Vectra

How Vectra Builds Distant Terrain

Vectra reads the world's own generator directly (terrain shape, biomes, surface blocks, sea level) and samples it only at the level of detail each distance needs. Nearby LODs run the real biome features, so trees and plants will mostly match the world. Every chunk you load is captured as it is, including your builds, and this also works on servers you join. The difference on servers is that you have to discover the chunks first to see LODs.

Vectra on Servers

Vectra can be used on servers. If you use Vectra as a server-side + client-side mod, the server will only give the client the needed seed and generation data so the client can generate LODs on its own without killing server performance. However, if your friend builds a house miles away from you, the LOD won't show that house until it's discovered.

Speed

That depends on your GPU. For me, on an RTX 5080 with 10 threads, it only takes 1–3 seconds to generate LODs for 256 chunks. I don't have any actual measurements for lower-end GPUs or fewer threads on hand right now. However, LODs are simplified in a way that maintains good performance while still looking good, and they should run well even on an old GTX 1070.

Config

I suggest to only play around with Quality and Chunk Distance and keep all other settings on Default.

Memory Usage and Storage

Vectra does not save LODs, which means that on servers, you will always encounter the issue of buildings not being shown if they have been built by friends until you discover or rediscover them.

Will that change in the future? No. Not really. Vectra was meant to be focused on performance, speed, and low memory usage.

Is Vectra Super Detailed Like in Those Fancy TikTok Videos?

Yesn't. LODs are LODs, and if you assume that you will see pixel-perfect blocks, then you should not install Vectra at all. Levels of detail are low-quality meshes of objects that are far away from you (simply explained). If you use a spyglass and zoom into eternity, you will obviously see that there might be places where LODs can look awful. Please don't cherry-pick here. If you want to see actual chunks far away, consider buying a quantum computer.

What Makes It Different

• Hundreds of chunks appear in seconds, without pre-generating the world
• Real block textures and biome colours instead of flat colours
• Low memory usage (like really low. Absolutely low)
• Your normal render distance stays; Vectra adds LOD chunks on top
• Client-side and server-side support for NeoForge and Fabric

Shaders

Shader packs through Iris are supported, but this is still a work in progress. Some packs may render distant terrain incorrectly, for example, too bright, see-through, or without water.

Some things are fixable on my side but may require fixes from shader pack creators as well.

Worldgen Mods

Terrain and biome mods that use normal data-driven world generation appear in the LODs automatically. Mods that change terrain through their own code may look different in the distance until those chunks are loaded. I can't promise support for any custom world generation at all, as this was supposed to be for normal data-driven world generation mods.

License

All Rights Reserved. For now. The license may change to MIT or another open-source license in the near future.