Hardcore mode creates the ultimate survival challenge where death is permanent. When players die, they're immediately converted to spectator mode with no option to respawn. The difficulty also locks automatically to hard, making this the most unforgiving Minecraft experience possible.
Here's how to enable hardcore mode on your Minecraft server, whether you're starting a new world or converting an existing one.
In hardcore mode, players who die are set to spectator mode and cannot respawn. Make sure all players understand this before enabling hardcore mode, as there's no undoing a hardcore death through normal gameplay.
Enabling Hardcore Mode on a New World
The hardcore setting in server.properties only applies when a world is first generated, so you need to remove the existing world before enabling it.
- Log in to the GhostCap Panel and
Stopyour Minecraft server. - Go to
File Manager. - Delete your existing world folder (
world, plusworld_netherandworld_the_endif present) so a new world generates. See our reset world guide for details. - Open
server.propertiesand locatehardcore=. - Change the value to
trueand save the file. - Start your server to generate a fresh hardcore world.
Want to keep your old world? Change level-name= in server.properties to a new name instead of deleting the world folder. The server will generate a new hardcore world under that name and leave the original untouched.
Enabling Hardcore Mode on an Existing World
Setting hardcore=true in server.properties does not convert a world that already exists. To convert an existing world, you need to edit the world's level.dat file.
- Log in to the GhostCap Panel and
Stopyour Minecraft server. - Go to
File Managerand open your world folder. - Download the
level.datfile. - Open the file in an NBT editor such as NBTExplorer or the web-based webNBT.
- Find the
hardcorevalue and change it to1, then save your changes. - Upload the modified
level.datfile back to your world folder, replacing the original. See our uploading files guide if you need help. - Open
server.properties, sethardcore=true, and save the file so the setting matches your world. - Start your server.
Make a backup of your world folder before editing level.dat. If anything goes wrong, you can restore it and try again.
Setting force-gamemode=true does not enable hardcore mode. It only forces players into the server's default game mode when they join and has no effect on permanent death.