How Boids Flocking Works in the Boids Mod

Understanding Boids Fish Behavior

The Boids Mod changes how fish move in groups. Instead of the vanilla flocking behavior, each fish follows a boids simulation built on three simple rules that together produce lifelike schooling.

Separation keeps fish from crowding each other. When a fish gets too close to its nearby flockmates, it steers away, so the school never collapses into a clump.

Alignment makes a fish match the average heading of the fish around it. This is what gives a school its shared direction, so the group turns and swims together rather than scattering.

Cohesion pulls a fish toward the average position of its local flockmates, keeping the group gathered around a moving center of mass.

Because each fish applies these rules only to nearby neighbors, the school moves as a whole without any single leader. The result is more dynamic, natural-looking group movement in your aquatic environments. No items or setup are needed; the behavior applies to the affected fish automatically.