Minecraft:Starfield

Starfield is a unique graphical effect used for rendering certain features related to Minecraft:the End.

Use cases

Starfield effects are used for the following:

• End portal
• End gateway
• Minecraft:Endermen holding End portals or End gateways
• Minecraft:Minecarts with custom-displayed End portal or End gateway blocks
• Lit Minecraft:TNT entities set to display as End portals or End gateways
• Loading screen when entering or leaving the End
• Minecraft:End Poem background screen
• Minecraft:Credit sequence background screen
• Items using the Template:Code special model type in a resource pack

Minecraft:Falling block entities of the End portal and End gateway do not render the starfield effect, and it seems highly unlikely (although unproven) that Minecraft:moving piston blocks would either.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>

How it is rendered

Java Edition

The rendering of the starfield effect has changed several times throughout the game's history.

There are two subtly different gateway effects, referred to by the Template:Code special model type as Template:Code (used for end portal blocks, the dimension loading screens for entering and exiting the End, and the credits sequence and preceding poem) and Template:Code, used specifically for end gateways. The latter renders an extra layer of blue pixels which are absent from the former, which can be seen by placing the two blocks next to each other; blue pixels will disappear when they migrate to the space where the end portal is present. See later in this section for a technical explanation of the difference.

Two different texture files are utilised in generating the starfield effect:

Template:Code	Template:Code
Template:Pximg	Template:Pximg

The "End sky" texture, which is indeed the same texture used for the actual Minecraft:End sky, is used as the "background" texture: it is sampled using screen-projected coordinates and multiplied by Template:Color. The shader uses the projected screen-space y-coordinate directly as the vertical texture coordinate; because the screen-projected vertical coordinate increases upwards while the texture image is displayed with its vertical axis running downwards, the background texture appears vertically mirrored.Template:Info needed

The "End portal" texture is sampled in multiple layers on top of this background. Each layer uses a different colour multiplier, scale, rotation, fixed horizontal offset, and time-based vertical offset. In the fragment shader, the RGB results of the layers are combined additively before the final colour is output with full opacity. The End portal uses 15 layers of the "End portal" texture, while the End gateway uses 16 layers. The first 15 layers are shared between both effects, while the End gateway has an additional layer using Template:Color.

The colour values used by the layers are as follows. Index 0 is also used for the "End sky" background, but the velocity listed for index 0 applies only to the first layer of the "End portal" texture. The End portal uses indices 0 through 14, while the End gateway uses indices 0 through 15. The Velocity column gives the rate at which the time-based vertical offset increases. In the current Windows behaviour, this is also the apparent downward velocity of the layer. In the pre-25w07a behaviour, where the apparent travel direction follows each layer's rotation, the same listed velocity is transformed by the layer's rotation and scale.

Index	Velocity	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Colour	Used by
					Template:Code	Template:Code
0	4/24000	20°	8.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
1	5/24000	44°	8	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
2	6/24000	72°	7.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
3	7/24000	104°	7	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
4	8/24000	140°	6.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
5	9/24000	180°	6	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
6	10/24000	224°	5.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
7	11/24000	272°	5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
8	12/24000	324°	4.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
9	13/24000	20°	4	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
10	14/24000	80°	3.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
11	15/24000	144°	3	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
12	16/24000	212°	2.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
13	17/24000	284°	2	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
14	18/24000	0°	1.5	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc
15	19/24000	80°	1	Template:Abbr	Template:Tc	Template:Tc

For the nth layer, where n starts at 1 and equals the table index plus 1, the horizontal offset is 17/n, the rotation angle is (n×n×4321+n×9)×2 degrees, and the scale is (4.5-n/4)×2. The vertical offset is (2+n/1.5)×(GameTime×1.5). Since GameTime increases by 1/24000 per game tick, the Velocity value listed in the table is (3+n)/24000. In unaffected rendering behaviour, the Rotation value gives the apparent travel direction, while the apparent travel velocity is the listed Velocity divided by the listed Scale.

On some AMD Windows systems, the layers appear to move vertically downwards instead of following the directions listed in the table. This behaviour is unintentional and only affects OpenGL; the Vulkan renderer does not exhibit this behaviour, nor does OpenGL on macOS, Linux, or when using Nvidia graphics hardware.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>

The starfield effect is completely constant regardless of view: while moving and rotating the camera will change the position of the object using the starfield effect itself on screen, the starfield itself will remain fixed in place. In effect, anything using the starfield effect effectively creates what can be seen as a "hole" in the world, behind which the starfield rests. The shape of the starfield also changes with the window size, although this is presumably not intentional.<ref>Template:Bug</ref>

Bedrock Edition

The specifics of Template:El are less known, however the behaviour more closely resembles the position/rotation-based rendering as seen for end portals before JE 16w40a and end gateways before JE 15w33a (though without the latter's distortion).

History

Java Edition

Table of visual changes

Parallax

Versions	Template:Code	Template:Code	Changes
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 to 12w24a	?	-	Portal introduction
12w25a to 1.8.9	?		End Sky texture change
15w31a to 15w32c		?	Gateway introduction
15w33a to 1.9.4		-	Gateway now camera-independent
16w20a to 16w39c	?		The starfield is darker and greener
Parallax starfield no longer exists from 16w40a onward

Fixed

Versions	Template:Code	Template:Code	Changes
15w33a to 1.9.4	-	File:Fixed Gateway Starfield JE1.gif	Fixed starfield added, used by end gateway
16w20a to 16w39c		File:Fixed Gateway Starfield JE2.gif	The starfield is darker and greener
16w40a to 21w08b	File:Fixed Portal Starfield JE1.gif		Portal now camera-independent
21w10a	File:Fixed Portal Starfield JE2.gif	File:Fixed Gateway Starfield JE3.gif	Background now stretched instead of repeating, particle size increased
21w11a to present	File:Fixed Portal Starfield JE3.gif	File:Fixed Gateway Starfield JE4.gif	Particle size reverted

Blocks

Versions	Template:Code	Template:Code	Changes
Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3 to 12w24a	File:End Portal JE2.gif	Template:Tc	Portal introduction
12w25a to 1.8.9	File:End Portal JE3.gif	Template:Tc	End Sky texture change
15w31a to 15w32c		File:End Gateway JE1.gif	Gateway introduction
15w33a to 1.9.4		File:End Gateway JE2.gif	Gateway now camera-independent
16w20a to 16w39c	File:End Portal JE4.gif	File:End Gateway JE3.gif	The starfield is darker and greener
16w40a to 21w08b	File:End Portal JE5.gif		Portal now camera-independent
21w10a	File:End Portal JE6.gif	File:End Gateway JE4.gif	Background now stretched instead of repeating, particle size increased
21w11a to present	File:End Portal JE7.gif	File:End Gateway JE5.gif	Particle size reverted