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[Java Edition] Performance Enhancements For Minecraft Servers (Multithreading?)

Performance is a serious issue for servers, and since the release of 1.13 the issues preventing servers from upgrading only seem to rise. Adding multithreading support will allow for Minecraft Servers to be able to upgrade to 1.14, which is known to have issues with chunk loading and lighting. 

The inability to use more than one thread is a huge restriction for servers. There are certain processes that can and should be done in parallel, some ideas are below. Server software like Spigot and PaperSpigot has implemented some of these, but others require such far reaching changes to Minecraft that only Mojang can implement it and have it work for everyone.

Some things that should be added include

  1. multithreaded chunk loading
  2. multithreaded chunk generation
  3. per-dimension tick threads, with synchronization on going through a portal
  4. chunk serialization and gzipping for saving to disk to be done in a separate thread
  5. an option to make lighting not calculated server side
  6. all mobs AI should be ticked simultaneously, this includes mob pathing to players and other things
  7. move as much packet handling as possible to the netty thread
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  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    Please, Mojang, make this a reality!

  • 5
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    This will definitely help with fitting many more people on a single world.

  • 10
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    Beyond multithreading, being able to utilize separate CPU cores would be a huge boon. With 8, 10, 12 core CPU's being commonplace now, Minecraft server software feels sorely out of date. 

  • 6
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    multithreading isnt something as easy as java.multithread = on They would have to completely rewrite both server and client of minecraft, and that brings up problems on its own. The real problem is minecraft being written in java, its just not made for that. End of point, people hear buzzwords like "multithreaded" and shove it at developers like it's both an easy and logical task to do. Imagine 4 Olympic runners running full speed around a track playing a game of telephone and not losing track of the original word. Now imagine them doing complex math telephone with each other, all in sync. That's multithreading. It's not going to be some super easy magical "wow we can fit 1000+ players!!! So easy!!! Just add multithreading !!!!1111". 

  • 13
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    For all I care 1.15 could be delayed for a year and I'd be happy with just multi threaded servers :)

  • 5
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    This could make minecraft multiplayer less laggy

  • 3
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    I think this is important for most vanilla survival servers out there. Dealing with over 50 or even 250 people (2b2t) is an absolute nightmare. There are newer cpus out there like the Threadripper or the i9 cpus that have 12 up to 20 cores and only a couple get used for a minecraft server. If this change were to take place server owners wouldn't need the best single core performance cpu out there (intel cpus) whilst amd cpus are getting far more popular each month. If players get multi-threading and servers don't for some reason then I have no idea especially with servers becoming more popular that we need to run many multiple servers just to support 1000+ players on one* server.

    This would change server hosting entirely to be honest and should have been added when the client also got multi-thread support.

  • 7
    Registered User commented
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    YES! Adding multithreading to servers (or the client) will greatly improve the lifespan of this game.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    Remember TickThreading.... This was so much of a performance boost.
    But, note that this won't as easy as just recoding some small parts of the code! The whole server would have to be rewritten (not everything, but a lot), and this could introduce many, many bugs.

    I'm for that, but I would understand if this wasn't implemented.

  • 2
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    I dont see anything bad about it or any problems. Its just genious

  • 4
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    It's a very good idea, and imo very needed. Me and some others run a server on paperspigot and the performance now on 1.14.2 is very very bad. Whenever there's at least more than seven people loading their own chunks the server's TPS drops down to 15 and below. Back on 1.13 at least 20 people could load their own chunks before the TPS dropped

  • 2
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    This would be very cool, because it would allow mobs to actually move around on 2b2t.org! Lighting based lag machines would be defeated!

  • 13
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    The importance of optimizing Java Edition servers cannot be overstated. The new versions cripple most hardware with even a few players. Is Microsoft trying to force everyone to buy realms??

    When I updated my server to 1.13, my players experienced horrible lag until I doubled the RAM and reduced the server render distance from 16 to 10 (loading less than half the chunks). From a per-chunk-loaded standpoint, Minecraft 1.13.x is four times more resource-heavy than Minecraft 1.12.x, and 1.14.2 is even worse. I'm out of options. We're permanently stuck with lag. I can't increase the available RAM or CPU speed any more, and further reducing render distance will severely impact gameplay.

  • 7
    Registered User commented
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    Java is not the reason of bad performance of the server, it is using multi-threading not correctly. And it is nice to see already almost 500 people agree with it. I hope that the developers of Java edition agree with it and implement it into 1.15. Take your time, we prefer a delayed update and release it with quality than smash updates with loads of bugs

  • 5
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    Just imagine thousands of player on a single map. That would be amazing. please make this a reality.

  • 10
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    I think in general it's also a good idea to try to rewrite some of the NMS code. Given that some of it has existed for 9 years and was written by someone who wasn't a software engineer, it's clear that there are problems. Mojang should try to do their best to work on server-side improvements. MC was never designed to hold 200+ players on a single server instance, but it SHOULD be easily doable! I have been able myself to host 500 on a 1.8.8 server, but NMS has not aged particularly well going into 1.13/1.14, so it needs performance improvements more than ever.

     

    Being able to design the server processes (especially the server tick) to use concurrency (offloading as many tasks as possible, such as mob movement, lighting, chunk loading, serialization, mob AI) should definitely be doable. Fixing the connection handler, updating it to use a Netty version that ISN'T from the 1600s, and bringing other performance improvements is desperately needed.

     

    The JE server community has long been fragmented to 1.7.10 and 1.8.8 (STILL!). The combat mechanic changes are going to be useful to aid this fragmentation and hopefully bring together the community, but this issue of server performance will lead to the multiplayer community never switching.

    If 1.15 brings server performance improvements along with combat mechanics changes, I have great faith in the future of this game (especially given its recent revival on Youtube and other sites that first popularized it).

  • 7
    Registered User commented
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    Not just servers needs this. The game as a whole needs this. If this isn't done the game will begin to chug more and more and more and servers will be unplayable. This would improve so much like already mentioned the servers, but it would help run mods and such too.

  • 4
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    the one most needed update.

    there are big servers running on CPUs like i9 9900k, which is 8 cores, 16 threads.

    just imagine the boost in performance.

  • 4
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    Could this idea be implemented for single player as well?

  • 8
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    DAMN i really need this update to roll out, my E3 1230 v6 has 8 threds (and 16Gb of wam) and it just cant keep a lan game of 15 players rolling, when someone is exploring we experience lots of tick slowdowns and skips

  • 2
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    Happy days

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    It would be Even netter To have a compltete Performance Update, Erich should completely increase the Performance, so you can have more mods for your game and Servers

  • 3
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    this would be great for servers like 2b2t

  • 7
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    Performance should be priority #1. I can't even play the game because of how bad server performance has gotten, any server I play on lags so badly with 1.14. If 1.15 released no new features but made the game actually perform well I'd be 100% okay with that. Just fix the game.

  • 2
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    I would really like to have this on single player also.

  • 8
    Registered User commented
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    Please Mojang we are begging you to implement something like this into the code. We know it would be hard to implement and would take many hours, but it needs to happens SO BADLY.

  • 3
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    100% yes. The number one issue with all servers is the server side lag. This can possibly fix most if not all of it.

  • 3
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    Definitely should happen, us anarchy server players has been stuck at 1.12 for too long. 

  • 7
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    A lot of servers are stranded on versions 11 and 12, because performance dropped significantly afterwards. Fixing the issues of 13 and 14 and adding multithreading is a HUGE deal.

  • 3
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    Agree. Ever since the 1.14 release, the server performance is chaotic. This would be a winner.