---
title: Shaders
mentions:
- SirLich
- Dreamedc2015
- yanasakana
- MedicalJewel
- SIsilicon
---
:::warning
The shaders on this page are incompatible with [Render Dragon](https://help.minecraft.net/hc/en-us/articles/360052771272-About-the-1-16-200-Update-for-Windows-10-). That means that they will not work on Windows and Console devices past 1.16.200, nor other devices past 1.18.30!
:::
## Overview
Shaders are divided into 2 folders: `glsl` and `hlsl`. For shaders to work on every device,
you need to code shaders in both languages. For testing on Windows, `hlsl` is enough.
When rewriting shaders from one language to another, there are few things to change,
like HLSL `float3` is `vec3` in GLSL. Mapping between those languages can be found [here](https://anteru.net/blog/2016/mapping-between-HLSL-and-GLSL/)
## Materials
Vertex, fragments, and sometimes geometry shaders are combined with some options
as materials and are required for custom shaders. To create new material,
you need to create a file, which matches the name of the .material file in the vanilla resource pack.
For example: `materials/particles.material`. Materials support inheritance by adding parent
material after a colon. For example: `entity_alpha:entity_base`
### Common material definition fields
| **Field name** | **Description** | **Example value** | **Notes** |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `vertexShader` | Path to the shader relative to hlsl/glsl folder | | For HLSL shader, `.hlsl` suffix is added. |
| `fragmentShader` | Path to the shader relative to hlsl/glsl folder | | For HLSL shader, `.hlsl` suffix is added. |
| `vertexFields` | An array of fields passed to vertex shader | | It's better to copy this field from vanilla material. |
| `variants` | An array of objects, which define variants of the material | | It's better to copy this field from vanilla material. |
| `+defines` | An array of `#define` directives to add to the shader source | | Useful for reusing shader, but changing some minor setting. |
| `+states` | An array of states to enable | `["Blending", "DisableAlphaWrite", "DisableDepthWrite"]` | For OpenGL implementation, this is equivalent to [glEnable](https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenGL-Refpages/gl2.1/xhtml/glEnable.xml) call. |
| `-defines` | An array of `#defines` directives to remove from inherited `+defines` | | |
| `+samplerStates` | An array of objects, defining how texture at certain index is treated | `{ "samplerIndex": 0, "textureFilter": "Point" }` | `textureFilter` specifies how to sample the texture and `textureWrap` specifies the behavior, when accessing outside of the texture dimensions. |
| `msaaSupport` | Multisample anti-aliasing support | `Both` | |
| `blendSrc` | Specifies how the color source blending factors are computed | `One` | For OpenGL implementation, this is equivalent to [glBlendFunc](https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenGL-Refpages/gl4/html/glBlendFunc.xhtml) call. |
| `blendDst` | Specifies how the color destination blending factors are computed | `One` | For OpenGL implementation, this is equivalent to [glBlendFunc](https://www.khronos.org/registry/OpenGL-Refpages/gl4/html/glBlendFunc.xhtml) call. |
Example:
```json
{
"materials": {
"version": "1.0.0",
"particle_debug": {
"vertexShader": "shaders/particle_generic.vertex",
"fragmentShader": "shaders/particle_debug.fragment",
"vertexFields": [
{ "field": "Position" },
{ "field": "Color" },
{ "field": "UV0" }
],
"+samplerStates": [
{
"samplerIndex": 0,
"textureFilter": "Point"
}
],
"msaaSupport": "Both"
}
}
}
```
For all the details about material files and possible field values, check [material file JSON schema](https://github.com/stirante/bedrock-shader-schema/blob/master/materials.schema.json).
## Troubleshooting
### Shader doesn’t change
Every time there is a change in the shader, you need to restart Minecraft to recompile the shader completely.
### Compilation error
When there is a shader compilation error, a line number is usually specified where the error occurred. You need to check a few lines above the one set in error because Minecraft adds `#define` directives before compilation.
### Couldn’t find constant buffer named: $Globals
I couldn’t accurately find the actual cause of this error, but it seems to be somehow connected to global variables. Removing them (initializing them in the `main` function or changing them to `#define` directives) seems to fix the problem.
## Tips and tricks
### Passing variables to the shader
You can pass variables to the shader from a particle or an entity by changing entity color.
Input color is clamped to `<0.0, 1.0>`. To pass more significant values, you need to divide by max value (or at least some considerable number).
### Using time in shader
`TIME` variable is a number of seconds as `float` and is global for all shaders. For time-based on particle lifetime, you need to pass this:
```json
"minecraft:particle_appearance_tinting": {
"color": ["variable.particle_age/variable.particle_lifetime", 0, 0, 1]
}
```
Then in the shader, use `PSInput.color.r` as time, where `0.0` is particle birth and `1.0` is particle death.
### Camera direction towards the entity
For entity shaders, you can make the shader dependent on the camera direction towards the entity.
- Add to `PS_Input` in vertex and fragment shader new field
```
float3 viewDir: POSITION;
```
- After that, add to vertex shader this line
```
PSInput.viewDir = normalize((mul(WORLD, mul(BONES[VSInput.boneId], float4(VSInput.position, 1)))).xyz);
```
- In the fragment shader, use `PSInput.viewDir` to make changes depending on camera rotation
### Debugging values
The easiest way to debug a value is to turn it into color and render it like this.
```
PSOutput.color = float4(PSInput.uv, 0., 1.);
```
This should create a red-green gradient, showing that the values of `uv` are between `<0, 0>` and `<1, 1>`.
You can use the debug shader I wrote [based on this shader](http://mew.cx/drawtext/drawtext).
Right now, this shader will display values of the color passed to the shader. To display another value, change line 70 in hlsl shader to
```
int ascii = getFloatCharacter( cellIndex, );
```
GLSL version of debugging shader may crash Minecraft, use only for debugging.
[Download debug shader](http://files.stirante.com/debugShader.zip)
