Build a Better Creative Server

Pick the layout

Most public creative servers end up with several worlds: plots for everyone, a free-build world for trusted builders, and a showcase world for finished work. This guide builds that.

Plot plugin choice

PlotSquared is the standard plot plugin and integrates with FastAsyncWorldEdit. It's a paid download (about US$15) on SpigotMC. IntellectualSites publishes the source and release notes on GitHub, but the ready-made jar comes from the SpigotMC page. If you'd rather not pay, a free-build world with WorldGuard regions works well for smaller servers.

Server settings

Stop the server, then open server.properties on Files and set:

gamemode=creative
force-gamemode=true
difficulty=peaceful
spawn-monsters=false
pvp=false
spawn-protection=0
view-distance=8
simulation-distance=4
allow-flight=true

Install the plugins

Install from Minecraft Plugins (or upload the jar on Files → plugins), one at a time, restarting after each and checking the console for errors.

Arceon (advanced brushes, masks and noise patterns, by the goBrush author) is a paid plugin sold through the author's Patreon, and the author asks for permission before you run it on your own server. Only use it on that basis.

Check they loaded: run plugins in the Console. All should be green.

Create the plot world

Choose plot size and road width first

Plot size and road width are fixed once a world is generated. Changing them later means a new world and moving every build by schematic. Choose generously:

Merging is the escape hatch: ranks can combine neighbouring plots into one big plot (see step 7), so you don't need huge plots for everyone.

Option A: the main world as the plot world

1. Stop the server.

2. On Files, delete the world folder (and world_nether and world_the_end on versions before 26.1). This removes the existing world.

3. In server.properties, set level-name=plotworld.

4. At the bottom of bukkit.yml, add:

   worlds:
     plotworld:
       generator: PlotSquared
   

5. Start. PlotSquared generates the plot grid.

Option B: an extra world with Multiverse-Core

Keep your main world (for example as a hub) and create the plot world in the console:

mv create plotworld normal --generator PlotSquared

Or run the guided wizard in-game with /plot setup and follow each prompt.

Set the plot world's layout

Plot world settings live in plugins/PlotSquared/config/worlds.yml. Stop the server before editing, and only change size and width before anyone has claimed plots. Our recommended layout:

worlds:
  plotworld:
    plot:
      height: 62
      size: 64
      filling: minecraft:stone
      floor: minecraft:grass_block
      bedrock: true
      biome: minecraft:plains
      create_signs: true
    wall:
      height: 62
      block: minecraft:smooth_stone_slab
      block_claimed: minecraft:sandstone_slab
      filling: minecraft:stone
      place_top_block: true
    road:
      height: 62
      width: 7
      block: minecraft:quartz_block
      flags: {}
    home:
      default: side
      nonmembers: side

Start the server again. Fly along a road to check the layout looks right.

Optional: plot and road schematics

• Road schematic: build one perfect road section and save it, so every road gets lamps, kerbs or trees. See PlotSquared's road schematic guide.
• Plot schematic on claim: paste a starter floor or border when a player claims a plot. In worlds.yml, under schematic:, set on_claim: true and file: to your schematic's name.

Default flags for every plot

Under the same world in worlds.yml, add flags: that apply to every claimed plot unless the owner changes them:

worlds:
  plotworld:
    flags:
      mob-cap: 20
      entity-cap: 200
      vehicle-cap: 10
      misc-cap: 100

These cap mobs, entities, vehicles and misc entities (armor stands, item frames, items) per plot. They're the single best defence against plot lag.

The other worlds

Free-build world (trusted builders)

mv create freebuild normal --world-type flat

Then protect the whole world from everyone except builders with WorldGuard:

rg flag __global__ -w freebuild build deny

Builders with worldguard.region.bypass.freebuild, or added to regions, can build. Alternatively, give the builder rank membership of a big region.

Showcase world

A showcase world displays finished builds where nobody can break them. Copy builds in with schematics (see step 6), then lock it:

mv create showcase normal --world-type flat
rg flag __global__ -w showcase build deny
rg flag __global__ -w showcase interact deny

Add warps (/setwarp showcase) so players can visit.

World settings in every creative world

Game rules are per world, so set them in each. Minecraft 1.21.11 renamed game rules to lowercase names with underscores. Use the column for your version; if one isn't accepted, type /gamerule and let the autocomplete show your version's name.

With Multiverse-Core you can also set world properties: mv modify freebuild set gamemode creative, mv modify freebuild set difficulty peaceful, mv modify freebuild set allow-weather false.

Schematics

Schematics are saved copies of builds. They're how builders move work between worlds, back it up, and share it.

Schematics are stored in plugins/FastAsyncWorldEdit/schematics/ on Files, where you can download and upload them. To stop players filling the disk, give each player their own folder: in plugins/FastAsyncWorldEdit/config.yml, set per-player-schematics: true, and use schem-file-size-limit and schem-file-num-limit in their limit group (see next step).

Ranks and permissions with LuckPerms

The rank plan

Create the groups

Run these in the Console (in-game, start each with /):

lp creategroup builder
lp creategroup architect
lp creategroup helper
lp creategroup admin

lp group builder parent add default
lp group architect parent add builder
lp group helper parent add architect
lp group admin parent add helper

lp group default setweight 0
lp group builder setweight 10
lp group architect setweight 20
lp group helper setweight 50
lp group admin setweight 100

lp group builder meta setprefix 10 "&a[Builder] "
lp group architect meta setprefix 20 "&b[Architect] "
lp group helper meta setprefix 50 "&e[Helper] "
lp group admin meta setprefix 100 "&c[Admin] "

Each group inherits everything from the one below, so you only add what's new at each level.

default: basic plots

lp group default permission set plots.permpack.basic true
lp group default permission set plots.plot.1 true
lp group default permission set essentials.spawn true
lp group default permission set essentials.warp true
lp group default permission set essentials.speed true

plots.permpack.basic grants the everyday plot commands (/plot auto, claim, home, add, trust, deny, clear, delete, visit, merge and more). It includes merging up to 4 plots; if you don't want new players merging, also run lp group default permission set plots.merge false.

plots.plot.<number> sets how many plots a player may own.

builder: WorldEdit in their own plots

lp group builder permission set plots.plot.3 true
lp group builder permission set plots.merge true
lp group builder permission set plots.merge.4 true
lp group builder permission set fawe.permpack.basic true
lp group builder permission set fawe.plotsquared true
lp group builder permission set fawe.limit.builder true

• fawe.permpack.basic is FAWE's set of WorldEdit permissions considered safe for a creative server.
• fawe.plotsquared lets plot owners and trusted players use WorldEdit inside their plot only. FAWE keeps edits inside the plot.
• fawe.limit.builder selects the builder limit group you create in step 8.
• Brush plugins (FastAsyncVoxelSniper, goBrush, goPaint) each have their own permission nodes, listed on their plugin pages. Grant them to builder the same way. If you're unsure of a node, lp verbose on (see below) shows the exact one a command checks.

architect: more space, bigger edits

lp group architect permission set plots.plot.10 true
lp group architect permission set plots.merge.16 true
lp group architect permission set fawe.limit.architect true
lp group architect permission set worldguard.region.bypass.freebuild true

FAWE gives a player the highest value of each limit across all their limit groups, so architects get the bigger limits even though they inherit fawe.limit.builder.

helper and admin

lp group helper permission set plots.visit.other true
lp group helper permission set plots.admin.visit.untrusted true
lp group helper permission set coreprotect.inspect true
lp group helper permission set coreprotect.lookup true
lp group helper permission set essentials.tp true

lp group admin permission set * true

Give owners * through LuckPerms rather than op, and give fawe.limit.unlimited (or fawe.bypass) only to admins.

Give ranks to players

lp user Steve parent set builder
lp user Steve parent addtemp architect 30d
lp user Steve info

parent set replaces their group; addtemp gives one for a limited time (useful for competition winners).

Find a missing permission

If a command says no permission, run lp verbose on, have the player try the command, then lp verbose off. LuckPerms prints the exact node that was checked. Prefer clicking? lp editor opens a web editor link.

Set WorldEdit limits per rank

Without limits, one //set across a huge selection can stall the server. FAWE limits are in plugins/FastAsyncWorldEdit/config.yml under limits:. The default group applies to anyone without a specific limit permission. Copy it to make named groups, then grant fawe.limit.<name>.

Stop the server, then edit:

limits:
  default:
    max-actions: 1
    max-changes: 0
    max-checks: 0
    max-fails: 0
    max-iterations: 0
    max-entities: 0
    max-radius: 0
    max-brush-radius: 0
    max-blockstates: 0
  builder:
    max-actions: 1
    max-changes: 500000
    max-checks: 1000000
    max-fails: 500000
    max-iterations: 100
    max-entities: 50
    max-radius: 50
    max-super-pickaxe-size: 5
    max-brush-radius: 15
    max-butcher-radius: 50
    max-blockstates: 200
    max-history-mb: 256
    schem-file-size-limit: 10240
    schem-file-num-limit: 20
    confirm-large: true
  architect:
    max-actions: 2
    max-changes: 10000000
    max-checks: 20000000
    max-fails: 10000000
    max-iterations: 500
    max-entities: 500
    max-radius: 200
    max-super-pickaxe-size: 10
    max-brush-radius: 40
    max-butcher-radius: 200
    max-blockstates: 1000
    max-history-mb: 1024
    schem-file-size-limit: 102400
    schem-file-num-limit: 100
    confirm-large: true

Keep the other keys FAWE already has in each group. These are starting values; raise them if your builders hit them often and the server copes.

Start and test as a builder: a //set over a too-large selection should be refused with a limit message.

Keep it fast

Creative servers lag for three reasons: entities, redstone and giant edits. Tackle each.

Entities

• Plot caps (mob-cap, entity-cap, misc-cap, vehicle-cap) from step 4.

• Armor stands: in config/paper-world-defaults.yml, set entities.armor-stands.tick: false and entities.armor-stands.do-collision-entity-lookups: false. Decorative armor stands stop costing CPU. (It breaks armor-stand machines, which are rare on creative.)

• Entity save limit: in the same file, chunks.entity-per-chunk-save-limit stops chunks saving thousands of loose entities:

  chunks:
    entity-per-chunk-save-limit:
      arrow: 16
      experience_orb: 16
      snowball: 8
      ender_pearl: 8
      egg: 8
      item: 128
  

Redstone

• PlotSquared's plugins/PlotSquared/config/settings.yml has a redstone: section. disable-offline: true turns redstone off in plots whose owners and members are all offline, so abandoned clocks stop. disable-unoccupied: true goes further and stops it when nobody's in the plot.
• Per plot, owners or staff can run /plot flag set redstone false.
• In config/paper-world-defaults.yml, misc.redstone-implementation: ALTERNATE_CURRENT makes redstone much cheaper. Test redstone builds; timing can differ slightly from vanilla.
• Plugins such as AntiRedstoneClock-Remastered (on Hangar) detect and break fast clocks.

Physics and big edits

• /plot flag set disable-physics true stops sand, gravel and water updates in a plot, which helps detailed builds and huge pastes.
• FAWE limits from step 8 keep edits bounded.
• Allow 6–8 GB of memory on busy build servers. FAWE stores history on disk by default, which keeps memory down.
• A world border on free-build worlds (worldborder set 4000 in that world) stops endless exploration. Creative players can fly far, fast, generating chunks the whole way. Pre-generate the free-build area.

Measure

Run spark profiler start, wait 5 minutes during a busy time, then spark profiler stop. Open the link: it shows which plots, entities or plugins cost the most. Fix lag

Build competitions

Competitions keep creative servers alive. A simple, fair routine:

1. Make a contest world with a smaller plot size (for example 48 × 48) using mv create contest normal --generator PlotSquared, then set its size in worlds.yml and restart.
2. Announce a theme, a start and an end time. Use a schedule on Schedules with Send Command say Build contest ends in 1 hour! for reminders.
3. Entry: players run /plot auto in the contest world. Announce a one-plot-per-player rule and have staff remove extra claims with /plot delete.
4. Freeze the plots at the deadline. Players mark their plot finished with /plot done; staff can stop edits by removing build permission in that world.
5. Judge: players vote with /plot rate; staff check the top entries.
6. Showcase the winners: //copy and //schem save each winning build, paste it into the showcase world, and give winners a temporary rank (lp user <name> parent addtemp architect 30d).
7. Back up the contest world and lock the backup before resetting it.

Backups

Creative builds take hundreds of hours, and builders notice a lost evening.

1. Schedule a backup every 2–6 hours. On Schedules, create a schedule with a Send Command save-all task, then a Create Backup task 10 seconds later. Backup schedules
2. Lock a backup before every competition, update and world change.
3. Download a backup weekly and keep it on your own computer or cloud storage.
4. Database: if PlotSquared uses MySQL (plugins/PlotSquared/config/storage.yml), the plot owners live in the database, which panel backups don't include. Ask us for a dump, or keep PlotSquared on its default SQLite file so it's backed up with everything else. Databases
5. Single builds: CoreProtect can undo griefing on one plot without a full restore, for example co rollback u:Griefer t:2h r:#global. PlotSquared's /plot backup command (where enabled) saves and restores single plots.