Distant Horizons A Level of Detail mod for Minecraft

Review Distant Horizons A Level of Detail mod

Increasing In-Game Rendering Distance

Any Minecraft player can face a problem when their PC's performance is not enough to launch a particular build or even the vanilla version of the game. That usually happens only on low-end and mid-range computers. However, on a high-end PC, there may be such issues as a short-distance rendering of a game world on the maximum settings. And that is not surprising, given that this game is based on Java and requires a lot of RAM, loads the CPU heavily, and is poorly optimized. So if the maximum in-game rendering distance is not enough for you, we recommend using a mod to be thoroughly reviewed below.

The Distant Horizons Mod allows you to increase the in-game rendering distance without changing the standard parameters of Minecraft. That means that the load on your system will remain the same, but you will finally be able to discern everything happening in the distance. Indeed, you have most likely faced a situation when half of the game world is not visible from a tall tower or a bird's-eye view. It is not particularly convenient, is it? That is true even when a user has a powerful PC and sets the maximum rendering distance. In short, there is a solution, so you can immediately add this mod to your build, as it is truly helpful in terms of optimization.

As you know, the vanilla game version has distance rendering issues. Thus, even if the player chooses the maximum settings, it is still impossible for them to see anything from a long distance: the game simply does not support that. It is here where such mods as the Distant Horizons Mod come to the rescue. It brings the LOD (Levels of Detail) effect to the game, which makes the game world at a long distance from the player not as high-quality as usual, although it still remains the full-blown Minecraft environment. That is, you see some outlines and details in front of you, but not in such good quality as when you were standing nearby. It is difficult to notice the difference, though, especially for the horizon that is practically indiscernible.

The standard game version constantly loads a certain number of chunks around the player. No matter how long you are in a particular area, all the biomes and chunks are loaded around you, affecting the performance level. Accordingly, if you have the maximum rendering distance, your PC will be used to the max, but you will still not see anything far away. However, after you install the Distant Horizons Mod, all distant locations will be rendered in reduced quality, but it will seem to you that everything is fine. That is not a problem for a pixel game, but at the moment, this mod is in the alpha version. So bugs and errors are possible, although the designers promptly update it and release new versions.

Such mod options have always been in demand by players, although most of them do not even understand the principle of either Minecraft or this mod. Its functionality is highly important for any user, both with weak and powerful PCs, so we recommend that you try it, even considering possible bugs and crashes. As for the main features of the Distant Horizons mod, they are currently as follows:

· Simulation of distant environment and LOD support in Minecraft;

· The possibility of setting from 2 to 512 chunks for rendering, which is ten times more than in the vanilla game version;

· Support for both vertical and horizontal adjustment and the possibility of disabling the in-game fog, which allows you to better see the contents of the game world at a great distance;

· Reducing the overall load on the launcher, which is particularly important for weak computers or powerful PCs with custom shaders;

· Support for multiplayer mode and other dimensions so that you can use the Distant Horizons mod, say, in the Nether or in the End, which is highly important for any version of Minecraft.

Summing it up, we can conclude that the Distant Horizons mod brings truly useful functionality to the game, which will be in demand by players, especially with weak PCs. The idea behind it is indeed good because LOD, as a technology, has proven itself well, but only a few add-ons in Minecraft utilize it. You thus have a great opportunity to optimize the game and increase the rendering distance in one click by simply such a function added by this mod. The designers are constantly improving it and releasing new versions, but you should be prepared for possible crashes and errors.

Images Distant Horizons A Level of Detail mod