Damage Overlay
by D3TONAT0R
Damage Overlay tints the screen red whenever the player takes damage, and its warning grows stronger as current health drops.
What it does
The overlay reads the player's current health and draws a red screen overlay when it is low. Below a configurable threshold, a red vignette appears around the edges of the view and becomes stronger as health falls further. Each hit also produces a short flash, and a heavier hit produces a stronger one, so incoming damage is easier to notice during combat or a fall.
Every part of the effect can be adjusted: overall opacity, brightness, the health value at which the effect starts, and the speed of the fade. The overlays are hidden together with the interface when the F1 key is used, so screenshots and recordings can be taken without them. The mod is a NeoForge client mod for 1.21.1, and it is client-side only, so servers do not need it. It is released under All rights reserved and is not open source, though the source code and issue tracker are public.
Key features
Low health vignette
A red vignette builds around the screen edges as health drops, signalling danger before the character is near death.
Damage flash
Each hit triggers a short red flash, and larger hits produce a more intense flash.
Configurable effect
Opacity, brightness, the health level where the effect starts and the fade speed can each be changed.
Hidden with the interface
The overlays disappear together with the GUI when the F1 key hides the interface.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Combat awareness
Players fighting mobs or bosses see a clear warning when health is running out without reading the health bar.
Screen-free recordings
Hiding the interface with F1 also hides the overlays, so clips can show the scene unchanged.
Who it’s for: Players on NeoForge 1.21.1 who want damage and low health shown on the screen itself. Because the mod runs only on the client, it suits single-player worlds and multiplayer clients alike.
How it compares
Clean View is a NeoForge client mod that also changes what the screen shows, for 1.20.2 – 26.3 and under the GNU General Public License v2.0 or later. DamageVignette covers the same damage vignette idea on Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt for 1.18.2 – 1.20.4, under the MIT License. Damage Overlay is limited to NeoForge and to 1.21.1, with its own configuration and an All rights reserved license.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Overlay | NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client-side only | 2025-08-30 |
| Clean View | NeoForge | 1.20.2 – 26.3 | Client-side only | 2026-09-19 |
| DamageVignette | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.18.2 – 1.20.4 | Client-side only | 2024-03-26 |
Questions
Does Damage Overlay need to be installed on the server?
Which loader does Damage Overlay use?
Can the effect be made weaker?
In the catalog
Damage Overlay is one of 36,990 Utility mods on ModsFinder, and one of 13,477 Utility mods for NeoForge. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
More from D3TONAT0R
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What the author says
Damage Overlay is a small mod that renders a red screen overlay based on the player's current health, making low health and incoming damage much more noticable to the player.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/damage-overlay
- Owner
- D3TONAT0R
- Published
- 2025-08-28
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-08-30
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15