How to make a custom Totem of Undying

Make one step by step

1. Open the Totem Maker and choose a skin: type your Java username, upload a 64×64 or old 64×32 PNG, or pick one of your saved skins or a default character such as Steve or Alex.
2. Pick a style: Classic, Big head or Full body. Turn the Outer layer, the Gold outline and the Gold wings on or off.
3. Check the previews: the 16×16 texture, the pop when the totem saves you, and your hotbar. Press Edit pixels to change single pixels.
4. Choose Java Edition and the version you play, or Bedrock Edition, then press Download .zip or Download .mcpack.
5. Install the pack and move it to the top of your pack list. How to install it.

Styles, outer layer and gold

• Classic puts the whole face on top and spreads the arms like the totem’s wings, with the body and legs below. Big head draws an oversized head on a small body. Full body shows the whole player standing with the arms down, so the outfit shows.
• Outer layer draws the hat, jacket, sleeves and trousers over the skin. Turn it off if a big hat hides the face.
• Gold outline keeps the vanilla totem’s outline and trims the figure to its shape. Gold wings lets the vanilla totem show wherever the figure leaves a gap, such as the wing tips. Both come from the vanilla totem of the version you pick for the download.
• Edit pixels opens a pencil, an eraser, a fill bucket, a colour picker and mirror painting. Changing the style afterwards replaces your edits, so pick the style first.

A friend’s Java username works as well as your own: their current skin is fetched. Bedrock gamertags can’t be looked up, so upload a Bedrock friend’s skin as a PNG. HD 128×128 skins are read at 64×64, since the totem is only 16×16.

Which file the pack changes

A totem pack replaces one texture. Its path depends on the edition and, on Java, on the version, because 1.13 renamed the item textures:

The pop when a totem saves you shows the same texture, so it changes too. The Totem Maker writes the right path for the version you pick. Because only the totem changes, the pack works next to any other pack: put it above the others.

Several totems with different names

On Java 1.21.5 and newer a pack can give a totem its own texture when it is renamed in an anvil, without mods: one totem named “Steve” and another named “Alex”, each with its own face. Older Java versions need OptiFine or the CIT Resewn mod for this. Bedrock packs can’t pick a texture by name, so every totem looks the same there.

1. In the Totem Maker, choose Java and your version, and press Open in Texture Pack Maker.
2. Open the totem’s texture and choose Name-based textures in its menu (⋮). Type the name and press Create and paint.
3. Paint the new texture, or make a second totem in the Totem Maker, press Download PNG and put it in with Upload.
4. Export the pack, rename a totem in an anvil to exactly that name and hold it.

The name must match exactly, capital letters too. How renaming items to change their texture works.

Make the pack by hand

You can also build a totem pack with any image editor. Draw a 16×16 PNG with a see-through background, then:

Java Edition

1. Make a folder with the PNG at assets/minecraft/textures/item/totem_of_undying.png and a pack.mcmeta next to assets. A pack.png icon is optional.
2. Zip the contents of the folder, not the folder itself, so pack.mcmeta sits at the top of the zip.

Custom Totem.zip
├── pack.mcmeta
├── pack.png
└── assets/minecraft/textures/item/
    └── totem_of_undying.png

A pack for Java 26.3 (resource pack format 97.1) has this pack.mcmeta:

{
  "pack": {
    "description": "A custom Totem of Undying",
    "min_format": [97, 1],
    "max_format": 97
  }
}

For Java 1.11 to 1.12.2 the texture goes in assets/minecraft/textures/items/totem.png and pack.mcmeta has a single pack_format. Every version’s pack format.

{
  "pack": {
    "pack_format": 3,
    "description": "A custom Totem of Undying"
  }
}

Bedrock Edition

1. Put the PNG at textures/items/totem.png and write a manifest.json with two new UUIDs of your own (any UUID generator makes them). A pack_icon.png is optional.
2. Zip the folder’s contents and rename the file from .zip to .mcpack.

Custom Totem.mcpack
├── manifest.json
├── pack_icon.png
└── textures/items/
    └── totem.png

{
  "format_version": 2,
  "header": {
    "name": "Custom Totem",
    "description": "A custom Totem of Undying",
    "uuid": "6d2f9b41-8c3e-4a57-b1d0-7e4c2a9f5b63",
    "version": [1, 0, 0],
    "min_engine_version": [1, 21, 0]
  },
  "modules": [
    {
      "type": "resources",
      "uuid": "e18a3c75-2b9d-4f06-a4e1-9c5b7d3f0a28",
      "version": [1, 0, 0]
    }
  ]
}

Install it and fix problems

• Java: open Options… > Resource Packs… > Open Pack Folder, drop the .zip in without unzipping it, move the pack to Selected and to the top of the list, then click Done.
• Bedrock: open the .mcpack. Minecraft imports it; then activate it under Settings > Global Resources > My Packs and move it to the top. Downloading it again from the Totem Maker while the page is open updates the same pack instead of adding a second one.

Still the normal totem?

• Another pack above yours changes the totem too: move yours to the top.
• The pack was made for another Java version: before 1.13 the file has another name. Make it again for the version you play.
• The zip holds a folder instead of the files: pack.mcmeta or manifest.json must be at the top of the zip.

How to install resource packs · Texture pack not working: fixes

Questions