Minecraft Bobby vs Distant Horizons: Which mod is better?

One of the biggest issues with Minecraft is its render distance. Java players are locked to a surprisingly limited 32 maximum render distance, mostly because the entire game is rendered at full size, no matter how far away something might be from the player. As you'd expect, this has a huge impact on performance and is one of the main reasons for the render distance cap.

Thankfully, there are mods, such as Bobby and Distant Horizons, that effectively increase this render distance. Since the two mods are so similar, it's natural to wonder if one is generally better than the other. Both mods have advantages and disadvantages that make them the best choice depending on preference and specific requirements.

Everything you need to know about these mods to determine which one would work best for your needs can be found below.

Note: Some aspects of this article are subjective and rely on the writer's opinion

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What is the Bobby mod, and how does it work?

Minecraft's Bobby mod allows for better render distance on servers easily (Image via Mojang)

• Latest game version: 1.21
• Creator: Johni0702

As previously mentioned, Bobby is one of the most popular Minecraft render distance mods available. It works by taking every chunk you travel through and storing that data locally. This allows it to retroactively display these chunks when they would otherwise end up outside of the set render distance.

There are a few major drawbacks to this method. First, it takes up a ton of local storage space, as these chunks are stored in their entirety. Additionally, since this mod doesn't do any automatic or pre-rendering, you'll need to actually load chunks for them to be stored. Having to manually visit these areas to see them can take quite a lot of time.

However, Bobby is a client-side mod, which is quite nice. Client-side mods are mods that only need to be running on the player's end to work properly. This means that they can be used on Minecraft servers, even without being installed on the server itself. Do keep in mind, however, that not all servers allow mods, even if they're client-side only. Check a server's rules to avoid a potential ban.

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How does the Distant Horizons mod work?

• Latest game version: 1.21
• Creator: James_Seibel

Distant Horizons has a slightly different way of solving the render distance issue. It introduces a Level of Detail, or LOD, system to the game. This makes it so that chunks are rendered in less and less detail as they get farther away. Since the game has to render less, it's able to load more. This directly equates to an increase in the distance that you're able to see.

This also means that Distant Horizons tends to run better than Bobby, as the extra chunks being rendered are progressively less detailed. Essentially, the hardest part of rendering is done first, which should help keep gameplay smooth.

However, Distant Horizons and the Bobby Minecraft mod are client-side only. This means that while the mod will work on servers, you'll need to physically explore the chunks before they're stored locally and able to be displayed.

This means that Distant Horizons has the same local storage issues as Bobby. As players explore more, the file size will continue to creep upwards since more chunks need to be stored locally. While not an issue for most, those playing Minecraft on platforms such as the Steam Deck will need to be quite conscious of just how large their worlds get.

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Which one is better for Minecraft?

A landscape as seen with Distant Horizons (Image via Mojang)

There's not necessarily a "better" render distance mod when it comes to Bobby and Distant Horizons. The two are quite similar after all: They both store visited chunks locally to increase render distance and work with Minecraft shaders. It depends on what you need.

If you don't care about file size in the slightest and you want to be able to look around and see one-to-one representations of the distance, you'll want Bobby. If you don't really care about seeing individual blocks and would prefer maximizing performance while simultaneously enhancing visuals, you'll instead want to install Minecraft's Distant Horizons mod.