Where do I put the server.properties file?

Place the generated server.properties file directly in the root directory of your Minecraft server (the same folder that contains your server.jar or paper.jar file). Make sure to restart your server for changes to take effect.

What is the difference between view-distance and simulation-distance?

View distance controls how many chunks are sent to players visually. Simulation distance controls the radius of chunks around players where entities, redstone, and crop growth are actively calculated. Lowering simulation-distance (e.g. to 6-8) drastically improves server performance without reducing visual render distance.

How does online-mode affect my Minecraft server?

When online-mode is true (recommended for public servers), the server authenticates player accounts with Mojang/Microsoft servers, preventing unauthorized or spoofed logins. When set to false, offline/cracked clients can connect, or it is used behind BungeeCord/Velocity proxy networks.

Where do I place server.properties?

Upload this file into your server's root directory next to server.jar or paper.jar. If your server is running on NolimitHost panel, you can open the File Manager, paste this content directly, or upload the file and reboot your server.

How to optimize for high player counts?

Set simulation-distance to 6 or 8 and view-distance to 10. Keep sync-chunk-writes on for stability. On Linux-based game servers, ensure use-native-transport=true for lower network latency.

Should online-mode be enabled?

Always keep online-mode=true on public servers so Mojang validates authentic player accounts and protects against UUID spoofing. Only set it to false if running behind a secure Velocity / BungeeCord proxy network with forwarding enabled.

How do MOTD color codes work?

You can use standard Minecraft section formatting codes like §6 for gold or §a for green, or standard UTF-8 text. Our live preview updates automatically as you type!

Minecraft server.properties Editor & Live Configurator

Message of the Day (MOTD) motd

A Minecraft Server

The server message displayed in the Minecraft multiplayer server list.

Core Parameters

Gamemode gamemode

Difficulty difficulty

Max Players max-players

Spawn Protection spawn-protection

Idle AFK Timeout (Minutes) player-idle-timeout

0 = disabled (players will not be kicked for AFK).

Gameplay Rules & Spawning

Enable PVP pvp

Hardcore Mode hardcore

Allow Flight allow-flight

Force Gamemode force-gamemode

Command Blocks enable-command-block

Hide Player List hide-online-players

Spawn Animals spawn-animals

Spawn Monsters spawn-monsters

Spawn NPCs (Villagers) spawn-npcs

World & Seed

World Directory Name level-name

World Seed level-seed

Level Type level-type

Max World Size max-world-size

Region Compression region-file-compression

Generator Settings generator-settings

Enabled Datapacks initial-enabled-packs

Disabled Datapacks initial-disabled-packs

Render & Simulation Distance

View Distance (Visual Chunks) view-distance

10 chunks

Maximum chunk radius rendered to players (default 10).

Simulation Distance (Tick Chunks) simulation-distance

10 chunks

Chunk radius where mob AI, redstone, and crops are active. Lowering this boosts server TPS significantly.

World Generation Options

Generate Structures generate-structures

Allow Nether allow-nether

Synchronous Chunk Writes sync-chunk-writes (prevents world corruption)

Authentication & Whitelist

Online Mode (Mojang Authentication) online-mode (true = Premium Mojang accounts, false = Offline / Proxy mode)

Enable Whitelist white-list

Enforce Whitelist enforce-whitelist

Enforce Chat Signing enforce-secure-profile

Block VPNs & Proxies prevent-proxy-connections

Permissions & Logging

OP Permission Level op-permission-level

Function Permission Level function-permission-level

Custom Bug Report Link bug-report-link

Text Filtering Config text-filtering-config

Log Player IPs log-ips

Console Broadcast to OPs broadcast-console-to-ops

Broadcast RCON to OPs broadcast-rcon-to-ops

Network Ports & Thresholds

Bind IP server-ip

Server Port server-port

Compression (Bytes) network-compression-threshold

Packet Rate Limit rate-limit

Watchdog Max Tick (ms) max-tick-time

Neighbor Updates max-chained-neighbor-updates

Broadcast Range

Entity Broadcast Range (%) entity-broadcast-range-percentage

100%

Controls entity transmission distance to clients (lower values save network bandwidth).

Network Protocols & Optimization

Enable Server Ping enable-status

Server Transfers accepts-transfers

Native Epoll Transport use-native-transport

Debug Logging debug

JMX Performance Monitoring enable-jmx-monitoring

RCON & GS4 Query

Enable RCON enable-rcon

Enable GS4 Query enable-query

RCON Port rcon.port

Query Port query.port

RCON Password rcon.password

Server Resource Pack

Require Resource Pack require-resource-pack (kicks players if declined)

Resource Pack Direct URL resource-pack

Resource Pack SHA-1 Checksum resource-pack-sha1

Resource Pack UUID resource-pack-id

Prompt Message resource-pack-prompt

Minecraft server.properties Configurator

Frequently Asked Questions & Tuning Guide

Minecraft Server Hosting