# SkyCraft: Minecraft physics, blocks and inventory running inside Skyrim's world > SkyCraft is a fan project that bolts Minecraft onto Skyrim with an SKSE plugin and a Fabric mod talking over shared memory, so blocks can be placed and dug in Skyrim's terrain while Skyrim draws everything. It is fun, deeply experimental, and it needs you to own both games and to run two of them at once. **chasmlol/SkyCraft** — Play Skyrim as a Minecraft player: Minecraft physics, inventory, blocks and combat inside Skyrim's world (SKSE plugin + Fabric mod). - Repository: https://github.com/chasmlol/SkyCraft - Stars: 1,254 · Forks: 98 - Language: C++ - License: MIT - Published: 2026-10-19 · Updated: 2026-10-19 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/chasmlol-skycraft ## Two games, one shared memory pipe, and Skyrim does the drawing The central technical claim of SkyCraft is that neither game is rewritten. Minecraft keeps running its own game logic, and Skyrim keeps running its world, NPCs, quests and saves. What links them is a Skyrim SKSE plugin and a Minecraft Fabric mod that talk to each other through shared memory, and the arrangement is unusual in a way worth spelling out: Minecraft runs hidden in the background while Skyrim draws everything. That means the block you see in Riverwood is a Minecraft object, but the sun, shadows, fog and weather around it are Skyrim's renderer, and Minecraft's own torches, lava and glowstone light up the Skyrim scene. The repository layout matches that split, with a `skse/` directory for the plugin, a `fabric/` directory for the mod, a `protocol/` directory for what the two sides agree on, a `tools/` directory, and a `THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md` for the licences of everything bundled in. There is no homepage and no separate project site, so the README and the release archives are the whole documentation. ## Digging is destructive in Skyrim, and there is a switch for it The most interesting system is not the block placement, it is what happens when you dig. The README describes mining Skyrim's ground, rocks, roads and objects as if they were Minecraft blocks, with a material layering that mirrors Minecraft's own: dirt under grass, then stone with ores, then bedrock. What you dig out drops as the block it is made of. The hole is real, and the README is explicit that it is real for you, for NPCs and for items, which means the world state has to be reconciled across two engines rather than being a visual overlay. Explosions compound this, with TNT, creepers and similar devices blowing craters into Skyrim, while interiors and caves are treated as solid stone behind their walls. Because that is destructive, the project ships an escape hatch: a Skyrim destruction On/Off toggle in the top left of the pause menu, reachable with the O key, which turns it off while leaving holes you already dug in place. What you dig is saved in your Minecraft world rather than in the Skyrim save, which is the one asymmetry that would confuse anyone who assumes the Skyrim save file holds the damage. ## Minecraft mechanics mapped onto Skyrim progression The cross-game mapping is where the design shows its care. Skyrim's own skills level up from Minecraft play, and the mapping is specific rather than generic: swords, maces and tools train One-Handed, axes and spears train Two-Handed, bows and anything thrown train Archery, shields train Block, and hits taken train Light or Heavy Armor depending on what you are wearing. Crafting gear trains Smithing, and crouching in Minecraft is Skyrim sneak, which trains Sneak. Combat works both ways: you can hit Skyrim NPCs with any Minecraft weapon including bows, tridents and TNT, damage is scaled to the NPC's level, and NPCs fight back, collide with blocks, path around them, are hurt by lava and fire, and press pressure plates. Two details show how the handoff is handled at the edges. Skyrim's own animations take over when they need to: chairs, crafting stations, beds, pull levers, horses and scripted scenes hand control to Skyrim until they finish. And the camera and death screens are blended, with Minecraft's F5 camera modes showing your skin and armor in Skyrim, and dying giving you Skyrim's death camera with your Minecraft body ragdolling. ## Install the zip with Mod Organizer, then sign in once Installation is short because SkyCraft bundles almost everything except the games themselves. You install the `SkyCraft-.zip` with Mod Organizer 2 or Vortex like any SKSE plugin, then start Skyrim through SKSE. The first launch unpacks a Minecraft installation into `%LOCALAPPDATA%\SkyCraft` and opens a small Prism Launcher window asking you to sign in with your Microsoft account; the README tells you to Alt-Tab to it, sign in and switch back, and Skyrim's corner messages tell you when Minecraft is ready. After that it is automatic: Minecraft starts with Skyrim, with no window and no sound, opens its SkyCraft world by itself, and quits when Skyrim closes. Updating means installing the new zip over the old one, and the next start updates the Minecraft side while keeping your sign-in and your world. Uninstalling means removing the mod and deleting `%LOCALAPPDATA%\SkyCraft`, which holds Prism, your sign-in, Minecraft's files and your world. The README asks you to own both games and reminds you that this is a fan project with no affiliation to Mojang, Microsoft, Bethesda or ZeniMax. ## The bundled Prism instance is the default, and the INI file is your way out SkyCraft normally runs a portable Prism Launcher set up with Minecraft 26.3, Fabric, Fabric API and the SkyCraft mod, and Prism downloads Minecraft and Java itself, so the only account requirement is a Microsoft account that owns Minecraft: Java Edition. If that is not how you launch, there is a documented escape hatch in `Data/SKSE/Plugins/SkyCraft.ini`, with a `[Minecraft]` section that lets you set whether Minecraft starts with Skyrim, point at your own launcher, and pass the arguments it needs: ```ini [Minecraft] bStartWithSkyrim = 1 ; 0: start Minecraft yourself, any way you like sLauncher = ; empty: the Minecraft that comes with SkyCraft sArguments = --launch SkyCraft ; what your launcher needs to start the SkyCraft instance ``` Your own instance then needs Minecraft 26.3, Fabric Loader 0.19.5 or newer, Fabric API, Java 25 and `skycraft-fabric-.jar` from the release, plus `-Dskycraft.startHidden=true` in the JVM arguments if it should start hidden. Two behaviours are worth knowing: SkyCraft never starts a second Minecraft if one with the mod is already running, and it starts Minecraft through the Windows shell, so under Mod Organizer Minecraft stays outside the MO2 virtual file system and does not keep MO2 locked. The INI file also documents the three levers separately, which is unusual and useful. ## Multiplayer shares the Minecraft world and nothing else The multiplayer model is narrow, and the README is explicit about it. Everyone needs their own Skyrim with SkyCraft, and only the Minecraft world is shared: blocks, items, mobs and each other, with up to 100 players. Each player keeps their own Skyrim world, NPCs and quests, so two people in the same session are effectively in parallel Skyrims. The hosting flow uses Minecraft's own menus: the host presses O to open the Minecraft menu, chooses Open to LAN and then Start LAN World, and SkyCraft's bundled e4mc mod puts a link like `abc-def.e4mc.link` in chat for the host to copy and send. Friends press T and type `/join abc-def.e4mc.link`, and their Minecraft leaves its own world to join the host's, while `/leave` returns them to their own. The practical consequence for a group is that shared mining and shared building are multiplayer, but shared quests are not, and the README's own status note about backing up saves applies to everyone in the session. ## What the alternative approach would cost, and why this one is still experimental The honest alternative to SkyCraft is the architectural one: reimplement the Minecraft mechanics inside Skyrim as a native mod, with no second game process and no shared memory bridge. That approach would give you a single save file, single performance profile and no hidden second copy of Minecraft on disk, and it is what a project with a very different dependency profile would attempt. What it would not give you is Minecraft's actual behaviour, because the whole point of this design is that the real Minecraft game logic runs and Skyrim's world is the stage. SkyCraft chose the faithful version and accepted the cost: about 3 GB of extra RAM, about 1.5 GB of disk for Minecraft's own files, a GPU that runs Minecraft 26.3, and a launcher arrangement that has to be right. The README states the limits plainly, calling the project early and experimental with rough edges expected, excluding Skyrim SE 1.5.97 and VR, and warning that the opening cart ride and Helgen are heavily scripted and may not work, which is why Alternate Start is heavily recommended or you start from a save made after Helgen. ## Conclusion Adopt SkyCraft if you own Skyrim Special Edition and Minecraft Java Edition, you are comfortable running a second game process, and you want to see what a genuine Minecraft physics layer does to a Bethesda world. Do not adopt it for anything you cannot afford to lose, because the README calls it early and experimental and tells you to back up your saves. Verify four things before the first session: that your Skyrim is on the 1.6.x or 1.7.x runtime, since 1.5.97 and VR are excluded, that you have a save after Helgen or the Alternate Start mod, that your machine has about 3 GB of spare RAM and a GPU that runs Minecraft 26.3, and that your launcher arrangement works, since the bundled Prism instance starts Minecraft hidden and the INI file is the only documented way to change that. The licence is MIT, and the project released 0.1.0, 0.1.1 and 0.1.2 within days of each other in late September and October 2026. ## FAQ ### What do I need to play SkyCraft? Skyrim Special Edition on the Anniversary Edition runtime, 1.6.x or 1.7.x, with SKSE64 and the Address Library for SKSE Plugins, plus a Microsoft account owning Minecraft: Java Edition. The project was developed and tested on Skyrim 1.7.104 and is not SE 1.5.97 and not VR. ### How do I install SkyCraft? Install the SkyCraft zip with Mod Organizer 2 or Vortex like any SKSE plugin, then start Skyrim through SKSE. On the first run SkyCraft unpacks its Minecraft to `%LOCALAPPDATA%\SkyCraft` and a small Prism Launcher window asks you to sign in with your Microsoft account. ### Can I use my own Minecraft launcher with SkyCraft? Yes, by editing `Data/SKSE/Plugins/SkyCraft.ini` to set `sLauncher` and `sArguments`, and turning off `bStartWithSkyrim` if you want to start Minecraft yourself. Your instance needs Minecraft 26.3, Fabric Loader 0.19.5 or newer, Fabric API, Java 25 and the SkyCraft Fabric jar. ### Does SkyCraft work in multiplayer? Only the Minecraft world is shared, with up to 100 players, and each player keeps their own Skyrim world, NPCs and quests. The host opens the Minecraft menu with O, chooses Open to LAN and Start LAN World, and the bundled e4mc mod produces a join link for the others to use with `/join`. ### How much disk and memory does SkyCraft need? The README asks you to budget about 3 GB of extra RAM, about 1.5 GB of disk for Minecraft's own files, and a GPU that runs Minecraft 26.3, because Minecraft runs hidden alongside Skyrim. ## Sources - [chasmlol/SkyCraft on GitHub](https://github.com/chasmlol/SkyCraft) - [Issues](https://github.com/chasmlol/SkyCraft/issues) - [License: MIT](https://github.com/chasmlol/SkyCraft/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/chasmlol/SkyCraft/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/chasmlol/SkyCraft/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/chasmlol-skycraft