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).

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	v0.6.1	✅	✅	—	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. Folia uses the same plugin JAR. 26.2 has no Folia build yet upstream.

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, concurrency limits, generation settings)
3. Client scans outward in an expanding spiral, batch-requesting chunks it doesn't have cached
4. Server reads chunks from disk (or generates them on demand), serializes the raw MC section data (block states, biomes, lighting), and streams it back
5. Client receives the section data and feeds it directly into Voxy's rendering engine via rawIngest
6. 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)

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
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
sendQueueLimitPerPlayer	4000	Max queued column payloads per player (each carries a full chunk column of sections)
syncOnLoadConcurrencyLimitPerPlayer	200	Max in-flight sync requests per player
generationConcurrencyLimitPerPlayer	16	Max in-flight generation requests per player
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

Paper-specific: The config also includes an updateEvents list of Bukkit event class names used for dirty chunk detection. /lsslod commands require the lss.admin permission (or 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