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If I build a (correctly powered) very long track to transport goods via chest in minecart (so without the presence of any player anywhere during the trip except at the starting point),

Is there a distance limit in blocks or chunks after which the cart will stop, or will the cart continue indefinitely =?

Minecraft java 1.13.2 on a (private) paper server.

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    Why would it? The wiki doesn't mention such a thing.
    – Fabian Röling
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 16:28
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    @FabianRöling I guess that's what the question is asking- wikis can be outdated and missing information.
    – AStopher
    Commented Mar 20, 2019 at 22:39
  • But there's no reason to believe that such a random thing suddenly got added.
    – Fabian Röling
    Commented Mar 20, 2019 at 22:47
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    @FabianRöling limitations like this are common in games, simply because hardware and software has inherent limitations, depending on its design. The accepted answer shows well how a design choice in the game led to a limitation in the feature asked about. Such limitations due to design are not commonly found in wikis, simply because most are implicit and it wouldn't be feasible to list every single edge case in wiki format. As such, this is a good question.
    – Not a real meerkat
    Commented Mar 21, 2019 at 5:02

2 Answers 2

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The limit the minecart will go is the edge of loaded chunks.

In multiplayer mode, a grid with a default inradius of 10 (for a total of 21x21 or 441) chunks is loaded around each player and sent to the player by default, although this can be configured to be between 3 and 15, usually only lowered with a poor connection home server. (Source: Chunk on Minecraft Wiki)

In vanilla Minecraft, if a minecart hits an unloaded chunk, it will stop.

Mods like Railcraft provide items like Anchor Minecart that will keep chunks around it loaded, effectively eliminating the requirement for it to travel infinitely, independently of the presence of players in its perimeter.

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    So that mean that if I manage to keep all the chuncks of the track loaded (with a mod like "keepChunk" for instance) I am only limited by the server settings/capacity and may be able to go very far. Thank you.
    – user978548
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 15:32
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    there are even mods with something like a "Anchor Minecart" if i remember correctly. That Minecart will the keep it chunks around it loaded. Less load on the Server for that purpose
    – Serverfrog
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 15:33
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    Ah, thank you, perfect. I'll take a look.
    – user978548
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 15:35
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    Rest assured, that mod is Railcraft.
    – iBug
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 16:06
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    Suggested Railcraft as an edit, as well as some language / formatting fixes. Hope it helps.
    – iBug
    Commented Mar 19, 2019 at 16:12
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Limit

Yes there is a limit, minecarts will only go until the end of the chunk, but they will not stop. Minecarts only pause at the end of a chunk, and when the chunk is loaded it will keep the same momentum and will continue to move.

Solutions

Mods

Vanilla

Notes

Minecarts will lose momentum once you log out. If it pauses at a chunk and you log out then go back into the game the minecart will be frozen. If you are on a server that will keep running once you log out then it will be fine.

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