Realistic Waves

Realistic Waves

New in 2.4.1: The waves now run on under roofs, piers and blocks laid on the water, with no raised edge on calm banks or beside ice and no hole where a block under shallow water is broken. Small Ships’ ships stay in the water, and shader packs keep the waves on every version.

The ocean gets a rolling swell, and surf that breaks on every shore. The mod draws its own water surface, so it works with Sodium and Embeddium. In game and in its files it is called Whitecap (/whitecap, config/whitecap.json).

Surf

• Bands form offshore, steepen as the water shallows and break into foam. They follow the coast into bays and around headlands.
• Waves arrive in sets, about every ten seconds. The wash runs up the sand and sinks in.
• Only ocean and beach biomes get waves by default; rivers, lakes and ponds stay flat.
• The sea runs on under a roof, a pier or a boat house, and around posts and blocks laid on it. A sealed cave or cave pool keeps vanilla’s water.

Boats and swimmers

• Boats ride the waves and tilt with them. Items, fishing floats and swimming mobs bob.
• Small Ships’ ships are drawn on the wave with their riders, and stay in the water.
• A crest that closes over your head gives the game’s own underwater view.
• On a server without the mod your boat is only drawn riding; the server still sees flat water.

Water and weather

• Two styles: Vanilla, the default, keeps Minecraft’s water texture and moves it. Cinematic swaps it for a smooth sea.
• Clear water, caustics, sky reflection, sun and moon glitter and ocean sounds, each with its own toggle or slider.
• Rain raises the swell 1.4 times, a thunderstorm 2 times, with rain rings and foam streaks.

Shader packs and other mods

• Under an Iris shader pack (Oculus on Forge 1.20.1) the pack keeps its own water and the mod moves it, on every version (tested with BSL, Complementary Reimagined and MakeUp UltraFast). A pack whose water cannot take the waves still pauses the mod, and /whitecap status says why.
• The same builds carry the swell into Distant Horizons’ far water and work in Better Cubic Chunks worlds.
• Boat trails from Wakes and Wakes Reforged lie on the waves.

Requirements

Minecraft 1.20.1 (Forge or Fabric, Java 17), 1.21.1 (NeoForge or Fabric, Java 21), 1.21.11 (Fabric, Java 21) or 26.2 (NeoForge or Fabric, Java 25). Fabric needs Fabric API. Client side: it joins any server. A NeoForge 1.21.1 server with the mod floats everyone’s boats, and Sable ships, on the same waves. Sodium is optional and adds the settings page, except on 1.20.1. /whitecap status says why nothing is drawn.

Related mods

NeoForge 1.21.1 and 26.2, Forge 1.20.1, Fabric 1.20.1, 1.21.1, 1.21.11 and 26.2. Client side, optional on a NeoForge 1.21.1 server. Free to use in modpacks.