Creating an Hello World Datapack with Kore

Welcome to the world of Minecraft datapack creation! If you've ever wanted to create your own Minecraft datapack but felt limited by traditional tools, Kore, a Kotlin-based library, is here to make the process easier and more efficient. In this article, we'll guide you through creating a simple datapack that displays a "Hello World" message in the chat when the game loads. We'll show you how to do this using traditional commands and then how to achieve the same result using Kore.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, make sure you have the following:

• Minecraft Java Edition installed.
• A basic understanding of Minecraft commands.
• Kotlin and a Kotlin-compatible IDE (like IntelliJ IDEA or Pycharm) installed.
• Kore library set up in your Kotlin project.

Check Kore Introduction for more information on how to set up Kore in your Kotlin project.

Creating the Datapack with Commands

Step 1: Setting Up the Datapack Folder

1. Navigate to your Minecraft saves folder. This is usually located at C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\saves\[Your World Name].
2. Inside your world folder, create a new folder named datapacks.
3. Inside the datapacks folder, create a new folder for your datapack. Let's name it hello_world.

Step 2: Creating the Datapack Files

1. Inside the hello_world folder, create a file named pack.mcmeta with the following content:

   {
        "pack": {
            "pack_format": 41,
            "description": "Hello World Datapack"
        }
   }
   

   Copy

2. Create a folder named data inside the hello_world folder.

3. Inside the data folder, create another folder named minecraft.

4. Inside the minecraft folder, create a folder named tags.

5. Inside the tags folder, create a folder named functions.

6. Inside the functions folder, create a file named load.json with the following content:

   {
        "values": [
            "hello_world:load"
        ]
   }
   

   Copy

Step 3: Creating the Function File

1. Inside the data folder, create a new folder named hello_world.
2. Inside the hello_world folder, create a folder named functions.
3. Inside the functions folder, create a file named load.mcfunction with the following content:

   tellraw @a {"text":"Hello World","color":"green"}
   

   Copy

Step 4: Loading the Datapack

1. Open Minecraft and load your world.
2. Use the command /reload to load the new datapack.
3. You should see the "Hello World" message in the chat.

Creating the Datapack with Kore

Step 1: Setting Up Your Kotlin Project

1. Create a new Kotlin project in your IDE.
2. Add the Kore library to your project. You can find the setup instructions on the Kore README. Or use the Kore Template.

Step 2: Creating the Datapack with Kore

1. Create a new Kotlin file in your project. Let's name it HelloWorldDatapack.kt.
2. Add the following code to create the datapack:

   import io.github.ayfri.kore.arguments.chatcomponents.textComponent
   import io.github.ayfri.kore.arguments.colors.Color
   import io.github.ayfri.kore.arguments.types.literals.allPlayers
   import io.github.ayfri.kore.commands.tellraw
   import io.github.ayfri.kore.dataPack
   import io.github.ayfri.kore.functions.load
   import io.github.ayfri.kore.pack.pack
   import kotlin.io.path.Path
   
   fun main() {
   	   val datapack = dataPack("hello_world") {
   		   pack {
   			   description = textComponent("Hello World Datapack")
   			   format = 41
   		   }
   
   		   load {
   			   tellraw(allPlayers(), textComponent {
   				   text ="Hello World"
   				   color = Color.GREEN
   			   })
   		   }
   
   		   path = Path("path/to/your/minecraft/saves/[Your World Name]/datapacks")
   	   }
   
   	   datapack.generateZip()
   }
   

   Copy

Step 3: Running the Kotlin Code

1. Run the HelloWorldDatapack.kt file in your IDE.
2. This will generate the datapack files and save them to the specified path.

Step 4: Loading the Datapack

1. Open Minecraft and load your world.
2. Use the command /reload to load the new datapack.
3. You should see the "Hello World" message in the chat.

Under the Hood

Kore will generate the necessary files for your datapack based on the code you provide. The load function will create a function with a random name and add the tellraw command to it. So you don't need to worry about naming the function or creating the function file, this simplifies the process for beginners. The pack function will create the pack.mcmeta file with the specified description and format. The dataPack function will create the necessary folders and files for the datapack. The generateZip function will generate a zip file containing the datapack files.

Conclusion

In this article, we've shown you how to create a simple Minecraft datapack that displays a "Hello World" message in the chat when the game loads. We demonstrated how to achieve this using traditional commands and then how to simplify the process using the Kore library in Kotlin. Kore makes it easier to write cleaner, more maintainable code for your Minecraft datapacks. For more detailed information and advanced features, be sure to check out the Kore documentation and explore the Kore repository on GitHub. Happy coding!