Unknown Block Remover

A Minecraft Bedrock admin utility that finds and removes the orphaned blocks left behind when addons are uninstalled. When an addon is removed mid-world, its blocks don't disappear: they keep their original ID but have no definition, and show up as question marks. This addon cleans them up, and never touches blocks from addons that are still installed.

Author: Rob 'myGen' Hall
License: MIT
Minimum Engine Version: 1.26.0
Website: mygen.co.uk

The Problem

When you remove an addon from a world that already has its blocks placed, those blocks don't become air. They stay exactly where they are with their original namespace and ID (e.g. myaddon:myblock), but with no block definition to render them, so Minecraft displays them as question mark blocks. They're harmless but ugly, and they build up fast if you've been testing addons or cleaning up a server.

Unknown Block Remover finds these blocks, shows you what it found and where, and removes them: in one go from a scan, or automatically as you move around.

Features

• Only removes what's really unknown: a block is only touched if its ID is no longer registered with the game, so blocks from installed addons are always safe, even ones that share a namespace with removed blocks
• Fast scanning: the game itself picks out the unknown blocks, so scanning 64 blocks around you takes under 20 milliseconds
• Preview before removing: a scan lists each removed addon and block type with counts and the nearest location, and nothing is removed until you confirm
• Teleport to the nearest block of any addon in the scan results, to check before you remove
• Replace with air or a neighbouring block: fill the gaps with a matching block from around each one, so walls and floors don't get holes
• Automatic removal around you as you move, at the interval and radius you choose
• Live panel: status and counts update while it's open; settings save as you change them
• Shared between admins: the found list and the addons to clean up are stored on the world
• Correct height limits for every dimension, read from the game
• Admin-only: all controls need GameDirectors permission; cheats don't need to be on
• No beta APIs

Installation

1. Download the .mcaddon file
2. Open it with Minecraft to import it
3. Create or edit a world and add the Unknown Block Remover behavior pack
4. No beta APIs or experiments needed

Usage

Commands

Step 1: Scan

Stand near the unknown (question mark) blocks, run /ubr:open and tap Scan around me. The scan covers 64 blocks in every direction and lists what it found: each removed addon, its block types, how many of each, and where the nearest one is. Nothing has been removed yet.

Step 2: Remove

On the scan results, switch off any addon you want to keep, choose what to replace removed blocks with, and tap Remove selected. Confirm, and the blocks are replaced. Use Go to nearest block under an addon first if you want to look at them.

Or: remove automatically

Open Auto-removal settings, switch on the removed addons you want cleaned up, and turn on Remove unknown blocks around me automatically. Then walk around: every few seconds the area around you is scanned, and the selected addons' blocks are replaced. A short action bar message shows how many were removed, and the home screen counts the total for your session.

Settings

Notes

• Removal can't be undone. Back up your world before a big clean-up.
• Neighbouring block copies the most common plain, full block touching each removed one, like stone, planks or glass. It never copies stairs, slabs, fences, plants, containers, signs, doors, beds or other unknown blocks. Clumps fill in layers from the outside, up to 16 deep. Any block with nothing suitable around it becomes air.
• Blocks from a removed addon that you haven't selected are left in place, and never used as a neighbouring block.
• Only loaded chunks are scanned. If a scan finds nothing, move closer to the blocks.
• Clear found list forgets every removed addon found so far, along with their counts, for every admin. Blocks still in the world are found again by the next scan.
• The found list and the addons to clean up are stored on the world. Auto-removal settings are stored per player.
• Upgrading from v1.0.0: the addons you had selected are kept and moved to the shared list. Scan once to rebuild the found list.