Turn On Higuruma Visual Shader and Check That It Is Working

Higuruma Visual Shader is a shader pack, so it runs through a shader loader such as Iris or OptiFine. It is not a resource pack.

Activate the pack

1. Launch Minecraft with your shader loader installed.

2. From the title screen or the pause menu, open Options > Video Settings > Shader Packs.

3. If the pack is not listed, click the button that opens the shader pack folder. Place the pack file in that shaderpacks folder, not in resourcepacks.

4. Return to the Shader Packs screen. The pack should now appear in the list.

5. Select Higuruma Visual Shader and click Apply or Done. The game may freeze briefly while the shaders compile.

Confirm it is active

This is the step that confuses most players. The shader keeps daytime visuals completely normal. If you load into a world at noon, the sky and lighting look close to vanilla, so you might think nothing happened.

To check that the pack is really working:

• Look at the shadows. Even in daytime, the pack provides realistic shadows. Trees, buildings and mobs should cast sharper, more defined shadows than vanilla does.

** After the sun goes down, the world shifts to dark tones and dramatic lighting. The sky turns into a black-and-white judgment-day atmosphere.

• Re-open the Shader Packs screen. Make sure the pack is still highlighted as the selected one.

If none of these changes appear, go back to the Shader Packs menu. Confirm the pack is selected and that shaders are not toggled off in your loader.