How to reset the Nether or the End without losing your world
After months of play, the Nether is covered in tunnels and the End has no dragon and a shredded outer island. A fresh Nether or End gives players something to explore again, while the overworld and all its builds stay as they are. It is a simple job. The part that matters is doing it in the right order and taking a backup first.
What you are doing
Each dimension is stored as its own set of files. Deleting a dimension's folder makes the server generate it again the next time someone enters. The overworld folder is untouched, so no builds are lost there.
Before you begin
- Tell your players. Anything they built or stored in that dimension will be gone. Give them time to take items out.
- Take a backup and confirm it finished.
- Stop the server with
/stop, so everything saves first.
Where the folders are
The layout depends on your server software:
| Software | Nether folder | End folder |
|---|---|---|
| Vanilla and Forge style | world/DIM-1 | world/DIM1 |
| Paper, Spigot, Purpur | world_nether/DIM-1 | world_the_end/DIM1 |
On Paper and similar software, the Nether and End are separate world folders next to the main world. Open the file manager to see which layout you have. If you also use a world name different from the default, the folder names change with it.
Resetting the End
- With the server stopped, delete the
DIM1folder. On Paper-style layouts, that is insideworld_the_end. - Start the server.
- When a player next enters the End, the island and the dragon are created again.
Players need to travel to the End again through a stronghold portal, but any portals they built there are gone.
A reset End is also a good time to decide the rules for the new one: the outer islands, elytra, and so on. If you want to keep the dragon dead but refresh the outer islands, that needs a plugin or a more careful edit, and a simple reset will bring the dragon back.
Resetting the Nether
- With the server stopped, delete the
DIM-1folder. - Start the server.
- The Nether is regenerated when someone enters.
Some things to expect:
- Portals. The overworld portals stay, but the matching Nether portals are gone. When a player steps through, the game builds a new Nether portal, probably in a different place from before. Players may find their old transport tunnels no longer line up.
- Fortresses and bastions appear in new positions, so any base built next to one is gone.
- Items left behind in the old Nether are lost, as are any mobs.
Reset the Nether in tandem with a world border, so the new one has a boundary. See How to set a world border and spawn point.
Resetting only part of a dimension
If you only want to refresh chunks nobody has touched, you do not need to delete everything. The MCA Selector tool lets you open a world and delete regions that match conditions, for example chunks with no player activity. It is more work than deleting a folder, but it keeps builds intact. Always work on a copy and take a backup.
Doing it on a schedule
Some servers reset the End every month or the Nether every season, to keep resources fresh. If you do, announce a date, keep it regular and make it part of your server's rules. There are plugins that automate it, but a manual reset takes only a few minutes and is easier to understand.
If something goes wrong
- The server crashes after the reset. Read the first error in the log. How to read your server logs shows how. Often it is a plugin trying to use data from the old dimension.
- Players are stuck at a portal. Walk through it again, or teleport them to spawn.
- You deleted the wrong folder. Restore from the backup you took at the start. That is why you took it.
Still stuck? Open a ticket on Discord - run /ticket in any channel, pick a department, and include your Server ID or Invoice ID so we can jump straight in.