View distance vs simulation distance on a Minecraft server
What view-distance and simulation-distance do, good values for your Schokr Minecraft server, and how they affect lag.
Updated · 2 min read
view-distance controls how far players can see. simulation-distance controls how far from players the world is actually active (mobs move, crops grow, redstone runs). Lowering simulation distance is one of the most effective ways to reduce lag.
The settings
Both are in server.properties, measured in chunks (16 blocks each), and both default to 10.
view-distance=10
simulation-distance=8
Restart the server after changing them.
| Setting | Controls | Cost |
|---|---|---|
view-distance | Which chunks are sent to players to look at | Network and memory |
simulation-distance | Which chunks tick: entities, crops, redstone, furnaces in loaded chunks | CPU, the main cause of lag |
Each player loads an area around them, and the number of chunks grows with the square of the distance. Going from 10 to 6 cuts the area by roughly two thirds.
Players also have their own render distance in video settings. They see the lower of their own setting and the server's view-distance.
Recommended values
| Server | view-distance | simulation-distance |
|---|---|---|
| A few friends, Paper | 10 | 8 |
| 10 to 20 players | 8 | 6 |
| Busy or modded server | 6 to 8 | 4 to 6 |
| Technical farms that must run far away | 10 | 10 |
Simulation distance should be equal to or lower than view distance. A simulation distance of 4 or 5 is enough for most gameplay, but farms only work when a player is within simulation distance of them, so very low values can break AFK farms.
Paper's extra options
On Paper, the server.properties values are the main defaults, and spigot.yml has a per-world view-distance and simulation-distance that default to using the server.properties values:
world-settings:
default:
view-distance: default
simulation-distance: default
Leave these on default unless you want a different value for a specific world. See the Paper documentation for its chunk loading settings.
Signs your distances are too high
- Lag spikes when several players explore at once.
- The console warns that the server "Can't keep up!".
- Memory usage climbs as more players join.
If lowering distances does not help, check memory first. See how much memory a Minecraft server needs.