Direct answer

Spawn lag often comes from high-density entities, signage, holograms, scoreboards and player join activity. Spawn chunk ticket rules have changed between Minecraft versions.

How to check it

  1. Compare a quiet lobby and a full lobby using the same spark profiling interval.
  2. Use /paper chunkinfo where supported to inspect loaded chunks rather than assuming legacy spawn-chunk behavior.
  3. Identify permanent animations, NPC AI, item frames and join listeners independently.

Example: If adding a hologram plugin changes lobby MSPT but not survival-world MSPT, investigate its update task and entity count before shrinking spawn chunks.

What to change

Remove or slow unnecessary cosmetic updates and keep spawn infrastructure compact. Reduce uncontrolled mob spawn areas and test player routing with a staging server.

Software and version notes

World spawn settings, force-loaded chunks and plugins can keep areas active, but the precise behavior is version-dependent. Do not disable necessary protection or teleport features for performance.

Verify the result

Confirm joins, NPC interactions, portal exits and queue signs still work while peak MSPT improves.

References