Troubleshooting for Minecraft Gameservers

Bukkit-Server

Dev-Build

If you are running a Bukkit-Server you may have run over different versions. On one hand you have the “Recommended builds” which are updated every now and then. These builds are very stable and should contain very few to no bugs.
Between the update of these “Recommended builds” the developers release so called “Dev builds”. The dev builds are quite unstable and can contain a decent amount of bugs.
In most cases you also have to update your plugins or they may cause problems/crashes to your server which can corrupt your world. So it’s not recommended to use the dev builds.

Items/intensive server activities

While doing certain activities to your server/map you may run into some lagspike or crash. This can be caused by different things.
For example, this can be caused by:

• Spreading water
• Spreading lava
• Redstone circuits
• TNT-explosions
• Spawning monsters

To counter the lag you can use the ” WorldGuard ” plugin. This plugin gives you access to the ” /stoplag ” command which will temporarily stop all these resource abusing activities.

Plugins

Plugins can cause crashes and lags to your server if you don’t use the most recent version.
To check if your plugins are the problem, go into your “Webinterface->File browser->Minecraftbukkit”->Rename the plugins folder to something different(e.g. “pluginstest”).
If it’s working as intended now, you can activate your plugins one by one again and test if they are working. If it’s still not working, your map probably has some corrupted chunks.

Minecraft-Mania

The Minecraft engine isn’t designed to be used for many movable objects. Sometimes lag can be caused by minecarts which are “stuck” somewhere in your map and cost resources.
To clear the minecarts in your map your can use the ” /mm clearallcarts ” command. If it’s still not working, your map probably has some corrupted chunks.

Mobs

Too many mobs in one place can also be a problem if they are loaded by the player.
To check if your problem are the mobs, you can use the bMobs Bukkit-Plugin to wipe all animals from your map. If it’s still not working, your map probably has some corrupted chunks.

Chunks

What is a “corrupted chunk”?

Chunks are segments of the Minecraft worlds. They are 16 blocks wide, 16 blocks long, and 256 blocks deep. These chunks are saved in the world folder of your server.
If there is something malfunctioning or deleted in those chunks, your world may get corrupted. Now, instead of generating new chunks, the server just lags or freezes.

Possible Reasons

• Plugins not working as intended
• Servercrash while saving your files.
• Hardware problem(e.g. damaged memory, which is out of the question after our hardware checks)

Possible Solutions

• Loading a backup: Go to your “Webinterface->Backups” 2.0 BETA and select an older version of your world. You can also do manual backups in the “Minecraft->Backups” section.
• Isolating and deleting corrupted chunks: After collaborations with a external developer, we successfully released a “Chunkfix” tool which will scan your world for corrupted chunks and delete them. To use this tool go to “Minecraft->Chunkfix”.
• Creating a new world and copying your builds: This solution is a very complex process. To copy your builds over to another world you have to use tools like MCEdit (Download: http://www.mcedit.net/ ).
• Your last possibility: Creating a completely new world.