Datapack Guide

Datapack Guide

Research Cube is fully datapack-driven. You can add new research definitions, add or modify Drive Crafting recipes, and add Processing recipes all without writing any Java code.

---

What You Can Do With a Datapack

• Add custom research at any tier
• Define item and fluid costs for your research
• Build prerequisite trees (AND/OR chains) between research entries
• Create weighted recipe pools so research randomly unlocks one of several recipes
• Add Drive Crafting recipes (shapeless or shaped)
• Add Processing Station recipes

---

File Locations

Place your datapack files in a standard Minecraft datapack structure:

Content type	Path
Research definitions	data/<namespace>/research/*.json
Drive Crafting recipes	data/<namespace>/recipe/*.json with "type": "researchcube:drive_crafting"
Processing recipes	data/<namespace>/recipe/*.json with "type": "researchcube:processing"

All other standard datapack content (vanilla recipes, advancements, loot tables, etc.) works alongside ResearchCube content in the same pack.

---

Namespace Convention

Use your pack's unique identifier as the namespace. For example, if your pack is called my_pack, all your research IDs become my_pack:<filename> and all your recipe IDs become my_pack:<filename>.

Avoid using the researchcube namespace for your own content that is reserved for the base mod.

---

Applying Changes

Run /reload on a running server (or reload the world in singleplayer) to pick up new or changed datapack files. No restart required for datapack content.

If a research definition fails to parse, the server log will show a [ResearchCube] WARN message describing the error and the affected file. Other valid definitions will still load.

---

Schema Pages

Page	Description
Research Definition Schema	All fields for data/<ns>/research/*.json, including prerequisites and recipe pools
Drive Crafting Recipe Schema	Fields for researchcube:drive_crafting recipe JSONs
Processing Recipe Schema	Fields for researchcube:processing recipe JSONs

---

Quick Example

A minimal research + recipe pair:

data/my_pack/research/copper_circuit.json

{
  "name": "Copper Circuit",
  "tier": "BASIC",
  "duration": 800,
  "item_costs": [{ "item": "minecraft:copper_ingot", "count": 6 }],
  "fluid_cost": { "fluid": "researchcube:thinking_fluid", "amount": 500 },
  "recipe_pool": ["my_pack:copper_circuit_recipe"]
}

data/my_pack/recipe/copper_circuit_recipe.json

{
  "type": "researchcube:drive_crafting",
  "recipe_id": "my_pack:copper_circuit_recipe",
  "ingredients": [
    { "item": "minecraft:copper_ingot" },
    { "item": "minecraft:redstone" }
  ],
  "result": { "id": "minecraft:comparator", "count": 2 }
}

For a full step-by-step walkthrough, see Example Datapack.

---

Related Pages

• Research Tiers valid tier names for the tier field
• Fluid System valid fluid IDs for fluid_cost
• Configuration multipliers that affect research duration and item costs at runtime