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What Should You Set Your Simulation Distance to in Minecraft?

For Bedrock, 4 chunks is the documented default. Increase simulation distance only when distant gameplay activity matters and performance allows; use render distance to see farther.
WorldMinecraft? Length3 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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In Bedrock Edition, start with the documented default of 4 chunks. Raise it only when you need game activity to run farther away and performance remains smooth. Microsoft documents a maximum of 12 chunks on supported devices, but neither figure is a universal performance recommendation. If you only want to see farther, increase render distance instead.

What simulation distance changes

Simulation distance sets how far from a player Minecraft processes game mechanics. A chunk is 16 blocks wide and 16 blocks long. Within the active area, things such as entity behavior, mob spawning, plant growth, and fluid movement can be processed. Render distance, by contrast, controls how far blocks, entities, and other visible objects are drawn. A distant chunk can be visible without its game mechanics being active.

Microsoft explains that simulation distance can have a higher performance cost because it affects both the client and server, and the simulation area is rendered too. So if your goal is scenery rather than distant gameplay activity, favor render distance where the game and server let you adjust it separately. That is a practical inference from the documented distinction, not a device-specific benchmark. Microsoft’s simulation and render distance guide gives a 4-chunk default for Bedrock simulation distance and says the setting can reach 12 depending on device. Its documented render-distance range is 4–96 chunks, but the available range depends on platform, and Realms may have different limits.

How to choose a setting

  • For smooth play: Start at the default or choose a lower available setting if you notice stuttering or a struggling server. Reducing the active gameplay range is a sensible tuning step, but the improvement depends on the device, world, and number of players.
  • For farms or activity farther away: Increase simulation distance gradually, then check whether the relevant farm, mobs, crops, or fluids are within the active area. A higher setting can extend where mechanics run, but it also increases the area being processed.
  • For distant scenery: Raise render distance rather than simulation distance if you do not need gameplay mechanics running in those distant chunks.
  • For multiplayer: Check the server’s limits before changing your client setting. The server may cap how much distance clients can use.

Official guidance does not provide controlled hardware benchmarks or a universal chart matching settings to a CPU, GPU, memory amount, or console model. There is no evidence-based “best” value for a particular device in the figures cited here.

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Bedrock multiplayer server limits

On a Bedrock Dedicated Server, the administrator controls relevant limits through the server properties file. Microsoft lists tick-distance with a default of 4 and allowed values from 4 to 12. The same documentation lists view-distance with a default of 32 and allows positive integers of 5 or greater; higher view distance can affect performance. A client cannot receive more view distance than the server permits. See Microsoft’s Bedrock Dedicated Server properties for the settings.

When ticking areas are an alternative

Bedrock ticking areas can keep selected regions active when no player is nearby, rather than increasing the active range around every player. Microsoft says a world can have up to 10 separate ticking areas, each containing up to 100 chunks, created with /tickingarea add. Larger or more numerous areas cost more performance, so keep them as small and few as practical. They also have limits: for example, mobs do not spawn in ticking areas unless a player is within simulation distance. Microsoft’s guide explains these mechanics and constraints.

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Java Edition and Realms caveats

Java Edition has a simulation-distance setting: Mojang’s Java 1.18 release information announced a video-settings slider and a simulation-distance property for dedicated servers. That announcement establishes the setting’s introduction, not a current universal recommendation or complete current range. Do not apply Bedrock’s device-dependent 4-to-12 guidance to Java. See Mojang’s Java 1.18 release information.

Minecraft 26.3 Snapshot 9, published August 17, 2026, described separate render-distance and simulation-distance sliders for Realms and said owners could raise render distance to 25 chunks in that snapshot. This is snapshot-specific information; it does not establish that the feature or limit is available in a final release. Read the Snapshot 9 announcement for that version’s details.

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