Instances & Game Directories

Each instance in mcl keeps its own isolated configuration, assets, saves, and lock state so mods or loader versions never collide across profiles.

Instance settings

Inside any instance view you can configure:

• Name and icon — Pick one of the built-in pixel presets or import a local image (resized and normalized into the instance directory).
• Game location — Keep the instance in the default launcher directory or bind it to a custom external game directory.
• Java & launch preferences — Override the preferred Java runtime or JVM arguments per instance.

Discovering existing games

Use Discover Existing Games to scan common .minecraft directories or Swift Craft Launcher (sjmcl) profile layouts. Confirmed entries are copied into managed mcl instances while leaving the original folder untouched.

Moving game directories

Instances can be migrated between built-in storage and external directories. mcl tracks migration state to allow safe recovery if interrupted, and keeps the previous copy until you choose to clean it up.