
Starlight (Forge)
Rewrites the light engine to fix lighting performance and lighting errors
About this Mod
Starlight
Forge mod for rewriting the light engine to fix lighting performance and lighting errors.
Future updates past 1.20
Please see: https://gist.github.com/Spottedleaf/6cc1acdd03a9b7ac34699bf5e8f1b85c
This project is available as a part of Moonrise
Compatibility
Starlight can be installed either on the dedicated server or client. It is not required to be installed on both sides.
If you have Starlight on the server, clients can use Vanilla/Phosphor/Starlight to connect. Likewise, if you have Starlight on
the client, you can connect to Vanilla/Phosphor/Starlight servers.
Starlight cannot be installed with Phosphor, they are completely incompatible.
Browsing through Starlight's Issue Tracker will show
further mod incompatibilities. Starlight is a rather destructive light engine rewrite, so it should be
expected to break mods more often.
Purpose
Starlight was developed for higher scale dedicated servers, as they suffered performance problems due to how ungodly slow the
light engine was. The only solution was to create an extremely invasive mod which rewrote the entire light engine.
I ported the mod to fabric so that I can update it during snapshots, and decided that publishing it for
all users, especially client users, would be beneficial. However, it does have the downside of being an invasive mod:
Being invasive didn't affect higher scale servers because they run on Bukkit.
Further reading on the technical details of how Starlight achieves its performance
can be read here: TECHNICAL_DETAILS.md
Performance for 1.20:
Here are a few graphs showing performance in 2 areas on: Block editing at high y-levels, and normal block light updates:
Light engine time chunk generation Graph has been removed as a benchmark as it is invalid for 1.20. Starlight and Vanilla are close enough on 1.20 that
this test is also useless.

Performance for 1.19.4 and below:
Here are a few graphs showing performance in 3 critical areas: Chunk generation, Block editing at high y-levels, and normal block light updates:



Available Versions
How to Install Starlight (Forge) on Your Server
Order Server
Order a Minecraft Java server with at least 3 GB RAM (4 GB recommended).
Set forge Loader
In the panel under "Egg", select the forge loader and matching Minecraft version (1.20.2).
Install Mod
Open the mod browser in the dashboard and search for "Starlight (Forge)". Click "Install" – done! Alternatively, upload the .jar via SFTP to the /mods folder.
Compatibility
Mod Loaders
Minecraft Versions
1.20.2, 1.20.1, 1.20 (+7 more)
Server-side
~ OptionalRecommended RAM
4 GB(min. 3 GB)Frequently Asked Questions
Starlight (Forge) server crashes on startup – what to do?
Most common cause: wrong forge version or insufficient RAM. Check the server log (latest.log) for "OutOfMemoryError" or "Mixin" errors. With Mado Hosting: ensure at least 3 GB RAM is allocated and the loader matches the mod version (1.20.2). You can switch loaders with one click in the panel.
Is Starlight (Forge) compatible with forge?
Starlight (Forge) officially supports forge for Minecraft 1.20.2, 1.20.1, 1.20. The Mado dashboard automatically detects incompatible loader combinations.
Server lagging with Starlight (Forge) – how to optimize performance?
Recommended RAM: 4 GB (per 8 players). Use /spark profiler to check if Starlight (Forge) consumes the most tick time. Common fixes: reduce server view-distance to 8-10, install "performant" or "starlight" as supplementary mods on Forge. With Mado Hosting, your server runs on NVMe SSDs with dedicated CPU cores for minimal latency.
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