Reset the Nether or the End, and keep your overworld as it is

Why reset one dimension instead of the world

• A Nether full of holes. Years of digging for netherite and quartz leave little to find anywhere near the portals.
• Looted End cities. Players who join later find every nearby city empty and the ships without their elytra.
• A big update. New terrain only appears in chunks that were never generated before, and a fresh dimension has all of it at once.
• A new season. Everyone races to the dragon again, while the overworld builds stay standing.

Starting the overworld over is a different job, because that is where spawn, the bases and most builds are. The Reset world card on the World tab does that, and it takes all three dimensions along.

Where the Nether and the End are stored

The folder names begin with the name of your world. When level-name is set to survival, a Paper server keeps its Nether in survival_nether and its End in survival_the_end.

What a reset takes away, and what stays

On Paper, Purpur and vanilla from 26.1 on, the record of the dragon fight sits inside the End folder. Delete that folder and the End returns with a living dragon for the next group to take on. To bring the dragon back without deleting anything, place an end crystal on each of the four sides of the exit portal.

Before you delete anything

• Make a backup. On the Backups tab, press Create backup and give it a name you will recognize later, such as before the Nether reset. On a plan without backup slots, zip the dimension folder on the Files tab and download it instead.
• Get players out. Someone who logs out inside that dimension comes back at the same coordinates in brand new terrain, which can be solid rock or thin air above lava. Ask everyone to return to the overworld first.
• Empty the chests that matter. Anything left behind in that dimension is gone once the folder is deleted, shulker boxes included.

Resetting one dimension on our panel

1. 1

   Stop the server

   A running server keeps chunks in memory and saves them again, so a folder deleted while it runs can partly come back.

2. 2

   Delete the folder

   On the Files tab, tick world_nether or world_the_end on Paper and Purpur. On vanilla, open world/dimensions/minecraft and tick the_nether or the_end. Press Delete and confirm.

3. 3

   Start the server

   The server creates the dimension again from scratch, and its terrain is generated as players explore it.

4. 4

   Watch the console

   Look out for errors while the server starts. Once it reports that it is done, step through a portal and see the new terrain for yourself.

Resetting only part of a dimension

Sometimes only the area around the main portal is worn out. Terrain is saved in region files of 512 by 512 blocks, each named after its position: r.0.0.mca holds blocks 0 to 511 on both axes, and r.-1.0.mca the 512 blocks west of it.

To find the file for a spot, divide its X and Z coordinates by 512 and round down:

x = -700 and z = 1300
-700 / 512 = -1.37, rounded down to -2
1300 / 512 = 2.54, rounded down to 2
file name: r.-2.2.mca

With the server stopped, delete that file from three folders inside the dimension: region for the blocks, entities for mobs and dropped items, and poi for points of interest such as portals and beds. Remove it from all three, or mobs from the old terrain turn up in the new one.

After the reset

• Portals link up again by themselves. Walking through an existing overworld portal builds a new one in the new Nether, where the overworld coordinates divided by eight land.
• Nether hubs and roads are gone. Agree on a new hub before everyone digs their own tunnels.
• Respawn anchors need rebuilding. Players who relied on one respawn at world spawn until they set a new point.
• Pre-generate when a crowd goes at once. Many players exploring brand new terrain make the server generate chunks at full speed. Generating the land ahead of time gets that work done before anyone arrives.
• End gateways start over. Each new dragon kill opens one of them again, just like the first time.