How to get Dynamic Lighting in Minecraft

The vanilla edition of Minecraft still features some of the most basic graphics, despite being the most popular game in the world. No shadows, directional lighting, realistic texturing, or reflections are present in it. Fortunately, there are a lot of shader packs and mods that use more recent engines to give the game realistic graphics.

One of the new graphics features is dynamic lighting, which allows you to hold any light-emitting block and illuminate your surroundings. Here is a guide on how to get the feature for Minecraft.

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Ways to get Dynamic Lighting in Minecraft

Through OptiFine

OptiFine was one of the first mods to bring dynamic lighting effects (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios || OptiFine)

OptiFine is one of the oldest and most popular performance mods for Minecraft. It was considered the best and essential mod for the game that offered both shader support and various smaller video settings. The main advantage of getting dynamic lighting through OptiFine is that players can activate it even without shaderpacks.

This mod was one of the first to introduce dynamic lighting to the game. Hence, you can get this mod and activate the feature. Here are the steps to get OptiFine:

1. Head to OptiFine's official website.
2. Download the latest mod update, which is currently compatible with 1.21.4.
3. Open the .jar file and install OptiFine in the game's root directory. For this, you need to have installed the 1.21.4 vanilla version from the launcher first.
4. Once OptiFine is installed, restart the launcher and open the OptiFine modded game version.
5. Head to video settings and turn on Dynamic Lighting.

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Through other mods

Some mods particularly bring dynamic lighting to Minecraft as well. (Image via Modrinth/LambdAurora)

Apart from OptiFine, which is mainly a performance mod, there are several other mods that solely focus on bringing dynamic lighting to the game. Some dynamic light mods are LambDynamicLights, Sodium Dynamic Lights, Create: Dynamic Lights, etc.

One of the best mods for this feature is called LambDynamicLights. This mod acts quite similarly to OptiFine, but has some extra features within the dynamic lighting feature.

Here is a short guide on downloading LambDynamicLights for Minecraft:

1. Download and install the Fabric mod loader for the game version 1.21.5.
2. Head to the Modrinth website and search for the LambDynamicLights mod.
3. On the mod's product page, find and download the mod file, which should be compatible with the Fabric 1.21.5 game version.
4. Copy and paste the mod file into the "mods" folder in the root Minecraft directory. For me, it's C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft.
5. Open the official game launcher and look for the Fabric 1.21.5 modded game version.
6. Open the game and enter a world to explore the dynamic lighting feature.

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Through shaderpacks

Shaderpacks also have the dynamic lighting feature (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Mojang Studios)

Lastly, the dynamic lighting feature can also be used through Minecraft shader packs. Most shader packs in recent times have the dynamic lighting feature. Getting the feature through shader packs is a lot better because of the new lighting system they use. The dynamic light coming from items looks much smoother and nicer through shader packs.

Here is a short guide on downloading and installing the Complementary shaderpack for Minecraft:

1. First, you need to download and install either OptiFine or Sodium-Iris performance mods for shaderpacks to work on Minecraft.
2. Head to the Modrinth website and search for Complementary shaders.
3. Download the latest version of the shaderpack, which should be compatible with 1.21.5.
4. Copy-paste the shaderpack zip file to Minecraft's root directory. For me, it's: "C:\Users\admin\AppData\Roaming\.minecraft\shaderpacks".
5. Open the launcher and run the modded game version.
6. Open video settings and look for "Shader Pack settings".
7. Toggle on the shaders and select Complementary.

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