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Reporting a bug

By Ryleigh Newman · Published 19 September 2026 · Updated 24 September 2026

A bug report I can act on for Rockstar Shaders has three things: logs/latest.log from the Minecraft directory, a screenshot with vanilla's F3 debug screen open, and one sentence on what you expected to see instead. For a performance report, add a screenshot of the Show pass timings overlay. Reports go to GitHub issues at github.com/ryleighnewman/RockstarShaders/issues, and I read every one.

I made Rockstar Shaders, and it is a 1.0 release that has been run on one machine, my M4 Max, and never on anyone else's, so your report is the first time it meets your Mac. What you see, with a screenshot if you can, is what makes the next build better; this page says exactly what to include.

Download free (1.0.0) Modrinth (pending)Minecraft 26.3, Fabric, macOS on Apple silicon. Install guide. Releases and bug reports on GitHub.

First, check whether the pack is rendering

Before anything else, read the header under the title on the settings front page (K in a world). It says one of four things: "Rendering with Rockstar Shaders, pipeline generation N.", "The pack is switched off; vanilla is on screen.", "The pack is not rendering (see the log); vanilla is on screen." or "A restart-only setting changed: it applies at the next launch." The Show FPS overlay says the same thing faster: "vanilla" in amber means the pack is not drawing the frame. If it is not rendering, the log has a line beginning "RockstarShaders disabled:" with the reason and a stack trace, and that line is the report. Troubleshooting covers the cases where the world simply looks like vanilla.

The log

The file is logs/latest.log in the Minecraft directory, and the mod writes to it as "RockstarShaders", one word. Send the whole file, not a search hit: the reason an effect switched itself off is printed above the line that names it, and the start-up block records the backend, the device, the driver and the extensions, which I cannot get any other way. In a healthy log the lines run in order: "RockstarShaders loading (Nacre shader pack bundled)", the settings line, the GPU capabilities block, "Precompiled N pipelines (M failed)", "RockstarShaders active on <device> (<backend>)", then the ray tracing lines ending in "Ray tracing: ready" or "Ray tracing unavailable: <reason>". The line "No VK_KHR_ray_query on this driver" is normal on a Mac. Search for "RockstarShaders" to find the mod's lines, and for "Rockstar Shaders" with a space to find the Vulkan prompt lines.

The screenshot

Take it with F3 open. Vanilla's debug screen shows your position, facing, biome and dimension (its layout is documented on the Minecraft wiki, read on 2026-09-19), and I need all four to stand where you stood. The pack's own overlays hide while F3 is up, so if the report is about an overlay, take a second shot without it. Say what time of day it was and whether it was raining, because the sky, the water and the fog change with both. If the problem only shows while you move, say so and describe the movement: turning, strafing, walking forward. A still frame and a moving frame are different bugs in this renderer.

For a performance report

Frame times only mean something at a named resolution, so give me your window size, your Render scale, and whether Target FPS has moved it: the FPS line ends with "NN% scale" when the world is rendered below the window. Then turn on Show pass timings on the Performance and Overlays page, close the page with Done so the renderer rebuilds with the GPU timer, and screenshot the overlay once the numbers settle. It lists every pack pass in GPU milliseconds with a total; a pass over 2 ms is amber. Extended FPS adds the last second's minimum and 1% low to the FPS line, which tells a steady frame from a stuttering one. Add your Mac model and memory: every number in my record is from an M4 Max with 48 GB.

For a visual report

Say which settings you have changed. The config file, config/rockstarshaders.json in the Minecraft directory, holds only the keys you moved, so attaching it is the quickest way; its path is also in the tooltip of the "Ray tracing:" row on the front page. On the Advanced page a modified key is marked with "*", and Reset to defaults in the footer forgets every tune override while the restart-only switches keep their value, so try reproducing at the defaults first. If a setting was set on the command line, the screen shows it grayed and says so. Say which dimension you were in; the Nether and the End have a much smaller record than the Overworld.

Where to send it

Open an issue at github.com/ryleighnewman/RockstarShaders/issues, one issue per problem, with the log and the screenshots attached and the version from the title screen, which reads "Release 1.0" for 1.0. A title that names the thing and the place, such as "water black at night in the Nether", is easier to find again than "bug". The release is downloaded from Modrinth or the GitHub releases page; the GitHub issue tracker is where technical questions and bug reports go. I read every issue. I will not promise when a fix lands, and the changelog is where you will see it when it does.

Things you do not need to report

These are known and written down, so a report about them tells me nothing new:

• Your own first-person shadow does not appear. Player shadow is wired and switchable, but no shadow is drawn yet.
• Shore foam % does nothing and Spray over falls reads Off on a fresh install: foam, spray and white water are compiled out unless the Advanced key waterWhite is 1.
• Ground generated by Generate horizon is not saved and is generated again next session.
• Colored block light leaks through thin walls, and dynamic lights cast no shadows.
• A custom sky from a resource pack is not reflected in water.
• The ripple simulation restarts from flat whenever the settings screen rebuilds the renderer.
• MetalFX upscaling loses detail; it is off by default for that reason.
• Windows, Linux and Intel Macs are not supported and not tested, so a report from one of them is not something I can act on.

Download free (1.0.0) Modrinth (pending)Minecraft 26.3, Fabric, macOS on Apple silicon. Install guide. Releases and bug reports on GitHub.

About the author. Ryleigh Newman wrote Rockstar Shaders and every page on this site. Facts about other packs and programs come from their own sites, with the date they were read. More about the project.

Related

• Troubleshooting: when the world looks like vanilla
• The Performance and Overlays page
• The Advanced page, tune keys and the config file
• First launch: the Vulkan prompt and the master switch
• About Rockstar Shaders

Sources

• https://minecraft.wiki/w/Debug_screen (read 2026-09-19)

Questions