Use MCA Selector to Edit your World

MCA selector is a program that lets users view their world, delete/trim chunks and export selected chunks. Very useful if you want to reduce file size or reset certain areas. In this guide, we will demonstrate step-by-step instructions on using MCA selector to update and trim your world.

Download MCA selector

• The application can be downloaded at their GitHub release page.
• Download the one that works for your platform, for example Windows users can download the installer which contains all the dependencies needed and everything needed.
• Linux users and Mac users unfortunately need to download a specific Java binary called Java fx.
• A detailed guide can be found here.

Download your world

• See our login instructions guide over here.
• Go to your Inventory.
• Once in your inventory, you will see your list of servers.

Select the server of which you wish to access the File Manager

• Click the Manage button of your Minecraft server.

Load the File Manager

• Select the File Manager link from the menu bar to load the File browser.

Archive and download world(s)

• Select the world(s) you are interested in downloading.
• Click archive. You will see a prompt to confirm what you want to archive.
• You will notice a new file has appeared. Click on the 3 dots and click the Download button.

Extract the archive

• Select the Archive (likely .tar.gz file).
• Most Operating systems have tar installed, open the terminal system your OS has (for example PowerShell or Command prompt for windows).
• You’ll need to use cd to travel to where your archived file is, for example with windows you’d do cd %USERPROFILE%\downloads.
• Create a folder which you want to contain your extracted files. You can use Windows explorer or just the Command line mkdir name for this.
• Now the command to extract the archive is tar -xzvf file.tar.gz -c Foldername which will start the extraction process.

Open the world in MCA selector

• If you haven’t open MCA selector.
• Click on the File tab on the top of the application, then Open or use Ctrl + O.
• Using the popped up GUI, locate the extracted server world files and open the folder with the GUI.
• You’ll see your world being rendered as shown below.

Using MCA selector

• Everyone has their own usage for MCA selector. This guide aims to cover multiple.
• The tool allows you to select blocks and regions depending on how much you magnify your view of the rendered world.

Trimming chunks beyond selection (border)

• 1 You can start by selecting parts you wish to either save or delete (the tool has an invert method, meaning it will select everything except what you selected).
• 2 Once you are ready, hit Selection tab on the top of the application. Click invert or use Ctrl + U.
• 1 Every chunk beyond what you didn’t want to remove is selected.
• 2 Click on the selection tab and delete selected chunks or use Ctrl + D which is a shortcut.
• It’ll ask for confirmation once you have given the chunks will be deleted.

Removing selected chunks

• 1 Once you have double-checked, everything you want deleted is selected.
• 2 Click on the selection tab and delete selected chunks or use Ctrl + D which is a shortcut.
• After confirmation is given, you’ll see the chunks has been deleted.

Trimming chunks based on time spent inside the chunk

• MCA selector comes with a feature that allows you to select chunks based on a value called InhabitedTime stored in the chunk files that gets updated based on the time the player has stood in the chunk.
• 1 First step is to select the chunks you want to filter based on InhabitedTime. Or just head straight to the Filter chunks option in tools (Ctrl + F is the key shortcut) which will let you make a selection based on the values given.
• 2 A menu will be displayed giving you the option to select or delete chunks based on the value. For this guide, we’ll go with 0 minutes, coincidentally this value should be used if you want to remove pre-generated chunks that never been visited.
• 3 Once you are happy with the results, press okay. It may take a while depending on how many chunks are being deleted or selected.

If you require further assistance, you can open a support ticket here!

Feedback and suggestions regarding this article are welcome on our Discord server

• Use MCA Selector to Edit your World
• Download MCA selector
• Download your world
• Select the server of which you wish to access the File Manager
• Load the File Manager
• Archive and download world(s)
• Extract the archive
• Open the world in MCA selector
• Using MCA selector
• Trimming chunks beyond selection (border)
• Removing selected chunks
• Trimming chunks based on time spent inside the chunk