Question :

My children have a shared iPad. They love playing Minecraft, but are always fighting because they are messing up eachother’s buildings, tools and treasures. I found the option to create a new world, but that’s an empty one… is there any way to duplicate the existing world ?

Answer :

Yes !

If you want to duplicate an existing world in Minecraft PE, you can’t do that on your iPad or iPhone. You will need a Mac or PC to do that.

On your Mac (or PC) you will need a iOS-device exploring app also. DiskAid is a good option, but to get all features you need to buy it. DiskAid can be downloaded here :

DiskAid for Mac or PC

Any software with similar features may work, but I haven’t found any free option, and I did not test any others.

Here’s how to if you have a Mac :

– connect your iPad to your Mac using the USB cable

– open DiskAid on your Mac

– in the DiskAid window, click on your iPad’s name & icon on the left

– then click on Storage –> Apps –> Minecraft PE –> games –> com.mojang –> minecraftWorlds

– then select the folder with the name or the Minecraft world you would like to duplicate and drag it to your desktop (that will make a copy)

– then, on your iPad, open the Minecraft PE game and click “Start Game”

– then check the type of the Minecraft world you want to copy (does it say “Creative” or “Survival” ?)

– then click “Create new” (the button top-right)

– in the window that opens type the name you want to give to the duplicate Minecraft world

– then choose the same type (“Creative” or “Survival”) as the original by clicking on the “Creative” button

– then click “Start!” and wait for Minecraft to generate the world and build the terrain

– don’t be bothered by anything you see in the Minecraft window that opens, just click on the small “Pause” button top right and select “Quit to title”

– then on your Mac, in DiskAid, select the “minecraftsWorlds”-folder and click the “Refresh”-button (top-left)

– then, inside the “minecraftsWorlds”-folder, select the folder that has the title that you previously entered on your iPad for your duplicate Minecraft world

– now, on your Desktop, open the folder with the copy of the Minecraft world you want to duplicate, and drag it’s entire content (4 files named “chunks.dat”, “entities.dat”, “level.dat” and “level.dat_old”) to the open folder in DiskAid

– DiskAid then asks you if you want to replace the files on your iPad, click “Replace” for each of the 4 files

– then, on your iPad, in Minecraft PE, click “Start Game”

– then swipe through the worlds available, and if you look closely, you will see a new one ; that one will have the name of the original world in white, and the chosen name of the duplicate world in grey

– then click the “Create new” button top-right

– in the page that opens, type the chosen name of the duplicate world, choose “Creative” or “Survival” according to the type of the original world

– now do one extra step : touch the brownish background next to the “Creative”/”Survival”-button to make the on-screen keyboard disappear

– then, select the open area below “Seed for the WorldGenerator” and the on-screen keyboard will pop-up again

– now you will have to type blindly, as the page will not scroll…

– type the chosen name for the duplicate world and click “Start!”

– again… wait for the new world to be generated and don’t be bothered by anything you see when the Minecraft game window opens

– again… exit by using the small “Pause”-button top-right, click “Quit to title”

– then, click the “Start Game” button and scroll though the available worlds ; you will now see another new world entitled with your chosen name for the duplicate in white and that same name in grey, but with the addition of a minus-sign…

– then on your Mac, in DiskAid, select the “minecraftsWorlds”-folder and click the “Refresh”-button (top-left)

– then, inside the “minecraftsWorlds”-folder, select the folder that has the title that you previously entered on your iPad for your duplicate Minecraft world AND the minus-sign

– select the name again and you’ll be able to alter it… now, add a plus-sign to it and press the RETURN-key on your keyboard… you will swiftly see a message “Renaming…” and then the name will be adjusted

– then select the other folder with the same name, but without the minus-sign, and add a minus-sign and press RETURN also

– then re-select the other folder that you had just altered the name of and delete both the minus- and the plus-sign of it’s name and press RETURN…

– in doing so, you will have switched the names of both folders, while Minecraft PE was open on your iPad

– then, on your iPad, in Minecraft PE, in the “Select world” screen, startup the world that has the chosen name in white and the chosen name with an added minus-sign in grey

– when it opens, you will see that it now is a duplicate of your original Minecraft world

– now… exit (by clicking the small “Pause”-button) and clean up the left-overs…

– in the “Select world”-screen, swipe to the world that has exactly the same chosen name in white and in grey ; select it and click on the X-button below it

– on the next screen, click the “Delete”-button, and this world will disappear

– then click the “Back”-button to go to the Minecraft PE entrance screen

– then on your Mac, in DiskAid, select the “minecraftsWorlds”-folder and click the “Refresh”-button (top-left)

– then, inside the “minecraftsWorlds”-folder, select the folder that has the title that you previously entered on your iPad for your duplicate Minecraft world AND the minus-sign (the one without the minus-sign will now have disappeared)

– select that folder, select the name again to alter it, delete the minus-sign and press the RETURN-key on your keyboard

– now quit DiskAid on your Mac and disconnect the USB-cable from your Mac and your iPad

– then, on your iPad, in the Minecraft PE entrance screen, click “Start Game” and see that you will be able to choose the original Minecraft world or the duplicate

(note : it’s not really needed, but ‘just to be sure’, you might want to completely exit Minecraft PE on your iPad or even reboot your iPad at this stage)

That’s it !

Enjoy !