Litematica

Loading a schematic

Litematica shows a ghost of a build in your world so you can copy it block for block. It is how you get the drainers on this site into your game.

Read this first if you play on DonutSMP. Pasting a schematic needs creative mode or WorldEdit. On a survival server you cannot paste; mode 5 will do nothing. What Litematica gives you there is a hologram: the outline stays in front of you and you place every block by hand. That is still a huge win, because you get the exact layout and a material list.

Playing on Bedrock?

Two things are true here, and they point in opposite directions.

The machines work. DonutSMP is a Java server running Geyser, which sits between your Bedrock client and that server and translates between them. Every block update, observer pulse and piston push is simulated by the Java server, not by your game. The Java-versus-Bedrock redstone differences people warn about, like observers firing on different triggers, do not apply to you on this server, because none of that logic runs on your machine. A drainer built to Java rules behaves by Java rules.

But you cannot use Litematica. It is a Fabric mod for Java, and a Bedrock client cannot load Java mods. Everything below this section is Java only.

Use the viewer on this site instead. Open a machine on the schematics page on your phone or a second screen and drag the layer slider. Building one layer at a time off that is exactly what Litematica's All Below render mode gives Java players, minus the in-world hologram, and the block list under each machine is your material list.

If you want an actual hologram in game, the closest Bedrock equivalent is Structura, which bakes a build into a resource pack you load on the client. Be careful with the others: tools that ship as add-ons or behaviour packs have to be applied to the world itself, so they are no use on a server you do not own.

1. Where schematics live

Litematica reads .litematic files from one folder. On Windows press Win, type %appdata%, hit enter, then open .minecraft. The schematics folder sits just below mods. On macOS it is ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/schematics.

Drop any file from the schematics page straight in there. If the folder does not exist yet, make it.

2. The stick

A Minecraft stick

Every Litematica interaction runs through an ordinary stick. Hold one and a mode indicator appears in the bottom-left. There are nine modes; you only need three.

  • 1
    Area SelectionMarking out a build you want to copy
  • 2
    Schematic PlacementMoving, rotating and mirroring a loaded schematic
  • 5
    Paste Schematic Into WorldActually placing the blocks. Creative only

3. Load a drainer

Press MLoad Schematics → pick the file. It shows you the author, the date and the size. Hit Load Schematic and the ghost appears in the world.

To move it, Ctrl + scroll to mode 2, then Alt + scroll to push it around. It travels along whichever way you are facing. For rotating and mirroring, press M + P and use the configure panel.

4. Build it by hand

One solid opaque block is hard to build inside, so make it see-through: M → Configuration Menu → Visuals → search render blocks as translucent → set true.

Better still, build a layer at a time. M → Configuration Menu → Render Layers → set All Below, then left- and right-click to raise or lower the visible layer as you build up. Press M + L for the full material list before you start gathering.

5. Pasting (creative only)

If you are in creative or on your own world: Ctrl + scroll to mode 5, then bind the paste key: M → Configuration Menu → Hotkeys → search exe → Execute Operation. Click the box, press your combo, then Escape to confirm. Trigger it and the build lands.

Clear the leftover outline with M → Loaded Schematics → unload.

Keys worth remembering

MOpen the Litematica menu
Ctrl + scrollCycle the stick through its nine modes
Alt + scrollMove the placement (direction follows where you look)
M + PPlacement config: rotate and mirror
M + LMaterial list: every block the build needs
Water does not survive a paste. Place the structure, then re-place the source blocks by hand. Every schematic in this family has the same caveat.

Steps adapted from this Litematica tutorial, checked against the mod's own menus.