The Sodium mod is an open source render engine for Minecraft that can be used to optimize the game and make it smoother. 

Its main task is to increase frame rate, eliminate micro hangs and fix a lot of graphical errors that players face.

Sodium will be especially useful to those who have a very weak iron and Minecraft is constantly slowing down, freezes and hangs. This add-on will allow you to customize the game so as to get rid of these troubles.

It was originally developed for Fabric. But it is also available for Quilt and NeoForge. The mod is also compatible with a wide range of other mods, allowing players to easily integrate it into their builds.

Note that the mod does not change the game visually, it only improves smoothness and gets rid of glitches and lags caused by weak FPS.

Sodium mod also optimizes the loading process of chunks, improving their loading and making world generation smoother. Thanks to this, you will be able to avoid sudden FPS drops when moving around the map. In addition, the mod includes improved antialiasing and lighting algorithms, resulting in more realistic lighting without additional stress on the system.

Sodium is very flexible in customization. This gives a lot of possibilities in graphics customization and allows you to achieve the right balance between performance and picture quality. For example, the classic interface can be enabled in the video settings menu with the Shift+P keyboard shortcut, which simplifies mod customization.

Sodium's main features:

• Rendering optimization: The mod updates and improves Minecraft's internal rendering algorithms. Due to this, the frame rate will increase. This is especially noticeable in situations where the standard game client can not cope with a large number of objects on the screen.

• Improved game performance: Allows you to reduce GPU load and achieve smoother visuals.

• Fabric support: It has excellent compatibility with other Fabric mods.

• FPS boost: This is one of the main purposes of the mod. For example, on some configurations the increase can be more than double.

• Reduced latency and improved responsiveness: Sodium helps reduce latency and improves smoothness, which is especially useful in worlds with a large number of objects.

• Graphics bug fixes: Addresses shadow, texture, and lighting issues that can occur in the vanilla version of the game.

How to install Sodium:

• Download and install the mod loader:
• We recommend Fabric Loader to work with Sodium, as it provides maximum compatibility and ease of use.
• Download the Sodium mod:
• Place the mod file in the .minecraft\mods folder.

Start Minecraft and activate the mod:

• Open the game and check the video settings screen. If the installation is done correctly, you will see a new user interface for graphics customization.
• Only graphics cards that have drivers with OpenGL 4.6 support are supported. 

These include:

• Intel HD Graphics starting with the 500 series.
• NVIDIA GeForce starting with the 400 series.
• AMD Radeon HD starting with the 7000 series.

Older graphics cards may work with OpenGL 3.3, but are not officially supported and may not be compatible with future versions of the mod.

Use additional mods to improve performance:

• Lithium: improves optimization of physical calculations.
• Phosphor: optimizes lighting performance, especially useful in older versions.

Open the video settings, press Shift+P to enable the classic menu style and customize the settings to improve performance.

Technical Aspects:

• The mod does not change the appearance of the game and retains the classic Minecraft style.
• Optimized chunk loading algorithms.
• Improved shadow and antialiasing system allows you to achieve more realistic lighting.

Examples of FPS gains:

Intel i5-7200U @ 2.5 GHz / Intel HD 620: increase from 37 to 69 FPS.

Intel i7-8700K @ 5.0 GHz / RTX 2080 Ti: increase from 87 to 368 FPS.

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 / RX 580: increase from 133 to 586 FPS.

If you use it wisely, you can achieve a significant performance improvement in Minecraft without losing graphics quality and make the game smoother.