Minecraft's structures and mods have a few interesting similarities: they have both been a part of the game for more than a decade, and both breathe life into the beautiful but otherwise unexciting worlds generated with Minecraft's best seeds. Because of this, many of the game's largest, best, and most beloved mods focus on either upgrading vanilla structures or adding totally new ones.
Detailed below are the five best mods for either overhauling the somewhat tame vanilla structures or adding exciting new ones.
NOTE: This article is subjective and reflects the views of the writer.
The five best mods for new Minecraft structures
1) Recurrent Complex
No list of the best Minecraft structure mods would be complete without Recurrent Complex. This mod adds more than 200 randomized structures across pretty much every biome. There are new water shrines and pyramids to fill the deserts, as well as windmills and graveyards scattered around the plains.
However, what really makes Recurrent Complex such an incredible structure mod is the ability to easily create custom structures that can then be generated. Additionally, there is a fan repository for custom structures, essentially making this mod limitless.
2) Repurposed Structures
The Repurposed Structures mod, as the name suggests, aims to repurpose pre-existing structures and use them in new and interesting ways. Probably the best example of the interesting combinations possible is the large, city-style villages that can sometimes appear. These huge structures are flush with villagers, allowing for very easy Minecraft villager trading halls.
As a minor bonus, the developer for the incredibly popular YUNG's mods actually also worked on this pack, so compatibility between the two is built in. A nice bonus, to say the least. On the note of compatibility, the mod creator, telepathicgrunt, states that due to how the mod is coded, it should be near impossible for incompatibilities to happen.
3) When Dungeons Arise
When Dungeons Arise is an exploration and structure-based mod that adds more than 30 large and impressive structures to the world, nearly all of which are very well made and balanced between difficulty and reward.
One of the most interesting structures added is the foundry, a large overworld structure tainted by the Nether. They are made up of nether-esque blocks and filled with netherite and diamond loot. There are also Nether mobs, including overworld blaze spawners, that could be used to make an advanced farm.
Another very interesting structure is the illager fort, which is a larger, more dangerous, treasure-filled Minecraft woodland mansion taken to the extreme. Players will need pretty good gear to survive, especially as the vindicators inside are immune to knockback.
4) The Twilight Forest
The Twilight Forest is one of the oldest still updated mods and is included in many of Minecraft's best modpacks for a good reason. This mod adds a new dimension: the titular Twilight Forest. This dimension is so huge and feature-filled that it makes even the Minecraft fan favorite update 1.16's Nether overhaul look small.
What makes the Twilight Forest mod so great for structures is the fact that this new dimension is filled with completely new content, structures included. There are several new dungeons, as well as eight new bosses to go alongside the mod's eight new biomes.
5) YUNG's collection
YUNG is a name that is very familiar to any player who is familiar with Minecraft's best mods. There is an entire suite of mods centered around overhauling, expanding, and upgrading the game's vanilla structures. They may not be new in terms of concept, but the execution makes them feel totally different.
The most popular of these mods are YUNG's Better Mineshafts, which focuses on adding a bit of excitement to the cave spider-infested mines found underground, and YUNG's Better Dungeons, which breathes new life into the game's original structure. What makes the YUNG mods so incredible is that they make almost every vanilla structure feel exciting and mysterious again.