The 6 Best Minecraft Resource Packs to Install

Minecraft is plenty fun out of the box, but if you’re not taking advantage of one of the many detailed, interesting, and lovingly crafted resource packs that fans have made, you’re missing out.

Here are some of our favorites, ranging from gritty and realistic to bright and fun, with instructions on how to get them working.Unless otherwise stated, here’s the steps you need to take to install any of these resource packs:

• Download a resource pack, you should get a .zip file
• Open the folder to which you downloaded the file
• Copy the .zip file
• Open Minecraft
• Click on “Options”, then “Resource Packs”
• Choose “Open resource pack folder”
• Paste the file into the resource folder in Minecraft
• Go back to Minecraft, the resource pack should now be listed and you can activate it by choosing it and hitting “Done”

Conquest

Conquest is one of the best (if not the best) resource packs ever made for Minecraft, and boasts a level of detail that is really hard to compete with. It has a more vintage, medieval style, so if you’re looking for something that’s bright and flashy, this isn’t for you, but for builders with old-fashioned sensibilities, Conquest is just about the best there is.

Getting Conquest to work does require Optifine with connected textures for the best results, but if you’re serious about making your Minecraft build look authentic and beautiful, it’s well worth the effort. All you need to do is download and install Optifine first – it will give you the tools you need to run high-quality resource packs like Conquest. You can download it here.

John Smith Legacy

John Smith Legacy is another medieval resource pack, but where Conquest is detailed and complex, John Smith Legacy is smooth and streamlined. While JSL sticks to an old-style theme, the textures are bold and simple.

This is a great resource pack for regular play in a more medieval setting or for large, bold builds. It’s also a good baseline if you want to jazz up your game but you don’t have a specific idea of what you’re looking for. Cobblestone and brick look especially striking in John Smith Legacy. You can download it here.

Ovo’s Rustic Redemption

Ovo’s Rustic focuses on bright, bold textures and is really easy on the eyes. It doesn’t have the striking detail of some of the other packs, but it’s really pleasant to look at and offers really nice visual upgrades to mobs, grass, and trees.

With big, simple, smooth textures, this is a great resource pack for regular adventuring and large builds that need to stand out. It’s one of the most popular resource packs around for a reason – it a simple, attractive upgrade to standard textures that always looks good.

Ovo’s works just fine with standard installation, but there are extra features you can take advantage of if you use Optifine or MCPatcher. Download it from here.

Chroma Hills

A resource pack created in part to go along with a Minecraft RPG of the same name, Chroma Hills makes Minecraft really pop – it’s a little bit more cartoony than some of the ‘gritty’ resource packs, but it still manages to add realism and detail.

This is another pack that adds all around color and detail when needed, and smooths and softens where necessary. Aside from ‘colorful’ or ‘realistic’, Chroma Hills doesn’t commit to a theme, making this another great choice for general builds and adventuring. Download it from here.

DokuCraft

DokuCraft is a classic resource pack, but it remains useful and relevant because of the painstaking work that has been put into it over the last four years. It’s a straight upgrade over standard textures, and has a clean medieval look, but the current version offers several varieties based on what you’re looking to get out of it: light, high, dark, dwarven, creative, and lush.

If you’re looking for a resource pack with lots of options and lots of support, you can’t do better than DokuCraft. These days this is one of the most flexible packs out there. Download it from here!

Ravands

If none of the above resource packs are hardcore or realistic enough for you, Ravands is the absolute top-tier of hyper-realistic, finely detailed, precision resource packs. Used by dedicated builders with an eye for detail and a love of all things medieval, Ravands is a great pick if you’re trying to recreate a real-life medieval castle or are working on a Game of Thrones adventure map. Clean, clear, and excessively detailed, Ravands is the go-to resource pack for authentic textures.

Since this is an insanely detailed 256×256 resource pack, you will need Optifine or MCPatcher to make it work, and it’s definitely one of the more finicky resource packs out there. Be prepared to spend some time tinkering to get it to work, but it’s well worth the effort (make sure connected textures is turned on). Check it out in detail here!

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We hope you find a resource pack out of this selection that suits your tastes and style. If you enjoyed this write up, check out our whole library of Minecraft seeds, carefully curated each month!