This guide is for anyone who runs a server on BisectHosting and wants to move it to PlayNHost with the world, settings and mods intact. It shows how to get your files out of the BisectHosting Starbase panel and how to put them into PlayNHost. The steps for BisectHosting follow its own help center, so if its panel looks a little different when you read this, trust what you see on screen.

The general steps are in How to move your existing server to PlayNHost. This page covers the part that is specific to BisectHosting.

Keep your BisectHosting server running until the new one works. Downloading only copies files and changes nothing on your old server.

Before you start

Order a PlayNHost server for the same game. For Minecraft, pick the same edition (Java or Bedrock) when you order. After you order, the setup screen asks for the server software and version, so choose the same ones as your old server. You can change them later with Edit Server Type (see How to change your server type or game version), but that reinstalls the server and deletes its files by default. For Minecraft that means the same server software (for example Vanilla, Paper, Forge or Fabric) and the same game version as before.
Write down your server software, version and the mods or plugins you use. If you play a modpack, note its name and version.
Know which Minecraft edition you play. Java and Bedrock keep their worlds in different places, and a world from one will not load in the other.

Get your files out of BisectHosting

Sign in to the BisectHosting Starbase panel and stop your server first, so the files are not changing while you copy them.

Option 1: download the world folder

Take note of your world's name. If you cannot find it in the panel, open server.properties in the Files tab and read the level-name line.
Open the Files tab.
Right-click the world folder with that name and choose Download.
The download is a .tar.gz file. Extract it on your computer with a program such as 7-Zip, then put the world folder in a new ZIP file. PlayNHost's browser upload needs a ZIP, or you can upload the folder with SFTP.

BisectHosting warns that a different world folder may be downloaded if the server used other level names before. Check that the folder you took is the one that matches the World Name.

Option 2: download from a backup

Open the Backups tab.
Press Download on the backup you want.
Choose what to download from the drop-down menus, then press Download.
If the file is not a ZIP, extract it and put the world folder in a new ZIP, or use SFTP.

BisectHosting's help center says that automatic backups are created daily and that you can see the past 7 days. Pick the newest one, or create a fresh backup first if your panel lets you.

Option 3: copy the whole server with SFTP

Use SFTP when you want the settings and mods as well as the world, or when something is larger than 500 MB. BisectHosting says its file manager is for files up to 500 MB, and larger files must go through an SFTP client.

In the Files tab, click SFTP (some pages call it SFTP Credentials). It shows the login details, and you can copy them.
Open an SFTP client. BisectHosting recommends WinSCP on Windows and Cyberduck on macOS. Any SFTP client should work with these details, and FileZilla is a common choice.
Paste the host, port, user name and password into the client and connect. In Cyberduck, keep the port in its own field, apart from the host name.
Drag the folders you need to your computer.

You can also tick the folders in the Files tab, choose Download from the Actions bar, and BisectHosting packs them into a ZIP.

What to take

The world folder or folders.
server.properties and the other settings files in the main folder.
The mods folder (modded server) or the plugins folder (plugin server), plus the settings files they created.

Bring it into PlayNHost

In the panel, open your new server, click Stop and wait for Offline.
Clear the default world first. Your new server may already have a default world (on Minecraft Java a world folder, on Bedrock a world inside worlds, and other games keep theirs elsewhere, so see the game's guide). Back it up if you want to keep it, then delete it. Everything in it is lost: its builds, its player data and its Nether and End. The Backups page holds 3 slots by default, so delete an old backup first if the list is full. See How to create, download and restore backups. If you upload over the default world without deleting it, files with the same name are overwritten and the others stay, so the two worlds are mixed and the result may not load.
Upload your files. To use the browser, put your world in a ZIP on your computer, click Upload in the Files tab, then tick the ZIP and click Unzip. Folders cannot be dragged into Upload. For a folder, a large world or a whole server folder, use SFTP. See How to connect to your server files with SFTP.
Put the files in the right place.
- Minecraft Java: the world folder goes in the main folder, next to server.properties. If you have separate Nether and End folders, put them there too. Mods go in mods, plugins in plugins. After unzipping, check that the world folder is not inside an extra folder of the same name.
- Minecraft Bedrock: the world folder goes inside the worlds folder.
- Folders ending in _nether and _the_end only work if your PlayNHost server is also Paper, Spigot or Purpur. On other types, copy the DIM-1 folder from the _nether folder and the DIM1 folder from the _the_end folder into your main world folder first.
Tell the server which world to load.
- Minecraft Java: open Settings, then Server Properties (Java) in the list on the left, and set World name to the folder name of your world. You can also open server.properties in Files and set level-name.
- Minecraft Bedrock: open Settings, then Game Settings, and type the folder name from worlds into Choose World. Do not edit level-name in the file, because it is reset on every start.
Match your other options in Settings to the old server. See How to change your server settings.
Click Start, watch the Console for errors, then join to check the world and the mods.

For mods and modpacks, see How to add mods, plugins and modpacks to your server. To change server type or version, see How to change your server type or game version. That reinstalls the server and deletes its files by default, so back up first.

Or ask us to move it

Open a ticket in the category Worlds & backups (or Something else). The message is limited to 300 characters, so keep it short: your game, your new server's name, the host you are leaving (BisectHosting) and the download link to the backup or archive from the steps above. Put the details, such as the mod or modpack list and versions, in a text file inside the ZIP. Tell us in the ticket what you are moving and we will reply with the next step.

To make the link, upload your ZIP to a file-sharing or cloud-drive service, set the share to anyone with the link with no password, and paste the link in the ticket. Delete the link once we confirm we have the files. Never put a password in a ticket. See How to open a support ticket.

Other games

BisectHosting's Starbase panel also manages servers for other games. Each game keeps its world in a different folder, so check this knowledge base before you upload, for example Terraria, Valheim, Rust or Palworld. If your game is not listed, ask BisectHosting support which folder holds the save, and tell us in your ticket.

After the move

Test with a few players before you cancel anything on BisectHosting.
Take a backup of the new server once it works.
Tell your players the new address. The address changes when you change host. See How to join your server.

How to move your game server from BisectHosting to PlayNHost

Before you start