Vulkan Renderer Mod (26.1.2, 1.20.1) – Better Than Sodium?

Vulkan Renderer Mod is a Minecraft mod that rewrites Minecraft OpenGL renderer to use Vulkan API. Its main purpose is to increase performance. Only AMD GPUs take full advantage of Vulkan. So AMD GPU users will benefit the most, but NVIDIA users more than AMD. Linux and macOS may not work.

Features:

• Uses Vulkan instead of OpenGL for rendering
• Improves performance on supported GPUs
• Custom voxel rendering engine, not a simple OpenGL port
• Native Linux support, including Wayland
• Client-side mod (no server installation required)

How to Use

• Ensure your GPU supports Vulkan 1.2 or higher
• Verify Vulkan support by running vulkaninfo in a terminal
• Install the mod using a trusted Minecraft launcher
• Launch the game normally after installation
• If issues occur, provide logs, crash reports, and a mod list when asking for help

If you encounter the error “Vulkan Loader not found”, update your GPU drivers and confirm that your hardware supports Vulkan.

Mod Compatibility

• Mods that rely on OpenGL rendering are generally incompatible
• Shader mods are not supported yet
• Performance and rendering mods often conflict with this mod

Platform Notes

• Linux is fully supported
• macOS support depends on Vulkan compatibility layers
• Windows works as long as Vulkan-capable drivers are installed

Screenshots:

Vulkan Renderer Mod Download Links