Troubleshooting POM Depth, Warping, and Performance with Optimum Realism

Fix warping and swimming textures

POM depth that is too high makes flat surfaces like Acacia Planks, Birch Planks, Andesite, and Blackstone appear to warp or 'swim' as you move. Lower the Parallax Depth / Height value in shader options until surfaces sit still. If only some blocks warp, those blocks have deeper height maps — reduce depth globally rather than per block, since the pack does not expose per-block tuning in-game.

Reduce the performance cost

POM is expensive because it ray-marches the height map per pixel. To recover FPS: lower Parallax Samples or Steps in shader options, reduce Parallax Depth, disable parallax on foliage and cutout blocks, and turn off self-shadowing. Keep PBR (normal, specular, roughness) enabled — it is far cheaper than POM and gives most of the visual payoff.

When to disable POM entirely

If you are on integrated graphics or a low-end GPU, disable POM but keep PBR. You lose the 3D depth on Anvil, Bookshelf, and stone, but metals, glass, and wool still look correct. Also disable POM before recording or streaming if you need stable frame times. Re-enable it only when you want to showcase specific blocks.