The Twilight Forest

The Twilight Forest is a mod created by Benimatic and ported to 1.12.2 by AtomicBlom, Drullkus, Tamaized, and williewillus. It adds the eponymous Twilight Forest as a new dimension. This dimension is a heavily forested world filled with new mobs, trees, dungeons, and bosses. This dimension's ground level is very low in response to the tall trees. The dimension is locked at sunset time, though sleeping is possible. Mobs will not spawn on the surface of the Twilight Forest, though they will in dungeons and caves.

Warning: Rumor has it, that if you go on a Twilight Forest Adventure with Caitlyn, she will indefinitely fall in love with you.

Making the Portal
Before you even explore the Twilight Forest, you need to get there. This is the first step in exploring a magical world. To make a portal to the Twilight Forest, make a 2x2 shallow pool (4 squares) of water in a grassy area, and surround it entirely with natural stuff (flowers, mushrooms, saplings, leaves, grass, anything considered a "plant" or "leaves"). As of Version 3.5.263, the portal can be any shape and size, as long as there is at least 4 blocks but no more than 64 blocks of water. Then throw a diamond in (with the "Q" key, by default) and stand back!

This is what your Twilight Forest Portal should look like:

It is also possible to use Podzol, Course Dirt or Mycelium for the Portal, as long as it is a dirt block and has plants.

What to Beware of
Although a lot of the Twilight Forest is rather tranquil, some places are definitely unsafe. The portals do not have any particular safeguards. It is rare, but you could arrive in the courtyard of a rampaging Naga, in a Hollow Hill, on top of a tall tree, or even in a biome you're not supposed to be in yet. Be prepared to defend your portal, or to flee if necessary.

Though this is a rare case, but sometimes you might enter the Twilight Forest and there is no portal near you. Make sure you check your surroundings in case your portal generated elsewhere.

How to Get Back to the Overworld
You can make portals back to the Overworld in the same way as you initially made the portal to get to the Twilight Forest. Diamonds appear in the Twilight Forest at the same rate, and at the same depths as in the Overworld.

Lost?
Your respawn point in the Twilight Forest will be at the same coordinates as your respawn point in the Overworld. That doesn't mean that it will be near your portal, or anywhere recognizable. For that reason, it may be advisable to either make your portal near your respawn point, or to place and use a bed near your portal soon after you arrive.

Progression and Adventure
Some tech mods or ore mods have a tree or ladder structure, where you have to build items from one stage in order to reach the next stage. In the Twilight Forest, you can roughly measure your progress by combat difficulty. Since most of the forest is peaceful, the difficulty is centered around the various landmarks. This guide attempts to rank the landmarks by difficulty, and to break them into tiers, so the organized adventurer can be prepared for what awaits. The first thing you want to do is craft yourself a Magic Map.

For the Starters

 * Hedge Maze
 * Shallow Caves
 * Small Hollow Hill

To slowly ease into the hostility of the Twilight Forest, these landmarks will cover some of the most basic combat strategies and fill up on resources. These can be attempted with little or no armor, and simple wood, stone, or iron weapons. Hedge Mazes are a good place to start out, as most monsters die in 1-3 hits from any weapon. The treasure chests inside frequently have food or other useful supplies for your journey ahead.

Small Hollow Hills are a good introduction to the Hollow Hill concept, and can help you build a supply of Iron for armor, and Coal for Torches. They can be somewhat claustrophobic compared to the Medium or Large hills, but that can work in your favor, by breaking up packs of monsters, preventing them from swarming you. Small Hills are also a good place to find Glowstone, if you haven't crafted a Magic Map yet. If you are not ready for a Hollow Hill yet, exploring the entrances of Caves may help, making sure to not explore too deep and potentially lose everything.

Starting Progression

 * Naga Courtyard
 * Lich Tower
 * Deep Caves
 * Medium Hollow Hill

Once you are ready, you may start the Progression system set in place. To start, you must find a Naga Courtyard, which are easily identified by long, tall stone walls and pillars. It's recommended to have iron armor or higher, because the Naga is formidable and fast. Once slain, you'll get some Naga Scales to make some durable armor.

Afterwards a Lich Tower will be next. Lich Towers are filled with hidden treasure, but they are swarming with Skeletons, Zombies, Spiders, Death Tomes and maybe some Witches and Endermen. Atop the Tower is the dangerous Lich, who can cast powerful spells as it's disposal. They're cunning in combat, protected by magical shields and with a hoard of Zombies at the ready once all the shields are down.

Medium Hollow Hills have a little bit more strong enemies, but more rewarding treasure, including Redstone, Lapis Lazuli, and Gold. These are more spacious than the smaller counterparts, which will make it harder to fend off enemies. Exploring deeper caves may be necessary to collect some resources and prepare yourself for the next phases of Progression.

Across the Land

 * Labyrinth
 * Hydra Lair
 * Large Hollow Hill
 * Goblin Knight Stronghold
 * Dark Tower
 * Yeti Lair
 * Aurora Palace

With the Lich slain, a significant portion of the dimension shall open for exploration. It's recommended to have some tough armor, which may be easy to harvest as there is a variety of materials to harvest across the land, whatever you desire, but you must be prepared.

The Labyrinths have extremely rewarding items, even some Blaze Rods for later purposes, or for brewing potions. Though, precaution is required, as the long, winding corridors are teeming with all sorts of monsters, from annoyances to deadly. Waiting in the fenced off chamber awaits the terrifying Minoshroom, who will slaughter you if unprepared.

In the center of the Fire Swamp, after navigating through pools of lava and Fire Jets, the Hydra Lair stands, with the Hydra posing a significant threat. They are large, they are dangerous, but the rewards are worth the effort, including the ores that were once guarded by the Hydra.

Deep within the Dark Forest are remnants of the Twilight Knights at the Goblin Knight Stronghold. These twisted, long corridors contain many goblins and other monsters that have claimed the Knightmetal equipment for themselves and are just as prepared as you are. Amongst these corridors are the final resting place of the Twilight Knights, but they are now the restless and dangerous Knight Phantoms.

Once the Knight Phantoms have been quelled, the eldritch technology around the Dark Towers begin to function. Inside are filled with hordes of frightening monsters, and the most unusual of all treasure. The tower is tall, almost as tall as the world height limit, and is dangerous to traverse without proper preparation. Amongst the top of the broken tower looms the scary Ur-Ghast.

The Yeti Lairs deep within the Snowy Forest contain the imposing Alpha Yeti, the biggest of all the Yetis, which will prove valuable with the crafting of Yeti Armor.

Up above on a Glacier, a reflective palace stands, glowing like an aurora. Inside, the Snow Queen awaits, casting dangerous ice spells, but has some valuable treasure and weapons for the upcoming challenge.

For those up for a bit of a challenge, Large Hollow Hills have some of the greatest treasures, but also have the most threatening monsters. Because of the large size, there is plenty of space, opening up for some horde attacks. Not even hiding behind walls could save you from the Wraiths that lurk the interior and sometimes exterior.

The Home Run

 * Troll Caves
 * Cloud Cottage
 * Thornlands
 * Final Castle

The Highlands is a test of will for the adventurer, where they must go beneath the ground to find some Magic Beans and an Obsidian Vault. In order to open this vault, the adventurer must go up into the clouds to find a Giant's Pickaxe, held by the almighty Giants. Once the vault is open, the Lamp of Cinders can be claimed, and the final stretch awaits.

The Thornlands stand in the way of the adventurer, but with the Lamp of Cinders, they can burn their way through the Thorns and into the Final Plateau. Here, the adventurer shall complete the last quest of the Twilight Forest in the Final Castle. For now, nothing is inside, but soon, the final challenge shall be ready.

To find out more about the mod, click here.