Is it possible to change the difficulty of a server while it is running?

Question

Is it possible to change the difficulty of a Minecraft server while it is running?

The problem with being able to change difficulty while keeping the server up is that it requires the server to know when the server.properties file changes. That capability is largely OS dependent. Java might handle the OS dependent part (I'm no expert), but Notch likely hasn't considered it an issue with the server.
do you mean like in "whether monsters are spawned or not"? Because you can obviously change the difficulty setting to change how much damage is caused. But actually I never tested what peaceful + spawn.mobs=true does..
peaceful + spawn.mobs=true used to spawn agressive non-killable monsters (it was like that last time i tried, about 4 months ago). The problem was, while being unkillable, they could still inflict you some damage...

Devator · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-24 18:57:05Z

up vote 8 down vote accepted

No, it's not possible. You have to edit the server.properties file and restart the server.

answered Mar 24 '11 at 18:57

Devator
22113

Community · Answer 2 · 2013-01-11 13:32:37Z

up vote 7 down vote

It's possible now with the /difficulty x server command, where x is a number from 0 to 4:

0 = peaceful
1 = easy
2 = normal
3 = hard

edited Jan 11 at 13:32

Community♦
1

answered Dec 28 '12 at 5:31

jonatan
7111

1

Does this persist across a restart, or does the server.properties file need to be manually edited to match? – SevenSidedDie Dec 28 '12 at 5:51

1

From Anonymous "Remove: 4 = hardcore because you can't change to hardcore in game" – Michel Jan 11 at 11:30

2 Answers