This release contains some new performance improvements (especially for integrated GPUs) and some fixes for issues introduced in the previous release.
Compatible with Minecraft 1.20.1 only and Fabric Loader 0.14 or newer.
Note: Some mods which interact with Sodium are likely to be incompatible with this update. You may have to wait for an update from the authors of those mods.
Highlights
- Reduced video memory usage & bandwidth requirements by up to 20%. This can significantly improve performance when GPU-limited.
- Some more performance improvements have been made to chunk occlusion culling, reducing CPU overhead. The algorithm is also slightly more accurate, which may allow for GPU load to be further reduced.
Other notable changes
- Fixed a problem where some surfaces would not render when the player stands at certain positions.
- Fixed a problem which caused the "update your graphics drivers" message to appear even if the latest NVIDIA graphics drivers were installed on Windows.
- Fixed the "Always Defer Chunk Updates" option (in "Video Settings > Performance") not working correctly.
- Fixed a race condition that could cause sporadic crashes when other mods attempt to perform rendering off-thread.
- Fixed a number of issues with the Mixins configuration file which prevented other mods from disabling certain functionality in Sodium.
- The graphics adapter probe now works correctly on Linux computers with hybrid graphics.
- The focus behavior of the Video Settings screen has changed, and elements are now only focused if the keyboard is used, rather than on each mouse click.
This version is probably one of the biggest updates for Sodium yet, and contains a massive number of performance enhancements, bug fixes, and improvements.
With thanks to the following contributors: @jellysquid3, @IMS212, @PepperCode1, @comp500, @MCRcortex, @Noryea, @embeddedt, @Grayray75, and @Moulberry.
Compatible with Minecraft 1.20.1 only and Fabric Loader 0.14 or newer.
Note: Many mods which interact with Sodium are likely to be incompatible with this update. You may have to wait for an update from the authors of those mods.
Highlights
- Dramatically improved the performance of terrain rendering in nearly every way.
- Chunk loading is dramatically faster, uses much fewer resources (both CPU and RAM), and should feel much smoother than before.
- The amount of time needed to load new chunks (referred to as "meshing") has been greatly reduced, and is anywhere from 40% to 60% faster than the previous release.
- Memory allocation rate while loading the geometry for new chunks has been decreased by around 80%.
- Occlusion culling is anywhere from 25-45% faster now, and the long-standing bugs with it have also been fixed
- You've probably experienced those issues where certain parts of the world don't seem to render when looked at from certain angles. Well, those issues are fixed now!
- Terrain rendering now uses shared index buffers which can reduce video memory bandwidth/usage requirements by up to 25%.
- Chunk loading is dramatically faster, uses much fewer resources (both CPU and RAM), and should feel much smoother than before.
- Fixed major performance regressions NVIDIA graphics cards. (anywhere from 200% to 300% faster than previous release...)
- If you were previously disappointed by the performance you were getting on a NVIDIA GPU, try this version.
- "Render Pass Consolidation" has been added, which greatly reduces the number of render passes needed for the world (hugely improves CPU and GPU utilization.) This also helps to prevent excessive amounts of overdraw, and ensures larger batches of geometry are sent to the GPU for rendering.
- "Block Face Culling" has been significantly improved, which allows for more blocks to be eligible for early geometry culling (hugely improves GPU utilization.) This generally makes the biggest difference in foliage-heavy scenes.
- Many other performance enhancements which are too numerous to describe here.
Other notable changes
- A lot of issues with biome color blending have been fixed. This means it is no longer incorrectly applied to certain blocks, especially those from other mods. Additionally, it's much faster to calculate the colors used by certain blocks, which helps improve world load times.
- A lot of issues were also fixed with smooth lighting! This should fix some issues with certain resource packs, and the lighting with blocks like Sculk Sensors.
- Mip-mapping has been greatly improved so that terrain no longer has a black outline around certain textures when viewed at extreme angles. (Note: This has the consequence that some textures, such as those used for leaves, may seem slightly brighter than they did before. However, we think this generally looks more accurate to the original texture work, and believe the original behavior was a bug.)
- When supported, the mod will now request a "No Error Context", which allows the graphics driver to skip some unnecessary CPU overhead during rendering. This slightly helps improve performance on some graphics card drivers.
- A new driver compatibility and workarounds system has been implemented, which helps to inform the user of possible performance issues & automatically fix them.
- Line rendering (used by things like Structure Blocks and Hitbox Rendering) is no longer broken.
- ... Many other improvements for mod compatibility.
Updated for Minecraft 1.20. No other changes.
Highlights
- Added support for Minecraft 1.19.4.
- Fixed graphical corruption when using the Zink OpenGL driver.
Known Issues
None outstanding as of the time of writing. Please open an issue if you run into problems.
This version adds new a number of new optimizations and fixes a couple of bugs with the previous release. Most players will want to upgrade to this version.
- Improved the performance of special effects, such as the enchanted item glint (up to 300% faster.)
- Improved the performance of mob and block entity rendering (up to 20% faster.)
- Improved the performance of chunk rendering by exchanging a small amount of memory for a reduced number of draw calls (up to 10% faster.)
- Fixed a memory leak which would cause copies of chunks to remain in cache even if they were no longer needed.
- Fixed a problem where animated textures which used interpolation would not have their alpha channel handled correctly.
NOTE: This version makes internal changes that will likely break mods that try to hook into Sodium (such as Iris, Indium, ImmediatelyFast, etc.) You will need to wait for an updated version of these mods.
This version improves on the driver detection system introduced in Sodium 0.4.7. The game no longer requires a restart to apply workarounds, and users will no longer see a popup window when a workaround has been applied.
To see what workarounds have been applied, you can read your client log file.
Sodium 0.4.7 is now out, fixing a memory leak and adding optimized cloud rendering.
This release includes a workaround for crashes on NVIDIA drivers. On the first boot, if you are affected a notice will appear explaining the problem.
Sodium 0.4.6 has now released, fixing a texture animation corruption issue.
Sodium 0.4.5 is now out, updating to 1.19.3. This release also fixes a small texture corruption issue.
This release no longer includes JOML, as Minecraft 1.19.3 has it bundled.
Highlights
Supports Minecraft 1.19.3 Removed JOML Fixed compact vertex format texture overflow
Known Issues
None outstanding as of the time of writing. Please open an issue if you run into problems.
This is a hotfix release to revert Adaptive VSync, as it broke VSync on AMD cards.
This release also fixes a memory leak.
This release includes multiple bug fixes, lighting improvements, and better support for the Fabric Fluid API. It also includes native support for the Flawless Frames API, which fixes compatibility with Replay Mod.
Sodium 0.4.2 for Minecraft 1.19 is now out. This is a straight port of the previous release for Minecraft 1.19.
This release is a mostly straightforward port of the most recent version, with some additional bug fixes. Also, we're dropping the alpha version and making this a proper release.
Highlights
- Requires Minecraft 1.18.2
Fixes
- Fixed a problem where the game could crash at random when teleporting or loading chunks
- Fixed a problem where biome colors would be incorrect at the edge of chunks which neighbor empty space
This release is a minor patch for 0.4.0-alpha5 which fixes a number of reported issues. We're currently working on some pretty big changes for the next major release and are pressed for time, so this patch only a small set of issues.
Highlights
- Lag spikes caused by block updates should be significantly improved
- Fog effects now match those introduced in Minecraft 1.18.1
- Fixed a slow memory leak that would occur from fence objects being leaked
- Server view distance is now respected, preventing discrepancies between client/server
- Biome blending effects have been improved slightly
- World rendering bugs/flickering caused by being far away from world center (i.e. near the world border) no longer occurs
Known issues
- Some parts of the world may not load correctly unless the player exits and loads the world file again
This release contains a few important bug fixes and improvements for Minecraft 1.17.1.
Highlights
- Flickering and other rendering bugs caused by the player being far away from the center of the world (i.e. near the world border) should no longer happen
- Fixed a memory leak that would slowly develop each time a chunk is updated
This is a port of Sodium 0.3.3 to Minecraft 1.18 with some changes for compatibility. Fabric Loader 0.12 or newer and Java 17 is required.
Known issues
- Placing and breaking blocks may cause stutters and other pauses when "Biome Blend Distance" is set to high values
- Some parts of the world may not load correctly unless the player exits and loads the world file again
- Server view distance is not respected, causing incorrect fog effects (#994)
This release contains a few important bug fixes and improvements for Minecraft 1.17.1.
Highlights
- Improved frame rates when loading or updating chunks.
- Fixed a memory leak caused by sync objects never getting released.
- Added options to control how many threads are used for chunk building, and to always defer chunk updates for improved frame times. The default number of threads used for chunk building is more optimally chosen and should help improve frame rates on slower CPUs.
- Improved the precision of the compressed vertex format, reducing texture glitches found with some texture packs and vanilla blocks
- The inner faces of leaves are no longer rendered if fast graphics are enabled, significantly reducing the geometry count of scenes with lots of foliage (thanks ADudeCalledLeo.)
- Config file handling has been greatly improved, and if a corrupted config file is found, the user will be prompted to fix the problem instead of the game crashing.
And everything else...
- Mods which provide config file overrides will no longer crash on first startup (thanks tbejos.)
- Improved our shader code slightly to reduce overhead in the vertex stage, potentially helping older graphics cards.
- Improved compatibility with the legacy AMD graphics drivers on Windows.
- Fixed a problem where empty draw calls would be submitted during chunk rendering.
- Some other minor improvements and fixes...
This release fixes a few more issues in Sodium 0.3 for Minecraft 1.17.1.
Changes and fixes
- Fixed an issue where OpenGL 4.x buffer targets would be accessed on OpenGL 3.x hardware, leading to a flood of OpenGL errors and degraded performance
- Fixed the "Use Block Face Culling" option not applying
- Fixed some strings not being translatable in the Video Settings screen
- Fixed a number of cases where the world would suddenly disappear at specific camera angles
- Fixed an issue where particles using animated sprites would not be animated
- Merged the cloud toggle and quality controls into one option to reduce confusion
- Fixed entities with spectral effects not being rendered through walls due to entity culling
This release fixes many issues and performance problems that were introduced with the first release of Sodium for Minecraft 1.17.1.
Changes and fixes
- Improved frame times when loading/updating chunks through the use of persistently mapped staging buffer (requires OpenGL 4.4+)
- Fixed chunk rendering corruption on older AMD/Windows systems
- Fixed missing chunk and "hole in the world" issues that could appear on some AMD systems
- Fixed the "Only Animate Visible Textures" option not disabling the optimization if ticked
- Fixed config files sometimes becoming corrupt after the game crashes
- Fixed an issue where fog effects would not respect other mods which modify the camera
- Fixed compatibility with LWJGL 3.2.3 and macOS M1 hardware
- Fixed an issue where some blocks wouldn't render their waterlogged state against glass.
- Changed how camera transformation matrices are handled in our shader code for better compatibility with Iris
This release adds official support for Minecraft 1.17.1 and with it many new improvements and fixes.
Changes and fixes
- A brand new chunk rendering backend has been introduced, bringing the best performance yet to any hardware that can run Minecraft.
- Added support for some Fabric API features, such custom fluid rendering and blocks with attached data.
- Many improvements to how we use and allocate VRAM, reducing stutters caused by loading chunks and overall GPU memory usage.
- Additionally, chunk loading was improved to prevent overload and to better stabilize frame rates. This can help with loading into worlds or when many blocks are changing at once.
- Improved the amount of time it takes to rebuild the chunk graph. This can reduce lag associated with moving around in the world or loading chunks at higher render distances.
- Many new optimizations for high resolution texture packs, especially when animated textures are used.
- Fixes and improvements for fog effects during sunrise/sunset and while underwater, helping to improve visuals drastically.
- Reduced VRAM usage in ocean biomes and other environments with lots of water.
- Support for custom translations (to be added in a future release)
- Improvements to particle rendering/culling, helping performance in particle heavy servers.
- Additional optimizations for biome color blending.
- ... and many other smaller, miscellaneous optimizations specific to Minecraft 1.17.