Difficulty Lock
🔒 Sets a difficulty in any world, optionally locked, or force a hardcore mode requirement.
About this Mod
Difficulty Lock adds an easy way to configure the difficulty in all (new) worlds. Can be useful for modpacks, or just in your singleplayer experience if you have a default difficulty you always play with. There are config options to force the Hardcore gamemode, disable cheats, or prevent Creative mode from being selected.
The Create World Screen is correctly updated with the config settings. Also works on (dedicated) servers.
All available config options:
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The priority shows how the mod handles when multiple gamemodes are set to true in the config. E.g. if all are enabled all new worlds will be peaceful.
forceHardcoreMode default false
Sets the world game mode to hardcode mode and ignores the other difficulty settings when enabled.
disableCreativeModeSelection default false
Whether Creative Mode should not be possible to select in the world creation screen.
forcePeaceful default false
Priority 1: Sets the difficulty in any world to peaceful when enabled.
forceEasy default false
Priority 2: Sets the difficulty in any world to easy when enabled.
forceNormal default false
Priority 3: Sets the difficulty in any world to normal when enabled.
forceHard default true
Priority 4: Sets the difficulty in any world to hard when enabled.
forceCheatsDisabled default false
Whether the cheats option should be forced to be disabled on the initial world creation screen.
shouldLockDifficulty default true
When enabled, locks the difficulty in any world so it cannot be changed.
shouldChangeDifficultyWhenAlreadyLocked default false
When enabled, also sets the difficulty in worlds where it has already been locked.
With the default configuration, all worlds will be set to hard with the difficulty locked:
The Create World Screen is also updated.
Here the config options forceHard and forceCheatsDisabled are true:
The mod also allows users to be forced to play in Hardcore Mode, via the config:
You may freely use this mod in any modpack, as long as the download remains hosted within the CurseForge or Modrinth ecosystem.
Serilum.com contains an overview and more information on all mods available.
For issues, ideas, suggestions or anything else there is the Github repo. Thanks!
Available Versions
How to Install Difficulty Lock on Your Server
Order Server
Order a Minecraft Java server with at least 3 GB RAM (4 GB recommended).
Set fabric Loader
In the panel under "Egg", select the fabric loader and matching Minecraft version (26.2).
Install Mod
Open the mod browser in the dashboard and search for "Difficulty Lock". Click "Install" – done! Alternatively, upload the .jar via SFTP to the /mods folder.
Compatibility
Mod Loaders
Minecraft Versions
26.2, 26.1.2, 26.1.1 (+25 more)
Server-side
✓ RequiredRecommended RAM
4 GB(min. 3 GB)Frequently Asked Questions
Difficulty Lock server crashes on startup – what to do?
Most common cause: wrong fabric version or insufficient RAM. Check the server log (latest.log) for "OutOfMemoryError" or "Mixin" errors. With Mado Hosting: ensure at least 3 GB RAM is allocated and the loader matches the mod version (26.2). You can switch loaders with one click in the panel.
Is Difficulty Lock compatible with fabric and forge and neoforge and quilt?
Difficulty Lock officially supports fabric, forge, neoforge, quilt for Minecraft 26.2, 26.1.2, 26.1.1. Note: Forge and Fabric mods are NOT cross-compatible – pick one loader and stick with it. The Mado dashboard automatically detects incompatible loader combinations.
Server lagging with Difficulty Lock – how to optimize performance?
Recommended RAM: 4 GB (per 8 players). Use /spark profiler to check if Difficulty Lock consumes the most tick time. Common fixes: reduce server view-distance to 8-10, install "performant" or "starlight" as supplementary mods on Forge. With Mado Hosting, your server runs on NVMe SSDs with dedicated CPU cores for minimal latency.
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Rent Modded Server
Install Difficulty Lock with just one click on your server.