Configuration

File Location & Reload

The config file is auto-generated with defaults on first launch at:

.minecraft/config/tribulation.json

Server operators can apply changes without a restart with:

/tribulation reload

Out-of-range numeric values are clamped on load — hand-edited typos are silently corrected. Newly spawned mobs use the updated values; existing mobs keep their current modifiers until they despawn.

general

Core settings that control the overall scaling system.

{
  "general": {
    "maxLevel": 250,
    "levelUpTicks": 72000,
    "mobDetectionRange": 32.0,
    "scalingMode": "NEAREST",
    "excludedEntities": ["the_bumblezone:cosmic_crystal_entity"],
    "notifyLevelUp": true,
    "notifyLevelUpShowTier": true
  }
}

timeScaling

Toggle for the time/level scaling axis.

distanceScaling

Controls how horizontal distance from world spawn boosts mob stats.

{
  "distanceScaling": {
    "enabled": true,
    "startingDistance": 1000,
    "increasingDistance": 300,
    "distanceFactor": 0.1,
    "maxDistanceFactor": 1.5,
    "excludeInOtherDimensions": true
  }
}

heightScaling

Controls how Y-level deviation from sea level boosts mob stats.

moonPhaseScaling

Controls the nighttime moon-phase threat bonus. A triangle curve peaks at the full moon and tapers to zero at the new moon, applied to the position-scaled combat stats (health, damage, armor, toughness) on Overworld-type nights.

The axis applies only at night and only in dimensions with a daylight cycle (sky light, no ceiling). It never affects time-only stats like speed and follow range.

{
  "moonPhaseScaling": {
    "enabled": true,
    "maxBonus": 0.1,
    "surfaceOnly": false,
    "surfaceY": 63
  }
}

bloodMoon

Rare full-moon nights of heightened danger, with a red sky and denser spawns.

dimensionOffsets

A flat level offset per dimension, added to the effective level used for mob stat scaling and tier-gated abilities in that dimension. The Nether and End only receive the time axis (distance and height are Overworld-only), so a baseline offset restores the intended difficulty escalation there. The offset never touches the player's stored level, HUD readout, tier notifications, or death penalties.

Keys are dimension ResourceLocation strings, so modded dimensions can be tuned too. Values are non-negative integers (negatives are clamped to 0 on load); set an entry to 0 to disable its offset. The effective level after the offset is still capped by general.maxLevel.

{
  "dimensionOffsets": {
    "minecraft:the_nether": 25,
    "minecraft:the_end": 40
  }
}

biomeOffsets

A flat level offset per biome, added to the effective level used for mob stat scaling and tier-gated abilities — the biome counterpart to dimensionOffsets, and the two stack additively. Keys are biome IDs or #-prefixed biome tags; an exact biome-ID entry wins over tags, and among overlapping tags the largest offset applies. Like the dimension offset, it never touches the player's stored level, HUD readout, tier notifications, or death penalties.

Keys are biome ResourceLocation strings (minecraft:deep_dark) or biome tags (#c:is_swamp), so modded biomes and whole categories can be tuned too. Values are non-negative integers (negatives are clamped to 0 on load); invalid keys warn and are skipped. The effective level after the offsets is still capped by general.maxLevel, and /tribulation debug reports the active biome offset at the player's position.

{
  "biomeOffsets": {
    "minecraft:deep_dark": 30,
    "terralith:haunted_forest": 20,
    "#c:is_swamp": 10
  }
}

structureBoosts

A flat level offset per lootable structure, added to the effective level used for mob stat scaling and tier-gated abilities — the structure counterpart to dimensionOffsets and biomeOffsets, stacking additively with both. A mob spawning inside a configured structure's overall bounding box (inflated by marginBlocks) uses the boosted level, so its stats, tier-ability rolls, and bonus XP all rise together. Only the spawn position counts — a mob that wanders in later is unaffected. Like the dimension and biome offsets, it never touches the player's stored level, HUD readout, tier notifications, or death penalties.

Keys in boosts are structure ResourceLocation strings (minecraft:fortress) or #-prefixed structure tags, so modded structures and whole categories can be tuned too. An exact structure-ID entry wins over tags, and where boosted structures overlap the largest boost applies. Values are non-negative integers (negatives are clamped to 0 on load); invalid keys warn and are skipped. The effective level after the offsets is still capped by general.maxLevel, and /tribulation debug (or /tribulation inspect on a mob) reports the active boost and the structure granting it.

{
  "structureBoosts": {
    "marginBlocks": 16,
    "boosts": {
      "minecraft:fortress": 20,
      "minecraft:bastion_remnant": 20,
      "minecraft:monument": 15,
      "minecraft:trial_chambers": 15,
      "minecraft:ancient_city": 30,
      "minecraft:end_city": 25
    }
  }
}

statCaps

Hard ceilings on the total scaling factor for each attribute (all axes combined).

groupHealthBonus

Optional bonus health for mobs when several players are nearby.

deathRelief

Level reduction on death acts as a natural difficulty rubber-band.

levelDecay

Optionally ease a player's difficulty level back down while they are offline.

shards

Shatter Shard drop and use configuration.

ascension

Ascendant Shard configuration — the opt-in consumable that raises your difficulty level, capped at general.maxLevel.

hardcoreHearts

Permanent max-health reduction on death. Disabled by default.

{
  "hardcoreHearts": {
    "enabled": false,
    "heartsLostPerDeath": 2,
    "minimumHearts": 2,
    "heartsRestoredPerFragment": 2
  }
}

soulInventory

Inventory destruction on death. Disabled by default.

totems

How a Totem of Undying interacts with the death penalties. By default a totem fully shields you from both.

scaling

Per-mob scaling rates and caps. Keyed by mob path (e.g. zombie) or full ID (e.g. mymod:custom_mob).

{
  "scaling": {
    "zombie": {
      "healthRate": 0.010, "healthCap": 2.50,
      "damageRate": 0.015, "damageCap": 3.75,
      "speedRate": 0.0012, "speedCap": 0.30,
      "armorRate": 0.032, "armorCap": 8.0
    }
  }
}

unlistedHostileMobs

Fallback scaling for modded mobs extending Monster that aren't in the scaling map.

{
  "unlistedHostileMobs": {
    "enabled": true,
    "excludedNamespaces": ["bosses_of_mass_destruction"],
    "scaling": {
      "healthRate": 0.010, "healthCap": 2.50,
      "damageRate": 0.015, "damageCap": 3.75,
      "speedRate": 0.0, "speedCap": 0.0
    }
  }
}

specialZombies

Zombie variant spawn configuration.

specialSkeletons

Skeleton variant spawn configuration. Applies to Skeleton, Stray, and Bogged (not Wither Skeleton).

bosses

Boss mob scaling uses a separate, gentler formula.

champions

Rare elite mobs with bonus stats and randomly rolled affixes.

xp

Bonus XP for killing scaled mobs.

tiers

Level thresholds for ability tiers.

HUD

Client-side settings for the on-screen Level Badge. Stored locally per client and never synced.

{
  "enableTierHud": true,
  "hudAnchor": "TOP_LEFT",
  "hudOffsetX": 4,
  "hudOffsetY": 4
}

threatParticles

Client-side threat-telegraphing particles on scaled hostiles. Read on the client but hot-reloadable via /tribulation reload; Big and Speed zombie cues show at any tier and ignore minimumTier.

{
  "threatParticles": {
    "enabled": true,
    "minimumTier": 4,
    "particleFrequencyTicks": 40
  }
}

mobToggles

Per-mob on/off switches. Set to false to completely disable scaling for a specific mob type.

{
  "mobToggles": {
    "zombie": true,
    "skeleton": true,
    "creeper": true,
    "spider": true,
    "cave_spider": true,
    "endermite": true,
    "silverfish": true,
    "drowned": true,
    "husk": true,
    "stray": true,
    "pillager": true,
    "vindicator": true,
    "witch": true,
    "wither_skeleton": true,
    "guardian": true,
    "hoglin": true,
    "zoglin": true,
    "ravager": true,
    "piglin": true,
    "zombified_piglin": true,
    "bogged": true
  }
}

armorEquipment

Controls how mobs are equipped with armor based on their tier.

{
  "armorEquipment": {
    "enabled": true,
    "materialRollMode": "PER_MOB",
    "armorDropChance": 0.0,
    "armorCeiling": 24.0,
    "toughnessCeiling": 15.0,
    "tiers": {
      "tier1": {
        "wearChancePercent": 12,
        "slotCoveragePercent": 60,
        "enchantChancePercent": 0,
        "maxProtectionLevel": 0,
        "materialWeights": { "leather": 80, "gold": 15, "chain": 5 }
      }
    }
  }
}

weaponEquipment

Controls mob weapon upgrades and enchantments.

{
  "weaponEquipment": {
    "enabled": true,
    "weaponDropChance": 0.0,
    "damageCeiling": 20.0,
    "tiers": {
      "tier1": {
        "wearChancePercent": 10,
        "enchantChancePercent": 0,
        "maxEnchantmentLevel": 0,
        "materialWeights": { "wood": 80, "stone": 20 }
      }
    }
  }
}

meridianEquipmentEnchants

Top-level toggle for the Meridian integration. When Meridian is installed, tier-4/5 mob weapons and armor draw a small bonus of enchants from Meridian's curated meridian:mob_equipment tag on top of their vanilla ones, clamped by the per-tier enchant caps and Meridian's own limits. No effect when Meridian is absent.

trialSpawner

Scales mobs spawned by trial spawners using the levels of the players the spawner has detected, rather than the proximity scan used for natural spawns. An optional, off-by-default ominous upgrade can turn high-tier spawners ominous without a Bad Omen effect.

{
  "trialSpawner": {
    "enabled": true,
    "ominousUpgrade": {
      "enabled": false,
      "chance": 0.1,
      "minimumTier": 3
    }
  }
}

raidScaling

Scales raid and pillager-patrol composition with the tier of the targeted player(s). Patrols gain extra members and high-tier raids run additional waves. Raider stats, armor, and weapons already flow through the normal spawn-scaling path, so this block governs only structural escalation — bells, Hero of the Village, and the raid bar behave normally.

{
  "raidScaling": {
    "enabled": true,
    "patrolBonusRate": 2,
    "extraWaveTierThreshold": 4,
    "extraWaveCount": 1
  }
}

packTactics

Tier-gated pack tactics for the classic pack mobs. At or above the tier threshold, hurting an eligible mob alerts same-type mobs within the radius (line-of-sight to the victim required) onto the attacker, and natural spawn groups of eligible types grow by the configured bonus. Below the threshold behavior is fully vanilla.

{
  "packTactics": {
    "enabled": true,
    "tierThreshold": 3,
    "alertRadius": 16.0,
    "groupSizeBonus": 2,
    "eligibleMobs": ["minecraft:zombie", "minecraft:skeleton", "minecraft:spider"]
  }
}

environmentalPressure

Tier-gated pressure effects: debuff-on-hit strikes and darker, sharper-sensed nights.

abilities

Toggle individual tier-gated abilities on or off. All default to true.