Skip to main content

​
Welcome to fCavEX

fCavEX is an experimental fork of CavEX by xtreme8000, bringing Minecraft Beta 1.7.3 survival gameplay to the Nintendo Wii. Unlike its parent project, fCavEX embraces experimental features and doesn’t aim for a 1:1 recreation - it includes additions not from the original game and modified mechanics for enhanced gameplay.
fCavEX is currently tested primarily on PC. While Wii support exists, you may encounter platform-specific bugs.
fCavEX does not maintain complete save compatibility with CavEX. Chests and signs use an incompatible saving system with static limits, and some blocks may use metadata values differently. Freshly created saves should be compatible since fCavEX doesn’t have its own world generator yet.

​
Key Features

Optimized Performance

Great performance on Wii hardware with approximately 60fps gameplay and 5 chunk render distance

Beta World Support

Load newly created Minecraft Beta world saves with correct light propagation and ambient occlusion

Extensive Block Library

Nearly all blocks from Beta 1.7.3 implemented, except redstone-related components

Survival Mechanics

Health system with 160 HP (10 hearts), damage types including fall damage, lava, and drowning

​
What’s Included

​
Gameplay Features

  • Health System: Up to 160 health points (one heart = 16 HP)
  • Damage Types: Fall damage, lava damage, drowning, and food poisoning
  • Food System: Eat to restore health - apples, golden apples, bread, mushroom stew, cooked porkchops, and cooked fish
  • Death & Respawning: Drop all items on death and respawn at world spawn with half max health
  • Oxygen Bar: Displayed when underwater; start drowning when depleted

​
Blocks & Items

  • Working doors (wooden and iron), trapdoors, and signs
  • Chests with item storage (up to 256 per world)
  • Iron chests with double capacity
  • Furnaces requiring fuel (up to 15 fuel units)
  • Many items from the original game

​
Visual Features

  • Correct light propagation
  • Ambient occlusion on blocks
  • Optional 3D clouds (compile-time setting)
  • Configurable liquid rendering (fancy transparent or fast opaque)
  • Compile-time video settings for performance tuning

​
What’s Different from CavEX

fCavEX 0.3.0_f1 introduces several changes from CavEX 0.3.0:

​
Major Additions

  • Enhanced Health System: 160 HP total instead of 20 HP
  • Iron Chests: Crafted like wooden chests but with iron ingots, offering double capacity
  • Functional Signs: Craftable and editable signs (up to 256 per world)
  • Video Settings: Compile-time configuration in source/graphics/gfx_settings.h
  • Liquid Rendering Options: Choose between fancy (transparent, animated) or fast (opaque) liquids

​
Key Changes

  • Optimized Leaf Rendering: Uses fewer vertices/quads for better performance
  • 2D Item Entities: Billboarded sprites instead of 3D models
  • Chest Storage System: Binary chests.dat format (incompatible with CavEX)
  • Sign Text Storage: Binary signs.dat format (incompatible with CavEX)
  • Furnace Mechanics: Require fuel via right-click; instant smelting drains 1 fuel per item
  • Food Rebalancing: Can only eat at less than full health; raw meat damages you
  • Resource Crafting: 9 ingots/diamonds craft 1 block instead of 4
For a complete list of changes, see CHANGES.md in the source repository.

​
Platform Support

Nintendo Wii

Optimized for Wii homebrew with ~60fps performance. Supports Wiimote, Nunchuk, Classic Controller, and even Guitar Hero 3 controllers.

GNU/Linux PC

Run on any PC with OpenGL 2.0 support. Play with keyboard and mouse for testing or development.

​
Get Started

Quick Start

Get fCavEX up and running on your Wii or PC

Build Instructions

Compile from source for Wii or PC platforms

Controls

Learn the control schemes for different input devices

Video Settings

Configure graphics settings for optimal performance

​
Video Settings Overview

fCavEX includes compile-time video settings configured in source/graphics/gfx_settings.h: 
// Render clouds
#define GFX_CLOUDS

// Render double-sided faces (tall grass, sugar cane)
#define GFX_DOUBLESIDED

// Transparent and animated liquids
#define GFX_FANCY_LIQUIDS

// Scale HUD and GUIs (2 for 640x480, 1 for 320x240)
#define GFX_GUI_SCALE 2

// PC only: default window dimensions
#define GFX_PC_WINDOW_WIDTH 640
#define GFX_PC_WINDOW_HEIGHT 400
After changing video settings, you must recompile the game for changes to take effect.

​
Community

fCavEX is based on CavEX by xtreme8000. This fork explores experimental features while maintaining the core survival experience of Minecraft Beta 1.7.3.

​
License

fCavEX is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0. See the LICENSE file in the source repository for details.

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Get started for freeTalk to us