Pre-tuned server configs: exactly what we change and why

Most Minecraft servers lag long before the hardware runs out — the usual culprit is vanilla entity AI (villagers, pathfinding) chewing through the single main tick thread. The fix is well known in the server-admin community: a handful of config keys in spigot.yml and Paper's world defaults. But if you've never run a server before, you shouldn't have to learn that the hard way.

So every new Paper or Purpur server on TrueTick starts with those keys already set. This page lists every single one — no hidden changes.

The ownership rule: seeded once, then the files are yours

We write these files once, when the server is created, before its first boot. After that:

• Any edit you make sticks. We never rewrite, patch, or "correct" these files.
• If you delete one, the server regenerates stock defaults on the next boot. We never overwrite a file that exists.
• Worlds you import replace whatever they ship with; your import wins.

What's in spigot.yml

Key	Stock	Ours	What it does
entity-activation-range.animals	32	24	Entities farther than this from any player stop running AI
entity-activation-range.monsters	32	24	Same, for hostiles
entity-activation-range.villagers	32	16	The biggest lever — idle villagers (trading halls!) are the classic tick-killer
entity-activation-range.misc	16	8	Items, arrows, etc.
entity-activation-range.water	16	8	Squid, fish, dolphins
entity-activation-range.tick-inactive-villagers	true	false	Villagers outside the range stop ticking entirely
merge-radius.item	2.5	3.0	Dropped items merge from slightly farther away — fewer item entities

What's in config/paper-world-defaults.yml

Key	Stock	Ours	What it does
misc.redstone-implementation	VANILLA	ALTERNATE_CURRENT	A faster redstone engine with near-identical behavior
misc.update-pathfinding-on-block-update	true	false	Mobs stop recomputing paths on every block change
collisions.max-entity-collisions	8	2	Fewer collision checks inside dense mobs/farms
tick-rates.behavior.villager.validatenearbypoi	-1	60	Villagers re-scan their points of interest less often; trading is unaffected
tick-rates.sensor.villager.secondarypoisensor	40	100	Same idea, different sensor
tick-rates.container-update	1	3	Container/hopper update packets every 3 ticks instead of every tick
tick-rates.grass-spread	1	4	Grass spreads slightly slower — purely cosmetic

On Minecraft 1.18 and older, Paper used a single paper.yml instead — these keys apply from 1.19 up. The seeded file is simply ignored by older versions and activates if you later upgrade.

What's in bukkit.yml

Key	Stock	Ours	What it does
settings.connection-throttle	4000	-1	Disables the per-IP reconnect throttle, so a group reconnecting to a just-woken server doesn't get "Connection throttled!" — this matters on TrueTick because sleeping servers wake on join

Purpur only: purpur.yml

Key	Ours	What it does
world-settings.default.dab.enabled	true	DAB ("dynamic activation of brain") ticks entity AI less often the farther the entity is from any player — the single biggest entity-AI lever Purpur has

JVM: Aikar's flags

New preset servers also run with Aikar's flags — the community-standard G1GC garbage-collector tuning for Minecraft servers. This affects only GC pause behavior, never gameplay.

What we deliberately did NOT touch

• spawn-limits — mob density stays exactly vanilla. Lowering caps is a real optimization, but it visibly changes the game, so it's your call, not a default.
• view-distance / simulation-distance — same reason.

Honest trade-off

One thing on this list is player-visible if you look hard: the reduced activation ranges mean mobs very far from any player tick less, so fully-AFK farms built far away can run somewhat slower. Everything else is imperceptible in normal play. If a specific farm needs vanilla behavior, raise entity-activation-range values back — the file is yours.

Servers created before this existed

Existing servers were not touched — you may have your own tuning, and we don't overwrite configs, period. Want this set applied to an older server? The tables above are the complete recipe, or ask us on Discord and we'll walk through it with you.