Reduce Lag While Keeping Soft Shadows

Why Shadows Cause Performance Drops

Soft shadows require your GPU to calculate lighting from multiple angles. On low-end PCs, this is expensive. Luminous Balanced Lighting is already optimized, but you may still need tweaks.

Optimize Shadow Settings

Open the shader menu (Shift + O) and look for shadow-related options:

• Shadow Distance: Reduce how far shadows render into the distance. Shadows close to you remain detailed while distant terrain renders faster.
• Shadow Map Resolution: Lower this value to make shadow calculations simpler. The shadows stay soft but process faster.
• Penumbra/Softness: If available, slightly reducing softness can speed things up without making shadows look harsh.

Alternative: Disable Specific Features

If shadows still cause stuttering, consider disabling entity shadows (shadows cast by mobs and players) while keeping terrain shadows. This preserves the shader's atmosphere without the performance cost.

Test each change by walking through varied terrain—caves, forests, and open areas—to ensure smooth performance across different lighting conditions.