Cloud



Clouds are graphical effects in the sky. They serve a solely aesthetic purpose.

Appearance


The appearance of clouds varies depending on the graphics settings used:

Fancy: Clouds are translucent, three-dimensional prisms, approximately four blocks tall. At night they turn a shade of blue and become more transparent. They are similar in appearance to stratocumulus clouds.

Fast: Clouds are two-dimensional and opaque. They have no day-night rotation. Their smallest horizontal dimensions are 8×8 blocks wide. Fast clouds in Pocket Edition are also opaque, but remain three-dimensional. Their appearance is similar to cirrus clouds.

In Console Edition, clouds consist of 3×3 block sections, which form the same pattern of clouds found in other editions.

From above or inside the clouds, they will appear semi-transparent, regardless of the player's graphics settings. The sun and the moon will always appear visible through the clouds from below, even if there are blocks that would otherwise block its view.

The shape, dimensions, and color of clouds can be changed by modifying the  file located within   within the version's JAR file. The file's dimensions can be changed to any size, allowing for different cloud patterns each day.

Behavior
Clouds always float westward between layer 100 and 150 based on the viewer's height. They are not interactive, and simply float through blocks and entities. Unlike in real life, clouds themselves will not produce rain or snow, meaning it will continue to rain or snow even above the clouds.

Since clouds are are rendered client-side, the position of clouds is different for each player on a server.

Clouds will retain their position even if the game is restarted. The position of clouds is persistent between worlds — if the player quits their current world and generates a new one, then travels to the same coordinates they were at in the previous world, the clouds will be seen in the same position as the previous world. Switching between Fast and Fancy graphics will randomize the position of clouds

Clouds can be toggled between Fancy, Fast, and Off in the Video Settings.