A stunning shader pack that provides breathtaking visuals! This is the Derivative shader pack. This pack provided elite level visuals that are very different from standard shader packs available for the game. Let us take a look at why this shader pack stands unique.

The Three Presets

The mod settings provides you three presets to choose from - Default, Survival and Film. The image slider above well showcases how different the same landscape looks when viewed using different presets. The Film preset is ideal for taking screenshots and capturing cinematic gameplay visuals. The Default preset is the original shader pack settings, while the Survival preset is an optimized version of the Default preset, fine-tuned for survival gameplay.

High-Detail Shadows

Shadow Quality

As crisp as it gets!

Within the shader settings, a slider to configure the shadow resolution is provided. This slider can be used to adjust the shadow resolution to insanely high values that no other shader pack provides. Blocks like leaves have small transparent gaps in their textures. The shadows introduced by this pack, when used at higher resolution can even draw through these gaps very well, as seen in the above image.

Wet Blocks and Puddles

Wet Blocks and Puddles

Weather effects

When it rains, any block exposed to the sky tends to get wet. They become reflective, as if their surfaces are wet and contain puddles. When raindrops fall on these wet blocks or on water surfaces, they tend to form puddles. Details like this add to the realism that the shader pack tries to achieve.

Volumetric Clouds and Evolving Skyboxes

Puddles and wet blocks are not the only detailing you will notice when it rains. The clouds in the sky actually thicken and the world, in general, becomes a lot darker due to the cloud-filled sky. You will be able to physically see it, as the cloud density increases when the first drops of rain strikes the ground.

Water Detailing

Water Detailing

Depth, God-Rays And Caustics

When it comes to water bodies, certain detailing elements can be noticed as well. The first is the water depth absorption. The deeper you dive, the more atmospheric your visuals will become. God-Rays can also be noticed when you observe the water surface while underwater. On underwater surfaces, you can notice caustics forming. Caustics are the ripple patterns of light that are commonly seen in swimming pools and such.

Glowing Ores

Glowing Ores

Spot them even in absolute darkness

This is a feature that a shader pack is not obliged to add, but still does so because of how helpful it is. This pack introduces glowing ores. This means ores around you will glow as if they have light on their own, allowing you to spot them with much ease in dark caves and such.

Midnight Atmosphere

Midnight Atmosphere

Dark and eerie, with a star-filled sky

As the night grows and the darkness approaches, the world tends to become a lot more haunting. At midnight, the world tends to become exceptionally dark, making it harder to distinguish much detail. The atmosphere truly becomes eerie, paving way for some haunting experiences when used with horror maps.

Night Sky

During nighttime, before the midnight darkness covers the world, the sky tends to become a unique purple shade. The stars and the clouds, along with the unique color, makes the sky loot truly beautiful. The world is still dark and the sky will soon become dark too, as midnight approaches.

Distant Horizons Compatibility

Distant Horizons Compatible

View beyond the horizon

The Derivative shader pack is also compatible with LoD mods like Distant Horizons. This means you can combine the visual beauty of the shader along with the high render distances enabled using Distant Horizons, making it possible to enjoy truly mesmerizing visuals.

The Survival Preset

Earlier in the article we discussed how the Survival preset is an improved version of the Default preset that is fine-tuned for survival gameplay. Let us now see how! As seen in the above comparison image, the Survival preset allows you to see much better in dark caves. A similar effect can also be observed during night-time, which becomes much more visible with the Survival preset. Likewise, distant fog effects are reduced and general visibility is greatly improved.

The Nether

The Film preset allows you to capture the absolute beauty of a scenery. Therefore, let us use it to explore the beauty of the Nether dimension with the Derivative shader pack. Browsing through the images above, you will notice the general lighting improvements and bloom/glow effects at play in the Nether.

The End

When it comes to the End dimension, you the first thing you will notice is the thick fog/cloud that fills up most of the void space in between the End islands. You will also notice that, compared to other shader packs, the atmosphere is a lot more brighter, but still moogy.

Performance

The shader pack is available for both Optifine and Iris. You can choose one based on your preference. Speaking of performance, this pack is not designed to be played on low-end systems. Based on our testing done on a AMD Radeon RX6500M GPU along with an AMD Ryzen 5000 series chipset, the pack provided decent performance, even with Distant Horizons enabled.

You can try adjusting the shader settings to optimize the game for a low-end device, but again the compromise in visual quality is not worth it, and you will be better off using one of the many low-end shader packs that we have reviewed on the website.

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Derivative Shaders