YUNG's Better Strongholds

Overview

YUNG's Better Strongholds replaces vanilla Strongholds entirely with a massive, carefully designed fortress that actually feels like an endgame structure. The mod completely overhauls the layout, adding over 15 unique room types, each with a distinct purpose and custom loot tables. Vanilla Strongholds remain largely unchanged since 2011, offering little more than repetitive hallways, a Library, and the Portal Room. This mod transforms them into sprawling underground complexes with Armouries, Barracks, Mess Halls, Crypts, Prisons, Treasure Rooms, and more.

The mod is purely a structure overhaul. It doesn't add any new items, blocks, or mobs. Instead, it focuses on making existing vanilla content feel more meaningful by placing it in thoughtfully designed rooms with curated loot tables. The End Portal still spawns inside the Stronghold as usual, but the journey to reach it is now a genuine dungeon crawl. You can browse all of the mod's details using the tabs on this page.

Room Types

The redesigned Stronghold features over 15 distinct room types, each built to serve a specific thematic purpose. Rooms are selected randomly during world generation with weighted probabilities, so every Stronghold will have a unique layout. Some rooms are limited in how many times they can appear, making certain finds especially rewarding.

Armoury (Small and Medium)

Armouries are weapon and armor storerooms filled with Armor Stands and Item Frames. Up to two Small Armouries and two Medium Armouries can generate per Stronghold. Chests here draw from the Armoury loot table, which includes Wooden, Iron, and Diamond Swords (some enchanted at level 10, 20, or 30), full sets of Leather, Chainmail, Iron, and Diamond armor, Shields, Bows, and fuel items. Item Frames in Armouries display weapons like Iron Swords, Golden Axes, Shields, Bows, Arrows, and Name Tags. The Armor Stands wear randomized gear, with common stands featuring Chainmail, Leather, and Iron pieces, and a 1% chance of spawning with a Carved Pumpkin on the helmet slot.

Grand Library

The Grand Library is one of the most impressive rooms in the Stronghold and can only appear once. It is a large, multi-level room packed with Bookshelves. Chests contain Books, Paper, Maps, Compasses, and Enchanted Books at levels 10, 20, and 30. This is your best source of high-level enchantments within the Stronghold. The room also features two Rare Block pedestals, which randomly display an Iron Block (30%), Quartz Block (30%), Gold Block (30%), or Diamond Block (10%).

Library (Medium)

A smaller version of the Grand Library, up to two can generate. These contain the same book and enchanted book loot but in smaller quantities. Still a solid source of Paper, Books, and the occasional level 20 or 30 Enchanted Book.

Mess Hall

The Mess Hall is a dining area with Tables and Chairs. Chests here roll 2-10 items and focus on food: Bread, Apples, Potatoes, Mushroom Stew, Cookies, Beetroot, and Melon Slices. There is also a small chance of finding a Golden Apple (weight 2 out of 26 total), making this room worth checking for that rare find. If you're running low on food during your dungeon crawl, the Mess Hall will keep you going.

Barracks (Bunks)

The Barracks features rows of Beds and storage, giving the impression of living quarters for the Stronghold's former inhabitants. This room uses the common loot table, so expect basic supplies like Iron Ingots, Coal, Bread, Potatoes, Apples, Torches, and occasionally an Ender Pearl, Saddle, or Horse Armor.

Prison

The Prison is a large room with cells and Iron Bars. Up to two can generate per Stronghold. Prison chests roll 2-6 items including Iron Bars, Coal, Rotten Flesh, Chains, and occasionally a Diamond or Emerald. The loot here is generally weaker than other rooms, but the Diamond and Emerald drops make it worth a quick check.

Crypt

The Crypt is a burial chamber filled with coffins and skeletal remains. Chests roll 4-6 items with a heavy focus on Bones and Bone Meal, but also include Ender Pearls, Diamonds, and Iron Swords. The Crypt is a thematic room that rewards exploration with occasional rare finds among the bones.

Treasure Room

Treasure Rooms are the high-value targets. Up to two can generate per Stronghold. These contain piles of Ore blocks selected from the Ore probability table: Coal Ore (20%), Iron Ore (20%), Gold Ore (20%), Lapis Ore (15%), Redstone Ore (15%), Emerald Ore (5%), and Diamond Ore (5%). Chests roll 1-2 items from the treasure loot table, which includes Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots and Nuggets, Diamonds, Emeralds, Redstone, and Lapis Lazuli.

Commander Rooms

Commander Rooms are the rarest rooms in the entire Stronghold. There are two variants: Acarii's Commander Room (weight 3, max 1) and YUNG's Commander Room (weight 1, max 1). For comparison, standard rooms like Armouries and Libraries have a weight of 100 each. YUNG's Commander Room contains a guaranteed Level 30 Enchanted Diamond Sword named "YUNG's Better Sword" in its chest. The Acarii Commander Room uses the common loot table. The Commander Rooms also feature Rare Armor Stands, which can display Diamond armor (30% per slot) and have a 20% chance of wearing a Carved Pumpkin helmet.

Storeroom and Junction

Storerooms contain supply Chests and Item Frames displaying maps, Paper, Compasses, Leads, Seeds, and occasionally a Rabbit Foot or Cake. Junction rooms are larger open areas where multiple hallways converge, offering multiple paths to explore. Both use standard loot pools and serve as connective tissue between the more specialized rooms.

Portal Room

The Portal Room is guaranteed to spawn exactly once and is placed at a minimum depth of 8 jigsaw pieces, ensuring it's deep within the Stronghold. It's marked as a priority piece in the generation system, so the structure will always include one. The End Portal Frame blocks each have a configurable chance (default 10%) of already containing an Eye of Ender.

Structural Features

Hallways and Staircases

The hallway system is far more varied than vanilla. There are standard hallways, hallways with torch sconces, hallways with decorative banners, narrow hallways, and doorways in both wood and iron variants. Iron doors are significantly rarer than wooden ones (weight 40 vs 250), adding a sense of security to whatever lies behind them. The Stronghold also includes spiral staircases in 2-floor and 3-floor variants, connecting different vertical levels of the structure.

Statues and Decorative Elements

Wall sections and hallways feature decorative statues, banners, and architectural details that give each area a distinct personality. The Stronghold uses Stone Bricks, Cracked Stone Bricks, and Mossy Stone Bricks in varied patterns, with Redstone torches and lanterns providing atmospheric lighting throughout.

Terrain Adaptation

The structure uses an enhanced terrain adaptation system that buries itself into the surrounding terrain. With a kernel size and distance of 24 blocks, the Stronghold integrates smoothly into the underground landscape rather than awkwardly clipping through caves or leaving exposed walls.

Loot Tables by Room

Each room type draws from its own loot table, so the items you find depend entirely on which room you're in. Understanding what each room offers helps you prioritize your exploration when time or inventory space is limited.

Common Chests (found in Barracks, Storerooms, Junctions) roll 2-3 items and contain basic supplies: Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots, Redstone, Coal, Bread, Potatoes, Apples, Sticks, Pickaxes, Ender Pearls, Horse Armor, Saddles, Cobwebs, Torches, and rarely a Level 30 Enchanted Book.

Armoury Chests roll 1-3 items and focus on combat gear. The standout drops are enchanted Diamond Swords and Diamond armor pieces with Level 30 enchantments, though these are rare at weight 1 compared to common Iron gear at weight 5.

Treasure Chests roll 1-2 items of pure valuables: Iron Ingots, Gold Ingots and Nuggets, Diamonds (1-3), Emeralds (1-2), Redstone (3-6), and Lapis Lazuli (3-6).

Trap Chests roll 4-5 items and are among the most rewarding, containing Iron Ingots (4-6), Gold Ingots (4-6), Diamonds (1-2), Emeralds (1-2), Bones (5-7), Golden Apples, and Ender Pearls. The risk is well worth the reward.

Armor Stand and Item Frame Loot

Beyond chests, Armor Stands and Item Frames provide additional loot sources throughout the Stronghold. Common Armor Stands in Armoury rooms display randomized gear with a 30% chance each for Chainmail or Iron pieces, and a 10% chance for Leather. Each slot has a remaining chance of being empty, so you'll often see partially equipped stands. The rare Commander Room Armor Stands have a 30% chance of wearing Diamond armor on each slot and a 20% chance of displaying a Carved Pumpkin as a helmet.

Item Frames come in two variants based on room type. Armoury Item Frames display weapons and tools like Iron Swords (10%), Iron Axes (10%), Shields (10%), Bows (10%), and other combat items. Storage room Item Frames contain utility items like Paper (25%), Maps (25%), Compasses, Leads, Seeds, and the very rare Rabbit Foot (1%).

Configuration

YUNG's Better Strongholds provides two main config options in the TOML config file (betterstrongholds-forge-1_21.toml) plus four customizable JSON files for advanced tuning.

General Settings

Enable Structure Ruin (default: false) allows small noodle caves to slightly erode the Stronghold, giving it a more ancient, damaged appearance. Large caverns will not affect the structure regardless of this setting. This is a world-restart option, meaning changes require reloading the world.

Filled Portal Frame Chance (default: 0.1) controls the probability that each End Portal Frame block spawns with an Eye of Ender already placed. Set to 0.0 to require all 12 Eyes, or increase it for easier Portal activation. This is also a world-restart option.

JSON Configuration Files

Four JSON files in the config/betterstrongholds/ directory let you customize the probability distributions for ores, rare blocks, armor stands, and item frames. The ores.json file controls which ores appear in Treasure Room ore piles. The rareblocks.json file determines which blocks appear on the Grand Library pedestals. The armorstands.json file sets the armor probabilities for both common and rare Armor Stands. The itemframes.json file controls what items appear in Armoury and Storage room Item Frames. Each file uses a BlockSetSelector or ItemSetSelector format where you specify items and their probabilities, with a default fallback for any remaining probability.