Refrax
Refrax is a performance and feature-oriented Minecraft shaderpack for Iris.
Credits and recommendation:
- Logo and banner credits to JoaquiX - AVPBR
- A lot of the screenshots available in the galery have been taking using the AVPBR Retextured resource pack. I highly recommend trying out AVPBR Retextured.

Performance benchmarks (GTX 1650 Ti, 1080p, 16 chunks)
NOTE: This is for v1.3.0:
| Profile | Target FPS |
|---|---|
| Potato | 120+ |
| Low | ~90 |
| Medium | ~70 |
| High | ~55 |
| Very High | 40+ |
| Extreme | 25+ |
| Overdrive | ~20 |
Performance benchmarks (GTX 1650 Ti, 1080p, 16 chunks)
NOTE: This is for v1.2.2:
| Profile | Target FPS |
|---|---|
| Potato | ~160 |
| Low | ~120 |
| Medium | ~80 |
| High | 60+ |
| Very High | 40+ |
| Extreme | 25+ |
| Overdrive | ~20 |
NOTE: Both benchmarks were taken using the exact same scene.
I saw a ~25 fps boost on 1.18.2, 20+ fps boost on 1.20.1 and ~15 fps boost on 1.21.1.
These values can be bumped higher by changing the performance mode slider at very little visual compromise even at overdrive performance mode (You'll only notice it in certain situations. It mainly reduces the sample count of clouds, god rays, AO, SSR, and water wave octaves, most noticeable of which are reflections and water which will be tuned to be less noticeable in the future).
Supported versions:
1.18.2 and higher versions should all work just fine.
Unsupported versions:
1.16.5 - No colored lighting and no block breaking particles. 1.17.x, 1.18 - Does not load the shader 1.18.1 - Does not render a lot of blocks.
Installation
- Install Iris.
- Copy the Refrax.zip to
.minecraft/shaderpacks/or the shader folder of your launcher's instance. - Select the shader in the Iris menu and enjoy!
License
See LICENCE.txt.
Credits & inspiration
Refrax is original source, inspired by Photon, Complementary Reimagined, Bliss, Solas, MakeUp Ultra Fast, Super Duper Vanilla, published graphics research, and the Iris shader documentation.
All Versions
+ Add Version- Minor bugfix to v1.3.0
- Minor bugfix to v1.2.2
- 1.3.0 - commit.17:**
- Performance pass.
- Water motes, etc.
- A very few minor visual improvements.
- 1.3.0 - commit.16:**
- Cloud ray shafts.
- 1.3.0 - commit.15:**
- Auroras.
- Milky Way.
- Tweaked SSR performance a bit.
- 1.3.0 - commit.14:**
- Better stars.
- 1.3.0 - commit.13:**
- Better clouds.
- 1.3.0 - commit.12:**
- Better lens flare and a few bug fixes.
- 1.3.0 - commit.11:**
- Finally better water,
- Tuned SSR on water.
- 1.3.0 - commit.10:**
- DOF
- Motion Blur
- Lens Flare
- Chromatic Aberration
- Film Grain
- Purkinje shift
- 1.3.0 - commit.9:**
- Finalize PBR.
- 1.3.0 - commit.8:**
- Better PBR.
- 1.3.0 - commit.7:**
- Caustics.
- Better underwater shafts.
- More rain effects.
- 1.3.0 - commit.6:**
- Biome specific fog
- 1.3.0 - commit.5:**
- More wetness.
- Better thunder flashes.
- Overhauled snow.
- 1.3.0 - commit.4:**
- Physical sky, more volumetrics, etc.
- A few hand/held item related fixes.
- 1.3.0 - commit.3:**
- Auto exposure, cloud shadows, PCSS shadows, better AO
- 1.3.0 - commit.2:**
- Overhauled water, reflections, rain, fixed a few bugs, etc.
- 1.3.0 - commit.1:**
- Fixed enchantment glint
- Backport water and emissive ores-foliage from 1.3.0
- Fixed enchantment glint issue.
- Fixed "Unable to resolve shader pack option menu element" errors for DEBUG_LPV and LPV_FOG.
#### 1.2.0 - commit.2
- Initial Voxy and Distant Horizons support.
#### 1.2.0 - commit.3
- Fixed DH + TAA issues.
- Fixed some voxy water LOD issues.
#### 1.2.0 - commit.4
- Rewamped the look of water.
- Changed the look of rain.
- Bumped waveyness.
- Added water puddles.
- Minor tweaks to SSR and sun/moon reflections.
#### 1.2.0 - commit.5
- Tuned PBR and POM.
- Fixed PBR textures look bad from an angle.
- Added SMAA, TSMAA and Alpha-Tested AA
#### 1.1.0 - commit.2
- Added Contrast Adaptive Sharpening (CAS) from AMD.
#### 1.1.0 - commit.3
- Impemented FSR, RCAS and TAA + FXAA mode.
#### 1.1.0 - commit.4
- Added TAAU.
- Changed quality toggle to be a % slider instead.
- Tuned FSR a little bit.
- Set Void as default end portal layout.
#### 1.1.0 - commit.5
- Fixed bloom.
- Implemented LPV.
- Both are **inspired** by photon.
#### 1.1.0 - commit.6
- Implement colored held lighting.
#### 1.1.0 - commit.7
- Fixed lighting artifacts when using FSR and TAAU.
#### 1.1.0 - commit.8
- Added advanced settings.
- More end portal layouts.