Aurora Borealis
Auroras are special nighttime features that are spawned by Dynamic Surroundings if a player is standing in a biome that is considered a polar type region. Examples of such biomes are Taiga and Ice Plains. Auroras a strictly visual and do not affect game play or mechanics.
An aurora will spawn based on the following conditions:
- The player’s dimension has a sky.
- There isn’t another aurora within 400 blocks of the player.
- The player is standing in a polar biome.
- It is nighttime.
- The brightness of the Aurora is influenced by the moon’s brightness.
In general the Aurora spawns north of the current player location. However, on multiplayer servers it is possible that the Aurora can be in a different cardinal direction if it already has spawned because of another player. Auroras are reset/cleared when daytime occurs, and will be newly generated when it again turns night. Note that a player can see an Aurora even thought they may not be in a polar biome.
Aurora behavior on a client can be customized by the player. A player can choose to disable Auroras independent of the server settings. Also, a server owner can disable Auroras meaning that no players attached to the server will have them.
aurora {
# Animate Aurora [default: true]
B:Animate=true
# Whether to enable Aurora processing on server/client [default: true]
B:Enabled=true
# true to keep the aurora at a height above player; false to fix it to an altitude [default: true]
B:"Height Player Relative"=true
# Allow Auroras with multiple bands [default: true]
B:"Multiple Bands"=true
}
A polar biome is a biome that has one of the following words in it’s name: “taiga”, “frozen”, “ice”, “tundra”, “polar”, “snow”, or “glacier”.
To find out more information about what Dynamic Surroundings thinks of a biome look at the log file that is generated by Minecraft/Forge. The following is an example of what can be found. In my case I had the Enhanced Biome mod installed when I was testing.
Biome 129 [Sunflower Plains]: PRECIPITATION Biome 175 [Volcano M]: NONE Biome 37 [Mesa]: DUST Biome 68 [Scrub]: NONE Biome 7 [River]: PRECIPITATION Biome 12 [Ice Plains]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 62 [Mountainous Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION Biome 131 [Extreme Hills M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 149 [Jungle M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 26 [Cold Beach]: PRECIPITATION Biome 180 [Alpine Mountains M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 32 [Mega Taiga]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 52 [Alpine Mountains]: PRECIPITATION Biome 45 [Cypress Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 76 [Blossom Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 2 [Desert]: DUST Biome 102 [Marsh]: PRECIPITATION Biome 86 [Alpine Mountains Edge]: PRECIPITATION Biome 166 [Mesa Plateau F M]: DUST Biome 187 [Woodland Lake Edge]: PRECIPITATION Biome 34 [Extreme Hills+]: PRECIPITATION Biome 59 [Ephemeral Lake Edge]: PRECIPITATION Biome 67 [Rocky Desert]: DUST Biome 90 [Clay Hills]: NONE Biome 134 [Swampland M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 160 [Mega Spruce Taiga]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 51 [Meadow]: PRECIPITATION Biome 156 [Birch Forest Hills M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 57 [Sandstone Canyon]: DUST Biome 64 [Tropical Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION Biome 88 [Rocky Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 92 [Fens]: PRECIPITATION Biome 15 [MushroomIslandShore]: PRECIPITATION Biome 96 [Woodland Field]: PRECIPITATION Biome 130 [Desert M]: DUST Biome 65 [Frozen Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 80 [Mountains Edge]: PRECIPITATION Biome 43 [Woodlands]: PRECIPITATION Biome 36 [Savanna Plateau]: NONE Biome 158 [Cold Taiga M]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 183 [Snowy Wastelands]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 16 [Beach]: PRECIPITATION Biome 100 [Lake]: PRECIPITATION Biome 91 [Mangroves]: PRECIPITATION Biome 73 [Rainforest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 171 [Forested Mountains]: PRECIPITATION Biome 14 [MushroomIsland]: PRECIPITATION Biome 60 [Boreal Plateau]: PRECIPITATION Biome 6 [Swampland]: PRECIPITATION Biome 95 [Silver Pine Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 163 [Savanna M]: NONE Biome 97 [Aspen Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 162 [Extreme Hills+ M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 1 [Plains]: PRECIPITATION Biome 20 [Extreme Hills Edge]: PRECIPITATION Biome 173 [Cold Cypress Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 8 [Hell]: NONE Biome 75 [Blossom Woods]: PRECIPITATION Biome 33 [Mega Taiga Hills]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 103 [Alpine Tundra]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 165 [Mesa (Bryce)]: DUST Biome 38 [Mesa Plateau F]: DUST Biome 179 [Meadow M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 189 [Cold Pine Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 40 [Forested Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION Biome 21 [Jungle]: PRECIPITATION Biome 41 [Pine Forest Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION Biome 132 [Flower Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 185 [Stone Canyon]: NONE Biome 77 [Oak Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 94 [Silver Pine Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 55 [Wastelands]: DUST Biome 35 [Savanna]: NONE Biome 10 [FrozenOcean]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 105 [Red Desert]: DUST Biome 140 [Ice Plains Spikes]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 89 [Shield]: PRECIPITATION Biome 164 [Savanna Plateau M]: NONE Biome 83 [Steppe]: PRECIPITATION Biome 24 [Deep Ocean]: PRECIPITATION Biome 170 [Ice Sheet]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 79 [Mountains]: PRECIPITATION Biome 178 [Roofed Shrublands]: PRECIPITATION Biome 56 [Sandstone Canyons]: DUST Biome 31 [Cold Taiga Hills]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 48 [Plateau]: PRECIPITATION Biome 54 [Fir Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 104 [Snowy Ranges]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 27 [Birch Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 82 [Xeric Savannah]: NONE Biome 44 [Woodland Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 81 [Scree]: NONE Biome 18 [ForestHills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 186 [Woodland Lake]: PRECIPITATION Biome 9 [Sky]: NONE Biome 72 [Oasis]: PRECIPITATION Biome 49 [Sandstone Ranges]: DUST Biome 17 [DesertHills]: DUST Biome 46 [Boreal Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 181 [Snowy Desert]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 19 [TaigaHills]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 85 [Low Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 135 [Riparian Zone]: PRECIPITATION Biome 61 [Pine Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 101 [Clearing]: PRECIPITATION Biome 87 [Glacier]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 63 [Desert Archipelago]: DUST Biome 176 [Snowy Plateau]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 133 [Taiga M]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 167 [Mesa Plateau M]: DUST Biome 157 [Roofed Forest M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 172 [Forested Valley]: PRECIPITATION Biome 174 [Cold Boreal Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 182 [Cold Fir Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 99 [Basin]: PRECIPITATION Biome 25 [Stone Beach]: PRECIPITATION Biome 47 [Volcano]: NONE Biome 84 [Prairie]: PRECIPITATION Biome 0 [Ocean]: PRECIPITATION Biome 151 [JungleEdge M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 98 [Aspen Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 155 [Birch Forest M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 184 [Stone Canyons]: NONE Biome 188 [Boreal Plateau M]: PRECIPITATION Biome 42 [Polar Desert]: DUST AURORA Biome 3 [Extreme Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 69 [Creek Bed]: NONE Biome 74 [Rainforest Valley]: PRECIPITATION Biome 93 [Carr]: PRECIPITATION Biome 23 [JungleEdge]: PRECIPITATION Biome 50 [Shrublands]: PRECIPITATION Biome 28 [Birch Forest Hills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 71 [Badlands]: NONE Biome 78 [Kakadu]: PRECIPITATION Biome 106 [Xeric Shrubland]: NONE Biome 5 [Taiga]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 30 [Cold Taiga]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 66 [Grassy Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION Biome 168 [Flowery Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION Biome 4 [Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 22 [JungleHills]: PRECIPITATION Biome 13 [Ice Mountains]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 29 [Roofed Forest]: PRECIPITATION Biome 70 [Sahara]: DUST Biome 39 [Mesa Plateau]: DUST Biome 53 [Tundra]: PRECIPITATION AURORA Biome 58 [Ephemeral Lake]: PRECIPITATION Biome 169 [Boreal Archipelago]: PRECIPITATION Biome 177 [Sandstone Ranges M]: DUST Biome 11 [FrozenRiver]: PRECIPITATION AURORA
Credit has to be given to MrRube and his Aurora Rubealis mod for 1.4.7 Minecraft. This mod shaped the functionality within Dynamic Surroundings and gave good examples of how Auroras can work.
Check this page out for why auroras have the colors they do.
- An Aurora may not display correctly if you are using an external shader pack. You will have to a) use the internal shaders, or b) disable auroras in your config. The problem is display and does not affect game stability.