How to move your game server from ZAP-Hosting to PlayNHost

This guide is for anyone who runs a server on ZAP-Hosting and wants to move it to PlayNHost with the world, settings and mods intact. It shows how to get your files out of ZAP-Hosting and how to put them into PlayNHost. The steps for ZAP-Hosting follow its own documentation, so if its web interface 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 ZAP-Hosting.

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

Before you start

1. Order a PlayNHost server for the same game, and for the same version if the game has versions. 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.
2. Write down your game version and the mods or plugins you use.
3. 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 ZAP-Hosting

Step 1: stop the server and get your FTP details

ZAP-Hosting's guide says to stop the server and make sure FTP access is allowed before you connect. If you skip this you may get errors such as "Permission Denied" or "Access Denied". If you see them, follow ZAP-Hosting's FTP guide or ask its support.

1. Open the administration page of your game server in the ZAP-Hosting web interface.
2. Stop the server.
3. Open the FTP Browser section. It shows the IP address of the FTP server, your username and your password. The port is 21 and usually fills in on its own.

Step 2: connect and download

1. Open an FTP program such as FileZilla.
2. Enter the IP address, username and password from the FTP Browser page and connect. ZAP-Hosting's guide describes ordinary FTP on port 21.
3. If you have more than one game server, ZAP-Hosting's guide says to open the folder of the right game server first.
4. Drag the folders you need to a new folder on your computer.

Minecraft on ZAP-Hosting

ZAP-Hosting's Minecraft guide says that once you are connected you open the root folder of the server, and that world saves are directly in there. The default world is called world.

• Download the world folder or folders. A server on a platform such as Paper also has folders with endings such as _nether and _the_end. Take all of them.
• Take server.properties, which holds the setting level-name with your world's name, and the other settings files in the root folder.
• Take the mods folder (modded server) or the plugins folder (plugin server), plus the settings files they created.

ZAP-Hosting notes that a vanilla server and a server platform store worlds in a slightly different way. If you are switching between the two, order your PlayNHost server with the same type you had, and keep the type the same when you move.

Backups from Backup Storage

Backups you make in ZAP-Hosting are kept in a space called Backup Storage. To create one, use the green + button next to the backup list. ZAP-Hosting says it can take a few minutes. You can also turn on Create backups automatically at the bottom of the page.

To download a backup, connect to the storage with FTP. Open the Backup Storage page, click the icon at the top of the menu bar to see the Server, User name and Password, and connect with FileZilla using port 21. Look for the backup you want and download it.

Bring it into PlayNHost

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 where the game expects them.

   • Minecraft Java: the world folder goes in the main folder, next to server.properties. 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.
   • Other games: use the game's guide in this knowledge base, listed below.

5. Tell the server which world to load. For Minecraft:

   • 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. For a server on a platform such as Paper, use the main folder name only, not the ones that end in _nether or _the_end. 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 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 (ZAP-Hosting) and the download link to a ZIP of the files from the steps above. Put the details, such as the version and the mod list, 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

ZAP-Hosting also runs servers for many other games, and each keeps its world in a different folder. Check the guide for your game here before you upload, for example Terraria, Valheim, Rust or Palworld. If your game is not listed, ask ZAP-Hosting 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 ZAP-Hosting.
• 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.