This tutorial explains how to migrate your saved games to Dropbox so you can play your levels on multiple computers.
Download and Install Dropbox
The first step is to download Dropbox. Dropbox is a nifty little tool that automatically syncs content to their servers, and allows you to access it both online and through a client on your PC. The good thing about Dropbox is that it is cross platform, plus available on the web and web-enabled smartphones.
Go to http://www.dropbox.com, register for a free account, download the application and install it. You get 2GB for free automatically.
Once you have installed Dropbox, you'll need to know where the folder is that it will sync from:
- On most Windows machines, it is located inside the "My Documents" Folder. EXCEPTION: In Windows 7, the default Dropbox folder location is C:\Users\username\Dropbox
- On Linux, the default location is in the user's home folder. For example in Ubuntu, that folder is located at ~/Dropbox
- On Mac OS, it should also be in the user's home folder.
Whichever operating system you are using, Dropbox has very good documentation and can assist you in finding help: http://www.dropbox.com/help
Copy your Minecraft saved data to your Dropbox folder
Next, we will need to make a copy of your minecraft data on the Dropbox server.
Windows
On Windows, your Minecraft data is saved in your application data folder. You can access this by holding Windows+R or hitting Start > Run and then typing "%appdata%\.minecraft" in the box. This will open your minecraft folder (if it doesn't, it may be because you have not enabled "view hidden files/folders"). Copy all the files in this folder to your Dropbox folder. For organization sake, I usually create a subfolder inside my Dropbox folder and title it "Minecraft".
Once these files are done copying, navigate back up to your appdata folder, and rename the .minecraft folder to .minecraft2 This step ensures that you:
- Have a backup of your files in case of catastrophe, and
- Allows us to make the symbolic link to the correct location in a later step.
Mac OS X
In Mac OS X, the minecraft data folder is located in your Username > Library > Application Support folder. You can get here quickly by opening Finder > Go > Go To Folder > type ~/Library/Application Support/minecraft. For future reference, it's best to make an alias for this folder and copy it to your desktop. NOTE: Mountain Lion hides the user's Library folder. Hold down the option key and see the Library item appear in the GO menu.
Now, copy the saves directory (~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/saves/) to your Dropbox's Minecraft folder (~/Dropbox/Minecraft/), unless you already have saves from Windows or Linux there.
Alternate (command line) method
mkdir ~/Dropbox/Minecraft/
cp -r ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/saves ~/Dropbox/Minecraft/
mv ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/saves ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/saves.old
Linux
In Linux, your minecraft data folder is located in your user home folder. However, it may be hidden from view. If you are using a GUI, ensure that you choose View > Show Hidden Files.
Copy the contents of the .minecraft folder to your Dropbox folder. As mentioned above, I usually create a folder inside the Dropbox called "Minecraft".
Once the copy is complete, rename the .minecraft folder to .minecraft2
Alternate (command line) method
Open the Terminal and type in:
cp -r ~/.minecraft ~/Dropbox/Minecraft mv ~/.minecraft ~/.minecraft2
Create the Symbolic Links
This is the final step that will allow us to create links to the online versions of your files.
Windows
Symbolic links are similar to shortcuts, but are much more powerful. In Windows, the command mklink or junction will allow us to create a symbolic link.
'Note: If you are running Windows XP, you need to download Junction and place it in your root folder in order to enable symbolic links. Junction is available here.'
Click Start -> Run and type cmd in the box. Press enter. You'll be presented with the command line interface.
Type the following command to set up the symlink (be sure to replace <username> with your username!):
Alternate Method
Go to this link and follow the directions, but instead of putting the "minecraft" folder in the thumb drive, move it to your dropbox folder. Just run the .bat file when you want to play, and you're done! To install mods, texture packs, or maps, you must use the .minecraft folder in the dropbox.
Windows Vista & 7
WARNING: Use caution when creating or deleting hardlinks! Hardlinks create an alias reference to filedata, deleting a hardlink will also delete the associated data
mklink /d "%AppData%\.minecraft" "%HomePath%\Dropbox\Minecraft"
To make sure you write the filenames and paths without any typos, it is possible to simply drag and drop a folder into your command prompt window. For example, type "mklink /d", drag and drop the .minecraft folder into the command prompt window, drag in the target Dropbox window, and then press enter.
If you get and error Cannot create a file when that file already exists. Try this... (NOTE: this links your .minecraft folder to your Dropbox folder. It appears that this confuses Dropbox and it does not update the files into the cloud).
mklink /d %HomePath\Dropbox\Minecraft %AppData%\.minecraft
Before trying this method, make sure your .minecraft folder in appdata\Roaming is deleted or renamed, mklink tries to make a "folder" called .minecraft and can't replace one if it's already there.
Deleting a Hardlink
To disconnect a hardlink use this command instead of delete:
fsutil reparsepoint delete <path>
This will remove the link but leave an empty file of the same name in its place which you can then safely remove. (Verify the folder is empty before you delete it.)
Windows XP (after installing junction.exe)
Open the Terminal and type in:
junction "%AppData%\.minecraft" "%HomePath%\My Documents\Dropbox\Minecraft"
If you are successful, the .minecraft folder should reappear in your appdata folder. When you start Minecraft after this, you should have all your previously generated worlds!
Mac OS X
Creating symbolic links in Mac OS X is easy thanks to a free application called SymbolicLinker, which will allow you to create a symbolic link via right-click in the Finder.
Download and install SymbolicLinker, available here: [1] (free).
Once installed, move your minecraft folder (located in ~/Library/Application Support/) to a folder in your Dropbox. Rightclick on this new folder and choose Make symbolic link. This will create a symbolic link in the same folder. Move this back to your minecraft folder's original destination (make sure it has the same name as the original) and you are all set to pull your game data off the internet.
Alternate (command line) method
Open the Terminal and type in:
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Minecraft/saves ~/Library/Application\ Support/minecraft/saves
Linux
To create the symbolic links in Linux, open up the terminal and type the following commands.
ln -s ~/Dropbox/Minecraft ~/.minecraft
Now, the .minecraft folder should be listed in your home directory and your saved worlds should all be there when you start Minecraft.
In order to link any additional computers you wish to play on, you just need to follow these steps - install Dropbox, and create the symbolic links. Voilà!
Note on Multiple Operating Systems
If you wish to sync your Minecraft files between different operating systems, you need to add a few extra steps to the method above. This is because the bin folder inside your minecraft folder, which contains binary files which run the program (as opposed to data files, like your saved games) has different files depending on your operating system. These files, however, have no overlap, and you can have a fully operational Minecraft folder for all operating systems (Windows, Mac OS and Linux). There are no known problems arising from different versions of the same operating system.
To make this work, take a look at the subfolder bin/natives. It has different contents depending on your Operating System.
- Windows
- OpenAL32.dll
- jinput-dx8_64.dll
- OpenAL64.dll
- lwjgl64.dll
- jinput-raw_64.dll
- jinput-dx8.dll
- lwjgl.dll
- jinput-raw.dll
- Linux
- libopenal64.so
- liblwjgl64.so
- libjinput-linux64.so
- libopenal.so
- liblwjgl.so
- libjinput-linux.so
- Mac OS X
- liblwjgl.jnilib
- libjinput-osx.jnilib
- openal.dylib
- libopenal.dylib
All you have to do is to go through your different installations (in the operating systems you use) and put these files all together in the same existing natives folder, like so:
Then sync it away with Dropbox, it works no problem! :)
If you use third-party mods to the game, you must install all desired mods only once, and then synchronize the patched result. In the unlikely (but possible) case that you run into problems, you should NOT share the bin folder (with its natives subfolder) anymore. Mods known to work cross-platform seamlessly include Zombe's modpack, Mine Little Pony, and MCPatcher.