Nocturnal Mobs
by Kawatt
Nocturnal Mobs changes when hostile mobs spawn, limiting them to night so that the day stays calmer on a server.
What it does
Mobs spawn only at night, and the ones that were already present despawn when day returns. Players get a brief spell of darkness as night begins, then a brief spell of night vision as the day arrives, which helps them notice the shift. The mod keeps track of time even while underground, so the cycle still works without a clock in sight.
Default hostile mobs are grouped under the nocturnalmobs:hostiles tag, and mobs that carry a PersistenceRequired:1b tag, such as those with nametags or picked-up items, are left alone. Zombie villagers and cave spiders are included in the default set, while witches and other mobs have to be added through datapacks. Chicken jokeys need care when a mob mounts an entity. The server must run the mod, while players may leave it out, and the code is open source under the MIT License. It is published for Fabric, Forge and Quilt on 1.19 – 1.19.3, with a data pack build for server platforms.
Key features
Night-only spawning
Hostile mobs appear only after dark and despawn when the day returns.
Dawn and dusk transitions
Darkness at the start of night and night vision at dawn signal the change to players.
Hostiles tag
Default hostile mobs are placed under the nocturnalmobs:hostiles tag, so datapacks can extend the set.
Persistent mobs kept
Mobs with a PersistenceRequired:1b tag, such as those with nametags, are not removed by the despawn rule.
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
Cave Spider Spawn is server-side only, not open source, and published for 1.19.2 – 26.3 under All rights reserved, so it covers cave spiders without the night rule. Villagers Don't Despawn is server required with client optional, under the Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 license, and is built for 1.21.6 – 26.1.2. Calmer Nights needs both the client and the server and is published for 1.16.5 – 1.21.10.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nocturnal Mobs | Fabric, Forge and Quilt | 1.19 – 1.19.3 | Server required, client optional | 2024-01-03 |
| Cave Spider Spawn | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.19.2 – 26.3 | Server-side only | 2026-10-02 |
| Villagers Don't Despawn | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21.6 – 26.1.2 | Server required, client optional | 2026-04-25 |
| Calmer Nights | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.16.5 – 1.21.10 | Client and server | 2025-08-25 |
Questions
Does Nocturnal Mobs need to be installed on the client?
Which loader should a server use for Nocturnal Mobs?
Can witches be made to follow the night rule?
In the catalog
Nocturnal Mobs is one of 11,058 Mobs mods on ModsFinder, and one of 5,189 Mobs mods for Fabric. 7,205 mods support Minecraft 1.19.3.
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What the author says
Mobs only spawn at night, and "despawn" at day. You also get a few seconds of darkness at when night starts and a few seconds of night vision when daytime starts, so you can keep track of the time even while caving without a clock. It will only despawn entities that: - Are in the nocturnalmobs:hostiles tag - Are in…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/nocturnal-mobs
- Owner
- Kawatt
- Published
- 2023-12-27
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2024-01-03
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15