Neat Mod Guide: Health Bars, Config, and Main Toggles

guide

Neat is a Minecraft utility mod that displays health bars above entities, and this guide covers its basic configuration and the main toggles that control how those bars appear. All interaction happens through the mod's interface and hotkeys rather than through crafting or items.

Opening the Config

Neat's settings are reached through its config interface. Open that interface to adjust any of the options described below. Because the mod is operated through its interface and hotkeys, you do not need to craft anything to change how health bars behave — you simply open the config and toggle the features you want.

The Main Toggle

The central switch is Toggle Health Bars. This turns the health bar display on or off entirely. If bars are not appearing at all, check this toggle first, since everything else only matters while health bars are enabled.

Controlling Which Entities Show Bars

Several options decide which entities get a health bar:

show entity full health — Show entities with full health. With this enabled, entities at full health still display a bar.
only health bar for target — Only show the health bar for targeted entity. This narrows the display to whatever you are currently targeting.
showFullHealth — Only show for entities with full health. This restricts bars to entities that are at full health.
Display on Players — Controls whether health bars appear on players.
max distance without line of sight — Max distance without LOS. This sets how far away an entity can be while still showing a bar when you do not have line of sight to it.

What the Bar Shows

Show HP Percentage — Displays the entity's health as a percentage.
Color Health Bar by Type — Colors the health bar according to the entity's type.
Background Padding — Adjusts the padding behind the health bar's background.

Name Tags and Rendering

Name Tag Render Behavior — Determines how name tags are rendered alongside the bars.
render without gui — Render with GUI hidden. This allows the health bars to render even when the GUI is hidden.

Debug Info

show debug with f3 — Show Debug Info with F3. This option makes debug information appear together with the F3 debug screen.

Using Hotkeys

Neat is driven by its interface and by hotkeys. For any action that has a hotkey but no key named in the mod's own on-screen text, use the corresponding hotkey and set it in the controls menu. Do not assume a default key for these actions — assign the hotkey yourself in the controls menu, then use it to trigger the action while playing.

A Practical Order for Setting Things Up

If you are configuring Neat for the first time, a straightforward order is:

Open the config interface.
Make sure Toggle Health Bars is enabled, since nothing else displays without it.
Decide which entities should show bars using show entity full health, only health bar for target, showFullHealth, Display on Players, and max distance without line of sight.
Choose what each bar communicates with Show HP Percentage, Color Health Bar by Type, and Background Padding.
Adjust presentation details with Name Tag Render Behavior and render without gui.
Enable show debug with f3 if you want debug information shown with the F3 debug screen.
For actions that rely on a hotkey, set the corresponding hotkey in the controls menu and use it during play.

Each option above is independent, so you can combine them freely. For example, you might keep bars limited to your current target while still showing a percentage, or show bars on players while hiding them for entities at full health. Reopen the config whenever you want to change these choices.