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World Pregeneration

Table of Contents

Basics

Minecraft is a game with a procedurally generated, massive world - its boundaries extend up to ±30,000,000 in length and width, and from 0 to 255 in height. Generating such a large world would take many hours (possibly days), even on the fastest home computers. That's why Mojang decided on generating chunks (clusters of 16x16x256 blocks) as players approach them.

While this has little impact in single-player mode, on a server with several players exploring the world, the chunk generator can heavily load the CPU, resulting in a TPS drop. To prevent this, simply pregenerate the world area to match your needs before starting the gameplay.

A map size of 8,000x8,000 blocks should be more than enough for Survival with 20+ players. With these parameters, assuming 20 players, each player gets an average section of the map consisting of 1,780x1,780 blocks - 12,500 chunks. Additionally, this area can easily be expanded in the future.

Before We Begin!

  1. The map generation process causes lag during its execution and takes a very long time - up to 3 hours. Therefore, it is best to do this before opening the server.
  2. You can also generate the map on your local computer and then upload it to the server via FTP. This is much faster. Just follow the instructions for Forge or the tutorial from this video (for versions 1.13+). However, from experience, we know that uploading the map to the server can be problematic for many people, so this option is not recommended.
  3. Warning! Empty (without players) Craftserve servers are put to sleep. To prevent this, keep the server console open in the Craftserve panel during the entire map generation process - this will prevent it from going idle.

Bukkit, Spigot, and Paper

1.14 and above

To perform the world generation process, simply download and install the ChunkMaster plugin. It is very easy to use (parameters in <> are mandatory, in [] optional):

  • /chm generate <world> <radius> - sets the world boundary centered on your character, where <world> is the world name (usually world), and <radius> is the number of blocks generated in each direction.
  • /chm resume - Starts the world generation process (by default, the world doesn't generate when players are on the server).

Older versions

To perform the world generation process, simply download and install the WorldBorder plugin. It is very easy to use (parameters in <> are mandatory, in [] optional):

  • /wb set <radiusX> [radiusZ] - sets the world boundary centered on your character, where <radiusX> is the radius on the X axis, and <radiusZ> on the Z axis - both in blocks. If radiusZ is not provided, the value of radiusX will be used.
  • /wb shape <elliptic|rectangular> - allows you to choose the shape of the boundary. elliptic is elliptical/round, rectangular is rectangular.
  • /wb fill [frequency] - starts generating chunks at the default frequency of 20 attempts per second. For Grass servers, it should be reduced to 5. On Diamond servers, you can try a value of 100. The smaller the value, the less lag during world generation, but it will take longer.
  • /wb fill confirm - this command is required to confirm the start of /wb fill.

Ready-to-use command sets:

Grass Diamond
/wb set 1500 /wb set 2500
/wb fill 5 /wb fill 40
/wb fill confirm /wb fill confirm

Forge

Pregenerating a map on Forge servers is a bit more complicated because world-altering mods may not be compatible with each other.

Versions 1.10 to 1.12.2

If your server already has OpenTerrainGenerator installed, simply run the generation with the command:

/otg pregen 150 - this will generate an area with a radius of 150 chunks, which equals about 4800x4800 blocks.

If you don't have OTG installed, a safer option would be to use Chunk-Pregenerator:

/pregen gen startradius circle 0 0 150 - this will generate a circular area with a radius of 150 chunks. If you prefer a square shape, replace circle with square.

Both plugins installed on the Forge Minecraft client will add a graphical interface to help with their usage.

Versions 1.6 to 1.7.10

These older versions only offer the Admin Command Toolbox plugin, which does not have a graphical interface. You must also install Mobius Core for it to work properly.

To generate the world, use:

/pregenspawn 150 - this will generate a square with dimensions of 300x300 chunks - 150 on each of the 4 sides from the spawn.

Sponge

On Sponge, you can use the equivalent of the Essentials plugin - Plugin Nucleus, whose detailed documentation is available here.

To generate the world, you must first set its boundary (which can be removed after generation) and start the process:

  • /world border set <world> <x> <z> <diameter> - where <world> is the name of your world, and <x> and <z> are the coordinates of the center of the boundary.

  • world border gen -r <world> - starts generating new chunks.

Fabric

For Fabric, you can use a mod called Chunky:
https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/chunky-pregenerator

To generate the world within a 1000-block radius from the center, use: chunky radius 1000 - sets the generator to 1000 blocks from 0x 0z.
chunky start - starts the generation. You can, of course, change the number to generate more area.

To change the center of generation, use chunky center X Z, replacing X and Z with the coordinates in the world.
You can also set the world to generate by using chunky world the_nether (or the_end for The End, sometimes called The End dimension).

Finally, if you want to generate everything within the boundaries set by the world border, use: worldborder center 0 0 - sets the center of the world border to x0 and z0
worldborder set 20000 - sets the world border size to 20,000x20,000, which is 10,000 blocks from the center
chunky worldborder - sets the generator to world border mode
chunky start - starts the generation

Be cautious with the number of blocks!