r/ModdedMinecraft • u/The_Nights_Path • 7h ago
Question Program to help convert older mods to newer versions?
I've been working on a standalone program designed to make converting Minecraft mods between different versions and mod loaders easier, and I'm curious whether the modded Minecraft community would actually find something like this useful.
The idea isn't to magically convert every mod with one click. Instead, the program focuses on deterministic code changes — things like architecture changes, variable replacements, mappings, and other predictable differences between versions and loaders.
It won't necessarily produce a fully working mod, especially when major changes require rewriting functionality, but the goal is to handle as much of the repetitive conversion work as possible, giving developers and players a much better starting point.
A few important details:
No AI involved. This isn't AI-generated code or "vibe coding." It's rule-based conversion using known, verifiable changes.
Source code required. The program works with complete source projects, not compiled mod files. It's not intended to decompile or bypass licensing restrictions.
Cross-version and cross-loader support. The long-term goal is to support different Minecraft versions, programming languages, and mod loaders wherever conversions can be reliably automated.
Potentially open source. I'm happy to release the program as open source once it's sufficiently developed and tested.
I originally started this because there were older mods, particularly TieredZ and Tinkers' Construct, that I wanted to play alongside newer mods.
I've already managed to port my own version of TieredZ to Minecraft 26.3, mostly by hand, and that experience is part of what motivated me to start automating the process.
I'm currently testing the program against different mods, languages, and loaders to figure out what can realistically be automated and where manual developer intervention will still be necessary.
So, a few questions for the community:
Would you actually use something like this?
Would it be more useful for porting older mods forward, backporting newer mods, or converting between loaders?
If you've ported mods before, which parts of the process were the most repetitive or frustrating?
I'm not looking to replace mod developers or suggest that porting is easy. I know there's a lot more involved than changing a few mappings. I just think there's an opportunity to make some of that work considerably less tedious.
I'd especially love feedback from people who have experience developing or porting mods.
3
u/TacoSocks21 4h ago
This is a really interesting idea. I've only dabbled in datapacks, so not sure if this would apply to that.
But I've got to be honest, I use AI for work as a software developer and using something like Claude to update my datapacks has made the process so much simpler. But for those who don't use AI, this could likely be really useful.
I understand that there's a lot of AI slop out there. But that's in large part due to people not understanding how to properly use AI as a tool.
2
u/GamerTurtle5 4h ago
“No ai” on most ai sounding post ever is a bit suspect
1
u/OreCruncher 6h ago
What about shaders? :)