Rethinking Voxels
This shader is an edit of Complementary Reimagined that aims to be decently fast (when compared to path tracing shaders) while having block lights cast sharp shadows.
Notes
The lighting system is not perfect. Occasional sudden brightness changes are a side-effect of the way it works and cannot be completely removed without hurting performance or removing sharp shadows from light sources. To do the latter, disable Per-Pixel Lighting in the Rethinking Voxels Settings.
This shader is developed on Iris, using an AMD graphics card on linux, and it is also tested on an NVidia graphics card on linux. While it usually works on other platforms, bugs that appear only there are not caught by my testing and hence they take longer to fix. To use this shader pack, the Iris shader loader is required. Beta 18d and older versions also work on OptiFine.
Contact
If you need support, please join the shaderLabs discord server, where this shader has a channel (#rethinking-voxels-gri573).
Partnership
I have entered a partnership with Ember, a Minecraft server hosting provider. This is because Ember hosts the complementary SMP server and has provided a better hosting experience / customer support than the previous hosting service, and because they reached out asking about it. If you need to host a Minecraft server and wish to support Rethinking Voxels' development at the same time, do check them out! Using the promotional code RETHINKING in a first-time purchase will redirect 70% of the first month's fee to me as well as give you a 10% discount.
Media
Video by youtube user iambeen that showcases rethinking voxels beta 18d (with custom settings), compared to the original reimagined:
<iframe width="1920" height="768" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xrnRubNmz5U" title="An Incredible Edit Of One Of The Best Minecraft Shaders" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Stained glass tints lighting
Light can bounce multiple times
Blocklight can scatter in the air
Using Global Illumination for skylight causes shadows to look more natural and less flat than vanilla's floodfill skylight
All light sources (not just the sun) can be blocked by entities
This screenshot shows the overall visuals in a cave, dominated by GI
Blocklight can produce highlights on smooth surfaces. This screenshot features the Patrix resource pack.
This image showcases the shader's ability to have occluders cast sharp shadows
| Version | Minecraft | Loader | Download |
|---|---|---|---|
|
r0.1-beta9 |
1.20.1, 1.20.4, 1.21.1, 1.21.2, 1.21.3, 1.21.4, 1.21.5, 1.21.6, 1.21.7, 1.21.8, 1.21.9, 1.21.10
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta8 |
1.20.1, 1.20.4, 1.20.6, 1.21, 1.21.1, 1.21.4, 1.21.5
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta7b |
1.20.4, 1.21, 1.21.1, 1.21.4, 1.21.5
|
iris
|
Download |
|
april fools version 2025 aprilfools_2025 |
1.20.4, 1.21.1, 1.21.4, 1.21.5
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta7a |
1.20.4, 1.21, 1.21.1, 1.21.4, 1.21.5
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta7 |
1.20.4, 1.21, 1.21.1, 1.21.4
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta6a |
1.20.4, 1.21.1, 1.21.4
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta6 |
1.20.4, 1.21.1, 1.21.4
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta5 |
1.20.1, 1.20.4, 1.20.5, 1.20.6, 1.21
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta4-fix2 |
1.19.2, 1.20.1, 1.20.4, 1.20.5, 1.20.6, 1.21
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta4-fix1 |
1.19.2, 1.20.1, 1.20.4, 1.20.5, 1.20.6, 1.21
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta4 |
1.19.2, 1.20.1, 1.20.4, 1.20.5, 1.20.6
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta3-fix1 r0.1-beta3 |
1.19.2, 1.20.1, 1.20.2, 1.20.3, 1.20.4
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta2 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-beta1 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha10 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha9c |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha9b |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha9a |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha9 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha8 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha7 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha6 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1 alpha5 r0.1-alpha5 |
1.19.4, 1.20, 1.20.1, 1.20.2
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha4 |
1.19.2, 1.19.4, 1.20
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha3 r01-alpha3 |
1.19.2, 1.19.4, 1.20
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha2 |
1.19.2, 1.19.4, 1.20
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha1b |
1.19.2, 1.19.4
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha1a |
1.19.2, 1.19.4
|
iris
|
Download |
|
r0.1-alpha1 |
1.19.2, 1.19.4
|
iris
|
Download |
|
[Last OptiFine-Compatible Version] Beta 18d 18d |
1.19.2, 1.19.3, 1.19.4
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 18c 18c |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 18b 18b |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 18a 18a |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 18 18 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 17b 17b |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 17a 17a |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 17 17 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 16a 16a |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta16 16 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 15 15 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 14a 14a |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 14 14 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 13a 13a |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels Beta 13 13 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels beta 12 12 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels beta 11a 11a |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels beta 11 11 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels beta 10 10 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |
|
Rethinking Voxels beta 9 9 |
1.19.2, 1.19.3
|
iris, optifine
|
Download |