Screenshot 1 of 4. A blocky village at night under a green and purple aurora sky, shown with the AuroraRT shader.
What AuroraRT works with.
| Platform | Java Edition |
|---|---|
| Loaders | Iris, OptiFine |
| Minecraft versions | 26.2 |
The AuroraRT shader pack gives Java a polar, cool-toned look built around a dynamic aurora borealis in the night sky. It runs on Iris and OptiFine and is semi-realistic in style. PatrickJnr modified it from Complementary Shaders, and it applies only on the player's own install, not on a dedicated host.
Shader loaders and versions
- Iris and OptiFine: Minecraft 26.2.
Signature effects
- Sky with Rayleigh and Mie scattering, a pink-to-teal twilight arch, procedural nebulae and round, twinkling stars.
- Aurora curtains that shift from neon green and teal to magenta and drift slowly across the night.
- Raymarched reflections with temporal denoising, physically based depth of field and an ACES filmic color pipeline.
- Height fog that changes color by biome, plus self-shadowing volumetric clouds with bright silver linings.
- Analytic water with foam, caustics and light shafts underwater, and softer, glowing snow, sand and ice.
- Nether fog colors per biome, and a black hole with an accretion disk in the End.
Installing AuroraRT
- 1.Install Iris on Fabric or NeoForge, or install OptiFine. The creator pairs Iris with Sodium.
- 2.Put the pack's .zip file in the shaderpacks folder.
- 3.Open Video Settings, then Shader Packs, in Iris and select AuroraRT.
The shader install guide covers folder locations, and the troubleshooting guide helps if the pack fails to load.
Performance and trade-offs
The creator tags the pack from potato through high, plus a screenshot tier, so settings span a wide range. The effect list is heavy, though. Raymarched reflections, volumetric clouds and the water model suit stronger GPUs, and weaker machines should expect to lower options.
Questions about AuroraRT.
4 questions
How do I install AuroraRT?
Install Iris on Fabric or NeoForge, or OptiFine. Place the AuroraRT .zip in the shaderpacks folder, then open Video Settings, then Shader Packs, and select it. The newest release for each loader lists no required dependencies, and the pack applies only on the player's own install, not a dedicated host. It targets 26.2.
Does AuroraRT work with Iris and OptiFine?
Yes. The pack ships builds for both loaders, and the newest release of each requires nothing else. Iris is the loader the creator pairs with Sodium.
Is AuroraRT good for low-end PCs?
It is tagged for tiers from potato to high, so lighter settings exist. The full effect list, with raymarched reflections and volumetric clouds, is demanding, so low-end machines should turn those options down.
Does AuroraRT work on Bedrock?
No. It is a Java shader pack, and the Iris and OptiFine loaders it needs do not exist for Bedrock.
