Fix ticking entity crashes on modded servers

A crash report headed "Ticking entity" means one entity threw an error while the server was updating it. The server stops, and because the entity is saved in the world, starting the server again can hit the same crash. The fix is to take the entity out of the world, or to let the server drop it for you.

Checked against Minecraft 26.3, the Forge 1.20.1 and 26.3 source, NeoForge 1.21.1, 1.21.11, 26.1, 26.2 and 26.3, and MCA Selector's wiki, October 2026.

Read the crash report

1. Open the File Manager and go into crash-reports. Open the newest file, or follow Find Minecraft server logs and crash reports.
2. Look for the description Ticking entity. Further down is a block headed Entity being ticked. If instead you see Ticking block entity, a block such as a machine or chest caused it, and the notes about block entities below apply.
3. Write down three lines in that block:
   • Entity Type gives the entity's id, for example somemod:giant_slime. The part before the colon is normally the mod's id, and vanilla entities use minecraft.
   • Entity's Exact location and Entity's Block location give coordinates. The World: figures are block coordinates.
   • Region: gives the two numbers of the region file.

The chunk an entity sits in is found by dividing its X and Z by 16 and rounding down. A block X of -33 is in chunk X -3.

Try the easy fixes first

1. Update the mod. Open the Mods tab, switch to Installed and press Check for updates. A newer build may repair a bug like this. Press Update all or the row's Update, then restart.
2. Restore a backup from before the entity appeared, if you have one. Open the Backups tab and press Restore on that backup's row. How to create and restore backups has the steps.
3. Disable the mod that owns the entity for one start, using Disable on its row. When an entity's type is not registered, the game logs Skipping Entity with id for it instead of loading it. Turn the mod back on only after you have cleared the entity another way.

Forge and NeoForge: let the server remove it

Both loaders have a setting that removes an entity that throws an error instead of crashing the server. Their own description warns that it could damage a world, so switch it on, start once and switch it off again.

1. Stop the server on the Console tab.
2. In the File Manager, open the file that holds the setting:
   • Forge: forge-server.toml in the serverconfig folder inside your world folder (world unless you changed World folder). Forge's documentation gives that location for server configs.
   • NeoForge 1.21.1, 1.21.11, 26.1 and 26.2: neoforge-server.toml in the config folder. NeoForge's documentation says a world's serverconfig folder can override that file.
   • NeoForge 26.3: neoforge-synced.toml in the config folder. In 26.3 the setting moved to a synced config, and a world's syncedconfig folder can override that file.
3. If the file is not there yet, press Start once so the server creates it, then stop the server again. Change removeErroringEntities = false to true. In Forge's file it sits under [server]. For a Ticking block entity crash, change removeErroringBlockEntities as well.
4. Press Save, then Start. The server removes the entity and carries on.
5. Set the value back to false, Save, and restart.

Fabric and anything else: delete the entity from the world

Fabric Loader has no setting like that, so you remove the entity from the world files. Always make a backup first.

With MCA Selector (exact). Trim your world with MCA Selector shows how to download a copy of the world and put it back. In MCA Selector, open Tools, choose Filter chunks, and add a condition on Entities with the entity id in single quotes, plus xPos and zPos set to the chunk numbers you worked out. Press Select, check the chunk on the map, then use Selection and Delete selected chunks on the copy. MCA Selector's wiki says the entity filter takes custom entities if they carry their namespace, and that the filter's Delete option is instant and cannot be undone. Upload the world back and start.

Without extra software (coarse). Since Minecraft 1.17 the game keeps entities in their own entities folder, in region files named like the ones in region. Delete the entities file whose name matches your region numbers, for example r.-1.0.mca. Every entity in that 512 by 512 block area goes, including mobs, item frames and armour stands, and the game loads the area with none. In 26.1 and later it sits at dimensions/minecraft/overworld/entities inside the world folder, and a Nether or End entity file sits in that dimension's own folder, dimensions/minecraft/the_nether or dimensions/minecraft/the_end. A block entity lives in the region file, so that route needs MCA Selector.

Stop it coming back

Keep the mods that add entities updated, and read the crash report the first time one fails. Fix "Exception in server tick loop" crash covers other causes of the same family of crashes.