How Slime Farms Affect Server Performance

Direct answer

Slime farms can create a sudden rise in live entity count when large slimes split into smaller ones. Test split/kill/collection phases separately and confirm spawning conditions.

How to check it

1. Profile a full cycle during active killing rather than only before spawning. Record large, medium and small slimes, XP orbs and loose drops.
2. If spawning itself is unexpectedly low, confirm farm height, biome or slime-chunk conditions. Paper world settings include slime-spawn-height controls, but that does not prove a performance problem.
3. Compare the kill chamber empty versus full, keeping players at the same AFK position. Inspect whether expensive work is entity ticks or item/hopper collection.

What to change

1. Prevent small slimes from remaining trapped indefinitely, and keep the collector from backing up when many mobs die close together.
2. Test the slime spawning design with default settings before changing global mob caps. More spawns can increase output and server load at the same time.
3. Avoid settings that simply remove slime splitting or modify behavior the farm relies on unless that gameplay trade-off is intentional.

Software and version notes

Verify the result

Compare slimeball output, peak entity and item counts, and MSPT across equal-duration sessions.

References

• PaperMC world configuration
• PaperMC profiling guide