How to add northern lights to Minecraft

Minecraft has one of the most basic graphics in the gaming space. Since it is made to look like a retro game, it is made up of pixelated blocks and plain sky textures. Thankfully, the Java Edition can be heavily modded, so much so that players can completely change the game's graphics. Northern lights have been a popular phenomenon in the Minecraft community, which can be seen in the sky using shaders.

Hence, here is a short guide on how to add northern lights to Minecraft.

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Steps to add northern lights to Minecraft using shaders

1) Download and install Iris Shaders and Sodium mod

Download and install the Iris Shaders and Sodium mod to use shaders (Image via Iris Shaders)

First, you need to learn that you can enjoy northern lights in Minecraft using shaders. Certain shaders will render the northern lights in the sky in particular biomes.

To use shader packs, you need to install the Iris Shaders and Sodium mod for it. Both can be easily installed in the game using an installer that can be downloaded from their official website.

Once the installer is downloaded, it can be run on Windows. You can then check whether the installer has detected the correct Minecraft directory and chosen the latest game version. Finally, you can install the mods.

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2) Find and download Complementary Shaders

Download the latest version of Complementary Shaders (Image via Modrinth/EminGT)

After installing Iris Shaders and Sodium mod, you need to download the Complementary Shaders pack. This is one of the most popular shaders for Minecraft since it has a great balance between graphics and performance.

This is specifically chosen for this guide because it shows northern lights in certain Minecraft biomes. However, other shaders offer the same feature as well.

You can head to the Modrinth website and download the latest shader pack version from it. It will be downloaded as a zip file, which does not need to be unzipped.

After being downloaded, the file must be copy-pasted the shaders pack folder in Minecraft's official directory. For most players, the path will be this: "C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\shaderpacks".

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3) Open the game and toggle the shaders

Open the game and activate the shader pack (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios)

Once the mods and installed and the shader pack is in the right folder, you can simply open the official Minecraft launcher, open the modded game version, and head to the video settings to see the new layout. In these settings, you will find the shader pack settings from where you can activate the Complementary Shaders pack.

After shaders are activated, you can enter a world, head to the mountains, and wait for the night to see northern lights.

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