What is Distant Horizons?
Distant Horizons (DH) by jeseibel renders simplified level-of-detail (LOD) terrain far beyond your real render distance — mountains on the horizon at 512 chunks while the game only fully loads 8. The LOD meshes cost a fraction of real chunks, so the cinematic view arrives without the framerate collapse vanilla distance settings would cause.
It runs on Fabric, Forge, and NeoForge, and it transformed how modded Minecraft screenshots look.
Setup and Expectations
- Set vanilla render distance modest (8–12); set DH's LOD render distance high (128–512 chunks) in its settings screen.
- LODs build as you explore. Terrain you have visited converts to LOD data stored per world; new horizons fill in as chunks generate in the background at a configurable CPU budget.
- Shader support: recent DH versions integrate with Iris so compatible shader packs (Complementary, Bliss, and others listing DH support) apply matching light and fog to the LOD terrain and the near field.
- Server play: DH works client-side on any server using explored-chunk data; dedicated server-side support in newer versions can stream pre-generated LODs so players see full horizons in places they have never visited.
- Pair with pre-generation (Chunky) in single-player or on servers to fill LOD data for a whole region up front.
Expect meaningful disk usage for LOD databases on large worlds, and give initial generation some minutes of background CPU after install.
Distant Horizons FAQ
Does Distant Horizons work with shaders?
Yes, with Iris and shader packs that implement DH support. Complementary and several other majors handle DH fog and lighting; packs without support show visible seams at the LOD boundary.
Does Distant Horizons work on multiplayer servers?
Yes. By default it builds LODs from chunks you personally load; servers running the DH server-side component can send LOD data for unexplored terrain too.
How much performance does it cost?
LOD rendering is cheap; the main costs are background LOD generation (CPU, tunable) and disk space. Most systems hold framerate while gaining a 10x visual distance.