Difficult Progression
by CXF__
Difficult Progression slows the early game, so players must gather more raw material before they can craft a single ingot, and the NeoForge mod is built with MCreator.
What it does
Ores drop raw ore nuggets instead of a full raw ore item, so smelting one ingot of a metal such as diamond takes many more ore blocks. The mod targets the early stages of play and makes the first hours noticeably harder. It is a small mod that adds no new ores and no new tools or armor beyond bronze, and it does not add upgrade templates for iron.
Beyond tin and bronze, the content stays close to vanilla. Difficult Progression was made in collaboration between the CXF team and a friend who made the assets and asked to stay anonymous. The mod is inspired by a Fabric progression launcher but differs from it in several ways. It was made for one specific modpack, so it is not a general compatibility layer for other packs or launchers.
The mod runs on NeoForge for 1.21.1 only, with the latest file 1.0.1 published on 2025-11-30. Both the server and every player need it, because the environment is client and server. The code and assets are released under CC0 1.0 Universal, which places them in the public domain, and the mod is not open source.
Key features
Raw ore nuggets
Ores drop raw ore nuggets rather than a whole raw ore item, so smelting needs more mining per ingot.
Slower early game
The first stages of progression take considerably longer, which is the core purpose of the mod.
Tin and bronze
Tin is added along with bronze tools and armor, the only new metals and equipment in the mod.
No iron upgrade templates
The mod does not add upgrade templates for iron, so iron gear follows the vanilla path.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
How it compares
Gemstone Ore is a NeoForge mod for 1.21.1 – 1.21.11, with the client and server environment and All rights reserved as its license. Instant Ingot is also NeoForge and client and server, for 1.21.1 – 1.21.5 under the MIT License. Progression Reforged is NeoForge for 1.21.1 only, and it is also all rights reserved. Difficult Progression is the only one of these that is released under CC0 1.0 Universal.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficult Progression | NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2025-11-30 |
| Gemstone Ore | NeoForge | 1.21.1 – 1.21.11 | Client and server | 2026-02-14 |
| Instant Ingot | NeoForge | 1.21.1 – 1.21.5 | Client and server | 2025-04-04 |
| Progression Reforged | NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-10-15 |
Questions
Does Difficult Progression need to be installed on the server?
Which Minecraft version does Difficult Progression support?
Can Difficult Progression be used in other modpacks?
In the catalog
Difficult Progression is one of 17,631 Equipment mods on ModsFinder, and one of 7,420 Equipment mods for NeoForge. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
Similar mods
What the author says
Difficult Progression is a small mod that makes progression in the early game considerably harder and most importantly: slower. This mod is inspired by Progression Reborn for the Frabic launcher, but it remains different in multiple ways: Besides adding tin and bronze, Difficult Progression doesn't add upgrade…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/difficult-progression
- Owner
- CXF__
- Published
- 2025-11-30
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-11-30
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15