Chunky
Pre-generate chunks to eliminate lag when players explore new terrain. Supports custom shapes, radius and world border integration.
World ManagementWhat is Chunky?
Chunky pre-generates your world's chunks ahead of time so that when players explore, the terrain already exists and the server does not have to generate it on the spot — which is one of the biggest causes of exploration lag. You give it a centre, a radius or other shape, and it steadily generates the area in the background, with progress reporting, pause/resume and a configurable speed so it does not overwhelm the server. It integrates with the world border and supports multiple worlds. Running Chunky before opening a new map, paired with a sensible world border, is standard practice for a smooth server.
Who it's for: Any server about to open a new world or expand its border, and admins fighting exploration lag. Especially valuable before a launch or a fresh season. It is built and maintained by pop4959 and sits in the world management category.
Key features of Chunky
- Chunk pre-generation
- Multiple shape patterns
- Progress tracking
- Pause and resume
- World border integration
- Configurable speed
- Multi-world support
How to install Chunky
Chunky runs on Bukkit, Spigot or Paper servers. pop4959 maintains Chunky for current Spigot/Paper versions (and other platforms); it tracks recent Minecraft releases closely.
- 1Stop your server, or have it ready to restart. Always back up your world and plugins folder before adding a new plugin.
- 2Download Chunky.jar (a build matching your server version) and place it in your server's /plugins folder.
- 3Chunky has no required dependencies, so it runs on its own once the jar is in place.
- 4Start the server fully. Chunky generates its configuration files on first launch — stop the server, edit them to taste, then start again.
- 5Confirm it loaded by checking the console for Chunky on startup, or by running one of its commands in-game.
Note: Drop Chunky into /plugins and restart. It needs no dependencies. Set a centre and radius (or match your world border), then start generation — you can pause and resume, and it survives restarts via its task state. Generation is intentionally throttleable so you can run it while players are online without ruining TPS.
Chunky commands and permissions
Main commands
/chunky start- Begins pre-generating chunks for the configured area.
/chunky pause- Pauses generation, saving progress so you can resume later.
/chunky continue- Resumes a paused generation task from where it stopped.
/chunky radius- Sets how far out from the centre to generate.
Permission nodes
chunky.command.start- Allows starting pre-generation.
chunky.command.pause- Allows pausing generation.
chunky.command.cancel- Allows cancelling the current task.
Chunky FAQ
Why pre-generate chunks?
Generating new terrain is one of the most expensive things a server does, and it happens whenever a player explores unvisited areas, causing lag. Pre-generating with Chunky does that work in advance and in a controlled way, so when players arrive the chunks already exist and exploration is smooth.
How do I pre-generate up to my world border?
Set the centre and a radius matching your border (or use Chunky's world border integration), then run /chunky start. Chunky fills the area up to that distance. Pairing pre-generation with a fixed world border means you generate a known, finite region once and never lag on it again.
Can I run Chunky while players are online?
Yes. Chunky lets you throttle its generation speed so it leaves headroom for live players, and you can pause it during peak times and continue later. For minimal impact, lower its rate or schedule heavy generation for quiet hours; it survives restarts so long jobs can span sessions.
Does Chunky make the world file bigger?
Yes — generated chunks are written to disk whether or not a player has visited them, so pre-generating a large radius increases world size accordingly. This is the expected trade-off: you spend disk space up front to avoid generation lag later. Size your radius and border deliberately.
Can I pause and resume a generation task?
Yes. /chunky pause stops the task and saves its progress; /chunky continue resumes from exactly where it left off. The task state persists across server restarts, so a large pre-generation can be spread over multiple sessions without losing progress.
Features
- Chunk pre-generation
- Multiple shape patterns
- Progress tracking
- Pause and resume
- World border integration
- Configurable speed
- Multi-world support
Commands
/chunky start/chunky pause/chunky continue/chunky cancel/chunky radius/chunky shapePermissions
chunky.command.startchunky.command.pausechunky.command.cancel