darkaroundme
darkaroundme replaces vanilla lightmap calculations so that unlit areas can be rendered in absolute darkness, without relying on the brightness setting.
What it does
Standard brightness settings often leave terrain visible at midnight because the game crushes ambient light. The lighting engine of darkaroundme separates ambient skylight from artificial block light, so caves and night-time surfaces stay black no matter what gamma value a player chooses. Torches, lanterns and lava remain at full vanilla brightness, so light sources keep their usual visibility.
The mod is client required and server optional. A player needs it installed to see the effect, while a server can run without it. A server that does run it can generate a configuration that enforces a specific darkness level for every connected client, which stops players from raising their local gamma to bypass the intended difficulty. darkaroundme is released under the MIT License and is not open source. It is published for NeoForge only, with one build for 1.21.1, version 1.0.0, dated 2025-11-21.
Key features
Absolute darkness
Unlit areas render as pitch-black void instead of the dim terrain that vanilla lighting leaves at night.
Separate light channels
Skylight and block light are calculated apart, so artificial sources keep their brightness while the sky stays dark.
Gamma-independent darkness
Caves and nights stay void-black whatever brightness value the player sets in the options menu.
Dynamic belt lanterns
Lanterns equipped on a belt push back the darkness around the player, which makes light sources part of gameplay rather than decoration.
Enforced darkness levels
Server owners can set a darkness level that applies to every connected client, keeping the difficulty consistent.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Horror-style exploration
Players who want caves and nights to feel dangerous can rely on the mod to remove the dim visibility of standard lighting.
Difficulty on multiplayer servers
Server owners can prevent clients from brightening the game locally, so the intended challenge applies to everyone.
Who it’s for: Players who want darkness to be a real part of survival, and server owners who want a fixed darkness level for all players. The mod suits worlds where lanterns and torches have a practical role.
Questions
Does darkaroundme need to be installed on the server?
Which loader does darkaroundme support?
Does the mod change how torches and lanterns look?
In the catalog
darkaroundme is one of 19,031 Adventure mods on ModsFinder, and one of 8,588 Adventure mods for NeoForge. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
Similar mods
What the author says
The lighting engine distinguishes between ambient skylight and artificial block light. This ensures that caves and nights remain void-black regardless of your gamma or brightness settings, while torches, lanterns, and lava sources retain their full vanilla brightness and visibility. For the best experience, it is…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/darkaroundme
- Owner
- programaholic
- Published
- 2025-11-21
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-11-21
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15