# Sodium Core Shader Support
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Enables resourcepacks to replace sodium’s shaders, similar to resourcepacks being able to replace vanilla’s core shaders.
\nIf you like my mods consider supporting the development by buying me a coffee:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
## Documentation for Users<\/p>\n
Sodium Core Shader Support allows resourcepacks to replace sodiums core shaders with their own. That does **not** mean, that
\nthis mod makes every vanilla resourcepack work on sodium. The resourcepacks will only work if they specifically state, that
\nthey are compatible with sodium core shader support.<\/p>\n
If you are using a supported resourcepack you can simply activate it like any other resourcepack.<\/p>\n
### Resourcepack incompatible
\nSodium may display the message `The following resource packs are incompatible with Sodium` in the top right corner after
\nreloading resources and listing your active core
\nshaders. This message will always appear, even if the resourcepack supports sodium core shaders and can be ignored.<\/p>\n
## List of Resourcepacks
\nThis is a small list of resourcepacks that work on sodium. If you have created a resourcepack yourself feel free to
\nopen an issue on my github to add it to this list!
\n– [Energy Shaders [Java]](https:\/\/modrinth.com\/shader\/energy-shaders-java)
\n– [Night Vision Shaders [Java]](https:\/\/modrinth.com\/shader\/night-vision-shaders)
\n– Re-Shaded (since re-shaded version 1.3)<\/p>\n
## Documentation for Shader Developers
\nIt is important to understand that your vanilla shaders cannot just be copied to sodium shaders. Sodium has their own shaders
\nfor blocks and clouds:
\n“`
\n– assets\/sodium\/shaders\/
\n | – clouds.fsh
\n | – clouds.vsh
\n | – blocks\/
\n | – block_layer_opaque.fsh
\n | – block_layer_opaque.vsh
\n | – include\/
\n | – fog.glsl
\n | – chunk_material.glsl
\n | – chunk_matrices.glsl
\n | – chunk_vertex.glsl
\n“`
\nUnless you want to change sodium clouds the `block_layer_opaque` are usually the most important ones.
\nYou should not have to touch `chunk_material.glsl`, `chunk_matrices.glsl` and `chunk_vertex.glsl` unless you know what you
\nare doing.<\/p>\n
### Retrieving sodium shaders source code
\nTo retrieve the sodium shader source code for a specific sodium version, download the `.jar` file of that version and
\nextract it like a `.zip` archive. Inside the extracted archive you will find a `assets` folder containing the directory
\nstructure mentioned above.<\/p>\n
### block_layer_opaque
\nThe `block_layer_opaque` is used for all blocks and block entities. The vanilla minecraft equivalent is `terrain.fsh`
\nand `terrain.vsh` (In older versions of minecraft the equivalent is `rendertype_solid`, `rendertype_cutout`, `rendertype_cutout_mipped`, …).<\/p>\n
Additionally, sodium core shader support adds a few defines in the sodium shaders `block_layer_opaque.fsh`
\nand `block_layer_opaque.vsh` for some terrain-types:
\n– `RENDER_PASS_SOLID`: Solid Blocks
\n– `RENDER_PASS_CUTOUT`: Blocks like leaves, grass, glass, …
\n– `RENDER_PASS_TRANSLUCENT`: Blocks with actual transparency, e.g. water, honey, slime, …<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the define `SODIUM_CORE_SHADER_SUPPORT` will be present in all shaders (mc >= 1.21.2 and version >= 1.3.8).
\nThese defines can be used like this:
\n“`glsl
\n#ifdef RENDER_PASS_SOLID
\n \/\/ special shading for solid stuff
\n#endif
\n“`<\/p>\n
#### GameTime Uniform
\nAs of Sodium Core Shader Support version 1.4.0 the `u_GameTime` uniform will be present in `block_layer_opaque.fsh`
\nand `block_layer_opaque.vsh`. It can be used just like the vanilla GameTime uniform. Add it to your shaders using:
\n“`glsl
\nuniform float u_GameTime;
\n“`<\/p>\n
#### SunAngle Uniform
\nAs of Sodium Core Shader Support version 1.5.0 the `u_SunAngle` uniform will be present in `block_layer_opaque.fsh`
\nand `block_layer_opaque.vsh` as well. It returns the sun angle from environmental attributes in radians. Add it to your shaders using:
\n“`glsl
\nuniform float u_SunAngle;
\n“`<\/p>\n
### How to specify which sodium versions are supported
\nThe sodium devs will change their internal shaders and shader related code without further notice. That’s why it is
\nimportant that you specify with which versions of sodium and minecraft your pack is compatible. This can be done in a special
\n`versions.json` file. It should be located in your resourcepack in a new directory `assets\/sodiumcoreshadersupport` with
\nthe file name `versions.json` inside. The contents of the file could look like this:
\n“`json
\n{
\n “supported-versions”: {
\n “1.21”: [ “0.5.11+mc1.21” ],
\n “1.21.1”: [ “0.5.11+mc1.21” ]
\n }
\n}
\n“`
\nIn the above example the resourcepack states, that it is compatible with sodium `0.5.11` on minecraft `1.21` and `1.21.1`.
\nAn abstract description is below:
\nMore specifically, `versions.json` must contain a question object with the key `supported-versions`.
\nThe value of `supported-versions` must be a map, which maps different minecraft versions to an array of allowed sodium versions.
\nThe SodiumCoreShaderSupport mod will check if the installed sodium version is contained in the array of the installed minecraft version.
\n
\n– If the minecraft and\/or sodium version is not inside `supported-versions`, the pack can be activated with a warning message.
\n– If the user does not have sodium installed the pack can be activated.
\n– If no versions.json is present, the pack can be activated with a warning message.
\n– If the versions.json is malformed, the pack can be activated with a warning message.<\/p>\n
### Imports ### Disable Culling “`json ## Credits Enables resourcepacks to be able to replace sodium’s shaders, similar to resourcepacks being able to replace vanilla’s core shaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":144960,"template":"","meta":{"_minecraft_slug":"sodium-core-shader-support","_minecraft_project_id":"G8yJPRdl","_minecraft_author":"linusdev","_minecraft_license":"Apache-2.0","_minecraft_downloads":667007,"_minecraft_follows":300,"_minecraft_client_side":"required","_minecraft_server_side":"unsupported","_minecraft_storage_type":"zip","_minecraft_archive_name":"sodium-core-shader-support.zip","_minecraft_size_bytes":3842399,"_minecraft_version_count":105,"_minecraft_updated_at":"2026-05-16T15:34:07.341666Z","_minecraft_date_created":"2023-12-11T22:33:12.686596Z","_minecraft_date_modified":"2026-05-13T17:16:30.527559Z","_minecraft_project_url":"https:\/\/modrinth.com\/mod\/sodium-core-shader-support","_minecraft_icon_attachment_id":144960,"_minecraft_imported_at":"2026-06-08T16:07:40+00:00","_minecraft_import_hash":"f221afd1d08e5714854e4555e4b4e295","_minecraft_versions":"","_minecraft_links":"","_minecraft_gallery":"","_minecraft_api_metadata":""},"mod_category":[97,89,158],"mod_loader":[99,160],"minecraft_version":[94,101,102,62,37,40,41,73,74,38,78,79,80,81,82,83,167,163],"class_list":["post-144959","mod","type-mod","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","mod_category-fabric","mod_category-game-mechanics","mod_category-neoforge","mod_loader-fabric","mod_loader-neoforge","minecraft_version-1-20-4","minecraft_version-1-20-5","minecraft_version-1-20-6","minecraft_version-1-21","minecraft_version-1-21-1","minecraft_version-1-21-10","minecraft_version-1-21-11","minecraft_version-1-21-2","minecraft_version-1-21-3","minecraft_version-1-21-4","minecraft_version-1-21-5","minecraft_version-1-21-6","minecraft_version-1-21-7","minecraft_version-1-21-8","minecraft_version-1-21-9","minecraft_version-26-1","minecraft_version-26-1-1","minecraft_version-26-1-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nSodium Shaders must be in `assets\/sodium\/shaders` directory. But you can `#import` files from
\n`assets\/minecraft\/shaders` using the `#import` directive. The following code will include
\nthe file `assets\/minecraft\/shaders\/include\/test.glsl`:
\n“`glsl
\n#import
\n“`
\nWith this trick you can create custom glsl files, which you can `#import` in your shaders (in both core shaders and sodium shaders).
\nThese files, should contain your main shader “logic”. An example shaderpack, which
\nworks with this trick on both vanilla and sodium, can be found here.<\/p>\n
\nSince version 1.5.0, sodium’s frustum and backface culling can be disabled via `versions.json`. This is useful for any core shader that requires offscreen geometry, or that aims to transform the view in `block.vsh` to show geometry not typically on screen (e.g. shadows, alternate player POVs, etc.)<\/p>\n
\n{
\n “supported-versions”: { “1.21.11”: [“0.8.7+mc1.21.11”] },
\n “disable-frustum-culling”: true,
\n “disable-backface-culling”: true
\n}
\n“`<\/p>\n
\nThanks to MR-CHOO for adding the [SunAngle Uniform](#sunangle-uniform) and the option
\n[to disable frustum and backface culling](#disable-culling)!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"