How to pre-generate your Minecraft world with Chunky
Use the Chunky plugin to pre-generate chunks on your Paper server, prevent exploration lag, set a world border and keep an eye on disk space.
Updated · 2 min read
Pre-generating means creating the world's chunks ahead of time, so the server does not have to generate terrain while players explore. The Chunky plugin does this on Paper (and it also has a Forge version). Combined with a world border, it removes one of the biggest causes of lag.
Install Chunky
- Download Chunky for Paper/Bukkit from Hangar or Modrinth, matching your Minecraft version.
- Upload it to
pluginsand restart. - Run the commands below from the console (no slash needed) or in game as an operator.
Pick a size, and check your disk space first
Each pre-generated area uses disk space, and your team has 10 GB of disk shared across all servers on the free package. As a rough guide, a radius of a few thousand blocks can take anywhere from several hundred MB to a few GB depending on terrain and version. Start small and check the world folder size before going bigger.
| Radius | Area | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 2,000 blocks | 4,000 x 4,000 | Small friend group |
| 5,000 blocks | 10,000 x 10,000 | Typical survival server |
| 10,000 blocks | 20,000 x 20,000 | Large community, needs plenty of disk |
Generate the overworld
chunky world world
chunky center 0 0
chunky radius 3000
chunky start
worldis the name of your main world folder.centeris usually spawn, or0 0.radiusis in blocks. The default shape is a square.
Chunky prints progress, a rate in chunks per second and an estimated time remaining.
Manage the task
chunky pause
chunky continue
chunky cancel
Chunky saves its progress, so if the server restarts mid-task, run chunky continue to pick up where it left off.
Set a matching world border
Pre-generation only helps if players stay inside the generated area. Set the vanilla world border to the same size. A radius of 3000 means a border width of 6000:
worldborder center 0 0
worldborder set 6000
Chunky can also generate exactly to an existing border:
chunky worldborder
chunky start
The Nether and End
On Paper the Nether and End are separate worlds, usually named world_nether and world_the_end. Remember the Nether is 8 times smaller in coordinates, so a Nether radius of about one eighth of your overworld radius covers the matching area:
chunky world world_nether
chunky radius 400
chunky start
Tips for running it
- Pre-generation uses a lot of CPU. Run it when few players are online, and expect TPS to drop while it runs.
- Do not give the server so much work that it becomes unresponsive. If the console stops responding, pause and try a smaller radius.
- Take a snapshot after a successful generation so you do not need to repeat the work.
- Watch the console for disk full errors and stop if space is running low.