Various Minecraft players will have encountered the problem where the things they’ve been producing at their in-game home freezes up when they venture too far away.
This issue happens because the game isn’t loading all the world’s blocks at once, only the ones closest to the player.
If the game kept the whole world processing simultaneously, gameplay performance would drop hugely and the game could crash.
However, there are some methods to keep particular areas loading, which won’t compromise the PC performance. Plus, it can be helpful for your harvesting endeavors.
This guide will show you how to keep chunks loaded in Minecraft.
What is a Chunk?
A chunk is an area of blocks consisting of a 16 x 16 dimension that reaches from the bottom of the world to the maximum height. As mentioned, straying far from these areas will make any processes around it cease.
The most crucial chunk is the spawn point, where processes never stop loading.
Keeping Chunks Loaded
The primary method to keep a chunk loaded anywhere on the map is typically allowing an item to move constantly through the area.
To do so you will have to usually rely on a redstone machine. Anything that can keep a dropped item from standing still. Most of these designs will rely on hoppers and minecarts specifically to achieve this.
Let’s see the details on how to keep chunks loaded in Minecraft, making sure you’re free to explore the world while resting easy, knowing your production is up and running elsewhere.
Use a Nether Portal
One of the most efficient ways to maintain chunks constantly loading in Minecraft is using a Nether portal. In this case, you’ll have to make sure some object is moving through the portal.
But beware, there is a time limit when an object passes through a portal. So, when you pass an object through the portal, it will lay somewhere on the other side, loading its chunk.
However, if 15 seconds pass since the entity went through the portal, the chunk on the other side will freeze.
Make sure you avoid this 15-second interval so the chunk can process permanently. You’ll need to make a machine to constantly push any dropped item through the portal at least every 14 seconds.
Let’s see one of the most straightforward apparatus’ examples that can achieve this result.
Straightforward Portal Chunk Loader
Still, there are other ways to ensure that particular chunks won’t freeze up. They all feature the same principle of making sure an entity moves through the chunk’s area. Let’s see alternatives.
First, make sure to locate the center point of the chunk you want to keep loaded. At this point, you’ll build the nether portal and begin crafting the chunk-loading machine; the materials you’ll need for this are:
- 2 Dispensers
- 2 Block of Redstone
- 2 Powered Rail
- 2 Redstone Torch
- 2 Hoppers
- 2 Wooden Trapdoors
- 4 Rail
- 2 Detector Rail
- 1 Lever
- 1 Minecart
- 2 Lava Buckets
- Some Glass Blocks
- 2 Jack o’ Lantern
- Flint and Steel
After building the portal, place a Redstone block in front of it. Then, Place a Jack o’ Lantern next to the block, and put a Redstone torch on the side.
Put a dispenser on top of the Redstone torch. Make sure the dispenser is facing the portal. Then, add a hopper to the back of the dispenser.
Place a powered rail on top of the Redstone block. Next, put a Detector Rail on top of the Jack o’ and two regular rails on top of the dispenser and the hopper. When making your own variations of these designs it is useful to understand how rails work.
Finally, close everything up with glass blocks, ensuring a wooden trapdoor stays above the Redstone block and a lava block above the hopper.
Attach a lever to the system, put a minecart over the detector rail to see if the mechanism is working, and light the portal.
You’ll have to do the same machine on the other side. Remember, the machine on the other side must be symmetrical with the first one, so it can receive the minecart as it travels through the portal.
Check this video with a more thorough explanation and detailed tutorial.
Of course, you can find different and reliable variations such as this one and this self-fixing one.
Linking The Spawn Point
Since the spawn point is constantly loaded, you can use this to carry moving entities from the spawn point to another chunk.
Imagine a bunch of hoppers on the spawn point’s border of the chunk. Now, notice how you can carry an item through hoppers, starting from the spawn point to the chunk you want to keep permanently loaded.
This method can also begin from any permanently-loaded chunk that is already loaded, not only the spawn point.
However, some might consider this approach a bit difficult since the string of hoppers can extend to huge distances depending on where the other chunk is.
Previous Versions
Previous versions of Minecraft used to have different timers to consider when pushing an item through the portal and distinct methods of chunk loading.
One of these methods consisted of using glitched arrows. However, newer versions don’t enable this.
