DeceasedCraft Server Setup: RAM, Server Files and Settings

You want one DeceasedCraft world for your group: the same city to loot, the same hordes to hold off, and a server that keeps running when the person who made the world logs off. The pack's CurseForge page advises against LAN multiplayer because of reports of poor performance and bugs, and asks you to host the included server pack instead. Here is what that takes for DeceasedCraft 5.10.17: the server files, the RAM and the settings to change before the first horde night, checked against the pack's own server files on 31 October 2026. If you would rather skip the setup, our DeceasedCraft server hosting page sizes plans from the pack's RAM figures and starts at 12 GB.

Quick answer: DeceasedCraft 5.10.17 (17 July 2026) runs on Minecraft 1.20.1 with Forge 47.4.0 and Java 17. The DeceasedCraft server files are DeceasedCraft_Server_Beta_5.10.17.zip, under Additional Files on that version's CurseForge page. The pack asks for at least 8 GB of RAM for a server and recommends 10 GB or more, or 12 GB or more with Distant Horizons. Java needs memory on top of that heap, so give a 12 GB server -Xmx10G. Unpack the zip, install Forge into the same folder, start, accept the EULA and start again. Keep command blocks on. Horde and zombie settings are in config/hordes-common.toml, config/enhancedai/common.toml and config/zombieawareness/.

Which DeceasedCraft Version to Run

All three need Java 17, which Mojang lists for 1.20.1 and 1.18.2; the pack's wiki adds that Java 22 will not work.

The 5.10 line is an open beta of the coming v6.0. The pack page warns that it cannot be completed: the Wasteland and Abyss districts are missing, so the endgame and high-tier gear are too, and there is no guarantee the beta will be compatible with the final v6.0. For a full playthrough it points to 5.5.5. On 31 October 2026, 5.10.17 was the newest file on CurseForge; the pack page says a 5.11 experimental build is on Patreon.

The DH Edition server generates distant terrain itself, in a mode its config/DistantHorizons.toml says "may cause server/simulation lag" and that saves those chunks into the world. To cap it, set generationBoundsRadius, a radius in blocks around generationBoundsX and generationBoundsZ (0, 0 in the pack); the pack's radius of 0 means no limit.

How Much RAM a DeceasedCraft Server Needs

The pack page gives these figures:

For the server these are Java heap sizes, the -Xmx value, and Java needs memory outside the heap too. A 10 GB heap fits a 12 GB server, and 13 to 14 GB fits 16 GB. On an 8 GB server the pack's own 8 GB heap leaves nothing for Java itself, and a server that grows past its memory limit gets killed with exit code 137.

The pack publishes no player counts, but load grows per player: The Hordes runs a separate horde for each player, up to 100 mobs alive at once, and every player keeps the area around them loaded. Lowering simulation-distance, which the pack leaves at Minecraft's default of 10 chunks, cuts how many mobs the server updates around each player. The pack ships spark, so profile a horde night before you add memory, as our spark guide shows.

Where the DeceasedCraft Server Files Are

On CurseForge, open the pack's Files tab, click the version and scroll to Additional Files, as the pack's wiki also describes. The 5.10.17 zip unpacks without a subfolder and holds:

• forge-1.20.1-47.4.0-installer.jar
• run.bat (no run.sh; the installer adds it)
• user_jvm_args.txt with -Xmx8G -Xms8G
• default-server.properties
• the folders config, customnpcs, defaultconfigs, kubejs, mods (234 mods) and tacz

The pack page warns not to use the server pack as your game files, because it lacks a lot of client optimization mods. Players install DeceasedCraft in the CurseForge app, in the same version as the server.

How to Set Up the DeceasedCraft Server

On a Linux machine or VPS with Java 17 (java -version should report 17) and the zip in your home folder:

mkdir ~/deceasedcraft && cd ~/deceasedcraft
unzip ~/DeceasedCraft_Server_Beta_5.10.17.zip
java -jar forge-1.20.1-47.4.0-installer.jar --installServer
sed -i 's/-Xmx8G -Xms8G/-Xmx10G -Xms10G/' user_jvm_args.txt
./run.sh nogui

--installServer installs into the current folder: Minecraft 1.20.1 and Forge's libraries go into libraries/, plus a new run.sh and run.bat. It keeps the pack's user_jvm_args.txt, because Forge's install profile marks that file optional, and optional files are only written when missing. The sed line sets a 10 GB heap for a 12 GB server; use 13G on 16 GB.

The first start stops right away and writes eula.txt. Accept the EULA and start again:

sed -i 's/eula=false/eula=true/' eula.txt
./run.sh nogui

On Windows, run the installer, choose Install server and pick the unpacked folder, raise the heap in user_jvm_args.txt, then start run.bat, accept the EULA and start again. On a game panel, install Forge 1.20.1-47.4.0 from the panel, upload the unpacked files over SFTP with their folders, and pick Java 17 and a heap that fits; on our DeceasedCraft plans Java is set in the Startup tab.

What the First Start Changes

Three things happen on the first start with the pack.

server.properties is replaced once. The Default Server Properties mod in the pack logs Replacing server properties with default properties! and loads default-server.properties:

allow-flight=true
allow-nether=false
enable-command-block=true
generate-structures=false
max-tick-time=-1
difficulty=normal

It records this in local/default-used.marker, and later starts log Default server properties injection ignored as it has already been run. This is not an error. This is correct behaviour. Edit server.properties only after the start that replaced it. max-tick-time=-1 turns Minecraft's watchdog off, so a server that hangs on a long tick stays up until you restart it.

Server configs are copied into the world. When a world has no copy of a server config yet, Forge copies it from defaultconfigs/ into world/serverconfig/; after that, edit the copy there. In 5.10.17, lostcities-server.toml already selects the deceasedcraft_onlycities profile that the wiki's Generate More Cities page recommends.

Gamerules are set once. Global GameRules writes the gamerules from config/globalgamerules-common.toml only into a new world, because the pack sets use_as_defaults_only = true: keepInventory and naturalRegeneration off, no phantoms, and 60 percent of players to skip the night. Change them later in the console, for example gamerule keepInventory true.

Then check where you spawned. The pack's Lost Cities profile puts the spawn at one of its residential buildings, and the pack page says that if you did not spawn in a medium or large Suburb Residential District, you should consider a new world. Press F3: the pack hides your coordinates there, but in that district the biome line shows biomesoplenty:shrubland or biomesoplenty:grassland, the two biomes the pack tags as deceasedcraft:suburb_residential. For a new city, stop the server, delete the world folder and start again with level-seed empty, before anyone builds.

Then pregenerate the map with Chunky, which is in the pack. In the console:

chunky spawn
chunky radius 5000
chunky start

Chunky centers on 0, 0 unless told otherwise, so chunky spawn comes first. The radius is in blocks, and the pack's wiki suggests 5,000 to 10,000 for a small server of three players. The pack sets continueOnRestart to false, so after a restart run chunky continue. More in our Chunky guide.

DeceasedCraft Server Settings Worth Changing

Stop the server before you edit a config file, and start it again afterwards.

Difficulty. The pack page lists Custom Difficulty Scaling with Easy, Normal and Hard. Set it in server.properties, because /difficulty only lasts until the next restart. The rules sit in config/incontrol/spawn.json. On every difficulty they make zombies, husks and drowned tougher in the high-rise, hotel and retail districts, by up to 1.5 times. Easy halves the health and damage of hostile mobs. Hard adds a second set of rules for all hostile mobs in those districts, up to 1.75 times the health, 1.5 times the damage and 1.25 times the armor.

Temperature and thirst have their own mode in Legendary Survival Overhaul. The pack sets "HARD", where they can kill; "NORMAL" hurts down to one heart, "EASY" stops at ten hearts, and "PEACEFUL" does no harm and stops thirst.

Hardcore must be set before the world exists: set hardcore = true under [difficulty] in config/globalgamerules-common.toml, as the pack's wiki says. hardcore=true in server.properties alone does not work, because the pack's enforce_hardcore = true makes the mod switch a new world to its own value. Turning hardcore on also sets the difficulty to Hard.

Spawn protection. The pack leaves spawn-protection unset, so Minecraft's default of 16 applies: players who are not operators cannot place or break blocks in a 33 by 33 area around the world spawn, where the starting building stands. It only applies while the server has an operator, and spawn-protection=0 turns it off.

Hordes. A horde comes every 15 days of each player's own play time. Each wave spawns 20 mobs, 5 percent more with every natural horde (hordeSpawnMultiplier = 1.05), with at most 100 alive per horde (hordeSpawnMax). hordesCommandOnly = true stops natural hordes but keeps the commands, so the Horde Beacon item still works; enableHordeEvent = false also removes the commands, which breaks the beacon. To let players sleep on horde nights, set canSleepDuringHorde = true. If you change hordeSpawnDays, also change let hordeDays = 15 in kubejs/server_scripts/functions/horde_calendar.js, or the Horde Calendar keeps counting 15-day cycles. From the console, hordes start <player> 10000 starts a horde of the normal 10000 ticks and hordes stop <player> ends it. If hordes slow the server, raise hordePathingInterval (100 ticks), as the mod's config advises.

Digging zombies. Enhanced AI lets mobs in its can_be_miner tag dig through blocks: "Enable Miner Mobs" = true under [Mobs], with "Miner Chance" = 1.0 and "Time to break multiplier" = 3.0. Set the first to false to stop it, or raise the multiplier to slow them; a KubeJS script in the pack sets separate break times for nine special infected. The wiki's "Enable Digger Zombie" key does not exist in this Enhanced AI version.

Zombie senses. Zombie Awareness lets zombies follow sound, scent and light, switched in Features.toml. In this pack, blocks broken by machines make noise too, and so do pistons. If the machines at your base keep pulling zombies in, set blockBreakEvent_PlayersOnly = true.

Common First-Start Errors

Forge is not installed. A start command with Forge's arguments stops with this line (with win_args.txt when you start the pack's run.bat on Windows):

Error: could not open `libraries/net/minecraftforge/forge/1.20.1-47.4.0/unix_args.txt'

Run the installer with --installServer in the same folder first.

The server stops at once and eula.txt appears. Set eula=true, as above.

The server is killed without a crash report, or with exit code 137. The heap plus Java's own memory is more than the server has. Lower -Xmx.

java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space. The heap itself is full. Raise -Xmx toward the recommended 10 GB, within that limit.

Java 22 or newer. The pack's wiki says Java 22 will not work. Use Java 17, the version Mojang lists for 1.20.1.

Vehicles do not spawn or multiblocks do not form. enable-command-block was switched off. Set it back to true and restart.

Players are rejected with a mod mismatch. Their DeceasedCraft version differs from the server's. See our mismatched mod channel list guide.

FAQ

How much RAM does a DeceasedCraft server need? The pack page asks for at least 8 GB, recommends 10 GB or more, and 12 GB or more for the DH Edition. Those are heap sizes, so a 12 GB server fits the recommended 10 GB heap.

How do I turn off hordes in DeceasedCraft? Set hordesCommandOnly = true in config/hordes-common.toml and restart. Natural hordes stop, while hordes start and the Horde Beacon keep working.

Why can't I connect to the Simple Voice Chat server in DeceasedCraft? Voice chat does not use the game port. The pack's config/voicechat/voicechat-server.properties sets port=24454, and audio always travels over UDP on that port. Open UDP 24454 in your firewall and router, or on a host give voice chat its own port and set port= to it, leave voice_host empty and restart. Our voice chat port guide has the details.

Should our server run DeceasedCraft 5.10 or 5.5.5? Run 5.10.17 for the new content, knowing the beta cannot be completed and may not carry over to v6.0. Run 5.5.5 on Minecraft 1.18.2 if your group wants to finish the game. Every player needs the server's version.

Does a DeceasedCraft server need command blocks? Yes. The pack page says multiblocks and vehicle spawns depend on them. The server pack sets enable-command-block=true; leave it on.

Sources

All opened on 31 October 2026:

• DeceasedCraft: CurseForge project page, 5.10.17 file, 5.10.17 server pack, DH Edition server pack, 5.5.5 server pack, and the configs and scripts inside those server packs
• DeceasedCraft wiki: Getting Started With a Server, Disable Horde Waves System, Disable Mining Zombies, Enable Hardcore, Generate More Cities, Pre-generate Chunks
• Forge: Installer SimpleInstaller.java, InstallerTools ExtractFiles.java, configuration docs, ConfigFileTypeHandler.java
• Mods: The Hordes source, 1.20 branch, Global GameRules WorldEvents.java, Default Server Properties, Legendary Survival Overhaul ClientForgeEvents.java, In Control documentation and concepts
• Minecraft: Mojang version manifest, Minecraft Wiki server.properties, /difficulty, Spawn protection, Setting up a Java Edition server
• Java: OpenJDK 17 launcher emessages.h and args.c, Oracle JDK 17 troubleshooting guide