problem with mobs not spawning

I am having a problem with not enough hostile mobs spawning in the dark. It is at the point where people are not even bothering with torches at all and mob grinders are useless.

This problem is most acute above 128 blocks altitude, where it doesn't seem like anything will spawn at all

How can I get more hostile mobs to spawn?

 

Maybe a bukkit bug, do you have any plugins installed?

 

10.04 13:53:58 [Server] INFO Plugins (33): Orebfuscator, FoundBoxx, GroupManager, WorldEdit, Backup, Vault, LogBlockQuestioner, Multiverse-Core, LWC-Economy, iConomy, Permissions, OpenInv, mcbans, NoCheat, CleanroomGenerator, Essentials, WorldBorder, Jobs, EssentialsProtect, CommandIConomy, EssentialsSpawn, Multiverse-Portals, Multiverse-Inventories, EssentialsGeoIP, Multiverse-NetherPortals, LogBlock, LWC, ExpMiner, dynmap, ChestShop, EssentialsChat, Dynmap-Essentials

also, server difficulty is set to 3, hard

 

Probably a server bug.. I really don't see how your plugins can change that..

 

that was my thought, but what is the solution? I have a player who built a mob grinder at ~250 blocks in the sky. It is 200 blocks at least away from the nearest building. It is completely dark inside and everything is perfect for mob spawning ... except they just aren't there. We explored all the caves nearby and lit them up with torches, I dunno what else to do.

 

You can't do anything unless you know Java and edit the craftbukkit.jar yourself ;p Just wait for a future build where it gets fixed

 

Best thing is to try without plugins and see if there is any difference. You could also try 1.2.4-R1 and see if that makes a difference.

 

I know this is a month old but I recently had the same problem and fixed it. Rather then making a new topic I thought I would just bump this one in case anyone gets the same problem in the future.

In bukkit.yml make sure these variables are set to 50.

Code:

monsters-per-chunk: 50
land-creatures-per-chunk: 50

This doesn't mean every chunk will have 50 mobs in it, at most it will have about 15-20 (you'll have about 4-5 above ground and the rest in caves).

 

I will try that, but I definitely think there is a problem with either minecraft or bukkit. My server had a mob spawner that was at 200 altitude and nothing would spawn. I used worldedit to move it down to 100 and it works like a charm.