Setting Creeper and TNT Lighting Modes and Update Quality in Sodium Dynamic Lights

guide

Sodium Dynamic Lights gives you control over how moving light sources behave, and two of its settings are dedicated to Creepers and TNT. This guide covers the lighting mode options for both, plus the quality settings that decide how often their light updates.

Where These Options Live

Open the SodiumDynamicLights Settings screen. Everything discussed here is found there. The screen groups the general dynamic lighting switches together, then provides separate sections for Creeper lighting and TNT lighting, each with a mode selector and a quality selector.

Creeper Lighting Mode

The creeper lighting option controls how a Creeper produces light. It offers three choices:

The first choice turns Creeper dynamic lighting off entirely, so Creepers emit nothing.
The second choice gives a Creeper a fixed brightness that does not change.
The third choice gives a Creeper a brightness that varies rather than staying fixed.

Pick the option that matches how you want Creepers to appear in your game. If you want no light from them at all, use the disabling choice. If you want a steady glow, use the constant choice. If you want the light to shift, use the dynamic choice.

TNT Lighting Mode

The tnt lighting mode option works the same way for TNT. It also has three choices:

One choice disables TNT dynamic lighting.
One choice applies a constant luminance.
One choice applies a dynamic luminance.

Set this the same way you set the Creeper mode, depending on whether you want TNT to stay dark, glow steadily, or glow variably.

Creeper Lighting Quality

Creeper Lighting Quality adjusts how frequently Creeper lighting refreshes. Its description states that it configures the update rate for Creeper lighting. A higher update rate means the light keeps up more closely with the Creeper; a lower rate means fewer refreshes. Choose based on whether you prefer smoother light movement or less frequent updating.

TNT Lighting Quality

TNT Lighting Quality does the same job for TNT. Its description states that it configures the update rate for TNT lighting. Adjust it to control how often TNT light updates, trading responsiveness against update frequency.

Several other options in the same screen affect dynamic lighting generally and can interact with how Creepers and TNT look:

Dynamic Entity Lighting — when on, entities such as mobs and dropped items receive dynamic lighting.
Dynamic Block Entity Lighting — when on, block entities receive dynamic lighting.
self light source — turns on first-person dynamic lighting. The screen notes it is best turned off when you use shaders that already provide their own dynamic lighting.
water sensitive — turns on the water sensitivity check, meaning certain items stop emitting light while they are underwater.
water sensitive check — the label for the water sensitivity feature, described as Water Sensitivity Check.
Extinguish When Underwater — a related label shown alongside the water sensitivity setting.

The general dynamic lighting switch is also here. When it is on, a player carrying a torch, for example, illuminates the surrounding area.

Update Rate Choices

The update rate description explains the trade-off between the available rates:

One rate lags slightly behind but keeps light updates to a minimum.
Another rate provides smooth dynamic lighting.

Use the slower option if you want fewer updates, and the smooth option if you want lighting that follows its source closely.

A Note on Canvas

Two on-screen notes concern Canvas. One recommends turning off entity dynamic lighting when using Canvas. The other warns that dynamic lighting with Canvas is currently heavy on performance.

Operating the Settings

All of these are changed directly in the SodiumDynamicLights Settings interface by selecting the value you want for each option. No crafting or items are involved. If any of these actions is bound to a hotkey, use the corresponding hotkey and set it in the controls menu.