Dynmap is a plugin that allows you to view a live map of your Minecraft server world, similar to Google Maps. This tutorial will teach you how to set this plugin up for your server. Before anything else, you should already have Dynmap installed on your server. These can either be downloaded from SpigotMC or CurseForge depending on your Server Type.
Additionally, it is recommended to Setup a World Border for your worlds before generating your Dynmap to limit how much server space Dynmap (and your world) can take up.
Plugin Installation
This article covers a plugin, which must first be installed onto your server. If you have not already installed the plugin onto your server, please follow this guide.
# Reserving an Additional Port
In order for Dynmap to work properly, it requires its own dedicated port. Luckily, its a short process to reserve an additional port for your server.
- Open your server panel, then click the Ports tab on the left-hand sidebar
- Click the Add Additional Port button
- Give the new port a name and description, then click Add Port
- Click the copy button next to your new port to copy it to your clipboard
# Configuring Dynmap
After installing Dynmap onto your server, you will also need to configure some essential options before having access to your server's Dynmap web server.
- Access your server's control panel and navigate to the Files tab.
- Select the plugins folder to open it
- Next open the dynmap folder
- Click configuration.txt to begin editing the Dynmap configuration
- Set the
deftemplatesuffixfield tovlowresorlowres
Dynmap generates images for each chunk, which can accumulate and occupy a large space in your server storage. Setting this option to vlowres or lowres ensures that the generated images are not too large and that your server does not violate Shockbyte's Fair Use Policy.
- Set the webserver-port field to the additional port you generated earlier
- Save the file, then restart your server
- Open a web browser and navigate to
http://IP:PORT
Make sure to replace the IP:PORT part of the provided web URL with your server's IP and the additional port you used to configure Dynmap. For example, in our case, our web URL will be http://173.237.43.54:56640.
You may notice that not much of your world will display at first, this is because Dynmap has to generate an image for each chunk when a player loads them. If you would like, you can fully generate your Dynmap with the /dynmap fullrender command. Keep in mind, generating your map will use up a huge portion of your server RAM and may cause lag spikes, which is completely normal. It is recommended to do this when there are no players on your server to prevent interruptions or lag while playing.
