Distant Horizons Crashes with Iris or Sodium: Clean Test Setup
Rendering crashes are difficult to diagnose when several versions and rendering libraries are changed together. Build a clean profile, verify it launches, and add one dependency at a time.
Common symptoms
- the game crashes when entering a world
- the crash starts when shaders are enabled
- a mixin or renderer error appears
- the title screen loads but the world does not
Step-by-step fix
Create a clean profile
Use the correct loader, its required API, and Distant Horizons only. Keep the world and instance backed up.
Add the performance mod
On Fabric, test Sodium; on NeoForge, test the matching Embeddium build. Do not install both rendering stacks.
Add the shader loader
Use Iris on Fabric or the appropriate NeoForge shader solution, then launch once before adding a shader pack.
Test one shader pack
Choose a pack with documented DH integration. If it crashes, remove the pack and record the exact versions for a report.
Read the first meaningful error
The first DH, loader, mixin, or OpenGL error in the crash report is usually more useful than the final generic exit code.
Sources and verification scope
Reviewed by the DistantHorizonsGuide Editorial Team against the public release listing and project distribution page. These instructions are conservative troubleshooting steps, not a guarantee for every modpack. Exact menu names and compatibility can change by Minecraft, loader, and DH build.
Still stuck?
Record your Minecraft version, DH version, loader, shader pack, GPU, and crash log before asking the community. That information makes compatibility problems much easier to diagnose.