How to Setup Addons on a Bedrock Server

Last modified on May 2, 2023 in Control Panel

By Nathan Young

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Overview

Customizing your Minecraft Bedrock experience allows for many new features and tools to use in your world. This involves using behavior packs, addons that are installed in your world files. These are similar to mods or plugins, but are managed differently so everyone can enjoy them. Whether you’re wanting new mob heads or custom gamemodes, using behavior packs provides you with many options. Setting them up on your server can be difficult, especially if you’re unfamiliar with our panel. In some cases, players don’t know where to locate them for this process. Due to these challenges, we’ve created this Apex Hosting guide to show you how to find and install behavior packs on your Bedrock server.
 

Behavior Packs in Bedrock

As mentioned above, there are countless features from behavior packs that you can implement into your server. However, locating them can be harder than finding datapacks or resourcepacks. The best area to look is on CurseForge, as they have a wide variety of addons to check out. Although, there are websites online that are directly from behavior pack developers for you to download. Make sure to keep safety in mind as you explore the internet for them. Once you’ve found suitable ones for your server, there are steps you can take to install it on your world. Ensure you’ve saved the behavior pack .mcpack or .mcaddon file(s) somewhere easily accessible on your computer. The subsections below will guide you through this lengthy process.
 

Download World

Before downloading your world, it’s required that you install an external FTP program. This allows you to obtain any file type, despite its size, from your server directories. We highly advise using FileZilla or Cyberduck for this process, as they’re industry standard applications that are completely safe. Besides this, make sure to remember your world’s name so you obtain the correct one. When you’re ready, follow these steps to begin downloading these files.

1. Head towards your Apex server panel, then click FTP File Access near the top left.
   
2. Save the following information: Address, Port, Username, and Password.
   
3. Open your installed FTP program, then enter the details from before accordingly.
4. Afterward, click Quickconnect or a similar button to make the connection.
   
5. When you see all the files, locate and click on the worlds directory.
   Note: If you have Server Profile enabled, press on the right one for this process.
6. Once there, right-click on your world’s folder and press the Download button.
   
7. Wait for this to finish, then remember the folder’s location on your computer for later.

This process differs depending on the FTP program used for it, as each one is unique. In most cases, right-clicking files will allow you to download them. However, sometimes you’ll have to drag and drop them on your desktop to begin obtaining them. By default, FileZilla saves your downloaded documents in your C:\Users\”Username”\ directory. Remember, other programs may do this differently so keep this in mind.

Uploading to Singleplayer

After downloading your world, it must be installed on your local save files so behavior packs can become activated. This process is straightforward, but the directory for these documents isn’t friendly to most users. With this in mind, follow along below to access and upload your server’s world into singleplayer.

1. Open your File Explorer that allows you to navigate through files on your computer.
2. Proceed to enter in this location:

   …\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang\minecraftWorlds

3. Once there, drag and drop your downloaded world into this directory.
   
4. Launch Minecraft Bedrock and check for your server’s map in singleplayer.
   Important: If you’ve had this open before, Restart the game to load the world.

Activating Behavior Pack

Make sure to have any downloaded .mcpack or .mcaddon files on hand, as they’re used for the importing process. This will allow you to activate them for your server world through their user interface. The instructions below will guide you through this process to enable your addons in the map.

1. While having the Bedrock client open, double click your downloaded pack file(s).
2. Wait for this to import into your game, then press Play from the main menu.
   
3. From here, locate your server world in the Worlds section and click the Edit icon.
   
4. Scroll down on the left-hand side of your screen, then select Behavior Packs.
5. Press My Packs and choose your desired addon(s), then click the Activate button.
   
6. If prompted to disable achievements, confirm this by selecting Continue.
7. Once all your packs are enabled, they’ll be viewable from the Active list.

Exporting World

The exporting process for your server’s world from singleplayer requires you to install a zipping program. This is used to transform the .mcworld filetype into a .zip format, allowing you to upload it on the panel. We strongly recommend using WinRAR or 7zip, as these are entirely safe and secure to try out. The steps below will help you export and zip the world file accordingly.

1. Locate your server world in the Worlds section of Bedrock, then click its Edit icon.
2. From here, scroll down and select the Export World option to initiate this process.
   
3. In the newly opened window, save this .mcworld file somewhere easily accessible.
4. Right-click this and rename its filetype to .zip, then make sure to save the changes.
   

   Note: It’s encouraged to change the file’s name too, so it won’t conflict on the server.

Uploading to Server

When the behavior pack is activated for your world, it’ll need to be uploaded on the server through your external FTP program. Additionally, this will be unzipped through the panel so its contents can load properly. Once you’re prepared, follow along below to get started.

1. Proceed to enter your saved FTP information in your installed program, then connect.
2. Afterward, locate and click on the worlds directory in the file list.
3. Once there, drag and drop your zipped world in this area and wait for it to finish.
   
4. When this completes, head towards your server panel and log into the FTP area.
5. Enter your worlds directory, then check mark the uploaded zip and press Unzip.
   
6. Confirm this by clicking Submit on the next page, then wait for everything to finish.
7. If done successfully, you’ll see the folder of your behavior pack world.

Enabling the World

With your behavior pack world uploaded in the server, you’ll need to activate it through the panel to begin playing it. This is a straightforward process, which is shown down below.

1. Return to the main server panel, then scroll down until you see the World section.
   
2. Once found, press the Change World button and enter your uploaded map’s name.
3. Continue to click Change World again to confirm the changes.
   
4. Afterward, simply press Restart Now in the next prompt to begin loading the world.
   
5. When it’s finished, join the server from your Bedrock client to confirm this worked.

Common Issues

In some cases, users may be unable to make any FTP connections to their server. This tends to be caused by using invalid login credentials, such as your password or address. Make sure everything you’re entering in the FTP program matches what you see in the panel. If the situation persists, then this could mean you’ve downloaded the wrong application to use for this process. Ensure you’re using FileZilla, Cyberduck, or similar ones that allow for client connections to FTP servers. Otherwise, try resetting your password to see if that works.

After uploading the server’s world into your local game files, make sure to Restart the client if you’ve had this open while doing it. Otherwise, simply start it up and confirm it’s in the Worlds section. On rare occasions, the world may be uploaded in the wrong directory or isn’t valid for it to load. Double check you’ve transferred this into the …\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.MinecraftUWP_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalState\games\com.mojang\minecraftWorlds area on your computer. If the problem still continues, then verify it’s a functional map on your server and redownload it again for the process.

While trying to activate your world on the server, make sure you’ve assigned a different name compared to the old counterpart. This is required, as you’ll be entering this new one into your World section of the panel so it can load. However, the map must be in a folder and not in a .zip or .mcworld file. Only use the zipping function to upload and unzip it from the panel, rather than to play on it. Essentially, you’ll want the contents of “.mcworld” into a folder on the server to load properly. After you’ve verified this is completed, Restart from the panel with the correct map name selected to begin enjoying your behavior packs.

Most behavior packs should work in your world, unless they are broken or completely outdated. If you’ve confirmed that your desired addons are functioning in singleplayer, then it’ll work on the server. Unfortunately, problems may arise during the uploading process. For example, some users may forget to activate the packs in their Bedrock client. This results in few or all behavior packs not working properly on the server. However, if these don’t work anywhere, then it’s likely broken for the latest version of Bedrock.
 

Useful Links

How to Download a Minecraft World
How to Upload a Bedrock World
Connecting to a Server via FTP
Setup Crossplay on Minecraft Servers