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First launch: the Vulkan prompt and the master switch
By Ryleigh Newman · Published · Updated
The first launch of Rockstar Shaders goes like this. Minecraft starts on OpenGL, where the pack cannot render, so at the title screen the mod asks to switch the graphics API to Vulkan and quit. You say yes, start the game again, and it is rendering. In a world, K opens the settings, and the first row under General is the master switch. There is no profile to pick: the shipped settings are the one configuration the pack is tuned in.
I am Ryleigh Newman and I made Rockstar Shaders because every shader pack I loved was made for Windows. This page is the first ten minutes: what the prompt says, what the settings screen shows, and how to tell the pack is on.
Download free (1.0.0) Modrinth (pending)Minecraft 26.3, Fabric, macOS on Apple silicon. Install guide. Releases and bug reports on GitHub.
What you need before the first launch
A Mac with Apple Silicon, M1 or later, Minecraft Java Edition 26.3, Fabric Loader 0.19.5 or newer, the Fabric API and Java 25 or newer. The mod is client only. The jar is a free download from Modrinth (pending) or the GitHub releases page and goes in the mods folder next to the Fabric API jar; the shader pack is inside it, so there is nothing to select in a shader pack slot. The install page has the steps for each launcher.
Two honest limits. It has been tested on exactly one machine, an M4 Max with 48 GB of unified memory, and has never run on anyone else's. Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are not supported: the ray tracing is a Metal side-car, and nothing has been tried anywhere else.
The Vulkan prompt
On OpenGL the mod only writes a warning to the log, so once per launch, at the title screen, it shows a confirm screen titled "Rockstar Shaders needs the Vulkan graphics API". The body says the game is running on OpenGL, where Rockstar Shaders cannot render, and asks to switch Options > Video Settings > Graphics API to Vulkan and quit now. The buttons are Switch to Vulkan and quit and Not now.
Yes sets the API, saves the options and quits; the next start is on Vulkan. Not now keeps the game as it is, and the answer is remembered, so the prompt does not return until the master switch is turned on again. It never appears while the pack is switched off, or once the backend is Vulkan.
Switching to Vulkan by hand
The manual route is Options > Video Settings > Graphics API > Vulkan, then a restart. In options.txt the line is preferredGraphicsBackend:"vulkan", with the quotes; the unquoted form fails to parse silently and the game falls back to OpenGL. The mod's own log line prints the unquoted form; use the quoted one.
On the wrong backend the log says "RockstarShaders requires the Vulkan backend but the active backend is" and the backend's name. If the options ask for Vulkan but the game did not take it, it says "options ask for Vulkan but the game is running on" that backend; set it again in Video Settings.
Opening the settings
K opens the settings in a world, when no other screen is open. The same screen is behind a Rockstar Shaders button at the bottom left of the title screen and is the first row of Options > Video Settings. The front page has a button to this site, the release line (Rockstar Shaders Rendering Engine, release 1.0), then five groups. View holds vanilla's Render Distance and Simulation Distance, See-through and the four horizon settings. General holds the master switch, Show FPS and Show pass timings. Settings is one button per category, then Advanced.... World has Pregenerate world. About has the Ray tracing: row, which says whether the Metal side-car is running; its tooltip holds the config file's path. The footer is Reset to defaults and Done.
The master switch and the header
The master switch is the first row under General, labeled Rockstar Shaders, tip "The whole pack. Off renders vanilla; on next frame." The line under the title says which state you are in, and there are four: "Rendering with Rockstar Shaders, pipeline generation N.", "The pack is switched off; vanilla is on screen.", "The pack is not rendering (see the log); vanilla is on screen." and "A restart-only setting changed: it applies at the next launch."
The first is the one you want. The second means the switch is off; turning it on takes effect at the next frame. The third means the game is still on OpenGL or the pack hit an error, and the troubleshooting page goes through the log. The fourth follows a setting marked "Restart to apply."
There is no profile to pick
The pack ships in one configuration, and that is what is on screen after the first launch. There is no Low, Medium, High or Ultra chooser; the shipped defaults are the Ultra set, and every setting lives on its category page. Most apply about a second after Done, a few apply at once, and the ones marked "Restart to apply." wait for the next launch. The setting to look at first on a slower Mac is Render scale on the Performance & Overlays page, 75% by default. Quality settings explains what the four profile tables hold and what each knob costs.
This is the first release: settings can move between builds, some combinations are untested, and a few things are known to be wrong.
How to tell it is really on
Three signs. The header says "Rendering with Rockstar Shaders". The Show FPS overlay, once on, says "Rockstar Shaders" rather than an amber "vanilla". And logs/latest.log has, in order, "RockstarShaders loading (Nacre shader pack bundled)", a block of GPU capabilities, "RockstarShaders active on", and "Ray tracing: ready". The line "No VK_KHR_ray_query on this driver; using screen-space and ray-marched reflections." is normal on a Mac; the ray tracing comes from the Metal side-car, not from Vulkan.
If that line instead reads "Ray tracing unavailable" with a reason, the pack still renders, but without the traced sun shadows, sky visibility, bounce light, water reflections and fog occlusion, and enclosed spaces look veiled. Nacre is the renderer's name in the code, and Vitreous was the working name of the first builds.
Download free (1.0.0) Modrinth (pending)Minecraft 26.3, Fabric, macOS on Apple silicon. Install guide. Releases and bug reports on GitHub.
Related
Questions
Do I have to pick a profile after installing Rockstar Shaders?
No. There is no Low, Medium, High or Ultra chooser on any screen. The shipped defaults are the Ultra set, and every setting is on its own category page behind K.
Why does Rockstar Shaders ask me to quit the game?
The graphics API is read once at start-up. The prompt sets it to Vulkan, saves the options and quits, so the next start is on Vulkan. Start the game again and the pack renders.
I chose Not now. How do I get the Vulkan prompt back?
The answer is remembered until the master switch is turned on again, so turn it off and on in the settings, or skip the prompt and set Options > Video Settings > Graphics API to Vulkan yourself and restart.
Is there a shader pack file to select in Minecraft?
No. The pack is inside the mod jar. Put the jar in the mods folder next to the Fabric API jar and there is nothing else to enable, apart from the Vulkan backend.
Does it run on an Intel Mac, or on Windows?
No. Apple Silicon, M1 or later, is the target, and it has been tested on one M4 Max with 48 GB. Intel Macs, Windows and Linux are not supported and have not been tried.
Do I need OptiFine, Iris or Sodium as well?
No. Fabric Loader 0.19.5 or newer and the Fabric API are the only mods it needs, on Minecraft Java 26.3 with Java 25 or newer. Connected textures, emissive textures, custom skies and custom entity models from OptiFine-format resource packs are read by the mod itself.