FAQ

These are the questions players and pack makers ask most about Punchy! Moves. Each answer is a few sentences and ends in a link to the page that goes deeper. Players can start at the top. Pack makers will find most of what they need under “Making packs”.

The answers were checked against Punchy! Moves 1.0.0 for Fabric on Minecraft 1.21.11. Another build can differ.

Installing and running

Which Minecraft versions and loaders does it support?

Punchy! Moves comes for Minecraft Java Edition 26.3 on Fabric, 1.21.11 and 1.21.1 on Fabric, Forge and NeoForge, and 1.20.1 on Fabric and Forge. Each file is made for one version and one loader, and a file for the wrong one will not load. Before you start lists everything you need.

Do I need Punchy! or Punchy! Studio?

No. You do not need Punchy! or Punchy! Studio to run Moves, and Moves needs no other Punchy mod. On Fabric it needs Fabric API. To see animations you need an animation pack, because Moves ships without them. See Install Punchy! Moves.

What does it do without a pack?

The shoulder camera, the faces and the settings all work. No body clips play and the emote wheel is empty, because Moves ships no clips of its own and a resource pack brings them. The clips on this wiki use the example pack provided by Crafto, Fluid & Foolish. What Punchy! Moves adds has the list.

How do I add a pack?

A pack is an ordinary resource pack: put it in the resourcepacks folder, move it to the right-hand list under Options, then Resource Packs, and press Done. When two packs have a file at the same path, the one higher in the list wins. Press F3+T after you change a pack’s files. See Add an animation pack.

Which keys does it use, and can I change them?

V toggles the custom camera, B the orbit camera, F7 opens the camera settings and C opens the emote wheel by default. You can change them under Punchy Moves in Minecraft’s key binds, where each emote on the wheel also has its own entry (unbound unless the pack gives it a key). F and G are fixed. Keys and emotes lists them all.

Where does Moves save my settings?

In config/punchy_moves/ in the game folder: camera.json, better_combat.json, spatial_gui.json once you change that choice, face.json and a faces/ folder. Close the game before you edit a file by hand. See What Moves saves on your computer.

Servers and other players

Does a server need Punchy! Moves?

No. It is a client mod, and nothing is sent to a server: poses and faces are worked out on your screen, so you can use it on any server. Whether a particular server allows client mods is that server’s own rule. Getting started says the same.

Do other players see my animations?

Moves poses every player you can see, on your own screen, with the packs you have on, so you see other players animated even if they do not run Moves. They see you animated only if they run Moves too, and with their own packs. Your emotes are never sent to anyone. See When an emote plays.

Do faces work on other players?

Yes. Each face is drawn from the player’s own skin on your screen, so it shows on any player whose skin has eyes it can find, on any server, and the skin file is never changed. Some reactions need your food, your level or one of your own moments, such as a bow or crossbow shot, using a block or shears, lighting a fire, or throwing a snowball, an egg, an ender pearl or a potion. Moves only sees those for your own player, so they show on your own player only. See Where the face is not drawn.

Punchy!, first person and Better Combat

Does it work with Punchy!?

Yes, the two run side by side. Punchy! animates your hands and held items in first person, and Moves animates the whole body you see in third person. To run both, install the Punchy! file for the same Minecraft version and loader as your Moves file, from Modrinth or CurseForge. See Supported versions and loaders for Punchy! and the Punchy! FAQ.

Can a pack made for Punchy! animate my body?

No. Moves takes its body clips, compat files and faces from the assets/punchy_moves/ folder of a resource pack, and Punchy! reads its own folders, so a Punchy! pack’s hand clips do not play on the body. What a pack holds shows the folders Moves reads.

Does it animate me in first person?

No. In first person you see Minecraft’s own view, or Punchy!‘s hands if you have it, and Moves poses nothing there and draws no face. It animates your body in any third-person view, and the custom shoulder camera works in the back view. See How the camera behaves.

Why did my custom camera switch off when I pressed F5?

Minecraft’s perspective key (F5 by default) turns the custom camera off while the view passes through first person and the front view. The camera works in the back view. Open the camera settings with F7 and check the Custom Camera switch. See How the camera behaves.

Does it work with Better Combat?

Yes, as an option. With Better Combat installed, a pack can give weapon attacks their own clips with Better Combat’s timing, and the Better Combat pack attacks row on the Features page of Moves’ settings (F7) chooses Automatic, On or Off. Automatic, the default, plays them only when the active pack has Better Combat clips, and the row shows whether that is on or off right now. See Better Combat.

Performance

Will it lower my frame rate?

Moves runs only on your own computer. It works out poses and faces for each player in view, and it reads a pack’s files when resources load or reload, not while you play. There is no performance setting to turn it down, and the next question lists what you can switch off. If the game runs badly with Moves, tell us on Discord with the details in the last question below.

Can I turn parts of it off?

Yes. Press V to turn the custom camera off, flip the switches on the Features page, or set Better Combat pack attacks to Off. The face has switches for Blinking, Glances and every reaction in the Face tab of Punchy!‘s new menu (F8 opens the menu, and the tab is in its Punchy Moves group), saved in face.json. Without that menu, edit face.json by hand. Body clips come from the pack, so turn the pack off under Resource Packs to stop them. See Camera and features and the face settings.

Making packs

Do I need a program to make a pack?

No. A pack is a resource pack with JSON files, and Make a pack with one emote builds one by hand, with one clip and one emote. Punchy! Studio and Blockbench write the animation files for you, and Studio also writes the compat files and plays the clip on your own player while you work.

Which tool should I make clips in?

Studio plays the clip on your own player in the real game while you work, makes faces and writes the compat files. Blockbench is the one to use if you already animate there: export its clips into your pack, then copy the pack into Studio to bind and check them. When to use Studio, and when Blockbench has the full comparison.

Can I make a pack without Moves installed?

Yes, for editing and exporting: the Third Person editor in Punchy! Studio works without Moves. The Game view, which plays the clip on your own player, needs Moves next to Studio, and you need Moves anyway to play a pack in the game. See Before you start on the Game view page.

What does the downloadable rig need?

Blockbench 4.8 or newer (the plugin was checked in Blockbench 5.2.2), plus the rig and plugin files from this wiki. The Blockbench rig has the downloads and the setup steps.

Can I use a different animation program?

Clips are Bedrock animation files, the format Blockbench exports. The wiki has no checked route for Blender yet, and the Blender tab on How to create custom animations stays disabled. Use Blockbench or Punchy! Studio.

Why does my clip or emote not play?

Go through these in order: the pack is on and you pressed F3+T, the file is under assets/punchy_moves/animations/, a compat file or an emote entry names the clip, and the name is spelled exactly the same, because names are case sensitive. An emote also plays only while you stand still on the ground. Why my clip does not play has the full list.

Why was my whole compat file ignored?

One key the format does not accept makes the game skip the entire file. The usual causes are a format_version that is missing from a file that uses the current layout, or is not 2; a key at the root that the format does not allow; and broken JSON. The game’s log gets a line that starts with Could not load animation compat and names the file. See How the game reads the files.

Still stuck?

Where do I ask for help or report a bug?

Join the Punchy Discord. A report is easier to answer when it names the Punchy! Moves version, your Minecraft version, your loader and its version, and the packs you have on in order. Add the Could not load animation compat line from logs/latest.log if there is one. Troubleshooting collects the usual problems.

Related pages

• Getting started: install Moves, try the camera, an emote and a face, and make a first pack.
• Camera and features: the camera, the switches and every moment a pack can animate.
• Keys and emotes: every key and the emote wheel.
• Faces: how the face finds the eyes, and its settings.
• Compat files and Animation files: the two file formats of a pack.
• Punchy! Studio for Moves packs and The Blockbench rig: the two tools for making clips.
• Troubleshooting and the Punchy! FAQ.