You might already be aware that time works in a different manner in video games as compared to the real world. Usually, this change only affects the day-night cycle and not your gameplay. But as expected, things are quite different in the world of Minecraft. Here, everything in the game is defined and connected to the Minecraft tick. From the growth of crops to the functioning of your Minecraft farms, every tick in this game matters. So, let’s not waste another tick and explore everything you need to know about all Minecraft ticks.
Minecraft Ticks: Explained (2022)
Due to an assortment of moveable components, Minecraft has a variety of ticks. We have covered them all in separate sections that you can explore freely using the table below. But first, let’s explain what exactly do we mean by a tick in video games.
What is a Tick in Video Games?
All video games are made up of loops and repeated processes. The entities spawn and then their AI sends them a signal to do a set of pre-recorded tasks or stay stationary. To maintain this mechanic, the time in video games runs in a series of repeated actions, and each loop of such actions is known as a tick. Furthermore, the number of ticks in a single second is known as the TPS (ticks per second) or tick rate of that game.
In some ways, TPS is similar to the FPS of a game. The game’s FPS is the number of frames rendered on your screen within a second, and meanwhile, TPS shows the number of logic loops the game completes each second. Games with AI-based enemies and a lower number of players use a low 20 TPS to function. Meanwhile, competitive shooters like Valorant run on a rate of up to 128 TPS.
Being from the former group, Minecraft runs at a default 20 ticks per second, which is fixed both offline and online. That means a Minecraft tick happens every 0.05 seconds, and we have explained this in-depth below.
Types of Ticks in Minecraft
Primarily, there are three types of ticks supported in Minecraft:
- Game Ticks
- Redstone Ticks
- Chunk Ticks
What is a Minecraft Game Tick?
A tick in Minecraft is the time that it takes an in-game loop to finish. This loop applies to a variety of things in the game, ranging from mob spawns to the spreading of fire. Every Minecraft activity takes a set number of ticks to start, expand, and finish. One Minecraft tick usually lasts for 0.05 seconds (50 milliseconds) in the real world.
With that logic, a day-night cycle in Minecraft lasts for 24000 ticks or 20 minutes. This same tick also affects the activity speed of Minecraft mobs, the growth of plants, and even the functioning of Redstone components. It also regulates mob behavior, entity spawning, positions of entities, and players’ health and hunger bars.
Use the table below to understand how long is an in-game day in Minecraft in terms of ticks:
Game Ticks Time of Day in Minecraft 1 Day 1 Sunrise (when you create the world) 1000 Daytime 6000 Noon 12000 Sunset 13000 Nighttime 18000 Midnight 24000 Day 2 Sunrise / Day 1 Ends
What is a Lagged Tick and Why Does it Happen
On most systems and servers, Minecraft runs at a rate of 1 tick per 50 milliseconds. But if there are multiple heavy activities happening at the same time, your system can slow down the tick speed to keep up the performance. This change in tick speed at times can lead to heavy lag. The most common activities that can lag your system and server include:
- Redstone components sending an excessive amount of signals and block updates.
- Too many mobs spawning at one spot and their AI putting a load on your system.
- Hoppers and Allays that are constantly in search of items.
You can reduce the lag in ticks by turning off unnecessary Redstone components and killing off unwanted mobs. Alternatively, you can use mods like Optifine in Minecraft to reduce the pressure on your computer.
How to Check Your Minecraft Game Tick
You can check your current ticks per second (TPS) only on the Minecraft Java edition and not the Bedrock version. To do so, you only have to press the Alt + F3 keys simultaneously.
The game will then bring up a debug screen overlay that displays the game’s TPS in the bottom right corner, along with other details. Please note that the default TPS is 20, and your computer must be under some kind of graphical pressure if it is any lower than that.
What is a Redstone Tick in Minecraft?
As we have seen in various Minecraft farm builds, another common tick in-game is the Redstone tick. Each Redstone tick in Minecraft is equal to two game ticks. So, a Redstone tick takes 0.1 seconds to complete a loop. This tick only works in reference to your Redstone signals and doesn’t affect other entities in-game. Because of Redstone mechanics, you can’t make the Redstone tick run any faster than its default speed. But you can delay it with the help of a Redstone repeater.
Note: Redstone tick is not a technical game mechanic. Instead, it is a community-based term that was adopted because most Redstone components follow a delay of 2 game ticks in the Java edition.
What is a Chunk Tick in Minecraft?
All chunk ticks in Minecraft follow the default 20 TPS, but they only apply to chunks around the player. Each chunk in Minecraft consists of a 16 x 16 x 256 area, where 256 is the world height and 16 are horizontal (length and breadth) dimensions.
On Minecraft Java edition, the chunk area that’s within a 128 blocks range from the player gets updated with each tick, and also any chunk that has a loading entity ticking. That means every chunk that has active players or all active entities and components will be updated with every tick. Meanwhile, in the Bedrock edition, all the loaded chunk areas are updated with every game tick.
Though, your chunk settings can affect the above-mentioned circumstances. In any case, whenever a chuck gets ticked, other than updating the entities, the game can also choose some random blocks to be updated.
Random Tick and Random Tick Speed
The chunk tick that updates random blocks in every chunk is known as a Random Tick. In the Java edition, this tick chooses three random blocks in every chunk, but it only focuses on one single block in the Bedrock edition. And the number of blocks that get updated with every tick is known as the Random Tick Speed of that Minecraft world.
Most blocks remain unaffected by the random tick, but the ones that can experience its effects are the following activities:
- Crops might grow and drop as items
- Spread of mushrooms, grass, vines, and mycelium.
- Spread and burn out of the fire
- Leaves might decay to drop saplings and apples
- Saplings, cacti, sugar cane, kelp, bamboo, budding amethyst chorus, flowers, and sweet berry bushes might grow
- Farmland may gain or lose hydration
- Mud can turn into clay
- Copper blocks and their variants can change the oxidation stage
- Turtle eggs can change their state
- Redstone ore might stop shining
- Campfires can release smoke
As the name reveals, random ticks in Minecraft are very unpredictable. There is no way to examine which block is going to get updated with the next tick. However, some blocks can even demand a tick update systematically.
What is a Scheduled Tick
In Minecraft, some blocks are allowed to request tick updates in the near future. Such ticks are known as scheduled ticks, and they help the blocks maintain their programmed behavior. For example — water spreads with every tick. So, the water blocks can request a tick update to maintain a constant flow. Similarly, blocks like Redstone repeaters can also schedule ticks to function properly.
As per Minecraft Wiki, you can schedule a maximum number of 65,536 ticks with every game tick. But, on the Bedrock edition, the number comes down to 100 scheduled ticks because they are limited to nearby chunks.
How to Change Tick Speed in Minecraft
If you want to make your game world update faster or slower than usual, then you can change the random tick speed in Minecraft. Doing so will change the number of blocks that get updated every single second. To change the tick speed in Minecraft, use the following command:
/gamerule randomTickSpeed X
Here, you need to replace X with the random tick speed you want the game to run at. If you want to dig deeper, we already have a dedicated guide that covers how to change tick speed in Minecraft. You can use it to learn a variety of ways the tick speed can be changed and utilized to make your in-game life simpler.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long are 100 ticks in Minecraft?
Every tick in Minecraft lasts 50 milliseconds (0.05 seconds). That means 1 second equals 20 ticks. So, 100 ticks would be equal to 5 seconds in Minecraft.
Is a higher tick rate better in Minecraft?
A higher tick rate can give you much more productive farms, higher spawn rates, and an overall more dynamic gameplay. But, it could also lead to heavy lag if your system is not powerful enough.
What is a good tick speed?
The default tick speed, which is 20 ticks per second, is considered the best tick speed for most Minecraft servers and single-player worlds.
Minecraft Tick Types and Mechanics Detailed
Whether you are a builder or a host of an independent Minecraft server, this guide about in-game tick in Minecraft is going to prove useful in a variety of circumstances. You can use this knowledge to build more efficient Minecraft farms while reducing any or all the load on your system and the online server. But, thanks to Minecraft’s long history, this might not be the only concept that needs a deep exploration. So, which other Minecraft mechanic confuses you? Tell us in the comments, and we will help you make sense of it!
