Gleam
With Gleam installed, blocks and entities can emit colored light, and a resource pack decides which blocks glow and in what color.
What it does
Gleam renders colored lights for NeoForge on Minecraft 1.21.1, and it runs on the client alone, so a server does not need it. The mod loads many lights at once, with the author stating a limit of 32,768 per session, and draws colored lights within a 12x12 chunk radius. Lights can be set per blockstate, and a UV blacklight effect makes saturated objects glow in the dark.
Lighting is defined through a resource pack system instead of code. Any player can add a block's colored light by writing a JSON file, and the author says the list of supported vanilla and modded blocks grows through community contributions. Sodium is an optional dependency, and the author states that Gleam works with it. Gleam is published for 1.21.1 only, and its source code, issue tracker and wiki are public. The code is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0, so the mod is not open source.
Key features
Full RGB colored lights
Blocks can emit any RGB color, and the author describes the result as a bright, saturated pop.
Blockstate-specific lights
A light can depend on a block's blockstate, so a lamp can change color or brightness as its state changes.
UV blacklights
Saturated objects glow under a blacklight effect, which suits dark scenes and themed builds.
Resource pack lighting
Lights are added through JSON files, so new blocks can be lit without writing Java code.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Optional 1
Use cases
Who it’s for: Gleam suits players who want more colored light in their builds and modpack makers who need many light sources. Mod developers who want to add colored light to their blocks can write the JSON files themselves.
Questions
Does Gleam need Sodium?
Does a server need Gleam?
How are new blocks given colored light?
In the catalog
Gleam is one of 12,078 Decoration mods on ModsFinder, and one of 5,201 Decoration mods for NeoForge. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
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What the author says
Gleam is an extremely powerful and very customizable colored lights mod that can render tens of thousands of colored lights at very high render distances with very little impact on FPS; it is by far the most capable colored lights mod to ever exist, intended for both casual players and mod developers looking to spice…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/jadens-gleam
- Owner
- ThatJadenXgamer
- Published
- 2026-09-02
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-09-12
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15
