World size
For the differences of this information on Old-gen console and 3DS, see Legacy:World size.
World size refers to the size of a Terraria world. Upon creation, the player can select either "small", "medium", or "large" for the size of the world to generate.
Map sizes are as follows: (one tile = two feet)
| World | Map size (tiles) |
Map size (feet) |
Accessible area (tiles) |
Accessible area (feet) |
Map area (tiles²) |
Map area (feet²) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 4200 × 1200 | 8400 × 2400 | 4117 × 1117 | 8234 × 2234 | 5,040,000 | 20,160,000 |
| Medium | 6400 × 1800 | 12800 × 3600 | 6317 × 1717 | 12634 × 3434 | 11,520,000 | 46,080,000 |
| Large[a] | 8400 × 2400 | 16800 × 4800 | 8317 × 2317 | 16634 × 4634 | 20,160,000 | 80,640,000 |
The term world border or world edge refers to the two borders of a world: the visible world border, which is the border the player can see and reach in-game, the "accessible area" in the table above; and the true world border, which is the spatial edges of a Terraria world. In all world sizes, there is a fixed distance between the visible world border and the true world border. The distance is different depending on direction: 41 tiles for top and left borders, or 42 tiles for bottom and right borders. When calculating distances for certain game mechanics (e.g. Space altitudes), this distance should be accounted for. Evil and Hallow tiles inside the visible world border can spread to tiles outside of it, and vice versa.
World generation limits
World size greatly impacts how many of a certain structure the world can have. The values listed below are the theoretical maximums and not a guaranteed count. Although unlikely, some large structures and biomes can be skipped if no proper location is found. Additionally, some smaller structures can be overwritten by other structures, or be blocked by other nearby structures. The ranges listed are based on chance factors during generation and not on observed data.
| Name | World size | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | Medium | Large | |
| Life Crystals | 100 | 230 | 403 |
| Surface Chests | 21 | 32 | 42 |
| Underground Chests[b] | 35–40 | 80–91 | 140–160 |
| Dead Man's Chests | 10–20 | 15–30 | 20–40 |
| Shadow Chests | 7–10 | 10–15 | 14–20 |
| Statue multiplier[c] | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Name | World size | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | Medium | Large | |
| Floating Islands | 3 | 5 | 6 |
| Floating Lakes | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Living Mahogany Trees | 6–11 | 9–16 | 12–22 |
| Enchanted Sword Shrines | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–4 |
| Underground Cabins | 35–40 | 80–91 | 140–160 |
| Extra Underground Desert Cabins[d] |
2 | 4 | 8 |
| Name | World size | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Small | Medium | Large | |
| Bee Hives | 6–8 | 8–12 | 11–16 |
| Marble Caves | 4–8 | 9–18 | 16–32 |
| Granite Caves | 4–8 | 6–12 | 8–16 |
| Glowing moss biomes | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Oases | 0–3 | 0–4 | 0–5 |
| Track length | World size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | Medium | Large | ||
| Standard | Count | 4–7 | 9–15 | 16–28 |
| Length | 150–300 | 225–450 | 300–600 | |
| Extra long | Count | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–4 |
| Length | 400–1,000 | 600–1,500 | 800–2,000 | |
World size comparison
Different world sizes may be better suited for different purposes. Players may find that creating many small worlds may be more efficient than creating large worlds due to the amount of memory needed.
Advantages of small worlds
Everything is closer and quicker to reach:
- Getting to specific locations like the Dungeon, Jungle and Oceans requires less walking.
- Building skybridges, subways, teleporters, and hellevators is quicker and less costly.
- Less digging is required to reach the Underworld.
- Floating Islands are lower and therefore easier to find.
- Wyverns spawn closer to the ground and are therefore easier to farm.
- Note though that this can be a double-edged sword as simply being above the treetops can trigger them to spawn.
- Ores are potentially easier to find.
- The Corruption/Crimson/Hallow is easier to control.
- It is easier to find the Jungle Temple and Aether.
- Retrieving liquids such as water and lava with buckets or pumps is quicker and easier.
- Meteors are easier to locate.
- The world generates, saves, and loads faster.
Advantages of large worlds
There is more space to build and explore:
- Layer and biome transitions are more gradual.
- There is a greater chance of having lakes or pools big enough for fishing.
- The Underworld is longer, potentially giving more time to defeat the Wall of Flesh.
- The Celestial Towers will be more spread out, reducing the likelihood of the player's base and NPC homes being overrun.
- The evil biome or hallow is less likely to spawn near the Jungle, for the same reason as above.
- The surface terrain tends to be more varied and interesting.
- Abandoned Mine Tracks are longer and more common.
There are more things in the world:
- There are more total Chests and Pots underground per world.
- This includes terrain features and structures such as Jungle Shrines, Enchanted Sword Shrines, and Floating Islands, as well as a higher chance of generating Pyramids.
- There are more materials, including ore and wood. For example, there is more wood already grown and more room to plant trees.
- The Dungeon has a greater chance to have all three Dungeon Wall types.
- There are more evil biome chasms. This means that there are more Shadow Orbs/Crimson Hearts to destroy, which drop unique and valuable items. There are also more Demon Altars, which means there would be more Hardmode ores to generate.
- The Jungle Temple possibly contains more traps and Lihzahrd Power Cells.
- More meteorite crash sites can be in the world at one time.
- Like with Wyvern spawn heights, this can also be a double-edged sword as a higher number of meteorite blocks are required in the world to prevent more meteorites from spawning and potentially destroying landscapes or player built structures.
Trivia
- Using server command lines with the
autocreateparameter, medium sized worlds generate 6300 tiles wide instead of 6400, which is exactly 1.5× larger than small sized worlds.
Footnotes
- ↑ On the Mobile version, large worlds are only accessible on devices with at least 1.5 GB of RAM.
- ↑ Underground Chests are generated in the Underground and Caverns layers outside Cabins and the Dungeon and are converted into their appropriate Biome specific chest. They are further reduced by the number of Dead Man's Chests.
- ↑ Statue multiplier determines up to how many of each type of statue can be placed outside Underground Cabins. For example, large worlds can generate up to 4 Crab Statues outside cabins.
- ↑ Extra Underground Desert Cabins are additional cabins generated along the regular cabins that get converted in the Underground Desert.