Makes your flat Minecraft world deeper. Your builds stay exactly where they are. You get hundreds of blocks of ground, stone and ores below to dig. Works with Java worlds from 1.8 to 26.2 and Bedrock worlds from 1.18 up (version and edition are detected automatically) on every loader: Vanilla, Fabric, Forge, NeoForge.
- Releases ->
Substrata.exe. One file, run it, done. No install, no Python needed. - Or grab
substrata.pyfrom this repo and runpy substrata.py. Same program, same GUI, needs Python 3 from python.org.
You have a flat creative world with lots of builds and only 3-4 blocks of ground under your feet. Substrata adds real depth under it without touching a single build, chest, item frame, villager or dropped item.
Two modes:
The whole world (builds, chests with their items, animals, villagers with their bed/job memory, villages, spawn point, player positions) moves up by e.g. 240 blocks, and the space below is filled with layers you choose (dirt / stone / deepslate / anything).
- 100% vanilla result. No mods, no datapacks, nothing to keep installed. The world stays normal forever.
- The only thing that changes is the Y number on F3 (you stand at 180 instead of -60).
- Works on every Java version from 1.8 up and every loader, because it only edits world files. Bedrock from 1.18 up works too.
- New chunks generate with the same added layers, so there are no seams and no cliffs.
The world bottom moves lower (e.g. from -64 to -304). Everything stays at its current Y. A small datapack is placed inside the world automatically and it works on Vanilla, Fabric, Forge and NeoForge. Minecraft 1.18 to 26.2 only, because negative Y and datapack-driven world height do not exist before 1.18.
The third mode is the inverse of raising. Everything moves down by the chosen number of blocks and the bottom of the world gets deleted. Use it to undo a raise you no longer want. The tool warns you when the deleted zone contains anything and a backup is always made first. Minecraft 1.18 to 26.2 and Bedrock.
Some people on PC play Bedrock instead of Java and Substrata handles those worlds too. Point it at the world folder (the one with level.dat and a db folder inside) and it detects Bedrock on its own. Raise and lower modes, flat worlds from Bedrock 1.18 up. Layers and ore veins work exactly like on Java. Doors and signs are not available there. Builds, chests with their items, mobs and the spawn all move up together and new chunks match the converted ones.
A Bedrock world folder on PC lives in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang\minecraftWorlds.
- Layer editor: stack any layers you want, any thickness, with a live sum check and a color preview of the whole column
- Every block in the game (1105 of them) with autocomplete while you type, plus a typo guard so a misspelled block never reaches the world
- Real ore veins: pick a block (e.g. diamond ore), a Y range and a density in % and it gets placed as small veins of 3 to 8 blocks, same seed = same world every time. One click gives you a vanilla style ore spread scaled to your depth
- Caves: an optional percentage carves pockets and caverns out of the new fill, consistent across chunk borders, so digging down is not just a solid cube
- Nether and End: raising can optionally shift the other dimensions too when they fit under their ceiling
- Safety checks: the tool refuses to place blocks that would break themselves: flowers demand dirt directly below, nether wart demands soul sand, sugar cane / cactus / tall plants are blocked entirely, doors and torches demand a solid block below
- Full automatic backup before any change, a backup browser with one click restore, and an automatic verification pass after every operation
- World check: a read only report of any world (version, format, interrupted operations, backups) before you touch it
- World list: pick your world from a list instead of hunting for the folder
- Uses all your CPU cores: chunks are processed in parallel, roughly 3 to 4 times faster on a 6 core machine. Set the number of cores in Settings (auto by default) or with
--jobs - English and Polish interface, dark and light theme
-
Close Minecraft / stop the server. The world must not be open.
-
Run
Substrata.exe. -
Pick your world folder, the one that contains
level.dat:- server: the
worldsubfolder next toserver.jar - singleplayer:
%APPDATA%\.minecraft\saves\YourWorld - CurseForge/Modrinth/Prism:
...\Instances\<pack>\saves\YourWorld
The tool checks the folder and shows the detected version. If you pick a wrong folder it tells you where to go.
- server: the
-
Choose a mode, adjust layers (or keep the defaults), optionally add ore veins.
-
Click Preview. It prints the full plan and changes nothing.
-
Click RUN. It makes the backup first, then does the conversion. A 2000-chunk world takes about a minute.
-
Start the game. Done.
If something looks wrong afterwards: your untouched world copy is in the substrata_backups folder next to the program and copy it back and you are where you started.
The work is spread across your CPU cores, so a big world takes minutes instead of tens of minutes. On a 6 core machine the measured speed up is about 3.5 times, and the result is byte for byte identical to a single core run. You can pick the number of cores in Settings, or pass --jobs N on the command line (--jobs 1 forces the old single core behaviour). If the system refuses to start worker processes for any reason, the tool notices it and finishes the job on one core instead of hanging.
There is no RAM setting because there is nothing to tune: this is not Java, the program is not boxed into a fixed heap and simply takes the memory it needs. What actually limits the speed is the CPU and the disk.
The chunk editing itself works on any world. The problem is new chunks.
Minecraft only generates terrain where someone has been. A flat world's generator is a simple layer list and Substrata just extends that list, so chunks generated later match the converted ones perfectly.
A normal world's generator is a noise function with heights baked in (sea level 63, bedrock floor -64). It cannot be told "generate everything 240 higher". So on a normal world:
- after raising, newly generated chunks would appear at the old height, so you get a 240-block cliff wall around everything you have explored
- after deepening, newly generated chunks would have void below -64, so you get holes in the ground
The tool does not hard-refuse non-flat worlds. It converts the existing chunks and warns you. If your world is fully explored and fenced off, it will work. But for any world where new terrain can still generate, expect the seams described above. That is a Minecraft world-generation limitation, not something a file tool can patch around.
Everything also works headless:
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --raise 240
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --raise 128 --below "bedrock:1,stone:100,dirt:27"
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --raise 240 --scatter diamond_ore:-40:0:3 --caves 15
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --raise 240 --all-dims (Nether and End too)
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --lower 240 (undo a raise)
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --datapack (deepen mode, 1.18 to 26.2)
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --check (read only report)
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --restore NAME (restore a backup)
Substrata.exe "C:\path\to\world" --raise 240 --jobs 4 (use 4 CPU cores, 0 = auto)
Substrata.exe --list-backups
Substrata.exe --help
A log of every run is written to substrata_log.txt inside the world folder.
pip install pyinstaller
pyinstaller --onefile --noconsole --name Substrata substrata.py
Every release is tested end-to-end on real dedicated servers: worlds are generated, filled with builds, chests, villagers, items and signs, converted, then verified in-game block by block on every single Java release from 1.8 to 26.2 and on a real Bedrock Dedicated Server, with zero errors in the server log as the pass condition.