Lighting and underground farms

Caves now depend on their access to the sky. A sealed cave receives no sunlight, but a faint, steady ambient glow lets you make out nearby surfaces even without a torch. Open terrain also keeps a very dim view at night, including moonless nights. Open shafts and cave entrances admit daylight, which fades as it travels farther inside. Mining or replacing a roof or wall updates that access.

Torches now cast a much stronger warm light up to fourteen blocks away, whether held or placed. Placed lighting remains visible throughout loaded terrain up to the terrain view distance, so you can look across an illuminated base. All placed sources contribute, even when many torches are closer to you. Nearby lights add smoothly changing highlights and shadows. A held torch also adds a soft warm glow around you to reveal nearby shadows. Place additional torches to cover larger rooms; solid walls still cast shadows.

Viewing a large base

Lighting and torch models follow the terrain view distance: about 304 blocks at the default setting, fading with terrain fog. There is no eight-torch limit on illuminated rooms. Powered lamps also keep their diffuse illumination visible across the base. Unloaded terrain still waits for loading and light updates.

Growing crops underground

1. Prepare dirt or grass with a hoe to make farmland.
2. Plant potatoes, wheat seeds, flax seeds, carrot seeds or berry seeds.
3. Place torches around the growing area. Keep each plant within five open-cell steps of a torch; walls block light and paths around corners are longer.
4. Stay nearby, or keep the area loaded with a chunk loader. Each stage normally takes one minute, with three stages to maturity. Darkness pauses growth; adding enough light lets it resume.

Powered Workshop Lamps light a wider area, up to twenty blocks away, and also support nearby crops. The light continues to count when its source is outside the camera view. Holding a torch helps you see but does not replace placed farm lighting. The faint ambient cave glow helps you see but is not enough to grow crops. Water is not required for crop growth.

Placed light also prevents new hostile spawns where the gameplay light level is 8 or higher. Existing mobs remain. The dim visibility glow and held torch do not change spawning.

Compost can accelerate a stage when the plant has enough light. See Farming and cooking for planting stock, harvests and meals, and Torches for the recipe.

Captures: Unity Windows player, 2026-09-13. These show the dim cave visibility, held glow, persistent placed lighting and powered/unpowered lamp in a constructed enclosed test farm.