Realistic Moon Textures for 'Moonrise - Natural Lunar Phases'

Features

Designed with Moonrise – Natural Lunar Phases in mind but also works standalone (always full moon)

Ensure the mod has a higher priority than Moonrise, so the 16 textures for different phases get overridden. If you don't use moonrise, you will still have this version of the moon except it's always full moon.

Physically rendered lunar phases

Each phase is physically rendered from a 3D reconstruction of the Moon using NASA planetary datasets. The textures are not edited photographs or painted images - they are the result of physically accurate pathtracing.

Real NASA lunar data

The Moon is reconstructed from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Wide Angle Camera (WAC) global color mosaic and the 184,320 × 92,160 Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) digital elevation model. Every crater, mare, mountain range, and ray system appears in its real location.

Accurate terrain shadowing

The terminator is generated from the Moon's actual topography. Mountains, crater rims, valleys, and ridgelines naturally shape the transition between day and night as the Sun moves through each phase.

Correct illumination geometry

All sixteen phases use physically correct Sun-Earth-Moon geometry. The Sun and the earth are modeled with its real angular diameter rather than as a point light, producing realistic illumination across the lunar surface.

Simulated Earthshine

The unlit hemisphere is illuminated by Earth-reflected sunlight generated during rendering, with brightness varying naturally throughout the lunar cycle.

2K and 4K versions

Both versions are rendered in 16-bit color precision with 2×2 supersampling before export, producing clean crater edges, reduced aliasing, and smooth gradients without visible banding.

Correct lunar orientation

The Moon's orientation in Cyberpunk 2077 does not match its real appearance. The textures have been pre-rotated to compensate for the game's skybox orientation, ensuring familiar lunar features appear in their correct positions.

Vanilla compatible

Without Moonrise installed, the mod simply replaces Cyberpunk 2077's default full moon with the same physically rendered texture.

Full Cycle

Technical Details

- NASA LRO WAC global color mosaic

- NASA LOLA 184,320 × 92,160 pixel digital elevation model

- Approximately 59 m horizontal resolution at the lunar equator (512 pixel per degree)

- Approximately 10 m vertical elevation accuracy

- Physically rendered from a spherical lunar reconstruction

- Correct illumination for all 16 lunar phases

- Simulated Earthshine

- 16-bit rendering with 2×2 supersampling prior to export