Thermal Foundation

Thermal Foundation is a tech mod created by TeamCoFH. The resource and material base for the Thermal series, adding ores, alloys, tools, and mob drops used across Thermal mods. As a tech mod it concentrates on machines, automation, and resource processing, and it has been downloaded around 95 million times, which puts it among the options players reach for in this space.

Thermal Foundation is built for players who want the Thermal series' shared resources and materials. It provides the alloys, ores, and base items the rest of the Thermal mods build on, acting as the foundation of that ecosystem. It is approachable enough to drop into a world and use right away, with little setup required.

The mod is available for Forge and NeoForge, so it fits a range of modpacks and launchers. It currently supports Minecraft 1.20.1 and 1.21.1, spanning the 1.20.1 to 1.21.1 releases. It runs on both the client and the server, so on a multiplayer server every player who connects needs it installed alongside the server itself.

Thermal Foundation works particularly well alongside CoFH Core, Thermal Expansion, and Thermal Dynamics. It depends on CoFH Core, so those must be present and on the same loader and version. It targets the Forge side of the ecosystem, so it fits comfortably into Forge and NeoForge packs.

Thermal Foundation has a modest footprint for what it adds and is widely used in modpacks without notable performance concerns.

If you are comparing options, a similar mod worth a look is Mekanism resources. They overlap in purpose, so most players pick whichever suits their loader and pack.