BoxCraft Resource Pack 1.9.4 / 1.8.9

Simplicity and high performance are the middle names of the BoxCraft resource pack. You could guess from its name that it doesn’t change too much of the vanilla game’s details, since the textures retain their boxy, pixelated look. Unlike a lot of the resource packs out there that completely transform the look and feel of Minecraft – while also requiring ridiculously strong hardware to run properly – this one tries to squeeze the last FPS out of your PC. Even though it might not introduce anything exceptional to the game, BoxCraft is one of the most unique packs that you can find out there. The developer, MillCzarr, focused on removing the unnecessary details out of the original textures. This might seem strange, as they’re already quite pixelated and low-detail. However, BoxCraft actually amplifies the look through the use of connected textures. Also, the color palette is reduced to the bare minimum so that everything can look quite uniform. For example, a grass block combines single shades of brown and green, cobblestone uses a variation of gray, and wood implements various hues of brown depending on the type of tree. Besides looking quite appealing, this will also help you recognize certain types of blocks from further away. A quite unique approach is taken for the tree leaves. Whereas in the original game they vary based on the fast or fancy graphics setting, BoxCraft keeps them the same regardless. They are semi-transparent, with a green frame and a mesh-like center. This allows it to blend in perfectly with the rest of the environment, especially grass, flowers, and stone. Items such as chests, furnaces, and others are also polished to give them a more homogenous appearance. Glass is also made completely transparent without its little specks. Once you load up the world, you’ll also notice that liquids have been modified. While they can’t be boxified per se, lava and water are much clearer and more uniform than before. Ores are revamped as well, and they’re in a form where you can easily differentiate between them. They have a stone-like foundation with four squares on each side colored as the corresponding ore.

Featured video:

This makes mining much more enjoyable and completely transforms the atmosphere while you’re out looking for them. Also, once you craft an ore block, you’ll notice that it has a different shine to it since it’s also been changed to better fit the box theme. You might think that the removal of certain details makes the game bland and unappealing. However, BoxCraft manages to pull off this better than almost any other similar resource pack. The game becomes brighter, smoother, and even makes for prettier builds compared to the original. It’s hard to compare it to any other approach since MillCzarr is arguably the first one to make this type of resource pack. The boxy look isn’t only limited to the blocks, though. Particles are almost completely changed as well. Explosions, rainfall, fire, and others will appear in the form of a cube to fit the theme of the pack. The pack dates as far back as 2011, which means it had plenty of time to get polished. Its original developer stopped updating BoxCraft, but it was continued by AahzChi in the same fashion as before. He retained the grid-like appearance even for the newer versions and added plenty of details that can be hard to notice if you’re just roaming around the world. You could say it adds a whole new objective to the game – trying to find as many hidden improvements and changes as possible. As far as any prerequisites go, BoxCraft texture pack requires neither Optifine nor MCPatcher to run properly. There is just a single resolution offered for BoxCraft – 16×16. This is the same as the original vanilla textures, but that’s to be expected since the pack’s focus is on performance and simplicity. It’s going to run on virtually any machine regardless of its specs, and you can expect a significant FPS increase once you load up the pack. If you want to further boost the performance, you can use Optifine alongside it. However, it’s worth giving BoxCraft a shot – even if you’re not on the hunt for added FPS.