Super Duper has gone down the pooper as Minecraft cancels graphics pack
Down a notch
It was E3 in 2017 when Mojang announced that they were going to take the bold, nay daring, step of making Minecraft look good. That step was known as the Super Duper Graphics Pack, which would make the game look like a well-implemented community patch. But yesterday those hopes were dashed on the jagged, aliased edge of a square of stone, as it was announced the pack is wack. Er, it’s been cancelled.
Given the breadth of platforms that Minecraft is on, it is of no surprise that the Mojang’s reasoning relayed on the Minecraft blog is because, “The pack proved too technically demanding to implement as planned.”
It had been in development for two years, with an original release date of autumn 2017, but the pack wasn’t performing well across the game's various iterations - console and mobile and all that - and so now no one gets it. There was a glimpse of it here, showing off the 4K textures and atmospheric shaders that made the water and mist look lush.
I liked the idea an official version of the many, many graphics packs out there. In my time with Minecraft, setting up a precarious balance of mods has always ended up with me going on a hunt for the one that’s breaking everything else. Having something that would just work was very appealing.
Mojang says they’re exploring other options to improve the graphics of the game across their armada of release platforms, and that we’ll know what steps they’re taking to prettify their pixels. In the meantime, all you really need to do is take a look at our run-down of the best shaders out there. Bring sun-glasses, and a stress ball.