Resolving Minecraft Lag
Minecraft is such an amazing game for all that it can do. But it's an unfortunate fact that despite best efforts, nearly everyone will encounter lag while playing, either on their single player game or on a server. Sometimes this lag quickly goes away on its own, and sometimes it lasts for a long time. This article will talk about diagnosing different kinds of lag so that you can learn how to resolve it and get back to the fun.
To Our Customers
If you have purchased a server through us, please feel free to contact us and we can help out with any lag you may be having on the server.
What's causing the lag?
Determining the cause of your game's lag is vital to fixing it, so let's break the different types of lag down into a few simple categories. Make sure to read through each section to make sure you know what kind of lag you are experiencing.
Server-Side Lag
The Minecraft game server is the part of the game that processes everything that happens while playing. If you are in single-player, there is still an internal server that runs on your computer that your client is connected to locally. There are a lot of different things that can cause server side lag. It's usually relatively easy to determine if the lag you are experiencing is server-side, but it can be difficult to determine the exact cause.
Jump to a specific section:
| Section | |
|---|---|
| View / Simulation Distance | View Distance and Simulation Distance are Too Large |
| Exploration Causing Lag | Lagging while exploring the world. |
| Too Many Entities | Too many entities in the world (mob farm, dungeons, etc). |
| Too Many Chunks Loaded | Too many loaded chunks. |
| Memory Issues | Your server is running low on available memory. |
| Restart Your Server | Lack of server restarts can cause severe lag. |
Learn more about Diagnosing Server-Side Lag.
Client-Side Lag
Client-side in this case refers specifically to the game client that is rendering the game on your computer whether you are playing in single-player or connected to a server. When playing single-player, an internal server is running on your computer that your client is directly connected to. That makes understanding client side lag a little bit easier because it's typically associated with a drop in your displayed frames per second (FPS).
Jump to a specific section:
| Section | |
|---|---|
| Not Enough Memory on the Client | Your game client is running low on available memory. |
| Reduce View Distance | Reduce your server's view-distance. |
| Reduce Render Distance and Simulation Distance | Reduce your game client video settings for render distance and simulation distance. |
| Client-Side Frame Rate | Change your video settings to improve FPS. |
Learn more about Diagnosing Client-Side Lag.
Networking Lag
Playing Minecraft while connected to a server over the internet usually works without any issues. However, the internet is a really complicated system and you can encounter issues. Networking lag can be associated with issues such as: losing connection to your server, having a very high latency (ping), or rubber-banding in game. Sometimes these things can also be caused by server-side lag or a software bug in the game, so it's important to follow some steps to test your connection or to use tools to determine if the server is lagging.
Jump to a specific section:
| Section | |
|---|---|
| Connection Troubleshooting Guide | Follow these instructions to fix most issues with connection or your game in general. |
| Test Network Connection | Use ping, traceroute and MTR to test the connection to your server. |
| High Ping to Server | Learn about testing your network connection quality. |
| Request a Proxy | Proxies can help with intermittent connection issues. |
Learn more about Diagnosing Network Lag.
Updated 6 months ago