diff --git a/src/pocketmine/Server.php b/src/pocketmine/Server.php
index 1199f7be3..bc60936f9 100644
--- a/src/pocketmine/Server.php
+++ b/src/pocketmine/Server.php
@@ -1670,13 +1670,6 @@ class Server{
 					continue;
 				}
 				if(!$this->loadLevel($name)){
-					$seed = $options["seed"] ?? time();
-					if(is_string($seed) and !is_numeric($seed)){
-						$seed = Utils::javaStringHash($seed);
-					}elseif(!is_int($seed)){
-						$seed = (int) $seed;
-					}
-
 					if(isset($options["generator"])){
 						$generatorOptions = explode(":", $options["generator"]);
 						$generator = GeneratorManager::getGenerator(array_shift($generatorOptions));
@@ -1687,7 +1680,7 @@ class Server{
 						$generator = GeneratorManager::getGenerator("default");
 					}
 
-					$this->generateLevel($name, $seed, $generator, $options);
+					$this->generateLevel($name, Generator::convertSeed((string) ($options["seed"] ?? "")), $generator, $options);
 				}
 			}
 
@@ -1699,13 +1692,7 @@ class Server{
 					$this->setConfigString("level-name", "world");
 				}
 				if(!$this->loadLevel($default)){
-					$seed = $this->getConfigString("level-seed", (string) time());
-					if(!is_numeric($seed) or bccomp($seed, "9223372036854775807") > 0){
-						$seed = Utils::javaStringHash($seed);
-					}else{
-						$seed = (int) $seed;
-					}
-					$this->generateLevel($default, $seed === 0 ? time() : $seed);
+					$this->generateLevel($default, Generator::convertSeed($this->getConfigString("level-seed")));
 				}
 
 				$this->setDefaultLevel($this->getLevelByName($default));
diff --git a/src/pocketmine/level/generator/Generator.php b/src/pocketmine/level/generator/Generator.php
index 0f1aafa19..dba8ca1f7 100644
--- a/src/pocketmine/level/generator/Generator.php
+++ b/src/pocketmine/level/generator/Generator.php
@@ -29,11 +29,32 @@ namespace pocketmine\level\generator;
 use pocketmine\level\ChunkManager;
 use pocketmine\math\Vector3;
 use pocketmine\utils\Random;
+use pocketmine\utils\Utils;
 
 abstract class Generator{
 
+	/**
+	 * Converts a string level seed into an integer for use by the generator.
+	 *
+	 * @param string $seed
+	 *
+	 * @return int|null
+	 */
+	public static function convertSeed(string $seed) : ?int{
+		if($seed === ""){ //empty seed should cause a random seed to be selected - can't use 0 here because 0 is a valid seed
+			$convertedSeed = null;
+		}elseif(ctype_digit($seed)){ //this avoids treating seeds like "404.4" as integer seeds
+			$convertedSeed = (int) $seed;
+		}else{
+			$convertedSeed = Utils::javaStringHash($seed);
+		}
+
+		return $convertedSeed;
+	}
+
 	abstract public function __construct(array $settings = []);
 
+
 	abstract public function init(ChunkManager $level, Random $random);
 
 	abstract public function generateChunk(int $chunkX, int $chunkZ);