True Darkness Refabricated
by HaXr
True Darkness Refabricated is a Fabric fork that makes moonless nights and unlit caves pitch black by changing the vanilla lightmap.
What it does
Players who find the default brightness too soft can use the mod to darken nights without a moon and caverns with no light source. The darkening comes from a change to the vanilla lightmap, so the effect applies to the client's rendering of the world. Grondag wrote the original True Darkness, and this Fabric fork continues it for 1.20.1 and later, keeping his credit intact.
The fork also fixes a compatibility problem with Distant Horizons and adds server-side support, including config synchronization when the mod is installed on a server. Fabric API is required, and oωo (owo-lib) must be present as well. Files cover 1.20 – 1.21.1 across nine release versions, with 1.2.0 for 1.21.1 as the latest Fabric build from 2024-11-12. The code is released under the GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0 only, so the mod is open source.
Key features
Pitch black moonless nights
Nights without a moon are rendered as fully dark instead of the default dim brightness.
Unlit caves rendered dark
Underground areas with no light source are made completely black, so torches and lamps stand out.
Distant Horizons fix
A compatibility fix lets the darkening work alongside Distant Horizons rendering.
Server config sync
When installed on a server, the mod synchronizes its configuration with connected players.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
1.21.x2 of 2 versions with builds
1.20.x7 of 7 versions with builds
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
Survival caving
Players who explore deep caverns can rely on light sources to find their way once the surroundings turn black.
Night survival
Nights without a moon become a real threat, which suits players who want darker, more tense nights.
Who it’s for: Players and server owners who want a darker night and cave experience on Fabric. The mod is run on the client, and servers can add it for config syncing.
How it compares
Hardcore Darkness is a client-side only Fabric mod for 1.21.8 – 1.21.10, open source under the CC0 1.0 Universal license. Enhanced Darkness is also client-side only and open source under the MIT License, but it targets 26.1 – 26.2. RealTimeWorld is a Fabric mod for 1.21.5 that runs on client and server, licensed under the MIT License.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| True Darkness Refabricated | Fabric | 1.20 – 1.21.1 | Client required, server optional | 2024-11-12 |
| Hardcore Darkness | Fabric | 1.21.8 – 1.21.10 | Client-side only | 2025-10-07 |
| Enhanced Darkness | Fabric | 26.1 – 26.2 | Client-side only | 2026-08-03 |
| RealTimeWorld | Fabric | 1.21.5 | Client and server | 2026-04-03 |
Questions
Does True Darkness Refabricated need Fabric API?
Does the server need the mod installed?
Does the mod work with shaders?
In the catalog
True Darkness Refabricated is one of 19,031 Adventure mods on ModsFinder, and one of 10,052 Adventure mods for Fabric. 32,366 mods support Minecraft 1.21.1.
More from HaXr
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What the author says
This is a fork of the True Darkness mod by Grondag, maintaining it for Fabric 1.20.1 and beyond. Grondag is the original author and all credit belongs to him.
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/true-darkness-refabricated
- Owner
- HaXr
- Published
- 2024-06-25
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2024-11-12
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15