UltraVein: The Vein Miner That Shows You the Blocks Before They Break
Mining in Minecraft has always followed the same rhythm: swing, collect, swing again. UltraVein interrupts that rhythm in the best possible way. Hold a key, break one block, and an entire vein disappears in a single action. What separates this add-on from the pile of other vein miners is simple: you see exactly which blocks are about to go before you commit to the swing.
What Makes UltraVein Different
Most vein miners break a connected vein and stop there. UltraVein gives you ten distinct shapes on a scroll wheel, highlights every affected block in advance, and runs on Fabric, Forge and NeoForge from one codebase. There is no Architectury, no config library, and nothing extra to install alongside it. The mod declares a dependency on Minecraft and nothing else.
See It First
While you hold the activation key, the blocks that will break light up. The yellow marker shows the block you are currently looking at, and everything else in the shape is outlined so there is no guessing and no surprises. This preview system is the core of the experience, and it changes how you plan every mining trip.
Ten Shapes on a Scroll Wheel
Every geometric shape follows the face you are looking at. Mine into a wall and the tunnel bores sideways; look down at the floor and it bores downward. The available shapes include:
- Shapeless vein miner, which takes every connected block of the same kind
- Layer, for flattening floors at a single height
- Column, for clearing straight shafts
- 3x3 and 5x5 patches for quarry walls
- 3x3x3 cube for compact excavation
- 1x1 and 3x3 tunnels for corridors
- Staircases up and down for walkable descents
You can resize shapes live, turning a 3x3 tunnel into a 5x5 or down to 1x1 without opening a menu. The corner readout expands into the full shape list while you scroll, and the entries stay in place so you always know what is coming next.
Controls and Configuration
The default key is V, which vanilla Minecraft leaves unused. Hold V to arm UltraVein, add sneak and the scroll wheel to switch shapes, and use the wheel alone to grow or shrink the current shape. You can rebind everything under Options, Controls, UltraVein, including two optional keys for stepping through shapes without the wheel.
Two plain JSON files live in the config folder and reload in-game with the /ultravein reload command. The server file controls block caps, tunnel lengths, staircase depth, match modes and blacklists. The client file handles HUD position, highlight colour and scroll behaviour. In multiplayer, the server's rules win and are pushed to every client on join, so the highlight always reflects what will really happen.
Honest Durability and Protection Support
Every extra block breaks through the same vanilla call as a normal swing. That is deliberate. Tool damage, Fortune, Silk Touch, drops, experience, statistics, food exhaustion and every protection mod's permission check apply exactly as they always do, rather than being reimplemented and subtly wrong. Forty blocks cost forty durability, and the preventToolBreak option stops before your pickaxe snaps. Claims and protections are respected, and the mod is optional on both sides, so nobody gets kicked from a server for running it or for leaving it out.
If you would rather skip manual file juggling, the foxygame.net launcher handles the whole setup for UltraVein in a single click, keeping the correct build matched to your game version automatically.
Supported Versions and Loaders
UltraVein targets Minecraft 1.20.1 across three loaders. Fabric users need the Fabric API alongside the dedicated jar. Forge 47.x and NeoForge 20.1.x share a single file, because on 1.20.1 NeoForge still functions as a drop-in replacement for Forge. Install it on the server as well, since the actual mining happens server-side. A client-only install shows the highlight but breaks nothing, and it tells you so in red instead of silently failing.
How to Install
- Confirm your loader and Minecraft version, then download UltraVein for Minecraft 1.20.1
- Place the matching jar in your mods folder, adding Fabric API if you use Fabric
- Repeat the process on the server for full functionality
- Launch the game and press V to test the highlight
Anyone searching for a download UltraVein package will find the files split cleanly between the Fabric build and the combined Forge and NeoForge jar, which keeps the install simple no matter which loader you prefer.
Final Thoughts
UltraVein takes a familiar idea and fixes its two biggest weaknesses: uncertainty and dishonesty. The preview system removes the guesswork, and the vanilla-based block breaking keeps durability, enchantments and protection mods working the way they should. With ten shapes, live resizing, sensible configuration and support for three loaders on Minecraft 1.20.1, it earns its place in any modpack that values clean, predictable mining.