Diagnosing Terrain Popping and Missing Caves After Changing the Stretch

Why Terrain Disappears

The stretch option turns the circular render radius into an ellipse. The higher you set it, the less of the world directly above and below you is rendered. Distant cave sections and deep underground areas are the first things to vanish, because they fall outside the flattened shape. This is intended behavior, not a bug.

Checking Your Setting

• Fly high above your base and look straight down. If large areas below you are empty, your stretch is high.
• Walk into a cave and look toward the surface. If the ceiling or upper terrain pops in only when you get close, the vertical culling is aggressive.
• Lower the stretch value and repeat the test. The missing sections should reappear as the shape becomes rounder.

When to Reduce the Stretch

If you spend a lot of time mining, caving, or building tall structures, a very high stretch will hurt your experience more than it helps your fps. Reduce it until the popping is tolerable, then check your frame rate again. Many players find a middle value keeps most of the fps gain while leaving enough vertical terrain visible for normal exploration and building.