Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@shuuyu

shuuyu/feather.md

Last active January 24, 2026 02:42
Show Gist options

  • Select an option

    Learn more about clone URLs
  • Save shuuyu/c0bcc8f5e18aecf2ce7aa81cabbdf3ae to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.

Select an option

Learn more about clone URLs
Save shuuyu/c0bcc8f5e18aecf2ce7aa81cabbdf3ae to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
Feather Client and my official stances behind it.
Raw
feather.md

Feather Client

If you do not want to read the rest of this gist, I will simply provide you with a short and thoughtful summary, that being:

Feather client will never be supported due to the nature of it breaking certain mods, us having to deal with the headache called support, and the many frustrations that come with adding it as a supported platform. Due to this, we strongly recommend users not use Feather Client for the purpose of both the developer and your sake. While you may like the features, developers will hate the burden that comes with maintaining their mod for the client.

I have been dealing with modding support for a while now (Almost precisely 2 years), so I have some first hand experiences with the issues caused by this client. While it may not cause issues for you, it causes a lituny of issues for the developer(s) working behind the mod.

What exactly is Feather Client?

Feather Client is basically the successor to PVPLounge, which is another client made by the same owners. The main marketing behind Feather Client was the ability to add mods to the client. Their open beta began in early 2022, with the client being sold to users for 10 dollars (Alongside a Cloak and the ability to invite another user).

Why do users like to use Feather Client?

Here are some of the many examples given by the users who use Feather Client, and my rebuttals to those points:

  • "It's easy." - While this may be true, for most power users, like me, Feather Client will not cut this job whatsoever. In most instances, making Prism Launcher instances could just as well be on par, if not easier.
  • "It gets more FPS." Not exactly. On some systems, Feather Client will actually get LESS than native Forge with mods such as Optifine and Patcher.

image

  • "I get to add mods." - Yes, because it's literally just Forge.
  • "The people at Feather Client are trusted developers." - Not exactly. The Feather Client owners used to run PVPLounge, which also used to be paid. However, PVPLounge got deprecated in the end.

What are the problems with Feather Client?

Here are my problems with the client:

  • It was paid. Alongside the next point, there was no reason to use this client in the early days, since it was selling free software for like $12.50. It's not paid anymore, but there are still lingering resentment for the fact it was a client which basically sold FOSS for that value.
  • It was a reskinned version of Forge. This meant that there were no added benefits to using the "client", other than the fact you wanted the already included modules provided by the "client".
  • It breaks a lot of code and mods.

image image image

  • It's obfuscated. This makes it hard to debug for us mod developers. For something so trivial like this, it will lead to the next point.

image

  • It's unsupported. A lot of mod developers do not like Feather's scummy behavior in the past, and don't like how they obfuscate all of the class names. For that, they choose not to support Feather Client in order to save them some headache in the future.

Now, I am unsure about this next point, but judging by the past of this client, it's still most likely prevalent inside of the client.

  • It formerly uses stolen code/still uses stolen code. Feather Client used to copy the source code of many mods, which included Patcher, Sodium, Entity Culling, et cetera. If you don't know, this causes issues with those specific mods. I cannot confirm if they still copy code, but I am not going to give them the benefit of the doubt, especially when the developers and owners try to cover this situation up. Examples are listed below.

(Left is Feather Client's source code, right is sodium) image image image

Alternatives

If you're looking for a Feather Client alternative, here are some fabulous projects recommended by me.

  • Skyclient - It's not actually a client. It helps you install and maintain your mods, which is basically what Feather Client are doing. However, they actually install Forge for you, so you can stop complaining about it being difficult to install. I know, crazy.
  • Prism Launcher - If you hate the regular Vanilla Launcher, you will love Prism Launcher, as you can make multiple instances with different mods and resource packs.
  • OneConfig/PolyFrost Mods - All of the mods in the Polyfrost organization aim to give a client-like experience while also being on a modloader.
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment