How to download Minecraft Optifine 1.21

Minecraft receives major updates every year to keep the survival mode experience fresh and interesting. However, while most want to experience the new content that comes with these updates, seasoned players often hesitate to update early, as doing so means temporarily letting go of their precious mod features.

Optifine, one of the most popular mods ever released for Minecraft, has now become a necessity for a significant portion of the playerbase that is accustomed to enjoying the game with shaders. Unfortunately, the development of the Optifine mod has been relatively slow.

Although the Minecraft 1.21 update was released in early June 2024, it has taken over two months for an Optifine mod update to finally become available. In this article, we explain how to install the Optifine mod in the Minecraft 1.21 Tricky Trials update and provide detailed steps for using shaders.

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Minecraft 1.21 Optifine installation guide

The trial chambers with shaders (Image via Mojang Studios)

With the Optifine 1.21 update out, you can experience the trial chambers and other new features with the same Optifine optimizations and shaders.

Here are the steps to download the latest version of Optifine for Minecraft version 1.21:

• Step 1: Launch your web browser and search for Optifine.
• Step 2: Click on the official website and select the Downloads tab.
• Step 3: Select the preview versions option under 1.21 and press the download button next to the newest version. Skip the ad and press the download button once again.
• Step 4: Open the downloaded .jar file using Java.
• Step 5: Ensure that the correct game directory is selected by the installer and click the Install button.

The installer will take a few seconds to complete the installation process and create a new Optifine installation in the game launcher. However, the more time-consuming part is when players try to launch the new installation from the game launcher, as the necessary files will be downloaded.

Once ready, the game with the Optifine mod equipped will launch, giving you access to shaders and more detailed video settings in the new Minecraft version.

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How to use shaders in the Tricky Trials update

The Optifine shader select screen (Image via Mojang Studios)

With Optifine installed, add shaders to give the game a major visual boost. Here’s how to do so:

• Step 1: First, choose a shader from Modrinth. SEUS, Complementary, and BSL are some popular choices.
• Step 2: Open Optifine and head to the shaders menu in the video settings to locate the shaders.
• Step 3: Open "Shaders Folder" by clicking on it.
• Step 4: Move the shader file you downloaded into this folder.
• Step 5: Go back to your game and choose the shader you just added.

The game will reload with the new shaders enabled, and you will immediately notice a big difference in the overall visual quality. However, shaders may cause some frame drops in the less powerful systems. Therefore, it is recommended to download shaders based on your system's capabilities.