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Resources / Shaders / Solstice

Solstice

A Minecraft shader pack that balances stunning visuals and smooth performance.

ShadersFree1.20 – 26.x
by d0mkaaa · listed from Modrinth
Download ›

Opens Modrinth · 4,747 downloads there

Solstice screenshot 1Solstice screenshot 2Solstice screenshot 3

What it does

A Minecraft shader pack that balances stunning visuals and smooth performance.

Solstice is a shader pack made by d0mkaaa. It supports Minecraft 1.20 – 26.x. It has been downloaded 4,747 times on Modrinth. The last update came out on Oct 21, 2026.

Supported versions

26.x1.211.20

Release history

Solstice has had 8 releases on Modrinth since Jul 3, 2026. 8 of them came out in the past year. The newest is 3, released on Oct 21, 2026. It is made for Minecraft 1.21 – 26.3. It runs on Iris and Optifine. The download is 266 KB.

VersionReleasedMinecraftType
3Oct 21, 20261.21 – 26.3Release
2Sep 9, 20261.21 – 26.2Release
1.5Jul 30, 20261.20 – 26.2Release
1.4Jul 23, 20261.20 – 26.2Release
1.3Jul 10, 20261.20 – 26.2Release
Description from the author on Modrinth

Solstice v3

Thanks for 10,000 downloads in total!

A semi-realistic Minecraft shader with adjustable effects and four performance
profiles. Developed on an RX 6600 at 1440p.

Features

  • Soft shadows that stay sharp at contact and widen with distance, moving

foliage, coloured glass shadows, and underwater caustics.

  • Blocky 3D or volumetric clouds with cloud shadows and changing weather.
  • Reflective water with ripples, underwater fog, and god rays.
  • Rain puddles, glowing blocks, portal light, snow sparkle, and animated flames.
  • Circular sun and moon, stars, meteors, the Milky Way, and occasional auroras.
  • Built-in polish for vanilla metal and polished-block textures, including

held items, or full LabPBR 1.3 support with a resource pack.

  • Distant Horizons terrain and water in the Overworld, Nether, and End.
  • Bloom, FXAA, colour grading, optional sharpening, and contact shadows.
  • Survival, Balanced, or Builder lighting styles.

Install

  1. Install Iris on Fabric. It comes with

Fabulously Optimized.

  1. Drop Solstice in the shaderpacks folder.
  2. Select it under Video Settings → Shader Packs.
  3. Start on the Medium profile.

Profiles

  • Low: blocky clouds, basic shadows, most expensive effects off.
  • Medium: the default for play. Volumetric clouds, materials, bloom,

puddles, god rays, balanced shadows.

  • High: adds SSAO and sharper shadows.
  • Ultra: maximum cloud and shadow quality. For screenshots and fast GPUs.

SSR is off in every preset. Reselect a preset after updating to replace saved
SSR settings. Lighting Style and colour settings are separate from the profile.

Settings worth trying: Lighting Style (Survival is darkest, Builder brightens
interiors), Cloud Mode, Material Source, Colour Grade, Fog Density, and Water
Murkiness.

Distant Horizons

Solstice has its own LOD fog and side lighting, so set these in DH:

  • LOD Fog: Off
  • LOD Side Shading: Off
  • Cave Culling: On, height around 60
  • Overdraw Prevention: 100%
  • Max Horizontal Resolution: Block
  • Quality: High for normal play

DH shadows stay off because Iris may render the whole LOD range into the
shadow map. The shader still shades normal distant terrain and water.

LabPBR

Built-in materials keep vanilla texture lighting and add restrained
highlights. For visible normal maps and full metal materials:

  1. Install a LabPBR 1.3 resource pack.
  2. Enable Materials and set Material Source to LabPBR Resource Pack.
  3. Start with Material Reflections on Sky Only.

Check brick, cobblestone, polished stone, quartz, iron, gold, or copper in
angled sunlight. Parallax uses the height channel in LabPBR normal maps.

Troubleshooting

  • DH seam is bright or dark: turn off DH LOD Fog and LOD Side Shading.
  • Underground LOD shows: enable Cave Culling and set Overdraw Prevention

to 100%.

  • Materials look unchanged: use a LabPBR 1.3 pack and select it as the

Material Source.

  • Compilation fails: send the full Iris error with your Minecraft, Iris,

DH, GPU, and driver versions.

Full history in [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md).

Author

d0mkaaa (Domantas)

Written by d0mkaaa. Read it with pictures on Modrinth.

How to install Solstice

  1. Install Iris (with Sodium) or OptiFine for your Minecraft version: shaders need one of them.

  2. Download the .zip file from Modrinth. Do not unzip it.

  3. In Minecraft, open Options, then Video Settings, then Shader Packs, and click Open Shader Pack Folder.

  4. Drop the .zip file into that folder, pick Solstice in the list and click Done.

  5. Shaders are heavy on the graphics card. If the game gets slow, pick a lower profile in the shader settings.

Compatibility

Minecraft versions
26.x, 1.21, 1.20
Edition
Java
Needs
Nothing else
License
Free to use
Price
Free
Upkeep
Actively updated (Nov 10, 2026)

Solstice compared with similar ones Compare all alternatives

ResourceDownloadsVersionsLast updatePrice
Solsticethe one you looked at4,7471.20 – 26.x19 days agoFree
Cinematic VanillaDark_PixelForge13K1.17 – 26.xOct 4, 2026Free
Baked Potato ShadersGenWasTaken39K1.20 – 26.xOct 4, 2026Free
Spirity Motion BlurItsAnshuXD10K1.21 – 26.xApr 28, 2026Free

Questions

Does Solstice work on Minecraft 26.x?

Yes. Solstice supports Minecraft 26.x. All supported versions: 26.x, 1.21, 1.20.

Is Solstice free?

Yes. Solstice is free to download from Modrinth.

Is Solstice still updated?

Yes. The last update came out in the past day.

What are the best alternatives to Solstice?

The closest ones are Cinematic Vanilla, Baked Potato Shaders and Spirity Motion Blur. Compare all alternatives

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