How to add a custom map to minecraft

There are many ways to customize your Minecraft experience, including making your own maps. When making custom maps, you have full control over how your world looks, feels, and functions.

Custom maps are especially popular in multiplayer Minecraft. They’re usually built with particular challenges or gameplay mechanics in mind, such as arena combat, parkour, prison escape, and others.

If you want to start making custom maps for Minecraft, here is what you need to know.

How To Create a Custom Map in Minecraft?

Before we start, let’s clear up a small object of confusion.

When we say custom maps, what we mean are custom-built game levels, that is, “worlds” in the game’s terminology. Confusion arises because the term “map” can also refer to the map item you can craft in-game.

We will briefly cover this latter aspect for the sake of comprehensiveness, but our main focus here is on map-making in the sense of world-building.

How to Craft the Map Item in Minecraft

To craft a map item, combine 1 compass with 8 pieces of paper at a crafting table. This will give you a blank map with a direction marker. To fill out the map, you must have it equipped while you travel around the game world. As you explore, the map will gradually fill with terrain and features you’ve discovered.

The basic map will only cover a limited area of the game world. You can upgrade the map and expand its size with an additional sheet of paper at a cartography table. You can do this up to four times, with each upgrade doubling the size of the map.

You can also add custom markers to your map. First craft a banner from 6 pieces of wool and 1 stick. Then place the banner at a location you wish to mark on the map. Finally, equip the map and use it on the banner. This will place a marker on the map with the same color as the banner.

Using WorldPainter to Create Custom Minecraft Maps

WorldPainter is a map creation tool for Minecraft. If you’re familiar with programs like Adobe Illustrator or even Microsoft Paint, you’ll feel at home here. There is a selection of predefined terrain brushes (as well as the ability to make custom ones), which you use to draw terrain.

This video by Jeracraft will walk you through the process of making a simple custom map from scratch.

Once you’re done making a map, you can export it for use on your local machine, or your Minecraft server. To export a map, go to File -> Export -> Export as Minecraft map.

How To Import Custom Maps into Minecraft?

To import a custom map into Minecraft, go to the Saves folder in your Minecraft installation directory, and copy the map file you’ve exported from WorldPainter. Then simply launch the game and select the map as your world of choice.

You can do the same on your Minecraft server by replacing your Minecraft installation directory with the server directory on your local machine or remote server.

Popular Custom Minecraft Map Ideas

If you need some inspiration before you start making maps, you can check out these 5 popular custom map ideas.

1. Adventure Maps

Adventure maps are built around the concept of the hero’s journey. You are placed in a fantasy environment, and you’re given a quest, such as finding a magic item or defeating a boss. You can base your adventure map on an established franchise such as the Lord of the Rings, or you can come up with your own setting.

Map to check out: Adventure Time Adventure Map!

2. Survival Maps

Survival maps place you in a hostile environment from the get-go, and the main challenge is to simply survive. They come in many flavors, with hazards ranging from hostile weather, limited resources, and difficult terrain, to traps, enemies, and other players.

Map to check out: Cube Survival

3. Escape Maps

Escape maps are all about using your wit to navigate maze-like environments, solving puzzles along the way. They are usually smaller in scale than other kinds of custom maps, but that doesn’t make them any less fun or challenging.

Map to check out: Escape Prison

4. Parkour Maps

Parkour maps are like 3D race-tracks where you clear obstacles by running and jumping. They can be quite competitive in multiplayer and require a great deal of skill to complete successfully.

Map to check out: Parkour Paradise

5. CTM Maps

CTM stands for Complete the Monument, a map type where the goal is to find the missing pieces of a monument. While they’re looking for pieces, the players are assailed by hostile mobs, traps, and difficult terrain. CTM maps are very popular in multiplayer.

Map to check out: Diversity 3

Conclusion

Custom Minecraft maps are a great way to flex your creative muscles and enhance your level of design sensibilities. In combination with Minecraft mods, they can completely change your experience of the game.

Custom maps are also very popular in Minecraft multiplayer circles, so making a map can be a great way to make your name as a content creator. Try making one today!

Minecraft is an infinite game of creativity, delivering endless worlds to traverse with tons of special biomes, cute creatures, and explosive dangers for all to experience! Within these worlds, Minecraft players alike can enjoy tons of variety so that they’ll never get bored and will always have a good time!

From custom minigame maps like the original Survival Games to worlds recreating cities and towns, and adventure maps that share a story, you and your friends can enjoy new adventures through Minecraft custom maps that can be added with ease! Follow below and learn how you can take your server to the next level with a custom map for your Minecraft server!

FINDING CUSTOM MINECRAFT MAPS TO TRY

When trying custom maps on your Minecraft server, there are several ways that you can add these maps! Through Nitrado’s built-in automatic map installer for Minecraft servers, by using custom maps found on Minecraft map websites, or by using your own single-player map directly from your Minecraft game to share the fun with your friends.

USING NITRADO’S AUTOMATIC MINECRAFT MAP INSTALLER

1. Go on your Minecraft server’s control panel.
2. On your server panel, on the left side select “SWITCH GAME”.
   

3. In the “Search for games” search bar, type in “Minecraft”.
4. Find the option “Minecraft (Adventure & Survival Map)” and click install to browse through different custom maps you can try on your server!
   

   While the selection is named “Available modpacks”, this also contains a mixture of Minecraft: Java adventure maps, Vanilla custom maps, and a variety of modpacks from different Minecraft launchers that you can install and switch between.

5. After selecting the map you’d like to add to your server, click the “Install” option to confirm the installation.
   

   That map will now be installed and set on your server to ensure you and your players have a brand new world to experience!

SEARCHING ON MINECRAFT MAP WEBSITES

1. Find a map that you’d like to download and use for your server. There are several sites that offer this:
• PlanetMinecraft
• MinecraftMaps
2. Once you have found the map that you’d like to download, locate the “Download Map” option and press that to begin downloading the map.
   

   In this example, we’re downloading a “Five Nights at Freddy’s” map from PlanetMinecraft.

3. Maps will generally download as a .zip file. Using a program such as 7Zip or WinRAR, you will need to move this .zip to an empty folder on your computer, right-click that file, and press “Extract Here”.
   

   This will give you the world’s folder and files.

   

4. Now that you have the map’s folder, you’re ready to upload and install that map to your server!

GETTING YOUR SINGLE PLAYER MINECRAFT WORLD

1. Find the location your Minecraft worlds are stored at.
• On Windows, using the “Search” tool search for “%appdata%” and open that folder. Enter the “.minecraft” folder and then the “saves” folder to find your Minecraft worlds.
  

• On Mac, start Minecraft and select one of your worlds from single-player that you wish to upload but do not start that world. Instead, press the “Edit” option and then “Open World Folder” to access that map’s files.
  
  

  This will open the main files for your world.

2. You can copy these files and add them to their own folder to make a world folder, which you can then upload to your server!

HOW TO INSTALL A CUSTOM MAP TO YOUR MINECRAFT SERVER

Once you have downloaded and prepared your custom map, you can now add that to your Minecraft server for everyone to enjoy! Before you start with these steps, you will need the FileZilla client or your preferred file transfer program.

1. On your Minecraft control panel, stop your server temporarily to ensure you can safely change your server to a new map.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of your control panel and locate the “FTP Credentials” section.
   

   This information will contain your FTP credentials including your hostname, port, username, and password which we will add to FileZilla to connect to your server files.

3. In FileZilla, in the top bar add your hostname, username, password, and port into these fields like this:
   

4. Press “Quickconnect” to then connect to your file browser to see your server files.
5. Enter the main folder for your server. For example, if you have Minecraft Bukkit/Spigot installed, your main server folder will be named “minecraftbukkit”.
6. Drag and drop the Minecraft world you wish to upload into this folder to allow that world to fully upload!
   

7. With that map uploaded, go back to your Minecraft server panel.
8. Look to the left under “TOOLS” and click on the “World Manager” option.
   

9. In the “World manager”, you will see all of the worlds on your server including the custom world you uploaded! In our example, that custom world is “Freddy Fazbears ”.
10. Press “Active” next to that world to set that as the main map for your server.
    

11. You will be asked if you are sure you want to run that command. Press “Activate” one last time on that prompt to set that map as the new server map!
12. Your server will automatically restart and load that custom map to your Minecraft server!

MINECRAFT CUSTOM MAPS FAQ

Why is my custom Minecraft map not loading?

A Minecraft map can fail to load due to a few different reasons. This can include the map being outdated, the world becoming corrupted, or the files of that map not being formatted correctly. As an example of a world not that wouldn’t be formatted correctly, a Minecraft Bedrock Edition world would not be able to work correctly on a Minecraft: Java Edition server.

We recommend that your server uses the same version that your Minecraft custom maps were created on and that you ensure all map files are properly formatted and uploaded during the process of installing a custom map.

Blocks and buildings disappeared in my Minecraft world?

The buildings in Minecraft worlds are made up of blocks used from the version of Minecraft that was used when creating that map. Newer versions of Minecraft implement changes to blocks and block IDs regularly, to make improvements and add new blocks!

Due to these updates and changes within Minecraft, if you use an older Minecraft world on a newer version of Minecraft, this will cause certain blocks to change, disappear, and be replaced by newer blocks.