Selas
by MuXolotl
Selas changes how night, caves, rain and thunder look by reworking Minecraft's vanilla lightmap on the client, so dark areas read as dark rather than evenly lit.
What it does
Selas replaces the lightmap that Minecraft uses for every lit surface. Darkness at night, inside caves, during rain and under thunder is handled by separate settings, and moon phase and dusk-to-dawn timing shape how bright a night is. Sealed unlit spaces can approach black, while open skies keep some moonlight and starlight, and a small floor on brightness keeps the scene readable.
Light from torches and other block sources is preserved in the calculation, and low-light scenes are desaturated with a cool tint. The visual amount of atmospheric glow is adjustable. Released under the MIT License as open source code, Selas is a NeoForge mod that runs only on the client and targets 1.21.1. The author notes that shader packs usually replace the vanilla lightmap, so Selas disables itself while an Iris or Oculus shader pack is active.
Key features
Night and cave darkness
Nights and caves get separate darkness levels, so underground areas stay locked to a deeper dark than the surface.
Moon phase and dusk timing
Moon phase affects night brightness, and the transitions from dusk to full night to dawn follow the time of day.
Starlight and open-sky floor
Open sky keeps a minimum brightness so moonlight and starlight remain visible even on the darkest nights.
Block light preservation
Torches and other light sources keep their light in the calculation, so lit rooms still look lit.
Brightness slider
A brightness option can be set to respect the gamma setting, while the default leaves nights and caves locked.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Use cases
Who it’s for: Players on NeoForge 1.21.1 who want more grounded low-light visuals, and those who prefer darker nights and caves without changing the server.
How it compares
Better Brightness Slider Respawn is a client-side NeoForge option for 1.21 – 1.21.8, open source under the MIT License, and adjusts only the brightness slider. Night Lights is a client and server mod for Fabric and NeoForge on 1.21.1, under the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike 4.0 license and not open source, so the server must run it as well. Selas works on the client alone for 1.21.1 under the MIT License.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Selas | NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client-side only | 2026-08-30 |
| Better Brightness Slider Respawn | NeoForge | 1.21 – 1.21.8 | Client-side only | 2025-07-29 |
| Night Lights | Fabric and NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client and server | 2026-08-03 |
Questions
Does Selas need a server install?
Does Selas work with shader packs?
Which loader does Selas support?
In the catalog
Selas 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.
Similar mods
What the author says
Selas is a client-side NeoForge mod for Minecraft 1.21.1. It reworks Minecraft's vanilla lightmap to make nights, caves, rain, and thunder darker in a natural, readable way. The goal is not pitch-black darkness, but more grounded low-light visuals: sealed unlit spaces should approach black, while open nights should…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/selas
- Owner
- MuXolotl
- Published
- 2026-07-09
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2026-08-30
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15