Sodium in FTB Evolution 2

Sodium is a rendering engine replacement for Minecraft. It is built to raise your frame rate and cut micro-stutter, and it also fixes many graphical issues in the base game. It does this without changing how the game looks, so you keep the authentic block game feel.^[1]

This pack ships Sodium 0.9.2+mc26.1.2, the NeoForge build. It has been part of the pack since 1.0.2 or earlier.^[2]

What it changes

Sodium only optimizes the rendering code of Minecraft, and it is a client-side optimization mod. Other parts of the game are left alone. It is also designed to work with the wider modding ecosystem rather than fight with other mods.^[1]

Settings

You probably do not need to configure anything. By default Sodium enables every optimization your system supports. If you want to confirm it is running, open the Video Settings screen in Minecraft, which shows Sodium's own settings interface. Only change the performance and advanced video options if you run into problems.^[1]

Same as in the FTB StoneBlock 4 1.21.0 guide

Sodium is a bit different from the other mods in this guide. It adds no machines, items or crafting steps. It is a rendering engine replacement for Minecraft that improves your frame rate and reduces micro-stutter. So there is nothing to craft and no quest to finish here. Your first steps are about making sure it is working for you.^[1]

Step by step

1. Open the Video Settings screen in Minecraft. If Sodium is running, you will see its new user interface for changing settings there.^[1]
2. Leave the settings alone to begin with. By default, Sodium enables every optimization your system supports, which gives you the best experience it can.^[1]
3. Only change the performance and advanced video settings if you run into problems.^[1]

Check your hardware

Sodium officially supports desktop graphics cards with up-to-date drivers that support OpenGL 4.5 or newer. Most cards released in the past 12 years qualify. The mod's page gives these examples: Intel HD Graphics 500 Series (Skylake) or newer, NVIDIA GeForce 400 Series (Fermi) or newer, and AMD Radeon HD 7000 Series (GCN 1) or newer.^[1]

Older cards that already run Minecraft (which needs OpenGL 3.3) should also work with Sodium. The team says it cannot ensure compatibility or give support for them, and they may stop working with future versions.^[1]

Same as in the All the Mods 10 8.1 guide

Sodium doesn't have machines, multiblocks, power, fluids or item automation. It's a rendering engine replacement for the Minecraft client. It's there to raise your frame rate and cut micro-stutter, and it also fixes many graphical issues in the base game.^[1]

What Sodium actually changes

By design, Sodium only optimizes Minecraft's rendering code. Other parts of the game, like world logic, aren't touched by this mod. Its developers point to their separate mods for that, such as Lithium.^[1]

It's built to stay compatible with the wider modding ecosystem without changing how the game looks, so you keep the normal block game feel.^[1]

Settings and defaults

By default, Sodium enables all optimizations your system supports, so you usually don't need to configure anything. The project page suggests changing performance-related or advanced video settings only if you run into problems.^[1]

To check that it's working, open the Video Settings screen in Minecraft. With Sodium installed, it shows Sodium's own redesigned interface for changing settings.^[1]

Hardware requirements

Sodium's official support covers desktop graphics cards with up-to-date drivers that support OpenGL 4.5 or newer. Nearly all desktop cards that already run Minecraft (which needs OpenGL 3.3) should also work, but the team doesn't guarantee support for older cards and they may stop working in future versions.^[1]

Unverified The project page's news item describes Sodium 0.9.x for a newer Minecraft version, including early Vulkan support. Which Sodium build this pack uses, and whether Vulkan applies here, can't be confirmed from the available sources.

FTB Evolution 2 1.1.0 ships Sodium 0.9.2+mc26.1.2, the NeoForge build. The mod was already in the pack in FTB Evolution 2 1.0.2 or earlier, so it is not a new addition in this release.^[2]

The sources here don't show any changelog entries from the pack itself for this mod, so what follows comes from the mod's own 0.9.2 changelog.^[2][3]

Sodium 0.9.2 highlights

The headline change is a new terrain buffer allocation system. It is designed to reduce how many buffers get allocated and resized as chunks load and unload. The release also improves item meshing, optimizes item rendering and fixes a number of bugs.^[3]

• Terrain: a new allocator, described as an Incrementally Defragmenting Auto-Sizing Multi-Arena Allocator, handles the buffer allocation work.^[3]
• Items: UV_SHRINK is removed where necessary to prevent misalignment in item models, and overlay layers of optimized item models are offset to prevent z-fighting.^[3]
• Models: the dried ghast model and the pitcher plant models are optimized.^[3]
• Compatibility: FRAPI is now supported on NeoForge, and vertexIndex state is handled correctly to improve mod compatibility.^[3]
• Config API: override and overlay priority is now implemented in the graphics options Config API.^[3]
• Fixes: the section time buffer is now resized properly, a buffer overflow in Kernel32.getModuleFileName is fixed, and the correct atomic operations are used on NativeBuffer.ALLOCATED.^[3]
• Housekeeping: clearenv() is used to delete environment variables, and the code around checking the IME status on Windows is cleaned up.^[3]