New Realms Features in the Latest Java Snapshot

Two Realms features just landed in the latest Java snapshot. Realm owners can now create up to five invite codes to bring in members without sending manual invites, and the render distance ceiling on Realms jumps from 12 chunks to 25. Render and simulation distance also split into two separate sliders.

Invite codes: how they work

This is the big one for anyone who runs a realm with a rotating group of friends.

As the owner, you can have up to five invite codes active at once. Make them, hand them out however you want (a Discord server, a group chat, a note passed in class), and anyone who types the code into the Join Realm screen gets added as a member automatically. No approval step on your end.

Done with a code? Delete it whenever. You can also set an expiration date when you create it, which is handy for a one-weekend event or a temporary build team.

One thing to keep straight: deleting a code doesn't kick the people who already used it. Those members stay on your realm until you remove them by hand. So a code is a door, not a leash.

Five active codes is enough to juggle a few groups at once: one for close friends, one for a weekend build event, one you post publicly for a few days and then kill. Anyone with a live code can join as a member, so be a little careful about where a public one ends up.

Adjustable render and simulation distance

Realms used to cap render distance at 12 chunks. The snapshot raises that to 25.

The other half of the change: render distance and simulation distance now have their own sliders instead of moving together. That lets you tune how far the world draws separately from how far the game actually simulates.

Why splitting those two settings helps

Quick refresher, because the names get mixed up a lot. Render distance is how many chunks you can see. Simulation distance is how far out the game keeps things running: mob spawning and movement, crop growth, redstone, hoppers, all of it.

Cranking render distance gives you those long sightlines for big builds and terrain shots. Look, simulation distance is the heavier load for the server, since every simulated chunk is work. Having them on separate sliders means you can push the view out toward 25 while keeping simulation lower to protect performance for everyone connected.

Fair warning: higher numbers still ask more of the Realm and of each player's device. A 25-chunk view is gorgeous and not free.

Trying it in the snapshot

Snapshots run through the official launcher. Open the Installations tab, turn on snapshots, and pick the newest one (26.3-pre-3 at the time of writing). The current stable release is 26.2 if you'd rather stay on solid ground.

Back up anything you care about before loading a world in a test build. Snapshot features can shift or get pulled before they reach a full release.

Worth a caveat: the announcement lays out the invite-code rules clearly, but it doesn't walk through exactly how the new slider screen looks, so I'm not going to pretend I know the menu layout.

My take

Invite codes are overdue and genuinely useful. Running a realm for a friend group always meant chasing usernames and typing them in one at a time. A shareable code with an expiry date fixes that.

The separate simulation slider is the quiet winner here. It's the setting that actually decides how your realm performs, and until now it was tied to render distance. More control there's a good thing.

The render bump matters less day to day, but 25 chunks on a Realm is a real jump for anyone who builds big or films their world.

Not hosting your own realm? Public servers are the other route, and our server list ranks them by community votes (DonutSMP alone was showing close to 28,000 players online last time I checked our board).

Source:New Realms features in Java snapshot, Minecraft.net.