Peterwolf's Wind & Sails

A realistic, immersive, yet deeply playable wind and sailing mod for Minecraft 26.3 (Fabric).

Features

• Single-Mast Sailing Boat: A 3.0m × 1.5m traditional wooden boat featuring an articulated mast, swinging boom, triangular canvas mainsail (~5m² area), and a steerable stern rudder with a cockpit tiller.
• Realistic Sailing Physics:
  • Server-Authoritative: Smooth movement, momentum, and position synchronization across multiplayer servers and clients.
  • Apparent Wind: Combines true world wind and boat velocity to calculate apparent wind vector and angle of attack.
  • Points of Sail:
    • No-Go Zone (In Irons): Sailing directly upwind (< 40°) stalls the boat; the sail luffs and generates zero lift.
    • Close-Hauled: Sheet pulled tight, fast upwind progress with noticeable boat heel.
    • Beam & Broad Reach: Fast, powerful sailing propulsion with optimal sail trim.
    • Running Downwind: Boom eased fully out, catching following winds.
  • Tacking: Smoothly turn through the wind using momentum to switch tacks.
  • Hydrodynamics & Keel: Keel strongly damps sideways leeway slip; rudder authority is realistically proportional to water speed (nearly zero when stationary, effective when moving).
  • Dynamic Heel: The hull leans and heels under wind pressure on the sail.
• Harmonized Wind System & Gusts:
  • Seamless wind direction and strength simulation per world.
  • Smooth evolution and wandering around prevailing wind.
  • Natural wind gusts with smooth bell-curve onset, peak, and decay (duration 2–12s, strength multiplier 1.10–1.40x, directional shifts up to ±18°).
  • Clouds drift in visual agreement with wind vectors.
• On-Water Wind Visualizer (TAB):
  • Press TAB (short tap) to toggle translucent, glowing aerodynamic wind arrows and streaks directly over water surfaces.
  • Communicates real-time wind direction, strength, and gust variations.
  • Holding TAB still displays the multiplayer player list as usual without interference.
• Sailing Telemetry HUD:
  • Unobtrusive gauge displayed while at the helm showing mainsheet trim percentage, boat speed in knots, and point-of-sail trim hints.

Controls & Sailing Guide

Commands (Live Sensitivity Tuning)

• /windsails rudder sensitivity — Check current rudder sensitivity (default: 1.0)
• /windsails rudder sensitivity <0.1 - 5.0> — Set rudder turning sensitivity in real-time without restart
• /windsails rudder autocenter <rate> — Set auto-center return speed (degrees/tick, default: 2.5)
• /windsails rudder turnrate <rate> — Set steering rate when A/D is held (degrees/tick, default: 2.0)
• /windsails status — Display all current sailing settings (Aliases /windsails and /sailing)

Sailing Tips

1. Never sail straight into the wind: If your boat enters the no-go zone (~40° from wind direction), the sail flaps ("in irons") and you lose speed.
2. Trim your mainsheet:
   • When sailing across or downwind, ease the sheet (S) so the boom can catch the breeze.
   • When sailing close to the wind, pull the sheet tight (W) to generate lift without stalling.
3. Carry momentum through tacks: Build up speed on a reach before turning into the wind to complete a tack onto the opposite side.
4. Rudder needs water flow: The rudder steers by deflecting water flow; you must have headway for the rudder to take effect.

Crafting Recipe

Crafted from wooden planks, sticks, and wool:

[   ] [   ] [ W ]      W = Any Wool (#minecraft:wool)
[   ] [ W ] [ S ]  ->  S = Stick
[ P ] [ P ] [ P ]      P = Any Wooden Planks (#minecraft:planks)

Architecture & Code Structure

com.piotrek.pwwindnsails
├── WindAndSailsMod.java              # Mod initialization, entity/item/tab/payload registration
├── WindAndSailsConfig.java           # Centralized physics, wind, and rig configuration
├── wind
│   ├── WindVector.java               # Direction (deg) & strength vector utilities
│   ├── WindGust.java                 # Smooth bell-curve natural gust lifecycle
│   ├── WindState.java                # Dimension wind state, wandering, & server/client tick
│   └── WindManager.java              # Global level wind manager & sync dispatcher
├── physics
│   └── SailingPhysics.java           # Apparent wind, lift/drag curves, sheet limits, & rudder torque
├── entity
│   └── SailboatEntity.java           # 3.0m x 1.5m sailing boat, flotation, controls, & persistence
├── item
│   └── SailboatItem.java             # Water placement & boat deployment
├── network
│   ├── WindSyncPayload.java          # Server-to-client wind & gust synchronization packet
│   └── SailboatInputPayload.java      # Client-to-server pilot rudder & mainsheet inputs
└── client
    ├── WindAndSailsClient.java       # Client mod initializer, keybinds, & tick handlers
    ├── SailboatModel.java            # Articulated model (hull, mast, boom, triangular sail, rudder)
    ├── SailboatRenderer.java         # Entity renderer with heel roll, damage wobble, & shadow
    ├── SailboatRenderState.java      # Render state
    ├── SailboatHudOverlay.java       # Telemetry HUD (sheet percentage, speed, trim hints)
    ├── WindVisualizerRenderer.java   # Lightweight linesTranslucent water arrow renderer
    └── mixin
        └── CloudRendererMixin.java   # Harmonizes cloud drift with world wind vector

Building

Requires Java 25:

./gradlew build

Generated mod JAR is placed in build/libs/pw_wind_n_sails-1.0.0+26.3.jar.