Atmospherics in Minecraft Bedrock

Change the sky in Minecraft Bedrock Vibrant Visuals: the atmospherics file, sky and horizon colors, sun glare, time of day keyframes and how to apply it.

Atmospherics control the sky in Vibrant Visuals: the color straight up, the color near the horizon, and the glow around the sun and moon. They change through the day, so you can have a pink sunrise and a deep red night.

Vibrant Visuals only

Atmospherics, lighting, color grading and water settings only show when the player has Vibrant Visuals turned on. Everyone else sees the classic sky from minecraft:sky_color.

The files

Resource pack

RP/
  atmospherics/
    ruby_atmospherics.json
  biomes/
    ruby_grove.client_biome.json

The atmospherics file

RP/atmospherics/ruby_atmospherics.json

{
  "format_version": "1.21.40",
  "minecraft:atmosphere_settings": {
    "description": {
      "identifier": "wiki:ruby_atmospherics"
    },
    "sky_zenith_color": {
      "0.0": "#3f8fd6",
      "0.25": "#c2456a",
      "0.5": "#12061a",
      "0.75": "#d9708a"
    },
    "sky_horizon_color": {
      "0.0": "#f2b8c0",
      "0.25": "#ff7a5c",
      "0.5": "#2a0f22",
      "0.75": "#ffb08a"
    },
    "rayleigh_strength": 6.0,
    "sun_mie_strength": 0.75,
    "moon_mie_strength": 0.4,
    "sun_glare_shape": 0.05,
    "horizon_blend_stops": {
      "min": 0.0,
      "start": 0.5,
      "mie_start": 0.5,
      "max": 0.25
    }
  }
}

The identifier needs a namespace. One settings block per file.

Time of day keyframes

Most fields take either one value, or an object of keyframes. Each key is a time of day from 0.0 to 1.0, and the game blends smoothly between them:

Key	Time
`0.0`	Noon
`0.25`	Sunset
`0.5`	Midnight
`0.75`	Sunrise
`1.0`	Noon again

Add as many keys as you like, like "0.22" and "0.28" for a longer, slower sunset.

The fields

Field	What it does
`sky_zenith_color`	The color straight above you. Hex string or `[r, g, b]` from 0 to 255.
`sky_horizon_color`	The color near the horizon.
`rayleigh_strength`	How strongly the air scatters light. This is what makes a real sky blue. Higher values give a deeper, richer sky.
`sun_mie_strength`	How bright the haze glows around the sun.
`moon_mie_strength`	The same glow, but around the moon.
`sun_glare_shape`	How tight or wide that glow is around the sun.
`horizon_blend_stops`	Heights that divide the sky into bands. See below.

horizon_blend_stops

These four numbers set where the horizon color ends and the zenith color takes over. Each one can be a single number or keyframes too.

Field	What it does
`min`	The lowest point of the horizon band.
`start`	Where the zenith color starts to take over from the horizon color.
`mie_start`	Where the glow around the sun and moon begins.
`max`	The highest point of the horizon band.

Start from vanilla

Copy the vanilla atmospherics.json from the bedrock samples, change the identifier and tweak a few numbers at a time. It is much easier than starting from zero.

Using it

In a biome

Point a client biome at it with minecraft:atmosphere_identifier:

RP/biomes/ruby_grove.client_biome.json (inside components)

"minecraft:atmosphere_identifier": {
  "atmosphere_identifier": "wiki:ruby_atmospherics"
}

Biomes without this component use the default sky.

Everywhere

Most vanilla biomes use minecraft:default_atmospherics. To change the sky in all of them at once, make a file with that same identifier in your pack. When two packs use the same identifier, the pack higher in the list wins.

Nothing changed?

Make sure Vibrant Visuals is on in the video settings, and that the identifier in the client biome matches the file exactly.