# How to Change View Distance on Your Minecraft Server (/docs/minecraft/render-distance)



import { Tab, Tabs } from 'fumadocs-ui/components/tabs';
import { Step, Steps } from 'fumadocs-ui/components/steps';

**View distance** controls how many chunks are sent to each player. **Simulation distance** controls how far game logic runs (mob spawning, redstone, crops, water flow). These are the **two biggest performance levers** on a Minecraft server.

The Two Settings [#the-two-settings]

| Setting               | Default | Range | What It Does                                                    |
| --------------------- | ------- | ----- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `view-distance`       | 10      | 4–32  | Chunks rendered for each player. Higher = more visual range     |
| `simulation-distance` | 10      | 4–32  | Chunks where mobs spawn, redstone runs, crops grow, water flows |

Change View Distance [#change-view-distance]

<Tabs items={['Via Startup (Recommended)', 'Via server.properties']}>
  <Tab value="Via Startup (Recommended)">
    <Steps>
      <Step>
        Open Startup [#open-startup]

        In the [XGamingServer Panel](https://panel.xgamingserver.com), click **Startup** in the sidebar.
      </Step>

      <Step>
        Set the values [#set-the-values]

        Find the **View Distance** and **Simulation Distance** variables and adjust them.
      </Step>

      <Step>
        Restart [#restart]

        Restart from **Console** to apply.
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>

  <Tab value="Via server.properties">
    <Steps>
      <Step>
        Stop the server [#stop-the-server]
      </Step>

      <Step>
        Open server.properties [#open-serverproperties]

        Click **Files** in the sidebar and open `server.properties`.
      </Step>

      <Step>
        Set the values [#set-the-values-1]

        ```
        view-distance=8
        simulation-distance=6
        ```
      </Step>

      <Step>
        Save and start [#save-and-start]
      </Step>
    </Steps>
  </Tab>
</Tabs>

Performance Impact [#performance-impact]

| View Distance | Chunks per Player | Performance Impact                             |
| ------------- | :---------------: | ---------------------------------------------- |
| 4             |        \~64       | Minimal — emergency mode for very slow servers |
| 6             |       \~144       | Low — best for busy servers                    |
| 8             |       \~256       | Moderate — recommended for most                |
| 10            |       \~400       | Default — good for small/medium servers        |
| 12            |       \~576       | High — needs decent CPU                        |
| 16            |       \~1024      | Very high — only for high-end hardware         |
| 32            |       \~4096      | Extreme — solo testing only                    |

Recommendations by Server Type [#recommendations-by-server-type]

| Server Type                    | view-distance | simulation-distance |
| ------------------------------ | :-----------: | :-----------------: |
| **Large public** (50+ players) |       6       |          4          |
| **Public** (20–50 players)     |      6–8      |          6          |
| **Medium** (10–20 players)     |       8       |          6          |
| **Small** (5–10 players)       |       10      |          8          |
| **Private** (2–5 players)      |       12      |          10         |
| **Solo / testing**             |       16      |          10         |
| **Modpack** (5–15 players)     |       8       |          6          |

> **Tip:** Reducing **simulation-distance** has a **bigger performance impact** than view-distance because it controls mob spawning and entity processing. View distance only affects chunk loading, not active gameplay.

Why View Distance Matters So Much [#why-view-distance-matters-so-much]

Each chunk a server sends to a player consumes:

* **CPU** (chunk packet preparation)
* **Network bandwidth** (the chunk data)
* **RAM** (storing loaded chunks)
* **Disk I/O** (reading chunks from world data)

With 20 players × view-distance 12, the server has to track and transmit \~11,000 chunks. With view-distance 8, that drops to \~5,000 chunks — over 2x lighter.

Per-World Override (Paper) [#per-world-override-paper]

If you're running Paper, you can set view distance per world via `paper-world-defaults.yml`:

```yaml
chunks:
  player-max-chunk-send-rate: 75
chunk-system:
  io-threads: -1
```

And in `paper-world.yml` per world:

```yaml
view-distance: 8
simulation-distance: 6
```

This lets you give your spawn world more view distance while keeping resource-intensive worlds at lower values.

Per-Player View Distance (Plugins) [#per-player-view-distance-plugins]

Plugins like **EssentialsX** or **PerPlayerViewDistance** let you give individual players different view distances — useful for VIP perks or solving lag complaints.

Related Guides [#related-guides]

* [Server Properties](/docs/minecraft/server-properties)
* [Performance Optimization](/docs/minecraft/optimize-server)
* [How Much RAM](/docs/minecraft/how-much-ram)
* [Player Limit](/docs/minecraft/player-limit)
* [Pre-Generate Chunks](/docs/minecraft/pregenerate-chunks)