Prehistoric Variants (A Fossils and Archeology Revival Add-On)
by JayZX535
Prehistoric Variants, a Forge add-on, gives dinosaurs from the Fossils and Archeology mod two new spawn conditions and a handful of extra variants.
What it does
Variants are the alternate appearances a mob can spawn with, and this add-on adds spawn conditions for the dinosaurs of Fossils and Archeology: Revival. Both new conditions can be made optional and hereditary, so a newborn can inherit the biome and the random variant of its parent. The add-on includes a handful of extra variants that demonstrate the new system, among them two smilodon variants and a few custom surprises, and the same conditions can be used by datapack-defined variants as well.
The mod depends on Fossils and Archeology: Revival, which must be installed alongside it. Prehistoric Variants runs on client and server, so the server and every player need it. It is published for Forge only, for 1.18.2, with version 1.0 as the latest file, and the code is open source under the MIT License.
The author notes a known bug in Fossils and Archeology that affects variant conditions and can cause problems on servers, which may keep variants from appearing. The author is not aware of the bug being fixed in the current build, and expects it to be addressed in future versions of that mod.
Key features
Biome-based spawn condition
A dinosaur variant can be tied to a biome, so it appears only where that biome is present.
Hereditary variants
Either condition can be set to pass down, so offspring inherit the biome and the random variant of the parent.
Extra variants
A handful of additional dinosaur variants show the new system in use, including two smilodon variants.
Datapack variants
Variants added through datapacks use the same conditions as the built-in ones, which suits custom resource packs.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Required 1
How it compares
Ancient Earth is also a Fossils and Archeology add-on, but it targets 1.20.1 and is open source under the MIT License, with a client and server environment. Yapi: Paleofusion is a Forge mod for 1.20.1 that is client or server optional, so either side can run it alone, and it is released under the MIT License. Prehistorica is a client and server Forge mod for 1.20.1 released as All rights reserved, and it is not open source.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prehistoric Variants (A Fossils and Archeology Revival Add-On) | Forge | 1.18.2 | Client and server | 2025-03-21 |
| Ancient Earth (Fossils and Archeology: Revival Addon) | Forge | 1.20.1 | Client and server | 2026-03-23 |
| Yapi: Paleofusion | Forge | 1.20.1 | Client or server, optional | 2026-05-28 |
| Prehistorica | Forge | 1.20.1 | Client and server | 2025-08-19 |
Questions
Does Prehistoric Variants need Fossils and Archeology: Revival?
Does Prehistoric Variants work on servers?
Which game versions does Prehistoric Variants support?
In the catalog
Prehistoric Variants (A Fossils and Archeology Revival Add-On) is one of 11,058 Mobs mods on ModsFinder, and one of 6,527 Mobs mods for Forge. 9,044 mods support Minecraft 1.18.2.
More from JayZX535
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What the author says
Prehistoric Variants is an add-on for the Fossils & Archeology: Revival mod that adds additional variant spawn conditions to the mod, as well as a handful of extra variants that use them. Like the default variants, new variants can be added via datapack, making this a great resource for variant making. The mod adds…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/prehistoric-variants
- Owner
- JayZX535
- Published
- 2025-03-20
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-03-21
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15