Change a server's Minecraft version

When a new Minecraft version drops, you can move your server to it without leaving Mineshire. Pick the newer version and Mineshire checks your plugins or mods before it changes a thing.

Why you can't go back

The list only shows versions newer than the one you're on. Once a newer version has opened a world, an older one can't be trusted to read it, since the world may already contain newer blocks.

Backup first, then everything else

Worlds only go forward. When a newer version opens a world, it quietly converts parts of it to the newer format, and an older version can't read what comes out. Trying to go back can leave you with chewed-up chunks. So make the backup before anything else, and hold on to it until you've played on the new version for a few days.

Your add-ons set the schedule

Here's the part the announcement never mentions: plugins and mods decide when you can update, not Mojang. Authors need time to rebuild for a new release. Sometimes that's a weekend, sometimes a month, and a few projects never come back. Server software has the same lag, since it needs a build made for that exact Minecraft version, and that can show up a little after the game does.

Updating anyway tends to end with a server that refuses to start, or one that starts and quietly drops a feature.

Snapshots and pre-releases

You see full releases by default, and a tick box adds snapshots and pre-releases. Those are test versions, and a world opened in one often can't return to a normal release. Try them on a duplicate, not on the world you care about.

Java sorts itself out

Mineshire downloads the Java build each Minecraft version needs, and servers that need the same Java share one copy. If the new version wants a different Java, the review screen tells you, and there's nothing for you to do.

What the plugin and mod check says

Before anything changes, Mineshire looks at your add-ons and reports back.

• Moves along: a version exists for the new Minecraft, and the add-on updates with the server.
• No version for the new Minecraft: the file stays as it is and may not work until its author updates it. The warning names it.
• A file Mineshire doesn't recognise also stays as it is.
• A site that didn't answer, like Modrinth, means those files couldn't be checked, so they stay as they are.

The warning informs you and doesn't block you. If a plugin you can't live without is on the list, cancel and wait for its update.

Slow builds

Some server software gets built on your computer instead of downloaded. Mineshire warns you when that will take several minutes, and the server stays stopped until it's done. That's normal, so just let it finish.

After the update

Give your players a heads-up before you start, a line in your Discord is enough. Once the server is back, join it yourself and walk around. Open a chest, break a block, run a command from a plugin. Watch the console while it loads, too. The first error is nearly always the useful one, and it usually names the plugin or mod that has a problem. Only then tell everyone it's back.

Your players need to match as well. When a player's game and the server run different versions, they see "Outdated client" or "Outdated server" and can't get in. Update their game, or move the server to the version they use.