Pause Day Cycle
by clo4
With nobody online, a server keeps counting in-game time, and Pause Day Cycle stops the day cycle until a player returns, so small servers can stop ticking time while empty.
What it does
Pause Day Cycle is a server-side data pack that pauses the day cycle while no player is online. It sets the doDaylightCycle and doMobSpawning gamerules to false and resumes them when someone joins, so the in-game day does not advance in an empty world. Players and server owners install it through the data pack folder, and the mod is published for Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt across 43 release versions, 1.13 – 1.21.8.
The mod also works with the Detect AFK Players mod, which is an optional dependency. When that mod is present, players tagged as AFK are treated as absent, so time stays paused while they sit idle and does not keep growing. Players can also use the AFK Sit mod to sit down while away. Other data packs can call the pause and resume functions through tags, and the mod is light enough to run alongside them without breaking them. Because automatic farms need spawn chunks to keep ticking, the mod leaves those chunks running while the day is paused.
Only the server must run the mod; a player may join without it. Pause Day Cycle is released under the MIT License and is open source, with public links for the source code and issue tracker.
Key features
Pauses the day when empty
The day cycle and mob spawning stop while no player is online and resume as soon as one joins.
AFK detection
With Detect AFK Players installed, idle players are not counted as present, so game time stops advancing while they are away.
Function tags
Tags exposing pause and resume functions let other data packs control the pause from their own logic.
Spawn chunk handling
Automatic farms keep running in spawn chunks and manually loaded chunks while the day is paused.
Gallery
Compatibility
Latest build for each game version and loader.
1.21.x9 of 9 versions with builds
1.20.x7 of 7 versions with builds
1.19.x5 of 5 versions with builds
1.18.x3 of 3 versions with builds
Only full game releases are shown. This mod publishes no snapshot builds.
Requirements
Dependencies declared by the latest file for each loader.
Optional 1
How it compares
Idle Freeze is a server-side mod for 1.21 – 1.21.5, released under the Apache License 2.0 and not open source. Pause Server When Empty is also server-side, for 1.21 – 1.21.8, under the MIT License. Pause Day Cycle is server-side too, covers 1.13 – 1.21.8 across four loaders and is open source under the MIT License.
| Mod | Loaders | Game versions | Environment | Updated |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pause Day Cycle | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.13 – 1.21.8 | Server required, client optional | 2025-03-30 |
| Idle Freeze (Server) | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21 – 1.21.5 | Server required, client optional | 2025-04-29 |
| Pause Server When Empty | Fabric, Forge, NeoForge and Quilt | 1.21 – 1.21.8 | Server required, client optional | 2025-08-24 |
Questions
Does Pause Day Cycle need Detect AFK Players?
Does a client need Pause Day Cycle?
Which loaders does Pause Day Cycle support?
In the catalog
Pause Day Cycle is one of 8,016 Management mods on ModsFinder, and one of 5,930 Management mods for Fabric. 17,695 mods support Minecraft 1.21.8.
More from clo4
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What the author says
To enable AFK detection feature, Detect AFK Players must be installed. When nobody's on a Minecraft server, the in-game time still increases. This means you can't track the number of days played, and the local difficulty will also increase. That's not a concern for servers that have players online almost constantly…
Official listing
- Modrinth page
- modrinth.com/mod/pause-day-cycle
- Owner
- clo4
- Published
- 2023-07-11
- Updated on Modrinth
- 2025-03-30
- Facts verified
- 2026-10-15