Minecraft view distance and simulation distance: the best values for your server

Both count in chunks of 16 by 16 blocks, measured from the chunk the player stands in. A view distance of 10 lets a player see about 160 blocks in every direction.

Chunks outside the simulation distance but inside the view distance are frozen. Players see them, but nothing moves there. A farm 120 blocks away stops working with a simulation distance of 6, and starts again when a player walks closer.

The number of chunks grows with the square of the distance. Going from 6 to 12 chunks means close to four times as many chunks per player.

Players who stand close together share chunks, so ten players in one base cost far less than ten players spread over the map. Explorers who fly in different directions are the expensive case, which is why pre-generating the world helps.

Memory is covered per player in how much RAM a Minecraft server needs. Processor time shows as TPS: when the server cannot finish 20 ticks per second, a lower simulation distance is the quickest fix.

These are starting points for a Paper or vanilla server on the normal game. Modpacks are heavier per chunk, so use the row below your player count there.

Keep the simulation distance at or below the view distance. A higher simulation distance than view distance means the server runs land that no player can see.

Change one value at a time, then watch a busy evening. If the TPS stays at 20 and the memory graph has room, you can go one step up.

1. Open the Settings tab of your server.
2. Go to the Performance group under Server settings, or search for "distance".
3. Enter a number in View distance (chunks) and Simulation distance (chunks). The form accepts 2 to 32.
4. Press Save changes.
5. Restart the server, because Minecraft reads these lines only when it starts.

If the simulation distance is higher than the view distance, the form shows a warning that it is higher than the view distance.

The Performance profile card

Above the settings, the Performance profile card has three buttons. Each one fills in a few fields at once; nothing is saved until you press Save changes.

The card also gives a view distance ceiling for your memory: 8 chunks below 4 GB, 10 chunks below 8 GB and 14 chunks from 8 GB up.

server.properties sets one value for every world. Paper, Purpur and Spigot read spigot.yml as well, and there you can override the distances per world. The default section applies to all worlds; a section with the folder name of a world applies to that world only.

world-settings:
  default:
    view-distance: default
    simulation-distance: default
  world_nether:
    view-distance: 6
    simulation-distance: 4
  world_the_end:
    view-distance: 8
    simulation-distance: 4

• default as the value means: use the number from server.properties.
• The world names are the folder names, such as world_nether. Worlds made by a plugin use their own folder name.
• Open spigot.yml in the top folder in the Files tab, edit, save and restart.

Good uses: a lower distance in the Nether, where the ceiling blocks the view anyway; a short distance in a lobby or minigame world; a longer view in a creative world where nothing needs to be simulated.

YAML uses spaces, never tabs. Keep the indent of two spaces per level, or the file fails to load and the console shows an error at start.

Players also see mobs, items and other players only within a range. Entity range (%) in the panel, entity-broadcast-range-percentage in the file, scales that range. 100 is the normal range, 50 is half.

A lower value saves network traffic and some processor time on a server with many mobs. It does not change what is simulated; mobs out of sight still move. On busy servers, 70 to 80 is a common choice, and most players do not notice.

The client sends its own render distance to the server. When a player's render distance is lower than your view-distance, the server sends that player fewer chunks, which saves work for both sides.

A player with a render distance higher than yours still sees only up to your view-distance. A higher render distance in their own settings changes nothing on your server. The simulation distance setting in the client only matters in single player.

The official Bedrock server has its own pair of lines in its server.properties:

On Bedrock, lowering view-distance to 10 to 16 is the main saving, since the simulated area is already small. On a Java server with Geyser for crossplay, the Java values above apply to Bedrock players too.