Change Minecraft settings in server.properties

Most of a Minecraft server’s settings live in one text file, server.properties: the difficulty, the default game mode, how many players fit, the message in the server list, how far players can see. On SLASHPLAY you edit it in the browser with the file manager, then restart the server. The file is part of every save, so your settings come back after every stop and restore.

Before you start

• The server must be live. The file manager shows the server’s files while it runs. See The file manager.
• The Control servers permission on the team, to edit files and restart. See Roles and permissions.

Steps

1. Click Manage on your server’s card and open Advanced, then Files.

2. Click server.properties in the server’s main folder and choose Edit.

   

3. Change the values you want. Each line is key=value, with no spaces around the =.

   

4. Save the file.

5. Open the Console tab and run save-all, so the world is written to disk before the restart.

6. Go to the General tab and click Restart server. Minecraft reads server.properties when it starts. The restart takes about 30 seconds and the address stays the same.

   

Some of these settings can also be changed live from the console, like difficulty hard or gamemode creative <player>. See Minecraft console commands.

Useful settings

Key	What it does	Minecraft’s default
difficulty	peaceful, easy, normal or hard. On Paper (latest) it only sets the difficulty of a newly generated world: for your existing world, run difficulty hard (or another level) in the console instead.	easy
gamemode	Game mode for new players: survival, creative, adventure or spectator. Players who’ve joined before keep theirs.	survival
force-gamemode	true puts every player into gamemode each time they join.	false
hardcore	true for hardcore: hard difficulty, and players become spectators when they die.	false
max-players	How many players can be online at once.	20
motd	The message under the server’s name in players’ server lists.	A Minecraft Server
pvp	false stops players from hurting each other. Newer Minecraft versions moved this to a game rule: if your file has no pvp line, look for it with /gamerule in game.	true
view-distance	How far (in chunks) the server sends the world to players. Lower it if a SMALL server lags.	10
simulation-distance	How far (in chunks) from players mobs move and crops grow. Lowering it also saves CPU.	10
spawn-protection	Radius around spawn where only operators can build. 0 turns it off. It only applies once there’s at least one operator.	16
allow-flight	true stops Minecraft from kicking players for flying. Turn it on if a plugin gives players flight.	false
level-seed	The seed for the world. Only used when a new world is generated, so changing it does nothing to your existing world.	empty (random)

The file may contain other keys, and their names can change between Minecraft versions. If a key you read about online isn’t in your file, it may have been renamed or turned into a game rule.

Managed by SLASHPLAY: don’t change

Your server relies on a few settings being exactly as they are:

Key	Keep it at	Why
server-port	25565	SLASHPLAY connects your public address to this port inside the server. Change it and nobody can join.
level-name	world	Only the world, world_nether and world_the_end folders are saved. A different name makes Minecraft create a world in a folder that isn’t saved, and it’s lost at the next stop. To use another world, see Upload your own world.
online-mode	true	With it on, Minecraft checks every player’s account with Mojang. Turned off, anyone can join under any name, including yours or an operator’s, which makes the whitelist and bans useless. Players’ inventories and positions are also tied to their verified account, so switching it would give everyone a fresh start.
white-list	Leave it to the dashboard	The Whitelist switch on the Game-specific tab turns this on and off. Use the switch, so the panel and the file agree. See The Minecraft whitelist.
enable-rcon	false	The Console tab talks to Minecraft directly, not over RCON, and an RCON port isn’t reachable from outside anyway.

Troubleshooting

My change didn’t do anything. Check that you clicked Restart server after saving, and that nobody toggled the whitelist in between. Open the file again to see if your value is still there. For level-seed, remember it only affects a new world.

Nobody can connect after I edited the file. Check server-port is still 25565 and online-mode is true. If the server crashed, the crash box on the server page shows the last output, which usually names the bad line.

The server list shows odd characters in my MOTD. Keep the MOTD to plain text, or look up Minecraft’s formatting codes for colours.

Related

• Minecraft console commands
• The Minecraft whitelist
• Upload your own world
• The file manager