Anarchy Servers

Decide what kind of anarchy

Write these decisions down and publish them. Players accept almost anything except surprises.

Install the plugins

Typical anarchy servers run very few plugins: anything that adds commands or protection goes against the idea. The usual set:

Install them from Minecraft Plugins (AEF and PacketEvents are both on Modrinth). Install plugins Restart and check with plugins in the console that all are green.

Configure AEF

AEF creates its config in plugins/AnarchyExploitFixes/. It's long, organised by area, and every module can be turned on or off. Work through it once, with the server stopped:

• Illegals: what counts as an illegal item (overstacked items, enchantments above the maximum, unobtainable blocks such as bedrock or barrier, items with impossible attributes) and whether to delete them or revert them.
• Chunk limits: maximum entities, tile entities and specific blocks per chunk (see step 4).
• Lag preventions: limits on redstone, pistons, fast-moving entities, elytra speed in new chunks.
• Patches: fixes for specific crash and dupe exploits.
• Elytra: speed limits, especially in chunks that haven't been generated yet.
• Chat and commands: command whitelist, so players can only use the handful you allow.

After editing, restart (or use AEF's reload command) and watch the console for config errors.

Harden Paper's own settings

Paper already blocks many exploits. These settings tighten it for anarchy. Edit the files with the server stopped.

config/paper-global.yml

item-validation:
  book:
    author: 8192
    page: 16384
    title: 8192
  book-size:
    page-max: 2560
    total-multiplier: 0.98
  display-name: 8192
  lore-line: 8192
  resolve-selectors-in-books: false
packet-limiter:
  all-packets:
    action: KICK
    interval: 7.0
    max-packet-rate: 500.0
spam-limiter:
  incoming-packet-threshold: 300
  recipe-spam-increment: 1
  recipe-spam-limit: 20
  tab-spam-increment: 1
  tab-spam-limit: 500
misc:
  max-joins-per-tick: 5

These are Paper's defaults; the point is to check they haven't been raised and know what they do:

config/paper-world-defaults.yml

chunks:
  entity-per-chunk-save-limit:
    arrow: 16
    ender_pearl: 8
    experience_orb: 16
    fireball: 8
    small_fireball: 8
    snowball: 8
  max-auto-save-chunks-per-tick: 24
collisions:
  max-entity-collisions: 2
environment:
  optimize-explosions: true
  max-fluid-ticks: 65536
misc:
  redstone-implementation: ALTERNATE_CURRENT
tick-rates:
  grass-spread: 4
  container-update: 1
  mob-spawner: 2
hopper:
  disable-move-event: false

spigot.yml

world-settings:
  default:
    max-tnt-per-tick: 100
    item-despawn-rate: 6000
    merge-radius:
      item: 2.5
      exp: 3.0

Raising merge-radius combines dropped items and XP orbs into fewer entities; it's one of the cheapest lag fixes there is. Lower max-tnt-per-tick (for example to 50) if TNT cannons cause lag.

server.properties

Restart, then check the console for YAML errors (it names the file and line).

Limit lag machines

Some players build machines whose only purpose is to lag the server. You don't have to ban them: just make sure no single chunk can cost too much.

Find them

1. Run /spark profiler start, wait 3–5 minutes during a lag spike, then /spark profiler stop. Open the link.
2. Look for a single chunk or entity type taking most of the tick. spark's view shows the world and coordinates.
3. The Paper /paper entity list command shows entity counts by type and where they are, which finds item and minecart piles fast.

Limit them

Set limits high enough that normal bases are never affected: a storage room with 200 chests is normal, 5,000 shulker boxes in one chunk is not.

Decide on duplication and vanilla exploits

Paper patches several vanilla exploits. In config/paper-global.yml, the unsupported-settings section can turn them back on:

unsupported-settings:
  allow-headless-pistons: false
  allow-permanent-block-break-exploits: false
  allow-piston-duplication: false
  allow-unsafe-end-portal-teleportation: false
  skip-tripwire-hook-placement-validation: false

Many anarchy servers turn on bedrock breaking and TNT duping because players expect them from vanilla. Paper calls these settings unsupported: they can change or disappear in any update. Decide on purpose, announce it, and re-check after every Paper update.

Plugin-based dupes (bugs in AEF or other plugins, or chunk-ban "dupes" that rely on a crash) are a different matter: patch them as soon as you hear of one. They're how anarchy economies collapse in a weekend.

Protect against book bans, chunk bans and crash items

These attacks put so much data in one place that the server or the client can't load it.

If a player is already book-banned and can't join, you can clear their inventory from the console while they're offline with a plugin that edits offline player data, or delete their file from world/playerdata/<uuid>.dat with the server stopped (they lose their inventory and position). For a chunk ban, a staff member can usually stand outside the chunk and break the blocks, or you can delete that chunk with MCA Selector offline.

Illegal items

"Illegals" are items you can't get in vanilla survival: overstacked items (64 totems in one slot), enchantments above vanilla maximum, unbreakable gear, unobtainable blocks (bedrock, barrier, command blocks, spawn eggs), and items with modified attributes. They usually come from old exploits or hacked creative tools.

In AEF's illegals section, choose for each type whether to delete the item or revert it (for example, reduce enchantments to the vanilla maximum). Turn on checks for the places items move: inventory open, pick-up, drop, container open and hopper transfer. Test with a creative account: give yourself an overenchanted sword with a command, switch to survival, and pick it up. AEF should fix or remove it.

Announce your policy: some servers keep "legacy" illegals from early history as a feature, others wipe them all.

Plan for world growth

How fast does it grow?

Every chunk a player sees is generated and saved. A player flying an elytra in a straight line can generate tens of thousands of chunks an hour. A small anarchy server can grow by several gigabytes a week; a busy one by tens of gigabytes. Measure yours:

1. Note the world size today: in Files, open the server folder; or check disk use on the Console page.
2. Check again in a week. That's your growth rate.
3. Divide your free space by it. That's how many weeks you have before you must act.

Watch the disk

• The Console page shows disk use. Check it weekly, and put a reminder in your calendar.
• If the disk fills, the server can't save and stops, and the newest chunks and player data may be lost. Don't let it get above about 85%.
• Backups take disk too (see step 10).
• When you're running low, contact us for more disk before it's urgent.

Choose a strategy

Most anarchy servers combine a large border with occasional trimming.

Pre-generate around spawn

Spawn is where everyone starts and the area that's hammered hardest. Pre-generate a few thousand blocks around it in every dimension so new players never wait for terrain:

chunky world world
chunky center 0 0
chunky radius 5000
chunky start

Then the Nether (chunky world world_nether, chunky radius 1000, chunky start). Do it with a backup and nobody online. Pre-generate

Limit generation from fast travel

Elytra and Nether highways generate huge numbers of new chunks. Options:

• AEF's elytra limits: lower speed in chunks that haven't been generated yet, or in the Nether roof.
• Paper's chunk-loading-basic.player-max-chunk-generate-rate in config/paper-global.yml (default -1, unlimited). Setting a limit (for example 40) caps how many new chunks one player can create per second. Players flying very fast see the edge of the world catch up with them, which is the intended effect.
• A lower view-distance: 6 instead of 10 generates under half as many chunks per player.

Trim the world safely

Trimming deletes chunks that nobody used. Minecraft records how long players have spent near each chunk (InhabitedTime, in game ticks; 20 ticks = 1 second). Chunks that were only flown through have an InhabitedTime of a few seconds; real bases have hours.

With Chunky (on the server)

Chunky's trim command:

chunky trim [world] [shape] [centerX] [centerZ] [radius] [radiusZ] [outside|inside] [inhabited]

Example: keep everything within 10,000 blocks of spawn, and outside that delete chunks where players spent 1 minute (1,200 ticks) or less:

chunky trim world square 0 0 10000 10000 outside 1200

Chunky prints what it's about to delete and asks you to confirm:

chunky confirm

Steps:

1. Announce downtime. Make, lock and download a backup.
2. Run the trim with nobody online.
3. Restart the server afterwards, as Chunky's docs require.
4. Fly out to a known base beyond the radius and check it's still there.

A higher inhabited value (for example 6000 = 5 minutes) deletes more; a lower one deletes less. Start cautious.

With MCA Selector (on your own computer)

MCA Selector is a desktop tool that opens a world's region files, shows a map, and deletes chunks by filter, for example InhabitedTime < "2 minutes". It's more visual but means downloading the world to your computer, which for a large anarchy world is often hundreds of gigabytes. It's most useful for smaller worlds, or for fixing one problem area (such as a chunk ban) on a downloaded copy of just those region files.

Backups for a huge world

Anarchy players don't expect rollbacks, but you need backups: for disk failures, for a disastrous trim, for a crash exploit that corrupts chunks.

The problem

A panel backup compresses the whole server. A 100 GB world makes a large backup that takes a long time to create, uses CPU and disk while it runs, and fills your backup slots quickly.

A plan that works

Schedule on Schedules (Backup schedules):

save-all flush makes sure every chunk is written before the backup starts; on a big world give it a minute.

Then restart after the backup has had time to finish (for example 0 10 * * *). Watch the first few backups on the Backups page: note how long each takes and how big it is. If backups take hours, back up less often, or ask us about more backup capacity.

Attacks and queues

Denial-of-service attacks

Popular anarchy servers get attacked more than any other kind, often by players from rival servers. Be realistic about what you can control:

• Keep the server's address private where possible. Give players a domain name (with an SRV record), not the raw IP and port. If you run a network, only the proxy should be public; back-end servers should never be advertised. Velocity networks
• Don't run other services on the same address (a website, voice server or web map) that reveal it.
• Bot floods (thousands of fake joins) are handled by Paper's max-joins-per-tick and an anti-bot plugin on the proxy.
• Large network floods can only be handled at the network level, not by plugins. If your server is being attacked, contact us with the times it happened.

Queues

When more people want to play than your server can handle, a queue holds them in line instead of a "server is full" message. 2b2t made the queue part of anarchy culture.

A queue needs a Velocity proxy in front of the server and a small, empty "queue" server where waiting players sit. Plugins:

• PistonQueue (free): built for anarchy and survival servers, in the 2b2t style; runs on Velocity (and BungeeCord) with a part on the back-end servers. Read its README for priority-queue setup.
• ajQueue (free, with a paid Plus version): general queue plugin, also handles queues while a server restarts.

Set the anarchy server's max-players to the number you can actually run smoothly, and let the queue hold the rest. Set up the network first. Velocity networks and Server networks.

Long-term running

Weekly

• Disk use, and growth since last week.
• /spark tps at peak time, and a profile if it's below 19.5.
• Console errors after the last restart.
• New exploit reports from players or other anarchy communities, and AEF updates.

Updates

Anarchy servers update later than others. Wait until Paper and AEF both support the new version, read AEF's changelog, lock a backup, and test on a copy if you can. New Minecraft versions also bring new exploits and dupes; the first weeks after a version release are when they're found.

Staff

Even with no rules, someone has to watch the server: restarts, illegal content, attacks. Give staff only what they need:

lp creategroup staff
lp group staff permission set minecraft.command.kick true
lp group staff permission set spark true
lp user StaffName parent add staff

Add your ban plugin's permissions for banning people who attack the server.