Phosphor (Forge)

Attention: Support for the Forge version has been discontinued. All available downloads are provided "as is". The developers have focused on the Fabric version, which can be found on the corresponding CurseForge page. Using the Forge version is at your own risk.

Lighting System Optimization

Phosphor is a modification aimed at significantly improving the performance of one of Minecraft's most resource-intensive systems - the lighting engine. The mod works on both client and server, and clients don't need to have this modification installed to connect to a server with Phosphor.

Key Benefits

• Faster chunk generation - in some dimensions, the time to create new world areas is halved
• Reduced lag and stuttering - significant decrease in FPS drops when moving through the world
• Compatibility with vanilla game - the mod doesn't change game mechanics or lighting behavior
• Universal application - suitable for both single-player and multiplayer servers

Recommended Combination

For maximum effect, it's recommended to use Phosphor together with the Lithium mod, which optimizes other aspects of the game. Both modifications are fully compatible with each other.

Installation

For Minecraft 1.15+: Requires preliminary installation of MixinBootstrap version 1.0.2 or newer. After that, Phosphor is installed in the standard way - by placing the file in the mods folder.

For Minecraft 1.12: No additional dependencies required. Simply place the mod file in the mods folder.

Important: No need to create new worlds for the mod to work - optimizations apply to existing saves.

Technical Features

The mod completely rewrites the code responsible for propagating lighting changes in the world, making it significantly more efficient than the vanilla implementation. Lighting updates are postponed until the corresponding regions are accessed, allowing them to be batched together and reducing the number of duplicate operations. This provides impressive acceleration of world generation, especially in modded dimensions with lots of light-occluding vegetation.

Fixed errors in vertical skylight propagation considering lighting from neighboring chunks, eliminating various lighting artifacts that occur during world generation and mass block operations.

Compatibility

Full compatibility:

• OptiFine (including dynamic lighting feature)
• Most other Forge mods that don't affect the lighting system

Limited compatibility:

• OpenCubicChunks - fundamentally incompatible due to its own lighting system
• DynamicLights (separate mod) - doesn't work correctly
• Albedo - prevents colored lighting from working

SpongeForge: Requires using the latest versions of SpongeForge and Phosphor. Must disable asynchronous lighting in Sponge configuration for optimal performance.

What the Mod Does NOT Do

Phosphor doesn't change Minecraft's lighting model and doesn't add new features to the game. It optimizes the existing system by fixing errors and improving performance. The mod doesn't eliminate all possible world generation lag or client-side hiccups, since lighting is just one of many factors affecting performance.