Talk:Server.properties/Archive 1

Monsters
It might be useful to state here that in the current Alpha build, a bug circumvents this from working as it should, but that's just my two cents.

There's discussion of the presence of the 'monsters' key but no information about what goes in it, or what format it takes. The same is true of the 'no-animals' key.
 * The 'monsters' key seems to stem from pre-beta times. A newly generated server.properties doesn't have it, nor the 'no-animals' key. I think this page needs a general overhaul... Fischertechniklas 17:02, 5 March 2011 (UTC)

Classic vs Survival (Alpha)
Not all of these properties is available under the two game mode. I think we should specify which property is available under Classic and witch is available under Survival (Alpha). --DjDCH 19:34, 31 October 2010 (UTC)


 * There, I fixed it all up. Hopefully people like it because it took AGES! -F1racer101 09:14, 11 December 2010 (UTC)


 * Thanks to you, miner ! --DjDCH 06:05, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

MOTD display
...Except, does the MOTD really even display? (Alpha) --Mousey Tue Nov 30 12:06:28 PST 2010


 * Good point. There is already a thread on getsatisfaction. --DjDCH 06:10, 5 January 2011 (UTC)

The MOTD Message Displays Whenever A Player Joins The Server And Is Only Displayed To Him/Her. It Is Unknown To Me Whether This Works Or Not. - Deadlykid27

The MOTD message displays on the player's server list.

Server Default Port
In the section at the top it says that default port is 25364, but in the server-port section it says the default port is 25565. I recently started a server after Jan. 9th, and my default port was 25565. I'm running on a mac if it makes a difference.

Add level-seed
I have no clue what it does, but its new to version 1.4, someone add and explain its purpose. --EarthBoundX5 20:07, 31 March 2011 (CST) Map is generated on what seed you use, Seeds are found on the internet. The level-seed option is used in two ways. The most common way is by, before having a server generate a world, settings this flag to your desired seed and then allowing the server to generate the world. The other usefulness this provides is if you want to keep the discovered/generated areas in a world the same but use a seed to generate different content in new chunks (not comfirmed).

spawn-protection-size vs spawn-protection
I believe this node is only present in Bukkit servers, in which Bukkit follows to change the spawn protection size. I believe it can be any value. However, it is not vanilla-based, so this should be removed, or at least noted that it is only present in Bukkit servers. The PC Tech Guy 04:56, 10 June 2011 (UTC)

I'm being very verbose here because the section for spawn-protection was edited when the discussion was about spawn-protection-size.

I tested this on a completely vanilla server. I set spawn-protection=false and I was able to edit the spawn area as a normal user (not op or admin)

The setting spawn-protection-size does not exist in vanilla as stated. --Beverage 12:50, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

This property does not seem to work on vanilla SMP. I tried it on a new server. It didn't work. Can someone confirm this? Also if you don't have a server.properties in the server directory and a new one gets created, it does not contain the property. --Nordic42 21:12, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

I removed this entry from this list because it isn't supported by vanilla at all. (both options) Maybe we can readd them but with a notice that they only work with bukkit or hMod. --Blubbi 14:35, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Running a non-Bukkit server with only forge and forge-mods installed (buildcraft, industrialcraft, forestry, equivalent exchange). spawn-protection-size works fine when set to 1, users can edit spawn. 14:21, 2 May 2012 (UTC)

Forge adds spawn-protection-size too now, when set to 0 a single block is still protected. 69.123.12.116 08:18, 18 September 2012 (UTC)

Just confirming that neither property is added to server.properties when a new one is generated by a vanilla 1.3 server. However adding "spawn-protection=false" to the file does in fact disable spawn protection (even on a completely vanilla 1.3 server). Setting "spawn-protection-size=0" on the other hand has no effect.75.93.140.98 15:21, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

File location
Not always obvious. Just read a reddit post by a confused windows user, and I was pretty unsure where it'd show up in linux. Anyway, I think there should be a section on it towards the top of the page. Stevepoppers 01:17, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

WHERE IS THE SERVER.PROPERTIES FILE I CAN'T FIND IT

Agreed. I can't find this file either. I downloaded minecraft server and ran it, but there was no file named server.properties. Is it necessary for the windows version? If not, how do I alter server properties? Please respond.


 * Server.properties extracts from the Minecraft_server.jar/Minecraft_server.exe automatically into the directory which it is in...it may only be called "server" as your computer may hide file extensions. --HexZyle 03:05, 14 October 2011 (UTC)

I can't find it either. I am on windows 7 maybe that makes a difference. I ran the software, turned on the server, and it worked, but still I could not find it. I could not even find a file that says "server". In fact practicaly none of those files that came up work. It just keeps saying "Windows can't open this file". Please help me! Someone! Anyone!

You have to open server.properties with a text editor such as notepad.

1.9 new settings?
I've just noticed the 1.9pre4 server generates a default file with "enable-rcon=false" and "enable-query=false". Any idea what these are for? 87.254.69.224 16:03, 14 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Is this in the server.properties? --HexZyle 01:37, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes. I would test them myself, but I don't have the hardware capabilities to run a server. CaMoreno3 06:23, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Its some sort of compatability with modding or coding or something or rather. Seems too indepth for us regular players. (query is a function in computer terms to drag a piece of information out from a table or some sort, used in SQL code and stuff...doesn't seem like something you would use in regular play, so its obviously something complex) --HexZyle 08:25, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
 * This is a feature to allow people to control the server remotely. You can use already made programs that use RCON built in to control your minecraft server. RCON was designed for communicating to Valve Half-Life hosted servers.
 * Please sign comments. RCON stands for Remote Console, Valve uses it for servers, it's not something they came up with. Dinnerbone from the Bukkit team has a post on what you can do with query and rcon. TLDR, you can get amount of players, version etc from a vanilla server now if you know how to handle tcp connections to the server. See the post here http://dinnerbone.com/blog/2011/10/14/minecraft-19-has-rcon-and-query/ --Nahaz 14:27, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Image Updates
I've added a new screenshot of the server.properties file as it appears in 1.2.3, however, it does not seem to be updating. The image is there, it just doesn't show up on the wiki page. Do new images need to be approved first? Or is there some lag between updating an image, and the image actually showing up? Thanks. CaMoreno3 20:06, 2 March 2012 (UTC)
 * You usually need to flush your browser's cache for new images to show up. There may also be a bit of delay on the server. Clicking on the thumbnail in the file history will show you the correct version. -- Orthotope 20:51, 2 March 2012 (UTC)
 * Clearing my cache fixed the problem. Thanks for the help. CaMoreno3 23:14, 2 March 2012 (UTC)

Hardcore
There is a

hardcore=false

in the 1.3 prerelease snaphot. Could someone add this and explain what it does? –Preceding unsigned comment was added by 42.2.93.146 (Talk) 15:20, 29 July 2012‎ (UTC). Please sign your posts with


 * I don't have the exact details (although it's been around since, strange that no one has added it to the page), but it's basically the same as normal hardcore mode, except instead of deleting the world on death, it permabans (I think) the player. –ultradude25 (T&#124;C) at 21:29, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

Hardcore mode will ban players that die 76.24.60.143 16:58, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

"spawn-monsters"
"This does nothing if difficulty = 0 (peaceful)" - This is false, peaceful allows monsters to spawn but then removes them the next tick. While it's often thought this means they do nothing, they do exist long enough to set off pressure plates and tripwire and things like that (if they spawn right into that block), so it is an important difference. --70.174.60.129 06:54, 1 August 2012 (UTC)

Setting up new server for my son. Help needed.
My Son has been after me to set up a server to play Minecraft with his School friends for over a year now. I just purchased a new "server" computer today for this, his Birthday is in a few weeks.

I downloaded the latest version of JAVA as suggested and the minecraft.server.exe file. I then restarted the computer and have seven new icons for Minecraft on the desktop.

How do I add players to this server? Do I really just type their name in to the "white-list"?

How do I tell the server which world to play in? Is this the same as overwriting the "level.dat" file?

How do I know which IP address to tell him, so his friends can join in?

As of tonight I put my user name as an "Op" and both of our names on the "white-list".

This stuff may seem simple and obvious, but it is not to someone who is not current with todays technology.

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.
 * Ok first if all, you need to type in "whitelist on" on the console. This turns in the whitelist itself so only certain people can join. Next type in "whitelist add [username]. This adds the friends and him on the whitelist. Same for op, do "op [username]" so they can use commands. The spawn point is always in the overworld, so you don't need to worry about that. This is where it gets complicated. For the ip, for your son (and you if you play) you go the the command prompt and type in 'ipconfig". There it tells you the ip for your son. It should be 192.168.x.xxx. For his friends, google whoami and click on the first result there it will tell you the ip in big red bold numbers. This will not be 192.168.x.xxx. Nut first you need to go to you router and port forward port 25565.if you need help with that search it on YouTube. Hope this helps!
 * Ok first if all, you need to type in "whitelist on" on the console. This turns in the whitelist itself so only certain people can join. Next type in "whitelist add [username]. This adds the friends and him on the whitelist. Same for op, do "op [username]" so they can use commands. The spawn point is always in the overworld, so you don't need to worry about that. This is where it gets complicated. For the ip, for your son (and you if you play) you go the the command prompt and type in 'ipconfig". There it tells you the ip for your son. It should be 192.168.x.xxx. For his friends, google whoami and click on the first result there it will tell you the ip in big red bold numbers. This will not be 192.168.x.xxx. Nut first you need to go to you router and port forward port 25565.if you need help with that search it on YouTube. Hope this helps! --wikimaster012345 19:48 11 November, 2012 (UTC)

View Distance
It's possible to match the view distance on the server, to a "target" render distance on the client. In such way the chunks are loaded just beyond the fog. There are a few exceptions like on sunrise/sunset where the fog seems to be less effective and you might see land and trees "popup" at a distance. But for most cases, the terrain would become visible, slowly thru the fog.

One number less, and you will see the terrain "popup" at the end of your target render distance. And more, would probably just consume more resources than needed?

The distance of the different render options can be found here: Render distance Dividing by the length of a chunk (16) in any direction. We get the following:

Example: If you want to lower your view distance setting on the server, so that it matches a client render distance setting of Normal. You would set the server to 8.

In most cases, clients matching the target setting, wouldn't tell the difference between 8 or a higher number, because the fog would be hiding anything beyond that.

Clients using a further render distance, would see the world generate and popup at a distance. Which is the case of the typical settings for servers and clients: far (16) vs 10 on the server.

Clients using a lower render distance, would be limited on their client end. And will just see "more fog" accordingly. They wouldn't be able to see the chunks beyond the fog, but they should be streamed to their client. Not sure if the client negotiates a smaller chunk cache with the server when using lower settings (that would save resources for that particular client).

It seems it's not possible to achieve a smooth effect with the far render distance on the client. The client would render 1 more chunk then the server is capable of (16 vs 15). So even though the "far" setting does have a fog effect (it's just very far), you will still see things popup just before the fog ends (1 chunks difference). Note that you would probably have to use flying to have an unobstructed view to that distance and notice the effect.

Remember that when you pick a lower setting, your server may look just right for a particular render distance on the client, but users may still be using far rendering distances and just notice the world being cut off. Will add a suggestion to the forum for better negotiation of fog between server and client. McAfeeSDQ 07:00, 31 October 2012 (UTC)


 * Please mention and link Render distance in the view-distance row of the article's table. It would really help explain it. The page is protected, so I can't edit it. --65.8.89.254 00:54, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

View Distance vs Multiplayer Chunk Cache
Formula: ( 1 + ( 2 * n ) ) ^ 2 = m where: n = server's view distance, m = MultiplayerChunkCache

Or if you have the cache size and want to know what view distance they are using: ( sqrt(m) - 1 ) / 2 = n

TIP: Google search can solve simple math equations. Example 1 Example 2

ip address
were can i find the IP address


 * Leave server-ip blank; putting anything in it will cause an error and prevent the server from running. This is a feature intended for people operating dedicated servers with multiple network interfaces. If you have to ask, it doesn't apply to you. -- Orthotope 00:58, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

force-gamemode=false
What is force-gamemode? Noticied it in default 1.5.2 config file, it is "false". What it does? 213.149.4.109 13:57, 10 June 2013 (UTC)


 * My guess is that it forces all players into the default gamemode when they log in, instead of continuing in the same gamemode they were in when they last logged off of the server. -- Orthotope talk 21:37, 10 June 2013 (UTC)