Tutorial:Chunk loader
A chunk loader is a contraption that keeps a given chunk or area of chunks loaded, regardless of where the player's location in the world or their dimension.
How to load a chunk[edit | edit source]
If you want a chunk to be loaded, you can either load it yourself (by keeping it inside your rendered area), use spawn chunks, which are always loaded, or build a chunk loader.
Nether portal chunk loading[edit | edit source]
Usual way to load chunks is to use nether portals. Every time any entity goes through the portal, it loads the chunk on the other side for 15 seconds, as well as 8 chunks around it. If you can loop the process, so that the entity goes back and forth, portals will load each other and their respective chunk indefinitely. Note that this loads the Nether chunk even if you are in Overworld, and vice versa. This video, made by xisumavoid, showcases a simple chunk loader based on this idea.
The contraption uses following items and blocks:
- 10 pieces of
redstone dust, - 6
redstone comparators, - 2
redstone repeaters, - 6
droppers, - 2
redstone torches, - 2
hoppers, - 20 pieces of
obsidian, - 10 pieces of
glass, - 22 general building blocks, like wool or cobblestone,
- a button,
- 18 stacks of any item to fill up the self-fixing mechanism.
An alternative nether portal chunk loader is shown in this video, made and designed by _darkvictor_.
Alternative methods[edit | edit source]
The end portal loads chunks in the same way as nether portals, although because the loaded area consists only of 9 chunks, this method can't be used to chunkload any areas in outer End islands.
Ender pearls can also be used to load chunks. Because ender pearls interact with bubble columns, a simple contraption known as stasis chamber can prevent the pearl from landing indefinitely. Such pearl loads the chunk it is currently in, as well as 8 chunks around it, just like portals. This can be used to load chunks in Overworld and End, but not in the Nether, where bubble columns can't exist.
Stasis chambers can be used as a fast travel method, even in singleplayer. You can set a clock for a fixed amount of time, travel far away, and when the time passes, you will be teleported back home thanks to the pearl being loaded.
It should also be noted that pearl-based chunk loaders behave differently than portal-based, because all ender pearls are tied to the player that threw them, and they vanish from the world when player logs out, stopping all chunk loading. Hovewer, when player logs back in, all pearls reappear and self-load themselves, restarting the chunk loading. Another thing to keep in mind is the fact that all ender pearls vanish when player dies (default behavior, can be changed with /gamerule enderPearlsVanishOnDeath).
For worlds with cheats enabled, the /forceload command can be used to keep any given chunk loaded.
What does this accomplish[edit | edit source]
Some events can happen in chunks loaded by these contraptions, allowing some farms to work, even when you're far away or in a different dimension. These farms are mostly based on mob AI: iron farms, chicken farms, wither-powered blast chambers, and more.
Other events that happen in these chunks:
- furnaces will smelt items,
- villagers will restock trades,
- piglins will barter gold,
- any redstone clock will keep ticking, etc.
However, farms based on random ticks will not work even with a chunk loader, as they require a player to be nearby. These include: gold farms, plant farms (e.g. sugar cane farms), lava farms, and more.
Another type of farms that require players to be nearby are farms spawning hostile mobs. Chunkloading them doesn't do anything either.
