Atmospheres
Every atmosphere a world can have — its sky, fog and light, its sun, moon and stars — and the weather that can roll through it.
A world is given one atmosphere when it is created and keeps it for life — new worlds start with Overworld. The atmosphere decides what the sky looks like, whether it follows the world’s day/night cycle, whether a sun and stars shine in it (an underground world has neither), how far you can see, and which weather the world can have. Weather itself is live: the server rolls each spell into the next and tells every player in the world, so everyone sees the same rain at the same time.
Overworld
Open sky that follows the world's day/night cycle, with the moon and stars at night and clear, cloudy, foggy, rainy and stormy weather rolling through.
overworld- Daylight cycleThe sky and lights blend from day to night with the world's time of day
- Follows the world clock
- Sun, moon and starsOnly while the weather is clear enough — cloud and rain hide them, fog dims them. The moon waxes and wanes over the days, and now and then a full moon rises red
- Sun by day, moon and stars by night
- WeatherStarts clear; each spell rolls into the next on the server, and admins can switch it with /weather
- Clear, Cloudy, Fog, Rain, Thunderstorm
- Weather spell lengthHow long one stretch of weather lasts before the next condition is drawn
- 120s to 360s
- FogThe scene fades into the horizon's color between these distances from the camera — the view distance is how far your render distance streams the world, so the land never ends in a hard edge (fog, rain and cloud pull it in closer, and so does the air over some ground)
- 50% to 95% of the view distance
- Dawn mistA morning mist gathers before dawn, thickest at sunrise, and burns off through the morning
- 55% closer at sunrise
Cavern
A dark cave everywhere: no daylight whatever the world's clock reads, dense dark fog, dim light, and no weather. For dungeon worlds.
cavern- Daylight cycleAlways its night look, whatever time the world's clock reads
- None
- Sun, moon and starsNo open sky overhead: no sun, moon or stars ever show, whatever the clock or weather
- None
- WeatherFixed: this atmosphere never changes weather
- Clear
- FogThe scene fades into the horizon's color between these distances from the camera — the view distance is how far your render distance streams the world, so the land never ends in a hard edge (fog, rain and cloud pull it in closer, and so does the air over some ground)
- 4 units to 28 units
Weather conditions
Every condition a world can be in. Each one tints and dims whatever atmosphere it happens in by the amounts below, and decides whether the sun and stars show through; which of them a world can actually reach is up to its atmosphere.
Clear
Clear skies: the atmosphere's own colors and full light, with the sun out by day and stars by night where the sky is open.
clear- Precipitation
- None
- OvercastHow far the sky is pulled toward flat overcast grey
- 0%
- CloudsHow much of an open sky is covered by drifting clouds (their shadows slide over the land)
- 20%
- WindHow hard the wind blows: it drifts the clouds, slants the rain and sways the grass and leaves
- 25%
- Lightning
- None
- LightMultiplier on the atmosphere's ambient and sun light
- 100%
- Fog distanceMultiplier on the atmosphere's fog distances, where it has fog
- 100%
- Sun, moon and starsHow much of the sun, moon and stars shows through, in atmospheres with an open sky
- Visible
Cloudy
Overcast: the sky greys over behind the clouds, hiding the sun and stars, and the light softens, but nothing falls.
cloudy- Precipitation
- None
- OvercastHow far the sky is pulled toward flat overcast grey
- 65%
- CloudsHow much of an open sky is covered by drifting clouds (their shadows slide over the land)
- 75%
- WindHow hard the wind blows: it drifts the clouds, slants the rain and sways the grass and leaves
- 40%
- Lightning
- None
- LightMultiplier on the atmosphere's ambient and sun light
- 75%
- Fog distanceMultiplier on the atmosphere's fog distances, where it has fog
- 80%
- Sun, moon and starsHow much of the sun, moon and stars shows through, in atmospheres with an open sky
- Hidden
Fog
Fog: a still grey mist closes the world in to a few dozen paces; the sun is a pale disc through it and only the brightest stars glimmer.
fog- Precipitation
- None
- OvercastHow far the sky is pulled toward flat overcast grey
- 45%
- CloudsHow much of an open sky is covered by drifting clouds (their shadows slide over the land)
- 50%
- WindHow hard the wind blows: it drifts the clouds, slants the rain and sways the grass and leaves
- 5%
- Lightning
- None
- LightMultiplier on the atmosphere's ambient and sun light
- 80%
- Fog distanceMultiplier on the atmosphere's fog distances, where it has fog
- 30%
- Sun, moon and starsHow much of the sun, moon and stars shows through, in atmospheres with an open sky
- 25% visible
Rain
Rain: a dark overcast sky, dim light, close fog and falling rain — snow over snowfields, ice and high peaks.
rain- PrecipitationFalls as snow over snowfields, ice and high peaks
- Rain
- OvercastHow far the sky is pulled toward flat overcast grey
- 90%
- CloudsHow much of an open sky is covered by drifting clouds (their shadows slide over the land)
- 95%
- WindHow hard the wind blows: it drifts the clouds, slants the rain and sways the grass and leaves
- 55%
- Lightning
- None
- LightMultiplier on the atmosphere's ambient and sun light
- 55%
- Fog distanceMultiplier on the atmosphere's fog distances, where it has fog
- 55%
- Sun, moon and starsHow much of the sun, moon and stars shows through, in atmospheres with an open sky
- Hidden
Thunderstorm
A thunderstorm: a black sky, a downpour driven slantwise by a gale, and lightning flashing through it with thunder rolling after.
storm- PrecipitationFalls as snow over snowfields, ice and high peaks
- Heavy rain
- OvercastHow far the sky is pulled toward flat overcast grey
- 100%
- CloudsHow much of an open sky is covered by drifting clouds (their shadows slide over the land)
- 100%
- WindHow hard the wind blows: it drifts the clouds, slants the rain and sways the grass and leaves
- 100%
- LightningEach flash lights the world, and its thunder rolls after it — later the farther it struck
- About 5 strikes a minute
- LightMultiplier on the atmosphere's ambient and sun light
- 40%
- Fog distanceMultiplier on the atmosphere's fog distances, where it has fog
- 45%
- Sun, moon and starsHow much of the sun, moon and stars shows through, in atmospheres with an open sky
- Hidden
The night sky
Under an open sky the night has more than stars. The moon waxes and wanes from night to night, lit on the side facing the sun, and its phase is more than a look: the monsters of the dark answer to it.
Moon, meteors and aurora
Only where the atmosphere has a moon and stars, and only while the weather is clear enough to see them — though the blood moon’s monsters come out whatever the weather.
- Moon cycleFrom new moon to full and back: New moon → Waxing crescent → First quarter → Waxing gibbous → Full moon → Waning gibbous → Last quarter → Waning crescent. Every world's moon runs off its own clock, so everyone in a world sees the same moon; a new world's first night has a full moon
- 8 in-game days
- Blood moonThe full moon rises deep red and stains the night sky with it
- About one full moon in 4
- Monsters under a blood moon2× the monsters, all night from sunset to sunrise and whatever the weather — wherever the sky has a moon
- Up to 20 monsters (usually 10), one every 2s
- Monsters under a full moonOn a clear night an ordinary full moon's light keeps a few of them in; cloud and rain hide it, and fog lets through only some
- Up to 8 monsters (usually 10), one every 5.33s
- Shooting starsOn clear, dark nights; every player in a world sees the same ones
- 1.5 a minute
- Meteor showers10× the shooting stars, all streaking out from one point in the sky
- About one night in 6
- AuroraGreen and violet curtains shimmer over the northern horizon on clear nights while you stand on snow or ice — livelier some nights than others
- Over snow and ice