Ultimate Minecraft Server Optimization: Aikar Flags & Paper Tuning

Running a smooth Minecraft server with 20+ players requires careful Java Virtual Machine (JVM) tuning and server configuration. Default Paper or Spigot settings tick too many entities and waste RAM on unoptimized Garbage Collection.

Recommended Aikar JVM Startup Flags

Copy these optimized G1GC flags into your server start script (adjust RAM to match your server, e.g., 6G - 10G):

java -Xms8G -Xmx8G -XX:+UseG1GC -XX:+ParallelRefProcEnabled -XX:MaxGCPauseMillis=200 -XX:+UnlockExperimentalVMOptions -XX:+DisableExplicitGC -XX:+AlwaysPreTouch -XX:G1NewSizePercent=30 -XX:G1MaxNewSizePercent=40 -XX:G1HeapRegionSize=8M -XX:G1ReservePercent=15 -XX:G1HeapWastePercent=5 -XX:G1MixedGCCountTarget=4 -XX:InitiatingHeapOccupancyPercent=15 -XX:G1MixedGCLiveThresholdPercent=90 -XX:G1RSetUpdatingPauseTimePercent=5 -XX:SurvivorRatio=32 --add-modules=jdk.incubator.vector -jar paper.jar nogui

Paper.yml Key Optimization Settings

• max-auto-save-chunks-per-tick: Set to 6 (reduces disk I/O lag).
• despawn-ranges.soft: Set to 28 / hard: Set to 96.
• entity-activation-range: Reduce tick ranges for passive animals and villager pathfinding.

Generate custom Windows (.bat) and Linux (.sh) start scripts with tuned flags using our Server Start Script Generator!