | 0 | |||
0[JE only] 20[BE only] |
128 | 156 | Uniform | 0 | Grove Cherry Grove Jagged Peaks Meadow Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Snowy Slopes | ||
Iron Ore Deepslate Iron Ore |
4 | 10 | -64 | 72 | Uniform | 0 | All |
9[JE only] 10[BE only] |
10 | -24 | 56 | Triangle | 0 | ||
90 | 80 | 384 | Triangle | 0 | |||
Copper Ore Deepslate Copper Ore |
10 | 16 | -16 | 112 | Triangle | 0 | Other |
20 | Dripstone Caves | ||||||
Redstone Ore Deepslate Redstone Ore |
8 | 4 | -64 | 15 | Uniform | 0 | All |
8 | -96 | -32 | Triangle | ||||
Lapis Lazuli Ore Deepslate Lapis Lazuli Ore |
7 | 2 | -32 | 32 | Triangle | 0 | All |
4 | -64 | 64 | Uniform | 1 | |||
Gold Ore Deepslate Gold Ore |
9 | 4 | -64 | 32 | Triangle | 0.5 | All |
1⁄2 | -64 | -48 | Uniform | 0.5 | All | ||
50 | 32 | 256 | Uniform | 0 | Badlands Eroded Badlands Wooded Badlands Badlands Plateau[BE only](Unused) Modified Badlands Plateau[BE only](Unused) Modified Wooded Badlands Plateau[BE only](Unused) | ||
Diamond Ore Deepslate Diamond Ore |
4 | 7 | -144 | 16 | Triangle | 0.5 | All |
8 | 4 | Triangle | 1 | ||||
12 | 1⁄9 | Triangle | 0.7 | ||||
Emerald Ore Deepslate Emerald Ore |
3 | 100 | -16 | 480 | Triangle | 0 | Windswept Hills Grove Cherry Grove Jagged Peaks Meadow Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Windswept Forest Snowy Slopes Windswept Gravelly Hills Mountain Edge[BE only](Unused) Gravelly Mountains+[BE only](Unused) |
Infested Stone Infested Deepslate |
9[JE only] | 14 | -64[JE only] 0[BE only] |
63[JE only] 64[BE only] |
Uniform | 0 | Windswept Hills Grove Cherry Grove Jagged Peaks Meadow Frozen Peaks Stony Peaks Windswept Forest Snowy Slopes Windswept Gravelly Hills Mountain Edge[BE only](Unused) Gravelly Mountains+[BE only](Unused) |
The Nether[]
Blocks | Spawn size | Spawn tries per chunk | Minimum height | Maximum height | Ore concentrate[note 1] | Skipped when air exposed[note 2] | Biomes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Magma Block | 33[JE only] 24[BE only] |
4[JE only] 8[BE only] |
27 | 36 | Uniform | 0 | All |
Nether Quartz Ore | 14 | 16 | 10 | 117 | Uniform | 0 | Others |
32[JE only] 16[BE only] |
Basalt Deltas | ||||||
Nether Gold Ore | 10 | 10 | 10 | 117 | Uniform | 0 | Others |
20[JE only] 10[BE only] |
Basalt Deltas | ||||||
Ancient Debris | 3 | 1[JE only] 2[BE only] |
8 | 24 | Triangle | 1 | All |
2 | 1[JE only] 3[BE only] |
8 | 119 | Uniform | |||
Soul Sand | 12 | 12 | 0 | 31[JE only] 32[BE only] |
Uniform | 0 | Soul Sand Valley |
Gravel | 33 | 2 | 5 | 41[JE only] 36[BE only] |
Uniform | 0 | Nether Wastes |
Blackstone | 33 | 2 | 5 | 31[JE only] 36[BE only] |
Uniform | 0 | Nether Wastes |
- ↑ a b Ores generate using either uniform distribution, or triangle distribution. Uniform distribution have all ores spread in same frequency at any height, while triangle generate more frequent in center height.
- ↑ a b When an ore block is about to be placed, if it is exposed to air then it has this chance of being skipped instead.
Data values[]
ID[]
Name | Identifier |
---|---|
[No displayed name] | ore_ancient_debris_large |
[No displayed name] | ore_ancient_debris_small |
[No displayed name] | ore_andesite |
[No displayed name] | ore_blackstone |
[No displayed name] | ore_clay |
[No displayed name] | ore_coal |
[No displayed name] | ore_coal_buried |
[No displayed name] | ore_copper_large |
[No displayed name] | ore_copper_small |
[No displayed name] | ore_diamond_buried |
[No displayed name] | ore_diamond_large |
[No displayed name] | ore_diamond_small |
[No displayed name] | ore_diorite |
[No displayed name] | ore_dirt |
[No displayed name] | ore_emerald |
[No displayed name] | ore_gold |
[No displayed name] | ore_gold_buried |
[No displayed name] | ore_granite |
[No displayed name] | ore_gravel |
[No displayed name] | ore_gravel_nether |
[No displayed name] | ore_infested |
[No displayed name] | ore_iron |
[No displayed name] | ore_iron_small |
[No displayed name] | ore_lapis |
[No displayed name] | ore_lapis_buried |
[No displayed name] | ore_magma |
[No displayed name] | ore_nether_gold |
[No displayed name] | ore_quartz |
[No displayed name] | ore_redstone |
[No displayed name] | ore_soul_sand |
[No displayed name] | ore_tuff |
Feature | Identifier |
---|---|
[No displayed name] | andesite_feature |
[No displayed name] | clay_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | coal_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | coal_ore_upper_feature |
[No displayed name] | copper_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | deepslate_feature |
[No displayed name] | diamond_ore_buried_feature |
[No displayed name] | diamond_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | diamond_ore_large_feature |
[No displayed name] | diorite_feature |
[No displayed name] | dirt_feature |
[No displayed name] | dripstone_caves_copper_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | emerald_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | gold_ore_extra_feature |
[No displayed name] | gold_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | gold_ore_lower_feature |
[No displayed name] | granite_feature |
[No displayed name] | gravel_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | iron_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | iron_ore_small_feature |
[No displayed name] | lapis_ore_buried_feature |
[No displayed name] | lapis_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | nether_soul_sand_underground_feature |
[No displayed name] | redstone_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | silverfish_feature |
[No displayed name] | tuff_feature |
[No displayed name] | nether_gold_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | nether_gravel_underground_feature |
[No displayed name] | nether_quartz_ore_feature |
[No displayed name] | nether_magma_feature |
[No displayed name] | blackstone_feature |
[No displayed name] | nether_netherite_deep_feature |
[No displayed name] | nether_netherite_tall_feature |
History[]
Java Edition Classic | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.0.14a | Added gold ore, iron ore, and coal ore, which generate in blobs. | ||||
Java Edition Infdev | |||||
20100227-1 | Ore blobs no longer generates. | ||||
20100320 | Ore blobs now generate, but differently. | ||||
20100325 | Ore blobs now appear more like they do today. | ||||
20100617-2 | Added underground ores of dirt and gravel. | ||||
Java Edition Alpha | |||||
v1.0.1 | Added ores of redstone ore. | ||||
Java Edition Beta | |||||
1.2 | Added ores of lapis lazuli ore. | ||||
Iron, diamond, and coal ores are now larger on average. | |||||
1.2_02 | Lapis lazuli ore can now be found at bedrock level. | ||||
1.6 | Test Build 3 | Fixed ore density varying per quadrant from the center of the world. | |||
1.8 | Pre-release | The highest layer for some ores has been lowered by 2. | |||
Diamond ore has now become about 25% rarer. | |||||
Java Edition | |||||
1.3.1 | 12w21a | Added ores of emerald ore to Extreme Hills and Extreme Hills Edge biomes. | |||
12w22a | Emerald ore now generates as single blocks. | ||||
1.4.2 | 12w38a | Stone monster eggs now generate underground in extreme hills biomes. | |||
1.5 | 13w01a | Added ores of nether quartz ore to the Nether. | |||
1.8 | 14w02a | Added ores of granite, diorite, and andesite to overworld generation. | |||
14w17a | Added custom worlds allowing for ore customization. | ||||
14w29a | Ore now generates faster. | ||||
1.10 | 16w20a | Added magma block ores to the Nether. | |||
Added extra gold ore ores to the mesa biome and its variants. | |||||
1.16 | 20w06a | Added ancient debris, which generates in the Nether in two different ore specifications. | |||
20w11a | Added nether gold ore to the Nether. | ||||
20w19a | Added ores of blackstone and gravel to nether wastes, soul sand valley, crimson forest and warped forest biomes. | ||||
Added underground soul sand ores to the soul sand valley. | |||||
Basalt and blackstone can be replaced by nether ores, like with netherrack.[is this the correct version?] | |||||
1.16.2 | 20w28a | No longer use 32-bit floats for generation, which used to cause a crash when using mods to generate terrain between 67,108,864 and 134,217,728 blocks. | |||
1.17 | 20w45a | Added copper ore, which generates evenly between levels 0 and 63. | |||
21w06a | The height limit was expanded down to Y=-64. All overworld ore features except lapis lazuli ore are temporary generating from Y=-64 instead of Y=0. | ||||
21w07a | Ore distribution has changed. | ||||
Pockets of diorite, granite and andesite are now larger and more spherical but less common. | |||||
Diorite, granite, gravel and dirt no longer generate below Y=0, but gravel and dirt are more common than in pre-21w06a versions. | |||||
21w08a | Ore distribution has changed once again. | ||||
Added deepslate variants of diamond, iron, gold, lapis lazuli, and redstone ores, which take place of ores that generate in deepslate. | |||||
Iron ore no longer generates as often due to a bug.[5] | |||||
Tuff ores now generate below Y=0. | |||||
Andesite ores no longer generate below Y=0. | |||||
21w08b | Iron ore now generates correctly.[6] | ||||
Redstone ore generation is tweaked, matching the latest ore distribution chart.[7] | |||||
21w10a | Ore distribution has changed for a third time. | ||||
Normal lapis ore no longer generates in deepslate.[8] | |||||
Added clay blob, which can now generate in the lush caves. | |||||
21w11a | Slightly increased the frequency of diamond ore blobs. | ||||
If any ore replaces tuff, it will now be its deepslate variant. | |||||
21w13a | Deepslate blobs now generate between Y=0 and Y=16. | ||||
Added large diamond ore blobs, generated same with the range and method of the regular one. | |||||
Copper ore now generates uniformly between levels 0 and 63 instead of generating with a triangle distribution from 0 to 96. | |||||
21w15a | Most ore generation has been reverted back to the pre-21w06a generation and requires the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack to enable. However, emerald ore and diamond ore generation was not properly reverted due to bugs.[9][10] | ||||
Now triangle distribution generation works correctly. Before, the base line was one blocks lower than expected, and the maximum height was two blocks lower than expected. | |||||
Tuff ores now generate between Y=0 and Y=16 as well. | |||||
21w16a | Emerald ore now generates at the correct Y-levels. And it now attempts to generate 6-24 times per chunk in mountains, instead of 1 time. | ||||
Deepslate emerald ore variant now generates naturally. | |||||
In the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack, emerald ores now generate in the form of ore blobs instead of single blocks. | |||||
21w17a | Deepslate coal ore and Deepslate copper ore now generate naturally. | ||||
Emerald ore can now replace granite, andesite, diorite, tuff, and deepslate upon generating. | |||||
21w18a | Ore distribution has changed again, but only if the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack is applied to a world. | ||||
Removed deepslate blobs, but only if the Caves & Cliffs Prototype Data Pack is applied to a world. | |||||
1.17.1 | Pre-release 2 | Now emerald ore generates in the correct frequency.[11] | |||
Now diamond ore generates at the correct Y-levels.[10] | |||||
1.18 | Experimental Snapshot 1 | All previous changes to ore distribution from the prototype data pack have now been implemented into the base game. | |||
Ore distribution has changed for a fifth time. | |||||
Experimental Snapshot 2 | Emerald ore blobs and infested stone blobs now generate in the new mountain biomes. | ||||
experimental snapshot 4 | Large copper ores can now generate in dripstone caves. | ||||
Increased the amount of iron ore in mountains. | |||||
Reduced the number of diorite/andesite/granite blobs on the surface. | |||||
21w38a | Copper ore now generates up to Y=95, and increased its amount. | ||||
Buried lapis lazuli ore now generates in ore blobs instead of scatter ores. | |||||
21w39a | Dirt ores no longer generate above Y=160, and becomes rarer than before. Before, the spawn attempt is 15 times per chunk. | ||||
21w40a | Ore distribution has changed again. | ||||
Deepslate emerald ore can now generate naturally. | |||||
21w42a | Increased top height limit of badlands gold generation from Y=79 to Y=256, and increased the number of blobs. | ||||
21w44a | Deepslate coal ore can now generate naturally, again. | ||||
Release Candidate 4 | Fixed an issue where coal ore at lower heights (Y=0 to Y=192) is not distributed as intended since 1.18-pre1. | ||||
1.19 | 22w11a | Large copper ores can now generate in deep dark. | |||
1.19.3 | Pre-release 1 | Large copper ores no longer generates in deep dark.[12] | |||
Bedrock Edition |
Gallery[]
Multiple ores generated above an underground lava lake.
A coal ore generated underwater.
Multiple ore ores in a cave. Diamond ore and redstone ore as well as coal ore and gold ore are visible in the distance.
An ore of iron ore.
References[]
- ↑ "Minecraft Snapshot 20w45a" – Minecraft.net
- ↑ "Minecraft Snapshot 21w13a" – Minecraft.net
- ↑ "Minecraft Changelog 1.17.0.50" – Minecraft.net
- ↑ This table is based on Java Edition.
- ↑ MC-216744 — "Iron ore doesn't generate (only iron ore in deepslate is generated)" — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ MC-216744 — "Iron ore does not generate above Y=0." — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ MC-216101 — "Redstone ore generates with a flat distribution below Y=12" — resolved as "Fixed".
- ↑ MC-216735 — Stone Lapis Ore generating in Deepslate
- ↑ MC-223260 — Emerald ore does not generate as intended
- ↑ a b MC-229191 — Diamond ore distribution changed between 1.16.5 and 1.17
- ↑ MC-226926 — Emerald ore generates too often
- ↑ MC-255133 — "Extra copper ore generates in deep dark" — resolved as "Fixed".