BSL dev here. The graininess you experienced is probably from BSL not having TAA enabled by default, and mipmaps level set to 0x. So, enabling TAA and/or mipmap should reduce the graininess. As for missing shadows, this should be fixed in the latest version (v8.2.09p1). That version also have Distant Horizons support btw.

You know what I need Flow, I need more 'Building with no plan' videos, they are the only videos I can watch while eating food without changing it for the next 20 minutes.

Chocapic13 shader looks like the ambiance of Minecraft story mode game. So true

Lux Dev here, thanks for the review! You should totally check out night time sometime - It wasn't necessarily intended, but that's what most people adore the pack for 😄

Just discovered your channel today and i LOVE the way you mix audio. When you're in a cave and you add some reverb to your voice. As a music engineer i can tell this adds a lot of immersion and ear candy to the video

I was getting bored of my old shaders, this video helped me find more interesting and better ones!

I'm gonna be honest man, hearing you talk about how you don't want to ever have to edit shader settings hurt my soul. Certain shaders excel at being customizable, especially AstraLex, which has some really cool VHS and even B&W film options. I understand wanting them to look good out the gate, but I wouldn't use this video as a guide for picking a shader personally. It was good to hear your tastes in aesthetics though, and thank you for introducing me to some interesting shaders to keep an eye on!

21:38 it's funny when he saw the spider and he stopped the recording for a while to kill it and record back and acting like nothing happened but the spider loot still there

2:05 this is called “light leak” and yes a bunch of shaders do suffer from this

I definitely agree with the "the shader should look good out of the box" point, but you have to take in mind that some shaders (AstraLEX being the most notable) aren't designed for that. Shaders such as Rethinking Voxels have had each and every minute detail handpicked and changed to be a certain way and to make the Shader look a certain way. This usually results in customizability falling on the wayside and leading to a very specific and handcrafted experience that is usually spectacular, but is essentially unchangeable. I used AstraLEX for quite a long time and I'm telling you, it is actually spectacular if you change the settings to cater to your needs. I get a lot of people don't want to go through the hassle, but its unfair to just say "welp its a bad shader" when you already recognized yourself that these shaders weren't designed to be the super specific experiences that are just generally spectacular most of the time. The default settings on AstraLEX aren't really meant to "look amazing", they are meant to show what you can do with the template they have given you. I just wanted to say that I really love your videos and your channel is definitely one of my favourite channels that I keep up to date with. I really respect that you take the time and effort to read your comments and reply to them with meaningful messages and not just the "yeah lol" some youtubers reply with (if they reply at all). I even noticed that you replied to my comments on some of your other videos which is so cool to see. Thanks for making sick videos. (also on a sidenote lol, lots of your favourite shaders have motion blur on by default too, its just less noticeable then AstraLEX. kinda funny given how much you were complaining about it lmao)

There's also this shader i like using every now and then, called Builders QOL. The sunsets are when the shaders peak, runs decently as well. Overall, good coverage of shaders 👍

3:47 flowstate a real one for knowing about wizard101

Although I fully understand your point about shaders needing to be good out of the box for people who don't want to figure out all the settings and stuff, I must disagree from my point of view. For me, shaders is all about personalization, and figuring out what the settings do is such a joy to make it feel my own. Im definitely a nerd tho, minecraft shaders literally got me into CGI to the point im considering making career in it. With that said, I believe some of the shaders presented may have been broken, maybe they were made for a older version of minecraft/optifine. We should check some presentational screenshots to see if they really looks like that.

i always love it when shaders have those clouds with slightly rounded off edges, it makes them look so much more fluffy while keeping the orginal blocky style. I honestly wish vanilla coulds look like that, since they’re just giant blobs of white in the sky

recommends got me here

I've gotta be honest... I've never seen anyone do this before! Usually it's just two or three but you went all out! 👍

Yooo this is awesome! Definitely gonna swipe some of these shaders to try for myself. For a while I mainly used Chocapic13 sometimes switching to Sildurs, then landed on Nostalgia for a long while because the overall feel and style was just really nice to look at lol, especially the volumetric clouds that still look like Minecraft clouds. I think it was when I started moving over to Iris+Sodium from Optifine when I found Complementary Reimagined as a replacement since Nostalgia wasn't supported on Iris yet, been using that ever since. It's been a while since I've tried out new shaders though, so this video is super helpful! Also funnily enough, if I'm not mistaken Bliss is actually a stylized edit of Chocapic13 shaders, so it's pretty neat seeing it gain a lot of traction.

I don't see it in the video so just to add something, right now the photon shaders are the best shaders compatible with distant horizons regarding performance, at least for me. They are kinda like the complementary reimagined shaders. PD: Nice video

I don't know why but the Shader called "Aurora" is not popular. It's literally my favorite shader. It works on low end PCs such as my I7 Lenovo laptop that can't even handle Complimentary Shaders, and it's GORGEOUS. It adds that white outline that I love automatically, has options for the water foam that I love from Complimentary, and has a similar look to the Minecraft trailer. I've never even seen a single video on it. If you search it on YT, not a single video pops up about it. Give it some love!

Solas shader in my opinion looks the best for lighting. It gives a warm glow to torches and lanterns. It doesn’t bounce off blocks but I think you should check it out more.

You should have tested the Voyager shader at night because it gets like a realistic green-ish pitch. Just like when you eyes get used to darkness. But still great Video dude

0:03 - shape!!

Solas has been the most underrated shader for a long time. Looks especially good at night and in caves.

i think of the "ray tracing" shaders, SEUS PTGI is the better one, if i try running rethinking voxels i get around 30 fps, with SEUS i get around 70

Btw rethinking voxels is just a edit of complementary unbound/reimagined it’s bassicly the same thing with block lighting

Love ur videos man, your videos are perfect to keep in background while I study

It's almost like YT knew I wanted to add shaders to my game today... Thx for such an inclusive vid!

U could include pastel shaders next time :). They have a pretty natural vanilla feeling but also look super good with lighting and shading the overall world for a specific colour. The water is very vanilla feel too but there are pretty nice reflections. 😊 Edit: also i know u said it should be nice immediately but if u want performance if u turn it down a bit u get pretty good fps and keep most of the features. (For example reflections get lost but wavy leaves stay)

I really hope that more shaders are going to be compatible with Distant Horizons especially Complimentary Shaders. Bliss is good but the shadow bug kinda disturb me once in a while.

This was super usefull, I’ve been useing better adventures + but it’s nice to have some add ons for it, thanks flow ❤

Motion blur helps with anyone hovering around the 60fps mark. In any game really. Having it default on though is mad annoying as ive not needed it.

This is so wonderful, thanks for compiling this! :)

Since you've said you wanted a shader that has Bliss' atmospherics and Rethinking Voxels' lighting, ivtjink you should try out Photon. Coloured lighting isnt enabled by default, but the settings are easily navigable. This shader is like if Bliss and Rethinking Voxels had a baby. Its compatible with Distant Horizons as well

huge fan of nostalgic mainly because of how blocks can actually cast shadows

yooo dude. beat minecraft for the first time w/ your modpack. it was a blast

Calling nostalgia a pretty light weight to low end shader is wild 💀 I got a rtx 3060 ti and am hitting like 40 fps while playing with 20 chunks

Absolutely love the style of this video. Showcasing the shaders whilst casually playing the game is genius.

I suggest you try the Openshad shader, it's not well known but I think it's pretty nice. It has some cool unusual colors.

Astralex Bliss Fast PBR Insanity Kappa Nostalgia Rethinking Voxels Solas Shader Spooklementary Don’t mind me, just making note of shaders to try later! Thanks for the video, flowstate! I did have a question about the video though, at about 27:37 where you were trying the Tea shader, was that raindrop effect from one of your mods or the shader?

you got me into me into minecraft again bro, love your vids!

Hey flowstate, I started watching your content probably close to a month and I just absolutely love the way you talk to the viewers and you honestly deserve way more subscribers. Anyways I was wondering if you ever plan on/have made a mod pack of your mods cuz your game looks absolutely amazing and what are your resource packs?

Just what I was looking for.

Wow! Great Shaders!

The Flowstate discord is so nice.

I never knew I needed this video!

Nice vid can’t wait to use these

Shrimple is like rethinking voxels with its shadows and lighting you should of went in a cave with it cause it looks cool

Not “99 percent of the time” will be spent in the overworld. A majority of the time, but you are in the nether for a large portion of the game.

You should try photon, it works with distant horizons and is like a cross between complementary and something more realistic, and it runs really well

I'm a person who likes to customized things to my liking, so I kinda disagree with your take on the config. Otherwise, this is a good showcase of each shaders.

Heya Flowstate, just wondering what's the mod or setting you have when zooming out to get large fov

I love the FastPBR sm just due to the extremely realistic lighting from the sun and the moon

definitely one of the best Minecraft youtubers right now

I’m honestly just really curious at what mod/data pack you’re using for your world generation. It looks really cool! I’ve been thinking the same thing in a lot of your other videos, cause all the world gen I see in your videos is always super cool to see

I always can't wait to watch your videos ! Please make more of the building ones if possible :) No pressure, me personally I really love them It's the right amount of talking + building

Shrimple actually has bouncing light like Rethinking Voxel, you should check it out

6:42 IMO if you're playing a PC game you should be ok with having to change some settings, the power of defaults is real, but having to turn off clouds is not a big deal. also some of these were/are made for optifine and that might be why the settings aren't right out the gate, i know iris is much better now but its still not(and may never be) fully compatible.

Dude this is the video I needed for so long, thank you for your honest work i will definetly check your other videos

Alright man. You've tempted me so much so over this past week with your vids that I've finally re-downloaded and booted up minecraft after around 5 years of not touching it.

i love nostalgia, but the only girpe i have is how the depth of field works

Nice! Love the content. Edit: I already looked back at this video for a new mod pack Im putting together.

Exactly the shader video I was looking for; actual gameplay, great commentary - If you still have that first save, what's the seed? I'm making a new world soon and this one looks really good

The thing I don't get is why this guy has THE 4k beast and plays in 1080p. No pressure if it's your monitor that's 1080p but still.

Complementary is the best "looks to performance ratio" shader for me by far. Other shaders with more advanced lighting and features are cool but they are significantly more demanding for usually an even worse look.

Continuum reminds me of early 2010's renders of Minecraft inside of blender. Sort of akin to what Element Animation's Minecraft environment looked like around that time

Did you add an echo whenever you were in the nether or in a cave? It sounds really good

my favoriute part of nostalgia is that the clouds can be changed dependiing on what texture pack you are using (im using ms painted)

bro i love how ur voice echos in the nether

is it possible that some shaders are just buggy in the video because youre using distant horizons? some of them look different ingame then they do in this video. cuz isnt distant horizons only compatible with very few mods?

i will say, motion blur is usually on shaders because they bring the FPS down on almost every computer, and motion blur hides the effect very well. it can be nauseating, but i've gotten used to it.

You should've included the aura shader it's so cool I used to mainly use complementry but its been a while since aura is my main use now

Bliss, Fast PBR, Nostalgia,

I have a video suggestion. Make a Minecraft horror video showcasing a horror modpack that combines the atmosphere "from the fog" and retro minecraft vanilla. Oldschool Minecraft vanilla has this creepy feel to it that imitates the fear of being watched. But it would be even creepier if you combined the atmosphere of retro Minecraft to "from the fog". With your style of making content, you could make a video that truly stands out from the rest of the other minecraft horror videos because you would find a way to blend beauty with horror. It would be like if Christopher Nolan or Denis Villeneuve decided to make a horror film. This is a blend or combination that I have not seen yet. Even if that combination does exist, it is nowhere near as emphasized as I would like it to be. You don't even have to use retro Minecraft if you don't think that there is an aesthetic appeal to it. You can use any other shader that you feel comfortable with. But I would recommend using "from the fog" as a starting point.

As far as I know, Shrimple is the only other shader that has blocklight shadows besides RethinkingVoxels.

Are you using a mod that adds those structures that you came across (like the church, ship, place with witches)? If so I'd really like to know which one. Good commentary, sections on the video, links, great work! Some of these looked great but at least 3 physically hurt my eyes lol.

You can make Bliss look even better by reducing the "Bloom" and "bloomy fog" sliders in the shader settings. It makes it easier to see as well.

solas shader is like rethinking voxels in a way, you need to test it out indoors where there multiple different light colours, out side it looks a bit average but when your in a cave with lava or smth like that its really good

DUDE YOU MISSED THE REALLY GOOD DYNAMIC LIGHT SHADOWS ON SHRIMPLE MAN WHAT THE HELL

I like my colors pretty washed (desaturated), and most of my friends seem to like it too, so I'm glad to see someone who has a new take on it. The more vibrant colors look great in the video. Also FYI, the 'cave lighting' you kept seeing is referred to as dynamic/auto exposure, it's used to create the feeling of simulating a larger range of light levels than the game actually is capable of displaying by changing the brightness to match what you 'should' be seeing (being in a dark place will send the brightness toward the darker side and vise versa).

Found some new shaders to play with, Thanks! I have been watching your videos for a while, and they are absolutely amazing. The cinematic feel is great, and I'm not sure how to replicate some of the things you do, even with the mod list lol (which makes your videos really unique) One of the things is the reverb to your voice in caves, I really like that. Is that done with a mod or added during editing?

I think Potato is the best if you have not got the best hardware, Bliss if you want a realistic look that looks amazing, Rethinking Voxels, Complementary reimagined/ unbound if you want it to look amazing but still look a lot like minecraft (or BSL, BSL honestly looks great if you just want an enhanced minecraft look), Sildurs for a different fantasy look, Spooklementary for a horror mod maybe, I think Super Duper Vanilla is a very very different and unique fantasy look too. To be honest, my favourite recently has been BSL and Complementary because I just really felt like it to look just like minecraft, but i'm probably going to start using Bliss. Astra Lex I really really like the underwater, but I think from this video, Bliss just looks amazing overall, and I really like the realistic fog and stuff, seems like it would be really fun to use! Great video, can't wait until I have a chance to sit down and use these mods (my break ends soon 😭)

26:37 Real torches are flickering this way as well, not only the office lightning :D

i love the echo whenever you’re in the nether or a cave

I've been loyal to Sildurs shaders for the past few years now so this video helps me explore other shader packs

From one stranger to another, I watch your videos every day I drive home from work. It has become a part of my routine and I look forward to it each time you upload something new. Words cannot express my heartfelt gratitude for what you do!

Makes sense that your top 3-5 shaders are all based on the same shader. Rethinking Voxels is a fork of Comp Reimagined and comp reimagined and unbound were initially forks of BSL.

You should try photon shaders, its absolutely stunning! It also works with distant horizons.

0:57 I wholeheartedly disagree with you here. It IS important to show how a shader looks and performs in various scenarios because it can really mess with your enjoyment if you suddenly find out that for example the rain just looks awful with your chosen shader. It's especially important when your opening premise is "you never have to watch another minecraft shader video ever again".

so glad you like nostalgia, it’s my favorite :)

the cyanide shaders are meant to emulate the way xbox 360 minecraft looked back in the good ole days lol

no photon shaders 😭😭 it has the best cloud generation, Kappa is great and i'm glad it appeared in the vid

As a regular user of Tea Shaders, I can tell it changes the looks of the game. Not much, but it is still noticeable - in the sense that even if you forget you have it running, the game just doesn't look dull as you would think with vanilla shaders. And you can forget about it and just have a great time playing a nice-looking game 👍Honestly the best lightweight option I know of.

i like whatever terrain generation mod you have on.

Love yr videos flow❤

I agree that shaders out of the box should have some things on or off based off of what most users typically would use for the best starting experience, but I will also say that there isn't a SINGLE shader that I will ever use on default settings. My taste just ISN'T ever *exactly* what the defaults are, and I think that applies for most people. That's why I appreciate really customizable shaders

Ice boat racing is a big community if you were ever interested in playing the minigame further!

I just gotta say that with the optimization mods (Sodium, Iris, Lithium, Indium etc.) on my machine (i5 12400F and RX 6600, a budget friendly PC) Rethinking Voxels runs like a charm on Medium (80-90 FPS) and playable on High (60-70).

Personally rethinking voxels is 100% my favorite shader. If I could change one thing about it I would add the layered clouds that nostalgia has. Other than that it’s perfect.

Continuum is made for screenshots and cinematics. Its also made to be extremely customizable, but you don't seem to care about that. FastPBR is made for PBR compatible texture packs, which are those high resolution texture packs that make blocks have an almost 3d look. Miniature and Makeup are both made to run really well, and miniature is made to be a Vanilla+ shader. SEUS PTGI is a genuine ray-tracing shader. Its free version looks significantly worse than the paid but still decent. Shrimple is Path tracing shader, so the snow will reflect actual light rays, making them shine. Soft Voxel's Lite is another Path tracing shader, but this one is made to run much better than your average Path tracing shader. Super Duper Vanilla is supposed to replicate the Super Duper shaderpack that was supposed to be a minecraft official shader. Ushader seems to be another Path Tracing. VanillaPlus is just meant to be VanillaPlus Vector is really cool, the default is IBM mode, and it has tons of other options, like CRT, VHS, and tons of other I don't remember.

Bro half the shaders you showed were completely broken, you can't use a pre-alpha version of multiple graphic mods (distant horizon with shader support for example) and then start judging shaders lol. Also, most of the shaders you showed are free and made by people who don't get much from creating those shaders for people, so you can't just assert that they make the default all nice and perfect for you, all you can do is ask or suggest nicely (especially when what your complaining about is because of your broken mod setup). But hey its fine, I like your videos, just wanted to give some perspective :)