LOD Server Support

Distributes LOD (Level of Detail) chunk data from servers to connected clients over a custom networking protocol. Built primarily as a multiplayer backend for Voxy — clients request distant chunks in batches, the server reads them from disk or memory and streams the data back, enabling Voxy to render terrain far beyond the vanilla render distance on multiplayer servers without the need to travel there first.

Supports Fabric clients and Fabric, Paper, Purpur, Folia servers.

Lss-Demo-Paper.mp4

Downloads

All builds are on Modrinth — pick the file matching your Minecraft version: lod-server-support-fabric (the client/server Fabric mod) or lod-server-support-paper (the server plugin). GitHub Releases on this repository mirror every version.

Also published as "Voxy Server Side"

Since v0.7.0, every release is additionally published to the Voxy Server Side Modrinth page. Both listings ship the same mod from the same CI build — identical internals, networking protocol, and config paths; only the display name, description, and icon differ. Compatibility is total, in every direction:

• A "Voxy Server Side" client on an "LOD Server Support" server (and every other client/server combination) negotiates the identical session — the wire carries no branding, so the server cannot even tell which listing a player installed from.
• The v0.6.x compatibility layer (see below) serves legacy clients from either listing the same way.
• Swapping one jar for the other on an existing install keeps all config — same mod id, same config files.

Install one or the other, never both — the two jars declare the same mod identity, which is deliberate: on Fabric the game refuses to launch with both installed (duplicate mod id error), and on Paper only one of the two same-named plugins loads.

Redistribution

This mod is MIT-licensed — redistribution with attribution is welcome, and modpacks can reference the official Modrinth project directly. Per Modrinth's reupload policy: XANTHA on Voxy Server Side has the copyright holder's explicit permission to distribute this mod, and derivatives of it, on Modrinth.

Installation

Important

Install LOD Server Support (LSS) on both the server (Fabric mod or Paper plugin) and every client (LSS Fabric mod + Voxy).

Fabric Clients

1. Install Voxy and place lod-server-support-fabric.jar in the client's mods/ directory (requires Fabric API)
2. Join a server running LSS — client config is generated at config/lss-client-config.json

Fabric Server

1. Place lod-server-support-fabric.jar in the server's mods/ directory (requires Fabric API)
2. Install the Fabric mod and Voxy on all clients
3. Restart the server — config is generated at config/lss-server-config.json

Paper Server

1. Place lod-server-support-paper.jar in the server's plugins/ directory (Paper or Purpur)
2. Install the Fabric mod and Voxy on all clients
3. Restart the server — config is generated at plugins/LodServerSupport/lss-server-config.json

Version Compatibility

Each Minecraft version has its own build; only the latest is listed. Older-MC builds are versioned v<x.y.z>+mc<version> and carry the same feature set from long-lived support branches.

Minecraft	LSS Version	Fabric	Paper	Folia	Voxy	Java
26.2	v0.7.0	✅	✅	—	0.2.16-beta+	25+
26.1.x	v0.5.1	✅	✅	✅	0.2.16-beta+	25+
1.21.11	v0.5.0+mc1.21.11	✅	✅	✅	0.2.15-beta+	21+
1.21.8	v0.6.1+mc1.21.8	✅	✅	✅	0.2.5-alpha+	21+

Fabric builds are client + server; the Paper plugin is server-only and also runs on Purpur. On the older support lines Folia uses the same plugin JAR (experimental). The 26.2 plugin does not declare Folia support — no Folia build exists for MC 26.2, and support returns once Folia ships 26.2 and validation passes.

Important

Update the server first. LSS versions a networking protocol. A newer client on an older server establishes no LOD session — you see vanilla render distance and no error. A v0.7.0+ server keeps serving v0.6.x clients through a built-in compatibility layer (enableV16Compat, default on), so servers can update ahead of their players. Release notes call out which updates carry a protocol bump.

On 1.21.8 the in-game config screen is unavailable (it requires Sodium 0.8+, and 1.21.8's newest Sodium is 0.7.3); the JSON config files still work as normal.

How It Works

Without LSS, Voxy can only build LOD data from chunks the client has already loaded — limiting distant terrain rendering to areas the player has personally visited. LSS moves this work to the server:

1. Client connects and performs a handshake with the server
2. Server sends session config (distance limits, generation settings)
3. Once a second, the client scans outward in an expanding spiral and declares the complete set of chunks it still wants, closest-first
4. The server replaces that player's queue with the new set, so it never works on chunks the player has already moved away from, and never rejects a request the client would just have to re-send
5. Server reads chunks from disk (or generates them on demand), serializes the raw MC section data (block states, biomes, lighting), and streams it back
6. Client receives the section data and feeds it directly into Voxy's rendering engine via rawIngest; served chunks drop out of the next second's set, so the request naturally stops repeating
7. After initial sync, the server pushes notifications when chunks change so clients stay up to date

The result: players see fully rendered terrain out to hundreds of chunks on multiplayer servers, without needing to explore the world first.

Commands

Server (Fabric and Paper)

• /lsslod stats - Show per-player transfer statistics
• /lsslod diag - Show detailed diagnostics (config, bandwidth, queue depths)

Client (Fabric only)

• /lss clearcache - Clear the local column cache, forcing all chunks to be re-requested from the server
• /lss diag - Show client-side diagnostics (connection, throughput, scan progress, request budget)
• /lss trace - Toggle a per-event JSONL trace log (scans, movement, received columns and their serve source) under logs/ for diagnosing LOD behavior; off by default

Configuration

Server (Fabric and Paper)

Server config is generated on first run:

• Fabric: config/lss-server-config.json
• Paper: plugins/LodServerSupport/lss-server-config.json

Setting	Default	Description
enabled	true	Enable LOD distribution
enableV16Compat	true	Serve legacy v0.6.x (protocol 16) clients through a built-in translation layer at their slower pace. Set false to require every client to match the server's protocol (a v0.6.x client then gets no LOD session, like any other version mismatch)
lodDistanceChunks	256	Max LOD distance in chunks
bytesPerSecondLimitPerPlayer	20971520	Per-player pre-compression bandwidth cap (20 MB/s)
bytesPerSecondLimitGlobal	104857600	Total pre-compression bandwidth cap (100 MB/s)
diskReaderThreads	5	Thread pool size for async disk reads
useBackgroundReadPriority	true	LOD disk reads yield to vanilla/gameplay chunk loading, so streaming distant terrain doesn't delay the chunks players are actively loading (Fabric: IOWorker BACKGROUND priority; Paper/Folia: Moonrise LOW priority). On Fabric servers running a chunk-IO-overhaul mod (e.g. C2ME) that replaces vanilla's IOWorker, LSS automatically switches to adaptive read throttling (self-restraint that still yields to gameplay), logging one warning. Set false to restore foreground reads with no read protection
sendQueueLimitPerPlayer	4000	Max queued column payloads per player (each carries a full chunk column of sections)
generationConcurrencyLimitPerPlayer	16	Max concurrently generating chunks per player — misses beyond it are retried automatically each second until a slot frees
enableChunkGeneration	true	Generate missing chunks on demand for LOD data
generationConcurrencyLimitGlobal	32	Max chunks generating server-wide at once
generationTimeoutSeconds	60	Timeout for pending chunk generation
perDimensionTimestampCacheSizeMB	32	Max timestamp cache size per dimension in MB (used for up-to-date checks on reconnect)
dirtyBroadcastIntervalSeconds	10	Interval for pushing dirty column notifications to clients
missMemoTtlSeconds	30	How long the server remembers "this chunk isn't generated yet" after a disk miss, so chunks waiting for generation don't re-check disk every second. Any serve, world edit, or finished generation forgets the entry immediately; 0 disables the memo (values are clamped to 0-60)

Paper-specific: The config also includes an updateEvents list of Bukkit event class names used for dirty chunk detection.

/lsslod commands require operator status on both platforms (Fabric: gamemaster permission level; Paper: the lss.admin permission, default op).

Client

Client config is generated at config/lss-client-config.json on first run.

Setting	Default	Description
receiveServerLods	true	Enable receiving LOD data from the server
lodDistanceChunks	0	Max LOD request distance in chunks (0 = use server limit)

License

MIT