Help CenterThe simulation distance in Minecraft is a setting that dictates how far certain tick-based entities, such as crops, are updated, as well as how far away mobs can spawn from your current location. This setting is present both server and client-side, and how to modify the value is shown below:
Client-side (Java)
To change the Simulation Distance on the client, navigate to the options tab
Then to Video Settings
The setting you are looking for is simply labelled as "Simulation Distance"
For Java, this value can be between 5-32 Chunks.
Client-Side (Bedrock)
For Bedrock, you'll set the Simulation Distance during world creation. To do so, find your world on the world select screen and press the pencil icon.
Once you've accessed the new menu, press advanced, then set your simulation distance.
Server-Side
To change it server-side, find the server.properties file (if you don't see it, run the server once first and it should generate):
If you're using Java, find the simulation-distance setting and change it to the value you like. Java accepts any value between 5 and 32:
For Bedrock, the setting is instead called tick-distance, and accepts any value between 4 and 12:
Then press Save Content and restart the server!