Chocapic13 for Minecraft

Review Chocapic13

Chocapic13' Shaders

Chocapic13' Shaders are one of the available shader options, the designers of which have added not so many effects. However, even a small range of settings is enough to ensure a high–quality visual picture, a pleasant environment, a sense of realism, and just a fascinating game atmosphere in Minecraft.

The developers have provided several predefined visual settings: Low, Medium, High, Ultra, and Extreme. As you might have guessed, Low is the lowest settings of the shaders, where a minimum of various effects are enabled, and all of them are somehow restricted. When it comes to Extreme, it is the highest settings, where everything that is possible is enabled without any restrictions.

But let us take the Medium parameters. Here, by default, the Shadow Quality is Low, whereas in Ultra, the same parameter is set to High. Each such setting reduces the overall FPS rate on players' PCs, which is why a large number of the predefined configurations have been provided. As for us, we will use the High settings to show what the picture on your screen will be like with such average visual parameters.

Review of Chocapic13' Shaders

Unlike many other similar packs, these shaders do not feature any predefined in-game configurations. Accordingly, you will have to download either the full pack and then choose Low, Ultra, etc. archives from it to drop into the respective folder or download a certain configuration separately.

Water Effects

Chocapic13' Shaders cannot boast a lot of parameters for flexible adjustment. However, the developers have added enough features to ensure realistic ponds, rivers, and even puddles. After installing this pack, you will be able to adjust the water reflections, which look very cool at sunsets, at sunrises, and under the sunrays. The water reflects not only the environment (trees near the banks, grass, etc.) but also shadows of nearby objects and the player themselves. Thus, when you fly over the water, you will be able to see yourself in the reflection, provided that the relevant parameters are enabled in the settings.

Special attention has been paid to the water mechanics. It reacts to the slightest influence of the wind, created by both weather conditions and surrounding mobs. If dolphins, fish, or squid dive, they may cause waves and small circles to appear. The same is true of boats: when you are sailing on a river or ocean, splashes and small waves appear under it. If the weather changes and a strong wind starts, there will be bigger waves in the water, along with an increased sound of these very waves. As a result, you feel like you have come to a coast and are sitting next to a sea, listening to the sound of the waves.

You can use the settings to adjust the dirt amount. The higher the amount, the dirtier the water will actually look, like in swamps and other similar biomes. Each user sets this parameter as they see fit, depending on the intended result. However, in each configuration, say, High or Ultra, the respective parameters are already set by default.

Sun and Moon

The developers have done a great deal of work to achieve the effect shown in the screenshots. The sun now looks completely different, like the real one, radiating rays tangentially and with changing direction. Thanks to such effects, one constantly observes a dynamic change in lighting, no matter what biome one gets while traveling around the Minecraft game world.

Moreover, in the shaders' settings, users can change the color of the rays from the sun and moon using several color parameters. As a result, you can get either a very realistic version or the most fantastic, like, say, in the Twilight series. You can adjust the brightness of the sun and objects that reflect light. This also applies to the Nether quartz, some other blocks, and light sources.

Here, in the settings, it is also possible to adjust the eye adaptation intensity. Say, you leave a mine, and the sunrays rays immediately shine into your eyes. In the shaders' settings, you can adjust the parameters to increase or decrease the adaptation to this light. If the value is low, it will take a long time to adapt, and the sunlight will blind the eyes longer. If the value is high, you will quickly adapt to the sunlight right after you leave a mine or any other dark place, and it will not seriously blind your eyes.

By default, the moon is not as realistic as it could be, but in the settings, you can make it more smoothed and attractive. Anyway, its light is very dynamic and pleasant, especially on the water surface, which refracts any light. The presence of beautiful and realistic stars literally spangled all over the sky also cannot but please players.

Lighting

By default, Minecraft does not feature a system of possible light penetration into caves. But thanks to the shaders, light now penetrates all areas, no matter what biome you are in. Thus, if the sun is shining, and there are several gaps above your head in a canyon, the light will gradually penetrate downwards with rays refracting depending on the movement of the sun (sunset or dawn).

Dynamic lighting from different sources, such as torches, bonfires, and lanterns, will also please players. You will be able to enjoy a pleasant scattering with shadows and the possibility of adjusting its intensity. If you take, say, torches or lanterns, there is more light at night and less during the day. All these parameters are present in the settings, which allows each player to adjust them as they see fit.

The lighting from different objects affects the overall shadow quality. The more powerful the light source, the larger and more contrasting the shadow will be — although these parameters are also adjustable and can be changed at any time. But in general, this pack can boast a highly elaborate lighting system that allows you to ensure a high-quality and very eye-pleasing visual picture.

Shadows

The developers of this add-on have paid great attention to shadows. But what for? The fact is that shadows accompany one everywhere, be it the usual shadow from the player or reflections of certain objects in blocks with a different transparency level.

Just look at the plants, flowers, trees, and vines! The quality and quantity of shadows depend on the parameters set. The higher the values, the more accurate the shadows will be. Take, for example, the main character when he is just standing on the ground, and sunlight hits him. If you set a small value, the shadows from his body will be too blurry and with rough borders because of a low resolution. But if you increase the resolution,  the shadows will become smooth and pleasant.

There is also a possibility to enable Temporal Anti-Aliasing, although in some configurations, it is disabled by default to improve the performance level and reduce the load on a system. Shadows from dropped things, objects, and blocks look very cool. Thus, if you drop a diamond block or a sword, you will see shadows with the adjustable intensity.

Users with powerful PCs can activate the SSAO parameter, which enables shadows everywhere, no matter in which part of the game world you are, be it the Overworld, the Nether, or the End. However, this parameter significantly reduces the performance level, along with the FPS rate. This shader pack allows one to finely adjust the sharpness of the picture. As a result, when you focus on one point, all objects behind it will be blurred. This effect is used mainly to create colorful screenshots, not while actual playing or construction, though.

Mobs

We should also say a couple of words about the changes of mobs this shader pack brings. Even though it is not a texture pack, all the creatures now look smoother, more elaborate, and more detailed. They can also cast shadows, but the most pleasant and interesting thing is that at night, they will look much more interesting than in the vanilla version of Minecraft.

Just look at the Endermen: at how their eyes are burning, how particles are scattered around their bodies, and what a rich and pleasant light they emit. The same is true of spiders, zombies, and other mobs.

In general, it can be said that Chocapic13' Shaders is a great option for both weak and powerful PCs. Almost any category of players will be able to choose a perfect configuration for themselves among the predefined settings. But if you learn the parameters and understand what is this or that item in the settings for, you will be able to transform the graphics in Minecraft even more thoroughly and get the desired result while preserving the FPS rate at a satisfactory level.

This shader pack is constantly being updated by the developers, actively used by players all over the world, and often serves as a basis for other add-ons. So try it, customize the graphics, and create cool content.

Images Chocapic13