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Hey, everyone! Another quick update today - this time, it's all about our server resource pack. What's Changing? As most of you who play Survival have known for a while, that gamemode in particular asks you to download and use a server-provided resource pack - as this allows us to include custom content, complete with GUIs, textures, models, and even sounds. The other gamemodes have no such resource pack - and so if you've played exclusively on those other modes, you've likely never seen the resource pack prompt. If you switch between Survival and other modes, though, you've also noticed the pack turning on and off as you switch. Going forward, this will no longer be the case. As of today, you'll notice that even when playing on these other gamemodes, the server still requires the use of a server resource pack. This, however, isn't an identical pack to the one we use in Survival - instead, it's a slightly modified version that excludes a few resources which cause issues in vanilla gameplay (mainly, the overriding of note block models and of some sounds). For those who use the resource pack manually, you'll now have two options for the resource pack - a "global" version (which is what we use for most servers), and the normal version that we've been using for Survival. Keep in mind, however, we don't really advise using the resource pack this way - and for those doing so, you'll want to stick around and read the "Next Steps" section - as there will be some changes later on that will impact you. But why? Don't panic - we aren't planning on tacking a bunch of custom content into Vanilla or anything. Rather, there are other more supplemental features that we've had kicking around in the ideas bin for a while - things that, due to the resource pack being limited to Survival, we haven't been able to do. Things like custom emojis (like those seen on our Discord and here on the forums), more custom GUI stuff elsewhere, custom decorations in some of our spawns or other builds, and likely more. These are all things we've wanted to start exploring, but thus far, just haven't been able to - as it'd only work for one group of players. For things like Vanilla, where custom content goes against the entire point of the gamemode, you won't most of that sort of thing - barring some of those supplementals like UIs and emojis. As time goes on, however, you might start to see a gradual shift towards incorporating more of these custom elements to various builds (particularly spawns/hubs), and some of those other supplemental features as well. Next Steps Since the introduction of the resource pack, it has remained a mostly optional feature. Unlike other servers which will kick you if you don't allow the resource pack to be used, we've taken a more hands-off approach. This made much more sense in the early days of custom content, where everything required OptiFine, and there was relatively little custom content outside of Durite and MagicStuff. It didn't make sense to force the resource pack when it required a clientside mod to be usable, and it would've been quite a heavy-handed approach considering that, at the time, the custom content available wasn't quite as integral. The basic look and feel of the server wasn't reliant on it. However, with some of the changes mentioned earlier, and some of the stuff we've already done in Survival, this is increasingly not the case - playing Survival without the resource pack at all starts to not make as much sense, and some features are entirely unusable without it (such as the Challenges menu). This would only be worsened by the introduction of custom resources across other gamemodes or in things like chat. As such, in the near future (we don't have a set date yet), the server resource pack will become required - and failing to accept the pack will result in being disconnected from the server. However, for those who for one reason or another want to continue using it independently without any of the loading screens, or who wish to purposefully peel back the curtain, we will also be introducing a workaround that will allow players who wish to bypass the requirement to do so. You'll still need to accept the pack the first time, but afterwards, we'll be including a command that allows you to opt-out of the resource pack requirement. We feel this would be a more balanced approach - it ensures that players can't accidentally join and have a bunch of missing textures and other stuff everywhere, but it also allows those who are more technically inclined to get around that requirement if they wish. Small update as of 8:21 PM CST: For those who wish to continue using the pack independently, you can now use /bypasspack to do so. The pack is not yet required, but will be in the very near future - but you can still opt-out ahead of time if you like. (As of 12/8/2025): Upon further consideration, we have decided that, at least for the time being, mandating the resource pack is a bit heavy-handed. While this may change in the future, for the time being, we've instead opted for a simple prompt upon joining without the resource pack. This prompt informs the user why they should play with the pack, and allows the user to either temporarily or permanently dismiss the message. We feel this is a better balance of encouraging users to play with the resource pack, without being overbearing and potentially causing new players to not stick around - and avoids a bit of hassle for those already around. We will also be exploring a "compatibility mode" where possible, that will aim to minimize the degree to which the experience is degraded without the resource pack - for instance, if we do include chat emojis, the compatibility mode might display the name of the emoji instead of the image. While we can't promise it'll be perfect - as some stuff will just inherently require the pack, and already does in some cases - we figure this might be a better balance for the time being in this regard as well. For now, though, that's all we've got! Stay tuned for future happenings on our server - and keep your eyes peeled for some new stuff that might start appearing here and there in the near future.