Minecraft was originally released in late 2011. Since then, not much has changed in terms of visuals. Today, it feels the same as it did when it was released. Most of the changes that were brought with the many patches released since then are gameplay improvements. Visuals have only received love from the community in the form of resource packs, and later shader packs. Oceano Shaders is one such example. While it may not fiddle with textures, it brings some much-needed improvements to certain aspects of the game. The name of the shader pack is very suggestive as to what it touches upon in Minecraft. It mostly works with lighting, reflections, and light refraction. The effects over water are immediately observable. Reflections in water are much cleared. There is a certain mirror effect applied over bodies of water that makes it much closer to how the water looks in reality. Another aspect of the game that has been improved in the Oceano Shader pack is shadows. Shadows of objects are less blocky. The edges are much smoother and make it much easier to guess the object to which the shadow belongs. This is valid for all the items and objects in the game, be it something as simple as a plain block or something as small as grass. The shadows for both look much smoother. The Oceano Shaders also correct the way shadows are projected in relationship to light sources. Shadows are correctly projected at the opposite side of the light source. This also includes shadows projected by sunlight.
Clouds also received a similar improvement as to the shadows. Beyond shadows and clouds, the shader pack also touches upon all types of bodies of light. This includes torches, fires, glow stones, and more. Lighting for these objects has been improved. Overall, the light has a warmer spectrum with a mild yellow tint applied over how light would usually look in Minecraft. This can also be observed when looking at light passing through objects such as windows. Also, the slight yellow color of light can be observed when looking at objects from a great distance. There is less scatter, items at a distance appear less blurry and light has a much more relaxing tone. What is important to note is what the Oceano Shaders does not do. It does not touch upon the textures in the game. As a reminder, a shader pack and a resource pack are two different things. While resource packs mainly affect the textures of the game, shader packs add realism to the game by customizing many of the important things in the game. In terms of textures, nothing has changed, but everything looks better due to improved lighting effects and other improvements. It also does not increase the resolution for anything. While it may not be the most realistic shader pack, it does a very good job at improving the visuals in the game. It makes a great deal of sense to use Oceano Shaders in conjunction with other resource packs that touch upon other aspects of the game. It can work well with a resource pack that increases texture resolution. What is worth mentioning is that the Oceano Shaders do take a toll on frame rates as computers with older hardware may notice a slight game performance decrease.
