> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://create-deep-seas.gitbook.io/create-deep-seas-wiki/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://create-deep-seas.gitbook.io/create-deep-seas-wiki/getting-started/graphics.md).

# Graphics and the Vortex Engine

<img src="https://1371052705-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FV22FKtcNjWW37kUFLLdR%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-c644dd2d6ba17e9bb92a5eaf0a2a99cc6f151776%2Fvortex.png?alt=media" alt="Vortex Engine logo" width="128">

## Video settings

Every graphics option of the mod lives in Minecraft's **Video Settings**, under Sodium's own pages. Create Deep Seas, Create High Seas and the Vortex Engine each get their own entry with their logo, like any other mod that adds options there.

| Entry                | What you find there                                                                                                                       |
| -------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Create Deep Seas** | Pressure effects (dark edges and muffled sound when a submarine is condemned or a diver is past their limit) and the photosensitive mode. |
| **Create High Seas** | Sail subdivisions (how smooth the cloth is), sails under shader packs, and the Seaglide screen effects.                                   |
| **Vortex Engine**    | Two pages, Lights and Water & Mist, with every option of the engine below.                                                                |

The same options are still in the config files, so modpacks can set them there.

## The Vortex Engine

The Vortex Engine is the mod's own renderer for coloured light. It replaces the old Veil lights. Everything stays in the Minecraft style: light fades in steps of one texture pixel, and the glow around lamps is made of small cubes, not smooth blur.

* **Coloured light:** the glowing blocks of Create Deep Seas, Create High Seas and the Abyss light their surroundings in a colour taken from their own texture. Vanilla blocks and blocks from other mods (torches, lanterns, Sea Lanterns…) keep plain Minecraft light, unless `allBlocks` is turned on.
* **Moving lights:** the beams of the Sonar and the flashing red light of the Industrial Alarm really light the room around them.
* **Under the water:** shafts of sunlight and moving caustics on the sea floor in the daytime, and the brightest lamps near you throw beams through the water, cut by anything standing in front of them.
* **Glow fog:** the water itself glows where light reaches it, and walls stop it.
* **Plankton or marine snow:** tiny specks floating in the water, one pixel wide.

{% hint style="info" %}
The Vortex Engine turns itself off while an Iris shader pack is in use, because the pack does its own lighting. It works with Iris installed and shaders off, and with Distant Horizons.
{% endhint %}

### Light styles

The look of the light can be switched in game with `/vortex style light <style>`, or in the video settings. Try them, they look very different.

| Style             | Look                                                                                                                   |
| ----------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `flood` (default) | Light spreads block by block and blends its colours, wraps around corners and never goes through walls.                |
| `vanilla`         | The same spreading, but falling off one step per block like Minecraft's own light.                                     |
| `hybrid`          | The soft spreading of flood, plus sharp shadows from the lights close to you.                                          |
| `volumes`         | One sphere of light per lamp, with sharp shadows and a bigger halo.                                                    |
| `pixel`           | Every glowing block is its own light, falling off one level per block, with block shadows and a halo of glowing cubes. |

The other effects have their own styles, switched the same way:

| Command               | Choices                                                                                                          |
| --------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `/vortex style halo`  | `glow_fog` (default, needs flood or vanilla), `core` (a small halo around each lamp), `none`                     |
| `/vortex style water` | `all_rays` (default: sun shafts and lamp beams), `sun_rays` (sunlight only), `none`                              |
| `/vortex style motes` | `plankton` (default, twinkles in the colour of the light around it), `snow` (slowly sinking marine snow), `none` |
| `/vortex style mist`  | `voxel` (default, small cubes of fog lit by every light around), `puffs` (large smoke puffs)                     |

### Commands

These run on your own game and need no operator rights.

| Command                                     | What it does                                                                                                                                                                               |
| ------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| `/vortex style`                             | Shows the styles in use.                                                                                                                                                                   |
| `/vortex mist <radius> [density] [#colour]` | Places drifting mist around you, lit by the coloured lights. `/vortex mist clear` removes it.                                                                                              |
| `/vortex profiler <seconds>`                | Measures what the engine costs for that long and writes a report to the `vortex-profiles` folder. Handy to attach to a bug report about frame rate. `/vortex profiler stop` ends it early. |

### Options

| Option           | Default | What it does                                                                                                      |
| ---------------- | ------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `enabled`        | true    | Master switch. Off, the engine draws and computes nothing.                                                        |
| `lights`         | true    | Coloured light around glowing blocks and the moving lights of the Sonar and the Alarm.                            |
| `brightness`     | 100     | Brightness of the coloured light, from 10 to 200% (**Light Brightness** in the video settings).                   |
| `reach`          | 100     | How far the light of each glowing block reaches, from 50 to 200% (**Light Reach**).                               |
| `saturation`     | 100     | How strong the colours are, from 0% (white light) to 200% (**Light Saturation**).                                 |
| `animatedLights` | true    | Torches, fire and lava flicker, glowing plants pulse. Off for steady light.                                       |
| `lightDistance`  | 64      | How far from the camera, in blocks, coloured lights are drawn.                                                    |
| `maxLights`      | 256     | Most lights drawn at once, the closest ones are kept. Lower it on a weak graphics card.                           |
| `pixelLighting`  | true    | Light fades in steps of one texture pixel. Off for a smooth gradient.                                             |
| `shadows`        | true    | Solid blocks stop light and cast shadows, within 64 blocks. Costs more on the graphics card.                      |
| `haze`           | true    | Lights glow through the water around them, and the Sonar's beams show in it.                                      |
| `autoGlow`       | true    | Glowing blocks of the mod get a colour from their texture.                                                        |
| `allBlocks`      | false   | Vanilla blocks and blocks from other mods (torches, lanterns, Sea Lanterns…) cast coloured light too. Costs more. |
| `bloom`          | true    | Lit areas spill a soft, pixelated glow around them.                                                               |
| `bloomStrength`  | 100     | Strength of the bloom, from 0 to 200%.                                                                            |
| `haloStrength`   | 100     | Strength of the glow of lights in the water, from 0 to 200% (**Glow in Water**).                                  |
| `sunlight`       | 100     | Strength of the sun shafts and caustics under the water, from 0 to 200% (**Sunlight Under Water**).               |
| `mist`           | true    | Mist from `/vortex mist`.                                                                                         |
| `maxPuffs`       | 1500    | Most mist puffs alive at once.                                                                                    |

The options are saved in `config/create_submarine-vortex.toml`.

## Other graphics options

* **Sail subdivisions** (`sailSubdivisions`, 1 to 8): how smooth the billowing cloth of a sail is.
* **Sails under shader packs** (`shaderpackSails`): billowing sails while an Iris shader pack is in use. Applies the next time the pack is loaded.
* **Seaglide screen effects** (`seaglideScreenEffects`): camera shake and speed lines at full Seaglide speed.
* **Pressure effects** (`pressureEffects`) and **photosensitive mode** (`photosensitiveMode`): see [Commands and config](/create-deep-seas-wiki/deep-seas/mechanics/commands-and-config.md).