BSL Shaders vs Continuum Shaders

BSL Shaders is a shaderpack for Minecraft: Java Edition, with controls for changing lighting colors, sky and water appearance, and post-processing. Its listed effects include realtime shadows, volumetric light, ambient occlusion, bloom, customizable clouds and water, and built-in anti-aliasing. Players can also enable depth of field, motion blur, specular and normal mapping, celshading, and world curvature. Advanced Materials lets compatible resource packs use specular, normal, and parallax mapping. The pack is designed for low- to mid-range hardware, and each version’s ZIP contains multiple quality profiles that can be changed in Shader Options. The latest version is described as running on Minecraft 1.8.9 through versions supported by OptiFine or Iris, though older versions may have missing features or issues that cannot be fixed. Minecraft 1.7.10 requires Angelica for BSL Shaders v8.4 and later. The free plan costs nothing. Gold Edition, offered through Patreon, provides supporters early access.

Continuum Shaders is a set of customizable shaderpacks for Minecraft Java that adds graphical effects, with Continuum 2.1 available free through Focal Engine. Continuum 2.1 includes a physically based sky and material system, ambient light, reflections, and volumetric clouds, air, and water. Camera settings, color grading controls, and custom LUT uploads provide further image adjustments. Focal Engine is required for both Continuum 2.1 and Continuum RT, and using the engine requires a Continuum Graphics account. Continuum Early Access costs $15, paid once and gives access to in-development, non-ray-traced shaders; it currently includes Continuum Legacy, which is in Alpha. The maker plans a full free release of Legacy. Listed Minecraft versions are 1.14.4, 1.16.5, 1.17.1, 1.19.2, 1.20.1, and 1.20.4, with both loader types supported. Effects include physically based lighting, water features, rain, puddles, fog, and color grading. Performance depends on hardware, and some effects are expensive despite optimization. The license is limited to personal, non-commercial use.