// crash guide

Fix "Exception ticking entity" and "Ticking block entity" crashes

One entity (a mob, an item, a minecart) or one block entity (a machine, a pipe, a chest) threw an error while the server was updating it, and the server stopped. The crash report tells you what it was and exactly where. It's still in the world, so the server usually crashes again as soon as that area loads. The fix is to repair or remove that one thing, then find out why it broke.

Updated October 2026  ·  Forge, NeoForge, Fabric

What the crash looks like

The last lines in the console and logs/latest.log before the server stops (this is Forge; other loaders word the bracketed logger name a little differently):

[Server thread/ERROR] [minecraft/MinecraftServer]: Encountered an unexpected exception
net.minecraft.ReportedException: Ticking block entity

For a mob or other entity, the second line ends in Ticking entity. The class name before the colon depends on the Minecraft version and loader; the words after it are what matter. The full details are in the newest file in crash-reports/. For a block entity it looks like this (trimmed):

---- Minecraft Crash Report ----
Description: Ticking block entity

java.lang.NullPointerException: Cannot invoke "Object.toString()" because "this.target" is null
	at com.examplemod.machines.ConveyorBlockEntity.tick(ConveyorBlockEntity.java:88)
	at net.minecraft.world.level.chunk.LevelChunk$BoundTickingBlockEntity.tick(...)

-- Block entity being ticked --
Details:
	Name: examplemod:conveyor // com.examplemod.machines.ConveyorBlockEntity
	Block: Block{examplemod:conveyor}[facing=north]
	Block location: World: (-1788,50,296), Section: (at 4,2,8 in -112,3,18; chunk contains blocks -1792,-64,288 to -1777,319,303), Region: (-4,0; contains chunks -128,0 to -97,31, blocks -2048,-64,0 to -1537,319,511)

-- Affected level --
Details:
	Level dimension: minecraft:overworld

And for an entity:

Description: Ticking entity

-- Entity being ticked --
Details:
	Entity Type: examplemod:steam_cart (com.examplemod.entity.SteamCart)
	Entity ID: 5005951
	Entity Name: Steam Cart
	Entity's Exact location: -1168.50, 70.06, -416.83
	Entity's Block location: World: (-1169,70,-417), Section: (at 15,6,15 in -74,4,-27; chunk contains blocks -1184,-64,-432 to -1169,319,-417), Region: (-3,-1; contains chunks -96,-32 to -65,-1, blocks -1536,-64,-512 to -1025,319,-1)

The examplemod names are made up. The layout is what real reports look like. Forge and NeoForge show readable Minecraft class names in the stack trace. Fabric on 1.21.11 and older shows them as numbers, like net.minecraft.class_2586.

Older versions, 1.12.2 and before, can also crash with Description: Exception ticking world entities. That one has no "Entity being ticked" section, so read the stack trace for the mod name instead.

Read what it was and where

• What: the Name: line (block entities) or Entity Type: line (entities) gives the ID, like examplemod:conveyor. The part before the colon is the mod it belongs to.
• Where: World: (-1788,50,296) is the block position, X, Y, Z. Level dimension, further down, says which dimension.
• Which chunk: in Section: (... in -112,3,18; ...), the first and last numbers are the chunk coordinates: chunk -112, 18. The middle one is the height section.
• Which file: Region: (-4,0; ...) means the region file r.-4.0.mca. Block entities are stored in the region folder. On 1.17 and newer, entities are stored in the entities folder next to it. The corrupt chunk guide lists which folder each dimension uses.
• Which mod broke: read the stack trace under the error line. The first line that isn't Java, Minecraft or the loader (java., net.minecraft, com.mojang, net.minecraftforge, net.neoforged, net.fabricmc) is usually the mod at fault. It isn't always the mod that owns the block. In one real report the block was a Create belt, but the stack trace led to an add-on that called a Create method that no longer existed.

Common in these packs: packs full of machines and mobs, like All the Mods 10, and Create packs such as Create: Above and Beyond or Create: Astral when Create or one of its add-ons gets updated on its own, the add-on mismatch described above.

How to fix it

First, stop the server and take a backup. Every method below deletes or changes something in your world. On a Pelican panel, create one from the Backups tab.

1. Update or match the mod

If the stack trace names a mod with a newer version, update it, along with any add-ons that depend on it. If the error is NoSuchMethodError, NoClassDefFoundError or AbstractMethodError, two mods were built against different versions of each other: an add-on and the mod it extends need to be versions that go together. When the bug is in the code rather than the saved data, the fixed version loads the same thing without crashing, and nothing gets deleted.

2. Forge and NeoForge: let the server remove it

Forge and NeoForge have two options that tell the server to delete whatever crashes while ticking, instead of crashing. Both are off by default. Which key and file you need depends on the loader and version:

world is your world folder, the level-name in server.properties. These files are created the first time the server starts, so start it once if yours is missing. On NeoForge 1.20.4 and newer, if world/serverconfig/neoforge-server.toml exists, edit that copy, because it wins over the one in config/.

1. With the server stopped, open the file in the panel's file manager and change the key you need from false to true: the block entity key for a "Ticking block entity" crash, the entity key for a "Ticking entity" crash.
2. Start the server. When the broken thing ticks, the server writes the full crash report into logs/latest.log as an error, removes it, and keeps running.
3. Check the log to confirm it was the thing you expected.
4. Stop the server, set the key back to false, and start it again.

Fabric has nothing like this built in. Use Neruina or MCA Selector instead.

3. Neruina: suspend it instead of crashing

Neruina is a free mod that catches ticking crashes. Instead of the server crashing, the broken entity or block entity stops ticking ("suspended") and stays in the world, and the server posts a chat message with buttons to teleport to it, try resuming it, or kill it. The buttons need op permissions by default. Suspended entries are remembered across restarts. On Modrinth it's available for Fabric (1.18 and newer), Forge (1.18.2 to 1.21) and NeoForge (1.20.5 and newer), as of October 2026. It works with just the server having it installed.

• In Neruina's config file (in the server's config folder), set auto_kill_ticking_entities to true to remove broken entities straight away instead of suspending them. It's off by default.
• If too many errors pile up (by default 10 within 5 minutes, set by ticking_exception_threshold), Neruina crashes the server on purpose and writes a report of every error, so a broken mod can't quietly make the server unusable.

Neruina buys you time, but it doesn't fix the cause. A suspended machine doesn't work, and the mod that broke it is still installed.

4. Remove it by hand with MCA Selector

MCA Selector is a free desktop tool that edits a world's region files directly. It works on any loader and on every version from 1.2.1 to 26.x, so it covers versions the options above don't, like Forge 1.16.5 entities.

1. Get a copy of the world. With the server stopped, download the world folder over SFTP, or from a backup. You only need the dimension the crash names.
2. Find the chunk. Open the world in MCA Selector and go to the block coordinates from the crash report.
3. Edit just that chunk. Select that one chunk and choose Edit chunk. It opens the chunk's full data (terrain, points of interest and, on 1.17 and newer, entities).
   • A block entity: look in block_entities (on 1.17.1 and older, Level > TileEntities) for the entry whose id, x, y and z match the report, and delete it. The block itself stays, empty.
   • An entity: look in the Entities list (on 1.16.5 and older, Level > Entities) for the one whose id matches and whose Pos is at the reported location, and delete it.
   • Press Apply to save the change to the file.
4. Or delete the whole chunk. If editing is too fiddly, delete the chunk instead. It regenerates from the seed the next time someone goes there. Anything built in that 16 × 16 column is lost.
5. Put it back. Upload the changed files over the originals, then start the server.

Lots of the same broken entity? MCA Selector's chunk filter has an Entities field that selects every chunk containing a given entity type. If you have a backup from before the problem started, restoring that region file also works. The corrupt chunk guide shows how.

Find the cause so it doesn't come back

• NoSuchMethodError, NoClassDefFoundError, AbstractMethodError: two mods built for different versions of each other, usually an add-on and its base mod. Line their versions up.
• NullPointerException, ClassCastException, IndexOutOfBoundsException: a bug, or saved data the mod didn't expect. Update the mod, then search its issue tracker for the error message. If there's no report, file one with the crash report attached.
• Started after you added, removed or updated a mod? That's the most likely cause. Roll it back on a copy of the world to confirm. Next time, the modpack update guide keeps a tested backup ready before anything changes.
• Same type of thing crashing in different places? It's the mod's code, and it will keep happening until the mod is fixed or removed.
• One spot only? That one object's saved data is bad. Removing it is usually the whole fix.

Before you remove a mod for good, remember that every block and item from it disappears from chunks that load without it. Back up first.

How to check it's fixed

1. Start the server and go to the location. From the console: gamemode spectator YourName, then tp YourName -1788 50 296 with the coordinates from the report.
2. No new file should appear in crash-reports/, and logs/latest.log should have no new Ticking entity or Ticking block entity lines.
3. If you used removeErroringEntities or removeErroringBlockEntities, check you set it back to false.
4. Take a fresh backup now that the world is clean.

Related crash guides

• Corrupt chunk or world data: region files that can't be read at all, and how to restore one from a backup.
• Server watchdog crash: a machine or entity that gets stuck instead of throwing an error.
• Can't keep up! Is the server overloaded?: when entities and machines are slow rather than broken.
• Missing mod dependency: when an add-on's base mod is missing completely.