The default Hytale map is limited. It shows a small circle around the player and forgets everything the moment you walk away. BetterMap fixes that by saving explored areas permanently, adding waypoints, cave mapping, a player radar, shared exploration, and a configurable world border overlay. If you're running a Hytale server with any kind of survival or exploration focus, this is one of those quality-of-life mods that players notice immediately.

This guide covers installation, the key features your players will use, admin configuration, and performance tuning.

Contents

• Installation
• How the Map Works
• Waypoints
• Cave Mode
• Shared Map (Linked Exploration)
• Player Radar
• World Border Visualisation
• Map Teleportation
• Performance & Map Quality
• Admin Configuration
• Privacy & Visibility Controls
• Permissions Reference
• Get Your Server Listed

Installation

Download BetterMap from CurseForge, drop it into your server's mods folder, and restart. The mod generates its config at mods/bettermap/config.json and saves exploration data in mods/bettermap/data/.

No extra setup is needed for basic functionality. Players can start using it straight away with /bettermap (or /bm for short).

How the Map Works

As players explore, BetterMap records the chunks they visit and saves them permanently. The next time they open their map, every area they've been to is still visible. No more fog of war resetting when you walk away.

Data saves automatically at a configurable interval (default: every 5 minutes), and it also saves on server shutdown. If the server crashes, you'll lose at most a few minutes of exploration data rather than everything.

Players can adjust their personal zoom range with two commands:

/bm min 16        # Set minimum zoom scale
/bm max 512       # Set maximum zoom scale

The defaults are 32 (min) and 256 (max), which works well for most use cases.

Waypoints

BetterMap replaces the basic marker system with a proper waypoint manager. Players can create, edit, share, and delete waypoints through a UI menu.

/bm waypoint menu     # Open the waypoint manager (or /wp)
/waypoint             # Shorthand alias

The waypoint UI includes a "Here" button for quickly setting a waypoint at your current location, plus context-menu options for editing existing waypoints. Waypoints show up on the map as markers that players can click on.

By default, each player can create up to 12 personal markers and 12 shared markers. You can adjust these limits in config.json with maxPersonalMarkersPerPlayer and maxSharedMarkersPerPlayer.

Cave Mode

When a player goes underground, BetterMap can switch to rendering cave chunks instead of the surface. This means the map actually shows the tunnels and caves around you rather than the terrain above your head.

Cave mode is enabled by default. The relevant config settings are:

Setting	Default	What It Does
caveModeEnabled	true	Enables cave chunk rendering underground
caveModeLayerSize	10	Vertical size of each cave layer
caveModeUndergroundThreshold	100	Y-level below which cave mode activates
caveModeRadius	4	Chunk radius rendered in cave mode
discoverSurfaceUnderground	false	Whether surface data is also recorded while underground
caveFogOfWar	false	Adds separate fog of war for unexplored caves

If you set caveFogOfWar to true, caves get their own exploration layer. Players have to physically explore underground areas to reveal them on the map, even if they've already mapped the surface above.

Shared Map (Linked Exploration)

By default, each player has their own exploration data. If you enable linked exploration, all players contribute to a single global map. When one player discovers an area, everyone can see it.

Toggle it with:

/bm config shareallexploration

Or set "shareAllExploration": true in config.json.

This works well for cooperative survival servers where you want the community to build up a shared knowledge of the world. For competitive or faction-style servers, you'll probably want to keep it off so exploration remains an advantage.

Player Radar

BetterMap adds a compass radar that shows nearby players on the map. By default, the range is unlimited (-1), but you can restrict it to a specific block range or disable it entirely.

/bm config radar 500      # Show players within 500 blocks
/bm config radar -1       # Unlimited range (default)
/bm config hideplayers    # Hide player cursors entirely

On PvP servers, you might want to limit the radar range or turn it off to keep things competitive. On community servers, leaving it on makes it easy for players to find each other.

World Border Visualisation

If your server uses a world border, BetterMap can display it directly on the map so players can see the boundaries without running into an invisible wall.

/bm config worldborder                  # Toggle world border display
/bm config worldborderradius 5000       # Set border radius in blocks
/bm config worldborderoffset 100 -50    # Set centre offset (X and Z)

Map Teleportation

Players with the teleport permission can right-click anywhere on the map to teleport there, or use the teleport button in the waypoint UI. This is a powerful feature, so think about whether you want it enabled for everyone or just staff.

Two separate toggles control this:

/bm config waypointteleport    # Toggle teleportation to waypoints
/bm config markerteleport      # Toggle teleportation by right-clicking the map

Even with both enabled, a player still needs the bettermap.command.teleport permission to actually use the feature.

Performance & Map Quality

BetterMap offers three quality presets that balance visual detail against memory usage. This is set in config.json and requires a server restart to change.

Quality	Resolution	Max Loaded Chunks
LOW	8x8	80,000
MEDIUM (default)	16x16	25,000
HIGH	32x32	8,000

Medium is the right choice for most servers. Low lets you load a huge number of chunks at reduced visual quality, which works if your world is very large and players explore extensively. High looks best but strictly caps loaded chunks to prevent memory issues.

You can also manually set the chunk limit with /bm config maxchunk [number] or through the admin tab in the /bm UI. The explorationRadius setting in config controls how many chunks around the player are recorded per update (default: 16), and updateRateMs controls how often the map refreshes (default: 500ms).

Admin Configuration

Most settings can be changed either through the in-game UI (/bm, then the admin tab) or via /bm config commands. Here's a quick reference of the admin config commands:

Command	What It Does
/bm config radar [range]	Set radar range (-1 for infinite)
/bm config location	Toggle the position HUD server-wide
/bm config shareallexploration	Toggle linked/shared map mode
/bm config maxchunk [number]	Override max loaded chunks
/bm config autosave [minutes]	Set auto-save interval
/bm config track	Add current world to the whitelist
/bm config untrack	Remove current world from the whitelist
/bm reload	Reload config file immediately

Multi-world support is handled through the allowedWorlds list in config.json. By default it tracks worlds called "default" and "world". If your server host uses different world names, add them to the list or use /bm config track while standing in the world you want to enable.

Privacy & Visibility Controls

BetterMap gives you fine-grained control over what players can see on the map. All of these are toggled with /bm config commands:

Command	What It Hides
/bm config hideplayers	Player cursors on the map
/bm config hidewarps	Other players' warp markers
/bm config hideunexploredwarps	Warp markers in areas the player hasn't explored
/bm config hidepois	All POI markers
/bm config hideunexploredpoi	POIs in unexplored areas
/bm config hideglobalwaypoints	Shared/global waypoints

Staff can bypass these restrictions with override permissions (listed below), which is useful if moderators need full map visibility while regular players have a more limited view.

Permissions Reference

Admin & Config

Permission	What It Grants
bettermap.admin	Full admin access to BetterMap
bettermap.command.config	Access to /bm config commands and admin UI tab
bettermap.command.reload	Reload config with /bm reload
bettermap.command.teleport	Teleport via waypoint UI or right-click on map
bettermap.command.waypoint.editglobal	Edit or delete shared waypoints created by other players

Privacy Overrides (Staff Bypass)

Permission	Bypasses
bettermap.command.override.players	Hidden player cursors
bettermap.command.override.warps	Hidden warp markers
bettermap.command.override.unexploredwarps	Hidden unexplored warps
bettermap.command.override.poi	Hidden POIs and POI names
bettermap.command.override.unexploredpoi	Hidden unexplored POIs
bettermap.command.override.spawn	Hidden spawn marker
bettermap.command.override.death	Hidden death markers
bettermap.command.override.waypoints	Hidden waypoints

Basic commands like /bm, /wp, and personal zoom settings require no permissions. All players can use these out of the box.

Get Your Server Listed

A persistent map with waypoints and shared exploration makes your server feel more polished and player-friendly. That kind of attention to detail stands out when people are choosing where to play.

List your server with us to put it in front of players looking for Hytale servers. Our Hytale server list helps players discover the best Hytale servers and top Hytale servers all in one place. It's free and takes a couple of minutes.