Fast Player Updates

Minecraft servers do not send other players' positions every tick. Vanilla registers players in the entity tracker with updateInterval = 2, so a movement packet leaves at most every second tick — 10 times per second. Everything in between is interpolated by your client.

FastPlayerUpdates sets that interval to 1. The result is up to 20 position updates per second instead of 10. Most noticeable in PvP, during fast movement, and anywhere client-side interpolation arrives too late.

Measured with a client that counts incoming position packets:

	position updates/s
Vanilla / Paper without the plugin	8–10
with FastPlayerUpdates	16–20

How it works

The plugin reflectively sets ServerEntity.updateInterval in the entity tracker. It changes no movement logic, no positions and no packet contents — only how often the tracker is allowed to send.

The server's own threshold filter stays fully intact: if a player has not moved (less than 0.0028 blocks since the last packet), nothing is sent, exactly as before. No redundant packets are produced — extra traffic only occurs on actual movement.

Bandwidth

Expect up to twice the number of movement packets per visible, moving player. A movement packet is small (~10 bytes), but it adds up on servers with many players in view. For large networks: test with update-interval: 1, fall back to 2 if needed, or limit it to arenas.

include-non-player-entities (mobs, items, arrows) is off by default on purpose — that is the switch that actually costs bandwidth.

Commands & permissions

Command	Effect
/fpu status	configuration and the live interval read back from the server
/fpu reload	re-read config.yml
/fpu on / /fpu off	toggle at runtime; off restores the original values

Permission: fastplayerupdates.admin (default: OP). Alias: /fastplayerupdates.

Configuration

enabled: true                        # master switch
update-interval: 1                   # ticks; 1 = every tick, 2 = vanilla
include-non-player-entities: false   # also speed up mobs/items/arrows
reapply-interval-ticks: 200          # safety-net sweep

Compatibility

• Paper 1.21.11, 26.1.2, 26.2 — one jar for all three.
• Server-side, no client mod required. Players install nothing.
• No ProtocolLib, no other dependencies.
• Tested alongside GrimAC and ViaVersion. The plugin only changes outgoing entity packets, not the validation of incoming movement.

Not compatible with Spigot/CraftBukkit or Folia.

Honest testing status

• 1.21.11 — verified on a running server (the numbers above).
• 26.1.2 / 26.2 — verified statically: every reflection target and the server's send logic were checked against the real server jars and are identical. A live test on those versions is still outstanding.
• 26.2 is still in beta at Paper itself.

If a future Paper build renames the internals, the plugin disables itself at startup with a clear log message instead of silently doing nothing. Every write is read back and fails loudly if it does not stick.

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