MCA Saenk vs mcmap

MCA Saenk is a Windows top-down rendering mapper for Minecraft that produces screenshots and can export them as in-game maps. It renders 3D shading from multiple angles and can reproduce the look of in-game maps when settings are calibrated. Styles include default, Java map, Bedrock map, and betaplus, with custom styles possible from resource packs and mods. The tool handles semi-transparent blocks, filtering, and custom blocks, biomes, and dimensions from mods and datapacks. More than 30 settings cover contrast, lighting, shading, colormaps, biome blending, and water translucency, with many adjustments using hardware acceleration. A virtual screenshot window can be dragged and scaled before capture. Official Java releases from 1.2.1 through 26.2 are supported, while Fabric and Forge modded-world support is an aim. OpenGL rendering requires version 4.0 and falls back to legacy rendering when unavailable.

mcmap creates isometric pixel-art maps from Minecraft save files. It reads saves from the standard folders on Linux, macOS and Windows, and produces a PNG image by default; an option divides maps into square image tiles. Rendering settings include circular or coordinate-bounded areas, dimension selection, shading, lighting, water and beacon toggles, and map direction. A JSON color file lets users customize block colors and rendering types. The renderer uses all computer threads and processes terrain in batches. Rendering a whole map at once may require 10+ GB of RAM, and a fragment-size option can manage batch size. Use is through a terminal or PowerShell, with an experimental GUI available for Windows. The v3.0.0 release specifies Minecraft 1.13+ support. The project is distributed under GPL-3.0, with precompiled binaries and source code available for free. Building it uses CMake and depends on zlib, PNG, fmt and spdlog. The project notes that merged batches can produce visible lines in oceans; changing fragment size or water rendering settings may help.