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Realistic Torches is a lightweight mod designed for modpack makers looking to add difficulty to the early game. The primary feature of this mod causes torches to burn out after a configurable amount of time, encouraging players to move toward more permanent light sources early on.

AdFly Mirror

• Torches are now unlit when crafting, and must be lit using a matchbox in a crafting grid or flint and steel after being placed. As a result, the matchbox must be acquired before players can do things like explore caves or prevent hostile spawning.
• Torches will burn out after a specified amount of time (60 minutes real time by default, can be changed in the config) and become unlit. This encourages players to seek more permanent light sources early on, such as glowstone or lava.
• Torches will be extinguished when rained on.
• Permanently lit torches can be crafted using a glowstone crystal instead of coal.
• Naturally light-emitting blocks (and some items) will emit light when held, making it easy to explore at night without having to constantly place torches.
• Torch recipes added by other mods will be removed to ensure that the matchbox or flint and steel must be acquired to craft lit torches.
• Torches generated in vanilla structures will be replaced by lit torches.
• Highly configurable in order to provide you precisely the play experience you want.
• Translations for English, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Pirate.

Torch before being lit

Torch after being lit with flint and steel

1. If you intend to use this mod in an existing world, backup your world first!
2. Install Forge
3. Navigate to your .minecraft folder
4. Download the mod and place the .jar file in .minecraft/mods
5. If you've used a different version of this mod before, delete any existing RealisticTorches.cfg files from .minecraft/config
6. Play!

Unlit Torch (Coal)

Unlit Torch (Charcoal)

Matchbox

Lit Torch (Shapeless, matchbox takes 1 damage per craft)

Glowstone Crystal (Coal)

Glowstone Crystal (Charcoal)

Glowstone Paste (Shapeless)

Vanilla Torch (Glowstone Crystal)

Vanilla Torch (Lit Torch + Glowstone Paste)

Can you use this mod in your modpack? Absolutely! It's recommended to provide a link to the mod's CurseForge page, but that's up to you.

Quote from Zeklo»

Nice and simple, but may I ask why unlit torches give off smoke?

Hmm. That's actually a good point. Originally I had implemented to make it clear from a distance when a torch had burnt out (smoke but no flame) but I suppose it would be even more evident and realistic without it altogether. Thanks for the reminder.

Quote from InceptionSalt»

I've got a little bit of a problem with this mod, whenever I place down a lit torch it places, but then a duplication glitch arises, if I switch to the slot that used to have the lit torch in it, another one appears, if I place it and then break it it gives me an unlit torch and I can repeat this. It makes the mod unusable for me. It may be an incompatibility with one of my other mods though, but among 78 of them it'd be hard to know which one. Dynamic Lights maybe?

Whoops, I knew that was an issue but I thought I fixed it in 1.0.1. Just tested and it's still happening, though. I'll get on that and hopefully I can have an update out soon.

Quote from InceptionSalt»

Ya, I was just doing some testing in Creative mode and was about to say that I don't think it's an incompatibility. The problem is that when you craft an unlit torch and matchbook together, the outcome is a torch, and not the proper item which would be the "Lit Torch"

Edit: Also handheld lights don't seem to be working, don't know if you know that. Is that an upcoming feature? For now I'll just use Dynamic Lights.

That's intended, the regular torch becomes a lit torch when you place it, and that schedules a block update to become a smoldering (and then unlit) torch after the amount of time specified in the config. The issue is that when the event is cancelled it does not seem to be removing a torch from the player's inventory. Originally I had replaced the vanilla torch with the lit torch altogether to avoid using an event to replace it when placed but that messed up other mods' recipes that used the vanilla torch.

About the handheld light sources, that is disabled in the config by default. Just change the '"Handheld Light"=false' line in RealisticTorches.cfg to '"Handheld Light"=true'.

Quote from InceptionSalt»

That's what I did, it doesn't seem to be working for me. If it works for you my guess is an incompatibility with another one of my mods, lol. Dynamic lights is working fine though, so I can stick with that.

Strange, testing it and handheld light sources are working for me. Unfortunately I'm going to have to go for the night now, but I'll have an update out in the morning with these issues fixed. Sorry about that.

Quote from InceptionSalt»

It's alright. I can wait for the morning for a fix! This mod will be the final balancer to what I have, difficulty is important.

Alright, the issue with torches not being removed from your inventory should be fixed with v1.0.3. Handheld light sources are working for me, but I'll try testing with some other mods and see if I run into any issues. Thanks for letting me know of those issues!

Quote from InceptionSalt»

Thanks man, you're fast!

No problem. As for the handheld light sources, did you use a different version of the mod and then update? It might be an issue with the config file being corrupt or not reading the data correctly. Try deleting RealisticTorches.cfg and regenerating it, then changing the light source line again.

Quote from InceptionSalt»

No luck with that.

Alright, I'll start testing with some mods and see what I come up with.

Quote from Grondag»

Hmmm, this is probably not going to work with the Lantern of Paranoia / Sojourner's Staff from Xeno's Reliquary. May be some other mod interactions that are problematic, too.

A suggestion: instead of intercepting the torch placement by the player (very clever, by the way) how about instead altering the vanilla torch recipe to use one glowstone dust and one stick per torch, and let it remain a permanent torch.

You can then have the one stick/one coal recipe give unlit torches, which would be an item from your mod.

That way, vanilla torches remain available for any purpose that might need them, but they aren't something that people will have in quantity until they can get their hands on glowstone.

Ah, thanks for pointing that out! I tested with Xeno's Reliquary and I see your point. I'll see if I can create any kind of interaction between those items and the torch mechanics, if not I will probably implement the permanent torch idea.

EDIT: Has been implemented in v1.2.0.