True Difficulty Scale
by SomeKoiFee
True Difficulty Scale lets a player or modpack developer pick one of several difficulty worlds, each changing how hard the game plays.
What it does
Adding True Difficulty Scale to a Forge 1.20.1 instance introduces three new difficulties, named Casual, Expert and Malicious, and each one can be set in a dedicated config file. The config file, named difficultyscaleconfig, controls how much damage the player deals and receives, and it can also change the stats of specific mobs under each difficulty. Entities and items can be locked so they only appear or can be obtained in the difficulty chosen for the world.
Items and entities are tied to difficulties through tags. The tags truedifficultyscale:casual, truedifficultyscale:expert and truedifficultyscale:malicious place an item or entity in that difficulty, while the min variants of the expert tag make it available from Expert upward instead of Expert only. An item or entity can carry only one of these tags, and mods that add content can use the same tags, including for items that sit in a Curios slot.
The mod is released under All rights reserved and is not open source. A server running it needs every connecting player to have it too. Files are published for Forge only, for 1.20.1, with version 1.2.0 as the latest build from 2026-05-09.
Key features
Selectable difficulty worlds
A world can be started on Casual, Expert or Malicious, with each setting changing the stats of the game.
Difficulty-locked items
Items can be restricted to a single difficulty, so exclusive gear is only obtainable where it fits.
Difficulty-locked entities
Entities tagged for a difficulty spawn only when the player is playing that difficulty.
Per-mob stat changes
Specific mobs can have their attributes adjusted for each difficulty through the config file.
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
Hero Evolution is a Forge 1.20.1 mod with client and server environment and All rights reserved, so like True Difficulty Scale it needs both sides. More Vanilla Enchantments Levels (MVEL) targets Fabric and Forge for 1.20.1 and is server-side only, so players do not install it, while True Difficulty Scale requires the client as well.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| True Difficulty Scale | Forge | 1.20.1 | Client and server | 2026-05-09 |
| Hero Evolution | Forge | 1.20.1 | Client and server | 2026-10-02 |
| More Vanilla Enchantments Levels (MVEL) | Fabric and Forge | 1.20.1 | Server-side only | 2026-07-21 |
Questions
Does the server need True Difficulty Scale?
How are items locked to a difficulty?
Which difficulty do players start on?
In the catalog
True Difficulty Scale is one of 36,990 Utility mods on ModsFinder, and one of 14,575 Utility mods for Forge. 34,764 mods support Minecraft 1.20.1.
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What the author says
Adds 3 New Difficulties; Casual, Expert, and Malicious, each changing how hard the game is with fully customizable and configurable stats, difficulty exclusive items, and difficulty exclusive entities! By using the config, modpack developers or players can customize how difficult the game is, with the ability to lock…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/true-difficulty-scale
- Owner
- SomeKoiFee
- Published
- 2026-05-07
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-05-09
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15
