Hytale world settings: turn on PvP, fall damage and more

Each Hytale world has its own config.json with switches for PvP, fall damage, the time of day and NPC spawning. Where to find it, what to change and what to leave alone.

3 min read · Updated Sep 24, 2026 · By GuavaHost Team

Settings that shape the game itself, such as whether players can hurt each other, do not live in your server's main config.json. Every world on a Hytale server has a settings file of its own, and that is where you turn PvP on, switch fall damage off or freeze the time of day. This guide shows where it is and how to change it without losing anything.

Where the world settings live

Your server keeps its worlds in the universe folder, which holds all world and player save data.

• universe/worlds/ has one folder per world.
• Each world's folder has its own config.json.

Do not mix this file up with the config.json in your server's main folder. That one holds server wide settings such as the server name, password and player limit, which Hytale server settings, operators and whitelist covers.

Change a world setting safely

Hytale reads its settings files when the server starts and writes to them while it runs, so an edit made to a running server is likely to be overwritten. Always stop the server first:

1. On the Backups tab, create a backup. If an edit goes wrong you can roll straight back.
2. Stop the server from the Console tab.
3. On the Files tab, open universe, then worlds, then the folder of the world you want to change, then its config.json.
4. Change only the value you need, for example false to true. Keep every quote, comma and bracket exactly as it is.
5. Save the file and start the server again.

The file is JSON, a text format where punctuation matters. If the world will not load after an edit, the usual cause is a missing comma or quote. Fix it, or restore the backup you just took.

The switches most owners change

These settings are true or false switches. The middle column shows the value in the example world file Hypixel Studios publishes in its server manual. Your file may differ if the world was set up differently.

After you restart, test the change in game before you tell your players, especially for PvP.

Settings to leave alone

Some values in the same file describe the world itself or keep it saving. Changing them can lose progress or even remove the world, so leave these as they are:

• Seed, UUID and WorldGen. They identify the world and how its terrain was generated.
• IsSavingPlayers and IsSavingChunks. They keep player data and terrain being saved. Keep both true.
• IsTicking and IsBlockTicking. They keep the world running. Keep both true.
• DeleteOnUniverseStart and DeleteOnRemove. As their names say, these delete the world. Keep both false.
• Version, ChunkStorage and ResourceStorage. Internal values the server manages.

More than one world

If your server has several worlds, each one has its own folder and its own config.json, so the settings are separate. You can run a PvP arena next to a peaceful build world, for example. Hytale also runs each world on its own main thread, sharing a pool of extra threads for parallel work, so a busy world does not have to hold up a quiet one.

PvP and your players

Turning PvP on changes how people play, so tell your community before you do it. If you want PvP only among people you know, lock the server with a whitelist first: Hytale server settings, operators and whitelist shows the commands. For more ways to protect a world, see Stop griefers on your server, and keep regular backups as described in the backups guide.

Source: Hypixel Studios, Hytale Server Manual (File Structure, Universe Structure and Configuration Files).

Still stuck? Jump into our Discord at discord.gg/GuavaHost and the team will help you out.

• hytale
• pvp
• world settings
• config
• universe
• worlds

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