Performance
This is a 180+ mod pack with Distant Horizons and real airship physics. It asks a lot of a computer. Most of the fixes are one setting.
RAM: 8 GB, more if you can spare it
| Allocation | Result |
|---|---|
| Under 6 GB | Runs out of memory, stutters badly |
| 8 GB | The sweet spot for most machines |
| 10–12 GB | Fine with 32 GB+ in your PC — smoother with Distant Horizons and big ships |
| More than half your PC’s RAM | Crashes with no crash report |
The limit is your PC, not the pack
Minecraft’s allocation is only part of what the game uses. Your graphics driver and Distant Horizons need memory outside it. Give Minecraft so much that nothing is left for them and the game dies during loading with no crash report — the log simply stops mid-line.
If that happens, lower the allocation by 2 GB and try again.
Potato mode
There’s a Mode button in Aero Settings (the gear tile on the main menu).
Potato switches off the heaviest client-side extras — Distant Horizons, Sound Physics, Subtle Effects, Punchy and the Sounds mod. Normal puts them back. You can flip between them whenever you like; it doesn’t touch your world, keybinds or the server, and you can still join either way.
If the pack is unplayable on your hardware, try this before you start disabling
mods by hand — the updater manages the mods folder and will put them back.
Other switches in Aero Settings
The same screen has on/off switches for cosmetic client mods, including Spatial GUI (inventories drawn as a 3D panel in the world). It ships off; turn it on there if you want it.
Shaders
Shaders ship off and are the most expensive thing you can turn on.
Start low with shaders
Compiling a heavy shader pack needs a large block of memory outside the game’s allocation, at the same moment Distant Horizons wants it. Start from a lower preset and work up.
Distant Horizons
DH is what lets you see terrain far past your render distance — most of the point of flying. If you’re struggling, lower your render distance before you turn DH off: vanilla chunks cost far more than DH’s simplified terrain.
Getting your FPS back, in order
- Check your RAM allocation — 8 GB, or more only if your PC has room
- Turn shaders off, or drop to a lower preset
- Lower render distance to 8–12 and let DH handle the horizon
- Switch to Potato mode in Aero Settings
- Close the other things. A browser with forty tabs competes for the same memory
High ping right after joining?
The tab list shows everyone’s ping as a number. For the first minutes after you join, the server streams map data and distant terrain to you, and on a slow connection the number can read high while that catches up, then settle. If it stays high, ask in Discord.
Still bad? Ask in Discord with your specs and your allocation — that’s usually enough to spot it.
Related
- getting-started — setting the allocation in the first place
- faq — load times and other common questions