Guides / Worlds

Add your own Minecraft world

Already built something in singleplayer, or moving from another host? Upload the world folder to your server and play it with friends. It takes about two minutes in the console.

🗺️ Java Edition📁 Drag & drop upload🧩 Works with mods/plugins

1 · Stop the server & back up

Never swap a world while the server is running — it can corrupt files.

In the console open Power → Stop and wait until it says offline. If you already have a world you care about, make a Backup first (Backups tab) — this is one click and can save your day.

2 · Find your world folder

A Minecraft world is a folder — not a single file.

From singleplayer it lives in .minecraft/saves/<YourWorld>. The important part: the folder must contain level.dat and a region/ folder at its top level:

MyWorld/
├── level.dat
├── region/       ← the actual chunks
├── playerdata/
├── data/
└── ...

⚠️ Make sure you grab the folder that directly contains level.dat. A common mistake is uploading a folder that has another folder inside it (MyWorld/MyWorld/level.dat) — then the server won't find the world.

3 · Upload it to your server

Open the Files tab in your console. Two easy ways:

A Drag & drop the folder

Fastest — no zipping

Just drag your world folder from your computer straight into the file list (or use 📁 Upload folder). The whole folder uploads with its structure — even big worlds, in verified chunks, with no size limit. You can drop it onto an existing folder to upload inside it.

B Upload a .zip, then extract

Alternative

Zip your world folder, drag the .zip into the Files tab, then click Extract (📦) on it. Make sure the zip contains the world folder (with level.dat inside), not loose files.

4 · Point the server at your world

The server loads whatever folder its level-name setting names — by default world.

Two options — pick one:

Easiest: name (or rename) your uploaded folder exactly world, and delete/rename the old world folder first so it doesn't clash.

Or keep your folder name: open server.properties in the Files tab and set level-name to your folder's name:

# server.properties
level-name=MyWorld

Save the file.

5 · Start & check

Hit Start. Watch the console — it should load your world instead of generating a new one. Join and you're home. 🎉

If your world is from an older Minecraft version, the server upgrades it automatically on first load (back it up first — the upgrade is one-way). A world from a newer version than your server won't load — switch your server to a matching version in Server Versions first.

Troubleshooting

Server generated a brand-new world instead of mine

The folder name doesn't match level-name. Rename your folder to world, or set level-name in server.properties to your folder name. Restart.

"world" loads but it's empty / spawn is wrong

You probably uploaded a nested folder (MyWorld/MyWorld/). Open the folder in Files — level.dat and region/ must be at the top of the folder the server points to.

Upload is huge / slow

That's fine — large worlds upload in verified chunks with no size limit. Use drag & drop or 📁 Upload folder; you can cancel anytime.

World won't load / crash on start

Usually a version mismatch. Match your server version to the world's Minecraft version in Server Versions. Also make sure you stopped the server before swapping files.

It's a Bedrock world

ShadowNode runs Java Edition — Bedrock worlds aren't compatible. Only Java worlds can be uploaded.