Tectonicus vs The Explorer's Friend

Tectonicus generates a detailed, zoomable map from a Minecraft Java world by building a 3D model and rendering map images. Its stated aim is to make maps resemble what players see in Minecraft. It runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows; maps can be viewed offline or served from a web server. Setup involves downloading a release, preparing an XML configuration file, and running the program from the command line with Java. Later runs using the same options are quicker after the initial render because only changed tiles are rendered. Players can filter which signs appear, and signs marked with #view can create first-person views with configurable height, angle, field of view, and nighttime rendering. Release 2.31 supports Minecraft 1.21 through 1.21.11, but not Minecraft 26.1. It also adds rectangular world subsets and arm64 LWJGL libraries for M-series Macs and possibly other ARM systems. Generated images can consume gigabytes of disk space depending on world size; WebP or JPG output and closestZoomSize can reduce storage use. Copper golem statues do not work, and shelves render only partially.

The Explorer's Friend renders a live topographic map of a Minecraft world and serves it from an embedded web server. It runs on a server using Fabric, Quilt, NeoForge, Spigot or Paper, with different builds depending on the platform and Minecraft version. Explored chunks appear as players move through the world; full renders read region files on worker threads without loading chunks. Players can open the map in a browser using vanilla Minecraft clients, without installing a client mod. Separate layers show claims, player positions, markers and Waystones. Claim data can connect to several protection systems or be imported from JSON. Server administrators can disable or round player positions; invisible players and spectators are hidden by default. The server binds to 127.0.0.1 by default and has no built-in account system, so the project recommends a reverse proxy for public maps. Its optional outbound connection downloads the official vanilla client JAR once and verifies it by SHA-1. The MIT-licensed project is free, with live updates, dimension maps and read-only HTTP endpoints.