The game does not properly handle save folder deletion while running

Delete the .minecraft/saves folder while on the world selection screen, then click "Create New World". The game will freeze on the "Preparing for world creation" screen.

Note: To reproduce this 100%, the folder must be deleted while on the Select World screen, then Create New World must be clicked without leaving the screen.

This issue does not cause a crash; the game becomes unresponsive on the "Preparing for world creation" screen instead.

Steps to Reproduce:

• Go to world selection screen

• Delete .minecraft/saves folder while staying in this screen

• Click “Create New World”

• Game gets stuck on “Preparing new world”

Additional observation:

The game recreates the .minecraft/saves directory on startup if it does not exist. However, deleting the directory after the game has already started can still cause the same softlock when creating a new world.

This suggests the issue is not limited to the Select World screen specifically, but may instead be caused by the game not properly handling runtime removal of the saves directory.

error message:

[19:16:31] [Render thread/ERROR]: Error executing task on Client
net.minecraft.ReportedException: mouseClicked event handler
	at net.minecraft.client.MouseHandler.onButton(MouseHandler.java:133)
	at net.minecraft.client.MouseHandler.lambda$setup$3(MouseHandler.java:244)
	at net.minecraft.util.thread.BlockableEventLoop.doRunTask(BlockableEventLoop.java:173)
	at net.minecraft.util.thread.ReentrantBlockableEventLoop.doRunTask(ReentrantBlockableEventLoop.java:23)
	at net.minecraft.util.thread.BlockableEventLoop.execute(BlockableEventLoop.java:114)
	at net.minecraft.client.MouseHandler.lambda$setup$2(MouseHandler.java:244)
	at org.lwjgl.system.JNI.invokeV(JNI.java:1664)
	at org.lwjgl.glfw.GLFW.glfwPollEvents(GLFW.java:1600)
	at com.mojang.blaze3d.systems.RenderSystem.pollEvents(RenderSystem.java:119)
	at net.minecraft.client.Minecraft.run(Minecraft.java:990)
	at net.minecraft.client.main.Main.main(Main.java:248)
Caused by: java.lang.RuntimeException: Could not create save folder
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.WorldCreationUiState.findResultFolder(WorldCreationUiState.java:103)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.WorldCreationUiState.<init>(WorldCreationUiState.java:60)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.CreateWorldScreen.<init>(CreateWorldScreen.java:429)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.CreateWorldScreen.openCreateWorldScreen(CreateWorldScreen.java:391)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.CreateWorldScreen.openFresh(CreateWorldScreen.java:324)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.CreateWorldScreen.openFresh(CreateWorldScreen.java:306)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.SelectWorldScreen.lambda$createFooterButtons$1(SelectWorldScreen.java:88)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.components.Button.onPress(Button.java:109)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.components.AbstractButton.onClick(AbstractButton.java:53)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.components.AbstractWidget.mouseClicked(AbstractWidget.java:122)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.components.events.ContainerEventHandler.mouseClicked(ContainerEventHandler.java:47)
	at net.minecraft.client.MouseHandler.onButton(MouseHandler.java:122)
	... 10 more
Caused by: java.nio.file.NoSuchFileException: <gameDir>\saves\World
	at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.translateToIOException(WindowsException.java:85)
	at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.rethrowAsIOException(WindowsException.java:103)
	at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsException.rethrowAsIOException(WindowsException.java:108)
	at java.base/sun.nio.fs.WindowsFileSystemProvider.createDirectory(WindowsFileSystemProvider.java:503)
	at java.base/java.nio.file.Files.createDirectory(Files.java:647)
	at net.minecraft.util.FileUtil.findAvailableName(FileUtil.java:69)
	at net.minecraft.client.gui.screens.worldselection.WorldCreationUiState.findResultFolder(WorldCreationUiState.java:101)
	... 21 more