Scaling Your Minecraft World: How to Build Servers That Go BIG
Z
Zack Saadioui
8/12/2025
Scaling Your Minecraft World: How to Build Servers That Go BIG
So, you've been running a Minecraft server on an old laptop in your closet for you & a few friends. It’s been great, but now you’ve got dreams. Big dreams. You're thinking about a server that can handle not just ten or twenty players, but hundreds, maybe even thousands. A server that doesn't buckle under the pressure of a dozen simultaneous TNT explosions or a massive, sprawling city.
Here’s the thing: the jump from a small, local server to a truly scalable, high-performance machine is HUGE. It’s not just about getting a more powerful computer. It’s a whole different way of thinking about your server's architecture.
Honestly, it can feel pretty intimidating. But don't worry, I've been down this rabbit hole, & I’m here to guide you through it. We're going to break down everything you need to know to build a Minecraft server that can handle pretty much anything you throw at it.
The Problem with Your Local Server
Let's start with why that old laptop just won't cut it. A single Minecraft server, even on decent hardware, has its limits. The game itself is surprisingly resource-intensive, especially on the CPU. A single core of your processor does most of the heavy lifting, managing all the game logic, mob AI, & player interactions. When you start adding more players, more plugins, & more complex builds, that single core gets overwhelmed pretty quickly.
You'll start to see the signs: low TPS (Ticks Per Second), which is basically the server's heartbeat, leading to lag, unresponsive mobs, & a generally frustrating experience for your players. You can throw more RAM at the problem, but that will only get you so far. To truly scale, you need to think beyond a single server instance.
The Foundation: Choosing the Right Hosting
Before we get into the nitty-gritty of server software & proxies, let's talk about where your server is going to live. For a large, public server, your home internet connection & that dusty old PC just aren't going to cut it. You need a dedicated hosting provider.
There are a ton of options out there, from managed Minecraft hosts to powerful dedicated servers.
Managed Minecraft Hosts
For most people, a managed host is the way to go. Companies like Hostinger, Apex Hosting, & ScalaCube specialize in Minecraft servers. They offer user-friendly control panels, one-click modpack installations, & 24/7 support. This is a great option if you're not a sysadmin & just want to focus on building your community. Look for providers that offer high-performance CPUs (like AMD Ryzen or Intel Xeon processors with high single-thread performance), ample RAM, & NVMe SSD storage.
Dedicated Servers & VPS
If you're more technically inclined & want full control over your server environment, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) or a dedicated server is a great choice. Providers like Hetzner & OVH offer powerful dedicated servers for a surprisingly low cost. With a dedicated server, you get the entire machine to yourself, meaning no noisy neighbors hogging your resources. A VPS gives you a slice of a dedicated server, which can be a more budget-friendly option. This route gives you the freedom to install whatever operating system you want, set up complex networks, & fine-tune every aspect of your server's performance.
Here's a tip: when choosing a hosting provider, don't just look at the raw specs. Pay attention to their network infrastructure & DDoS protection. A good host will have data centers in multiple locations, allowing you to choose a server that's geographically close to your players for lower latency.
The Secret Sauce: High-Performance Server Software
Vanilla Minecraft server software is… well, vanilla. It's not optimized for performance. That's where server forks come in. These are modified versions of the official server software that are packed with performance enhancements.
Paper: This is the go-to for most server owners. Paper (and its forks like Purpur) includes a ton of optimizations that can drastically improve your server's performance, from more efficient chunk loading to smarter mob spawning. It's a drop-in replacement for the vanilla server JAR, so it's super easy to get started.
Fabric: If you're building a modded server, Fabric is a lightweight mod loader that's known for its performance. It has a growing library of server-side optimization mods that can give your server a significant boost.
Seriously, switching from the vanilla server JAR to Paper is one of the single best things you can do to improve your server's performance.
The Network Effect: Using a Proxy Server
Okay, so you've got a powerful server running optimized software. But what happens when you hit the limits of that single server? This is where proxy servers come in, & it's the key to building a truly scalable Minecraft network.
A proxy server, like Velocity or Waterfall, sits in front of your Minecraft servers. When a player connects, they connect to the proxy, which then forwards them to the appropriate backend server. This allows you to have multiple Minecraft servers running different worlds or game modes, all connected under a single network. Players can seamlessly move between servers without having to disconnect & reconnect.
BungeeCord, Waterfall, & the Rise of Velocity
For a long time, BungeeCord was the standard for Minecraft proxies. It's the original, but it's also a bit dated & has some known bugs & exploits. The team behind PaperMC created Waterfall, a fork of BungeeCord that fixed many of its issues & added some performance improvements.
But the new king of the hill is Velocity. It's a modern, high-performance proxy built from the ground up for speed & stability. It can be significantly faster than BungeeCord or Waterfall, which makes a huge difference when you have hundreds or thousands of players connecting to your network. While it has its own plugin ecosystem that's not compatible with BungeeCord plugins, most major proxy plugins have a Velocity version available. If you're starting a new network, Velocity is the way to go.
Taming the Beast: Performance Optimization
Now that you have a powerful server & a proxy, it's time to fine-tune your server's settings for maximum performance. This is where you can really squeeze every last drop of performance out of your hardware.
Pre-generating Your World
One of the most resource-intensive tasks for a Minecraft server is generating new chunks. When a player explores a new area, the server has to generate all of that terrain on the fly, which can cause significant lag. The solution? Pre-generate your world.
Using a plugin like Chunky, you can pre-generate a large area of your world before your players ever set foot in it. This means that when they do explore, the server just has to load the already-generated chunks from disk, which is much, much faster.
Fine-Tuning Your Server Configuration
Your server's configuration files (
1
server.properties
,
1
bukkit.yml
,
1
spigot.yml
, &
1
paper.yml
) are full of settings that can have a big impact on performance. Here are a few key settings to pay attention to:
1
view-distance
: This setting in
1
server.properties
determines how many chunks are loaded around each player. Lowering this value can significantly reduce the load on your server. A value of 6-8 is a good starting point for most servers.
1
simulation-distance
: This is another important setting in
1
server.properties
. It controls the distance at which the server will tick entities (like mobs & items). Lowering this can also have a big impact on performance.
1
entity-activation-range
: Found in
1
paper.yml
, this setting allows you to control how close a player needs to be to an entity for it to be active. By lowering these values, you can prevent the server from wasting resources on mobs that are far away from any players.
1
mob-spawn-range
: This setting in
1
bukkit.yml
controls how far away from players mobs can spawn. You can often lower this without your players even noticing, which can help reduce the number of entities on your server.
The Power of a Database
As your server grows, you'll start to accumulate a lot of data: player permissions, in-game currency, land claims, & more. By default, most plugins store this data in flat files on your server. This can become slow & inefficient, especially on a large server.
This is where a MySQL database comes in. Many popular plugins, like LuckPerms (for permissions) & CoreProtect (for logging & rollbacks), support using a MySQL database to store their data. By setting up a central database for your plugins, you can improve performance & make it easier to manage your server's data. If you have a multi-server network, a database is essential for syncing player data across all of your servers.
For businesses that rely on their Minecraft server for community engagement, managing customer data & providing support can become a challenge. This is where a tool like Arsturn can be a game-changer. Imagine having a custom AI chatbot on your website or Discord server that's trained on your server's documentation & FAQs. It could instantly answer player questions about rules, commands, or upcoming events, freeing up your staff to focus on more important things. Arsturn helps businesses create these custom AI chatbots that provide instant customer support, answer questions, & engage with website visitors 24/7.
Automating Your Server: Infrastructure as Code
Manually setting up & configuring a complex, multi-server Minecraft network is a recipe for disaster. It's time-consuming, error-prone, & makes it difficult to maintain consistency across your servers. This is where automation comes in.
Tools like Terraform & Ansible allow you to define your server infrastructure as code. You can write scripts that automatically provision new servers, install the necessary software, configure your server settings, & even deploy your plugins. This has a ton of benefits:
Consistency: Every server you deploy will be identical, reducing the chances of configuration errors.
Speed: You can spin up a new server in minutes, not hours.
Scalability: Need to add another server to your network? Just run your script.
Disaster Recovery: If a server fails, you can quickly deploy a new one with the exact same configuration.
There are plenty of examples of using Terraform & Ansible to deploy Minecraft servers on cloud platforms like AWS. This approach might have a steeper learning curve, but it's how the pros build & manage large-scale server networks.
Bringing It All Together
Building a scalable Minecraft server is a journey, not a destination. It's about starting with a solid foundation, choosing the right tools, & continuously optimizing for performance.
To recap, here's the path to a server that can handle a massive number of players:
Choose the right hosting: Start with a reputable managed host or a powerful dedicated server.
Use high-performance server software: Ditch the vanilla JAR & switch to Paper or Fabric.
Embrace the proxy: Use Velocity to build a multi-server network.
Optimize, optimize, optimize: Pre-generate your world, fine-tune your server settings, & use a database to manage your data.
Automate everything: Use tools like Terraform & Ansible to build a consistent, scalable, & resilient server infrastructure.
It might seem like a lot, but by taking it one step at a time, you can build a Minecraft server that will not only handle a large number of players but also provide a smooth, lag-free experience for your community.
For businesses looking to build a strong community around their Minecraft server, providing excellent support & engagement is key. That's where a platform like Arsturn comes in. By building a no-code AI chatbot trained on your own data, you can provide personalized, instant support to your players, answer their questions 24/7, & even generate leads for your business. It's a powerful tool for boosting conversions & providing a top-notch customer experience.
I hope this was helpful! Building a large-scale Minecraft server is a rewarding challenge. Let me know what you think, & good luck building your dream server