Changed mechanics
Sleeping, mobs, items, hoppers and redstone.
So that the server runs smoothly with many players, some values differ from vanilla.
Villagers
Villagers and wandering traders do not trade in the SMP. Where you get everything instead is under Villagers.
Sleeping
The night is not skipped; it runs faster once enough players in the Overworld sleep. Only active players count. A boss bar shows everyone how many are still missing. If someone gets up and it is no longer enough, time runs normally again.
This many must sleep:
- 1 player: 1
- 2 players: 2
- 3 players: 2
- 4 players: 3
- 6 players: 4
- 10 players: 6
- 20 players: 9
- 30 players: 13
- 50 players: 19
- 75 players: 25
Mob spawning
Fewer mobs spawn than in vanilla:
| Category | Vanilla | SMP |
|---|---|---|
| Ambient (bats) | 15 | 4 |
| Axolotls | 5 | 3 |
| Monsters | 70 | 25 |
| Water ambient (fish) | 20 | 10 |
How often the game tries to spawn mobs, in ticks (20 ticks = 1 second):
| Category | Vanilla | SMP |
|---|---|---|
| Ambient | 1 | 400 |
| Animals | 400 | 300 |
| Axolotls | 1 | 400 |
| Monsters | 1 | 10 |
| Water ambient | 1 | 200 |
| Water animals | 1 | 100 |
| Underground water | 1 | 200 |
Activation range
Mobs further from the nearest player are only rarely processed. AFK farms only work if you stand close enough.
| Type | Vanilla | SMP |
|---|---|---|
| Animals | 32 | 16 |
| Monsters | 32 | 24 |
| Other | 16 | 8 |
Despawn distance
| Distance | Vanilla | SMP |
|---|---|---|
| Mob may despawn randomly | 32 | 28 |
| Mob always despawns | 128 | 72 |
This applies to all mobs, measured horizontally from the nearest player. Named mobs never despawn, as in vanilla.
Items and XP merge
Items and XP orbs on the ground merge into one stack faster, sometimes even through thin walls.
| What | Vanilla | SMP |
|---|---|---|
| Items | 0.5 | 3.5 blocks |
| XP | – | 5 blocks |
Item despawn
In vanilla an item despawns after 5 minutes. In the SMP typical bulk drops despawn faster. This also applies to items you lose.
- 30 seconds: arrows, cobblestone, cobbled deepslate, andesite, diorite, granite, tuff, dirt, netherrack, red sand, leaves, grass, twisting vines, weeping vines, golden swords
- 40 seconds: bamboo, cactus, kelp, melons, melon slices, pumpkins, sugar cane
- 45 seconds: scaffolding
- 2 minutes: sand, gravel
- everything else: 5 minutes, as in vanilla
Hoppers, containers, grass and spawners
| What | Vanilla | SMP |
|---|---|---|
| Hoppers check for new items | every tick | every 4 ticks |
| Hopper transfer | every 8 ticks | every 8 ticks |
| Container updates | every tick | every 3 ticks |
| Grass spreading | every tick | every 4 ticks |
| Mob spawners | every tick | every 2 ticks |
Item sorters and clocks from vanilla tutorials may therefore need small adjustments.
Redstone
The server uses the “Alternate Current” redstone implementation. Redstone dust calculates its power for a whole network at once. It behaves almost exactly like vanilla. Only the order of updates no longer depends on position. A very few circuits that rely on random vanilla behaviour therefore act differently.