Block simulation distance is always 8 chunks regardless of the slider's value

Fluids are not affected by this, they work correctly

Can confirm.

Are we sure this is resolved for both lower and higher values?

I just tried growing sugar cane at 14 chunks away (slider set to 16). It didn't grow, but it started growing after I was within the normal 8 chunk distance. I waited for over 20 minutes in each case. This is for pre-release 1.

I can confirm that leaf decay doesn't work beyond 8 chunks still either, even with the slider set to maximum 32 chunks.

Villagers and entities appear to work correctly, so it's still something with block growth.

Also noting I was playing on a default generated pre-release 1 world, nothing special with the terrain. Test was conducted on a grove plateau about 130 blocks in height.

Can confirm that it does not work for the above in pre-release 2 either for setting the slider higher than 8.

Leaf decay and crop growth also still do not obey the slider when set to less than 8.

I created a new pre-release 2 default world to be sure, it's definitely not working in any respect to blocks unfortunately. The processes only function once within 8 chunks no matter what the slider is set at.

If I can help test it further somehow, glad to be of assistance.

@Rick Nielson Leaf decay and crop growth happens with Random Ticks and is therefore limited to the range of that (= all chunks where the center is closer than 128 blocks to any player not in spectator mode). That has always been the case, so I assume that still being the case is intentional.

If that's the case, then unfortunately the Simulation Distance slider isn't as useful as it's first looked at to be (my fault here). These items are all simulations. Maybe they can clarify the differences for those who try to use it (assuming this difference is indeed valid).

In any case, is there a way to adjust the Random Ticks distance as well, or be able to plot 128 radii locations to continue basic mechanics functions? That seems to be a logical adjuster to have (whether that's front end or via commands/config settings/etc.), especially if you have a decent computer to simulate those items.

Thanks David for exploring this issue with us!

The idea behind sim distance is to allow limiting the amount of stuff ticking for the servers to be able to increase render distance with significantly less performance penalty. For example you can have 16 render distance and 16 simulation distance, or with about the same server CPU load you can have 20 render distance and 12 simulation distance. Sim distance of 12 should not affect the gameplay at all compared to 16 or 32, but you will get much better server performance.

Allowing to extend the simulation beyond what we had before was never our goal.

But at the same time I see that now when we have sim distance we technically can extend random ticking based on it. We will discuss it internally.

Thank you Timur for the explanation and the discussion.

Please consider at the very least a command to allow an extension of random tick distance for those who know their computers and servers can handle it.

It would be nice to have a slightly larger active coverage at least for when one is in a base. The current radius of 128 for crop/tree growth and such is just a bit small if you're not centered to the overall area.

Even a max slider or command to 256 would be a great deal more.

Consider a server that has a few players on in one area, opposed to one or two... the effect of their combined radii seems to be similar. In other words, if my server can handle 10 players on but I only have 4 on or just 1 even, then I can bump that distance ("Random Tick Distance" if you like) and getting my crops to grow and trees to grow further out.

I often times just play alone and would like this option for base purposes.

That's my thinking at least.

Thanks again!