Sciophobia
Sciophobia gives the client a global switch for how Minecraft draws text shadows, with four modes that remove, force, shift or double them.
What it does
The mod changes text shadow rendering for every piece of text on screen. Its options can remove shadows completely, which the author notes can help performance, or force a shadow onto all text, even where the game would not draw one. A shift mode moves the shadow straight down rather than down and to the right, and a full mode draws the text twice to imitate an outlined glow. The full mode costs more rendering time, according to the author.
Sciophobia requires OneConfig and YetAnotherConfigLib (YACL) for its settings screen and runs with Sodium as an optional companion. Builds cover 1.8.9 – 26.3 across Fabric, NeoForge and Ornithe. The project is open source and released under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 only, with a public source code repository and an issue tracker.
Key features
Hide text shadow
Removes the shadow from all text, leaving plain glyphs on screen.
Force text shadow
Applies a shadow to all text, and does nothing while the hide option is active.
Alternate text shadow
Shifts the shadow vertically so it sits below each glyph with no sideways offset.
Full text shadow
Draws each line twice to simulate an outlined glow around all text.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
26.x5 of 5 versions with builds
1.21.x10 of 10 versions with builds
1.20.x7 of 7 versions with builds
1.19.x1 of 1 version with builds
1.8.x1 of 1 version with builds
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
Readability on bright backgrounds
Forcing shadows onto every line keeps text legible over snow, sand or light sky.
Cleaner screenshots
Removing shadows gives a flat text style for recordings and screenshots.
Who it’s for: Players who want to change the look of in-game text, and players who run low on rendering budget and prefer text without shadows.
How it compares
Hide The Players is a Fabric-only, client-side mod for 1.19 – 1.21 under the GNU General Public License v3.0 only, and it is not open source. Tweakery is a Fabric-only, client-side mod for 1.21.11 under the MIT License and is open source. Text Animator is open source under the Apache License 2.0 and runs on Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt for 1.19.2 – 1.21.1, with the client required and the server optional. Sciophobia, by contrast, is a client-side mod that targets Fabric, NeoForge and Ornithe.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sciophobia | Fabric, NeoForge and Ornithe | 1.8.9 – 26.3 | Client-side only | 2026-10-03 |
| Hide The Players | Fabric | 1.19 – 1.21 | Client-side only | 2024-01-01 |
| Tweakery | Fabric | 1.21.11 | Client-side only | 2026-08-24 |
| Text Animator | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.19.2 – 1.21.1 | Client required, server optional | 2026-06-21 |
Questions
Does Sciophobia need to be installed on the server?
Which dependencies does Sciophobia require?
Which loader should a player choose for Sciophobia?
In the catalog
Sciophobia is one of 36,990 Utility mods on ModsFinder, and one of 25,772 Utility mods for Fabric. 8,071 mods support Minecraft 26.3.
More from Microcontrollers
Similar mods
What the author says
Customize Minecraft's text shadow rendering globally.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/sciophobia
- Owner
- Microcontrollers
- Published
- 2023-08-01
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-10-03
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15