Minecraft what is simulation distance
Olivia House
Updated on March 22, 2026

Simulation distance is a world-creation setting in Bedrock Edition that controls mob spawning and despawning, and tick updates. As of Java Edition 1.18, simulation distance was introduced as a video setting related to render distance, to restrict tick update distance.Bedrock EditionJava EditionThe simulation distance control appears in the settings page when creating a new world. The values that can be set range from 4 to 12 in increments of 2 (even numbers only).See more on minecraft.fandom.com · Text under CC-BY-SA license
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Simulation distance is an extension of that, deciding which chunks are subject to other forces in Minecraft’s engine. This includes interaction not only with time, but …
To put things plainly, simulation distance is similar to render distance. Render distance dictates how far from the player the game renders visible chunks and loads them in, …
What is simulation distance in Minecraft? Simulation distance is how far away the game will actually load entities and apply changes to them. Render distance is how far away the game will load chunks and show the blocks. If you have a farm about 4 chunks from yourself and the simulation distance is 4 then the farm will grow.
One of the various options and settings in Minecraft 1.18 is a parameter called Simulation Distance. FOV, View Bobbing, UI Scales… you might already be familiar with most settings since other games also use those terms. But with Minecraft 1.18, you might be wondering what Simulation Distance settings are supposed to do. Here’s a (somewhat) simple …
In this video, we will talk about what simulation … Minecraft Java 1.18 snapshot 21w38a introduced simulation distance which has been part of Bedrock Edition.
How big is the simulation distance? The simulation distance is the distance the game actually loads devices and makes changes. The render distance is the distance the game loads the bits and renders the blocks. What is the scale of the Minecraft GUI? Graphical user interface scale. Controls the scaling of the graphical user interface (GUI).
Simulation distance is how far away the game will actually load entities and apply changes to them. Render distance is how far away the game will load chunks and show the blocks. If you have a farm about 4 chunks from yourself and the simulation distance is 4 …
View Distance and Simulation Distance are configuration options for Minecraft servers. View Distance sets the number of chunks that are visible in all directions around a player. Simulation Distance sets the number of chunks that will run in-game processes (even if they’re not visible): load entities, grow crops, run automatic contraptions, etc.
Simulation Distance: Simulation distance is similar to render distance, but affects the number of chunks in which entities are updated, and blocks and fluids are ticked. Simulation distance is more taxing on performance than the equivalent level of render distance. The available values are the same as render distance, except the minimum value is 5 chunks.
Related Questions
What is simulation distance in gaming?
Put in layman’s terms, simulation distance is the distance that the game’s engine will load entities and apply changes to relative to the player. This isn’t the same as render distance, which merely loads in chunks and blocks to be seen.
What is the difference between simulation distance and render distance?
Simulation distance is how far away the game will actually load entities and apply changes to them. Render distance is how far away the game will load chunks and show the blocks. If you have a farm about 4 chunks from yourself and the simulation distance is 4 then the farm will grow. Jun 11, 2009
Can you change simulation distance in Minecraft realm?
The increased capacity is great, except that now you cannot choose a lower simulation distance even if you want to. If you upload to your realm a world with simulation distance lower than 10, it gets changed to 10. What is simulation distance in Minecraft?
What is simulation distance of a farm?
If you have a farm about 4 chunks from yourself and the simulation distance is 4 then the farm will grow. If you are 5 chunks away then the farm is still visible but not growing. Hope this helps!! What is Java’s default Simulation Distance?