Bobby — a mod for increasing render distance on Minecraft servers

Bobby — a mod for increasing render distance on Minecraft servers

• Minecraft version tested and used for writing this article: 1.21.10

• Range of supported versions: 1.16.2 – 26.2

Bobby is a client-side mod that lets you see farther on a server than the server itself allows. Normally the render distance isn't set by the client but by the server parameter view-distance: beyond its limit chunks simply aren't sent, so even with a large render distance set in your options, the horizon cuts off after a few dozen blocks. The mod remembers every chunk the server has already sent and keeps drawing it after it falls outside the server's limit. Thanks to this, the visible distance in Minecraft depends on your render distance, not on the server's settings. 

How chunk caching works

Every chunk the server sends, the mod writes to local storage — the .minecraft/.bobby folder. While the player moves, the server only delivers the zone that fits within its view-distance, and stops updating the old chunks behind. Instead of empty space, a saved copy from the cache is put in their place. Such areas look like ordinary terrain, even though the server no longer sends them.

The longer a session on the same map lasts, the fuller the cache becomes: areas you've already explored stay visible even after you've moved far away from them. The first time you connect to unfamiliar terrain, the cutoff at the server limit is still visible, but after wandering around the surroundings, the gaps on the horizon fill in.

A view with a high render distance on the server; unloaded chunks nearby are also visible

Cached chunks don't update

The saved copy doesn't react to changes until the player gets close and the server sends the chunk again. If someone has demolished a building or built a road outside the server's visibility range, everything will stay the same in the cached zone. There are no mobs or moving objects in such chunks either — the cache only stores terrain and blocks. By default, the mod doesn't load block entities (chests, furnaces, etc.) in cached chunks: they need to update every tick, and at a large distance this would add unnecessary load.

A fallback world via bobby-fallback

Besides chunks from the server, the mod can also pull terrain from a ready-made singleplayer world — for areas the server has never sent. To enable this, it's enough to rename the folder of the world you need (the folder itself, not the world's name inside the game) to bobby-fallback. This setup is useful when you have a local copy of the server's map: then distant landscapes load in immediately, without needing to visit each spot in person first.

Use in singleplayer

In a regular singleplayer world, the built-in server already renders exactly as much as is set in your video settings, so there's nothing to fill in. Here the mod is only enabled through the view-distance-overwrite parameter. It overrides the render distance calculated by the built-in server: you can lower it for the sake of performance, while the mod fills in the visible distance from the cache. This keeps the far horizon, while removing part of the load on the world simulation. Changing this parameter requires re-entering the world.

Config

The settings file is reread automatically — you don't need to restart the game after saving changes. Below are the main parameters that most noticeably affect the mod's behavior.

Conclusion

Bobby lets you show as much space on a server with a low view-distance as your render distance allows, without putting extra load on the server itself. The mod suits those who play on public servers with a cut-down visibility range and want to see the full horizon for orientation, screenshots, or distant excursions.