It can be a heart-breaking moment, when the world you have poured hours of love and attention into carefully constructing, becomes corrupted. That's why we've put together this guide about how to a fix a corrupted world in Minecraft to save you the frustration.
It's reasonable to wonder how to fix a corrupted world in Minecraft. The question we'll be looking at today is exactly this. Is it possible, and how might you go about it.
So if you want to bring an end to corruption in your world (your Minecraft world, not the real one. We're good, but we're not miracle workers) read on.
Can you un-corrupt a Minecraft world?
A Minecraft world getting corrupted is something that happens on occasion. An issue arises that messes with the saved data. In some cases, it will be a partial corruption that means you can just put stuff back to how it was. In other cases, an entire world is corrupted, stopping you from opening it at all. Generally, you won't be able to restore the most recent save, as this is the file that is corrupted. You should, however, be able to restore a previous save, if you have one available.
But if you can't open your world, and don't have any recent saves to restore? There are still some things you can try. It isn't easy, and it involves some complicated bits - so complicated that Minecraft's help centre refuses to actually offer it as a solution. They simply state that you follow this process "at your own risk".
But if you're willing to give it a shot, here's what you need to do.
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How to fix a corrupted world in Minecraft on PC
Even when a file has been corrupted, the file still exists. So this means with good fortune, there might be a way to duplicate your world, as it was before the seeds of destruction were sewn. It does involve modifying and transferring files, so it isn't for everyone to try. It's also why Minecraft keep this solution at arm's length.
It also isn't guaranteed to work. But now that we've got all the caveats out of the way, let's cut to the chase. Here's what you need to do:
- Start by accessing your saves folder - you should see a folder for each of your worlds.
- Make a copy of the folder of the world that you are trying to fix, along with all the files and folders inside it. Give this a name.
- Create yourself a new world with the exact same seed and map generator settings as your original world.
- Go back to the .minecraft/saves folder. There will be a new folder for the world you just created.
- Copy the following files in the BlankWorld folder to the LostWorldCopy folder:
- level.dat
- level.dat_mcr (not always present)
- level.dat_old
- session.lock
- Take care not to copy any folders. You are looking to overwrite the above files in the copy of the corrupted world folder with the files you've just copied over from the new world folder.
- Restart Minecraft
- You should see a new world, with the name + copy as the name of the folder in which it is saved. This is now your restored world.
- Test to make sure this world loads correctly.
- In the Minecraft world select screen, rename your world. This will now be your restored world.
- To clean up, delete the BlankWorld world (the one that is saved in the BlankWorld folder).
A word of caution:
It's worth considering creating this world in creative mode in order to ensure you haven't lost all your items to begin with, and keep it as close to your corrupted world as possible. After all, we're making a clone here, rather than restoring the original.
When you test the world you've just created, you could start anywhere. So you'll need to find your way home. You could also appear underground and die. If this happens, you'll lose all your items. If you don't use Creative mode, then your inventory will be empty anyway.
Of course, the best advice to follow is to regularly backup your world with a duplicate save, so that if one does become corrupted, you can load the other, hopefully untainted version, without losing too much progress.
What about PS4 or Xbox users?
Playing on a console obviously offers you different options compared to a PC. So the above solution is unlikely to be available to you on an Xbox or PlayStation. But there are some suggestions that you can try.
For Xbox users, the following troubleshooting steps have been recommended:
- Uninstall game
- Clear local saved game data (System->Storage->Clear local saved games)
- Clear MAC address (network->Network settings->Advanced Settings->Alternate MAC Address->Clear)
- Reinstall game
- Attempt to load game
- If none of this works, then it's advisable to contact Mojang support for additional assistance.
Last, but not least, what about you PlayStation players?
- From your Home Screen, go to Settings > Application Saved Data Management
- Select Saved Data on USB Storage Device
- Choose Copy to System Storage
- Select Minecraft. The world files should appear. Select the relevant world and hit Copy
- This should restore your world back to its former glory, providing it's available, of course.
- If not, then as with Xbox, consider reaching out to Mojang support, to see if they can help.
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Those are all the fixes available for you Minecraft world that gets corrupted and becomes unusable.