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Quick + Easy Ways to Reduce Lag- Simple

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evanmoney
Level 48 : Master Lad
327
Quick and Easy Ways to Reduce Lag- Nothing Complicated

I know that there are many many many tutorials on how to reduce lag in Minecraft. However, many of these are often complicated and confusing, especially for newer players. This tutorial explains the easiest and quickest ways to reduce lag.



1. Optifine mod. This is generally the most effective and wide-known way to reduce lag. Optifine takes what your computer can do and uses it more efficiently. The point is, it makes your Minecraft run a lot more smoothly. I personally have had great luck with it. It is fairly easy to download, and there are many tutorials, just type in on your internet browser "how to download optifine". Optifine also provides a lot more settings features, such as zoom and capes.



2. Change performance settings. If you choose not to get Optifine, press these in order: Escape ⇒ Options ⇒ Video Settings ⇒ Then where it says Performance change Balanced (If you are using default settings) to Max FPS. It will take more power from your computer, but it will greatly improve the smoothness of your minecraft.




3. Plug in your Computer (this only applies to people using laptops/macbooks). This method is what I have gotten from my own personal experience using a laptop. When I unplug my laptop my frames per second (FPS) drops to almost half of what it usually is. This is because laptops go into Power Saver mode, which takes away from the power being used.



4. Close other programs. Do your best to close other programs when you are playing Minecraft. These programs might be taking away from your FPS by using more of the RAM (the proccessing power) on your computer. A lot of the time it does not make much of a difference, but it is definitely still worth mentioning.



5. Reduce the settings. Do these as a last resort if you are really struggling to boost your FPS. All of these are found in Escape ⇒ Video Settings (These settings are only if you don't have optifine, if you do have Optifine you will get many more settings. If you hold your mouse over the settings there will be a description of each setting)


  • Render Distance ⇒ Tiny, Small, or Normal (smaller is better)
  • Clouds ⇒ Off
  • Particles ⇒ Decreased or Minimal
  • Advanced OpenGL ⇒ Off
  • Smooth Lighting ⇒ Off or Minimum

6. Let background processes run. If you are just starting up your computer for the first time after you have shut it down, it is suggested to wait a few minutes before opening and running minecraft. This allows background processes for your computer to run and there to be less lag.

7. Texture Pack. Using a texture pack may cause some lag, especially in the larger sized ones. Smaller sized texture packs are okay, but I suggest keeping it simple with the default texture pack. 4x4 and 8x8 packs might also reduce some lag. A 16x16 texture pack is defualt.

8. Server Plugins. Some servers use very resource-demanding plugins (features), such as the floating text and other things of the sort. All you can do about this is try and avoid this, and turn down your particles in your settings (Escape ⇒ Options ⇒ Video Settings ⇒ Particles)

9. Things in Single Player. There are various things when playing Single Player that you may want to keep in mind as they may cause lag.

-The first one is fairly obvious and is the excess of mobs or ground items. If there are a lot of mobs or items on the ground you may experience some lag.

-Next is redstone. The usage of redstone in any form increases lag, though slightly. The use of endless repeaters, especially large ones, can cause some lag.

-Another is loading chunks, which is when the minecraft world first creates itsself. I will explain this further later on.

-Finally, the spreading of lava and water blocks may cause some lag. Still and non-moving water or lava lakes are perfectly fine, but large waterfalls or any water or lava moving over a great distance can definitely create some lag.

These three things are usually not much of a problem, but I figured I would throw them out there. The only one I have seen cause major lag decreases is when there is a large farm, like a chicken farm, with a large quantity of mobs.


Common Problems


1. Loading Chunks. When you first get into a new world, all the chunks (or pieces of land) have to load. This pretty much means that minecraft has to create new land around you. This can possibly lag your computer. Once you run around a little the chunks will all be loaded and will never have to be recreated. Then after that you should be fine. However, if you run in a direction you have never explored more chunks might have to load and you might get a little more lag. The point is: wait a little and it will go away.

2. Still getting lag no matter what. Some people have the problem that no matter what they do they still have lag, even if they do all lag-reducing strategies. This is because some computers, especially older computers, are just not meant for heavy computer usage games such as minecraft. The truth is, you need a new computer, or to do some serious changes to the computer itself.

3. Server lag. Sometimes when you are playing on a server you may experience a large amount of lag. This can be seen by lag backs (when you teleport backwords after moving) or block lag (when there is a delay from when you break the block and the item falls). If you usually get good frames per second, then this may be because it is the server that is lagging, not you. There is nothing you can do about this.
*Note, if you are a server owner that is experiencing server lag, the way to fix it is to add more RAM (processing power) to the server. This can be done by buying more from the host if you are using one, or if you are hosting from a computer deticate more RAM to the server.

4. Frozen Screen. Sometimes while playing your Minecraft screen make freeze. If you are in single player, then it is obviously your client that is the problem. This can be caused by several things, but from my experience it is usually from your computer over-heating. This can also be the cause on Multiplayer servers as well, though there are other things that can cause this. Sometimes there are bugs on various plugins on servers, which cause your screen to freeze. Sometimes your Minecraft crashes, but usually you will eventually unfreeze. If you are experiencing this a lot, it is most likely due to your computer overheating, and I would reccomend restarting your computer, and/or not using it for a little and let it cool off. It is best to have your computer in a well-ventilated area.

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If you have followed these steps, most computers should be able to crank out 30-40 FPS or more, which is substantial.

I hope this was helpful! If it was leave a diamond! If you have more lag reducing strategies leave a comment!
Tags

9 Update Logs

Update #9 : by evanmoney 11/17/2014 12:10:20 pmNov 17th, 2014

-More grammar changes
-Changed wording to be more clear
-Replaced all the old arrows (->) with better looking ones (⇒)
-Added a note about increasing RAM on Common problems - Server Lag
-Added a new #7

8. Server Plugins. Some servers use very resource-demanding plugins (features), such as the floating text and other things of the sort. All you can do about this is try and avoid this, and turn down your particles in your settings (Escape ⇒ Options ⇒ Video Settings ⇒ Particles)
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InsideMinecraft
01/10/2015 5:21 am
Level 27 : Expert Architect
Already have these features in place. But its good too know I'm getting the best performance
1
atomick86
11/24/2014 5:56 am
Level 16 : Journeyman Engineer
This sounds really good, im glad you subbed to me otherwise i might not have found this, thank you :)
1
evanmoney
11/25/2014 12:48 pm
Level 48 : Master Lad
I'm glad it helped you :D
1
FrankieHolden09
11/17/2014 11:57 pm
Level 3 : Apprentice Miner
thanks i have optfine
1
evanmoney
11/18/2014 12:01 am
Level 48 : Master Lad
Yup, Optifine is one of the best methods of reducing lag, not to mention it's easy to install too
1
ThePersianmyth
04/05/2014 8:30 am
Level 24 : Expert Dragonborn
Nice! This really helped me :)
1
LegoSpidermanFan
04/04/2014 1:10 pm
Level 33 : Artisan Nerd
the default texture pack is 16x16
1
465joe55
03/23/2014 10:27 am
Level 11 : Journeyman Fisherman
hey evan, running fast mode adv. openGL in OF increases FPS
1
experttacobear
01/29/2014 10:05 pm
Level 27 : Expert Taco
Actually small resolution texture packs can help reduce lag. Perhaps if you are using a small 8x8 or 4x4 for example. These reduce lag more than the default.
1
Wafflegum
12/22/2013 4:59 am
Level 34 : Artisan Waffle
Subbed :D If you like.... Please sub back
1

Welcome