---
title: Understanding Pixelmon’s General Spawn Settings
description: Nearly every wild Pokémon that appears in your world is influenced by the settings in general.yml. This guide explains how to adjust core spawning mechanics, including despawning, Shiny and Hidden Ability rates, level scaling, Ditto transformations, Gigantamax factors, lure effects, and other general spawn behavior on your Pixelmon server.
source: "https://nodecraft.com/support/games/minecraft/mods/pixelmon/understanding-pixelmon-s-general-spawn-settings"
image: "https://dynamic-assets.nodecraft.com/signedurl/w7vokBAexMnVlnMZ1Q/image.jpg?modifications=W3sibmFtZSI6ImdhbWVfYmciLCJpbWFnZV91cmwiOiJodHRwczovL2Ntcy1hLm5vZGVjcmFmdC5jb20vZi8xMzM5MzIvMjAwMHg1NTAvZGNiMGFkNjkzOC9jYXZlcy1hbmQtY2xpZmZzLXB0LTItMS0yLTAucG5nL20vIn0seyJuYW1lIjoiZ2FtZV9sb2dvIiwiaW1hZ2VfdXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9jbXMtYS5ub2RlY3JhZnQuY29tL2YvMTMzOTMyLzM3NXgxNTAvM2MxZGIyYmFiNS9taW5lY3JhZnQucG5nL20vIn0seyJuYW1lIjoiY3RhX3RleHQiLCJ0ZXh0IjoiQ3JlYXRlIHlvdXIgb3duIHNlcnZlciEifSx7Im5hbWUiOiJ0ZXh0IiwidGV4dCI6IlVuZGVyc3RhbmRpbmcgUGl4ZWxtb27igJlzIEdlbmVyYWwgU3Bhd24gU2V0dGluZ3MifV0&s=f8913b31fa79d290ac7e289644a28308a366410e950e473b033a08ed02effcbc"
published: "2026-08-16T23:25:59.508Z"
updated: "2026-08-16T23:25:59.508Z"
---

# Understanding Pixelmon’s General Spawn Settings

Nearly every wild Pokémon that appears in your world is influenced by the settings in general.yml. This guide explains how to adjust core spawning mechanics, including despawning, Shiny and Hidden Ability rates, level scaling, Ditto transformations, Gigantamax factors, lure effects, and other general spawn behavior on your Pixelmon server.

The General Spawning section controls broad rules that affect how wild Pokémon are generated, scaled, transformed, refreshed, and removed. Control despawning, Shiny and Hidden Ability rates, player-level scaling, Ditto transformations, Gigantamax factors, lure effects, generation restrictions, spawn collection timing, and dimension lists.

## Pixelmon General Spawn Settings

The settings below are listed in the same order as they appear in general.yml. The table preserves each default and identifies the accepted value type. The Setting column shows a reader-friendly name first, followed by the matching general.yml key for reference.

| Setting and Config Key | Default and Accepted Values | Description |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Despawn Radius** despawn-radius | **Default:** 80 **Values:** whole number | The minimum number of blocks away from the nearest player a Pokémon can be when despawned. |
| **Shiny Rate** shiny-rate | **Default:** 4096.0 **Values:** decimal number | Modifies the rarity of shiny Pokémon. |
| **Shiny Charm Rate Multiplier** shiny-charm-rate-multiplier | **Default:** 3.0 **Values:** decimal number | The amount the shiny charm will multiply the shiny chance |
| **Hidden Ability Rate** hidden-ability-rate | **Default:** 150.0 **Values:** decimal number | Modifies the rarity of Pokémon with hidden abilities. |
| **Spawn Levels Closer To Player Levels** spawn-levels-closer-to-player-levels | **Default:** true **Values:** true or false | If enabled, wild Pokémon and trainers will spawn closer to the level range of the player. For example, a party where the highest level is 5 will never see Pokémon or trainers above level 15 unless through fishing. |
| **Spawn Levels Increase In Caves** spawn-levels-increase-in-caves | **Default:** true **Values:** true or false | If enabled, the y-value of the position a Pokémon spawns at will affect the Pokémon level proportionately, such that lower y-values will have higher level Pokémon. |
| **Spawn Levels Increase In Ultra Space** spawn-levels-increase-in-ultra-space | **Default:** true **Values:** true or false | If enabled, the Ultra Space Pokémon will be set at a higher level than the maximum level in your party MaxPartyLevel * ultra-space-level-multiplier |
| **Cave Max Multiplier** cave-max-multiplier | **Default:** 4 **Values:** whole number | The max level multiplier when you're at a lower level in caves |
| **Transform To Ditto On Catch** transform-to-ditto-on-catch | **Default:** 0.001 **Values:** decimal number | Chance for a wild Pokémon to turn into a Ditto on capture. |
| **Can Transform To Ditto On Catch** can-transform-to-ditto-on-catch | **Default:** [Pidgey, Rattata, Gastly, Zubat, Mankey, Yanma, Hoothoot, Sentret, Zigzagoon, Gulpin, Whismur, Taillow, Remoraid, Starly] **Values:** list | Pokémon which can transform to Ditto upon capture |
| **Gigantamax Factor Rate** gigantamax-factor-rate | **Default:** 512.0 **Values:** decimal number | Chance of a wild Pokémon spawning with the Gigantamax Factor (1/rate). 0 disables Gigantamax Factor spawns. |
| **Use Recent Level Moves** use-recent-level-moves | **Default:** false **Values:** true or false | If set to true, Pokémon will spawn with the most recent moves in their level-up movepools. If false, Pokémon will spawn with random moves from their level-up movepools. |
| **Despawn On Flee Or Loss** despawn-on-flee-or-loss | **Default:** false **Values:** true or false | Whether or not wild Pokémon will despawn if the player flees from them or loses against them. |
| **Lure Flute Duration** lure-flute-duration | **Default:** 180 **Values:** whole number | How long the effects of the Black/White Flute last for in seconds once used. |
| **Lure Flute Level Modifier** lure-flute-level-modifier | **Default:** 10 **Values:** whole number | By how many levels the Black/White Flute can affect spawns by. |
| **Blocked Generations** blocked-generations | **Default:** [] **Values:** list | Whether or not Pokémon from a specific generation can spawn. All generations enabled by default. |
| **Player Tracking Spawner Spawn Collection Rate** player-tracking-spawner-spawn-collection-rate | **Default:** 2 **Values:** whole number | The rate at which the player tracking spawner will refresh the spawns around the player. If you're on a server you want this number to be higher. This will mean less spawns per player but is important as it will impact your server's performance if too low. For single player the performance is irrelevant as you're just the one player. |
| **Auto Tag Specs** auto-tag-specs | **Default:** {gen1: generation:1; gen2: generation:2; gen3: generation:3; gen4: generation:4; gen5: generation:5; nonlegendary: islegendary:false; gen6: generation:6; legendary: islegendary:true; gen7: generation:7; gen8: generation:8; shiny: shiny} **Values:** mapping of keys and values | Controls the auto tag specs value used by Pixelmon. |
| **Interval Seconds** interval-seconds | **Default:** {wormhole_overworld: 1200; wormhole_ultra_space: 400} **Values:** mapping of keys and values | Controls the interval seconds value used by Pixelmon. |
| **Always Aggressive Dimensions** always-aggressive-dimensions | **Default:** [pixelmon:ultra_space] **Values:** list | Indicates which dimensions that all Pokémon will be aggressive. |
| **Horde Battle Dimensions** horde-battle-dimensions | **Default:** [pixelmon:ultra_space] **Values:** list | Indicates which dimensions a Horde Battle may occur in. |
| **Spawning Disabled Dimensions** spawning-disabled-dimensions | **Default:** [] **Values:** list | Indicates which dimensions that Pokémon spawning are disabled in. |

## Important General Spawn Setting Notes

### Defaults and Value Types

Rates, multipliers, timers, lists, and Boolean toggles behave differently. Keep decimal values in decimal form, preserve list syntax, and use true or false only for Boolean options.

### Settings That Work Together

Level scaling, Shiny and Hidden Ability chances, Ditto transformations, lure effects, and dimension restrictions can overlap. Review related settings together before judging a single change.

### Testing Spawn Changes

- Spawn changes are easiest to evaluate when only one group of values changes at a time.
- Test with representative party levels and in every dimension affected by the edited lists.
- Keep a copy of the previous values so an overly aggressive rate or refresh interval can be reversed quickly.

## Final Thoughts

General spawn settings touch many systems at once, so small, measured adjustments are easier to balance than a full migration of the Pokémon population overnight.