How to install shaders in Minecraft

Shaders change lighting, shadows, water and sky. They don't work on their own — you need a mod that runs them. Today that's Iris together with Sodium.

What you need

• A build on Fabric, Quilt or NeoForge (Iris isn't released for classic Forge).
• A graphics card that runs the game at 60 FPS without shaders.
• The shader pack itself — a zip file.

Step by step in TCLauncher

1. Create or pick a build with the right loader in the Instances tab.
2. In the Mods tab, find and install Iris — the launcher adds a compatible Sodium with it.
3. Put the shader pack zip into the build's shaderpacks folder. Don't unzip it.
4. Start the game: Options → Video → Shaders and pick the pack.

If the game won't start

The usual cause is mismatched Iris and Sodium versions. Don't update Sodium separately from Iris: the launcher holds back updates that would break another mod in the build. If the game still crashes, the launcher shows a report and points to the culprit.

Download TCLauncher and try it.