Sodium Leaf Culling
by Txni
Leaf culling for Sodium on 1.21.1: Sodium Leaf Culling changes how leaves are drawn inside Sodium's chunk mesh pipeline.
What it does
Leaves are costly to render because they are transparent. The mod injects into Sodium's chunk mesh render pipeline and offers several culling modes, so the rendering cost of leaves can drop without changing how they look from outside a tree. Its default mode, Solid Aggressive, draws the interior of large leaf clusters in solid, non-transparent FAST mode while keeping FANCY leaves on the outer surface. The author notes that this can give a sizable gain when shaders are active in a dense forest.
A second, more conventional culling mode greedily removes vertices inside a tree. The mod requires Fabric API and Sodium, and it is client-side only, so only the client needs it. Files are published for Fabric and NeoForge for 1.21.1, with 1.0.1 as the latest build dated 2025-04-07. The code is under the MIT License and is open source. The author states the mod will not be backported to older versions.
Key features
Solid Aggressive mode
The default mode renders the inside of large leaf blocks as solid, non-transparent FAST geometry.
Conventional culling mode
A traditional mode removes vertices inside the tree while the exterior keeps its normal leaf rendering.
Fancy exterior leaves
Leaves on the outside of a cluster stay in FANCY mode, so the visible surface of a forest is unchanged.
Shader-friendly rendering
The reduction in transparent geometry targets dense forests where shader rendering is the main cost.
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 2
Use cases
Dense forests with shaders
Players running shader packs in forests with large leaf canopies are the main audience for the Solid Aggressive mode.
Comparing culling modes
Players who want a more conventional result can switch to the second culling mode and compare the two approaches.
Who it’s for: Players on Fabric or NeoForge who run Sodium on Minecraft 1.21.1 and want to reduce the rendering cost of leaves, particularly with shaders in forested areas.
How it compares
Complex Leaf Culling is a Fabric-only, client-side mod for 1.21.1 – 1.21.11, released under the MIT License and open source. Culler is a Fabric-only, client-side mod for 1.21.1 – 1.21.10 under the MIT License, also open source. Iridium is a Fabric-only mod for 1.21.1 with a custom license that is not open source, and it works on either side, and neither side needs it. Sodium Leaf Culling covers NeoForge as well as Fabric, and it is limited to 1.21.1.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sodium Leaf Culling | Fabric and NeoForge | 1.21.1 | Client-side only | 2025-04-07 |
| Complex Leaf Culling | Fabric | 1.21.1 – 1.21.11 | Client-side only | 2026-02-23 |
| Culler | Fabric | 1.21.1 – 1.21.10 | Client-side only | 2025-11-23 |
| Iridium | Fabric | 1.21.1 | Client or server, optional | 2026-04-22 |
Questions
Does Sodium Leaf Culling need Sodium?
Is the mod required on the server?
Which loaders have files for this mod?
In the catalog
Sodium Leaf Culling 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 Txni
Similar mods
What the author says
This Sodium addon optimizes the performance of leaves, which are typically more costly to render due to their transparency. Unlike other leaf culling performance mods, this mod injects directly into Sodium's chunk mesh render pipeline and provides a few new modes. The default is "Solid Aggressive," which will make…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/sodiumleafculling
- Owner
- Txni
- Published
- 2024-08-23
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-04-07
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15