Tectonic Mod Guide: Cave Density, Depth Cutoff, Lava Tunnels, and Ore Generation

guide

Tectonic is a terrain generation mod configured entirely through its settings interface and hotkeys rather than through crafting recipes. This guide covers the underground and generation-related options: cave types and their density, depth cutoff behaviour, old caves and ravines, lava tunnels, and ore generation.

Enabling and Disabling the Mod

The tooltip setting controls whether Tectonic is active. When it is turned off, the mod stays dormant and has no effect on generation. Changing this setting requires a game restart before it takes effect.

Cave Types and Density

Tectonic exposes three cave shapes, each with its own density control.

Cheese caves are the standard wide, roomy caverns with a cheese-like shape. The cheese cave density value adds density to them; lowering it makes cheese caves larger.
Noodle caves are thin, tight passages that feel cramped. The noodle cave density value adds density to them; lowering it makes noodle caves larger.
Spaghetti caves are medium-sized tunnel-like caves. A separate setting controls whether spaghetti caves generate.

Depth Cutoff

Two settings govern where caves stop generating as they approach the surface.

Depth Cutoff Start is the depth noise value at which caves cease. A value of 0.1 stops caves roughly 12 blocks under the surface; 0.5 stops them about 64 blocks down.
The depth cutoff distance sets how much depth separates the beginning and end of the cutoff. A value of 0.1 means caves taper closed across about 12 blocks, while 0.0 means they stop instantly at the Depth Cutoff Start value.

Old Caves, Ravines, and Lava Tunnels

The old caves/ravines setting determines whether the older cave and ravine generation is present. Toggling it requires a game restart.
Lava tunnels are uncommon, deep tunnels of lava that can appear near the bottom of the world.

Ore Generation

The ore generation setting adjusts ore placement so that ores appear at more reasonable levels when the minimum world height is lowered.

These interact with underground generation and the space available for it.

The minimum build and generation height sets the lowest point for building and terrain generation.
The maximum build and generation height sets the highest point. The older Increased Height option placed this at 640.

Notes on Compatibility

Alternate Noise Scaling options improve terrain around mountains and oceans at larger terrain scales, but they do not work together with C2ME's hardware acceleration.

Operating These Settings

Every option above is changed through Tectonic's own interface. Open the relevant screen and adjust the value for the feature you want to change. For any action that has a hotkey, use the corresponding hotkey and set it in the controls menu; no default key is assumed here. Remember that the tooltip toggle and the old caves/ravines toggle both need a game restart before their changes apply.