Pregenerate your Minecraft world with Chunky
Generating new land is one of the heaviest jobs a server does. Use Chunky to generate the world ahead of time, then add a world border so players never trigger it during play.
- Difficulty:
- Intermediate
- Time:
- 10 minutes (plus generation time)
On this page
Every time a player walks or flies into land nobody has visited, the server has to generate those chunks from scratch. That is one of the main causes of lag on survival servers. Chunky is a free tool that generates the world in advance, so later the server only has to load chunks that already exist.
Step 1: Install Chunky
Paper, Purpur or Spigot: open Plugins → Browse Plugins, search for Chunky and click Install.
Fabric, Forge or NeoForge: open Mods → Browse Mods, set the Mod Loader and Version filters to match your server, search for Chunky and click Install.
Restart the server after installing. You can also download Chunky from Modrinth or CurseForge and upload it with Files. Make a backup in Backups before your first big run.
Step 2: Choose the area
Run these in the Console (no slash), or in game with a slash as an operator.
Pick the world:
chunky world worldOn Paper and Purpur the other dimensions are
world_netherandworld_the_end. On Fabric, Forge and NeoForge useminecraft:the_netherandminecraft:the_end.Set the centre. Use the world spawn, or give coordinates:
chunky spawn chunky center 0 0Set the radius in blocks. A radius of 5000 covers 10,000 × 10,000 blocks:
chunky radius 5000For a small group server, 3000 to 5000 is plenty. Bigger areas take much longer and use more disk space.
Already have a world border? Use it as the area instead:
chunky worldborderStep 3: Start and watch the progress
chunky startChunky prints its progress in the console. Useful commands:
Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| Shows how far it has got |
| Pauses and saves progress |
| Carries on from where it stopped (also after a restart) |
| Stops the task completely |
| Prints progress only every 60 seconds |
Generation uses a lot of CPU. Run it when few players are online, for example overnight, and pause it during busy hours.
Step 4: Add a world border
Pregenerating only helps if players stay inside the generated area. Set a vanilla world border the same size. The border size is a diameter, so use twice your Chunky radius:
worldborder center 0 0
worldborder set 10000Use the same centre you used for Chunky. For the Nether, remember that 1 block there equals 8 blocks in the Overworld, so a smaller radius is usually enough.
Check your disk space
Generated chunks are saved to disk, and a large radius can add several gigabytes. Watch the Disk usage in the panel header while it runs. If you get close to your plan's limit, pause, reduce the radius, or upgrade your plan.
Frequently asked questions
Can players stay online while Chunky runs?
Yes, but they may notice lag because generation uses CPU. Pausing during busy hours is the easiest fix.
Do I need to keep Chunky installed afterwards?
No. Once the area is generated you can remove it, though it is handy to keep for when you expand the border later.
Does pregenerating fix all lag?
It removes lag from creating new land. Lag from farms, entities or plugins needs other fixes. Use spark to find them, and read How to fix server lag.
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