How to Set view-distance and simulation-distance Properly

Why View Distance and Simulation Distance Matter

Every chunk your server loads costs CPU time. Two settings control how many chunks each player forces the server to handle: view-distance and simulation-distance. Getting view distance simulation distance minecraft tuned correctly is one of the fastest ways to reclaim TPS on a busy server.

view-distance determines how far each player can see. simulation-distance determines how far from each player the server actually ticks entities, redstone, and block updates. Chunks between the simulation boundary and the view boundary are sent to the client but remain frozen on the server side.

Default Values and Why They Are Too High

Vanilla Minecraft ships with a view distance of 10 and simulation distance of 10. For a single-player world this is fine, but on a 30-player server it means the server is ticking hundreds of extra chunks every second. We recommend lowering both values as a first optimization step before touching anything else.

Player Count	view-distance	simulation-distance
1-10	10	8
10-30	8	6
30-60	7	5
60+	6	4

These are starting points. Profile with Spark and adjust from there.

Where to Change the Settings

server.properties

view-distance=8
simulation-distance=6

This file controls the global defaults. Both values accept integers from 2 to 32.

Paper World Config (paper-world-defaults.yml)

Paper lets you override view distance simulation distance minecraft on a per-world basis. Inside each world folder, create or edit paper-world.yml:

chunks:
  no-tick-view-distance: 10

This adds extra frozen view range on top of the simulation distance, giving players a wider horizon without extra tick cost. See our dedicated guide on no-tick view distance for details.

Purpur (purpur.yml)

Purpur inherits Paper settings and adds nothing new for view distance. Configure it the same way.

How the Two Settings Interact

Think of two concentric circles around each player. The inner circle is the simulation distance, where the server runs full game logic. The outer circle is the view distance, where clients receive chunk data but the server skips ticking. If your view distance equals your simulation distance, there is no frozen ring and every visible chunk is actively ticked.

For the best balance of visuals and performance, keep simulation-distance 2 to 4 lower than view-distance. This lets players enjoy scenery while the server only processes nearby chunks.

Measuring the Impact

Use /spark tps before and after changing view distance simulation distance minecraft values. Watch the chunk tick section of a Spark report to see how much time your server spends on chunk operations. If chunk ticking dominates your tick, lowering simulation distance will give the largest improvement.

Also check our full TPS optimization guide for additional tweaks that pair well with view distance simulation distance minecraft adjustments.

Common Mistakes

• Setting simulation-distance higher than view-distance. The server will clamp it, but it wastes config clarity.
• Setting view-distance below 3. Some game mechanics break at extremely low values, including mob spawning and structure generation.
• Forgetting per-world overrides. If you set a global value but a world config overrides it, the per-world value wins.
• Ignoring client-side render distance. Players with a client render distance lower than your server view distance receive chunks they never display. This wastes bandwidth.

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Quick Checklist

• Set view-distance in server.properties.
• Set simulation-distance 2-4 lower.
• Enable no-tick view distance in Paper for extra visual range.
• Profile with Spark.
• Pregenerate chunks so the server never generates on the fly.