Starlight (Forge)

Starlight is a Forge modification that performs a complete replacement of the lighting subsystem in Minecraft with the aim of resolving performance issues and fixing various errors related to lighting.

Limitations for versions above 1.20

For information regarding support of Minecraft versions beyond 1.20, it is recommended to review the relevant documentation.

Currently, the project is part of a larger development called Moonrise.

Compatibility

This mod can be installed either on a dedicated server or on a game client. It is not required to have the mod present on both sides simultaneously.

• When using Starlight on a server, clients can connect with any lighting system: standard, Phosphor, or this mod.
• If the mod is installed on the client, players can smoothly connect to servers with any lighting implementation: Vanilla, Phosphor, or Starlight.

It is important to note that simultaneous installation of Starlight and Phosphor is impossible — these modifications completely conflict with each other.

Due to the mod's deep overhaul of the lighting system, it is advisable to check the current list of compatibility issues with other modifications.

Development Purpose

The main reason for creating Starlight was the need to solve performance problems on large dedicated servers where the standard lighting system was extremely slow. The only possible solution was to create a highly invasive modification that completely rewrites the logic of lighting operations.

// Example technical annotation
public class LightEngineRewrite {
    // significantly optimizes
    // lighting functionality
}

Although such deep integration may cause conflicts with some other mods, for large servers based on Bukkit this feature did not have significant negative impacts.

Technical implementation details and working principles of the mod are thoroughly described in the corresponding documentation.

Performance for version 1.20:

Presented graphs demonstrate system performance in key operation scenarios:

• Editing blocks at high altitude levels
• Standard lighting updates from blocks

In version 1.20, the performance difference between Starlight and the standard lighting system became less significant.

Performance for versions 1.19.4 and below:

For previous game versions, demonstration materials show performance in three critically important areas:

• Chunk generation
• Working with blocks at significant heights
• Standard block lighting update operations