NodeCraft
Spawning
This is a list of frequently asked questions in regards to the spawning mechanics of Pixelmon. Any questions in regards to setting up Better Spawner or Spawning JSONs will be linked to the appropriate page.
Questions
How is a Pokémon's rarity determined?
Within the JSON files for spawning each Pokémon is assigned a rarity value of 0.1 to 300. Then these values are compared against any other Pokémon within the same Biome, Times, Y-axis, and Weather to determine the overall rarity for each Pokémon at that moment. The command /checkspawns will help determine that for you and present an easy to see percentage guide for what can spawn in your location at that moment. Options to be used with said commands can be found here. Certain Pokémon will be rarer than others due to method of evolution, stage of evolution, or viability of acquisition. Others will be excluded due to the method of obtaining said Pokémon (i.e Fossil Pokémon or shrine spawning).
Why does the Wiki not use % for rarity anymore?
We have moved from using percentages to a rarity scale. Common, Uncommon, Rare, Super Rare, and Ultra Rare depending on the rarity value set in the JSON files. This will provide a baseline guide as to what is meant to be easy to find compared to what is not. Percentages can differ depending on too many factors to create an accurate guide. Especially if you are on a border between biomes, you will pick up spawn checks for both which will skew the results greatly.
How does Legendary spawning work?
Legendary Pokémon have their own spawning process that is separate from regular Pokémon and Ultra Beasts. They also have several options in the spawning.yml that you can edit to change up their interval for spawn attempts as well as chance that a spawn attempt will succeed. These options in the spawning.yml are legendary-spawn-ticks and legendary-spawn-chance respectively. There are also Legendaries who spawn outside of this normal convention, and subsequently there are alternative options for those, i.e. shrine spawning.
How does Ultra Beast spawning work?
Ultra Beasts use the same spawning mechanics and system that regular Pokémon use for the overworld. The only difference is these Pokémon can only be found in Ultra Space and will be found within their respective biomes as they are added in. They will be treated as a Ultra Rare Pokémon.
How do I edit the spawn files?
The spawning files within the mod can be edited via Datapack. These files can be accessed by using a program such as Winrar or 7-Zip to open the Pixelmon mod JAR file, then opening the file path \data\pixelmon\spawning. From here you will see a series of choices that you can select for your Datapack depending on your choices. These choices include caverock, fishing, grass, headbutt, legendaries, megas, npcs, rocksmash, standard, and sweetscent. The most commonly edited section will be standard as these are the spawns within the overworld. If you wish to know how to use these files in your Datapack, view our guide on Datapack Creation.
How do I stop all spawning?
There is a variety of methods that can be used to stop spawning in various capacities. If you are trying to stop spawning via generations then you can go into the spawning.yml and find the section blocked-generations and then turning each one to false. You can also edit the Better Spawner/Config via Datapack and edit the dimension section. You can remove any valid dimension IDs and replace them with a random numerical ID that will not be used.
How can I stop spawns in this one area or dimension?
You can enter the Better Spawner/Config and edit the dimension section via Datapack. You can remove the dimension ID for wherever you do not want the Pokémon to spawn. Conversely, you can also use this method to add new dimensions for Pokémon to spawn in. To stop spawns within a certain area you can dictate this by editing the "globalCompositeCondition" and set an anticondition with minX, maxX, minZ, and maxZ. This will create a boxed area where Pokémon will not spawn naturally. If you are on a server you can also use plugins such as GriefDefender and set specific flags to stop spawning within a claim.
How does Ditto Spawn?
Ditto spawns disguised as another Pokémon. Upon successful capture there is a 0.1% chance of the captured Pokémon turning into a Ditto. List of Pokémon that Ditto can be disguised as can be found on it's wiki page.
How does Meltan spawn?
Meltan is able to spawn with the use of a Mystery Box. Upon being activated by depositing 4 Netherite Scraps, the Mystery Box will spawn several Meltan over the course of 100 seconds before closing again. The required amount of Netherite Scraps will increase with repeat usage of the Mystery Box.
Why how can I stop Pokémon from spawning in my base?
Pokémon have certain blocks that can be spawned on that are listed on the Better Spawner/Config. Check to ensure that you are not using anything that would be considered Land or Tree Top. There are many players who like to make tree houses or have nice foliage decorations, but this is prime spawning habitat.
Why am I only seeing low level/low amounts of Pokémon spawning around me?
Check your spawning.yml and ensure the option spawn-levels-closer-to-player-levels is set to false. It naturally is set to true to allow for an easier start for single player games. Other options to help with low amounts of Pokémon can be also found in the Config. These options include entities-per-player, maximum-distance-from-centre, maximum-spawned-pokemon, minimum-distance-between-spawns, minimum-distance-from-centre, spawn-frequency, and spawns-per-pass. There are a couple other options that have to deal with horizontal and vertical tracking (Guessing where you are going to be and trying to prep the area) and you can find those in the Config as well.
Why are Pokémon spawning and then disappearing right away?
Please ensure that you are not in vanish or /v as this will immediately despawn any Pokémon around you. Also please ensure that the option spawn-animals is set to true in the server.properties as this is still needed to allow spawns.
Why does this biome not have as many Pokémon spawning in it compared to the rest?
Pixelmon supports a couple different biome mods. Sometimes these biomes do not fall under the standard description of one of our Better Spawner/Categories. In this case manual additions are made and sometimes the disparity between Night and Day are extremely visible. In these cases you can always make suggestions for additions here or you can edit the spawn files yourselves as outlined in a prior FAQ.
There are too many flying Pokémon. How can I lower the amount of them?
You can set a custom interval through Better Spawner. By setting how often it will allow something with the interval tag, you can reduce the amount of flying Pokémon to a certain number within a specific timeframe. An example of how to set one up can be found here. We have now re-added a Config option to set the amount of fliers.
Why are things being changed?
For the overall balance and depth of the mod changes are made to provide a better experience for all players. With the addition of new biomes, mechanics, and Pokémon; changes have to be made to adjust existing spawns to allow these new things to fit seamlessly into your world.
