mc-tessellation

A custom shader pack for Minecraft Java Edition that adds tessellation effects to give blocks a distinctive geometric appearance.

Overview

This shader pack makes Minecraft's voxel-style surfaces tessellated into visible triangles. Cubes and rectangles will look rounder and more geometric, creating a unique "tech demo" aesthetic reminiscent of DirectX tessellation demonstrations from the early 2010s.

Overall result: this may not look great but I'm happy it has gotten to the point of loading without crashing. Note its performance is also poor, likely tied to the use of of geometry shaders instead of tessellation control / tessellation evaluation shaders.

Behavior

The shader subdivides each triangle of Minecraft's block geometry into smaller triangles, then slightly displaces the new vertices to create a rounded, faceted appearance. The tessellation level is kept intentionally low so that individual triangles remain clearly visible - this gives blocks a distinctive geometric look rather than appearing fully smooth.

Key features:

• Configurable tessellation level (1-4 subdivisions)
• Adjustable surface smoothness
• Level-of-detail (LOD) system to avoid tessellating small/distant triangles
• Optimized performance with geometry shaders
• Terrain gets full tessellation, other objects get lighter treatment
• Entities (mobs) remain mostly untessellated for recognizability

Installation

Requirements

• Minecraft Java Edition (1.16 or higher recommended)
• Either:
  • OptiFine (HD U G8 or higher), OR
  • Sodium + Iris Shaders (recommended for better performance)

Installation Steps

1. Install shader loader:

   • For OptiFine: Download from OptiFine.net and install
   • For Iris: Download from IrisShaders.net and install both Iris and Sodium

2. Download this shader pack:

   • Clone this repository or download as ZIP
   • The shader pack is in the shaders/ folder

3. Install the shader pack:

   • Locate your Minecraft folder:
     • Windows: %appdata%\.minecraft
     • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft
     • Linux: ~/.minecraft
   • Navigate to the shaderpacks folder (create if it doesn't exist)
   • Copy the entire mc-tessellation folder into shaderpacks

4. Enable the shader:

   • Launch Minecraft
   • Go to Options → Video Settings → Shaders
   • Select "mc-tessellation" from the list
   • Click "Done"

Configuration

Access shader settings through:

• OptiFine: Options → Video Settings → Shaders → Shader Options
• Iris: Options → Video Settings → Shader Packs → (select shader) → Settings

Settings

Tessellation Level (1-4, default: 2)

• 1 (Low): Minimal subdivision - largest visible triangles, best performance
• 2 (Medium): Balanced tessellation - recommended "tech demo" look
• 3 (High): More subdivisions - smaller triangles, smoother curves
• 4 (Very High): Maximum subdivisions - high GPU load

Tessellation Smoothness (0.0-1.0, default: 0.5)

• 0.0 (Flat): No vertex displacement - blocks stay blocky
• 0.5 (Medium): Moderate rounding - balanced geometric look
• 1.0 (Very Smooth): Maximum displacement - very rounded appearance

Technical Details

This shader pack uses GLSL 1.50 geometry shaders to achieve tessellation-like effects:

1. Vertex Shader prepares vertex data and normals
2. Geometry Shader subdivides triangles recursively and displaces vertices
3. Fragment Shader applies lighting and textures to the tessellated geometry

The tessellation algorithm:

• Subdivides each triangle into 4 smaller triangles (recursive)
• Displaces midpoint vertices along interpolated normals
• Applies LOD to skip tessellation for small/distant triangles
• Uses different tessellation levels for terrain vs. other geometry

Performance notes:

• Geometry shaders have some overhead; expect 10-30% FPS reduction
• Performance impact scales with tessellation level
• LOD system helps maintain FPS at distance
• Iris/Sodium typically performs better than OptiFine

Compatibility

• ✅ Works with Minecraft 1.16+
• ✅ Compatible with OptiFine
• ✅ Compatible with Iris Shaders
• ⚠️ May conflict with other shader packs (use only one at a time)
• ⚠️ Performance varies by GPU; dedicated GPU recommended

Known Limitations

• Entities (mobs, players) use minimal tessellation to avoid distortion
• Transparent surfaces may show artifacts with high tessellation
• Some texture mapping may appear slightly stretched on curved surfaces
• Not compatible with Minecraft's native rendering (requires OptiFine/Iris)

Troubleshooting

Shader won't load:

• Ensure you have OptiFine or Iris installed correctly
• Check Minecraft version compatibility
• Verify the shader pack is in the correct folder

Low FPS:

• Reduce Tessellation Level to 1 or 2
• Lower Tessellation Smoothness
• Check GPU drivers are up to date

Blocks look wrong:

• Reset shader settings to default
• Ensure no other shader packs are active

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.