🧭 Overview Better Compass enhances your Minecraft navigation experience by displaying real-time distance and direction to key locations right on your screen. No more guessing how far you are from spawn or your bed!
✨ Features 📍 Real-Time Distance Tracking World Spawn - Always know how far you are from the world spawn point
Bed Location - Track distance to your respawn point (automatically detected)
Clear Display - Clean, non-intrusive overlay in the corner of your screen
🧭 Smart Direction Indicators Cardinal Directions - North, South, East, West
Intercardinal Directions - NE, NW, SE, SW
Exact Distance - In blocks, updated in real-time
⚙️ Customization Toggle On/Off - Show/hide with a simple keybind
Position Control - Move the display anywhere on screen
Color Customization - Choose your preferred colors
Auto-Hide - Automatically hides when close to targets
🎮 How It Works Default Display text Spawn: 256 blocks (North-West) Bed: 64 blocks (South) Setup Install the mod
Join any world
Set your bed by sleeping
The mod automatically detects both locations
Key Features in Action Night Exploration - Never get lost in the dark
Building Projects - Perfect for large-scale constructions
Adventure Maps - Essential for custom maps and challenges
Hardcore Mode - Critical for survival planning
🔧 Technical Details Requirements Minecraft: 1.16.5
Forge: 36.2.34 or newer
Client-side Only - Safe for any server
Performance Minimal Impact - Less than 1% FPS loss
Efficient Updates - Only updates when you move
Memory Efficient - No unnecessary calculations
🛠️ Installation Simple Installation Download bettercompass-1.16.5-1.0.0.jar
Place in .minecraft/mods/ folder
Launch Minecraft with Forge
For Developers bash git clone [repository] ./gradlew build
Output: build/libs/bettercompass-1.0.0.jar
🎯 Use Cases For Survival Players Never lose your base - Always find your way back
Plan expeditions - Know exactly how far you've traveled
Respawn strategy - Optimize bed placement
For Builders Large projects - Maintain orientation in massive builds
Symmetric designs - Perfect alignment from spawn
Territory marking - Define build boundaries
For Adventure Maps Custom objectives - "Find the temple 500 blocks East"
Navigation puzzles - Use distance clues
Race maps - Checkpoint distance tracking
⚡ Performance Optimized Smart Rendering Only renders when needed
Minimal texture bindings
Efficient text rendering
Configurable Settings toml
Toggle features
show_spawn = true show_bed = true
Display settings
x_position = 5 y_position = 5 scale = 1.0
Auto-hide when close
auto_hide = true hide_distance = 10 🔄 Compatibility Works With ✅ OptiFine
✅ JourneyMap
✅ Xaero's Minimap
✅ Most popular mods
Server Safe No server installation required
Doesn't affect gameplay
Pure visual enhancement
📈 Why Better Compass? Over Standard Compass Feature Vanilla Compass Better Compass Distance Display ❌ No ✅ Yes Bed Tracking ❌ No ✅ Yes Direction Precision ❌ Basic ✅ Detailed On-Screen Display ❌ No ✅ Always visible Over Other Mods Lightweight - No heavy dependencies
Simple - Just works, no complex setup
Accurate - Uses Minecraft's own coordinates
🎨 Customization Options Display Modes Simple - Just distance
Standard - Distance + direction
Detailed - Distance + direction + coordinates
Color Themes Default - Blue for spawn, Orange for bed
Custom - Any hex color you prefer
Themed - Match your resource pack
🚀 Quick Start Guide Install the mod
Join any world
Sleep in a bed to set it
Travel away from spawn/bed
Watch the distances update in real-time!
🔍 Technical Implementation How It Calculates Distance - Pythagorean theorem in 3D space
Direction - Trigonometric angle calculation
Updates - Only on player movement or config change
Code Architecture java // Simple and efficient
- Subscribe to render events
- Get player and target positions
- Calculate distance and direction
- Render text on screen 🤝 Community Features For Modpack Makers Easy to include in any pack
Configurable defaults
No conflicts with other mods
Translations Built-in support for multiple languages
Easy to add new translations
Community contributions welcome
📊 Real-World Examples Scenario 1: Lost in a Cave text Before: "Where am I? Which way is out?" After: "Spawn: 128 blocks (North-East) - Got it!" Scenario 2: Base Building text Before: "How far is my farm from spawn?" After: "Farm: 64 blocks (West) - Perfect distance!" Scenario 3: Nether Portal Linking text Before: "Will this portal link correctly?" After: "Overworld spawn: 256 blocks - Math checks out!" 🛡️ Safety & Privacy No Data Collection ✅ No analytics
✅ No telemetry
✅ No internet connection required
✅ 100% offline functionality
No Game Modification Doesn't change game mechanics
Doesn't affect mob spawning
Doesn't modify world generation
Pure visual enhancement only
🔮 Future Updates Planned ✅ Current: Spawn and bed tracking
🔄 In Development: Lodestone compass support
📋 Planned: Waypoint system
💡 Ideas: Coordinate sharing between players
❓ FAQ Q: Does this work in multiplayer? A: Yes! Works on any server without server-side installation.
Q: Will this affect my FPS? A: Minimal impact (1-2 FPS at most).
Q: Can I move the display? A: Yes, fully configurable position.
Q: Does it work with shaders? A: Yes, compatible with all shader packs.
Q: How accurate is it? A: 100% accurate - uses Minecraft's coordinate system.
📜 License MIT License - Free to use, modify, and distribute.
Links Discord: https://discord.gg/rneQAppRMc
