The Unity resource pack aims to preserve what makes Minecraft what it is. This is important, because many resource packs try to convert vanilla Minecraft into something it is not and that is a high fidelity, high texture resolution game. This is not what made Minecraft so popular. As the name of the Unity resource pack is resembling the name of a game engine, the developers felt the need to clarify this by adding a small line telling “No, not the game engine”. At first, glance, having the Unity texture pack installed may not seem all that impactful. It does not stray too much away from vanilla Minecraft. This is because the resource pack uses the same 16x texture resolution as the vanilla version of the game. It can be quite deceptive as at first glance, differences may be difficult to observe. If it may seem less spectacular than other resource packs it is simply because it is a default edit. What this means is that all the textures in vanilla Minecraft have been edited. Instead of adding new textures of higher resolution, the developers of the Unity resource pack took the default textures and improved them in many different ways. Almost all textures in the game have more details by simply editing them and keeping the same amount of pixels. Small changes in coloring and tones as well as adding new patterns and shapes onto the textures simply translates into more details. The result is a more vivid world with brighter colors, improved saturation, and more details without cramming more pixels onto the same block. A method called hybrid-texturing is used to highlight certain details and impact overall visuals. While the bulk of the work done within the Unity resource pack revolves around remaking textures, a crucial impact has been delivered by the reduction of noise and shades. It helps make objects and textures appear much crisper, shadows more detailed and colors seem more natural. While Unity stays loyal to the visuals of vanilla Minecraft, all these visual upgrades make the game considerably more enjoyable. One important aspect to note is that the Unity resource pack does not limit itself to visual improvements to vanilla Minecraft.
It adds better textures for several mods as well. Amongst the many mods that have received upgraded textures, we can name Thermal Expansion, Gravestone, Ender Storage, Compact Solar, Blood Magic, The One Probe, Iron Chest, Better Crates, and many more. All these new textures add even more cohesion and integrate better all these mods with the vast improvements within the Unity resource pack for vanilla Minecraft. No changes were made to the GUI and menus but a Dark Edition of Unity is available that makes the interface darker. According to the developer, the goal is to set a common ground, improve vanilla, mod textures, and keep everything unique. While the original developer does not make any recommendations in terms of shaders, they do play a pivotal role as they can improve lighting, reduce noise and make the new textures appear much crisper. The Unity resource pack works well with the SEUS PTGI shader. It adds improved reflections to blocks and more depth. Sonic Ether’s Unbelievable Shaders may offer even more impressive visual upgrades but it is a more resource-intensive shader pack that can reduce framerates on lower-end computers. The Unity texture pack is only available in 16x resolution. Using the resource pack alone will not negatively impact game performance since it does not add new effects, animations, or moving textures. Players with older systems that run plain Minecraft will not have to worry about performance degradation. Adding shader packs can lead to framerate drops. Installing the Unity resource pack is recommended to be one only via Optifine. Optifine supports the extra features available in Unity: Extras. These features include randomized mobs, custom sky textures, overlays, connected textures, and more. Once the Unity resource pack is installed, you will need to start the Minecraft launcher, go to options, hit resource packs, and then click on the resource packs folder. You will need to add the archived .zip file of the Unity resource pack into that folder, select it and reload the game. That’s it!