How to Enable Hardcore Mode on Your Minecraft Server
Hardcore Mode is a special version of Survival where death is permanent – once you die, you're done. It adds serious tension and challenge to gameplay, making it ideal for competitive survival runs or if your players want to play on a high-stakes server.
In Hardcore Mode:
Players only get one life
The difficulty is locked to Hard
When a player dies, they’re permanently set to Spectator (or banned, depending on the setup)
It’s not something you can enable in-game – it has to be done through the server’s configuration file.
Before you enable Hardcore, we highly recommended that you create a full backup of your server – and download it to your local machine. Most hosting panels automatically delete backups after a certain time, and if your group wipes, you’ll want a way to restore the world without losing everything.
If you don’t create a backup and end up with all players dead, you can still restore playability (without resetting the world), but you’ll need to turn hardcore off temporarily and edit player data to reset each player’s death status.
Log in to your Nexus Hosting Account.
Once on the dashboard, find and select your intended Minecraft server.
Before making any changes, stop the server to avoid potential data issues. On the Terminal page, click the red Stop button.
Before you change your world to Hardcore mode, you should back up your server. Click the Backup icon from the sidebar. Then select the three ellipses on the backup of your choice and click Download. Save the back up to your local machine.
If you haven’t made any backups yet, please see our article on Automatic Backups to learn how to get started.
Now, click Files in the sidebar. Locate and select the server.properties file from the list.
Find the line that says hardcore=false and change it to hardcore=true. Hardcore mode only works with Survival mode, so you’ll also need to change the gamemode setting to survival if your server is currently set to something else.
Click Save Content to confirm your changes.
You can now restart your server, clicking the green Start button on the Terminal page.
Now have fun and try not to die!
In Hardcore Mode:
Players only get one life
The difficulty is locked to Hard
When a player dies, they’re permanently set to Spectator (or banned, depending on the setup)
It’s not something you can enable in-game – it has to be done through the server’s configuration file.
Before you enable Hardcore, we highly recommended that you create a full backup of your server – and download it to your local machine. Most hosting panels automatically delete backups after a certain time, and if your group wipes, you’ll want a way to restore the world without losing everything.
If you don’t create a backup and end up with all players dead, you can still restore playability (without resetting the world), but you’ll need to turn hardcore off temporarily and edit player data to reset each player’s death status.
Step 1: Log in
Log in to your Nexus Hosting Account.
Step 2: Select the Server
Once on the dashboard, find and select your intended Minecraft server.
Step 3: Stop the Server
Before making any changes, stop the server to avoid potential data issues. On the Terminal page, click the red Stop button.
Step 4: Download Backup
Before you change your world to Hardcore mode, you should back up your server. Click the Backup icon from the sidebar. Then select the three ellipses on the backup of your choice and click Download. Save the back up to your local machine.
If you haven’t made any backups yet, please see our article on Automatic Backups to learn how to get started.
Step 5: Open server.properties
Now, click Files in the sidebar. Locate and select the server.properties file from the list.
Step 6: Enable Hardcore Mode
Find the line that says hardcore=false and change it to hardcore=true. Hardcore mode only works with Survival mode, so you’ll also need to change the gamemode setting to survival if your server is currently set to something else.
Click Save Content to confirm your changes.
Step 7: Restart the Server
You can now restart your server, clicking the green Start button on the Terminal page.
Now have fun and try not to die!
Updated on: 05/05/2025
Thank you!