The Aether: Reaching the Sky Dimension
The Aether is the original sky-dimension mod, sending you to vast skylands of floating islands with their own survival progression. This guide covers getting there and starting out.
Entering the Aether
The Aether is a dimension high in the sky, filled with floating islands of clouds. You reach it through a portal built in the style of a Nether portal but using the mod's materials and a different activator, then step through to begin a vanilla-esque survival adventure among the skylands.
Skyland survival
The dimension has its own progression based on new resources: fresh ores, sky-themed materials and mythical mobs to gather from. Falling is the constant danger here — the islands float over a long drop — so bring a way to survive the height.
What awaits
The Aether centers on exploration and its three perilous dungeons, each holding powerful loot items and a boss. Early on, gather the dimension's ores and tame its creatures, then work toward the dungeons. The mobs-and-dungeons guide covers the creatures and the challenges that hold the Aether's best rewards.
The dungeons are the progression, and two are common
The Aether places four structures, and their spacing tells you the order you will meet them:
- Bronze Dungeon — spacing 6, separation 5, generated as a top-layer modification. Extremely dense; this is the first dungeon you find.
- Large Aercloud — spacing 6, separation 3
- Silver Dungeon — spacing 36, separation 24
- Gold Dungeon — spacing 36, separation 24, the rarest tier
A bronze dungeon at spacing 6 against a gold dungeon at 36 is a six-fold difference. The progression is built into worldgen rather than into recipes.
The scale of the mod
287 pages across 165 items and 122 blocks. The item-heavy balance reflects a dimension mod built around gear and food rather than building sets.
First steps
Reach the dimension, then look for a Bronze Dungeon — at spacing 6 you will not have to search long. The silver and gold dungeons are later goals, and at spacing 36 with separation 24 they are spread evenly enough that a systematic sweep beats wandering.
Version note
The 1.21.1 build is 1.5.10 and the 1.20.1 build is 1.5.2, both on NeoForge.