Configuring Dynamic Light Sources in LambDynamicLights

LambDynamicLights lets you control exactly which blocks, entities, and items produce dynamic light in your game. The mod's settings screen is organized into categories, each covering a different type of light source. This guide explains what each category controls and how to operate it.

Dynamic Light Sources

The Dynamic Light Sources section is where you enable or disable the broad categories of light-emitting objects. The main switch here is Enables dynamic lights. When this is on, items such as a torch carried by a player will illuminate the surrounding area. Turning it off stops all dynamic lighting from these sources.

Within this section you also find Enables entities dynamic lighting, which controls whether mobs and other entities emit light. Note that this setting is always active for players regardless of how you set it. Related to this is Enables block entities dynamic lighting, which covers blocks that behave as entities, such as chests or furnaces that might carry a light value.

There is also a Water Sensitivity Check option. When enabled, certain light sources stop emitting light while they are submerged in water. This means an item that normally glows will go dark underwater, matching the behavior you would expect from a water-sensitive source. If you disable the check, those sources keep emitting light even when wet.

Special Dynamic Light Sources

The Special Dynamic Light Sources section handles individual effects and entities that have their own lighting behavior. Each entry has its own toggle:

• Beacon or End Gateway beams — enables dynamic lighting for these beams. They rarely update, so the performance cost is minimal.
• Firefly particles from Firefly Bushes — enables lighting from the firefly particles these bushes emit.
• Entities with the Glowing effect — enables dynamic lighting for any entity that has the Glowing status effect.
• Guardian lasers — enables dynamic lighting for the lasers Guardians shoot.
• Warden's sonic boom attack particles — enables dynamic lighting for the particles produced by the Warden's sonic boom.

Creeper and TNT Lighting Modes

Two specific entities have their own mode selectors rather than simple toggles. The creeper lighting setting controls how Creepers emit light. You can choose to disable Creeper dynamic lighting entirely, set a constant luminance, or set a dynamic luminance that changes. The tnt lighting setting works the same way for TNT: disable it, use a constant luminance, or use a dynamic luminance.

First-Person Lighting

The self light source option enables first-person dynamic lighting. This is what makes a torch you are holding light up the area around you from your own perspective. If you use shaders that already provide their own dynamic lighting, it is recommended to disable this option to avoid conflicts. You can toggle first-person lighting directly with the toggle fps dynamic lighting action, which you can bind to the corresponding hotkey in the controls menu.

Debug and Display Options

For troubleshooting or for mod developers, the mod includes several display tools. Show Active Dynamic Lighting Cells draws every currently active cell in the dynamic lighting engine directly in the world. The cell display radius setting, labeled Display Radius of Dynamic Lighting Cells, controls how far out those cells are shown.

Display Dynamic Light Behavior Bounding Box shows the bounding box of dynamic light behaviors in the world. Display Dynamic Lighting Chunk Rebuilds highlights every chunk rebuild that dynamic lighting updates cause. Finally, Display Radius of Dynamic Light Level sets how far the light level display extends.

These debug views are intended for diagnosing tricky bugs, so you can leave them off during normal play.