Shaders on a Minecraft Server: How to Use Them (and Why They Don't Go on the Server)

The short version: shaders go in your game, not on the server

A Minecraft server doesn't draw anything: it stores the world, moves the mobs and hands out the blocks. The picture is painted by each player's game, and shaders change exactly that. So the server needs neither a plugin nor a mod for someone to play with shaders, and it can't force anyone to use them or remove them either.

In practice: on the same server one person can play with shaders maxed out and their friend, with an old laptop, without them. They don't get in each other's way. And shaders don't use the server's RAM or processor, only the graphics card of whoever uses them: if the server stutters, the cause is something else (see the lag guide).

What the server can hand out is a resource pack (textures, sounds, models), which downloads by itself on joining and can even be made mandatory. That's something else: a resource pack doesn't add shadows or reflections. There's a guide to resource packs for the server.

Which shader loader to use

Minecraft Java doesn't read shaders by itself: you need a mod that loads them. Today there are three, and you choose by the mod loader your game uses (yours, not the server's, except on modded servers, which is explained below).

1. Iris (with Sodium): the recommended one

   It's the fastest and the first to come out for each new Minecraft version. It works on Fabric and NeoForge, and always goes with Sodium, which is what makes the game run smoothly. Its official installer sets up both at once and creates a profile in the Minecraft launcher. It reads most shaders made for OptiFine.

2. OptiFine: the classic

   It installs on its own, as one more launcher profile, or on top of Forge. It still works, but usually takes longer to come out for new versions and performs worse than Iris with Sodium. It makes sense if you already use it or if your favourite shader needs a feature only OptiFine has.

3. Oculus: Iris for Forge on older versions

   It's a port of Iris to Forge, the one used in many modpacks from 1.16.5 to 1.20.1. It goes with its own Forge version of Sodium (Embeddium in many packs). For new versions with NeoForge, Iris directly is better.

Playing with shaders on a normal server (Paper)

It's the most common case, and at NapNodes it's the default: Minecraft is delivered on Paper. A Paper server has no mods, so it doesn't matter which loader you use: you can join with Fabric and Iris, with OptiFine or with the plain game. Only the Minecraft version has to match (or the server have ViaVersion, which lets you join with others).

1. Install Iris in your game

   Download the Iris installer from its website (irisshaders.dev) or from Modrinth, choose the server's Minecraft version and press install. If you use Prism Launcher or the Modrinth app, create a Fabric instance and add Iris and Sodium from its mod browser.

2. Download a shader pack

   They're .zip files. The most used: Complementary (Reimagined, close to the usual look, and Unbound, more spectacular), BSL, Sildur's and, for modest computers, MakeUp Ultra Fast. Download them from Modrinth or the author's website, not from download sites full of ads.

3. Put it in the shaderpacks folder

   In the game: Options → Video Settings → “Shader Packs” → open the shaders folder with its button. Copy the .zip there without unzipping it, go back to the game and pick it from the list.

4. Join the server

   In Multiplayer, as always. Shaders work the same in your own world as on a server; there's nothing to turn on on the server.

Shaders on a modded server (Fabric, Forge or NeoForge)

One thing changes here: to join a modded server your game has to have the same loader and the same mods as the server. So the shaders mod has to be for that loader: Iris if the server is Fabric or NeoForge, Oculus if it's an old Forge modpack. Iris is a player-only mod: the server doesn't have it and doesn't need it.

Many modpacks already include Iris or Oculus (you'll see it as “Shader Packs” in Options → Video Settings). If yours doesn't, add it to your modpack instance from the launcher's mod browser, in the same version as the pack. Some mods that change rendering a lot (certain performance or lighting mods) clash with Iris: if the game won't start after adding it, check the log, which says which one.

At NapNodes, every modded server has its napnodes.com/jugar/… page with the player-side modpack ready to import into Prism Launcher. Once imported, in the instance: Edit → Mods → Download mods, search for Iris (or Oculus) and add it. The rest, as in the previous section.

The most common mistake: the shaders mod on the server

Iris, Sodium, Oculus or OptiFine in the server's mods folder don't belong there: they're mods that touch the screen, and a server has no screen. On Fabric they usually just don't load (they declare themselves client-only), but depending on the mod and the loader the server won't start, and the console shows an error mentioning “net/minecraft/client”. Fix: remove them from the server's mods folder (at NapNodes, in “Files” → mods, or in “Mods & plugins” → “Installed”) and restart.

On a Paper server the mods folder isn't even read, so there they don't break anything, but they don't do anything either. And there's no plugin that gives players shaders: if you see one that promises it, at most it hands out a resource pack.

If what you're after is seeing the world further away, that does have a server side: the view distance (view-distance in server.properties) decides how many chunks the server sends. More distance asks more RAM and processor of the server, not of the player.

If shaders run slowly for you

Shaders depend on the graphics card. If they stutter: try a lighter pack (MakeUp Ultra Fast or Complementary's low quality), lower the render distance in your game (not the server's) and turn off shadows or lower their resolution in the shader options. With a laptop's integrated graphics, the normal thing is to play without shaders or with the lightest ones.

If the problem is that blocks take a while to break, mobs freeze or you get pulled back as you walk, that's not your shaders: it's the server, and it's checked with spark (the spark guide and the lag one).

A NapNodes server to try it

If you want a server to play with your friends, each with their own shaders, NapNodes has a free Minecraft server, no card needed and with no end date: Paper on the latest version, which starts when you use it. From “Mods & plugins” you switch it to Fabric or NeoForge or install a modpack, and your friends get their page to import it. When you want it always on, you move to a plan.

Frequently asked questions