How to Make a Minecraft OneBlock Server to Play with Friends

What you need

A server running Paper (AOneBlock is a plugin: on the official server, on Fabric or on Forge it won't load), the BentoBox plugin and its AOneBlock addon. BentoBox is the base that hands out islands to players, and AOneBlock is the game mode on top, just like BSkyBlock on a Skyblock server.

Before installing, check on the BentoBox page which Minecraft versions the release you're downloading supports: when a new version of the game comes out, it sometimes takes a few weeks to support it. If your server is ahead, you can pick the version it does support.

Installing BentoBox and AOneBlock

The most common mistake: BentoBox goes in the plugins folder, but AOneBlock goes in plugins/BentoBox/addons. If you put AOneBlock in plugins, it won't load and the console doesn't treat it as a plugin.

1. Make a backup

   If the server already has a world you want to keep, make a backup first in “Backups”. AOneBlock creates new worlds and doesn't touch yours, but this way you can go back if something doesn't convince you.

2. Install BentoBox

   On NapNodes, servers are delivered with Paper. In the panel, “Mods & plugins”: search for BentoBox, press “Install” and restart. If it doesn't show up for your version, download the .jar from its official page and upload it to the plugins folder from “Files”. After starting once, BentoBox creates the plugins/BentoBox folder with its addons folder inside.

3. Add AOneBlock

   Download the AOneBlock .jar from the official BentoBox website or from the releases on its GitHub (BentoBoxWorld/AOneBlock) and upload it to plugins/BentoBox/addons from “Files”.

4. Restart and check the console

   On startup, AOneBlock creates its world (oneblock_world, with its Nether and its End). In “Console” you'll see the addon load; if BentoBox isn't for your Minecraft version, it says so there.

5. Join and type /ob

   The first time it creates your block and takes you to it; after that, it brings you back. Break the magic block (the one in the middle) and all sorts of things start coming out.

The block phases

The magic block doesn't always give the same thing: depending on how many blocks you've broken, you move from one phase to the next and the blocks, chests and mobs that come out change. AOneBlock's phases, in order, are Plains, Underground, Winter, Ocean, Jungle, Swamp, Dungeon, Desert, The Nether, Plenty, Desolation, Deep Dark, The End, Lush Caves, Dripstone Caves, Mangrove Swamp, Meadow, Cherry Grove and Jagged Peaks; after the last one, they start again.

With /ob phases each player sees the list and how far the next one is, and with /ob count how many blocks they've broken and which phase they're in. A bar at the top shows the phase, which you turn off and on with /ob bossbar.

If you want to change what comes out in each phase, its files are in plugins/BentoBox/addons/AOneBlock/phases: two per phase, one with the blocks and mobs and another with the chests. The first number of each file is the block where that phase starts. Edit them from “Files” with the server stopped.

Playing with friends: each on their own block or all together

Every player who types /ob gets their own block, separate from the others: that's normal on a server with lots of people, and then you visit each other. If you'd rather share one, like in the videos, one player invites the others to their island with /ob team invite Name and the other accepts with /ob team accept. From then on you break the same block and the phase count belongs to the team.

With /ob settings the island owner decides what visitors and team members can do according to their rank, including who can break the magic block. And /ob go takes you back to the island if you fall far away or go to the Nether.

Commands you'll use

Players: /ob (create or return to your island), /ob go, /ob phases, /ob count, /ob team invite Name, /ob team accept, /ob settings and /ob reset (start from scratch, with a limited number of resets). If the magic block disappears for some reason, /ob respawnBlock puts it back.

Admin (/oba, or /obadmin): /oba setcount Name 500 puts a player on block 500 (for example, if they've lost their island and you want to give them their phase back), /oba setchest turns the chest you're looking at into one of a phase's chests and /oba phases opens the phase order editor. Since they change between versions, /ob help and /oba help always show the ones for yours.

Settings worth checking

The configuration is in plugins/BentoBox/addons/AOneBlock/config.yml. By default, islands are 400 blocks apart, each one protects 50 around it and the block sits at height 80. That's also where you change how many fit in a team and how many times you can reset.

Careful: the distance between islands, the height and anything to do with how the world is generated are decided when it's created. If you change them later, for them to take effect you have to stop the server, delete the AOneBlock worlds (and the islands with them) and start it again. So decide before anyone starts playing.

For first-time players, a small spawn in the normal world with a sign saying “type /ob” stops anyone appearing lost. If there are only a few of you, you can also just join and type /ob straight away.

How much RAM a OneBlock needs

Not much: the world is almost all void and there's no terrain to generate. For a group of friends with BentoBox and AOneBlock, 3 GB is plenty. What pushes it up over time are the automatic farms you build (mob farms, above all) and having lots of islands loaded at once; for a community of 15 or 20 people, 4 GB is a good starting point. The RAM calculator fine-tunes it for your players and plugins.

On NapNodes you can set it up on the free Minecraft server, which is a normal Paper server with “Mods & plugins”, and send your friends its link to join. If you get hooked, you move to a plan with the same world to keep it on all the time, with no queues and with backups.

Frequently asked questions