How NOT to break your server

[_iZ_]

M I N E H U T  C O M M U N I T Y  F A Q

HOW NOT TO BREAK YOUR SERVER

DIFFICULTY: Easy

         

Introduction to not breaking your server

Lag on Minecraft servers is caused by the increased use of RAM (random access memory) on your server. When the server is using a large amount of RAM relative to the amount of RAM your server has, it causes the TPS (ticks per second) to drop. This basically makes time to slow down on your server. You should always aim for your server to be running at 20 TPS. In this tutorial, I will go over some things you should and shouldn’t do when running an efficient server and things to do in a situation where your server files may be corrupted.

 

Things not to do

There are many things you shouldn’t do when preventing your server from breaking or becoming corrupt. A simple rule of thumb is to not make/do anything that will cause lag. This includes the following.

Spawning Entities

One common reason for lag is spawning a large number of entities. Entities are basically anything in Minecraft that aren’t blocks. This includes dropped items, mobs, players, falling blocks, and more. Spawning a large number of entities will require an increased use of RAM. This includes but is not limited to: manually spawning entities, igniting TnT, dropping a large number of items. This will cause the effect stated in the introduction. 

Increasing your random tick speed

Another common reason for lag is increasing the random tick speed on your server. The general limit for the random tick speed is 1,000, but anything around 10,000 will most likely crash your server. I would recommend not increasing the random tick speed on your server if there is no need to. Increasing the random tick speed causes Minecraft’s events to happen faster, which in turn, uses more RAM. This will cause the effect stated in the introduction. 

Corrupt items

Corrupt items are items that have a large amount of data stored on them. These include books with a large number of characters, containers such as chests with NBT (named binary tag) data exceeding the packet limit, and more. Having a corrupt item can do one of two things. One, it will cause the server to crash. Two, it will cause the player with the item to not be able to join the server. This can be fixed by deleting a player’s data in your world’s folder. The file containing a player’s data is named using a player’s UUID. You can find your UUID by going to https://namemc.com/profile/(YOUR USERNAME). You can find a playerdata file by going to “File Manager > (world name) > playerdata”. DISCLAIMER: Deleting this file will erase all data for a player in that world. This includes your location, inventory, ender chest, and more. 

Replacing blocks

Replacing a large number of blocks using WorldEdit, the Minecraft fill command, or anything else that replaces blocks can cause your server to crash. If you are using WorldEdit to replace a large number of blocks, try doing it in different sections. If you are using the WorldEdit paste command, add “-a” at the end. This will only replace blocks that aren’t air, causing less lag when pasting a structure. 

Loading chunks

Chunks are 16x16 segments of a world. Loading too many chunks at a time on your server can cause major lag. Try not to fly a far distance when you have some sort of speed enabled. Oftentimes on servers, hackers can exploit this by flying far away from where everyone else is. Having more players on your server, especially on servers where everyone can roam free, will also cause more chunks to be loaded. 

 

Things to do

There are many ways to prevent the things listed above from happening. Here are a few ways to do these things.

Spawning entities

• Do not spawn a large number of entities
• Do not ignite a large amount of TNT
• Set the "doMobSpawning" gamerule to "false". This will prevent mobs from spawning.
• Install a ClearLag Plugin - this deletes items and other entities periodically.

Corrupt items

• Do not give yourself or anyone else items with a large amount of NBT data.

Random tick speed

• Keep this at the default, 3
• If possible, you can set this to 0. This will prevent any crops or trees from growing, so it may not suit your needs the best.

Replacing blocks

• Replace areas in multiple smaller segments rather than one large one
• Use "//paste -a" when using WorldEdit

Loading chunks

• Use “/worldborder” to set up a world border
• Do not fly a far distance while you have speed or essentials’ fly speed enabled

 

Require further assistance?

If you need more help on this topic, you can head over to the help section of the forums or join our Discord server.

 

Compiled by the Minehut Staff Team

 

[Untreated]

Great guide, funny title, and an excellent CFAQ overall. Always happy to see good quality CFAQs come from you, iz. I look forward to seeing more of these in the future. 

[_Tarna_]

Nice CFAQ you made there. Hopefully people won't break their servers now.

[Kskiba97]

And do NOT set player idle timeout or something like this to 10000.