Shareware Filter

Shareware Filter

Shareware Filter is a client-side Fabric mod that recreates the audiovisual style of Minecraft’s 2019 April Fools release, 3D Shareware v1.34, in modern versions of Minecraft.

Rather than simply replacing textures, the mod reimplements the original Shareware client’s sound processing, full-screen pixel filter, custom HUD, and flattened entity rendering.

Features

Original Shareware Sound Filter

The audio effect reproduces the PCM transformation used by the original 3D Shareware client.

Decoded 16-bit PCM audio is processed in groups of sixteen frames. The first frame of each group is quantized and repeated across the entire group, with stereo channels handled independently. This creates the characteristic low-fidelity and stepped sound of the April Fools release.

The filter applies to:

• Sound effects
• Ambient and entity sounds
• Music and streamed audio
• Sounds supplied by resource packs

When this option is changed, Minecraft’s sound system is completely reloaded. Currently playing and cached sounds are unloaded before audio is loaded again using the new setting.

Full-Screen Pixel Filter

The pixel filter is applied after the entire frame has been composed. It affects the complete Minecraft display rather than only the rendered world.

This includes:

• World and entity rendering
• HUD and crosshair
• Chat text and background
• Menus and configuration screens
• Toasts, overlays, and popups

The result closely matches the heavily quantized presentation of 3D Shareware v1.34, including its treatment of user interfaces.

Shareware HUD

The standard hotbar and status display are replaced with the original Shareware-style bottom HUD.

It includes:

• Health and armor displayed as percentages
• A central animated player portrait
• Hunger represented by the original food graphic
• A 3 x 3 nine-slot hotbar
• A visible frame around the selected slot
• Air displayed above the HUD while underwater
• Empty health, armor, and hunger displays in Creative mode

The vanilla experience bar, selected-item tooltip, status bars, and mount health display are hidden while the Shareware HUD is active.

2D Entities

Non-player living entities are flattened using rendering behavior reconstructed from the original Shareware client.

• Entities face the camera horizontally
• Entities do not tilt vertically with the camera
• Body direction is snapped to 45-degree intervals
• Riding entities account for the orientation of their vehicle
• The player remains fully three-dimensional

Configuration

Open Minecraft’s Options screen and select Shareware Filter Setting, located above Skin Customization.

The following features can be controlled independently:

Option · Default · Description
Sound Filter · Enabled · Controls the original PCM audio effect
Pixel Screen Filter · Enabled · Controls full-frame visual quantization
Shareware Inventory · Enabled · Controls the Shareware HUD
2D Entities · Enabled · Controls flattened non-player entities

Installation

1. Install Fabric Loader for your Minecraft version.
2. Install the corresponding version of Fabric API.
3. Download the Shareware Filter JAR matching your game version.
4. Place the JAR in the Minecraft instance’s mods folder.
5. Start Minecraft and open the configuration from the Options screen.

Shareware Filter is a client-side mod. It does not need to be installed on the server.

Compatibility

• The screen filter may conflict with shaders or mods that replace Minecraft’s post-processing pipeline.
• The Shareware HUD may overlap with mods that modify the hotbar or status display.
• Modded entities using completely custom renderers may not receive the 2D transformation.
• Resource-pack sounds are supported and are processed after decoding while the sound filter is enabled.
• The mod does not modify worlds, player data, entity state, or server behavior.
• Removing the mod is safe for existing worlds.

Attribution

The sound algorithm, HUD layout, screen-filter behavior, and entity transformations were reconstructed from the 3D Shareware v1.34 client.

The mod icon uses the original green “3D” item texture from that release.

This is an unofficial fan-made mod and is not affiliated with Mojang Studios or Microsoft. Minecraft and its original assets belong to their respective rights holders.