Cortex

Non-metal ores such as emeralds and diamonds yield a raw material that a player polishes at a grindstone before the item can be used. Ore spawning is also adjusted: redstone and lapis lazuli ore appear in varied clusters, drop counts are trimmed slightly, and copper ore becomes much less common. Diamond tools and armor have a recolored appearance closer to real diamond.

Ancient debris is no longer mined as an ore. Suspicious netherrack yields debris scraps, and nine scraps craft into a full ancient debris block that needs smelting. Holding the molten debris in the left hand and right-clicking an anvil with a diamond pickaxe in the right hand hammers it into a netherite ingot. Smithing templates for netherite are disabled, and applying a netherite piece at an anvil costs 5 levels.

Deposits can also turn up beneath certain fossils, in soul sand valleys and around ruined portals, and the Nether follows the same archaeology process, making suspicious netherrack a block that can be brushed. Cortex works mainly as a cosmetic overhaul of gemstones and the netherite system, with extra ores and blocks added. It requires Fabric API and runs on client and server, so the server and every player need it. Builds cover 1.21.1 – 26.2, and the code is licensed under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.