A Minecraft mod for Bedrock and Java (Fabric) with 50 dinosaurs, 12 other prehistoric creatures, ancient plants, a Prehistoric Jungle biome, tameable and rideable dinosaurs, electric fences and safari vehicles. Every model, texture, animation and pack file is generated from code in this repository. One set of definitions drives both editions (see Java Edition).
Download: Bedrock (.mcaddon) · Java/Fabric (.jar) · All releases · Creature catalogue (GitHub Pages) · Dansk side
| Dinosaurs (50) | T. rex, Triceratops, Velociraptor, Stegosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Spinosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Diplodocus, Parasaurolophus, Pachycephalosaurus, Allosaurus, Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, Iguanodon, Carnotaurus, Dilophosaurus, Gallimimus, Compsognathus, Deinonychus, Giganotosaurus, Baryonyx, Therizinosaurus, Utahraptor, Argentinosaurus, Microraptor, Oviraptor, Protoceratops, Styracosaurus, Edmontosaurus, Maiasaura, Corythosaurus, Kentrosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Suchomimus, Carcharodontosaurus, Mamenchisaurus, Amargasaurus, Dreadnoughtus, Coelophysis, Herrerasaurus, Plateosaurus, Psittacosaurus, Euoplocephalus, Nodosaurus, Pachyrhinosaurus, Troodon, Albertosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Majungasaurus, Archaeopteryx |
| Other prehistoric animals (12) | Sarcosuchus, Megalodon, Pteranodon, Pterodactylus, Quetzalcoatlus, Dimorphodon, Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurus, Ichthyosaurus, Dunkleosteus, Dimetrodon, Titanoboa |
| Plants | Prehistoric fern, horsetail, cycad, club moss, Williamsonia, ancient magnolia |
| Trees | Ginkgo biloba, Araucaria (monkey puzzle), dawn redwood, Lepidodendron (scale tree), tree fern. Each has a log, planks, leaves and a sapling, and grows into one of three shapes. |
| Park gear | Electric fence + fence generator, safari truck, park tour car, gyrosphere (full-size: seats fit a player), electric prod, tranquilizer rifle + darts |
| Other | Fossil blocks, amber ore (with a rare mosquito in amber), dino meat, hide, feathers, scutes, megalodon tooth, creature eggs, and an in-game Dino Field Guide |
Every creature belongs to one habitat. Its field guide entry and website card also list all the biomes it lives in. On Bedrock, with the experiment enabled, they all also live in the Prehistoric Jungle.
| Habitat | Creatures |
|---|---|
| Forests & taiga | Deinonychus, Utahraptor, Microraptor, Troodon, Therizinosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Herrerasaurus, Albertosaurus, Plateosaurus, Iguanodon, Pachyrhinosaurus, Psittacosaurus, Euoplocephalus, Nodosaurus |
| Jungles | Compsognathus, Archaeopteryx, Dilophosaurus, Mamenchisaurus |
| Plains | Tyrannosaurus rex, Gallimimus, Allosaurus, Giganotosaurus, Gorgosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Diplodocus, Apatosaurus, Brontosaurus, Dreadnoughtus, Edmontosaurus, Maiasaura, Pachycephalosaurus, Triceratops, Styracosaurus, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus |
| Savannas | Carnotaurus, Majungasaurus, Argentinosaurus, Amargasaurus, Kentrosaurus |
| Deserts & badlands | Velociraptor, Coelophysis, Oviraptor, Carcharodontosaurus, Protoceratops, Dimetrodon |
| Swamps & rivers | Spinosaurus, Baryonyx, Suchomimus, Parasaurolophus, Corythosaurus, Sarcosuchus, Titanoboa |
| Oceans | Megalodon, Dunkleosteus, Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurus, Ichthyosaurus |
| Skies & cliffs | Pteranodon, Pterodactylus, Quetzalcoatlus, Dimorphodon |
- Feed to tame: hold a creature's favourite food: meat for carnivores, ferns, ginkgo nuts or cycad cones for herbivores, and fish for sea creatures and pterosaurs.
- Egg-only apex predators: T. rex, Giganotosaurus, Spinosaurus, Carcharodontosaurus and others can only be tamed as hatchlings. Adults sometimes lay eggs. Place an egg and it hatches into a baby that is tame for the player who placed it.
- Riding: saddle a tamed adult of a rideable species. Saddles can be crafted from dino hide.
- Land: T. rex, Triceratops, Stegosaurus, Ankylosaurus, Brachiosaurus (3 seats), Parasaurolophus, Gallimimus and more.
- Air: Pteranodon, Quetzalcoatlus. Look where you want to fly.
- Water: Mosasaurus, Plesiosaurus, Ichthyosaurus.
- Electric prod: hit a creature to shock it. The shock stuns, slows and pushes it back.
- Tranquilizer rifle: shoots tranquilizer darts, which are crafted from 4 arrows and a fermented spider eye. One dart knocks out a small animal for 45 seconds. Big herbivores need 3 darts and big carnivores 4. A knocked-out creature lies down.
Install Realistic Hunting (0.3.0 or later) as well, and every creature is game, on Bedrock and Java:
- Each creature has organs placed in its own model: the heart sits behind the shoulder of the big quadrupeds, where the leg doesn't cover it.
- Each has a weight estimated from its length and body plan, a minimum calibre and a trophy. A broadside heart shot is perfect; the biggest sauropods and predators need a .338.
- Spooked and wounded creatures flee from hunters. A downed creature lies on its side as a carcass until it's field dressed for meat and hide, or it rots away.
src/hunting.ts builds the profiles, and the build fails if any creature's broadside heart shot isn't perfect (npx tsx tools/check-hunting.ts -v shows each check). tools/vendor/hunting-kit/ is copied from Realistic Hunting by node tools/sync-hunting-kit.mjs.
Fences connect like vanilla fences and are 1.5 blocks tall, so creatures can't step over them. A fence generator touching the fence powers the whole connected network; toggle it by right-clicking or with redstone. Powered fences shock anything that touches them. Big carnivores smash through fences that have no power.
- Download
prehistoric-dinosaurs-<version>.mcaddonfrom Releases. - Open the file and Minecraft imports both packs. On platforms without file association, unzip it and copy
dinosaurs_BP→behavior_packsanddinosaurs_RP→resource_packs. - In the world settings, activate Prehistoric Dinosaurs BP. The resource pack is added automatically.
- Optional: turn on the Custom Biomes experiment to get the Prehistoric Jungle biome. Without it, the ancient plants, trees and creatures appear in vanilla jungle, swamp, savanna, forest, taiga, mesa and ocean biomes.
Requires Minecraft Bedrock 1.26.40 or newer (Script API @minecraft/server 2.9.0).
npm ci
npm run schemas # fetch Mojang's official JSON schemas (bedrock-samples) into .cache/
npm run build # → build/dinosaurs_BP, build/dinosaurs_RP
npm test # schema validation + cross-reference tests
npm run package # → dist/*.mcaddon and *.mcpack
npm run preview # renders every creature to docs/gallery/*.png (no game needed)
npm run site # builds the GitHub Pages site into site/
npm run smoke # loads the packs into a real Bedrock Dedicated Server (Docker)src/data/creatures/*.ts one definition per species: anatomy, palette, stats, taming, riding, spawning, field-guide text
src/model/ model builder, parametric rigs (theropod, quadruped, pterosaur, marine, fish, snake), box-UV packer
src/creatures/features.ts horns, frills, crests, sails, plates, clubs, armour, fins …
src/texture/ texture painter: countershading, stripes/spots/mottling, eyes, teeth, scales, plus 16×16 pixel art
src/anim/ Molang animations: walk, swim, fly, look, attack, sit/lie
src/emit/bedrock/ Bedrock behavior/resource pack emitters (entities, blocks, items, recipes, worldgen, biome)
src/scripts/ Script API: egg hatching, fence power and shocks, sapling growth, leaf decay, field guide
tools/preview/ software renderer used for visual QA, the catalogue and the pack icon
tools/schemas.ts validates the output against Mojang's schemas and flags unknown keys
tools/bds-smoke.sh runs the packs in Bedrock Dedicated Server and fails on content-log errors
To add a creature, add a CreatureDef to one of the files in src/data/creatures/, then run npm run preview -- <id> and look at the render in docs/gallery/<id>.png. The rest of the pipeline (entity behaviour, client entity, geometry, texture, animations, loot, spawn rules, egg, field-guide entry, catalogue card) is generated from that definition.
- Push a tag:
git tag v0.2.0 && git push origin v0.2.0. - The Release workflow tests the code, builds the packs and runs the dedicated-server smoke test. It then publishes a GitHub release with the
.mcaddonand the.mcpackfiles, and redeploys the Pages site with the new version and download link.
One-time setup: in the repository settings, go to Pages and set Source to GitHub Actions.
A Fabric mod for Minecraft Java 26.3 is built from the same creature definitions as the Bedrock add-on. It needs:
To install it, download prehistoric-dinosaurs-fabric-<version>+26.3.jar from Releases and put it in your mods folder.
What's the same as Bedrock:
- all 62 creatures with the same models, textures and animations
- taming, sitting and saddles, and riding on land, in the air and underwater
- breeding, egg laying and hatching
- natural spawning
- the items
- plants and trees with world generation
- fossils and amber
- electric fences and the generator
- the electric prod and tranquilizer rifle
- the vehicles
- English and Danish text
What's different:
- No custom biome. Fabric can't add biomes without extra libraries, so plants and creatures appear in vanilla biomes, as on Bedrock without the experiment.
- Field guide. Use it on a creature to show that creature's entry.
How it's built: npm run build:java writes the generated resources to java/src/generated/resources. The Java code in java/src is a set of small data-driven classes: one entity class that every creature uses, plus subsystems for blocks, gear and vehicles.
npm run build:java
cd java
./gradlew build # → build/libs/prehistoric-dinosaurs-fabric-<version>+26.3.jar
bash smoke-server.sh # Fabric dedicated server: summons every creature
./gradlew runClientGameTest # real game client: screenshots of every creatureMIT. This is a fan project and is not affiliated with Mojang Studios or Microsoft. "Minecraft" is a trademark of Mojang Synergies AB.