Installing Custom Advancements on Minecraft Forge 1.16.5

Step-by-step instructions to install Custom Advancements 3.5.3 on Minecraft Forge for 1.16.5, including the folder layout the mod creates on first launch.

Installing Custom Advancements follows the same process as any other Forge mod: grab the .jar, drop it into your mods/ folder, and launch the game. The mod creates its own working directory automatically on first launch and fills it with example files, so there is no manual folder setup required. This page walks through each step and explains the directory layout you end up with.

Requirements

• Minecraft 1.16.5 — this build targets that version exclusively.
• Minecraft Forge for 1.16.5 — any Forge build matching the loader range [36,). Download it from minecraftforge.net.

You can download Custom Advancements from either of the two official distribution platforms:

• CurseForge: https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/custom-advancements
• Modrinth: https://modrinth.com/mod/custom-advancements

Installation Steps

1. Install Forge for Minecraft 1.16.5

   Download the Forge installer for Minecraft 1.16.5 from minecraftforge.net and run it. Choose Install client (or Install server for a dedicated server) and let the installer finish. A new Forge profile appears in the Minecraft Launcher.

2. Download the mod

   Download Custom Advancements 3.5.3 for Minecraft 1.16.5 from CurseForge or Modrinth. Keep the .jar file as it is — do not extract it.

3. Place the jar in your mods folder

   Locate your Minecraft game directory:

   • Windows: %APPDATA%\.minecraft
   • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
   • Linux: ~/.minecraft

   Copy the downloaded .jar file into the mods/ folder inside that directory. If mods/ does not exist yet, create it.

4. Launch the game

   Open the Minecraft Launcher, select the Forge 1.16.5 profile, and click Play. Forge loads the mod during startup — check the mod list to confirm that Custom Advancements appears. On first launch, the mod creates the customadvancements/ folder inside your game directory and copies its example files into it.

Install the mod on both the server and the clients when you play in multiplayer. The advancement logic itself runs server-side, but custom background textures, custom translations, and tab sorting are rendered by the client — a player without the mod sees Minecraft’s defaults instead.

The customadvancements/ Folder

After the first successful launch, your game directory contains a new folder called customadvancements/. This is where all of your advancement JSON files, language files, and textures live. It is created automatically, along with the three bundled example advancements, the example logo.png texture, and four example language files.

The customadvancements/ folder behaves like a global datapack: its contents are applied to every world you play or host on that installation, not just to a single world’s datapacks/ folder. This makes it ideal for modpack-wide advancement customization.

The layout created on first launch is:

.minecraft/
├── config/
│   └── customadvancements-common.toml   ← mod configuration
└── customadvancements/
    ├── customadvancements/              ← advancement JSON files (namespace = "customadvancements")
    │   ├── root.json                    ← example root advancement
    │   ├── example.json                 ← example child advancement
    │   └── back_to_the_roots.json       ← example advancement with rewards
    └── data/
        ├── lang/
        │   ├── en_us.json               ← example translation files
        │   ├── de_de.json
        │   ├── es_es.json
        │   └── fr_fr.json
        └── textures/
            └── logo.png                 ← example background texture

Each location serves a specific purpose:

• customadvancements/customadvancements/ — your own advancement JSON files. Subfolders are supported and become part of the resource location. See Structure.
• customadvancements/data/textures/ — .png files you want to use as tab backgrounds. See Textures.
• customadvancements/data/lang/ — locale .json files that translate your advancement titles and descriptions. See Language Files.
• config/customadvancements-common.toml — the mod’s configuration file, created by Forge in the standard config directory. See Config File.

Do not delete the example files before you have studied them. They demonstrate the correct JSON structure for root advancements, child advancements, criteria, display properties, and rewards. See Examples for a full walkthrough of all three.

[INSERT IMAGE: The Custom Advancements entry in the Forge mod list screen, confirming a successful install]