Inventory Editing Software for Minecraft (UPDATED for 1.8 Adventure Update)
Some people might think that the new creative mode for Minecraft means that there's no more need for Minecraft inventory editors, but they'd be wrong. Completely wrong, in fact. Creative mode is all well and good, but a good number of players who got used to playing Minecraft in Survival mode and hacking in inventory items as needed are probably going to find that creative mode, whilst incredibly convenient and well designed, lacks a certain something. I know I feel that way and I can't even really tell you why. Logic doesn't seem to come into it. Logically speaking, if I want to have all the blocks in the game at my disposal, creative mode would seem to be the way to play, but I like survival mode. I just don't like having to mine through 1000 square meters of stone to get enough diamond for a couple of buckets, or enough diamond for a diamond pickaxe.
Inventory editors will probably always have a place in Minecraft, no matter how much Notch and the talented Mojangles provide us outlets for our creative bones, some of us are still going to want to cheat in Survival. It's in our blood.
There are two main types of inventory editors for Minecraft. External, stand alone programs like INVedit, which I love with the power of a hundred supernova suns, and in game inventory editing mods, like Too Many Items, which I would also compose sonnets to if I had the time and the talent.
INVedit Minecraft Inventory Editing Tool
This is a stand alone, external tool for editing your Minecraft inventory. You need to close Minecraft to use it, which is why it is less convenient than a mod. On the upside, it's not a mod, which some people find hard to install or undesirable for any number of reasons. INVedit has already been updated for Minecraft 1.8, which hasn't even been officially released yet, that's how good this tool it.
Too Many Items Minecraft Inventory Editing Mod
This is a mod that adds a total inventory to the side of your screen when you press 'E' or whatever key you have bound to your inventory screen. It allows you to add as much of any item you like to your inventory during the game without the need to shut down the game first. It also has a handy 'delete all' function, which can be activated by holding down the shift key. This clears your inventory and lets you start from scratch, which is handy when you've cluttered it with all the diamonds in the world. This mod doesn't need Mod Loader, and has also been updated for the Adventure Update pre-release.