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Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

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Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#31
post #20

Is the rationale for switching away from GLFW documented anywhere? I'd love to read about it, I have some projects which use GLFW myself and I'm always wondering whether or not SDL would be better

You could make an entire 2D game using the SDL API without OpenGL/vulkan.

Are they going to do that? If not, that's not the reason they're doing this either

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#32
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty sure minecraft has used borderless full screen for a long time unless you go out of your way to tell it not to. Lots of platforms, services, and applications have been deprecating exclusive full screen over the past decade or so.

in this same release Minecraft removed exclusive fullscreen on MacOS, i wonder why they haven't done the same on Windows & Linux - maybe people still have uses for that stuff on those operating systems? in my experience exclusive fullscreen is Awful on MacOS

> i wonder why they haven't done the same on Windows

Probably because a lot of people feel like they need exclusive fullscreen for best performance and/or latency. But in reality borderless fullscreen is exactly the same when games use the DXGI flip model. It bypasses DWM (the compositor) to render directly to the display when only the game is visible and seamlessly allows you to switch to other windows. You can even disable Vsync and it will allow screen tearing when bypassing DWM.

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#33

Anyone got any advice for a techy dad with no (zero) Minecraft experience who wants to set up a Minecraft server for the family in 2026? Kids right now are playing on their iPads, and (sometimes) old macbooks/windows PCs.

I run the itzg Docker Image behind a Wireguard VPN, all hosted on an embedded board (a armbian powered Radxa 12L with 16 GB Ram).

So far so good, we have an offline server, so even if the Microsoft Server is down, we can play (we use PolyMC on PC with offline accounts as well, for the same reason). By default, new users are in "spectator" mode, so they can't do anything without an activation from admin.

Friends get Wireguard QR codes, periodically we rotate them.

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#34

I kind of don't see the benefit, as it's still going to use only the window, input and platform integrations features, while SDL3 has a whole software renderer built-in and much more.

> SDL3 has a whole software renderer

Does this mean SDL3 has a built in 3d renderer or it's the modern meaning where anything is a serverless renderer or something like that?

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#36

Anyone got any advice for a techy dad with no (zero) Minecraft experience who wants to set up a Minecraft server for the family in 2026? Kids right now are playing on their iPads, and (sometimes) old macbooks/windows PCs.

I've been admining our family minecraft servers for about 5 years, and just handed off that job to my 12 year old daughter who now knows more than enough of the linux command-line to do it. I thoroughly recommend it, it's been great!

There are many ways to get it done. What worked best for us was choosing java over bedrock, renting a cheap linux vps, and writing some very simple shell scripts for starting, stopping, changing worlds, etc. Happy to talk you through anything you get stuck on!

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#37

Anyone got any advice for a techy dad with no (zero) Minecraft experience who wants to set up a Minecraft server for the family in 2026? Kids right now are playing on their iPads, and (sometimes) old macbooks/windows PCs.

Genuinely, install Ubuntu Server Edition into an old computer, set up SSH then tell Claude Code the account and IP for login.

You can ask if to set up damn near anything you want and it'll do it.

If you're using a laptop make sure it disables all of the sleep on lid close stuff, as well as other laptop-specific power optimisations.

A VPS would work too if you want something always available with a datacentre network connection.

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#38
post #34

I kind of don't see the benefit, as it's still going to use only the window, input and platform integrations features, while SDL3 has a whole software renderer built-in and much more.

> SDL3 has a whole software renderer Does this mean SDL3 has a built in 3d renderer or it's the modern meaning where anything is a serverless renderer or something like that?

SDL2 and SDL3 both have hardware accelerated 2D renderers, appropriately called SDL_Renderer. You can tell SDL to upload pixel buffers to GPU textures and tell SDL to draw those textures on the screen with various transformations and color effects.

SDL3 added a way to tell SDL to render vertex-based geometry as well: https://wiki.libsdl.org/SDL3/SDL_RenderGeometry. Those vertexes can have 3D positions, so that counts as a 3D renderer I guess. Though of course the GPU is doing the heavy lifting; SDL is just exposing a little bit more of the GPU's functionality. It's quite useful for some 2D applications as well. I remember reading about how it could enable more efficient drawing of 2D plots or cleaner ImGUI integration, though I don't remember details.

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#39

Anyone got any advice for a techy dad with no (zero) Minecraft experience who wants to set up a Minecraft server for the family in 2026? Kids right now are playing on their iPads, and (sometimes) old macbooks/windows PCs.

I run a docker image with the Java server and GeyserMC to allow Bedrock clients to connect to it so my son can play from my iPad while I use my computer.

If they’re playing from MacOS/Windows then the GeyserMC layer isn’t necessary as they can run the Java client.

Re: Minecraft: Java Edition now uses SDL3

#40

Anyone got any advice for a techy dad with no (zero) Minecraft experience who wants to set up a Minecraft server for the family in 2026? Kids right now are playing on their iPads, and (sometimes) old macbooks/windows PCs.

Go to https://minecraft.wiki/w/Tutorial:Setting_up_a_Java_Edition_... for how to create a vanilla server for Minecraft Java edition (which is the best version, but is only on Windows and MacOS and Linux, unlike the significantly inferrior bedrock edition, which is way buggier but is avalible elsewhere).

If you need more performance, install [fabric](https://fabricmc.net/) and then install [lithium](https://modrinth.com/mod/lithium), but do not use mods like paper or spigot or purpur as they will mess up farms.

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