Minecraft:Far Lands (Java Edition)/Further distances by modding

The Far Lands were the point within Minecraft where the terrain generation effectively broke down due to overflow in 32-bit terrain generation. The Far Lands end in vanilla gameplay at the 32-bit integer limit, at approximately X/Z: ±2,147,483,647, with nothing else generating afterwards. By modifying the game, though, it is possible to remove the limits that normally crash the game. Whether or not this can be considered vanilla (since distance effects also end up patched) is up for debate.

Explanation

Because terrain generation in Minecraft:Beta 1.7.3 relied on 32-bit integers, certain aspects broke down at extreme coordinates. At X/Z: ±2,147,483,647, the 32-bit integer limit, 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, causing the game to instantly crash when approaching this point. This also means the game is no longer able to render any terrain at this point, because it is attempting to pull from the opposite end when trying to generate the next chunk after 2³¹. Thus, an endless void is what remains past the point, and if viewed from the other side, the exact point of it failing can be seen, although the game instantly crashes as soon as its rendered. If this array is fixed from rolling into a negative, what results is a invisible gap within chunks along X/Z: 2³¹, likely due to Frustum culling breaking down even further at the 32-bit integer limit (in the corners, it results in a giant X-like formation).<ref>https://youtu.be/FTMzUhIW3oc?si=gJNWLJ398YboGf8K&t=99</ref>

A BigInteger mod fixes this by storing most data, including chunk formatting, in Java's BigInteger class, which has an extremely large overflow point, up to 2^{231 − 1}. As a result, this patches most effects of the Far Lands seen in vanilla Minecraft, including the Minecraft:world boundary at 32 million blocks and making blocks solid. To see the effects of how the vanilla Far Lands continue without these game-breaking effects, the Perlin noise and how terrain generation itself is not altered. Due to the previous changes, this may not be considered vanilla as it technically goes beyond what vanilla Minecraft was designed to handle, just altered using a different storage to prevent crashes and certain artifacts.

What is interesting is that due to this, 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.

Effects

Coordinates	Effects	Image (if available)
X/Z: ±34,359,738,368 (±235)	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:Beta Far Lands soil noise overflow.png
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. This includes the following: The Minecraft:Stripe Lands artifact begins here (unless disabled) due to movement precision breaking down at the 64-bit equivalent of the above, and worsens ever power of two doubling the gaps. A patch is required to disable/fix this bug. Movement becomes increasingly blocky and eventually impossible as “gaps” between blocks become worse.	File:Beta Stripe Lands.jpeg
X: ±Template:Abbr X: ±Template:Abbr X/Z: ±Template:Abbr X: ±Template:Abbr	The Far Lands progressively begin to break down as a result of a combination of Lerp failure within terrain generation and a process known as decay. The exact point is different on both axes, but what follows is below: The first stage begins at ±Template:Abbr on the X axis, with a noticeable thinning and comb-like artifacts appearing every other block in some of the terrain (a result of lerp failure). The second stage of the degradation starts at X: ±Template:Abbr, with even more portions dissipearing and the comb-like artifacts becoming more frequent and distinct. At X/Z: ±Template:Abbr, two things happen depending on what axis the player is on. On the X axis, the third stage of the degradation begins, with a majority of the long walls and tunnels that compose the structure of the Far Lands disappearing, leaving frequent long lines and dotted blocks along with comb artifacts in their place, as well as the bedrock ocean becoming exposed at surface level. On the Z-axis, the degradation is much slower, with the first stage only beginning at this point. The fourth and final stage of degradation begins at ±Template:Abbr on the X axis. Here, the last long walls that remained of the Far Lands end entirely, leaving only single blocks spaced out every other block (a dotted line) and occasional long one-block lines of terrain. The latter also stops sometimes afterward.	File:Far Lands lerp failure and decay 1.png File:Far Lands lerp failure and decay 2.png File:Far Lands lerp failure and decay 3.png File:Far Lands lerp failure and decay 4.png
X/Z: ±Template:Abbr	The Far Lands end completely at this point. The only thing that generates after this point is an endless bedrock ocean. This marks the end of Minecraft terrain generation, unless extensive modding on top of this patches the noise overflow and Far Lands.	File:Far Lands true end.png

Beyond this point, it remains the same, and how far the bedrock ocean generates until is entirely dependent on how the game is patched, due to BigInt having the ability to change how numbers are stored. This means that, if configured, bedrock and ocean can generate beyond X/Z ±~1.7977×10³⁰⁸ (±2¹⁰²⁴) without the coordinates rolling over to "Infinity" and crashing the game, if numbers are set to be stored in 128-bit (quadruple) and even 256-bit (octuple). As Java’s own BigInteger class maxes out at ~8.8081×10^646456992 (2^{231 − 1}), this is theoretically the absolute farthest one could possibly even reach as both BigInt and the coordinates would overflow, the latter rolling over to "Infinity" and crashing the game, making this the absolute maximum Minecraft can generate, even with extensive modding. However, this is an exceptionally gigantic number that any attempts using this method would almost certainly crash the game long before then. The highest distance reached using this method so far is X: 2⁵²⁴²⁸⁸ (~2.5963×10¹⁵⁷⁸²⁶) by the YouTuber hypernebule, on June 8, 2026.<ref>Going further then anyone ever has in Minecraft.. YouTube, June 8, 2026.</ref>

References

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