Notes

Minecraft Server Optimization

Lag is a major concern for server owners. Lag can have a variety of causes, whether it's from resources you add to your server or the hardware your server runs on. Apex hosts are hardware-free. There are many things you can do to reduce lag.



There are plugins that can reduce the lag. You can upgrade your server RAM, switch to a more optimized Minecraft jar, optimize your files, etc.



You may be wondering what causes lag, and how to eliminate it. There are several types possible of lag such as latency, TPS, and FPS. In this guide, we will give a breakdown of the different types of lag and the best way to mitigate it on your Minecraft Server.



Types of Lag



Server Lag (TPS)



Overall server performance is represented by its TPS (Ticks Per Second). TPS is the server's heartbeat. Your server beats at 20 ticks per minute, or one tick every 0.05 seconds.



Every tick brings about a slight change in various aspects of the server. Mobs move and grass grows, animals spawn, just about everything on the server depends on ticks. Normal gameplay will occur at 20 TPS if the server is performing at its maximum. If your server's TPS drops, you will notice lag in your game.



The server's hardware and what happens on it play a crucial role in determining the server’s total server performance score (TPS). Poor server management can be as damaging as inadequate hardware.



You should consider the long-term consequences of any mods or plugins you add to your server. Many server owners mistakenly believe that the server's number is the only factor that affects its performance. SOUNDZ PROMISING The effect of the server's players can have an affect, but it is very small in comparison to redstone machines and mob farms. TPS drops are primarily caused by what is happening in your world at any given time.



Client Lag (FPS)



A low FPS will usually mean that your game behaves slowly. If your framerate is too low, you may feel like you are watching a slide show. Low frame rates do not indicate that your server is slowing down. However, it could mean that your computer cannot keep up with your game. If you do have a consistent low frame rate on your PC, you will most likely need to adjust your game settings, update your drivers, or upgrade the graphics card, RAM, or CPU.



It is very important that you know that there is a difference between server lag and low FPS. Sometimes, low FPS and server lag can occur simultaneously. You may think that low FPS is due server lag but it is often an issue with your device.



There are many ways to fix low FPS without needing to upgrade your hardware. In Minecraft, you can go to the video settings and reduce all of the functions. For example, you can turn clouds off so that your computer doesn't have to try and render them. It's also a good idea for your computer to shut down any background processes you don't use. This will free up resources for the game. This can be done quickly by closing any open Taskbar items.



Another option is to switch your device to the high-performance plan under its power options. Windows PC users can switch to the high-performance plan by pressing Windows Key + X. This will open a new context menu. Next, select "Power Options" and you will be able to access your settings. Change the Power Mode setting to "Best Performance".



Connection Lag (Ping)



Your ping correlates with connection lag. Ping refers the latency between your server and your game. This is the time it takes for data to be processed and transported in milliseconds. High ping can cause your connection to the server to time out. High ping does not indicate lag. It may also crash the game because of the instability.



Having a low ping is best as lower latency provides smoother gameplay. The ping of a server that is further from you than your physical location will usually increase. The best way to minimize this is to move your server to the location closest to you and your players. Some factors that might affect ping include Internet connection speed, the quality of a user's Internet service provider, issues with the Minecraft servers network, and the configuration of firewalls.



Latency can change depending upon network conditions and the status on the server to which it is connected. You can test how bad latency will be on a server by "pinging" the server. This determines how long it takes for the server to receive a message and respond. There are many ways to test your Ping, but we recommend using your Command Prompt. Open a terminal, or a command prompt (Windows+X also supports this), and then type "ping serverIP". For example, you could type "ping play.apexmc.co". While the process may take some time, you will see the average Ping once it is complete.



A timings report is created



A timings reports allows you to track how long it takes your server for an event to be processed. This report allows you to spot potential lag issues and causes the server TPS drop. To run a Timings Report, log on to your server. Run the command: /timings ON. After 30 minutes, type the command: /timings POST. This will provide you with a link, go ahead and click on it to open the report in your browser.



Reading a timings report



The timings report's top section will include a simple graph showing your server's average TPS over five minutes. The graph's left side shows a brief summary of your server, including the average TPS. These are useful tools to help you get a general idea of the server's performance. However, they won't give you the reason your server is slowing down. You should focus on the data below the graph to diagnose the cause of lag.



The lower portion of a timings report contains a complete breakdown (also called a "tree view") of every tick that occurred during the reporting process. Each tree begins with a general overview of the type tick occurring. The top tree of the list will often provide a summary for the entire server's average ticks. To expand these trees and see more information about each layer, you can click on them. As you reach the end of the series of layers, you will be able to see what specific block or entity is ticking, and how long it is taking to tick.



A timings report will automatically sort information so that the processes that take longer to complete appear first. These items are often what causes any lag on the server. It is easiest to identify the cause of your server lag by looking at the top trees. Once you've identified the cause of your lag, you can go back and delete it from your server or change your settings to minimize its impact.



It can be intimidating to read a timings report. You have a lot of great resources to help you understand the timings report if you get stuck. Contacting our support team is the best option. Our tech support agents are experts in timing reports and can help you analyze them or guide you through how to read one if you get stuck.



How to fix a laggy Minecraft server



Server lag can be prevented by optimizing your server. Luckily, there are a lot of tools available for you to use to get the best possible performance out of your server and even push it beyond its normal performance limits.



Tick/Lag machines removed



Redstone is a fantastic mechanic that can be used to create almost any type or machine. However, having too many machines will cause problems to arise. It'll decrease your TPS, and cause lag for all players. This can be solved by limiting the machines and installing anti-redstone lag plugins such as this one. You should limit the number of automated farms, mob grinding machines, and other devices that require complex redstone mechanics. Whenever possible you should also include a method to turn off your machines and farms so they are not running all the time and eating up your server's resources.



Pre-generating your world



A vital step in lag removal is pregenerating the world. This must be done before any other steps. This can be done using the Chunky plugin. You can install the plugin by running the following commands: http://chunky-radius.5000 followed closely by http://chunky start.



This will pre-generate an area of 5,000 blocks around the world spawn. The server will slow down while this process is running but it will soon be completed. Your performance will improve greatly once the process is complete. You can increase the radius however much you wish, but we recommend that it not exceed 20,000 blocks. Any larger and you could possibly create more lag than you would be preventing.



One option that is beneficial to reduce on any type of Minecraft server is the view distance from the server.properties file. Any number between 6-8 can optimize the server without affecting gameplay. To improve overall performance, it's recommended to change both the "Net Compression Threshold", which is 64, and "Max Tick Time", to -1.



We recommend switching to Paper if you are currently running Vanilla or Spigot. Paper provides outstanding performance because it has many optimization and anti cheat features.



Optimizing your config files



Some of the main files that you will want to modify to really optimize your server are Bukkit.

yml and Paper.yml. Below we have included which settings you will want to change to get the best performance possible with minimal effect on your gameplay.

To access these settings, first stop your server by going to your control panel. Next, click on the tabs to display the optimized settings. These files can be found under the FTP File Access tab in your control panel. These files can be opened in the online editor by clicking the "edit" button located at the bottom of the file. Once you are done editing be sure to click the green "Save" button, then restart the server for the changes to take effect.



Bukkit.yml



Spigot.yml



Paper.yml



It is not enough to just change the base server file. Many plugins are available that can reduce lag. If you know which ones to use, you can find that lag can be reduced significantly on your server after installing a plugin or two. Here's a list of plugins that we recommend the most to our users.



ClearLagg (1.8+) Limit Pillagers (1.14+) Village Optimiser (1.14.2+) MergedMobs (Premium, 1.7+) Entity Tracker Fixer (1.14+) Farm Limiter (Premium, 1.7+) Mob Farm Manager (Premium, 1.7+) Lag Assist (Premium 1.8+) Spark (1.8+) StackMob (1.16+) Armor Stand-Limiter (1.8+)



Although these plugins won't stop all lag from your server, they can help. If you do not know how to install plugins on your Minecraft server, We have an easy guide for you to follow.



Owning a server is an important aspect. Players don't expect to experience lag when they join a server. It is impossible to control the lag that clients experience on client-side. However, there are some things you can do to reduce server-side lag.



If you are running a Vanilla Minecraft server, you may think that it won't experience lag. It is the base game. Unfortunately, the base version of the game doesn't provide many optimization options and can be slow. The game is now resource-hungry thanks to newer updates like 1.17+. Switching to Paper or one of its forks like Purpur or Airplane will drastically improve your performance. Following this guide after switching to Paper will further improve performance, keep your players happy, and keep your server lag-free.


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