How can I configure my server.properties file?
server.properties is a file in the main folder of your server which stores many of its important configuration options. Changing a setting should be as simple as opening the file in your server's Files tab, finding the line with the setting name on it, then editing the text after the = sign (sometimes there won't be anything after the = because it hasn't been set yet).
Please note that, after changing the file, you need to restart your server in order for your changes to take effect. Changing world generation settings, for example, may also require you to delete your current world folder(s) in order for new ones to be generated (see here for a more in-depth guide on resetting your world).
We've listed below some of the options in your server.properties that you might want to change, along with an example of what you might like to set it to.
level-seed=-1696067516
A "seed" is a unique string of text which Minecraft uses when generating a world. This means if you find a world with terrain you like while playing singleplayer Minecraft, you can run the /seed command and copy the text to your clipboard, then paste it into your server.properties
gamemode=adventure
The default gamemode is set to survival when creating your server, but you're welcome to set this to another one like creative, adventure or spectator. Setting players to Adventure Mode might be useful if you're making an adventure map, and don't want players destroying the world!
If you want players to be forced into this gamemode whenever they join the server (overriding if they were manually set to creative before, for example), set force-gamemode to true
enable-command-block=true
If you'd like command blocks to be usable in the world (although you'll still need to be an operator to give them to yourself), remember to set this to true otherwise they won't work.
enforce-secure-profile=true
Minecraft 1.19.1 introduced a chat reporting system, which also came with something called "chat signing" which ensures messages sent by players are legitimate, and were actually sent by their account. Disabling this means chat messages sent on your server cannot be reported, however this can sometimes solve issues where players with certain mods on their client are not able to join your server.
level-name=dropper-map-1
This is set to world by default, the name of the world folder on the server. If you have multiple worlds and want to switch between them easily, you can have multiple world folders with different names in the main folder of your server, then set this setting to the name of the world which you want to load on the next server start.
motd=JOSH'S COOL SERVER!\ncool people only
The "MOTD" (Message Of The Day) is the two lines of text displayed below the server name in the server list:
The easiest way to create a fancy MOTD is using this website, where you can then copy and paste your generated MOTD into your server.properties – it can be customised using colour codes, icons, and even gradients if you use a tool like this. Use \n if you want to go onto the second line.
pvp=false
Players killing each other when you told them not to? PvP is on by default, but you can set it to false!
difficulty=hard
Similar to the command, this allows you to set your server's "difficulty", with the available ones being:
peaceful – hostile mobs don't spawn, hunger is always full meaning health regenerates quickly
easy – mobs don't deal much damage, zombies can't break doors, cave spiders don't poison players
normal – mobs deal more damage, hunger can decrease a lot, vindicators can break doors
hard – mobs deal the most damage, hunger can kill players, zombies can break wooden doors
max-players=100
The maximum number of players who can play on your server at the same time. We don't limit your server's actual player slots, so you're free to up this number to whatever you wish (we set the default to 100), although keep in mind you're going to have to optimise your server heavily to handle large numbers like 100+.
online-mode=true
Setting this to false can allow "cracked" players running illegal/illegitimate versions of Minecraft to join your server, but this can pose a security risk as it means anyone can join with the username of another player. We highly recommend keeping this set to true and will not provide support for cracked servers as they violate Mojang's EULA.
If you're running your server behind a Velocity/BungeeCord proxy, you will most likely have to set your server to offline mode, so ensure adequate protection (a forwarding secret ideally) is set up so players can't join directly. Please get in touch with us if this if you're setting up a network so we can also firewall your backend servers accordingly.
resource-pack=https://download.mc-packs.net/pack/ae1f474756c0011f0837188b6be478da5764d495.zip
Sets a resource pack for players to automatically download when connecting to the server. Learn more about how to set one up here.
allow-nether=true
If you don't want players entering the Nether just yet, set this to false to prevent players from entering it. I'm not sure what happens if you do this while players are in the Nether, but I wouldn't recommend finding out.
On Paper-based servers (not Fabric/Forge), you can also prevent access to the End by setting allow-end to false in your bukkit.yml file.
view-distance=8
This controls the maximum "render distance" a user can have. Even if a user has the render distance on their client set to 16, it won't display chunks beyond the number which you set here. Sometimes decreasing this number can help with lag issues caused by lots of players exploring new chunks at once (something that can be avoided by pregenerating your world).
simulation-distance=4
This sets the maximum "simulation distance" which is the number of chunks in each direction of the player in which entities are loaded. Again, this limit is set on the server so clients' render distances above this number won't have any effect. Lowering this may help with entity lag issues, but will mean players will have to be close to any mob farms they've built otherwise they won't activate/trigger mob spawns.
whitelist=true
We enable the whitelist by default and recommend you keep it enabled for private servers with friends. This avoids unwanted players from joining and griefing your server, which can happen even if you don't share your server's IP outside of your friend group!
level-type=minecraft\:normal
You can set your Minecraft server's world to a variety of "level types" which include:
flat – a superflat world with no terrain, just grass
large_biomes – a default world but with much larger biomes than usual
amplified – a default world but the world gen height limit is increased, making for some pretty cool mountains
spawn-protection=0
This is the number of blocks around your spawn point which will be protected from griefing by non-operators. If you want to work with your players to build a server spawn, it might be best to set this to 0 so spawn protection is disabled.
hardcore=true
If set to true, the server is set to "Hard" difficulty and players will be set to Spectator Mode when they die. For professional Minecraft players only!
allow-flight=true
Contrary to what the name suggests, keeping this enabled won't allow players to fly around as if they're in Creative Mode, even if they are just in Survival. We have it enabled by default because it can prevent players from being kicked for "flying" while in minecarts/boats/other entities.
Please note that, after changing the file, you need to restart your server in order for your changes to take effect. Changing world generation settings, for example, may also require you to delete your current world folder(s) in order for new ones to be generated (see here for a more in-depth guide on resetting your world).
We've listed below some of the options in your server.properties that you might want to change, along with an example of what you might like to set it to.
level-seed
level-seed=-1696067516
A "seed" is a unique string of text which Minecraft uses when generating a world. This means if you find a world with terrain you like while playing singleplayer Minecraft, you can run the /seed command and copy the text to your clipboard, then paste it into your server.properties
gamemode
gamemode=adventure
The default gamemode is set to survival when creating your server, but you're welcome to set this to another one like creative, adventure or spectator. Setting players to Adventure Mode might be useful if you're making an adventure map, and don't want players destroying the world!
If you want players to be forced into this gamemode whenever they join the server (overriding if they were manually set to creative before, for example), set force-gamemode to true
enable-command-block
enable-command-block=true
If you'd like command blocks to be usable in the world (although you'll still need to be an operator to give them to yourself), remember to set this to true otherwise they won't work.
enforce-secure-profile
enforce-secure-profile=true
Minecraft 1.19.1 introduced a chat reporting system, which also came with something called "chat signing" which ensures messages sent by players are legitimate, and were actually sent by their account. Disabling this means chat messages sent on your server cannot be reported, however this can sometimes solve issues where players with certain mods on their client are not able to join your server.
level-name
level-name=dropper-map-1
This is set to world by default, the name of the world folder on the server. If you have multiple worlds and want to switch between them easily, you can have multiple world folders with different names in the main folder of your server, then set this setting to the name of the world which you want to load on the next server start.
motd
motd=JOSH'S COOL SERVER!\ncool people only
The "MOTD" (Message Of The Day) is the two lines of text displayed below the server name in the server list:
The easiest way to create a fancy MOTD is using this website, where you can then copy and paste your generated MOTD into your server.properties – it can be customised using colour codes, icons, and even gradients if you use a tool like this. Use \n if you want to go onto the second line.
pvp
pvp=false
Players killing each other when you told them not to? PvP is on by default, but you can set it to false!
difficulty
difficulty=hard
Similar to the command, this allows you to set your server's "difficulty", with the available ones being:
peaceful – hostile mobs don't spawn, hunger is always full meaning health regenerates quickly
easy – mobs don't deal much damage, zombies can't break doors, cave spiders don't poison players
normal – mobs deal more damage, hunger can decrease a lot, vindicators can break doors
hard – mobs deal the most damage, hunger can kill players, zombies can break wooden doors
max-players
max-players=100
The maximum number of players who can play on your server at the same time. We don't limit your server's actual player slots, so you're free to up this number to whatever you wish (we set the default to 100), although keep in mind you're going to have to optimise your server heavily to handle large numbers like 100+.
online-mode
online-mode=true
Setting this to false can allow "cracked" players running illegal/illegitimate versions of Minecraft to join your server, but this can pose a security risk as it means anyone can join with the username of another player. We highly recommend keeping this set to true and will not provide support for cracked servers as they violate Mojang's EULA.
If you're running your server behind a Velocity/BungeeCord proxy, you will most likely have to set your server to offline mode, so ensure adequate protection (a forwarding secret ideally) is set up so players can't join directly. Please get in touch with us if this if you're setting up a network so we can also firewall your backend servers accordingly.
resource-pack
resource-pack=https://download.mc-packs.net/pack/ae1f474756c0011f0837188b6be478da5764d495.zip
Sets a resource pack for players to automatically download when connecting to the server. Learn more about how to set one up here.
allow-nether
allow-nether=true
If you don't want players entering the Nether just yet, set this to false to prevent players from entering it. I'm not sure what happens if you do this while players are in the Nether, but I wouldn't recommend finding out.
On Paper-based servers (not Fabric/Forge), you can also prevent access to the End by setting allow-end to false in your bukkit.yml file.
view-distance
view-distance=8
This controls the maximum "render distance" a user can have. Even if a user has the render distance on their client set to 16, it won't display chunks beyond the number which you set here. Sometimes decreasing this number can help with lag issues caused by lots of players exploring new chunks at once (something that can be avoided by pregenerating your world).
simulation-distance
simulation-distance=4
This sets the maximum "simulation distance" which is the number of chunks in each direction of the player in which entities are loaded. Again, this limit is set on the server so clients' render distances above this number won't have any effect. Lowering this may help with entity lag issues, but will mean players will have to be close to any mob farms they've built otherwise they won't activate/trigger mob spawns.
white-list
whitelist=true
We enable the whitelist by default and recommend you keep it enabled for private servers with friends. This avoids unwanted players from joining and griefing your server, which can happen even if you don't share your server's IP outside of your friend group!
level-type
level-type=minecraft\:normal
You can set your Minecraft server's world to a variety of "level types" which include:
flat – a superflat world with no terrain, just grass
large_biomes – a default world but with much larger biomes than usual
amplified – a default world but the world gen height limit is increased, making for some pretty cool mountains
spawn-protection
spawn-protection=0
This is the number of blocks around your spawn point which will be protected from griefing by non-operators. If you want to work with your players to build a server spawn, it might be best to set this to 0 so spawn protection is disabled.
hardcore
hardcore=true
If set to true, the server is set to "Hard" difficulty and players will be set to Spectator Mode when they die. For professional Minecraft players only!
allow-flight
allow-flight=true
Contrary to what the name suggests, keeping this enabled won't allow players to fly around as if they're in Creative Mode, even if they are just in Survival. We have it enabled by default because it can prevent players from being kicked for "flying" while in minecarts/boats/other entities.
Updated on: 02/04/2024
Thank you!