Fixing Terraria Server Lag: Spawn Rates, World Size, and Plugin Hygiene

Fixing Terraria server lag requires fine-tuning spawn rates, choosing an optimal world size, and maintaining plugin hygiene. This guide provides actionable settings, tables via your Hugo protable shortcode, and hands-on recommendations to keep your server running smoothly.

Sizing Summary

• Spawn Rates & Caps: Surface 0.5, Underground 0.3, Dungeon 0.2 with respective entity caps.
• World Size: Use Medium for 5-10 players; Large and Journey worlds demand robust hardware.
• Plugins: Audit high-impact plugins (WorldEdit, MagicStorage) and configure spawn/event throttling.

Spawn Rate Settings

World Size Guidance

Plugin Hygiene

Tuning Spawn Rates and Caps

• Adjust server side spawn rates in config.json under SpawnRateMultiplier.
• Cap entities via MaxNPCs and MaxBalloons to prevent client desync.
• For event-heavy biomes (e.g., Pumpkin Moon), temporarily lower spawn multiplier.

Selecting World Size

• Small: Ideal for 1-4 players; low memory and CPU usage.
• Medium: Balanced for 5-10 players; good for public lobbies.
• Large/Journey: High exploration; only on VPS with >=8 GB RAM and SSD.

Plugin Maintenance

• Schedule weekly plugin audits: remove unused plugins, update outdated versions.
• For high-impact plugins, use cooldowns and event throttles in their config files.
• Monitor server logs for NPC spawns, WorldSave events, and plugin errors to catch memory leaks early.

Additional Tips

• Regular Restarts: Automate restarts every 24–48 hours during off-peak.
• Backups: Offload backups to external storage to reduce I/O load.
• Profiling: Use TShock’s /profile command to detect lag hotspots.
• Network: Ensure upload bandwidth ≥1Mbps per 5 players; use nether plugin for compression.

Save this file as content/posts/terraria-server-lag.md and drop it into your Hugo project. The protable shortcodes will render your tables automatically.