Reduce Lag While Keeping Shadows Enabled

Identify Performance Bottlenecks

Open the debug screen with F3 and monitor your frame time. If shadows are causing frame drops, prioritize these adjustments:

Lower Shadow Settings Strategically

• Reduce Shadow Distance: This is the most impactful change. Shadows close to the player remain sharp while distant shadows disappear, freeing GPU resources.
• Decrease Shadow Softness: Softer shadows require more computation. Slightly sharper shadows cost less performance.
• Lower Shadow Resolution: If available in options, reduce the resolution of the shadow map texture.

Optimize Other Settings

• Disable or reduce Ambient Occlusion if enabled—it darkens crevices but costs performance.
• Lower your Render Distance in video settings; fewer chunks mean fewer shadows to calculate.
• Ensure VSync is off unless you need it for stability.

Test and Balance

Make one change at a time and check frame rate. Most players find a sweet spot with medium shadow distance and moderate softness that looks good without tanking performance.