Spotting Coal and Diamonds in Dark Overworld Caves

Standard stone and deep underground caves make dark-colored ores like coal easy to walk right past, and unlit caverns often conceal diamond veins along the walls and ceilings. Animated Outlined Ores modifies default stone ores and deepslate ores by surrounding every ore block with a moving, highlighted border.

Using Borders in Standard Stone Layers

When exploring upper cave systems where default stone generates, look for the solid framing around each ore block rather than the inner mineral dots.

1. Finding Coal: Because coal blends into dark cave shadows, scan unlit walls for the contrasting animated outline surrounding the block edges.

2. Checking Ceilings: Look up in large ravines and caverns. Even when your torches do not reach the ceiling, the distinct borders help separate ore clusters from surrounding plain stone, andesite, diorite, and granite.

Mining in the Deepslate Layer

As you dig down into the darker deepslate levels where diamonds frequently generate, the background rock becomes much darker than regular stone.

1. Spotting Deepslate Ores: The pack includes specific textures for deepslate ores. Watch for the animated border cutting against the dark gray deepslate tiles.

2. Vein Clearing: When you mine a single diamond or coal block, look closely at the exposed neighboring blocks. If an adjacent block has a highlighted border edge, continue mining that direction to clear the entire vein without needing to place extra torches inside the hole.