Smart Particles

[chedidandrew]

CurseForge link

https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/smart-particles

CurseForge Mod Distribution

Allowed

Modrinth link

https://modrinth.com/mod/smart-particles

Source/other link

https://github.com/chedidandrew/Smart_Particles

Mod file size

50 Kb

License

(any other license)

What it does

A performance mod that greatly optimizes particle rendering and particle limits.

Why should it be in the modpack

I'm the author of the mod and I'd like to invite you to use my mod I created. It does exacty what the Modpack aims for - best performance possible using smart particle culling to improve performance. It is also very vanilla friendly and Client side only.

Why shouldn't it be in the modpack

Not available yet on Modrith - the mod project is still pending approval (under review). Mod also limits particles to 5000 by default (but this is configurable in settings to any amount!) which can cause players to notice missing particles if, for example, player using a lot of fireworks in minecraft and wants to see it all rendered in full view.

Mod may not be available in Forge if this is an issue for the latest minecraft versions. However, it is available for Fabric currently and sometime in the future - NeoForge.

Additional details

Smart Particles

• Summary: A performance mod that caps the total particle count, keeping the nearest particles in the player's view visible.

Smart Particles is a lightweight client side optimization mod for Minecraft (Fabric) that keeps FPS stable in particle heavy areas. Instead of blocking new particles, it keeps the most important particles visible by removing the farthest ones first.

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Features

• Smart culling: When the limit is reached, the mod removes particles farthest from the player to make room for new nearby particles. Optional: Only keep particles in front of the camera and within the view frustum for improved performance.
• Hard cap protection: Helps prevent freezes from massive particle spam (farms, explosions, modded effects).
• Configurable limit: Change the maximum particle count anytime.
• Mod Menu integration: In game settings screen support.

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Configuration

• Default limit: 5000
• Minimum limit: 0
• Smart Camera Culling: true (Default) - Aggressively removes particles outside the camera view.

Edit methods

1. In game: Install Mod Menu, then click the settings button for Smart Particles.
2. Manual: Edit .minecraft/config/smart_particles/config.json

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Installation and dependencies

Requires Fabric Loader.

Dependency | Required | Purpose -- | -- | -- Fabric API | Yes | Core Fabric utilities used by the mod Cloth Config API | Optional | Settings screen and config support Mod Menu | Optional | Adds the in game Mods button and settings entry

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Compatibility

• Client side only: Not needed on servers. Works on vanilla and modded servers.
• Shader friendly: Compatible with Sodium and Iris.

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How it works

Smart Particles uses Mixins to hook into Minecraft’s ParticleManager. Each tick:

1. If Smart Camera Culling is enabled, particles outside the view frustum are removed immediately.
2. If the total particle count still exceeds the limit:
   • Measure distance from the player to each active particle
   • Identify the farthest particles
   • Remove the excess so the total stays under the cap

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License

MIT License. Free to use in modpacks and to view or modify the source.

Discord discussion link

No response

[Madis0]

Interesting. So there is culling based on POV and a cap.
I think at least one other mod already has culling on the modpack, though if not, that seems like a solid argument.

But how does the cap compare to Minecraft's own cap (if any) and particle settings?

[chedidandrew]

Interesting. So there is culling based on POV and a cap. I think at least one other mod already has culling on the modpack, though if not, that seems like a solid argument.

But how does the cap compare to Minecraft's own cap (if any) and particle settings?

The mod implements a hard, global cap (default 5,000) that is separate from vanilla’s internal buffers. For context, vanilla’s buffer was limited to about 4,000 in versions 1.9 and older, but in modern versions, it is 16,384 per texture sheet. Usually not a major problem in vanilla but in heavy modpacks (Visuality, Effective, Particle Core, etc.), I have seen total counts exceed 23,000, which causes massive lag even when individual buffers are not full.

Vanilla’s "Minimal" and "Decreased" options strictly reduce the spawn rate (the probability of a particle appearing at random).

This mod lets particles spawn normally but actively culls existing particles based on importance. It uses a heap sort to remove off-screen or distant particles first once the global cap is reached. This allows "All" particles to be enabled without tanking FPS in heavy scenes.

Vanilla renders them in a 360-degree radius around the player (up to about 3-4 chunks away). This means a huge portion of your particle limit is "spent" on particles behind your head or out of sight.

All other mods I have tested for 1.21.1 and 1.21.10 do not seem to cull particles properly, and older projects that may have did this well are now abandoned.

My screenshot (showing 17,273 particles) included performance mods like Particle Core, which claims to cull. While it may work for vanilla particles, it fails with modded particles, which still render in the world. I have also noticed particles from mods like "Particular" rendering from many chunks away, completely bypassing standard culling checks.

This mod fixes that allocation issue. By prioritizing particles in front of your screen only (can be changed in config - default is enabled), it actively culls invisible particles behind you so the game can render more particles directly in front of you. This allows you to utilize the full particle limit for what you are actually looking at.

Instead of forcing players to use "Minimal" settings to save FPS, which ruins the visuals, this mod allows you to keep "All" particles enabled for full quality. Weaker systems benefit from the performance cap, while high-end systems benefit from better allocation, allowing you to see 16,000+ (if limit set in config) particles in front of you without the budget being consumed by invisible particles behind you.

[nick9509]

not gives significant boost on my machine