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Darkness Engine

by swankydenizen

Darkness Engine makes the darkness in the overworld absolutely pitch-black, so players who want unlit nights and caves must bring torches.

FabricNeoForgeClient-side onlyGNU General Public License v3.0 onlyOpen source26.2

What it does

The mod zeroes out the sky brightness ambient color in the lightmap, which removes the faint light that normally reaches the surface at night. Its effect is scoped to the overworld dimension only. It is a client-side only mod, so servers run without it and only the player's client needs it installed. Fabric API is required on Fabric. Builds exist for Fabric and NeoForge for 26.2, and the code is open source under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only.

The author notes that the effect is essentially the same as True Darkness Refabricated, and that day-night cycles are not handled yet, though support is planned. Other darkness-related mods in the catalog, such as Brightness Aura and More Darkness, cover different ground and are listed below.

Key features

  1. Pitch-black overworld

    Darkness in the overworld becomes absolutely black, with no ambient sky light reaching the surface.

  2. Torches become necessary

    Because the surface is fully dark, light sources such as torches become the only way to see.

  3. Overworld-only scope

    The effect is limited to the overworld dimension, so other dimensions keep their usual lighting.

Compatibility

Latest build for each game version and loader.

26.21.21.2
ReleaseBetaAlphaNot available

Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.

Requirements

Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.

Required 1

Fabric APILightweight and modular API providing common hooks and intercompatibility measures utilized by mods using the Fabric toolchain.
Required

How it compares

Full comparison

Brightness Aura is a client-side only mod for Fabric and NeoForge with files for 1.21 – 26.2, under All rights reserved and not open source. Remove Darkness Effect is open source under the MIT License, runs on client and server and is published for Fabric only, for 1.21.7 – 26.2.

ModLoadersGame versionsEnvironmentUpdated
Darkness EngineFabric and NeoForge26.2Client-side only2026-07-02
Brightness AuraFabric and NeoForge1.21 – 26.2Client-side only2026-07-09
Remove Darkness EffectFabric1.21.7 – 26.2Client and server2026-07-13

Questions

Does Darkness Engine need Fabric API?

Yes. Fabric API is a required dependency for the Fabric build. The NeoForge build has no such requirement listed.

In the catalog

Darkness Engine is one of 7,555 Cursed mods on ModsFinder, and one of 4,235 Cursed mods for Fabric. 13,894 mods support Minecraft 26.2.

Cursed mods7,555Fabric modsMods for 26.213,894

More from swankydenizen

All projects
Cave Overhaul1.21.11 – 26.1.2Worlium1.21.11 – 26.1.2Schworlium1.21.1 – 26.3

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What the author says

Darkness Engine zeroes out the lightmap's sky brightness and ambient color. The effect is scoped to the overworld dimension. Essentially, this does the same thing as 'True Darkness' and 'True Darkness Refabricated'. However, this mod doesn't have fancy day-night cycles yet. It's planned, though.
swankydenizen, on the Modrinth page

Official listing

Owner
swankydenizen
Published
2026-07-02
Updated on Modrinth
2026-07-02
Facts verified
2026-10-15

Tags

CursedGame mechanics
Open on ModrinthCompare