Entity Performance

Optimize entity ticking and activation for better server performance

Entities are one of the most significant performance consumers in Minecraft servers. Paper provides multiple systems to optimize entity processing while maintaining gameplay quality.

Entity Activation Range

Entity Activation Range (EAR) is a performance feature that reduces tick rate for entities far from players. Inactive entities are “activated” periodically rather than every tick.

How Activation Range Works

Entities are categorized into activation types:

// From ActivationType.java
public enum ActivationType {
    WATER,           // Fish, dolphins, etc.
    FLYING_MONSTER,  // Ghasts, phantoms
    VILLAGER,        // Villagers
    MONSTER,         // Hostile mobs
    ANIMAL,          // Passive mobs
    RAIDER,          // Pillagers, raiders
    MISC             // Other entities
}

Each type has its own activation range configuration.

Configuration

File: config/spigot.yml

world-settings:
  default:
    entity-activation-range:
      animals: 32
      monsters: 32
      raiders: 64
      misc: 16
      water: 16
      villagers: 32
      flying-monsters: 32
      tick-inactive-villagers: true
      ignore-spectators: false

Activation Range Values

Entity Type	Default	Recommended Low	Recommended High
animals	32	24	48
monsters	32	24	48
raiders	64	48	96
misc	16	12	24
water	16	12	24
villagers	32	24	48
flying-monsters	32	24	64

Reducing ranges below recommended minimums can break farms, mob AI, and gameplay mechanics.

Wake-Up Inactive Entities

Periodically “wake up” inactive entities to maintain some activity:

entity-activation-range:
  wake-up-inactive:
    animals-max-per-tick: 4
    animals-every: 1200        # 60 seconds
    animals-for: 100           # 5 seconds
    
    monsters-max-per-tick: 8
    monsters-every: 400        # 20 seconds
    monsters-for: 100
    
    villagers-max-per-tick: 4
    villagers-every: 600       # 30 seconds
    villagers-for: 100
    
    flying-monsters-max-per-tick: 8
    flying-monsters-every: 200 # 10 seconds
    flying-monsters-for: 100

Wake-Up Configuration Explained

-max-per-tick: How many entities to wake up per tick

-every: How often (in ticks) to wake entities (20 ticks = 1 second)

-for: How long (in ticks) entities stay awake

Example: animals-every: 1200 with animals-for: 100 means animals wake for 5 seconds every 60 seconds.

Villager-Specific Settings

entity-activation-range:
  villagers-work-immunity-after: 100  # 5 seconds
  villagers-work-immunity-for: 20     # 1 second
  villagers-active-for-panic: true
  tick-inactive-villagers: true

• villagers-work-immunity-after: Villagers stay active for this long after working
• villagers-active-for-panic: Always activate panicking villagers
• tick-inactive-villagers: Enable to maintain villager AI when inactive

Set tick-inactive-villagers: true to prevent villager trading halls from breaking. Disable for pure performance if you don’t use villagers.

Entity Tracking Range

Controls the distance at which players receive entity updates. Entities beyond tracking range are not sent to clients.

File: config/spigot.yml

world-settings:
  default:
    entity-tracking-range:
      players: 128
      animals: 96
      monsters: 96
      misc: 96
      display: 128
      other: 64

Tracking Range vs Activation Range

• Activation Range: Controls server-side entity ticking
• Tracking Range: Controls network updates to clients

Tracking range should generally be larger than activation range. If tracking range is smaller, players won’t see entities that are still being ticked.

Y-Axis Tracking Range

Paper adds vertical tracking range limits:

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml

entities:
  tracking-range-y:
    enabled: false
    player: default
    animal: default
    monster: default
    misc: default
    display: default
    other: default

Enable to limit vertical tracking distance (useful for tall builds):

entities:
  tracking-range-y:
    enabled: true
    animal: 32
    monster: 32
    misc: 16

Per-Player Mob Spawning

Paper’s per-player mob spawning distributes mob caps across individual players rather than globally.

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml

entities:
  spawning:
    per-player-mob-spawns: true

Benefits:

• More consistent spawning for all players
• Prevents spawn camping at mob farms
• Better mob distribution across the world

Comparison:

Feature	Vanilla	Per-Player
Spawn distribution	Global cap	Per-player cap
Player in populated area	Gets most spawns	Fair share
Player exploring alone	Few spawns	Full spawn rate

Keep enabled for survival servers. May disable for specialized farm servers where global caps are preferred.

Mob Spawn Limits

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml

entities:
  spawning:
    spawn-limits:
      ambient: -1
      axolotls: -1
      creature: -1
      monster: -1
      underground_water_creature: -1
      water_ambient: -1
      water_creature: -1

Set to -1 for default Minecraft limits, or specify custom limits:

entities:
  spawning:
    spawn-limits:
      monster: 50   # Reduce hostile mob count
      creature: 10  # Reduce animals
      water_creature: 5

Lowering spawn limits below defaults significantly changes gameplay balance.

Ticks Per Spawn

Control spawn attempt frequency per mob category:

entities:
  spawning:
    ticks-per-spawn:
      ambient: -1
      axolotls: -1
      creature: -1
      monster: -1
      underground_water_creature: -1
      water_ambient: -1
      water_creature: -1

Default values (from vanilla):

• monster: 1 tick (every tick)
• creature: 400 ticks (20 seconds)
• water_creature: 1 tick

Spawn Rate Optimization Example

Reduce creature spawn frequency to improve performance:

ticks-per-spawn:
  creature: 600  # Spawn every 30 seconds instead of 20
  ambient: 600   # Reduce bat spawns

Higher values = fewer spawn attempts = better performance but fewer mobs.

Entity Behavior Optimizations

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml

Armor Stands

entities:
  armor-stands:
    do-collision-entity-lookups: true
    tick: true

• do-collision-entity-lookups: Disable if armor stands are purely decorative
• tick: Set to false for static armor stands (significant performance boost)

For servers with hundreds of decorative armor stands, set tick: false for major performance gains.

Markers

entities:
  markers:
    tick: true

Marker entities are invisible entities for technical use. Disable ticking if not using them.

Pathfinding Optimization

entities:
  behavior:
    stuck-entity-poi-retry-delay: 200  # 10 seconds

Reduces pathfinding performance impact when entities can’t reach their destination.

• Default: 200 ticks (10 seconds)
• Disabled: Set to -1

Experience Orb Optimization

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml

entities:
  behavior:
    experience-merge-max-value: -1

Set to a value (e.g., 100) to limit XP orb merging:

entities:
  behavior:
    experience-merge-max-value: 100  # Merge up to 100 XP per orb

File: config/paper-global.yml

misc:
  xp-orb-groups-per-area: default

Limit XP orb groups in an area to reduce entity count.

Despawn Ranges

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml

entities:
  spawning:
    despawn-ranges:
      ambient:
        hard: default
        soft: default
      axolotls:
        hard: default
        soft: default
      creature:
        hard: default
        soft: default
      monster:
        hard: default
        soft: default
    despawn-range-shape: ellipsoid  # or 'sphere'

• Soft range: Entities have a chance to despawn
• Hard range: Entities always despawn

Custom example:

despawn-ranges:
  monster:
    hard: 96   # Despawn beyond 96 blocks
    soft: 64   # Start despawn chance at 64 blocks
  creature:
    hard: 96
    soft: 48

Entity-Specific Optimizations

Item Despawn Rates

File: config/spigot.yml

world-settings:
  default:
    item-despawn-rate: 6000  # 5 minutes

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml (alternative despawn rates):

entities:
  spawning:
    alt-item-despawn-rate:
      enabled: true
      items:
        cobblestone: 300  # 15 seconds for cobblestone
        dirt: 300
        netherrack: 300

Arrow Despawn Rates

File: config/paper-world-defaults.yml

entities:
  spawning:
    non-player-arrow-despawn-rate: default  # Inherits from spigot.yml
    creative-arrow-despawn-rate: default
    max-arrow-despawn-invulnerability: 200  # 10 seconds

Custom configuration:

entities:
  spawning:
    non-player-arrow-despawn-rate: 100  # 5 seconds for skeleton arrows
    creative-arrow-despawn-rate: 100

Monitoring Entity Performance

Using Spark

Profile entity ticking:

/spark profiler start
# Wait 60 seconds
/spark profiler stop

Look for:

• tickEntity - Entity AI and physics
• ActivationRange - EAR system performance

Count Entities

/minecraft:execute as @e run say 1

Or use a plugin like Essentials:

/minecraft:entitycount

Optimization Strategies

1. Aggressive Performance (PvP/Minigames)

# config/spigot.yml
entity-activation-range:
  animals: 16
  monsters: 24
  raiders: 48
  misc: 8
  water: 8
  villagers: 16
  flying-monsters: 24

# config/paper-world-defaults.yml
entities:
  spawning:
    spawn-limits:
      monster: 40
      creature: 5
      water_creature: 3

2. Balanced (Survival)

# Use defaults, enable optimizations:
entities:
  armor-stands:
    tick: false  # If using decorative armor stands
  spawning:
    per-player-mob-spawns: true
  behavior:
    stuck-entity-poi-retry-delay: 200

3. Vanilla+ (Minimal Changes)

# Keep activation ranges at defaults
# Only enable per-player spawning
entities:
  spawning:
    per-player-mob-spawns: true

Troubleshooting

Mobs Not Attacking

Cause: Activation range too low

Solution: Increase monsters activation range to 32+

Farms Not Working

Cause: Entities not ticking when players are far away

Solution: Ensure farm is within activation range or use chunk loaders

Villagers Not Trading/Breeding

Cause: tick-inactive-villagers: false

Solution: Enable tick-inactive-villagers: true

Too Many Entities

Cause: Mob farms, XP farms, or spawner accumulation

Solutions:

1. Reduce spawn limits
2. Enable alt-item-despawn-rate for common items
3. Use entity-per-chunk-save-limit

See Also

• Server Performance Overview
• Chunk Loading Optimization
• Network Optimization