The server.properties file contains the core settings of your Minecraft server. In this article, we explain the most important settings.

Where do I find server.properties?

1. Log in to the Game Panel and select your server.
2. Go to Files.
3. Open server.properties to view and edit the settings.

Note: Restart your server after changing server.properties, otherwise the new settings will not take effect.

Most important settings

• gamemode — default game mode for new players (survival, creative, adventure, spectator).
• difficulty — difficulty level (peaceful, easy, normal, hard).
• max-players — maximum number of players that can connect simultaneously.
• view-distance — how many chunks (16x16 block areas) around a player are loaded and shown. Higher gives more view distance, but costs more performance.
• simulation-distance — how many chunks around a player are actively simulated (mobs, redstone, etc.).
• pvp — toggles player-versus-player combat on or off.
• white-list — toggles the whitelist on or off.
• enforce-whitelist — immediately kicks players not on the whitelist, even if they were already connected.
• spawn-protection — radius around the spawn point where non-operators cannot build or break blocks.
• level-seed — the seed used when generating a new world.
• level-type — the type of world generation (default, flat, large_biomes, etc.).
• motd — the text players see in the server list.
• online-mode — checks whether players must have a valid, paid Minecraft account to connect. Never turn this off without good reason, this makes your server unsafe.
• max-tick-time — maximum time (in milliseconds) a tick may take before the server shuts itself down (watchdog). With heavy modpacks this is often set to -1 to prevent the server from stopping unnecessarily.
• enable-command-block — toggles command blocks on or off.
• allow-flight — allows flying without this being seen as cheating, especially relevant with certain mods or plugins.

Troubleshooting

• Change has no effect: check whether you restarted the server after editing the file.
• Server no longer starts after a change: check whether you accidentally entered an invalid value for that setting (for example text in a number field).

Still stuck? Feel free to reach out via Discord or create a support ticket.