Configuring view distance on a Minecraft server

In Minecraft, view distance dictates how many chunks a player can see when looking in a certain direction. With this configured on the server, it will limit the amount of data (in a chunk radius) that is sent to every player. Increasing this number will enhance the distance that each player can see, though at the cost of RAM (memory). Keeping this value low will reduce the distance that a player can see, however will load less chunks around the player, and therefore decrease the RAM (memory) usage on the server.

Configuring via NodePanel

If your server is hosted with us here at Nodecraft, you can change the View Distance right in the control panel we provide to you.

On the left hand side of the NodePanel, select the "Game Settings" section, then the "World" tab near the top.

Scroll down to the bottom of the panel, you will see the View Distance option. Using either the slider bar or the text box field, you can change how many chunks each player will load. Don't forget to press the Save button in the lower right, and when your server is next restarted, the server will be using the new value.

Configuring via server.properties

You can also change the View Distance of your server by directly editing the server.properties file.

You can find the server.properties file in NodePanel by navigating to the "File Manager" section on the left hand side of the panel.

The server.properties will be in the main directory of your File Manager. Depending on if you're running modded Minecraft or not, you might see more files and folders than what is shown in this screenshot. Locate the file, select it, and click the "Edit" button. There will be a view-distance line where you will change the integer value. Remember to Save your edits! Your change will go into effect on your next server restart.

10 is the default and recommended value in up-to-date versions of Minecraft. If you have issues with higher numbers, reduce this value.