Fog

For the command, see Commands/fog.

Fog is a rendering feature intended for obscuring the player's view distance, usually for atmospheric effect or for seamlessly occluding sharp boundaries such as unloaded chunks. While traditionally referring to render distance, there are many other types of fog that can be encountered in-game under specific circumstances.

Fog types

Distance fog

This refers to fog which is rendered in normal circumstances, and becomes the most notable with low render distance. Its color changes depending on:^{[needs testing]}

• the player's current biome,
• the current weather,
• the current time,
• the player's facing direction, generally in regards to the sun or moon.

Water fog

When the camera is below water, a dedicated fog effect will be applied to simulate this. Underwater fog will progressively recede with time spent underwater.

The color of this fog changes depending on the player's current biome. Notably, swamps have a brown/yellow murkier and thicker fog effect than most other biomes.

Lava fog

When the camera is below lava, an even thicker fog effect will apply. While it is invariant with time, the Fire Resistance effect will mitigate it to a small degree.

Powder Snow fog

Being beneath powder snow will impart yet again another fog effect. There is no known workaround for this.

Nether fog

Being in the Nether has its own fog effect. While not visible on low render distances due to distance fog, increasing render distance beyond a certain point will yield no visual differences due to the presence of this fog. Its color also depends on the player's current biome.

This fog can be applied to any custom dimension by setting the dimension effect (the effects parameter) to minecraft:the_nether. Do note that this will sacrifice the sky, sun, moon, stars and clouds.

Blindness fog

Main article: Blindness

The Blindness status effect imparts a very thick fog on the player's vision.

Void fog

In prior versions of Java Edition (specifically Beta 1.8 Pre-release through 14w34b inclusive, up to its removal in 14w34c), a thick black fog was introduced. As the player descended below Y=17 in the Overworld, this fog would start to appear. As the player traveled deeper, the fog at the edge of the render distance would become closer until the player reached the first layers of bedrock, where visibility was reduced to just a few blocks, beyond which was complete darkness. The gray void particles appeared below Y=17, as well as in the void.

The existence of this fog depended on a lack of sky lighting.^[verify] If vent holes were opened up to allow sky light to enter an otherwise secluded underground space, void fog would no longer be present so long as the player kept near this sky light source.

Void fog was removed late into 1.8's development for performance reasons and general community distaste.

• 

  A player's view limit would decrease with depth.

History

Java Edition Classic
0.0.14a					Implemented fog. It only appears for lit surfaces.
Java Edition Indev
0.31		?			The color of fog, clouds and the sky can now be configured via map editing.
Java Edition Infdev
Minecraft Infdev		20100227-1			With the deprecation of indev worlds, fog color is no longer customizable.
Unknown
?					Added water fog.
?					Added lava fog.
?					Added nether fog.
?					Added blindness fog.
Java Edition Beta
1.8		Pre-release			Added void fog.
Java Edition
?					Many of void fog's effects can be circumvented by having sky access.
?					Void fog now appears black regardless of the time of day.
1.8		14w34c			Removed void fog and its associated particles.
1.13		?			Water now appears fully fogged when entered, and gradually becomes clearer over time.
		18w08b			The Respiration enchantment and Water Breathing effect no longer have an effect on water fog.[verify]
		?			Water fog now varies per biome.
		?			Water fog now no longer takes time to clear in Spectator mode.
1.16		20w09a			Fog color no longer changes abruptly when switching biomes.
		Pre-release 3			The Fire Resistance effect now makes under-lava fog slightly less harsh.
1.16.2		Pre-release 1			Added dimension effects, allowing for nether fog to be applied to any custom dimension.
Upcoming Java Edition
1.17		20w46a			Added powder snow, which has its own dedicated fog effect.
		20w48a			How submerged the player has to be in lava to see the fog effect has now changed.

Issues

Issues relating to "Fog" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.

Gallery

• 

  The void, covered in void fog.

• 

  Fancy fog setting.

• 

  Fast fog setting.

References

Gameplay

View at: Template:Gameplay/content [edit]