Minecraft:Far Lands (Java Edition)

Template:Msgbox Template:Infobox structure The Far Lands<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20110322154638/http://notch.tumblr.com/post/3746989361/terrain-generation-part-1</ref> are a terrain generation bug Template:In. The original Far Lands occurred starting from 12,550,821 - 12,550,824 blocks from the world origin (0,0). They essentially formed the "edge" of an "infinite" world.

They were patched in Minecraft:Beta 1.8 to be located way beyond vanilla boundaries of the game, inaccessible unless modded back in by reversing the change or using mods to travel to extreme distances. Starting in 26.3, they were re-added with the ENABLE_FARLANDS Minecraft:debug property (except in the Minecraft:Overworld due to other terrain generation bugs caused by said debug property). An intentional Minecraft:world border was placed more than twice as far as the former boundary in Minecraft:Java Edition 1.8.

Location

The initial Far Lands set occurs between 12,550,821 and 12,550,824 on the positive X and Z axes, and always −12,550,824 on the negative. Putting the numbers together, a standard Minecraft map in Bedrock Edition prior to 1.17.30 or Java Edition before Beta 1.8, is about 25,101,642 blocks wide along the X axes and 25,101,650 wide along the Z axes. For comparison, the equatorial circumference of the Earth is about 40,075,000 meters.

Due to changes within the games code relating to terrain generation, since Beta 1.8, the Far Lands now spawn far beyond the normal bounds of vanilla gameplay and most computers without extensive modding.

Cause

Template:Cleanup The terrain is generated based on 16 octaves of Template:W, specifically those used for Minecraft:low noise and Minecraft:high noise. Each noise generator takes floating-point inputs and uses those to interpolate between noise values at whole numbers. It does so by:

1. Casting to a 32-bit integer, where Java rounds toward zero and handles overflow by picking the closest representable value;
2. Subtracting one if the integer is greater than the original input, to always round down;
3. Subtracting that integer from the original input to get a remainder in the interval [0, 1) suitable for interpolation.

It covers an interval of [−2³¹, 2³¹) without causing any problems. The problem is that many of the octaves cover a scale much smaller than a block, with up to 171.103 noise units per block. Indeed, 2³¹≈171.103×12,550,824.053. Thus, the effects of the Far Lands start 12,550,824 blocks away from the center of the Minecraft world. Once this value is exceeded, the integer is always 2³¹−1 (2,147,483,647), picking the same noise values on that axis every time. This is the reason for the long unchanging tunnels in the Edge Far Lands, and plains in the Corner Far Lands.

The Farther Lands are caused by an overflow in Minecraft:selector noise, as opposed to the low and high noise that cause the initial set of Far Lands to generate; while selector noise does repeat more often than low and high noise, only half as many octaves are used, causing them to overflow much further out.

At the positive end, the remainder starts out relatively small but usually much larger than 1, and grows by 171.103 per block. At the negative end, the remainder starts at −2³². This value is then adjusted by ((6x−15)x+10)x³ for quintic interpolation. Even one block in at the positive end, this is already around 10¹¹. The negative end starts all the way around −10⁴⁹. For the Corner Far Lands, multiply the values of both edges. When interpolation (really extrapolation) is attempted with values as large as these, it produces similarly large output. That output completely dwarfs all other terms that would normally give the terrain its shape, instead effectively passing only the sign of this one noise function through.

There are several other factors to the cause of the Far Lands, making things slightly more complicated:

• Noise is sampled only every four blocks and linearly interpolated in between. This is why when 12,550,824 is affected by the bug, it reaches out three more blocks to 12,550,821.
• Each noise generator picks a random offset in [0, 256) to add to its input. This usually moves the boundary under 12,550,824, starting the Far Lands at 12,550,821. With a few seeds, it might not, putting the start at 12,550,825. Very rarely, if the boundary is just barely within 12,550,824, the first couple blocks of the Far Lands might look somewhat normal. The southern and eastern Far Lands do this independently of one another. At the negative end, the Far Lands always start at block coordinate −12,550,825, with the positive edge of those blocks at −12,550,824.
• The two sets of noise generators (low noise and high noise) are blended together based on another noise generator (selector noise). This is responsible for relatively smooth alternation between two sets of tunnels or plains. Occasionally, one of the noise generators starts generating the Far Lands before the other because it uses a different offset, producing an incongruous boundary.

A table of relevant values are as follows: Noise generator/Tables/Terrain

While most of these values have can be ignored, it can indeed be seen that the low and high noise increment by 171.103 each block, or 684.412 each sampling at four blocks; dividing 2,147,483,648 by this indeed results in the value 12,550,824 being returned.

Structure

Both areas of the Far Lands feature extremely strange terrain, although they are significantly different. In both zones, any area beneath sea level, excluding regular caves, are flooded with water. The Far Lands generate Minecraft:biomes, but most biomes are indistinguishable except by the color of grass. Desert biomes are covered in sand and snow-covered biomes are covered with snow, excluding the very top of the map due to the height build limit. Trees generate somewhat normally, but can be found only in the upper areas of the map due to the need for skylight.

Minecraft:Ores can be found up to their respective maximum heights just like in the normal world. Unfortunately, due to the flooding, everything except for Minecraft:coal can be extremely difficult to acquire. In the solid areas of the Far Lands, normal Minecraft:caves still generate but are limited and small. Along with the caves, Minecraft:dungeons (which are extremely rare) and Minecraft:lakes can be found in solid areas. Minecraft:Water and Minecraft:lava springs can be found out in the open and in caves.

Much of the open space in both areas are shrouded in darkness and thus hostile Minecraft:mobs run rampant, making the Far Lands as a whole incredibly dangerous. This is especially problematic in the Corner Far Lands due to its layered structure. The flooded zones have an abundance of Minecraft:squid.

Types of Far Lands

Combination types

A world with Far Lands can be divided into multiple parts depending on how many axes one given noise generator is overflowing on at a given time at that position. In the diagrams below, normal terrain where nothing is overflowing is marked in gray, one overflow in light blue, two overflows in magenta and three overflows in lime. This can be extended to an arbitrary whole number of dimensions, although there are currently no modifications that allow for 4D or above terrain generation.

• A 2D diagram of the world, for 2D noise maps or 2D slices of 3D noise.
  A 2D diagram of the world, for 2D noise maps or 2D slices of 3D noise.
• A 3D diagram of the world, for 3D noise maps.
  A 3D diagram of the world, for 3D noise maps.

Facial cuboid/Edge Far Lands

The most commonly depicted form, this is the result of an overflow on only one axis. It's known as the edge Far Lands or the loop. In this form, it generates long spongy-like holes on the walls of Far Lands.

On a 2D plane, there are four different overflows possible, corresponding to the edges of a rectangle. In 3D space, there are six different overflows possible, corresponding to the faces of a cuboid.

• File:Combination type face.png
• File:2D edges diagram.png
• File:3D faces diagram.png

The Far Lands edge boundary (that is, where it meets the regular map) looks like a solid wall, all the way to the top of the map (Y coordinate 127 in Beta 1.8 and earlier) which is filled with gaping holes perpendicular to the edge. These holes are extremely long, and on the whole change very little as the player moves through the Far Lands. They can be blocked, partially or completely, but these blockages are rare. This "Swiss Cheese Wall" pattern continues below ground level, to bedrock at the bottom of the world, and appears to be partially caused by a large one-dimensional distortion in the output of the map generator. This area is sometimes called “the loop”. Early versions of the Far Lands also looked much more like randomly placed pixels interpolated solely with diagonal lines.

The Edge Far Lands' average block composition (Based on a 14×14 Minecraft:chunk selection):

block	percentage
Minecraft:stone	36%
Minecraft:air	25%
Minecraft:water	23%
Minecraft:dirt/grass block	10%
Minecraft:bedrock	2%
other	4%

Edge cuboid/Corner Far Lands

These are the result of an overflow on two axes. It's known as the corner Far Lands or the stack. In this form, layers of terrain stack on top of another repeatedly until it reaches the Minecraft:height limit.

On a 2D plane, four cases of this are possible, corresponding to the vertices of a rectangle. In 3D space, there are twelve such possible intersections, corresponding to the edges of a cuboid.

• File:Combination type edge.png
• File:2D corners diagram.png
• File:3D edges diagram.png

The majority of the generated world is Corner Far Lands, as the "normal" map (before ±12,550,821 mark) makes only the center of the world, and the Edge Far Lands make only its continued sides.

The number of layers is not always the same and varies between five and seven (fusing together and splitting every so often). Layers can be grouped into three categories:

• Top layer: This layer exists at the absolute top of the map. Occasionally there can be a lower area that is not shadowed (this is technically a dry layer). The lower area is where a majority of the trees and passive mobs can be found, as the top layer receives almost all of the sunlight. Due to the lack of space, the area at the absolute top cannot have trees or mobs.
  • The top layer tends to light incorrectly in day-night transitions. This is because the sunlight calculation does not work correctly when the entire chunk is blocked at Y-coordinate 128 in early versions.
• Dry layers: These generate slightly flatter than normal terrain and have grass, despite the darkness. At sea level, massive floating beaches can be found. Hostile mobs' spawn rate likely approaches the maximum due to being in the shadow of the top layer. Rarely, there are holes in the top layer that allow sunlight to reach these layers. Caves that have one of these layers as their "surface" can occasionally be carved out of dirt instead of stone. These layers have cave-like ceilings made out of stone, gravel and dirt.
• Flooded layers: Like the dry layers, these generate somewhat flat terrain, but it is comprised primarily of Minecraft:stone. Minecraft:Sand and Minecraft:sandstone appear down here, even down to 30 blocks below sea level. Except for coal, all the Minecraft:ores can be found only in these layers.

Sometimes, there are extremely tall pillars of gravel that stretch from the ground to the ceiling of a layer. Likewise, some of the beaches that collapse create pillars of sand all the way down to the ground, despite there not being that much sand, to begin with.

The Corner Far Lands is also prone to having near-perfect diagonal lines being carved into the ceilings or floors of layers. If traced, these lines all intersect at the corner (X/Z ±12,550,821). This seems similar to how the Edge Far Lands have a consistent pattern along lines perpendicular to their edge, but is much less pronounced. These lines can sometimes be seen running through layers, and appear as cliffs at the top layer. The landscape in the Corner Far Lands vary based on these lines, and is consistent when the ratio of how far one axis is past 12,550,821 to the other is kept the same. The diagonal lines only start from the initiation of the Corner Far Lands when X and Z are both positive.

The top of the Corner Far Lands can either have plateaus at the top of the map, bumpy terrain, flatland at the top of the map, or floating islands. It is rare but possible for sunlight to reach the ocean at sea level.

The type of terrain in the Corner Far Lands when one axis is near 12,550,821 is almost exactly mirrored in the quadrant with the opposite sign on the other axis, with minor differences which usually manifest as a one-block-thick layer that is present in one quadrant but absent in the other. For example, the type of terrain seen in the Corner Far Lands when Z is near 12,550,821 in the quadrant with positive X and Z is mirrored in the Corner Far Lands with negative X and positive Z, and the type of terrain seen in the quadrant with positive X and Z when X is near 12,550,821 is mirrored in the Corner Far Lands with positive X and negative Z.

Additionally, the Corner Far Lands in the quadrant with negative X and negative Z are an inversion of the positive Corner Far Lands.

The Corner Far Lands' average block composition: 40% Minecraft:stone, 16% Minecraft:air, 28% Minecraft:water, 10% Minecraft:dirt/grass, 2% Minecraft:bedrock, and 4% others. (Based on a 14×14 Minecraft:chunk selection)

• A Minecraft:map created near the Far Lands.
  A Minecraft:map created near the Far Lands.
• A map created near the Corner Far Lands.
  A map created near the Corner Far Lands.
• A section of the Far Lands shows that all large Minecraft:caves below sea-level are flooded.
  A section of the Far Lands shows that all large Minecraft:caves below sea-level are flooded.
• A cartograph of the Far Lands.
  A cartograph of the Far Lands.
• An isometric preview of the Far Lands.
  An isometric preview of the Far Lands.

Corner cuboid/Vertex Far Lands

A rarely encountered type, this is the result of an overflow on every axis. It's known as the vertex Far Lands or the abyss. This form seems to vary throughout worlds, and can only be encountered with three axes overflowing at once, which is effectively impossible in any version without mods.

There are eight possible regions for this case, corresponding to the vertices of a cuboid.

• File:Combination type vertex.png
• File:3D corners diagram.png

Farther Lands

Template:Conjecture The second set of Far Lands (henceforth called the "Farther Lands") generate when X/Z coordinates reach about ±1,004,065,924, when the Selector Noise overflows, which is about 80 times farther than where the first set initiates, at ±12,550,821 (this is due to the value corresponding to the "Main Noise Scale" value later found in Minecraft:Old Customized Worlds being 80 by default). The terrain is similar to the first set of Far Lands, but is more stretched out. They also have Edge and Corner types, which are described below. Sometimes one can see infinitely repeated patterns in the Corner Farther Lands, which appear as diagonal lines starting from the corner at 1,004,065,924.

The Edge Farther Lands which extend off of Corner Far Lands are notably distinct from Edge Farther Lands which extend from Edge Far Lands - the former can have infinite horizontal air gaps whereas the latter don't. Sometimes, a diagonal line from the Corner Far Lands can be seen here.

• The Farther Lands in Beta 1.7.3.
  The Farther Lands in Beta 1.7.3.
• A captioned diagram.
  A captioned diagram.
• The Corner Farther Lands in Beta 1.7.3.
  The Corner Farther Lands in Beta 1.7.3.
• A captioned diagram.
  A captioned diagram.
• From the left of the red line, the Edge Far Lands start to combine with the Edge Farther Lands, creating a hybrid mix.
  From the left of the red line, the Edge Far Lands start to combine with the Edge Farther Lands, creating a hybrid mix.
• The End Farther Lands.
  The End Farther Lands.
• The Edge Far Lands where the Farther Lands start on the right.
  The Edge Far Lands where the Farther Lands start on the right.
• File:Selector noise overflow after low and high.png
• File:MC-distance11.png
• File:MC-distance3.png
• File:MC-distance2.png
• File:2025-06-17 16.50.51 (high exposure).png

Soil noise overflows

The depth of the surface block corresponding to each biome is determined by a noise generator known as biome fill noise. Biome fill noise increments by 0.0625 units each block, or 1 unit every chunk, and thus overflows at or around X/Z ±34,359,738,368. Overflowing is not visible without either extensive modding or manipulating the noise scale, as the overflow occurs well beyond the block render limit (±2,147,483,647) and coincides almost exactly with the chunk limit.

The biome fill noise overflow generates long strips of stone, with grass in between. The stone layers generate only stone. On the grass strips, the dirt actually extends down all the bedrock floor.

In modern versions, simplex noise is used for the fill noise instead of Perlin noise; as a result, the overflow now causes the fill depth to stay constant rather than being variable.

• File:Biome fill noise overflow.png

Sand/gravel noise overflows

These noise generators existed before Minecraft:Beta 1.8 and determined whether beaches used sand or gravel as their material. They overflow after ±68,719,476,736 blocks. After overflow, the terrain has stripes of sand/gravel that are clearly visible.

Deprecated

Old heightmap noise overflows

Used for terrain generation before inf-20100327, it overflows at X/Z ±33,554,432. After overflow the entire terrain is made of stone, up to the height limit.

Island carver noise overflows

Used in Indev versions for the Floating world type. Due to the limited terrain size the noise breaks far beyond the world boundary.

Effects

With the introduction of the new noise terrain generator in Minecraft:Infdev 20100327, the Far Lands took on their more familiar form, generating at X/Z 12,550,824. However, with the introduction of the world boundary at X/Z ±32,000,000 in Minecraft:Infdev 20100313 meant to prevent players reaching that iteration of the Far Lands that were further out, the new changes in terrain generation resulted in the new Far Lands, and terrain in general simply ceasing at 32 million, prior to the Minecraft:Halloween Update. Going past this point simply results in the player getting stuck in mid-air, unable to move. By using an external program to remove this limit, the map can generate perfectly fine and can be interacted with all the way to the 32-bit integer limit at X/Z ±2,147,483,647, where the same issues with blockpos rolling into a negative causes the game to freeze. Unlike later versions, it is impossible to go further then this limit as the game will always freeze when trying to get near or surpass this point.

Gameplay

Players experience extreme frame-rate drops and very high CPU usage, which continue until Minecraft freezes completely. The frame-rate drops do not occur in multiplayer servers, though the server itself lags depending on the server computer's RAM. In both single-player and multiplayer, the intense lag that is characteristic of the Far Lands is caused by massive numbers of falling Minecraft:sand or Minecraft:gravel entities.

Minecraft:Lightning bolts that hit surfaces at the top of the map (Y=127) are invisible and do not cause a fire. The particles created when rain hits these surfaces are black instead of blue. Snow does not accumulate on these surfaces either (because there is no space) unless a top layer tunnel peeks out.

Distance effects

File:World rendering precision loss.gif

The most noticeable side effect of the Far Lands, where the map takes longer to update according to the player's location.

Prior to Minecraft:Alpha v1.2.0, most of the float-related distance effects were patched, and this period is generally the more stable one in terms of performances. However, beginning in Minecraft:Infdev 20100624, RenderList was implemented, which began causing the infamous jittering described later. Alpha v1.2.0 brought major changes in terrain generation, which resulted in the standard iteration of the Far Lands that it is most known for to appear. The world now continues generating past X/Z ±32,000,000 in vanilla gameplay, but are treated as "fake chunks", or more specifically returned as Minecraft:air blocks, meaning they cannot be walked on. The map continues to generate out to the 32-bit integer limit at X/Z ±2,147,483,647, before cascading effects from integers overflowing and precision issues cause terrain to cease entirely.

When travelling away from spawn, every time the distance is doubled from the center of the world, there is an issue with precision, where entities and block hitboxes (where the block should be) still match the shape of the world, but what we see (the blocks) don't. This is the side effect of RenderList, which is what is used for world rendering, beginning to degrade. This effect can first be seen at 4096 blocks away from spawn if observed closely, even though it is far less noticeable than what is seen when the player is close to the Far Lands. Past 8,388,608 blocks, the offset is an entire block, which is the extent of the effect seen at the Far Lands.

Intentional limits

Template:Main The above distance effects continue to get worse until the player reaches X/Z ±32,000,000, where blocks stop being solid.

It is possible to remove this world border using an external program such as Cheat Engine to directly edit this value, and can be set all the way out to the 32-bit integer limit. This allows solid terrain to continue up to that point, although it is nearly impossible to progress further in this fashion likely due to blockpos failing at the same point.

Dimensions

The Far Lands of Minecraft:the Nether and Minecraft:Sky dimension share characteristics of the Overworld Far Lands, although with some differences.

The Nether

File:Nether Far Lands.png

The Far Lands as seen in the Nether.

The Minecraft:Nether Far Lands are similar to the Overworld Far Lands, except generated with Nether terrain features, with a Minecraft:lava ocean at Y=31.

In the Nether, the terrible lag associated with the Overworld Far Lands does not occur; most of the Nether is already dark enough for spawns in the first place, and there are fewer gravity-affected blocks (no sand, and gravel is rare).

If a Minecraft:nether portal is created in the Far Lands of the Overworld, entering causes a teleportation to normal Nether, as X/Z ±32,000,000, the limit at which block physics and lighting cease to function, divided by 8 (as 1 block in the nether corresponds to 8 blocks in the Overworld), is X/Z ±4,000,000, within the limits of X/Z ±12,550,820, where the distortion starts. Conversely, a nether portal built in the Nether Far Lands does not function, as even at the limit of ±12,550,820 blocks at the beginning of the Far Lands, it would cause the player to come out at X/Z ±100,406,560, far past X/Z ±32,000,000. If a portal is entered beyond X/Z ±4,000,000 in the Nether, it causes the game to crash. Entering a portal at exactly X/Z ±4,000,000 in the Nether teleports the player around 8-16 blocks from the ±32,000,000 limit.

The Far Lands do not generate above the Minecraft:bedrock ceiling.

The Nether can be a great way to reach the Far Lands in the Minecraft:Overworld, as every block in the Nether counts as 8 blocks in the Overworld. The player must travel to ±1,568,853 or higher to spawn in the Far Lands. Teleporting just a few blocks less allows the player to see the beginning of the Far Lands.

Sky Dimension

File:Sky Dimension Far Lands Edge.jpg

The Far Lands as seen in the sky dimension.

The Minecraft:Sky Dimension similarly has no trademark liquid and generates no water/lava, and also no bedrock generates. They appear squashed similarly to those of the End.

The Sky Dimension Far Lands appears just like the End Far Lands, but with Overworld features.

This is also the area where the player is most likely to find diamonds. In any other area, the islands do not spawn low enough for diamonds to spawn. The Sky Dimension Far Lands do spawn all the way to Y=0, so the player can find rare ores inside the Far Lands.

Summary

The tables below provide a simplified version of what happens with the Far Lands as one goes further out.

The furthest one can go out without extensive modding is the 32-bit integer limits for terrain and chunks before the game crashes. Going further requires a mod that increases integer and floating point number limits. What is interesting is that when done, new distance effects akin to those from Template:BE begin manifesting themselves at extremely large distances. The difference is because Template:JE was coded using Java rather then Bedrock's C++, meaning that in the former, the same effects visible in vanilla Bedrock gameplay (and its Far Lands up until their removal in Minecraft:Bedrock Edition 1.17.30) end up happening much further out, and thus do not occur within the maximum range attainable in vanilla Template:JE.

Coordinates	Effects	Image (if available)
Up to 32-bit distance limits (X/Z: < ±34,359,738,368)
X/Z: ±12,550,824 (±Template:Frac)	The Far Lands begin generating beyond this point due to noise overflow within the terrain generator.	File:Farlandscornerflying.png
X/Z: ±16,777,216 (±224)	From Minecraft:Beta 1.6 Test Build 3 to Beta 1.7.3 inclusive, at each power of two after X/Z ±524,288 (219), and continuing up until the 32-bit integer limit, a glitch occurs with the way spawn chunks are handled. What happens is certain aspects overflowing, and the game respawns the spawn chunk from (0,0) at these distances since the spawn chunk being permanently stored compared to normal chunks. This takes on a greater role within the Far Lands; starting at X/Z ±16,777,216 (224), this bug causes the spawn chunk to generate within the Far Lands, meaning normal terrain can be generated and interacted with. This continues up at every power of 2 in the Far Lands until X/Z ±1,073,741,824 (230), as the following power of 2 is the 32-bit limit and the cessation of terrain generation. The instance at 224 is the only time that normal terrain that can be interacted with generates inside the Far Lands, since the next power of two is past 32 million blocks, where fake chunks generate. Beyond 32 million blocks, the instances of the spawn chunk glitch at X/Z ±33,554,432 (225) to X/Z ±1,073,741,824 (230) are the only instances where Minecraft:trees, Minecraft:caves and Minecraft:grass can be found beyond the fake chunks boundary, as most terrain decorations do not generate at this distance.	File:Farlands Trees.png Trees generating past 32,000,000 at X=268,435,456 along with normal terrain stretching only a few chunks.
X/Z: ±32,000,000	Blocks are treated as permanently nonexistent, and do not generate even though they may appear to, resulting in the player falling through into Minecraft:the Void. Further travel requires flying via mods. Additionally, lighting stops working, and Minecraft:mobs stop spawning. This is an intended boundary set in the game, instead of resulting from noise selection overflow or precision errors. In versions prior to Minecraft:Alpha v1.2.0, terrain simply ceases to generate at this point, unless the border is removed via external programs.	File:Lighting stops functioning.png Fake chunks begin generating at X/Z 32,000,000, and lighting no longer works File:InfdevFarEnd.png Terrain stops generating at X/Z 32,000,000 in older versions during Infdev
X/Z: ±268,435,456 (±228)	By this point, the "jittering" effect commonly seen at high distances even before the Far Lands reaches a breaking point, as RenderList, a component used in how Minecraft renders terrain, degrades to such a point to where the offset is 32 blocks, or two full chunks, and the renderer begins failing to accurately display the terrain the player is looking at or traveling to. This alternates between appearing far away or up close, giving the appearance of flickering. This gets worse at the next powers of two at 229 and 230, with a further offset resulting in more jumping.	File:Broken world rendering, b1.7.3.png The terrain of the Far Lands begins flickering at high distances due to world rendering breaking down
X/Z: ±1,004,065,924 (±Template:Frac×80)	Selector Noise overflows, causing the Farther Lands to begin generating, which are much less detailed and thinner then the original Far Lands. This means the variation between low and high noise also breaks down. Like how the usual Far Lands is a series of straight tunnels, the Farther Lands divides the world into a series of straight regions, with low noise used exclusively in one region and high noise in others. As such, the variation usually seen in the Far Lands vanishes after the Farther Lands.	File:Farther Lands.png
X/Z: ±2,147,483,647 (±231−1)	The 32-bit integer limit, and the maximum the Far Lands will generate, due to blockpos within Minecraft:chunk formatting breaking completely, crashing the game. This marks the end of terrain generation in vanilla Minecraft. blockpos within Minecraft:chunk formatting breaks completely, attempting to load a chunk from the opposite end of the map relative to the player's axis, −2,147,483,648. As a result, the game freezes as the client hangs indefinitely, waiting to process a chunk that, theoretically, doesn't exist. This occurs whenever the invalid chunk is loaded within the game, even if the player is not at the limit exactly, on both sides. The invalid chunk at 231 usually generates once the player crosses X/Z ±2,147,483,439 in the positive direction towards the limit, and X/Z ±2,147,483,794 going towards it in the negatve direction.By using external programs such as CheatEngine, one can teleport their position to exactly 231, although only a few frames will manage to load before the client hangs. Additionally, the RenderList class, already severely degraded due to precision loss and the cause of flickering terrain, breaks entirely. Although unviewable normally due to the game freezing right before the 32-bit limit, if most arrays are patched to not overflow (which causes the crash), as one gets closer to the edge, rendering breaks exactly 128 blocks before at X/Z ±2,147,483,519, initially appearing as one invisible chunk, before expanding outward beyond this point, leaving only an empty void.<ref name="beta 1.7.3 32bit">https://youtu.be/FTMzUhIW3oc?t=99</ref> In chunks beyond this point, the game is essentially returning blank chunks as a result, and the player can traverse without freezing, although because of the above the performance of the game can be very inconsistent and still be prone to hanging if one stays in an area out this far for too long.	File:FarLandsEnd.png The end of the Far Lands in vanilla Minecraft at the 32-bit limit of X: 2,147,483,647. World rendering stops working at this point. File:FarLandsEndNether.png The end of the Far Lands in the Nether at around the same point.
X/Z: ±8,589,934,592 (±233)	At this point, the sample offset noise for the map, which samples 684.412 every four blocks, overflows, essentially causing terrain to repeat itself from the opposite end of the map, marking the true end of terrain generation of Minecraft. However, this is not visible unless rendering and player positioning is fixed to not overflow at 32-bit integers. This "loop" repeats every 234 blocks after this point indefinitely, resulting in a grid of normal terrain and Far Lands surrounding the normal map (essentially "Gridded Lands"). In effect, normal terrain would generate for a bit at the next power of two, X/Z ±17,179,869,184 (±233), before the Far Lands resume at X/Z: ±17,192,420,005.	File:Far Lands terrain loop.png Terrain looping in the Edge Farther Lands at X: 8,589,934,592. Notice the abrupt end and/or start of some parts of terrain, a result of terrain being generated from the opposite end of the map. File:Corner Far Lands terrain loop.png Terrain looping at the Corner Farther Lands. It is much more distinct here due to the layered nature which is much more randomized in the corners of the map.
X/Z: ±34,359,738,368 (±235)	The hard limit for any player to reach within Minecraft without modding, since the game will freeze at this point due to attempting to load a chunk that doesn't exist, as this is the maximum chunks will generate before stopping. As such, this is the true end of vanilla Minecraft. A chunk is 16×16 blocks, and 34,359,738,368=2,147,483,648×16, so the chunk coordinates are 32-bit integers as well in a grid. As such, at this distance, chunks will stop generating. The game attempts to load the next chunk at 235, and similar to the blockpos failure, overflows and tries to generate a chunk that is located on the opposite end of where the player is. In reality, the game is attempting to generate a non-existant chunk that is outside of this grid at 34,359,738,369 (235+1), which causes the client to freeze, waiting indefinitely for a chunk that will not generate. If the game is patched to use 64-bit integers: Soil noise overflows, causing repeating stone layers to be exposed within the Far Lands. The start of this is seed-dependent, so the start of the overflow may be off by about 1,000 blocks.	File:ChunkEndOverwrite.png The game at X 34,359,738,079. The game has froze due to attempting to load a chunk that doesn't exist, which occurs 289 blocks from here. As soon as this limit is approached, Minecraft crashes.
Up to 64-bit distance limits (X/Z: < ±147,573,952,589,676,412,928)
X/Z: ±9,007,199,254,740,992 (±253)	At this point, the Far Lands and the game begin breaking down in similar manners to Template:BE: The UVs that determine the textures of blocks reaches the maximum limit that it can fully render terrain normally (always at a value of 1), at 253, as 52 bits are dedicated to the double format in precision. Past this point, due to this being computed by floating point values, the precision loss within the UVs coordinate becomes 2, and rendering starts breaking down only considering every other block, creating the infamous Minecraft:Stripe Lands phenomena. This will get worse at every power of 2 afterwards, and player movement becomes increasingly difficult. The Far Lands begin again with this effect at X/Z: ±9,007,199,267,291,768, as the Stripe Lands effect begins in normal terrain as part of the looping phenomena.	File:Beta Stripe Lands start.png
X/Z: ±18,014,398,509,481,984 (±254)	The Far Lands become essentially flat and nearly invisible as precision loss increases to 4 blocks and horizontal rendering on blocks breaks entirely. This gets worse every power of two and causes less and less to appear. A Stripe Lands fix is required to see any further terrain breakdown.	File:Slice Lands b1.7.3.png
X/Z: ±9,223,372,036,842,225,152	The maximum the Far Lands will generate if using a mod that fixes blockpos and rendering to use longs instead of integers. Past this point, up until the 64-bit limit, normal terrain generates for the last time due to the looping phenomena, as the next set would theoretically generate past the limit in an invalid position. The soil noise overflow effect still persists all the way up to the limit. Because of player movement precision loss and rendering breaking down at these distances, there is no visibile transition, but is confirmed as happening here due to the map updating the rendering between this and the preceding blocks.
X/Z: ±9,223,372,036,854,775,807 (±263−1)	The 64-bit limit and the maximum the map will generate along with the soil noise overflow effects. World rendering breaks completely here, giving way to an empty void similar to the original 32-bit vanilla game. As before, at this distance, blockpos fails and rolls into a negative number, and the client will attempt to load a chunk from the opposite end, causing the client to freeze.
X/Z: ±147,573,952,589,676,412,928 (±267)	The absolute hard limit for anyone to travel in the vanilla game with integers patched to use 64-bit integers. As before, this is where chunks will stop generating, being 16 times as far out as the 64-bit limit, and attempting to travel past this will cause the game to attempt to load a non-existant chunk outside of this, freezing it indefinitely. Thus, this is the true end of Minecraft.	File:64-bit Far Lands chunk end.png The end of chunk generation in Minecraft at X: 147,573,952,589,676,412,928.

Further distances

Using an external program to edit player position, such as Cheat Engine, the highest one can go is X/Z ±~1.7977×10³⁰⁸, the maximum signed integer for Java before the coordinates roll over to "Infinity". Because world renderer fails at the 32-bit or 64-bit limits in this instance, going this far will still leave only an empty sky.

BigInteger

Template:Disclaimer Template:Main Because the terrain loops at 2³³ as a result of the sample offset overflow, this prevents a further deteoration of the Far Lands due to other floating point processes. A BigInteger mod known as "MCBig Legacy" for Minecraft:Beta 1.7.3 is the only mod known to do this, making sample offset neither a integer nor a long, as such, it does not overflow and terrain can continue infinitely without looping. This is not considered vanilla though as it is an extensive rewrite of the coordinate system, compared to simply using longs of which Template:JE already does for many aspects except terrain.

1. REDIRECT Template:PG/-

Other iterations

Infdev 20100227-1414 to Infdev 20100325

File:Eyc0bj7pr4w51.jpg

The Far Lands as they appeared in Infdev 20100227-1433.

In the February 27th build of Infdev, all generation past 33,554,432 blocks would be solid stone, extending vertically from the bottom of the world to the height limit, continuing out to the 32-bit limit. These are the first truly visible appearance of the Far Lands, although very visually distinct from convention.

Beta 1.8 to release 26.2

Template:Main The X/Z Far Lands were fixed in Beta 1.8 Pre-release, so they do not exist without modifications to Minecraft, generating at over 53.9 quadrillion blocks out. In addition, most of the distance effects were fixed. The Y Far Lands (aka the Sky and Ground Far Lands) were overlooked, but were fixed in 1.13 with the world generation rewrite. The Far Lands were "fixed" by taking the remainder of the input from above divided by 2²⁴, preventing the overflow at 32-bit integers. By removing these instructions, the Far Lands can be returned to current versions of the game.<ref name="reddit explanation">Template:Reddit</ref> In versions beginning with 1.14.4, they generate at over 1.808 septillion blocks out due to changes to the fix.

One consequence of this fix is that the noise repeats itself on the distance, but since the world generation use a combination of noises with different frequencies and scale factors (and thus periods) that overlap each others, this repetition is not noticeable.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>

Debug property (Nether and The End)

File:Screenshot 2026-09-11 at 3.08.31 PM.png

The End Far Lands in Java Edition 26.3 Pre-Release 1 with the debug flag on. These start generating at approximately 12 million blocks.

Template:See also Since 26.3, the ENABLE_FARLANDS Minecraft:debug property may be specifiedTemplate:Efn to disable the Beta 1.8 modulo fix. The traditional form of the Far Lands only appear in The Nether and The End (likely due to using the old terrain and noise generators from versions before 1.18) as multiple other factors seem to break down in the Overworld way before the Far Lands can appear there. The purpose of the debug flag is to compare the performance of the modulo fix as it had a non-zero performance cost.<ref>Template:Tweet</ref>

Effects

A list of the various breakdown stages are listed below for the Nether and End Far Lands. Due to being float-casted, similar decay and effects seen in old Template:BE versions appear here (as those were also based on floats), except without the skygrid or comb-like artifacts and the negative Far Lands don't immediately generate nothingness.

Types of the Far Lands

Color	Code	Description
	A	Early Edge Far Lands
	N	Nothingness
	B	First degradation of the Edge Far Lands
	C	Second degradation of the Edge Far Lands
	D	Third degradation of the Edge Far Lands
	E	Fourth degradation of the Edge Far Lands

Coordinates (Nether and End)	Effects
X or Z +12,550,821 (+12,550,817 in the End) X or Z −12,550,824	A	The Far Lands generate, or more specifically, "The Loop" or the Tunnel Lands.
X and Z +12,550,821 (+12,550,817 in the End) X and Z −12,550,824	N	Terrain generation stops entirely, except for small Minecraft:end islands (in the End) or an ocean of Minecraft:lava (in the Nether).
X ±12,559,913	B	Some stretches of terrain stop suddenly beyond this point, marking the transition from the Tunnel Lands to the Pole Lands.
X ±12,560,361	C	The Far Lands completes the transition from the Tunnel Lands to the Pole Lands.
X ±12,561,029	D	The Strip Lands generate, which consists mostly of 1D and 2D panels of land.
Z ±12,561,029	D	Some stretches of terrain stop suddenly beyond this point, as the Far Lands start to transition from the Tunnel Lands to the Pole Lands.
X ±12,562,277	E	The Far Lands almost disappear, although a few rare isolated blocks of terrain may generate.
Z ±12,562,277	E	The Z Polestrip Lands generate, which generates like the Pole Lands here, but gradually changes to the Strip Lands until nothing generates.
X or Z ±12,758,545	N	Terrain generation stops entirely, except for small Minecraft:end islands (in the End) or an ocean of Minecraft:lava (in the Nether).

Trivia

• Even though Beta 1.6 made it impossible to place solid blocks at layer 128, the Far Lands' flat "ceiling" still gets generated there.

Gallery

Game features

• A view within the Far Lands
  A view within the Far Lands
• "The Stack" at X/Z ±32,000,000. Above lies the top layer.
  "The Stack" at X/Z ±32,000,000. Above lies the top layer.
• A bird's eye view of the top layer of the Corner Far Lands, or "The Stack"
  A bird's eye view of the top layer of the Corner Far Lands, or "The Stack"
• An overhead view of the Edge Far Lands, or "The Loop"
  An overhead view of the Edge Far Lands, or "The Loop"
• Inside the Edge Far Lands beyond X/Z 32,000,000, where there are no trees, mobs, or lighting
  Inside the Edge Far Lands beyond X/Z 32,000,000, where there are no trees, mobs, or lighting
• "The ocean" within the Edge Far Lands
  "The ocean" within the Edge Far Lands
• A bisection of the Corner Far Lands, showing the 3 different layers
  A bisection of the Corner Far Lands, showing the 3 different layers
• A bird's eye view of the Far Lands' corner
  A bird's eye view of the Far Lands' corner
• The Front of the Far Lands seen in a Beta 1.7 world
  The Front of the Far Lands seen in a Beta 1.7 world
• File:2022-08-11 (10).png
• File:2022-08-11 (3).png
• File:2022-08-11 (4).png
• File:2022-08-11 (6).png
• File:2022-08-11 (5).png
• File:2022-08-11 (7).png
• File:2022-08-11 (9).png
• File:2022-08-11 (11).png
• File:2022-08-11 (12).png
• File:2022-08-11 (13).png
• File:MC-distance21.png
• File:MC-distance1.png

Generation

• A desert biome in the Far Lands
  A desert biome in the Far Lands
• The Nether Far Lands at X/Z of 500,000,000 with severely stretched lava
  The Nether Far Lands at X/Z of 500,000,000 with severely stretched lava
• Trees generating beyond X/Z 32,000,000 at X/Z: 33,554,432
  Trees generating beyond X/Z 32,000,000 at X/Z: 33,554,432
• The Edge Far Lands meeting with the Corner Far Lands in the Nether at X value of 2,000,000,000 and Z of 12,550,820
  The Edge Far Lands meeting with the Corner Far Lands in the Nether at X value of 2,000,000,000 and Z of 12,550,820
• File:Screenshot 2022-05-17 7.09.28 PM.png
• File:Screenshot 2022-03-25 8.15.46 PM.png
• The repetitive Far Lands at the corner
  The repetitive Far Lands at the corner
• The start of the Far Lands in the Nether
  The start of the Far Lands in the Nether
• The Corner Far Lands in the Nether
  The Corner Far Lands in the Nether
• The Farther Lands in the Nether
  The Farther Lands in the Nether

Old versions

• The Far Lands generating with a strip of grass on the inner edge in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100227-1414
  The Far Lands generating with a strip of grass on the inner edge in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100227-1414
• The point where the Far Lands flatten and lose their notched edge in the same version
  The point where the Far Lands flatten and lose their notched edge in the same version
• The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100313
  The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100313
• The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100320 with ores spotted throughout
  The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100320 with ores spotted throughout
• The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100325 with a cave carving through them
  The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100325 with a cave carving through them
• The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100325 with a Minecraft:brick pyramid in the distance
  The Far Lands in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100325 with a Minecraft:brick pyramid in the distance
• "The Stack" in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618
  "The Stack" in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618
• A bird's eye view of "The Stack" in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618
  A bird's eye view of "The Stack" in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618
• The end of the world in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618
  The end of the world in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618
• The end of the world at night in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618 from third person view.
  The end of the world at night in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100618 from third person view.
• The Far Lands in 1.5 from a Beta 1.7.3 world
  The Far Lands in 1.5 from a Beta 1.7.3 world
• The Edge Far Lands at X-coordinate of 2,147,483,420
  The Edge Far Lands at X-coordinate of 2,147,483,420
• The Far Lands colliding with, and overwriting, a Minecraft:Monolith in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100611
  The Far Lands colliding with, and overwriting, a Minecraft:Monolith in Minecraft:Java Edition Infdev 20100611
• The Far Lands in a 'winter mode' world in Minecraft:Java Edition Alpha 1.0.4
  The Far Lands in a 'winter mode' world in Minecraft:Java Edition Alpha 1.0.4
• The edge Far Lands as they appear from the March 27th build
  The edge Far Lands as they appear from the March 27th build
• Rendered 3D Section of Far Lands as they appear from the March 27th build
  Rendered 3D Section of Far Lands as they appear from the March 27th build
• The corner Far Lands as they appear from the March 27th build
  The corner Far Lands as they appear from the March 27th build
• A close-up of the morphology of the edge Far Lands in their early iteration
  A close-up of the morphology of the edge Far Lands in their early iteration
• The edge Far Lands as they appear from the April 20th build
  The edge Far Lands as they appear from the April 20th build
• The corner Far Lands as they appear from the April 20th build
  The corner Far Lands as they appear from the April 20th build

In other media

Minecraft: Story Mode

• Soren looking at the Far Lands
  Soren looking at the Far Lands
• The entrance to The Maze and Ivor's Cottage in the Far Lands
  The entrance to The Maze and Ivor's Cottage in the Far Lands

See also

• Minecraft:Tutorial: Far Lands – How to get to the Far Lands and avoid lag.

Notes

<references group="fn"/>