The FTB series of mods is one of the best and most ubiquitous in the modding scene. Out of the top modpacks, only a small handful don’t have at least one of them included. However, working at the support desk for Akliz, some of the most common questions I get are about how to use one or more of these mods. I decided to make a few articles on how to use the best features from some of the FTB mods. In this one, I’ll cover my personal favorite, FTB Chunks.
Overview
FTB Chunks is a mod made to take control over the land in and around your base. Specifically, the main features are chunk claiming, chunk force-loading, and a convenient world map and minimap. We’ll go over all of those features, as well as some more advanced features such as admin commands and server configuration files.
Before I get into all the features of the mod, here is a handy legend that shows various icons that I will be referring to throughout the article.
Legen… Wait for it… dary.
The Map
Now let’s take a look at the map. If you open your inventory, you should see a map icon at the top left. It is the “Map” icon from the legend above.
You can either click that icon, or press the map key (default: M) to open the world map. Some modpacks might change the default keybinding. Here you can see all the land you've explored as well as other objects, some of which need to be configured. For example, you can see nearby mobs, waypoints, and other players. Use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out. You can right click anywhere in the map to create a waypoint, which you will be able to see on your minimap and in the world if you have configured that option. The “quick add waypoint” key is unbound by default, but makes adding waypoints in the world easier.
To manage existing waypoints, you can open the map and click the “Waypoint Manager” icon in the top left corner. From here, you can see all waypoints, categorized by dimension. You can right click a waypoint to rename it, change its color, teleport to it (if you are an OP), or remove it.
You can teleport anywhere on the map you want, if you’re an OP in the server or have cheats enabled in single-player. Just press the T key while hovering your mouse over where you’d like to teleport. The map will automatically show you the dimension you’re in. However, if you’d like to view another dimension at any time, just click the globe icon, labeled as “Change Dimensions” in the legend, on the bottom left to cycle through all currently mapped dimensions. To see all of the hotkeys you can use in the map interface, click the blue “i” icon near the top left, labeled “Key/Mouse Reference” in the legend.
The Chunk Map
Now let’s get into the meat of the mod – chunk management. But before I explain how to do it, let me explain what chunk claiming and force-loading is. A “chunk” is an area of 16 by 16 blocks, from bedrock to maximum build height. Minecraft uses chunks to build and organize the terrain in the game. “Claiming a chunk” means you now have control over that chunk, including all of the blocks from top to bottom of that 16x16 block area. You can prevent others from breaking blocks, using items, prevent explosion damage, and more. You can also give specific people access to your chunks, if you’re using FTB Teams. This is perfect for protecting your base on a public server or simply avoiding the hassle of cleaning up creeper craters.
Chunk force-loading is a bit different. If you force load a chunk, that means everything in that chunk will continue to be active even when you’re far away or even offline. This is great for modpacks that have a lot of automation, where you can make your automated systems continue running without you. Some modpacks may set this behavior differently by default. It can also be changed in the server settings, which we’ll go over later in this article.
No more dealing with old vanilla paper maps, now that you’re using FTB Chunks!
To access the chunk menu, click on the map icon inside the map interface. Or, click on the second, slightly more blue map icon in your inventory. It is labeled as “Claim Manager”. Clicking on this button brings up the chunk map. Right away, you may notice the main differences between this map and the other are the clearly outlined chunk borders and the smaller size of the map. You can see how many chunks you have claimed and force loaded, as well as the limits to each, on the bottom left of the screen. Just like before, the blue “i” icon will show you handy hotkeys for many functions on the map.
To claim a chunk, simply click on the chunk you want to claim. If you want to claim multiple, you can left click and drag your mouse over any chunk you want. Be sure to keep an eye on your claim limit on the bottom right. To unclaim a chunk, right click on the map. You can also drag while right clicking to unclaim multiple chunks. You can see your highlighted claimed chunks in the chunk map, the world map, and the minimap.
Now, here’s the question I personally get the most when it comes to this mod. How do you force-load chunks? To force-load one or more chunks, it’s the same process as claiming, but you hold shift while you are clicking or right-clicking. Simple as that. Just like before, keep an eye on the limit of force-loaded chunks on the bottom right.
If you have a multi-block structure or a large system of cables or tubes, make sure none of it sticks out of the force-loaded area even a little. When in doubt, force load an extra chunk just to be sure. Having even one pipe or a single block in a multi-block structure become unloaded when you leave the area or disconnect from your game could spell disaster, especially if you have volatile systems like reactors somewhere in your base.
One time in one of my servers, a small section of pipes in my base got unloaded, and that pipe carried junk items to be destroyed. Well, the pipe backed up and eventually completely filled my storage system. At that point, no more mining input could be stored, so I ran out of materials to automatically produce reactor coolant. As you can guess, the results were less than ideal. All from an unloaded trash-dumping pipe that I missed when force-loading my base.
Settings
Now that we’ve gone over the main features, you may want to change how some parts of the mod work. Luckily, there are tons of settings available to get the mod working just how you like it. Back in the main world map, you will also see 1 or 2 gear icons. On the left, the gray gear icon, labeled as “Settings” in the legend, will open your map settings. This menu lets you change things about the appearance of the main map, the minimap, waypoints, and more.
I will go over some of the most common options available here, but there are many more for you to discover on your own. One of the most useful options is “Chunk Grid”, which will show a semi-transparent overlay on your main map, showing chunk borders. This can be useful for certain structures or machines that should be within a single chunk, or making sure your base stays within your claimed chunks.
Another cool change you can make is the “Map mode” setting, which allows you to switch between overlays on the map to either show you extra info like light levels, topography, or night mode, or (if you’re like me) it can be used to just make your map look cooler. I enjoy the topography map, as it looks like an old weathered parchment map!
Look at that pleasant color palette. You can’t do that with vanilla maps.
On the right of the main map, you may see a purple gear icon, which is labeled as “Server Settings” in the legend. This only appears if you are an OP on a server, or if you have cheats enabled on a single-player world.
This has useful settings like chunk claim/load limits, how long force-loaded chunks stay loaded, and many other settings that will affect everyone on a server. One of the most common settings to change is “Forceloading Mode”. By default, this setting allows chunks to be loaded as long as at least one player from a team is online. If you want your chunks to remain loaded even when you’re offline, you can change that setting to “always”.
Aside from the purple gear icon we mentioned above, many of these settings can also be changed in the server config file found at /world/serverconfig/ftbchunks-world.snbt, as shown in the screenshot below. This is a file in your server that you can edit in the Command Center “Files” tab. There are several options here that you cannot change in game, though most of them are somewhat niche. All of the options in this file have detailed descriptions, so check it out if you want to learn more.
Commands
A lot of mods also come with their own commands, and FTB Chunks is no exception. We've gone through most of the other content in the mod, so now let's briefly talk about commands. Most of these simply do things that the UI also does, but some of them are unique and very useful. For example, my personal favorite is /ftbchunks admin view_loaded_chunks which overlays on your map all of the chunks that are currently loaded. It’s a good way to find extra chunks you can unload to free some space in memory if that is becoming a problem.
Another good one is /ftbchunks admin bypass_protection which allows any player who is an OP to bypass the restrictions inside someone else’s claimed chunks. You will be able to activate everything, break blocks, and bypass any other restrictions even if you don’t normally have permission to do so. I personally use this one the most when I’m investigating sources of server lag, and need to get into someone’s base or check the contents of their machines. For the full list of commands, you can type /ftbchunks and tab through the available options. We will be making a full entry in our knowledge base with all commands in the near future as well, which will be linked here.
Conclusion
Now you have all of the information needed to use FTB Chunks to its fullest. You can see more info about the other FTB mods in the official wiki linked on the Curseforge page here, and their new, work-in-progress wiki here. If it’s not already included in the modpack you’re using, you can install it to your server and client using these instructions. As always, feel free to reach out via our support chat with any questions about using this on your Akliz server. If you don’t have a server with Akliz, you can get one here!