Better Light
by KaiStudio
Better Light lets players carry lanterns and torches on a belt, where they sway and react to movement, and it adds colored glow and monster effects.
What it does
Better Light adds portable lighting to Minecraft. A lantern or torch clips onto a belt slot, keeping both hands free while the light moves and sways as the player walks, runs, jumps or turns the camera. A light can also be picked up from the ground with one click rather than broken and placed again.
The mod is meant to fit into vanilla survival without introducing heavy new blocks or interface screens. Lighting is layered on top of items that already exist, and it can be tuned through the betterlight-common.toml file, which the server controls for all players. Most players never need to touch it, because the defaults are tuned for a good feel out of the box. Installation needs Forge, and the mod is published for 1.19.2 – 1.20.6.
Better Light runs on client and server. Its gameplay effects run on the server, while the visuals are handled on each client, which keeps it light on multiplayer servers. The code and assets are released under All rights reserved, so the mod is not open source.
Key features
Belt lantern physics
Belt lanterns swing with their own momentum, controlled by intensity, stiffness, damping and a maximum swing angle.
Decorative colored glow
Lights can cast colored glow with adjustable particle interval and particle scale for a decorative effect.
Item light overrides
Each item can be given its own light level, for example a blaze rod set to level 8 through the itemLightOverrides option.
Monster light effects
Light can weaken nearby monsters, with configurable detection range, detection bonus, weakness amplifier and weakness duration.
Lighting controls
Options for dynamic light, multiplayer updates, update interval, brightness multiplier, maximum light level and belt dimming give fine control over lighting.
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
1.20.x6 of 6 versions with builds
1.19.x3 of 3 versions with builds
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
How it compares
Lantern Trails is published for Fabric and Forge across 1.19.2 – 1.20.1, is not open source and is licensed as All rights reserved. Toni's Immersive Lanterns is a client and server mod for Fabric, Forge and NeoForge across 1.20 – 1.21.1, under a custom license and not open source. Lively Lighting! is the only option here that runs server-side only, and it is open source under the MIT License for Forge 1.20.1.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Better Light | Forge | 1.19.2 – 1.20.6 | Client and server | 2026-09-09 |
| Lantern Trails | Fabric and Forge | 1.19.2 – 1.20.1 | Client and server | 2026-07-08 |
| Toni's Immersive Lanterns | Fabric, Forge and NeoForge | 1.20 – 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2025-01-04 |
| Lively Lighting! 🔦 | Forge | 1.20.1 | Server-side only | 2026-07-06 |
Questions
Does Better Light need to be installed on the server?
Which loader does Better Light use?
Can server owners change the lighting settings?
In the catalog
Better Light is one of 12,078 Decoration mods on ModsFinder, and one of 6,149 Decoration mods for Forge. 11,154 mods support Minecraft 1.20.6.
More from KaiStudio
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What the author says
Better Light brings immersive, portable lighting to Minecraft. Clip a lantern to your belt and keep both hands free, watch it sway naturally as you walk, run, and jump, and grab torches or lanterns straight off the ground with a single right-click instead of breaking and re-placing them. The mod is built to feel like…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/better-light
- Owner
- KaiStudio
- Published
- 2026-07-29
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-09-09
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15