BetterEnd Underground and Aurora Cave Biomes, Ores and Crystals
BetterEnd's underground and aurora cave biomes form a distinct part of the mod's End generation, sitting inside the islands rather than on their surface. The mod describes its custom End generator as producing islands of different shapes and heights, and notes that caves with unique resources can be found inside those islands. The aurora cave biomes are among the environments that fill that underground space.
The Aurora Cave Family
The aurora caves come in several variants. Empty Aurora Cave and Lush Aurora Cave are the two named aurora cave biomes. Alongside them sit the smaragdant caves, split into Empty Smaragdant Cave and Lush Smaragdant Cave, and there is also Empty End Cave and Jade Cave.
Each of these biomes shares the same climate profile. They are temperate, with a temperature value of 0.5, and no rain falls in any of them. That combination sets them apart from surface End terrain and gives the underground a stable, mild atmosphere rather than a harsh one.
The naming pattern is worth noting when you explore. Variants labelled "Empty" and "Lush" exist for both the aurora and smaragdant families, which suggests the two families each come in a sparser form and a more overgrown form. Empty End Cave and Jade Cave stand as their own entries in the list.
Atmosphere and Presentation
BetterEnd gives every biome its own atmosphere, resources and mobs, and all biomes have custom music by Firel plus custom sounds and effects. That applies to the cave biomes as much as to the surface ones, so time spent underground is not a silent, empty stretch of stone. The sky above the End also gets a fresh look with purple nebulas and stars, which matters when a cave opens up toward the surface.
The mod's broader feature list includes 24 or more new biomes, with more planned, and 6 new mobs that have biome variations for some of them. Many new blocks are part of the mod as well, including 9 wood types and 7 new stone types. New items cover food sources, tools, armor and weapons, and there are new mechanics such as Infusion Rituals, Anvil Recipes and End tool progression.
Resources Underground
The mod states plainly that caves inside End islands hold unique resources. The biome names themselves point at what you are likely to be hunting for: aurora caves, smaragdant caves and a jade cave each carry their own identity, and the mod's stone types and block additions are the raw material those environments are built from.
Because the generator places islands at varying heights and shapes, the depth at which you meet a given cave biome can differ from one island to the next. A cave that sits shallow in one island may be far deeper in another.
Exploring Them
- Look for cave openings inside End islands rather than only scanning the surface.
- Expect the same temperate, rainless climate in every one of these cave biomes.
- Treat the Empty and Lush variants as separate destinations, since both aurora and smaragdant caves have both forms.
- Keep an eye out for the mod's new stone types while caving, as they are part of the block set the mod adds.
- Listen for the custom music, sounds and effects that the mod attaches to each biome.
Practical Notes
Configuration options exist for blocks, items, mobs, enchants and many other things, and the custom End world generator is configurable too. If you want a particular cave biome to appear more or less often, or want to adjust related content, those settings are where to look. Integrations with other mods also exist, including sub-biomes built for BYG biomes along with new plants for them.
For anyone heading below the surface of a BetterEnd island, the aurora and smaragdant caves, the jade cave and the empty End cave are the environments to learn first. They share one climate, they carry the mod's underground resources, and they each bring their own music and effects to the trip.
Covers the mod’s in-game guide topics: Empty Aurora Cave Lush Aurora Cave Jade Cave Empty Smaragdant Cave Lush Smaragdant Cave Empty End Cave