Ore Excavation Basics: Controls and First Steps

guide

Ore Excavation activates while you hold down a key rather than through any crafting recipe or menu command. That single behavior defines how you use the mod: you press and keep holding the excavate key, and the mod responds based on the settings currently in effect.

Holding the Excavate Key

The mod's control scheme is built around one requirement: Must Hold Key. In practice, this means the excavate action only stays active for as long as you keep the corresponding hotkey (set it in the controls menu) pressed down. Releasing it ends the action. There is no toggle to switch on and leave running, and no item you need to craft first — the mod works through its interface and hotkeys alone.

If you have not assigned the excavate action yet, open the controls menu and bind it there. Once bound, holding that key is what tells the mod you want to excavate.

Shape Mining and Outlines

Shape mining can be turned off entirely. When it is, the game reports shape disabled — Shape mining is disabled! If you expect a shaped excavation and nothing happens, this is the first thing to check.

To help you see what area an excavation will cover, the mod offers Show Shape Outlines. Enabling this draws the outline of the affected shape so you can judge the area before committing to it.

Another setting, Use Block Side Hit, changes how the mod interprets the block face you strike. With it active, the side of the block you hit factors into how the excavation is determined.

Tool and Block Restrictions

Two blacklist systems control what the mod will and will not excavate.

The tool blacklist governs which tools are allowed. The tool class setting can be limited to Only Standard Tools, restricting excavation to ordinary tools rather than anything unusual.

The block blacklist governs which blocks are eligible. Both lists can be flipped with their inversion options: invert tbl for the tool blacklist and invert bbl for the block blacklist. Inverting a blacklist turns it into the opposite kind of filter, so blocks or tools that were excluded become the ones that are allowed.

Undo

The mod keeps a history of excavations so you can reverse one. Triggering an undo produces the message success — Undoing last excavation....

Undo does not always succeed. The mod reports specific failures:

Undo Failed: Unable to repay XP — the experience that was gained cannot be given back.
Undo Failed: Unable to repay items — the dropped items cannot be returned.
Undo Failed: Area obstructed — something is in the way of restoring the area.
no history — Undo Failed: Nothing to undo — there is no recorded excavation to reverse.

Undo can also be switched off completely, in which case the mod states: Undo has been disabled!

Configuration Access

For anything beyond the in-game toggles, the mod provides open folder — Open Config Folder. This opens the folder where its configuration lives, so you can review or adjust settings directly.

First Steps Summary

Bind the excavate action in the controls menu, then hold that key to excavate.
Confirm shape mining is not disabled if you expect a shaped result.
Turn on Show Shape Outlines to preview the affected area.
Check the tool and block blacklists, and their inversion options, if certain blocks or tools are being skipped.
Use undo when you need to reverse the last excavation, and watch for the failure messages if it cannot complete.