How to Set Up a World Border in Minecraft
Last modified on Mar 25, 2024 in General
The world generation in Minecraft is endless, as it continues for millions of blocks. Players in your dedicated server can spend weeks wandering around this large map unless you limit it. In cases where you want to make survival, creative, or other kinds of servers, making sure the map is an appropriate size is important. This is known as world borders in Minecraft, which can be configured to be any radius you want in-game. It comes in handy when preventing lag, controlling resources, pre-generating chunks, among others. Thousands of Minecraft server owners use this functionality to their advantage, but newcomers to the scene may be unfamiliar with it. Due to this, we’ve created this Apex Hosting guide to show you how to set up a world border in Minecraft.
Minecraft World Border
The default size of world borders in Minecraft is 30 million blocks, which is extremely large. If left untouched, players could theoretically reach the limit in survival mode. However, the vast majority of users have cheats or exploits to achieve this task. With this world size, there are roughly 12.5 million chunks that need to be generated for the map to be fully rendered. Keep in mind that each region has 95~ thousand blocks as of Minecraft 1.20+, assuming everything is filled. This is a lot of data and memory to store, making it impossible to fully generate worlds in servers.
However, world borders allow you to control how many chunks and blocks are generated – improving performance and reducing hardware stress. Other uses are typically for gamemodes, minigames, and other similar activities in Minecraft. Setting up world borders is quickly done with commands, but there are alternatives to achieve similar results. These other methods might also provide you with extra features and functionality. The sections below will showcase them and give you important information on controlling Minecraft world borders.
World Border Setup
As mentioned above, commands are used to set up the world border in Minecraft. Players must have OP permissions or cheats enabled beforehand, as it’s considered an admin-level feature. Once you’re ready, follow the instructions below to get started.
- Join the Minecraft server with OP permissions, then open chat.
- Proceed to type and enter
/worldborder center [x-coord] [z-coord]
- Reopen chat and execute the
/worldborder set [distance]command.Ex: 5000 blocks wide equals a 2500 block border.
- Use
/tpto teleport yourself near the border to confirm the changes.
Advanced Setup
There are other commands to consider when setting up world borders in Minecraft, such as determining the amount of damage players receive when outside of it. The table below will help you learn more about each one. These come in handy when the world border is relatively small.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| /worldborder damage amount [value] | Set the amount of damage per block the player takes per second when outside of the border. |
| /worldborder damage buffer [distance] | Set the block distance players must reach until damage is inflicted outside the world border. |
| /worldborder warning distance [distance] | Determines when players are warned in a specified number of blocks from the border. |
| /worldborder warning time [seconds] | Determines the duration, in seconds, of the warning when getting close to the world border. |
| /worldborder add [distance] [seconds] | Add to the current world border size with it slowly expanding, in seconds (default 0). |
Alternative Methods
Instead of using vanilla commands to set up a world border in Minecraft, consider using plugins or mods. These are external addons for your server that provide extra features.
Minecraft servers using Spigot, Paper, or other similar versions can support plugins. There are several world border options available online, with WorldBorder being extremely popular. This allows you to set the size for each of your worlds, its shape, and has optimization, unlike vanilla. Additionally, server operators can choose to generate the world from its border to save resources when normally loading chunks. There are other features with this that can be found on its official page.
Minecraft servers running on Forge or Fabric can have mods that control the map, such as World Border. The main feature of this allows players to “loop” around the world if attempting to pass through the border. Besides this, the mod provides you with ways to configure the size of each dimension and custom messages relating to them. It also prevents players from using exploits to get around the world border, which comes in handy when vehicle-related mods are also installed.
Conclusion
The Minecraft world is vast and open for players to explore, but can pose issues on servers if the size is too large. Alternatively, you might require the map to be small due to a gamemode or event. Regardless of the reason, setting up world borders in Minecraft is extremely beneficial. It limits how many chunks are generated, sets the level for players to use, and overall improves the quality of your server. Remember, many owners and operators use these features to their advantage to improve performance and reduce lag. If you have any questions or concerns about world borders in Minecraft, then reach out to our 24/7 Support Team for assistance.
World Border FAQ
The ideal size is anywhere between 20,000 to 100,000 blocks wide but heavily depends on your setup. Some gamemodes require larger maps compared to others, so finding the perfect one boils down to what you want. However, we strongly recommend avoiding having too big worlds since this can create performance issues.
Vanilla world border commands are suggested for any Minecraft server unless you desire extra features. Only install these types of plugins or mods if you want additional control over the map size and its behavior.
Yes! We highly recommend using the Chunky plugin or Chunk-Pregenerator mod to achieve that. Keep in mind that we advise making your world border small before using them, as it can cause performance issues if misused.
Useful Links
How to Become a Minecraft Server OP
Vanilla Minecraft Commands Guide
Adding Plugins to Minecraft Servers
Installing Mods to a Minecraft Server
