Looking for the best Minecraft texture packs for the Java Edition? Minecraft’s low-fi charms were predictably the first thing modders took to ‘fixing’. The ruddy textures, while distinctive, are an obvious target for an upgrade if you stare at them long enough.
I confess that when I found a texture pack I loved I’ve never gone back to the original look: I’m going to start off with that one and then explore the the rather vibrant world of Minecraft Texture packs. There’s nothing too crazy in here: those packs tend to be part of larger mods that fundamentally change the game, and that’s another article entirely.
But what we do have here is a fantastic selection of textures that bring all sorts of style to the game, from the ultra-realistic to the cartoonish to far out sci fi. There’s even an animated textures included, a feature supported since development snapshot 13w02a was released, although they’re not yet implemented in the main game. Not sure how to grab and install one of these snapshots? Don’t worry, we can help you with that too. Click through to be delighted by the variety and vibrancy of Minecraft’s many texture packs.
How to install Minecraft texture packs
Before you begin, download and point the MCPatcher at your Minecraft install: it’ll enable the game to run with HD images on the blocks, which many of these packs include. If you want to try out any of those animated textures with a development snapshot, here’s how to test Minecraft snapshots. It’s not difficult and the rewards are well worth it.
All these textures are compatible with the 1.4.7 version of Minecraft, so if you want to minimise the amount of switching you’ll have to do, fire up that version. Also keep in mind that if you try some of the snapshots, they will likely contain elements that the texture pack creators haven’t yet made textures for, meaning they’ll either be blank or even invisible.
Another thing to note is that this list is directed at the Java edition of Minecraft, so if you’re using the newer Bedrock edition you’re likely to run into some issues as MCPatcher doesn’t get along with the new launcher -not now, anyway.
The best Minecraft texture packs
Okay, now that’s out of the way. Let’s start with something big and bright. We’re going to change the world, or your world, at least.
Jolicraft A lot of texture packs have a theme that they try and nail, but Joli’s is about personal expression: he made a texture pack, a sort of twee fantasy world that best reflected his own happy demeanour: the swirling sun is definitely a sight more cheerful than the default, squat square. Jolicraft feels like a warm summer day. But even more impressive are the customisation options: you can build your own texture pack at the site, choosing how the game represents everything from doors and shadows, to water drops and clouds. It’s a remarkable thing. This is one of the most popular texture packs out there, in part I’m sure because it too is quite customisable, but also because it has some fantastically creepy-looking skeletons and it does a fine job with surfaces, be those rock, cobblestone or even netherrack. Compared to Jollicraft, it’s a much more sombre pack, but a Minecraft world looks surprisingly good with muted colours. And if sombre is your sort of thing, then I thoroughly recommend you give this pack a try. As well as its slightly faded walls, its glimmering starfield and its gorgeous moon, this steampunk pack also features some fantastic tools and skins. Just check out the how golem looks above. While we’re on the subject of customisation, you should also have at this pack, which is as much a tool as it is a way to revamp the look of your game. Not happy with the pack you just downloaded? Want to contribute your own ideas? Why not get started here, it’s not as difficult as you might think. If you’d prefer something a little more subtle, a little more muted, then Isabella’s gentle shading might be what you’re looking for. Its tones are softer, its wood warmer and its stone faded, all of which gives it a more natural feel. As natural as a world made from giant blocks can ever be, that is. Chroma Hills Some of us, I’m sure, would just prefer the prettiest textures that they can find and Chroma Hills is certainly one of the best-looking out there, even if it’s beautiful stylings are slightly at odds with the blockiness of Minecraft’s world. To get the very best from it you’ll want to make sure you use some shaders too, but even without those it’s still a fine lookin’ thang.
Creative One’s Medieval Texture Pack
Another lovely HD patch, the Medieval Texture Pack features a lot of subtle and yet very smart touches, such as the glow from an Ender chest (see the video below) or the woven texture in wool blocks. It also gives much of the game a very worn look, which, it turns out, suits Minecraft very well indeed. I dabbled a bit with oCD’s texture pack before settling on Short Stuff’s: it takes the minimalist approach, rendering all the blocks in solid colours with bold lines. It’s striking, and removes the organic nature that I wanted. The colours seem a bit bolder and punchier. The theme is actually disco, hence the funky trailer. Realism is an odd term when you’re talking about a world made out of cubes, and yet it’s one of the most prevalent goals for the Minecraft modding community. If trying Isabella has made you want something grubbier, something with muddier ground and fluffier clouds then Misa’s pack brings all this to the game. If the real world was built out of cubes, it would look a bit like Misa’s interpretation. It’s not flashy, it’s for those looking for a “grim up north” feeling. And the pigs are terrifying. This is my antidote to Misa’s grubby brown realism: if Misa’s texture packwas Game of Thrones, then Summerfields is LotR before Frodo goes off in his quest. The browns here feel like they glow, radiating the heat of the summer day that beats down from the fuzzy, circular sun: even the skeletons feel a bit cheerful I’m pretty sure the people who live in Misa’s end of the world would take holiday in Summerfields.
Sphax PureBDCraft
The flipside of the inevitable realism packs was that someone would endeavour to convert Minecraft to a comic book style. The blocks demanded it. BDCraft’s is a gorgeous, and essentially reverential, upgrading of the base Minecraft graphics: switching between them is like putting on glasses and seeing everything clearly for the first time: ore is full of clear gems, the new grass as chunky as an anime character’s head. It’s sharp, colourful and a good upgrade to base Minecraft that retains its flavour. This pack almost turns the game into Borderlands, drawing bold black lines around mobs and objects, but still keeping everything very recognisable and extremely true to the original look of the game. With these textures, Minecraft becomes posterized, but also an awful lot clearer. While it might not be to everyone’s taste, or terribly easy on the eyes, you can’t deny that it has style. Animated texture packs are still a rarity, partly because relatively few people are going to use them right now. Since animated textures are only supported by a recent development snapshot, most players won’t have a version of Minecraft that can make use of them and will have no reason to seek them out. That said, more and more people are trying those snapshots and we’d like to think that perhaps PCGamesN’s encouragement has had some part in this.
This pack adds some wonderful animations to the game, wonderful because they’re so subtle and a great example of the tiny but impressive changes that animated textures can make. Unmined ores sparkled in the darkness, weapons shine and lava seethes.
I’m sorry, I just had to end with something a little different, something a little sillier. Who says Minecraft should only be about the pseudo-fantasy, pastoral theme?
BladeCraft throws it into the near future and creates something… well, actually, something really quite impressive. I feel bad for even suggesting that this is silly now. Now enjoy what is by far the coolest of all the videos in this post.
Faithful
Maybe you’re not looking for a wholesale change, and want something that adds some sheen on what’s already there. If that’s the case, then the Faithful texture pack is what you’ll want to install. The changes you’ll notice here merely smooth out textures, and refine what’s already present.
More Minecraft guides:
And there you go, the best Minecraft texture packs. Whether you’re looking for a pack to turn your Minecraft world into a cartoon, or one to make it look more like the real world, you should find what you’re looking for here.
This app is in a really early beta version at the moment and not all features are implemented yet. At the moment you can edit Blocks, Items, Armor and Paintings but not Mobs. ★ Features ★
☆ Create new Texture Packs from scratch
☆ Edit existing from your sdcard ☆ Pixel Editor ☆ Export to use it with BlockLauncher or MCPE Master ★ Important ★
This is a stand-alone version of a feature included in the full UTK.io Android App. If you have the full app installed, then you don't need to install this app since its features are already included in the full version.
This is an unofficial application for Minecraft Pocket Edition. This application is not affiliated in any way with Mojang AB. The Minecraft Name, the Minecraft Brand and the Minecraft Assets are all property of Mojang AB or their respectful owner. All rights reserved. In accordance with http://account.mojang.com/documents/brand_guidelines
< Tutorials
The purpose of this article is to teach you how to create a custom texture pack. It focuses on the extraction of appropriate files from the game Java Archive
minecraft.jar , their editing, and packing the newly created textures and putting them back into the game. For a list of completed community texture packs, see the article on Texture Packs.
Check out Resource Pack Creators for programs to simplify the process of creating texture packs.
Extraction[edit]
The original textures are located in the game Java Archive file
minecraft.jar . Any zip archiver should be able to extract files from it as the Java Archive format is just a subset of the common zip format. Exact procedure for locating the game archive and extracting the files from it varies by operating system. Below is a list of files and subfolders of interest while creating a new texture pack:
Windows[edit]
To extract the editable files for a texture pack, first download a compression program, such as 7-Zip or WinRAR, and make a folder on your desktop for texture pack storage. For Windows Vista/7, go to the 'start' menu on your desktop and do a search for
%appdata% . On Windows XP, go to 'start' menu, click 'run', and type in %appdata% . There may be a file called roaming , if so open it, and one of the folders inside should be called .minecraft , unless the roaming folder was not existent. Open this, and inside open the folder titled bin . (If you have a newer launcher there may not be a bin file. If that is so just open the folder versions and select the newest version's folder) Then go to the minecraft.jar file or a file with the current version with .jar at the end (for example, 1.11.2.jar ) and right click on it. In the menu of options should be either '7-zip' or 'WinRAR'. Follow the arrow from that option to the menu of actions, and choose 'Extract to 'minecraft/'. (It is best that your folder for texture packs have the word minecraft in it. For example, mine is 'minecraft-desktop'). Find the extracted files. They should have extracted to your desktop folder and be in a sub-folder titled 'minecraft'. Open this file, and there will be 1,335 .class files. Delete every one of these. An easy way to select them all is type .class in the search bar and press ctrl+A then delete (be sure not to delete the 'splash' file, which will be selected because of the splash 'best in class'). Now you are ready to edit.
Mac OS[edit]
The Mac comes with a program called Archive Utility. First, open Finder and go to Finder>Library>Application Support>minecraft>bin. If the folder is not there, check Finder>(User)>Library>Application Support>minecraft>bin Find
minecraft.jar and right click (or control+left click) and click 'Open With' and 'Archive Utility'. Archive Utility will create a new folder called 'minecraft'. Notice that this is a new folder, and that minecraft.jar is still intact. You can therefore modify and delete the new folder without altering your minecraft.jar . Create a new folder in your desktop, and drag all the necessary files into it. Now you are ready to edit.
If using Archive Utility results in a file called minecraft.jar.cpgz, try instead changing the file extension from .jar to .zip to achieve the desired affect.
GNU/Linux[edit]
On GNU/Linux-based systems, the game archive is usually located at
~/.minecraft/bin/minecraft.jar where '~' is the user's home folder, usually located in /home/ . Many desktop GNU/Linux distributions come with graphical archiver utilities that integrate with the desktop environment. Toshiba laptop mouse wont move. If the zip and unzip command-line programs are available, the files can be simply extracted to a folder on the desktop using the following command in the terminal:
unzip -d ~/Desktop/my_texture_pack ~/.minecraft/bin/minecraft.jar pack.png pack.txt particles.png terrain.png achievement/* armor/* art/* environment/* font/* gui/* item/* misc/* mob/* terrain/* title/*
Editing textures[edit]
What each image in the terrain.png represents as of Minecraft version 1.4.5.
The textures are in the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format and can be edited with any image editing program that can handle the format including transparency. There are many different programs that support this, some free ones include Paint.net (Windows) (which even Notch uses), GIMP (Windows, Mac, Linux), Paintbrush (Mac), and many more. Edit each PNG file as desired and save them with 32-bit color depth to preserve transparency.
Although Microsoft Paint does not handle transparency, it can still be used to make/edit textures. Basically, if you open a PNG image in Windows XP, a window should pop up showing transparency as a white and gray checkered pattern [does not work Win7 - no options of this type available]. There is a tool located on the tool bar that should have a screen tip with 'Change to transparent' or something similar. Go into Microsoft Paint and create/edit your texture(s). Find a color not used in the texture, and fill in the white space with it. Then, select the area desired to copy and paste it onto the PNG image. Paste it onto your PNG image and make sure to cover it completely. Simply change your unwanted color to transparent using the tool mentioned earlier, and every last pixel of that color on the current document will be changed to transparent. Beware, make absolutely sure that you do not click the wrong color, as this may mess up all textures in the document.
Packing and installation[edit]
Once you are done editing, create a zip file of the files modified (or, in Minecraft 1.3, you can use a folder with the files too), preserving all folder hierarchy. The root folder of the zip must have the files and folders listed below, or else they will not be changed. If you find that nothing changes when you select your texture pack, make sure that the files are in the root of the zip and not one folder in.
Windows[edit]
Select all the files (edited or not) Then choose the 7-zip or WinRAR option after right clicking and select 'Add to archive..'. The archive will open, and you can name the file. Then hit 'OK', and the program will make all the files into a zip archive. To put into minecraft, simply start the launcher, log in, and at the title screen go to the button 'texture packs'. In the lower left, click the Open Folder button and drag your ZIP into the folder. Select your texture pack, and view it on your computer.
Minecraft Shield Texture Pack 1Mac OS[edit]
Highlight all the files in your folder, right click, and click 'compress (#) items'. A new file called 'Archive.zip' should appear. Rename the file to your liking. Go to Finder>Library>Application Support>minecraft>Texture Packs, and drag your .zip in. Now you can use your texture pack by selecting the button 'mods and texture packs' in the main menu of minecraft, and clicking on your pack.
Ubuntu/GNOME[edit]
Folder Layout~/.minecraft/resourcepacks/MyPack/(assets ect)
In Terminal, run this command..
..then launch Minecraft and enable the resource pack.
External links[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://minecraft.gamepedia.com/index.php?title=Tutorials/Custom_texture_packs&oldid=1393070'
Warning: This project is experimental. Its files will not synchronize across the CurseForge network.
Shield Fixer
A FaithFul Add-on
Textures by Vattic, the creator of the Faithful Resource Pack
Assembled by Machiru
I wanted to made this add-on because the 1.9 snapshots add the Shields, but they are a lower resolution, but I fixed that with this add-on ^^
The textures uses banner sprite and dark oak planks for the behinf of the shield.
I hope you enjoy this :D
Link to the original pack, the FaithFul Pack
About Project
Created Aug 28, 2015
Total Downloads1,956
CategoriesMembers
< Tutorials
This article is about creating resource packs for the Java Edition. For the Bedrock Edition add-ons, see Tutorials/Creating resource pack add-ons.
Getting started
Note: This tutorial should take around 1 to 1.5 hours to complete.
Resource packs can modify textures, models, animations, music sounds, user interfaces, and languages.
What not to do
There are some things that you should not do before creating a resource pack. Here is a list of 'don'ts':
Creating a resource pack
Start off by navigating to our
resourcepacks folder. To find the folder, you must first locate the Minecraft folder. Once you are in the resource pack folder, create a new folder and name it: “Tutorial_Resource_Pack”. Then, open that folder.
The first thing we need to do is create a
pack.mcmeta file. This lets Minecraft know that the folder is a resource pack and it also allows you to customize the description that appears when you're selecting which resource pack to use in the game.
Creating an MCMETA file
To create an MCMETA file, right click in the 'Tutorial_Resource_Pack' folder and create a new text document. Name this file “pack.mcmeta”.
Requirement
Make sure the file extension is
.mcmeta and not .txt when you rename it. You may be warned that changing a file name extension could make the file unusable. This is okay!
If you can’t see file extensions, you can turn them on by going to the View menu of the file explorer and checking the check box for file name extensions.
|
Image Key | |
---|---|
Top | Top of cube |
Bot | Bottom of cube |
Left | Left side |
Frnt | Front side |
Rt | Right side |
Bck | Back side |
Areas with matching colors face the same direction (i.e. Red areas are always the front of a cube).
How this looks in game:
Now it's time to be creative! Edit the creeper however you want. I’m just going to add a headband for sake of simplicity.
Once you are happy with your texture, save out the file as a
.png
and make sure that the file name is “creeper”. The game will only look for files with the correct name.
Modeling Blocks/Items
Sometimes you may want to change one of the Minecraft models. Here is a quick and easy way on how to do it.
Requirement
- A 3D Modeling Editor like opl's Model Creator (Archive) or Blockbench. You can use other modeling editors but it is recommended to use this because it is easier to use and can export to
.json
format. - A ZIP viewer like WinRAR for Windows. Other ZIP viewers can be used but this can view JAR files as well.
Replacing a Block
Because the default ladder in Minecraft isn't 3D, you can replace it with your own model. First, get all the ladder's files into this resource pack:
- Open the Minecraft JAR file using a ZIP viewer of your choice.
- Navigate into the
assets/minecraft/blockstates
folder, then extractladder.json
toTutorial_Resource_Pack/assets/minecraft/blockstates
- Navigate into the
assets/minecraft/models/block
folder, then extractladder.json
toTutorial_Resource_Pack/assets/minecraft/models/block
- Navigate into the
assets/minecraft/models/item
folder, then extractladder.json
toTutorial_Resource_Pack/assets/minecraft/models/item
- Lastly, navigate into the
assets/minecraft/textures/block
folder, then extractladder.png
toTutorial_Resource_Pack/assets/minecraft/textures/block
.
Now you can either edit the
ladder.png
using your preferred image editor, or you can edit it in your preferred modeling editor.
Modeling the Ladder
In modeling the ladder, we will use the recommended opl's Model Creator. To open it, simply double-click it. After it has opened, press
Ctrl+O
to open the ladder model. After the open dialog has appeared, paste in resourcepacks/Tutorial_Resource_Pack/assets/minecraft/models/block/ladder.json
in the 'File Name' box.
You then should be facing a ladder which is on the south side of the box.
- Press
R
to create a new block. - Resize the model to as small as one of the rungs of the ladder. Then, on the menu bar, go to 'View -> Dialog -> Texture Manager'
- Type in the first box to 'texture' and the second to 'blocks/ladder' ('block/ladder' for 1.13) and the last, double-click the 'C' button and paste in the box,
resourcepacks/Tutorial_Resource_Pack/assets/minecraft/textures/blocks/ladder.png
(Replace 'blocks' with 'block' for 1.13 and above). - In the next row, type in the first box 'particle', then follow the third step above.
Now we have created the particle texture of the block when broken and the main texture.
To assign a texture to a block, select all its faces and press
T
to toggle face visibility, then go to 'View -> Dialog -> UV Editor'. Put on the texture. This part is a little bit hard to document, so try to do it yourself.
Finishing off
When you have completed the 3D model of the ladder and saved it, launch Minecraft, and test it out. Place a ladder on a wall, and you should see its replaced model.
Adding Languages
Main article: Resource pack § Language
You can add new languages to Minecraft using a resource pack. Assume your language code is 'LANG'[1] and country/region code is 'COUNTRY'[2],
pack.mcmeta
will look like:
- pack.mcmeta
If you want your language to be right-to-left, set
'bidirectional'
to true
.
Then, put
LANG_COUNTRY.json
in assets/minecraft/json
inside your resource pack. When you launch the game, choose your resource pack, open the Language selection screen, and your new language will be there.
- Notes
The
pack.mcmeta
goes in the root folder of your resource pack, not in the assets/minecraft/lang
folder. Also note that the above pack.mcmeta
is the same file as the pack.mcmeta
file that you have created a while ago. As of Java Edition 1.7-pre,[verify] you can choose multiple resource packs at once. If you want to use your new language and resource pack for before 1.7, you need to combine them manually because multiple resource packs could not be selected before the version.
Animation Properties
An example of an animation file is this:
- stone.png.mcmeta
- Note
All you really need to make a texture animated is the following code, though it will make each frame last only one frame:
- stone.png.mcmeta
Save the file as the same name as the texture you want animated with an
.mcmeta
in the same folder as your texture.
Texture Properties
Main article: Resource pack § Properties
An example of a texture property is this:
- shadow.png.mcmeta
Fonts
Character sizes in fonts are determined by the last line of pixels that contains pixels which contain a non-zero alpha. This allows additional padding to be added around characters by adding a color with an alpha level of 1, which Minecraft will consider as part of the character. Busy 18 universal patch download.
Testing your Resource Pack
- Launch the game
- Click on Options
- Click on Resource Packs
- Find “Tutorial Resource Pack” in the list on the left and click the arrow next to it
- Click Done
If you decide you want to make some changes to your resource pack, just close the game, edit your resource pack, relaunch the game, and follow the steps above to test your resource pack again.
Packaging Resource Packs with Worlds
For using in singleplayer worlds, you can package your resource pack as a ZIP file named
resources.zip
inside the world directory. This will then be automatically used when playing the singleplayer world.
Server Resource Packs
If you are the owner of a server, you may set it as the resource pack of your server.
- Make sure, that your pack format is a .zip-folder.
- Upload the pack on a filehosting website, for example Dropbox(https://www.dropbox.com).
- Copy the download link of your pack. IMPORTANT: It has to be the direct download link, as an example for Dropbox the URL will end with 'dl=0' If you're using Dropbox, all you have to do is changing it to 'dl=1'.
- Open the server.properties with a text editor.
- Search for the line 'resource-pack='.
- Paste the download link behind the equal sign.
- Save your changes to the server-properties and restart your server.
- Enjoy!
Servers can have an icon that will show up in the Multiplayer list.
- Create a PNG image with a size of 64 by 64 pixels, transparency is supported.
- Save (or rename) it to
server-icon.png
. - Move it to the server's directory.
- Restart the server.
- Server icons will display next to the server name.
References
- ↑ISO 639
- ↑ISO 3166-1
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