NebulaFX
by atemukesu
NebulaFX, a Fabric particle mod by atemukesu, adds a GPU-instanced rendering engine for large-scale particle effects and fluid animations.
What it does
Particles are drawn with GPU instancing through OpenGL 4.4 compute shaders and shader storage buffers. Object allocation happens at runtime with a pool scheme meant to avoid garbage collection pressure. Persistent mapped buffers move data between the CPU and the GPU without an extra copy, and weighted-blended order independent transparency keeps overlapping particles sorted correctly. Iris Shaders work alongside the mod.
Animations are loaded through a custom .nbl binary format. A Blender addon exports animation data to .nbl files, and the command NBL Animations plays them in game. A background thread handles Zstd decompression and state calculation, so the main rendering thread is not blocked during streaming. A texture cache manages VRAM with reference counting, reuse across instances and automatic cleanup.
The mod runs on the client and the server, so both sides need it. It requires Fabric API, Mod Menu, ThreatenGL and YetAnotherConfigLib (YACL). The code is under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only and is open source. Files cover 1.20.1 and 1.21.1, and the latest Fabric build, 1.0.8-1.21.1, was published on 2026-07-04.
Key features
GPU-instanced particle rendering
Particles are drawn in large batches on the GPU, aimed at large-scale effects with many objects on screen.
Persistent mapped buffers
Data is transferred from the CPU to the GPU without copying, reducing the work done each frame.
Order independent transparency
Weighted-blended transparency handles overlapping particles without requiring them to be sorted.
Background streaming
Animation data is decompressed and prepared on a separate thread while the rendering thread keeps running.
Custom NBL animation format
Blender exports animations to .nbl files, which the mod plays with the NBL Animations command.
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.
Required 4
How it compares
AcceleratedRendering-reFabricated is an MIT-licensed, open source Fabric mod for 1.20 – 1.21.1, and it runs on the client alone. Rentities is a client-side only Fabric mod for 1.21.11, under the MIT License. Valence Benchmark is a Fabric mod for 1.19 – 1.21.11 that needs the client and server, and it is not open source, being under the MIT License with no open source status.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NebulaFX | Fabric | 1.20.1 – 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-07-04 |
| AcceleratedRendering-reFabricated | Fabric | 1.20 – 1.21.1 | Client-side only | 2026-07-04 |
| Rentities | Fabric | 1.21.11 | Client-side only | 2026-05-22 |
| Valence Benchmark | Fabric | 1.19 – 1.21.11 | Client and server | 2026-08-15 |
Questions
Does NebulaFX need to be installed on the server?
Which dependencies must be installed with NebulaFX?
Which game versions does NebulaFX support?
How are Blender animations used with NebulaFX?
In the catalog
NebulaFX is one of 3,545 Optimization mods on ModsFinder, and one of 2,575 Optimization mods for Fabric. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
More from atemukesu
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What the author says
Nebula is a particle mod powered by a high-performance GPU-instanced rendering engine and optimized NBL streaming for fluid, large-scale animations. Also, you can use the Blender Addon to export a Blender animation as a.nbl particle animation.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/nebulafx
- Owner
- atemukesu
- Published
- 2026-02-15
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-07-04
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15