Rats' Hats
Sometimes the best mods are the simplest ones. Rats' Hats does exactly one thing, and it does it well: it brings every hat from the beloved Rats and Ratlantis mods into plain vanilla Minecraft, with no extra mobs, no complicated dependencies, and no fuss. If you have ever looked at the dapper little rodents in the original mod and thought "I want that hat on my own head," this add-on was made specifically for you.
What Rats' Hats Actually Adds
The concept is refreshingly straightforward. Rats' Hats takes the full collection of headwear found in Rats and Ratlantis and makes each piece craftable in a standard vanilla game. That means you do not need to spawn a single rat, tame a single pet, or fight a single boss to get your hands on the stylish gear. You just gather materials, open your crafting grid, and start building your wardrobe.
The original description says it best: "that's it. that's literally it." There is no hidden content, no sprawling tech tree, and no questline. What you see is what you get, and for players who only ever wanted the cosmetics, that is precisely the appeal. The mod is designed as a lightweight cosmetic expansion rather than a full gameplay overhaul.
Supported Versions and Loaders
Rats' Hats was created with Minecraft 1.16.5 in mind, which remains one of the most heavily modded versions of the game even years after release. The add-on is built for Forge, the loader that dominates the 1.16.5 modding scene, so it slots neatly into existing modpacks and personal setups without conflict. If you are running a Forge profile on 1.16.5, you are good to go. Players on newer versions should check the mod page for any updated builds, since the modding landscape shifts over time.
Why Keep It Vanilla-Friendly?
The decision to make everything craftable in vanilla is deliberate. Porting the entire Rats mod, with all its mobs, AI, and world generation, would be a massive undertaking. Rats' Hats sidesteps that entirely by focusing only on the cosmetic layer. The result is a mod that:
- Works alongside almost any other Forge mod without conflicts
- Adds no new entities, so it has zero impact on server performance
- Requires no dependency on the original Rats mod
- Keeps recipes simple and survival-friendly
- Lets builders and roleplayers access the hats immediately
For server owners, this is a dream. Cosmetic mods that add no mobs and no worldgen are easy to approve and easy to maintain. Your players get new fashion options, and your tick rate stays exactly where it was.
Licensing and Credits
Rats' Hats is a derivative work, and it respects the rules. The original Rats mod was created by Alex1the1666, and its code and assets are released under the LGPLv3 license. This add-on complies fully with those terms, reusing the hat assets while leaving the rest of the original project untouched. Credit goes where credit is due, and the modding community benefits when creators follow licensing properly.
If you are browsing for add-ons, a launcher with a curated catalog makes life easier, and the foxygame.net launcher keeps Rats' Hats alongside thousands of other builds with automatic version matching and one-click installation, so you never have to juggle manual file placement again.
How to Install Rats' Hats
Getting the mod running is about as simple as the mod itself. Follow these steps:
- Install a Forge profile for Minecraft 1.16.5 if you have not already
- Download Rats' Hats from a trusted mod hosting site
- Place the .jar file into your mods folder
- Launch the game using the Forge profile
- Load into a world and check your crafting recipes
That is the entire process. There are no config files to edit, no dependencies to chase down, and no compatibility patches to apply. If something does not appear in your recipe book, double-check that you are actually running Forge and not the vanilla launcher profile.
Final Thoughts
Rats' Hats is a perfect example of a mod that knows its scope. It does not try to reinvent Minecraft, and it does not pretend to be something bigger than it is. It takes a handful of charming hats from two beloved mods and hands them to you in vanilla form, ready to craft. Whether you are building a themed village, dressing up for a roleplay server, or simply want to wander the overworld in a ridiculous piece of headwear, this add-on delivers exactly what it promises. Download Rats' Hats, craft a few hats, and enjoy the small things.