Screenshot 1 of 3. A green creeper-like mob stands in a dirt-walled tunnel, shown in PlayerCulling.
What PlayerCulling works with.
| Platform | Java Edition |
|---|---|
| Loaders | Fabric |
| Minecraft versions | 1.21.4, 1.21.11, 26.1.2, 26.2, 26.3 |
| Environment | Server |
PlayerCulling is an anti-ESP plugin and mod that stops cheating players from seeing others through walls. It ships as a Fabric mod and as a plugin for Paper, Folia and Purpur. It runs on the server only, so players install nothing.
Loaders and versions
- Fabric: Minecraft 1.21.4 to 26.3. The newest build needs no dependencies; some builds for 1.21.4 require Fabric API.
How the culling works
An allocationless, asynchronous voxel raycasting algorithm decides which players can see each other, and the rest are hidden from one another. Non-full blocks use 2x2x2-scale voxel occlusion, so partial blocks do not block or leak sight lines wrongly. Nametag visibility, potions, glowing and spectating are supported, and block updates apply nearly instantly. Culling can be switched on or off globally or per player.
Scheduler and load
Culling runs on multithreaded containers that start, merge and park as load changes. In the creator's test on a Ryzen 5 3600X, one container handled 42 players, and a second appeared once 55 players gathered in one area. The thread cap defaults to a third of the CPU threads and can be changed with max-threads. A bossbar overview shows running and parked containers, raysteps per tick, cache load and culled player counts.
Installation and configuration
- 1.On Paper, Folia or Purpur, place the file in the plugins directory and restart.
- 2.On Fabric, place the file in the mods directory and restart. The Fabric loader guide covers setting that up.
- 3.Edit the config created on first start, at plugins/PlayerCulling/config.yml on Paper or config/playerculling.yml on Fabric.
- 4.Tune scheduler options such as max-threads, container-ttl and max-cull-time, or set nametag-visibility-distance to 0 to ignore nametags.
Questions about PlayerCulling.
3 questions
Do players need to install PlayerCulling?
No. PlayerCulling is required on the server and unsupported on the client. Only the server operator installs it, and players join as usual. Because it works by hiding other players from those who should not see them, no client-side change is involved.
Does PlayerCulling work on Paper?
Yes. It ships a plugin that installs like any other Bukkit plugin, by placing the file in the plugins directory and restarting. Folia and Purpur builds are also published, and a separate Fabric mod covers Fabric servers.
Where is the PlayerCulling config file?
After the first start, PlayerCulling creates its own config. On Paper it sits at plugins/PlayerCulling/config.yml, and on Fabric at config/playerculling.yml. It holds scheduler options such as the thread limit and cleanup interval, plus the nametag visibility distance.
