Several worlds on one Paper server with Multiverse-Core

What Multiverse adds to a server

A Paper server normally has one world with its Nether and its End. Multiverse-Core lets you add as many more as the server can carry, load and unload them while it runs, and move players between them with a command. The worlds share one process, one set of plugins and one server.properties, which makes them easy to add and also limits them.

Installing Multiverse-Core 5

Multiverse is a plugin, so it runs on Paper, Purpur and Spigot and not on vanilla, Fabric, Forge or NeoForge. The current release line is 5, with builds for Java Edition 26.2. If your server runs another type, the comparison of Paper, Purpur and Spigot explains what switching means.

1. 1

   Open the Plugins tab

   Search the Plugin catalog for Multiverse. The catalog is matched to your server type and version, so the build it installs fits the server.

2. 2

   Install the core first

   Press Install on Multiverse-Core. The add-ons build on it, so it goes in before any of them.

3. 3

   Restart the server

   The panel reports that the file was verified and asks for a restart. Use Restart on the Console tab, then type mv list to see that the plugin answers.

Creating a world with environment, type and seed

mv create creative normal --world-type flat
mv create resources normal --seed 8675309 --no-structures
mv create mining nether

The first word after create is the name, the second is the environment, and everything else is an optional flag with two dashes. Creating a world can take a little while, and the console shows the progress.

Keep names short, lowercase, and made of letters, digits and underscores. On Paper 26.1 and newer every world is stored under your main world folder as world/dimensions/minecraft/<name>, and Multiverse refers to it as minecraft:<name> where a full key is asked for. A world called creative therefore sits in world/dimensions/minecraft/creative, next to the overworld, the_nether and the_end folders of the main world.

Bringing in a world you uploaded

Import is for terrain that already exists, such as a map from a friend. Multiverse requires the world to come from the same Minecraft version as your server, so open an older map in singleplayer on that version first and let the game upgrade it. The guide to moving a server covers bigger transfers.

1. 1

   Zip the terrain folder

   In a 26.x world the overworld terrain sits in dimensions/minecraft/overworld. Zip what is inside that folder, the region, entities and poi folders among it, not the folder itself.

2. 2

   Make the target folder

   On the Files tab, open world/dimensions/minecraft and press New folder. Name it after the world, for example build.

3. 3

   Upload and extract

   Open the new folder, press Upload and pick the zip, then press Extract next to it. Above a few hundred megabytes, put the zip online and use From link so the server fetches it itself.

4. 4

   Import it

   Check that region sits directly inside build, delete the zip, and run mv import minecraft:build normal in the console. Use nether or the_end for a Nether or End map.

Teleporting, listing and spawn points

/mv list
/mv tp creative
/mv tp Kai creative
/mv tp e:resources:120,72,-340
/mv who resources
/mv setspawn
/mv spawn

• `/mv list` shows the worlds you are allowed to see, and /mv info creative lists the settings of one of them.
• `/mv tp` takes a world name, with or without w: in front. Put a player name first to send someone else.
• `e:` lands on exact coordinates in a world, pl: next to a player, and b: at a player's bed.
• `/mv setspawn` moves the spawn of the world you stand in to your feet, and /mv spawn takes you back there.

Settings that differ per world

Multiverse keeps per-world settings in plugins/Multiverse-Core/worlds.yml. Change them with mv modify instead of editing the file by hand, so a typo cannot break the whole list.

mv modify creative set gamemode creative
mv modify creative set difficulty peaceful
mv modify creative set portal-form NONE
mv modify resources set respawn-world survival
mv gamerule set keep_inventory true resources

Game rules are stored in each world, so mv gamerule changes one world without touching the rest. Rule names use underscores since 1.21.11, as the game rules guide explains. Paper's own tuning can differ per world too: add only the lines you want to change to paper-world.yml inside that world's folder, and every other value keeps coming from config/paper-world-defaults.yml.

Unloading, removing and deleting

mv load resources brings an unloaded world back. Add --remove-players to unload, remove or delete when people are still inside, so they are sent elsewhere first. A world that is only unloaded loads again at the next start while its auto-load property is on; set it to false to keep a world asleep across restarts.

Delete and regen ask for proof that you meant it. Multiverse prints a short code, and you have 30 seconds to type mv confirm followed by that code. Regen is the quick way to refresh a monthly resource world: the folder and its settings stay, the mined out terrain is replaced, and --seed followed by a value gives different land this time.

Portals, Nether links and separate inventories

Multiverse-Inventories

Without it, a player carries the same items into every world, so a creative world becomes a way to smuggle diamonds into survival. After install it creates a group called default holding the main world and its two dimensions, sharing everything. Any world outside a group keeps its own inventory, health and experience for each player.

mvinv create-group survival survival,survival_nether,survival_the_end all
mvinv add-worlds survival farmland
mvinv toggle last_location
mvinv info creative

Shares decide what travels inside a group: all, or parts such as inventory, ender_chest, health, hunger and experience. A few shares, last_location, economy, recipes, advancements and game_statistics among them, do nothing until you switch them on with mvinv toggle.

Multiverse-NetherPortals

NetherPortals gives an extra survival world a Nether and End of its own, linked by name: portals in survival go to survival_nether, End portals go to survival_the_end, and back again. The target has to exist, so create it first with mv create survival_nether nether. For names that do not follow the pattern, mvnp link nether build mining --bidirectional connects two worlds both ways, and mvnp list shows every link.

Multiverse-Portals

Portals turns any frame you build into a gateway to a world or a spot. Type /mvp wand to get a wooden axe, left-click one corner of the frame and right-click the opposite one, then run /mvp create to_creative creative. With WorldEdit installed, select with //wand instead. To point an existing portal elsewhere, run /mvp select to_creative and then /mvp modify destination e:creative:0,70,0. Multiverse-SignPortals, also in the catalog, does the same with a sign.

What each world costs, and when a network fits better

A loaded world holds its chunks, mobs and block entities in memory, and the server ticks all of it on the same main thread as your main world. An empty world costs little on current versions, because spawn chunks were removed in 1.21.9 and chunks without players unload, unless someone forceloaded them with forceload. Players are what make a world expensive: every one of them keeps an area of chunks loaded and ticking, whichever world they stand in.

• Unload what nobody uses, such as last month's event world.
• Pre-generate busy worlds. A fresh resource world makes every player a terrain generator, and generating it ahead of time moves that work to a quiet hour.
• Watch the heap. When memory stays high right after a cleanup, the worlds together have outgrown the plan, and the RAM guide shows how to read that.

When a world needs plugins the others must not have, or one busy world keeps dragging the others down, split it off into its own server. The guide to a lobby and survival network shows how several servers sit behind one address.