Configuration

Configurable Sponge has one config file with two settings. It is powered by CoolerConfig, uses TOML, and is watched while the game runs, so a saved change applies to the next sponge without a restart.

Path: config/configurablesponge-common.toml

# Configurable Sponge configuration.

[sponge]
	# Max depth of a sponge will search for water.
	maxDepth = 6
	# Max amount of water a sponge can absorb.
	maxCount = 64

Key	Type	Default	Allowed range	Vanilla
sponge.maxDepth	integer	6	1 to 2147483647	6
sponge.maxCount	integer	64	1 to 2147483647	65

A value that is missing or outside the allowed range falls back to its default. To reset the file, delete it and start the game again.

maxDepth

How far the search travels from the sponge, counted in blocks. Each step moves one block up, down, north, south, east or west, and diagonals do not exist, so the reach is a diamond (an octahedron in 3D) and not a cube. A block 3 east and 2 up is 5 steps away.

The search only moves through water. A sponge does not pull water through a wall, or across an air gap, however large maxDepth is.

maxCount

How many blocks the search may visit before it stops. The sponge's own block counts as one of them, so a sponge removes at most maxCount - 1 blocks of water.

Vanilla's number is 65, which is 64 blocks of water plus the sponge. The default here is 64, so a default install removes 63 blocks of water, one fewer than vanilla. To match vanilla exactly, set maxCount = 65.

maxCount = 1 turns sponges off

The sponge uses the only slot, so nothing is removed and the sponge never turns wet. Use 2 or more.

The two limits work together

The search stops at whichever limit it reaches first. In open water, the number of blocks inside a given depth is fixed, so raising one setting without the other often changes nothing:

maxDepth	Most water a sponge can reach in open water
1	6
2	24
3	62
4	128
5	230
6	376
8	832
10	1,560
12	2,624

• With the default depth of 6, a sponge never removes more than 376 blocks in open water, so a maxCount above 377 has no effect there.
• With maxCount = 65, a depth of 4 is already enough in open water. Depth only matters when the water is a narrow channel, a tunnel or a small pool.
• To take in N blocks in open water, choose a depth from this table whose value is at least N.

The formula for open water is (2d + 1)(2d² + 2d + 3) / 3 - 1, where d is maxDepth. Real terrain gives smaller numbers. The simulator runs the search for you.

Example values

Removal counts are for a sponge in open water.

Setup	maxDepth	maxCount	Water removed	Limited by
Vanilla	6	65	64	count
Mod default	6	64	63	count
Short reach	2	500	24	depth
Big sponge	10	1000	999	count
Ocean drainer	20	5000	4999	count

Very large values can lag the server

Every block a sponge removes is a block update, and the search runs on the server thread. A sponge with a huge maxCount dropped into an ocean can freeze a server for a moment. Raise the numbers gradually and test on a copy of your world first.

Servers and modpacks

The file lives in the config folder of the instance that runs the world: your game folder in single player, the server folder on a dedicated server. There is one set of numbers for every world and dimension on that instance.

For a modpack, ship the file in config/ with the values you want. Players who edit their own copy only change their own single-player worlds.