How to move your game server from Shockbyte to PlayNHost

This guide is for anyone who runs a server on Shockbyte and wants to bring it to PlayNHost with the world, settings and mods intact. It shows how to get your files out of the Shockbyte control panel, and how to put them into PlayNHost. The steps for Shockbyte 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 Shockbyte.

Keep your Shockbyte server running until the new one works. Nothing in this guide changes or deletes anything on your Shockbyte server. Downloading only copies files.

Before you start

1. 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 your Shockbyte server. A world made on a newer version may not open on an older one.
2. Write down your server software, version and the list of mods or plugins you use. If you are not sure, look at the server type shown at the top of your Shockbyte control panel.
3. Know which edition you play. Minecraft Java and Minecraft Bedrock keep their worlds in different places, and a world from one will not load in the other.

Get your files out of Shockbyte

Shockbyte offers three ways to get a copy of your files. Pick the one that suits you. Whichever you use, stop your server first so the files are not changing while you copy them.

Option 1: download the world folder (Minecraft Java)

1. Sign in to the Shockbyte control panel and shut down your server.
2. Open the Files tab and find your world folder. The default name is world.
3. Select the folder and click Download. Shockbyte saves your selection to your Downloads folder as a ZIP file.

Vanilla and modded Minecraft Java servers keep the Nether and the End inside the world folder, in folders named DIM-1 and DIM1. Spigot-based servers keep them in separate folders next to the main one, so download all three if you see them.

Option 2: download a Bedrock world

1. Shut down your server and open the Files tab.
2. Open the worlds folder.
3. Click the three dots on your world folder and choose Download Folder.

Shockbyte says this method works for Vanilla Bedrock only. For PocketMine or Nukkit, ask Shockbyte support how to export your world.

Option 3: download everything with a backup or SFTP

To keep the settings and mods as well as the world, copy the whole server.

• A backup from the panel. The Shockbyte panel has a Backups tab. If it lets you create a backup and download it, that gives you one file to keep. Look at the options on screen, because the buttons may differ from what we describe here.
• A ZIP made in the file manager. In Files, tick the files and folders you want and look for an option to make a ZIP from them, then download that ZIP.
• SFTP. In the control panel go to Files, then SFTP Connect. Copy the details into FileZilla or WinSCP, where your SFTP password is the same as your control panel password. Then drag the whole server folder to your computer. Shockbyte recommends this for worlds and other large files.

What to take

• The world folder or folders.
• server.properties and the other settings files in the main folder.
• The mods folder (for a modded server) or the plugins folder (for a plugin server), plus the settings files those mods and plugins created.
• Any databases your plugins use, if you use one.

If your Shockbyte server is suspended

If your server is suspended, contact Shockbyte support before the service is removed and ask how to get a copy of your files. The control panel may also offer a data request option. Trust what you see on screen.

Bring it into PlayNHost

You can do it yourself or ask our team to do it. The steps below cover Minecraft Java and Bedrock. For a PocketMine or Nukkit world, mention it in a ticket first.

Do it yourself

1. In the panel, open your new server, click Stop and wait for Offline.
2. 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.
3. 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.

4. Put the files in the right place.

   • Minecraft Java: the world folder goes in the main folder, next to server.properties. Put the Nether and End folders there too if you have them. Put mods in mods or 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.

5. 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.
6. Match your other options in Settings to the old server. See How to change your server settings.
7. Click Start, watch the Console for errors, then join the server to check your world and your 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 do 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 (Shockbyte) and the download link to the backup or ZIP from the steps above. Put the details, such as the mod 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

Shockbyte's Files tab and SFTP work the same way for other games, but each game keeps its world in a different folder, so what to copy changes. Look up your game in this knowledge base before you upload, for example Terraria, Valheim, Rust or Palworld. If your game is not listed, ask Shockbyte 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 Shockbyte.
• 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.