Set up Ore Excavation on Minecraft

Ore Excavation lets a player mine a whole ore vein, fell a whole tree or dig out a block group with one break. It is a lightweight vein miner by Funwayguy and Darkosto, and it must be on the server and on every player's game.

Checked against Ore Excavation 1.17.47 on NeoForge 1.21.5, October 2026.

Pick the version

The project's CurseForge page has NeoForge builds for Minecraft 1.20.4, 1.20.6, 1.21, 1.21.1, 1.21.4 and 1.21.5, and nothing newer. The newest, 1.17.47, is for NeoForge 1.21.5 and was published on 12 July 2025. Build 1.16.43 is for NeoForge 1.21.1, and for Forge 1.20.1 the newest is oreexcavation-1.13.174.jar. A server on a Minecraft version after 1.21.5 has no build to install. Modrinth carries only some of these, with nothing newer than NeoForge 1.21 at the time of writing, so use the CurseForge chip for the newest builds. The 1.21.5 build asks for NeoForge 21.5.81 or newer, and it needs no other library mods. It does not run on Paper, Purpur or Fabric.

Install it

1. Open JAR Manager under More. Choose NeoForge under Server software and 1.21.5 under Minecraft version, then press Apply change. The panel picks Java 21 for you. Switching reinstalls the server and keeps your world, so make a backup first in the Backups tab.
2. Open Mods under Content and select the CurseForge chip in the source chip row at the top of the tab. The Game version filter starts on your server's version. Search for Ore Excavation and press Install on the result by Funwayguy. If the result only links to CurseForge, its author only allows downloads there: download the file from that page and upload it to the mods folder with the File Manager.
3. Restart from the Console tab.

Open the Installed view afterwards. Ore Excavation should be listed with no Failed to load badge. Change your Minecraft version or mod loader has the full version steps.

Players need it too

Every player installs the same Ore Excavation build for their Minecraft and NeoForge version. Join a modded server from your launcher covers that side, and Fix the mismatched mod channel list error explains the refusal when versions differ.

How players use it

The mod adds an Excavate key binding to the controls screen, along with Shape Toggle and Shape Edit keys. Each player sets their own preferences in the mod's options, such as the activation mode and whether the key must be held. The mod's page warns that the excavate key may misbehave on non-US keyboards, so avoid binding symbols or special characters to it. Breaking a block with the excavate key active breaks the connected blocks as well.

A player who makes a mistake can run /undo_excavation in the game to put back the last excavation. It reports a failure message if there is nothing to undo, if the area is blocked or if the XP or items cannot be repaid.

Server settings

The common settings sit in a .toml file in the config folder, named oreexcavation-common.toml. Stop the server and edit it in the File Manager. The options include:

• Limit: the most blocks one excavation can take.
• Speed: how many blocks are excavated per tick.
• Range: how far from the first block an excavation can travel.
• Ehxaustion and Experience: the cost per block excavated. The first is spelt that way in the mod's own file, so search for Ehxaustion, not Exhaustion. Its default is 0.1.
• TPS Guard: slows excavation down if the server's TPS begins to drop.
• Tool Blacklist and Block Blacklist: what cannot excavate or be excavated, and the two Invert options turn them into whitelists.
• Max Undos: how many excavations are kept for undo.

More files appear in config/oreexcavation: block_groups.json, shapes.json and tool_overrides.json. The tool_overrides.json file sets limits for individual tools.

Common problems

• The server stops at startup: open the Console and read the last lines. Fix mod and plugin errors on Minecraft covers reading the log.
• Excavating makes the server lag: lower Limit and Speed, and keep TPS Guard on.
• The mod is not in the store: the Game version filter follows your server, and the newest builds are on CurseForge.