How to Download a Minecraft World

Last modified on Sep 2, 2022 in Control Panel

By ApexHosting

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Overview

When owning a Minecraft Server, one of the most important parts is the world. The world holds all of the server’s player data, builds, structures, and more. Keeping this world safe is generally the server owner’s biggest task. There are many situations in which a server owner may want to download the world. Some of the most common reasons are for local backups, to make single-player modifications, transferring hosts, or changing server versions. Downloading the servers world is one part of server management that causes confusion as it requires a connection with an FTP such as FileZilla and knowing which world folder is the correct one as there are usually many different world folders. While it may seem like a difficult process, we will walk you through each step of the process.

Preparation

The following steps will be universal for all Apex Hosting Minecraft servers. These should be followed each time you plan to download your world.

1. Before editing or downloading your world files you should always stop the server first. This can be done by going to your Apex Control Panel and pressing the red Stop button near the top of the page.
   
2. Scroll to the bottom of your control panel and locate the World section. It will have three buttons labeled Change World, Reset Nether, and Reset End.
   
3. Make a note of the text in the box above the buttons. This will be the name of your world file.
4. Download and install an FTP client such as FileZilla.
   
5. Connect to your server with the FTP client by following our guide here

 
Once these steps have been completed you are ready to download your world. Follow the steps in the section below for your server version.

Java Edition

1. Login to your server using your FTP Client

2. Locate the folder with the same name as your world. In our example above, the world name is mc_1_18_2_1778083.
3. Drag the world folder from your server onto your desktop. In may take a few minutes to fully download depending on the size of the world.

Bedrock Edition

1. Connect to your server using an FTP program.
2. Once you connect to the server, locate the worlds folder and open it.
   
3. In this directory, locate the folder with the same name as your world. In our example above our world is called bedrock_server_1778091
4. Click and drag the folder onto your desktop. The folder will begin downloading immediately. The download may take a few minutes to complete depending on the size of the world

Pocketmine

1. Login to your server using your FTP Client
2. locate the pocketmine folder and open it.
3. Once in the pocketmine folder, locate the worlds directory and open it.
   
4. Find the folder with the name of the world you want to download. In our example we are using a world called pocketmine_1778036
5. Click on the folder, then drag it onto your desktop to begin downloading it. Depending on the size of the world, the download may take a few minutes to complete.

Paper and Spigot servers

Paper, Spigot, and Purpur servers will have extra world folders. These will contain the Nether and The End dimensions for your world. If you do not download these files a fresh nether and end will be created the next time the world is loaded. If you want to keep these dimensions in SinglePlayer, or if you are changing to Vanilla Minecraft, you will need to go through a few extra steps.

1. Download the End and Nether folders for your world.

In our example above our world is called Paper_1_18_1_1774960. So the nether folder would be called Paper_1_18_1_1774960_nether and the end would be called Paper_1_18_1_1774960_the_end

2. Once the download is completed, open the Nether folder and locate the folder called DIM-1
3. The DIM-1 folder contains all of the data for the nether. Copy and paste it into your main world folder.
4. Repeat the same process for the End folder by copying the DIM1 folder.

 
Once the files are done being copied into your main world folder, you are ready to use the world in SinglePlayer or on a Vanilla Minecraft server. The Nether and the End you had on your server will both load as normal.

 

Common Issues

The world is different when I load it in SinglePlayer
This most often happens because the wrong world was downloaded from the server. Check the server for any additional world files to try. It could also mean that the world didn’t finish downloading fully. To fix this, attempt to download it with your FTP program again and make sure to wait until it is completed.

I’m trying to download the files from a server I don’t have anymore
After a server is terminated, the files are deleted. However, Apex Hosting creates offsite backups of all of the servers within our network. These backups are kept for approximately a month before being removed permanently. If your server was terminated within the last month, please contact our technical support team. They will check to see if a backup of your server is available and send you a download link with all of your files if possible. Please note that we cannot guarantee these backups will always be available.

 

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