Create: Dynamic Lights (Unofficial)

An unofficial maintenance fork of Create: Dynamic Lights for Minecraft 1.20.1 and Create 6.

It adds lighting to moving Create contraptions in two ways: smooth client-side dynamic lighting through Sodium Dynamic Lights, RyoamicLights, or Cheap Lighting (Forge), and optional server-side vanilla light blocks. Maintenance is provided on a best-effort basis.

Changelog · Release process

Supported environments

Loader	Minecraft	Create	Dynamic-light integration
Fabric	1.20.1	Create Fabric 6.0.x	Sodium Dynamic Lights 1.0.x or RyoamicLights 0.2.3
Forge	1.20.1 (Forge 47.x)	Create 6.0.x	Sodium Dynamic Lights 1.0.x, RyoamicLights 0.2.3, or Cheap Lighting 1.3+

• Java 17 is required to run the mod.
• Fabric also requires Fabric API.
• Fabric and Forge use separate JARs; install the one matching the loader.
• Tested dependency versions are recorded in gradle.properties.

Features

• Adds smooth, moving light sources to illuminated blocks on Create contraptions when Sodium Dynamic Lights, RyoamicLights, or Cheap Lighting (Forge) is installed on the client.
• Can place invisible vanilla light blocks while contraptions move, allowing server-side light to affect mob spawning, snow, and ice.
• Provides configurable luminance scaling and update intervals for dynamic lights.
• Supports client-only, server-only, and client-and-server installation with different available features.

Installation sides

Installation	Available behavior
Client only	Smooth visual dynamic lights with Sodium Dynamic Lights, RyoamicLights, or Cheap Lighting (Forge). No real light blocks are placed in the world.
Server only	Optional vanilla light blocks. Clients do not need this mod, but moving light updates may be more expensive and can appear less smooth.
Client and server	Both behaviors are available and can be configured independently.

Sodium Dynamic Lights, RyoamicLights, and Cheap Lighting (Forge only) are optional alternatives. Install one to enable smooth client-side lighting. Selection priority is Sodium Dynamic Lights > RyoamicLights > Cheap Lighting. Without a backend, the server-side light-block feature remains available.

RyoamicLights also requires ObsidianUI and Architectury API; use the versions required by the RyoamicLights and ObsidianUI releases you install.

Configuration

The following keys are generated by the mod:

Side	Key	Default	Range	Purpose
Client	enable Lamb dynamic light	true	—	Enables integration with the installed dynamic-light mod.
Client	luminance multiplier	1.0	0.0–2.0	Scales emitted dynamic-light brightness.
Client	ignore Lamb mode setting	true	—	Uses this mod's update interval instead of adding the selected dynamic-light mod's mode delay.
Client	update interval	0	0–500 ms	Delay between light updates; 0 updates every tick.
Server	enableLightBlock	false	—	Places vanilla light blocks for moving contraptions.
Server	lightBlockEmissionLowerLimit	1	0–15	Minimum source-block luminance required for light-block placement.

The client keys containing “Lamb” are legacy names retained for configuration compatibility. In this fork they control the selected dynamic-light backend integration.

Building

The Gradle plugins require JDK 21 to build the project. Produced mod classes target Java 17.

./gradlew build

On Windows:

.\gradlew.bat build

The development client uses Sodium Dynamic Lights by default. To run it with RyoamicLights and ObsidianUI instead:

.\gradlew.bat :fabric:runClient -PdynamicLightsBackend=ryoamic
.\gradlew.bat :forge:runClient -PdynamicLightsBackend=ryoamic

For Forge with Cheap Lighting 1.3, or without a dynamic-light backend:

.\gradlew.bat :forge:runClient -PdynamicLightsBackend=cheap
.\gradlew.bat :forge:runClient -PdynamicLightsBackend=none

These two property values affect Forge only; Fabric keeps its default Sodium backend. Cheap Lighting is a compile-only dependency and is never bundled into the mod JAR.

Distributable JARs are generated under:

fabric/build/libs/
forge/build/libs/

Known limitations

• Client-side dynamic lighting is visual only. It does not affect mob spawning, crop growth, snow, or ice.
• Vanilla light blocks can affect the world, but may cost more server performance and can visibly lag behind fast contraptions.
• On Fabric, a client-only installation may crash if the player modifies and saves server configuration. Installing the mod on the server avoids that configuration mismatch.

Preview

No dynamic light.

Default dynamic light.

Brighter dynamic light with the luminance multiplier set to 1.2.

License and credits

The project is licensed under the MIT License.

• Original project and implementation: Leon / leon-o
• Minecraft 1.20.1 / Create 6 maintenance fork: LiquidCatMofu

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Create team or the original project author.

Issues for this fork should be reported to the fork issue tracker.