Update Dec 27 ‘19: Docker image has been updated to mcpelauncher-manifest#e405b8c and should support Minecraft PE 1.14. Haven’t tested yet.

Mojang ~~(Microsoft)~~ released Minecraft Bedrock Dedicated Server a while ago. Apparantly it is written in C++ and runs on Windows 10 and Ubuntu.

It would be so cool if I can run that on my Raspberry Pi 3B. I tried to run Minecraft Java Edition’s server before, and, as expected, it is too laggy to be playable.

Minecraft Bedrock is written in C++, unlike the Java Edition. This theoretically gives a large performance boost. However, Java programs are CPU architecture independent. C++ compiles to native codes and as a result depends on CPU architecture. The bedrock server released by Mojang only targets Intel or AMD CPUs (amd64), not Raspberry Pi CPUs (armhf/aarch64).

There’s still hope though.

First, I can use QEMU to run amd64 binaries on armhf.
Second, Minecraft on Android targets armhf/aarch64. Android runs on Linux kernel. It is possible to host a server using Minecraft on Android.
Third, use a third-party PHP server software.

Option 2 provides native performance and is chosen. A downside is that you need to purchase Minecraft Android to obtain the APK file. Never distribute copyrighted materials!

I use mcpelauncher-extract to extract the binary from the APK file and mcpelauncher-server to launch the binary.

Do all the following steps on your Raspberry Pi!

Extract APK using mcpelauncher-extract

Compile mcpelauncher-extract

apt install -y cmake g++ libzip-dev
git clone https://github.com/minecraft-linux/mcpelauncher-extract.git && cd mcpelauncher-extract
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --target all

Note: If you are using an aarch64 operating system(like me), you might need to replace the following lines in src/main.cpp

#ifdef __arm__
    std::string arch = "armeabi-v7a";
#else
    std::string arch = "x86";
#endif

with

    std::string arch = "armeabi-v7a";

Extract APK

./mcpelauncher-extract <your-apk>.apk /var/lib/minecraft/mcpe

mcpelauncher-server

The Docker Image

It appears that I can only compile mcpelauncher-server on armhf devices. So I made a Docker image that contains those two binaries compiled for armhf devices. And they magically work for aarch64 devices.

The prebuilt docker image is here. The Dockerfile is here. If you want to build the image yourself you need to build it on an armhf machine.

docker run --name minecraft -v /var/lib/minecraft:/data -p 19132:19132/udp -p 19132:19132 -d black0/bedrock-server-armhf:latest

It will take a minute to launch.

Performance

Result? The performance is great. Works like a charm at render distance 22. It is possible to have even higher render distance on the new Raspberry Pi 4.

Running Minecraft Bedrock Server on Raspberry Pi (or any other ARM devices)