server.properties Explained: Every Setting That Matters

What is server.properties?

server.properties sits in your server root directory and is Minecraft's own configuration file. It controls everything from port number and difficulty to how far players can see.

Three things are worth knowing before you start:

• The file is only read at startup. You have to restart the server for changes to take effect. /reload does not reload it.
• Some settings only apply at world creation. Change them later and nothing happens to the existing world.
• Edit it while the server is stopped. The server rewrites the file when it shuts down, overwriting your changes.

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Server and network

Setting	Default	Description
motd	A Minecraft Server	The text under the server name in the player's server list
max-players	20	How many players may be online at once
online-mode	true	Verifies that the player owns their Minecraft account. Leave this on true
enable-status	true	Whether the server answers pings and appears online in the list
hide-online-players	false	Hides the player list from the outside
network-compression-threshold	256	Packet size in bytes before compression. Only set -1 behind a local proxy
enforce-secure-profile	true	Requires a Mojang-signed chat key

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World and gameplay

Setting	Default	Description
level-name	world	The name of the world folder the server loads
level-seed	empty	Seed for the world. World creation only
level-type	minecraft:normal	minecraft:flat, minecraft:large_biomes, minecraft:amplified. World creation only
generate-structures	true	Whether villages, temples and so on generate. World creation only
gamemode	survival	Default mode for new players
force-gamemode	false	Resets players to the default mode every time they join
difficulty	easy	peaceful, easy, normal or hard
hardcore	false	World creation only. Forces hard difficulty and permadeath
max-world-size	29999984	Distance in blocks from the centre to the world border
allow-flight	false	Does not grant flight. It only removes the "Flying is not enabled" anti-cheat kick
player-idle-timeout	0	Minutes of inactivity before a player is kicked. 0 = never
pause-when-empty-seconds	60	The server stops ticking once it has been empty this long. Set 0 if you run AFK farms

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Performance

Setting	Default	Description
view-distance	10	How many chunks are sent to players. Costs bandwidth
simulation-distance	10	How many chunks are actually ticked. Costs CPU
entity-broadcast-range-percentage	100	How far away entities are sent to the client
max-tick-time	60000	Watchdog: milliseconds a tick may take before the server is killed. -1 disables it
sync-chunk-writes	true	Write chunks synchronously. Safer but slower
region-file-compression	deflate	Compression for new region files: deflate, lz4 or none

If you want more TPS, simulation-distance is the most important line in the whole file. See our guide on fixing lag.

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Access and permissions

Setting	Default	Description
white-list	false	Only players on the list may join
enforce-whitelist	false	Also kicks players already online when the list is reloaded
op-permission-level	4	The level new operators get (0-4)
function-permission-level	2	The level data pack functions run at
spawn-protection	16	Square around spawn where only ops may build. 0 disables it
broadcast-console-to-ops	true	Show console commands to operators in-game
prevent-proxy-connections	false	Kicks players whose network does not match Mojang data. Also hits VPN users

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Remote access

Setting	Default	Description
enable-rcon	false	Enables the RCON remote console
rcon.port	25575	The port RCON listens on
rcon.password	empty	RCON will not start without a password
enable-query	false	The query protocol used to fetch server info
query.port	25565	UDP port for query. It does not follow server-port automatically

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Resource pack

Setting	Default	Description
resource-pack	empty	Direct download URL for the pack
resource-pack-sha1	empty	SHA-1 of the file. Without it players redownload the pack every join
resource-pack-prompt	empty	Your own text in the download dialog
require-resource-pack	false	Players who decline are disconnected

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Settings that no longer exist

As of Minecraft 1.21.9 a number of old settings were removed from server.properties and replaced by game rules. Setting them in the file today does nothing - the server ignores them:

Old setting	Replaced by
pvp	A game rule for PvP
allow-nether	A game rule for Nether portals
spawn-monsters	A game rule for monster spawning
enable-command-block	A game rule for command blocks

Game rules are set in-game or in the console with /gamerule and are stored in the world, not in the file. Type /gamerule and press tab to see the exact names on your version - the spelling has changed along the way.

If you run a version older than 1.21.9, the settings still work in the file. Many control panels and guides still show them even though they are dead on newer versions.

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The five most misunderstood

1. difficulty vs hardcore. hardcore only applies at world creation and forces hard difficulty regardless of the difficulty line. You cannot make an existing world hardcore by editing it.
2. allow-flight does not grant flight. Creative and spectator always fly. The setting only removes the anti-cheat kick so plugins and elytra edge cases do not throw people out.
3. view-distance vs simulation-distance. Chunks between the two numbers are visible but frozen. Simulation distance is what costs CPU.
4. spawn-protection does not apply to operators. If you test it as an op, you will never notice it.
5. level-type uses namespaced names. It is minecraft:flat, not FLAT. In the file the colon is written with a backslash in front: level-type=minecraft\:normal. That is correct and should not be "fixed".

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How to edit the file

1. Stop the server in the Potionhost control panel.
2. Open Files and edit server.properties in the root folder.
3. Change the value after the equals sign - no spaces around it.
4. Save and start the server.
5. Check Console for errors during startup.

Did something go wrong? Delete server.properties while the server is stopped. It is recreated with default values on the next startup - but note that level-name then resets to world as well.

Unsure about a setting? Contact our support before changing anything on a server with players on it.