Gaming is a favorite pastime for millions around the world. Hence news of updates and innovation is always greeted with enthusiasm. Any new additions that will enrich the gaming experience are always welcome. This is no exception for people who love playing Minecraft.
Since its release in 2009, Minecraft has grown to become the worldâs best selling game of all time with over 200 million copies sold across all platforms. With over 126 monthly active users, people are always seeking the latest improvements in the game. One thing that adds to the allure of the game is its great compatibility with mods.
Mods (modifications) are third party alterations to the aspects of a video game. There are several mods used on Minecraft such as journeyman, WAILA, Optifine, and Inventory Tweaks. Optifine is perhaps the most popular of these mods.
Optifine greatly improves the lighting and rendering system on Minecraft. This leads to greater efficiency while playing. Many of the visual and lighting enhancements in Optifine can be configured in the video settings in the options menu.
Some of Optifineâs features include making lighting a percentage rather than a toggle, giving fog a quality toggle, allowing water the option of rendering transparently, and expanding the render distance slider.
It seems obvious that these and the many other features in Optifine will improve performance. It is very rare for performance not in Minecraft not to be improved by Optifine.
This article will walk you through the methods of downloading and installing Optifine, as well as the options to use it with forge or as a single configuration. This is the how-to article of installing and preparing Optifine for use.
Downloading and Installing Optifine
Perhaps your friend has been raving about Optifine, telling you many wonderful things about it; or you just want to improve gameplay on Minecraft and youâre looking for the best mods available. Either way, Optifine would not disappoint. The graphics on your game will be optimized to improve your performance.
Due to its being a computer installation, you can only install Optifine on your PC. So, if youâve been playing Minecraft on your mobile phones or on game consoles, youâll be missing out on a lot.
Either on your Windows or on your Mac, to download Optifine you need to download the Optifine JAR file. That is the first step.
Go to https://optifine.net/downloads in your computerâs browser. To the right of the top Optifine link under the âOptiFine HD Ultraâ heading, click the download button.
After waiting five seconds you can then click skip ad found at the top right corner of the screen. If there is an ad blocker warning, click continue.
When a Download OptiFine link appears in the middle of the page, click on it. Your computer may warn you that the link is dangerous, and give you an option either to continue or to stop. Click keep or allow to continue.
After the download is done, update Minecraft. This is because some of the older versions of Minecraft do not work well with Optifine. Once you have finished the update sign in to your Minecraft account. If you already have the newest update of Minecraft, then youâre good to go.
If youâre planning on running Minecraft as a mod inside Minecraft Forge, make sure Forge is already installed on your computer. Not everyone wants to do this.
If youâll prefer to run Optifine as a separate Minecraft configuration you donât need to install forge. Many people believe having Minecraft as a separate configuration is a preferable option.
If you plan on using Optifine as its own separate Minecraft configuration, youâll need to determine the path to folder in which Minecraft is installed. This knowledge is important.
To do it, you should follow these steps:-
1. Click or double-click the Minecraft app icon to open the Minecraft launcher.
2. Click on the launch options tab
3. Select the latest release
4. Click on the âgame directoryâ switch.
5. Next, the game directory address should be copied by selecting the address in the âgame directoryâ text field and then pressing Ctrl+c on windows, and on mac press  â Command + C.
How To Use OptiFine on Forge
As has been mentioned you can use Optifine on Minecraft forge or as its own separate configuration. If the path youâve chosen to go is the Forge route then the first step will be to copy the Optifine file.
To copy the Optifine file, click once on the Optifine file setup you downloaded and then press Ctrl+ C if youâre using a Windows computer, and on a Mac press â Command+ C.
Make the Minecraft launcher window to pop up by clicking or double-clicking on the Minecraft app icon. In case youâre wondering, the Minecraft app icon resembles a grassy block of dirt.
At the top right side of the window, youâll see the launch options tab. Click on it. If you donât immediately see the options tab click on a menu dropdown option at the top right side of the window.
Next, click the latest release option found at the middle of the window. What this option does is to open the information page for the Minecraft installation.
At the right of the âGame Directoryâ text box, there is a right-facing green arrow. Click on the arrow. The Minecraft installation folder would be brought up. If you are using Windows it will be opened in File explorer, and in Finder on Mac.
Close to the middle of the window you should find the âmodsâ folder. Double click on it. This will open the mods folder.
If there is no mods folder, donât worry, it can be created following these steps:
On windows, right-click on a blank space in the folder, select new and click on a folder. Type in mods in lower case letters and hit the enter button.
On a Mac, to create the mods folder, the steps are almost identical to those on a Windows. Click on a blank space in the folder, click File, next click New Folder, type in mods in lower case letters, and hit the return button.
The next step is to paste in the Optifine file. You do this on windows by pressing Ctrl+V on the keyboard, and on Mac by using âCommand + V. The Optifine file will appear on the folder almost immediately.
Finally, youâre ready to run Optifine through Forge.
To do this, click on the News tab in the Minecraft launch window, then click the upwards facing arrow at the right side of play, click on Forge, and press play, and youâre good to go.
How To Use Only OptiFine
As has already been stated you can choose to use Optifine as its own separate configuration. The way to do that is explained below.
First make an installation menu to appear by double-clicking the Optifine setup file. If youâre gaming on your Mac, control-click the file and select open from the resulting Dropbox.
Next, click the three dots (âŠ) Found at the right side of folder address bar. Doing so opens a new window.
Paste the game directory address you have previously copied and hit enter. Doing this ensures that the Optifine installs in your Minecraft directory.
After hitting enter, click install at the bottom of the Optifine window. When prompted, click OK. The prompt confirms that Optifine installed successfully.
At this point you can open the Minecraft launcher by clicking or double-clicking the Minecraft app icon. There is a tab at the top right corner of the window called launch options, click on it.
Next click add new. This will display a page with several text boxes. In the âNameâ textbox, the name of the Optifine configuration should be entered. You can name it whatever you desire. The important thing is that you remember the name.
Below the âNameâ textbox, there is a â Versionâ drop-down box, click on it to prompt a drop-down menu.
Select the drop-down menu option that has the name âOptiFineâ and the current version number if the Optifine installation in the title.
Click the save button in green at the bottom of the window. After saving youâre ready to run the optifine version of the Minecraft.
In other to run, follow these procedures:
- In the Minecraft, launcher window click the news tab
- There is an upwards facing arrow at the right of play, click on it
- Click your Optifine configurations name
- Click play, and youâre good to go.
Conclusion
Minecraft is enjoyed by millions all over the world. Mods like optifine make it seem like there are endless possibilities with the game. Many have struggled while trying to install or use optifine. This article walks even novices through all the intricacies involved in setting up optifine. Happy gaming.