Alright, I'm fairly versed in Java and have tried my hand at modding a few times in the past(normally just as a version dies... 1.6 before 1.7 started, 1.8 which was never large, anyway...) though I normally get stuck due to lack of knowing where to go to ask questions with bug fixing things that "Should be working" or from planning projects larger than I'm ready for.

 

tl;dr - I know a moderate amount of java, Need modding help.

 

So as I take another stab at the task of bringing my desires into the world of minecraft I figured I'd start by asking for help. Was wondering where I might find the best tutorials for 1.9.4 and what old ones might still be valid.

Also curious about if there might be an IRC chat or something of that nature for getting assistance should I hit a sticky spot.

Best help you can find is right here. Here would be your help IRC.

 

As to tutorials - most stuff 1.8+ applies to 1.9.4 and needs just a tiny bit of updates (like different returns for e.g two hands or method names or accessing stuff). Rendering and model systems got again overhauled on 1.9 but they still base off (the idea) 1.8 systems. Packeting stand still from 1.8 version. IExtendedEntityProperties is now @Capability. There has been some TileEntity changes in 1.8+ aswell, but after that - minor. Also - there is new registry system now (forge's).

 

It's hard to list everything but generally 1.8+ is not THAT far from 1.9.4 (because 1.7.10 is light years away).

 

Better question would be "how to make something" (anything really) - we can then be more direct.

 

This will be very useful:

http://mcforge.readthedocs.io/en/latest/

My signature has a link to some pretty helpful resources I've found over time, and in addition to those, I've recently discovered these tutorials by Darkhax, which contain some good information about some less-commonly discussed modding aspects like loot tables.