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Set up a hardcore Minecraft server: one life for everyone

Turn on hardcore for a new or existing world, bring players back after they die and run a hardcore season with your friends.

EliteStarHosting Team2 November 20263 min read

In hardcore, everyone has just one life. If you die, you become a spectator and can only watch. The difficulty is fixed on hard. On a server, that makes things exciting: every mistake counts.

Hardcore for a new world

The hardcore setting in server.properties only applies to a world the server creates from scratch. An existing world just stays normal.

  1. Want to keep your current world? Then make a backup first.
  2. In the game panel, go to Config and click server.properties.
  3. Find hardcore with Search keys... and turn the switch on.
  4. Click Save.
  5. Let the server create a new world, as in Create a new world. You can also give level-name a new name, so your old world is kept.
  6. Start your server.

The Config tab with server.properties and the Search keys field

Hardcore for an existing world

Want to make your current world hardcore? That's only possible in the world's level.dat file, with an NBT editor for Minecraft, such as NBTExplorer.

  1. Stop your server and make a backup.
  2. Download level.dat from your world folder through Files.
  3. Open the file in the NBT editor. On Minecraft 26.1 and newer, the setting is in Data, then difficulty_settings, then hardcore. On older versions, hardcore sits directly in Data.
  4. Set hardcore to 1 and save the file.
  5. Upload level.dat back to the same folder, also turn on hardcore in server.properties and start your server.

The world folder with the level.dat file

You read more about uploading in Manage files.

When someone dies

A player who dies becomes a spectator. They can fly around and watch, but can't do anything else. An operator can bring someone back with:

gamemode survival PlayerName

That player then stands where they were as a spectator, and their items are still where they died. If you like, first move them back to spawn with tp.

In hardcore, the difficulty is always hard. You can't set it lower.

Ideas for a hardcore season

Many servers play hardcore in seasons: everyone starts at the same time, and whoever survives longest wins.

  • Turn on the whitelist, so only participants can join.
  • Agree on rules in advance, for example whether players may attack each other.
  • Pick a rule for coming back: nobody returns, everyone gets one second chance per season, or a player may return after a set time.
  • Keep the world small and exciting with a world border.
  • Make backups regularly, so a problem with the server itself doesn't ruin your season.
  • Season over? Start the next one with a new world.