Biomes

Biomes in Minetest are a part of the map generation. Biomes are areas with similar ground and underground and vegetation.

Biome types

The biomes depend on the map generator used. Most map generators have the same biomes, but v6 is different.

v5, v7, valleys, flat, fractal

Biomes in these map generators are defined by mods. If these are not defined, these map generators only generate stone worlds. Biomes in these map generators are not linked to the terrain shape; this means any biome (including grasslands) can form in flat or very mountainous areas. This section shows the biomes used by Minetest Game.

Name and Features	Description	Images
Grassland Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Grass, Flower, Bush Leaves, Bush Stem	Grassland has large amounts of Dirt nodes and Dirt with Grass blocks, on which flowers, Grass and bushes may appear naturally in this area. The underground is made of stone.	Grassland biome, as of 0.4.15
Coniferous forest Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Pine Tree, Pine Needles, Grass, Flower, Red Mushroom, Brown Mushroom	Coniferous forests grow in colder areas and are filled with pine trees. Pine tree forests can also be covered with snow in cold regions.	Pine tree forest in 0.4.13.
Deciduous forest Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Tree, Leaves, Aspen Tree, Aspen Leaves, Apple, Red Mushroom, Brown Mushroom, Bush Leaves, Bush Stem	Deciduous forests are one of the most common biomes in Minetest and form in temperate zones. Trees, apple trees and aspen trees grow here naturally. Generally forests can spawn lakes, ponds, and rivers inside of it. Deciduous forests usually surround plains.	Forest with regular and aspen trees in 0.4.15
Rainforest Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Rainforest Litter, Jungle Grass, Jungle Tree, Jungle Leaves, Brown Mushroom, Waterlily	Rainforests (or jungles) are made of large jungle trees which grow thickly packed together. Jungle Grass and Jungle Trees bearing Jungle Leaves spawn here naturally. On fallen jungle tree logs, brown mushrooms may appear rarely. Jungles near oceans form a swamp with waterlilies.	Rainforest biome in v7 as of 0.4.16 Rainforest swamp biome as of 0.4.15
Savanna Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Dry Grass, Dry Grass, Acacia Tree, Acacia Leaves, Acacia Bush Leaves, Acacia Bush Stem, Waterlily, Papyrus	The savanna is a dry land which is not a desert, it is populated with acacia trees and dry grass. Flat water bordering to savannahs is likely to have waterlilies and papyri.	Savannah in 0.4.15
Desert Desert Stone, Desert Sand, Cactus, Dry Shrub	Deserts contain large amounts of desert sand and desert stone. Cacti and dry shrubs also spawn here naturally on desert sand. Cacti can form in two different shapes. Deserts form in hot and dry areas.	Desert biome in v7, as of 0.4.15
Sandstone desert Sand, Sandstone, Dry Shrub	Sandstone deserts are large barren areas covered by sand with sandstone below. They form in temperate and dry climates.	Sandstone desert, as of 0.4.15
Cold desert Silver Sand, Stone, Dry Shrub	Cold deserts are large barren areas covered by large amounts of silver sand on top of stone. They form in cold and dry areas.	A cold desert, as of 0.4.15
Snowy grassland Stone, Dirt, Snow, Dirt with Snow, Bush Leaves, Bush Stem	The snowy grassland biome usually borders grasslands and is completely covered by a thin layer snow on top of dirt with snow. A few snow-covered bushes can be found here.	Snowy grassland, as of 0.4.15
Taiga Stone, Dirt, Snow, Dirt with Snow, Pine Tree, Pine Needles, Dry Shrub, Brown Mushroom, Red Mushroom	Taigas are cold snow-covered biomes with rich vegetation with snow and dirt with snow as surface. They are populated with snow-covered pine trees. In pine tree forests, mushrooms may appear rarely on fallen pine tree logs.	Pine trees in a taiga, as of 0.4.13
Tundra Stone, Snow Block	Tundras are barren biomes in very cold climates with no vegetation and a single layer of snow blocks on top of stone. They are usually found between taigas, snowy grass lands and glaciers. This is one of the few biomes where snow blocks (rather than just snow) generates.	Tundra in 0.4.15
Glacier Ice, Snow Block	Glaciers form only in the coldest regions and are made of large amounts of ice, covered by a thick layer of snow blocks without any vegetation. Glacier biomes can be either mountain-like as in the screenshot or very flat. Glacier biomes generally border ice sheet biomes near oceans.	A large glacier formation, bordered by a regular snow biome, as of 0.4.13
Ice sheet Ice, Snow Block	Ice sheets form only in te coldest regions on top of oceans and generally border glacier biomes. Ice sheets are very flat and consist of a single layer of snow blocks with up to 10 layers of ice beneath, “floating” above water in deep oceans.	Ice sheet in 0.4.15

v6

The v6 map generator has a predefined set of biomes which can't be changed by mods directly. The outcome in different subgames will generally be very similar. In general, v6 biomes are a lot simpler than the biomes of the other map generators.

Biomes

Name	Main Blocks	Decorations	Description	Images
Plains	Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass	Grass, Flower	Plains are a quite flat biome. Large amounts of Dirt nodes and Dirt with Grass blocks, on which flowers and Grass may appear naturally (since 0.4.7). There are no bushes. The underground is made of stone.	Plains biome, as of 0.4.13
Forest	Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Tree, Leaves, Apple	Grass, Flower	Forests are one of the most common biomes in v6 and form in temperate zones. Regular trees and apple trees grow here naturally. Forests usually surround plains. There are no aspen trees or fallen tree logs.	A forest of regular trees in 0.4.9
Desert	Desert Stone, Desert Sand	Cactus, Dry Shrub	Deserts contain large amounts of desert sand and desert stone and often form large cliffs or canyons. Cacti and dry shrubs also spawn here naturally in clusters on desert sand. Deserts spawn underground rivers and lakes which can be over 200 blocks deep. In v6, cacti only form in a “column” shape of up to 4 blocks high.	Desert biome, as of 0.4.7
Jungle	Stone, Dirt, Dirt with Grass, Jungle Tree, Jungle Leaves, Jungle Grass	Flower, Grass	Jungles contains large trees which grow thickly packed together. Jungle Grass and Jungle Trees bearing Jungle Leaves spawn here naturally. Jungles in v6 very similar to the jungles in the other map generators, but there are no fallen tree logs, mushrooms or swamps. Although technically possible, flowers and grasses only appear rarely in this biome.	Jungle biome as of 0.4.16
Taiga	Stone, Snow Block, Dirt with Snow, Snow, Pine Tree, Pine Needles		The surface is covered with snow blocks on top of dirt with snow. Snow-covered pine tree forests are common in this biome.	The two main features of taigas: snow blocks and pine trees (0.4.15)
Tundra	Stone, Dirt with Snow, Snow	Dry Shrub	Tundras are large open fields with thin layers of snow and are populated by dry shrubs. There are two variations of this biome.	Tundra biome in 0.4.15
Ice sheet	Ice, Water		Ice sheets are two layers of ice on top of ocean water. They generate bordering directly to taigas and tundras.	Ice sheet in 0.4.15

Landscape features

Landscape features form (more or less) separately from biomes.

Name	Blocks	Description	Images
Sand beach	Water, Stone, Sand, Clay	Sand beaches are made out of sand and form at at height of Y=2 and below, which is near the sea level by default. Sand beaches often extend deep into the ocean, which can easily turn a large part of the ocean floor into sand. The sand replaces the floor of other biomes. Depending on the terrain shape, sand beaches can be short or very long and wide (as seen in the screenshot). Clay can be found in the sand and forms in small to medium-sized “blobs” underwater (Technically, clay is generated as an ore by Minetest Game). Sand beaches are generated based on height and Perlin noise; they technically form independent of the water of oceans. This effect can be noted if the water level (with the setting water_level) has been reduced.	A sand beach bordering a desert in 0.4.15
Ocean	Water, Stone, Dirt, Sand	Oceans are a landscape feature that seemed to be implemented around 0.2.20110731_1 Pre-Alpha. An ocean is just a large body of water that can be up to 250 blocks deep. They may be referred to as lakes, but are called oceans because they can be so huge, sometimes even 200-350 blocks across. The natural ocean floor is dirt, but sand is also common because of sand beaches.	A large ocean in 0.4.15
Island	All blocks from the v6 biomes, Water	Islands occur many times in oceans. Islands usually raise out of the ground 3-10 blocks, but can get as large as 40-80 blocks tall.	A small beach-style island, as of 0.4.7
Mountain	Blocks are similar to those of forests and plains	Mountains are the most treacherous to scale. Trees grow here naturally. It is quite easy to be killed in a mountain landscape if you don't pay attention to where you are going.	Mountains, before 0.4.7
Plateau	Almost all blocks from the v6 biomes	A giant structure that seems to have appeared from version 0.4 on, plateaus are very common in deserts but also in mountainous terrain. Plateaus can even float above ground and generate miniature biomes on top of it.	A plateau, as of 0.4.7
Water cave	Stone, Water	Water caves are caves that only occur at sea level, which turn into a huge underground river or lake. In extreme cases, these caves can lead thousands of blocks down and are extremely easily to get lost in.	A water cave, as of 0.4.7
Gravel field	Gravel	Very rarely, unusually large gravel fields can appear on the surface. These areas consist of nothing but gravel.	A gravel area in 0.4.15

History

Minetest development

The first biome; "Chaos" biome

An undefinable biome (0.0.1)

Early mapgen version 6 with forest and desert biomes, somewhere around 0.4.0

Snow biomes in mapgen v6 (0.4.13)

Mapgen v7 supporting the Biome API. Shows the now removed sandstone grasslands from Minetest Game (0.4.13)

• Before Minetest had version numbers, biomes were undefinable and only consisted of 4 materials: grass, stone, light and “water” (as seen in the images).
• 0.0.1: It brought actual biomes to the table, but before 0.2.20110529 Pre-Alpha map generation was a bit of a mess. Biomes would cross into each other, and were generally undefinable.
• 0.3.0 and before: Biomes were very basic. There were only grasslands, forests, oceans and beaches.
• 0.4.0: The map generator version 6 was introduced. This map generator had the same biomes as before in its early versions. Deserts and later jungles have been added later.
• 0.4.13: Taigas and tundras have been added to the v6 mapgen. Around this time, work on the Biome API has begun, but it was not useful yet.
• 0.4.14: The Biome API has been introduced for the v7 mapgen which allows mods to create their own biomes from scratch. This was a major milestone because the Biome API is much more flexible than the hardcoded v6 biomes; the biomes can be much richer now. All mapgens now support the Biome API, except v6, which continues to have its hardcoded biomes.

Minetest Game biomes

• Before 0.4.14: Minetest Game did not create any biomes; all biomes were created by Minetest instead. Minetest Game merely added some decorations to the v6 mapgen, like flowers, papyri, cacti, etc.
• 0.4.14: Minetest Game started to use the new Biome API which made the v7 mapgen finally suitable for playing. Minetest Game used the Biome API to add glaciers, ice sheets, tundras, taigas, stone grasslands, sandstone grasslands, coniferous forests, deciduous forests, deserts, savannas, rainforests, swamps and beaches. The v6 biomes are unchanged.
• 0.4.15: Snowy grasslands, cold deserts and sandstone deserts have been added. The sandstone grasslands have been removed.

See also

For more detail on the evolution of the map generator, see the Map Generator Evolution page.