Neat Minecraft Mod Guide
Last modified on Feb 27, 2023 in Mods
By Nathan Young
Overview
Minecraft is well known for its many passive and hostile mobs, with some having more health than others. This can be inconvenient while players fight them, as there isn’t a way to see their HP. Solving this problem will make combat easier since you’d be able to know your enemy’s exact health. Fortunately, using Forge or Fabric allows you to install modifications to do that. One of these is called Neat, used for viewing any entity’s health bar, including players. Whether you’re playing on a server or singleplayer world, using this mod is straightforward and easy. Everything is controlled by the mod’s configuration file on your launcher, such as the health bar’s height or render distance. We’ve created this Apex Hosting tutorial to help you install and use the Neat mod in Minecraft.
How to Download
- Head towards Neat for Forge or Fabric on CurseForge, then press the
Files
option. - From here, click
View All
near the right-hand side of the page. - Select your desired
Game Version
from the dropdown menu near the top right. - Locate and click on the mod version you want, then press the Download button.
- Save this file somewhere easily accessible on your computer for later use.
Installation
This modification is completely client-sided, meaning it shouldn’t be installed on the server. Additionally, make sure you’ve installed Forge or Fabric on your launcher to run the mod.
- Open your Minecraft Launcher, then navigate to the
Installations
area. - Locate your installed Forge or Fabric instance and click on its
Folder
icon to the right. - Continue to open the mods directory, then drag and drop the mod file inside.
Important: If you’re unable to see the “mods” folder in the launcher files, create it before proceeding.
- Return to the client and press
Play
on your correct profile to load the mod.
Getting Started
After the mod’s installation, you’ll notice health bars on every passive and hostile entity in-game. This also applies to players and bosses, like the Wither or Ender Dragon. As previously mentioned, Neat’s features are customizable in its config file that’s located in your launcher. This is the main area for making changes to the mod, as there are many different settings to tweak. We’ll be reviewing how to access and edit this file, then jump into configuration examples to help you get started.
Configuration
Briefly talked about above, you can make changes like making the health bar’s size smaller or switching its render distance in-game. There are other possibilities for you to try out, with some being less popular than others. Regardless of this, you’ll need to download Notepad++ or another editing program to begin the process. This is required to open and use Neat’s configuration, as it’s a .toml
file. Once properly installed, follow the instructions below.
- Shut down Minecraft and open your launcher, then head towards
Installations
. - Locate your modded profile and continue to click its
Folder
icon. - Proceed to enter the config directory, then search for the neat-client.toml file.
- Open this file with your external program and make any necessary changes.
- After editing the settings, save and close the file to try it out in-game.
Popular Examples
Customizing Neat’s configuration can be confusing, especially if you’re new to this process. Due to this, we’ve created two common examples that many players tend to try out. However, it’s worthy to note that you can combine these and/or use your own options too. With this in mind, check them out down below to see if they’re ideal for your configuration.
As you play with the mod, it may become frustrating to have large health bars. For instance, surviving a swarm of zombies can become overwhelming due to all the different HP counters. Luckily, Neat offers many unique settings to control the health display in-game. We’ve compiled the best options to use for this, found below. If these aren’t the best for you, then try tweaking their values to find a good size. Otherwise, testing out other settings with these might be better for your desires.
"Background Padding" = 1
"Background Height" = 3
"Health Bar Height" = 2
"HP Text Height" = 7
Instead of having every health bar displayed, making it only appear when looking at a mob might be best. For example, players can still enjoy the world without having to overlook the HP counters. This is also great for only showing mobs with damaged health, making it only used when you initiate combat. These features are typically used for PvP, as it’s not needed to know a mob’s health when you’re fighting someone else.
"Only show the health bar for the entity looked at" = true
"Show entities with full health" = false
Common Issues
Client or Mod Isn’t Working
If after installing the mod and nothing works, make sure you’ve done this for the correct launcher profile. This is extremely important, as modifications will only load on Forge or Fabric instances. However, keep in mind that the game version must match your modded profile. For example, installing Neat for Minecraft 1.19.2 must be on Forge with the same type. Most of the time, the game will not launch if there’s any of these problems. Ensure they get resolved to continue using the mod, but you may try reinstalling the profile if it’s outdated.
Settings Aren’t Saving
In cases where your settings aren’t saving, make sure to close your game first. This allows the file to not be overwritten, thereby fixing the situation. However, sometimes the problem is from an invalid setting or incorrect format. For example, make sure to use either “true” or “false” with no capitalization or typos for it to work. Once you’ve made all your changes, ensure the file is saved properly in your external program. Afterward, load up the game and confirm everything works.
Useful Links
Neat (Forge) on CurseForge
Neat (Fabric) on CurseForge
How to Install Forge on Minecraft
How to Install & Use Fabric Mods