Hi everyone,Our team has been hard at work for months completely rewriting JurassiCraft for modern Minecraft, and we're incredibly excited to finally release the JurassiCraft 3.0 Alpha for Minecraft 26.1.2 and requires no dependencies. Just the mod itself!

This is much more than a simple port of the original mod. Nearly every major system has been rebuilt, restored, improved, or expanded. This release includes all 129 prehistoric species, completely rewritten dinosaur AI, unique color variations and genetics for every species, the new Genome Editor, rebuilt laboratory progression, major performance improvements, restored vehicles and structures, expanded park-building content, fossils, skeletons, tools, and much more.

This is an Alpha release, so while the mod is fully playable, you should expect bugs and continued improvements as we work toward the full release. Please report any issues you encounter so we can get them fixed.

The complete changelog is below. Thank you to everyone who has continued supporting JurassiCraft and helped make this rewrite possible.

Our goal is to open the JurassiCraft 3.0 port to additional Patreon tiers once Alpha testing is complete and the mod is stable. This initial Alpha period will give us time to identify and resolve any remaining issues before expanding access more broadly.

We hope you enjoy JurassiCraft 3.0! 🦖

CHANGELOG BELOW:

JurassiCraft 3.0

JurassiCraft has been completely rebuilt for Minecraft 26.1.2 on NeoForge.

This is far more than a port of the original 1.12.2 mod. JurassiCraft 3.0 brings the full prehistoric roster, genetics and laboratory progression, vehicles, structures, fossils, park-building content, and much more into modern Minecraft while introducing major new systems and extensive improvements to dinosaur AI, visuals, performance, balance, and quality of life.

🧬 Genome Editor & Unique Dinosaur Colors

Every one of JurassiCraft's 129 prehistoric species can now have unique color variations.

The new Genome Editor lets you customize Dinosaur DNA before creating an animal. Insert DNA to see a live, rotatable preview of the dinosaur and:

Generate Natural Variant using colors appropriate for that species

Generate Random Variant using colors from across the color spectrum

Reset the animal to its original appearance

Clone DNA to copy a color combination you like onto another DNA sample of the same species

Preview your dinosaur as a glowing hologram before committing to the genome

Different parts of patterned dinosaurs can vary independently, including their body, markings, underside, and other species-specific features, creating a huge number of possible appearances.

Natural dinosaurs use carefully selected palettes designed to keep their colors believable.

Colors are also genetic. Offspring inherit color traits from their parents, allowing you to selectively breed dinosaur lineages for appearances you like.

Genetics now remain attached throughout the entire laboratory process. DNA taken from an individual dinosaur can preserve that animal's size and colors through extraction, storage, incubation, and cloning.

🦖 Completely Rewritten Dinosaur AI

Creature behavior has been extensively rebuilt.

Major improvements have been made to:

Hunting and combat

Feeding and drinking

Sleeping and resting

Growth

Breeding

Taming and imprinting

Herding and flocking

Navigation and pathfinding

Carcass behavior

Land and aquatic movement

Enclosure behavior

Dinosaurs navigate parks much more reliably, escape corners and shallow water, find food and water more effectively, and interact more naturally with their surroundings.

Aquatic creatures have also received major improvements. Marine animals seek appropriate water depth, return to water if beached, and navigate aquatic enclosures more naturally.

Microraptor retains its unique behavior and can climb trees and glide back to the ground.

🎨 129 Prehistoric Species

JurassiCraft 3.0 includes 129 prehistoric species, restoring the complete creature and hybrid roster from JurassiCraft 1.12.2.

Creature models, animations, sounds, shadows, gender-specific features, and numerous visual issues have been corrected or improved.

Creatures also now use detailed multi-part hitboxes, allowing you to interact with dinosaurs where their models actually are and even walk beneath many large dinosaurs.

⚡ Major Performance Improvements

JurassiCraft has been heavily optimized, particularly for players building large parks with many dinosaurs.

Performance improvements have been made across:

Creature AI and pathfinding

Dinosaur rendering

Large creatures

Food and water searches

Creature sounds

Plants

Electric fences

Feeders

Museum displays

Laboratory machines

Large parks with hundreds of dinosaurs should now run significantly more smoothly in both singleplayer and multiplayer.

🧪 Rebuilt Genetics & Laboratory Progression

All 14 laboratory machines have been restored and improved.

Machines have received improved visuals, animations, and feedback, while new slot hints make it easier to understand what items each machine accepts.

The genetics progression has been extensively rebuilt and improved, including:

Fossil processing

DNA extraction and sequencing

DNA storage

DNA synthesis

Hybrid creation

Incubation

Cultivation

Skeleton assembly

Plant DNA

Dinosaur genetics

DNA items can now display information about the individual dinosaur they represent, including its relative size and colors.

JEI integration also makes recipes and progression throughout the laboratory system much easier to understand.

🍖 Rebalanced Food & Metabolism

Dinosaur diets and metabolism have been completely rebalanced.

Food consumption now scales with body size, meaning large dinosaurs require substantially more food than small species.

Food values have also been rebalanced, and dinosaurs are smarter about when and what they eat.

Additional changes include:

Carnivores can eat meat, fish, and eggs

Small carnivores can continue eating insects as adults

Feeders support insects, eggs, krill, and plankton

Feeders display the food value of their contents

Krill and plankton form harvestable colonies in water

Dinosaur food consumption can be customized in world settings

🐣 Improved Growth, Breeding & Ownership

Creature growth and breeding have received major improvements.

Dinosaurs now grow approximately four times faster than in JurassiCraft 1.12.2, making raising dinosaurs much more practical during normal survival gameplay.

Additional improvements include:

Configurable herd sizes and breeding limits

Infants can be hand-fed

Wild infants from imprintable species can imprint on players

Infants follow players holding appropriate food

Improved Follow, Sit, and Wander commands

Improved sleeping behavior

Player-owned, bred, hatched, tamed, and manually spawned creatures never naturally despawn

Creature growth follows time skipped through sleeping

🦴 Restored Fossils & Progression

Fossil hunting has been rebuilt for modern Minecraft world generation.

Fossils can now be discovered throughout Minecraft's expanded underground, with distribution rebalanced so every supported geological period can be found.

The original excavation system also returns, requiring Plaster and Bandage to safely excavate fossils.

Also restored or improved:

Amber

Plant fossils

Petrified wood

Nest fossils

Gracilaria progression

Species-specific fossil and bone artwork

Dinosaur meat genetics

Creative DNA discs for every species

JEI information explaining where important progression resources come from

🌎 Restored World Generation

JurassiCraft structures and prehistoric resources once again generate naturally throughout the world.

Returning structures include:

Visitor Centre

Raptor Paddock

Fossil Dig Site

Geneticist's House

The Geneticist and Paleontologist also return as villager professions with their original trades.

Prehistoric plants, coral, moss, Gracilaria, amber, fossils, nests, trackways, petrified trees, and peat generation have also been restored.

World generation can be extensively customized through JurassiCraft's settings.

🏗️ Expanded Park Building

JurassiCraft 3.0 includes a major restoration and expansion of park-building content.

New and restored building options include:

Multiple glass styles in all 16 colors

Improved connected glass panes

New stairs, slabs, and walls

Complete prehistoric wood sets

Fences and gates

Signs and hanging signs

Shelves

Boats

Large murals

Low and Medium Security electric fences

Powered fence systems

Climbable wire

Tour Rails have also been extensively rewritten, restoring the original system with significantly improved functionality.

🚙 Restored & Improved Vehicles

The Ford Explorer, Jeep Wrangler, and Helicopter return in JurassiCraft 3.0.

Vehicles have received major improvements to their:

Movement and handling

Collisions

Suspension

Cameras

Seats

Sounds

Dismounting

Helicopter flight and crashes

Vehicles also behave much more reliably when saving and reloading worlds.

💀 Skeletons, Museums & Displays

Every supported creature can be assembled as either a fossil skeleton or fresh-bone skeleton.

Display blocks can hold statues and skeletons and allow you to:

Rotate displays

Change poses

Change sex

Place displays underwater

Numerous visual, alignment, and skeleton assembly issues have also been corrected.

🔫 Dart Gun & Returning Tools

The Dart Gun has been completely rewritten and is fully functional again.

It now includes:

HUD ammunition display

Easy unloading

Improved reload and impact feedback

Potion darts

Full potion effect durations

Other returning tools and items include:

Growth Serum

Breeding Wand

Birthing Wand

Pregnancy Test

Syringes

Petri dishes

Storage discs

Bug-catching equipment

Spawn eggs

The PaleoPad also returns with its natural-history pages and expanded information about your dinosaurs.

🌊 Modern Minecraft Improvements

JurassiCraft's content has been updated to work naturally with modern Minecraft.

Highlights include:

Waterlogged JurassiCraft blocks

JEI recipe and progression integration

Jade integration

Recipe-unlock advancements

Modern biome support

Modern world generation

Improved resource-pack support

Extensive world and server configuration

Improved accessibility and localization

🛠️ Hundreds of Fixes & Quality-of-Life Improvements

JurassiCraft 3.0 includes hundreds of fixes and smaller improvements across nearly every part of the mod.

Major improvements include:

Dinosaurs stay inside properly built enclosures more reliably

Large dinosaurs can reliably reach food and water

Aquatic creatures use feeders correctly

Eggs preserve the dinosaur and genetics inside them

Incubation preserves dinosaur genetics

Hybrids correctly inherit genetics from their parents

Laboratory machines behave more reliably

Carcasses remain correctly positioned

Sleeping and resting behavior works more reliably

Name tags display correctly

Creature hitboxes properly follow their bodies

Vehicles save and reload more reliably

Structures generate more reliably

Prehistoric plants grow and spread correctly

Numerous visual, animation, sound, multiplayer, and stability issues have been fixed

⚙️ Requirements

Minecraft 26.1.2

NeoForge 26.1.2.94 or newer

Java 25

JEI optional and fully supported

Jade optional and fully supported

An active JurassiCraft membership is required for initial activation. After activation, JurassiCraft can be played offline. Existing worlds remain safe if a membership expires and can be continued after membership is reactivated.

The JurassiCraft .jar must remain unchanged after download. It can be included in a modpack, but the JurassiCraft file itself should not be modified.

JurassiCraft 3.0 is a complete rebuild of the original mod for modern Minecraft, bringing back the classic JurassiCraft experience while making dinosaurs more alive, parks bigger and easier to manage, progression easier to understand, and the entire mod more polished and performant.