Prlwitzkofski

Update – Client-Side DRM Bug (Switch) and Unresolved Support Escalation

Hello Mojang Team,

I am providing an update to this issue following several weeks of correspondence with Mojang Support (Zendesk case, latest contact with Eli F. on Oct 5, 2025).

Summary

This problem is not related to a missing license or unlinked Microsoft account but appears to be a client-side DRM or license validation bug affecting Mojang-authored texture packs (specifically the Natural Texture Pack) on Nintendo Switch.

The support team continues to request that I “link a Microsoft account,” but this does not address the root cause.
The content is already owned, downloaded, and verified, yet fails to load (offline always) due to validation errors within the game client and can only be loaded with a specific path:

Observed Behavior

• The Natural Texture Pack is present and loads successfully only when activated through a specific workaround:

  • open the Marketplace →

  • select the pack but do not activate, just see if all info is present →

  • exit the marketplace→

  • click the play button on the home screen →

  • click the edit button located after the world to play→

  • navigate in the left menu to resources→

  • select "available"→

  • click the Natural texture pack→

  • click "read more" so the market place Natural texture pack page will open in the market place→

  • click the now green button "activate texture pack now" from this screen→

  • you will be rerouted to the global resources settings page where you can select the pack again →

  • press B and for the resources to load →

  • press B again until you get back all the way to the World Edit tab →

  • click immediately play to launch the world and the world will load without error message... most of the time).

It fails to load when offline.

• The content works temporarily after a successful Marketplace session, but only until the next restart.

• Marketplace access is now extremely unstable — often taking over an hour or multiple restarts to connect.

• On a second Switch console (with a second physical game card and separate Nintendo account), the Marketplace throws a rights error (E-0020).

• Third-party texture packs (e.g., from Pathway Studios) work offline perfectly once downloaded.

• Only Mojang-branded texture and skin packs fail, showing “Owned (P)” in the Marketplace — third-party packs do not show this marker.

Conclusion

This indicates a client-side DRM or registration bug specifically affecting Mojang’s own DLC.
The issue is not server-side and not related to Microsoft account linkage, since other Marketplace items work as expected.

Mojang Support was even able to add 1,000 Minecoins to my MCID / DID combi without a Microsoft account connected, demonstrating that they can modify entitlements directly.
If this is possible, restoring the Mojang texture packs (so they no longer show the “(P)” flag) should also be technically feasible.

Request

• Please escalate this issue internally to the engineering or DRM team responsible for Switch Marketplace integration.

• The current response path through outsourced Zendesk support is not technically equipped to handle or resolve this matter.

• If a technical fix is not possible, please consider fair compensation for affected users (e.g., equivalent licenses for Minecraft Java/Bedrock Edition on PC / tablet / laptop).

Additional Context

This issue has persisted for over 1.5 years, rendering paid DLC (purchased legitimately on Switch cartridges) partially unusable offline and in local multiplayer.
The requirement to link a Microsoft account to revalidate existing purchases introduces new conditions not present at the time of sale, which may raise EU consumer protection concerns (product conformity and digital content rights).

Bug Reference: MCPE-180918
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Status: Ongoing (reproducible on multiple consoles with legitimate, separate game cards)
Last Tested Version: v1.21.111

Follow up:

I have a new work around:

I figured a way to load the texture package again for a single start of the game / world (so after exiting the world, you need to follow this guide again).
This workaround might help you (Mojang) solve the ongoing issue, this work around only works when online because you need access to the market place, so you cannot use it when playing local network (bluetooth connection) multiplayer game with other switch players in a 5m distance of each other: therefore the need to solve this issue still exists!!!!!!

I got now 3 consecutive times the texture pack loaded upon writing this,  while starting the game normally will still give the error.

Do as follows:

1. Starting the game by removing all texture packs form general resources and also from the world itself,

2. Now delete the texture packs from the storage tab in general settings.(you will need to download it later again from your market place).

3. Clear the cache in storage tab.

4. To be sure, do this several times. (I did).

5. Now go to the Market place and re-download the texture pack after having restarted the game first.

Now we will attempt to load the game with texture pack, this you have to do every time when loading the world with the texture pack:

1. Make sure no resources are loaded and you have the standard home splash screen.

2. If needed go to settings again and deactivate the texture pack at the resources tab (you also need to do this when you exited the game and want to start again)
   

3. Then click "play" game (or whatever that would say in English, mine is in Dutch).

4. Now you are in the list of your saved worlds and you need to click modify / edit behind the world of your choice.

5. In the edit environment navigate in the menu to resources and make sure no packs are selected or active.

6. Then navigate in that same resources screen to the texture pack that always fails to let the game load and click it open.

7. Click here on "view more” information or something similar, it will take you to the market place to this specific texture pack.

8. Click Activate now (which should be green), you will be opening up the general resources page this way.

9. Select the same texture pack and activate it.

10. Very important, click B, now you return to the market place

11. click again B, now you return with a little delay to your game edit setting screen, now do not click anything else but "play".

12. Now your game will load with the texture pack, the text box when loading the game already changes color accordingly.

I hope you guys from Mojang can now finally find a permanent solution to this issue

And to be clear, I did buy these packs on this switch and never carried them over to any other platform, sometimes they worked after loading and unloading and loading them again, but that seems to no longer work anymore either… it takes all the fun out of the game for me… and I really do not understand why this excruciating bug is not fixed…. there is no address to send any email to to get my money for these packs back, maybe I should all buy them again and do a credit card charge back, and do this several times until the bug is fixed, I mean when I buy something that does not work, I will get my money back from my bank (or visa) who will charge mojang 7 mircrosoft 20$ for each time failing to deliver. this is at least 5 packs at the time so that is 5 charge backs a day for at least a month = 5 x 30 = 150 x 20$ = 3000$ a month loss until they fix it… we all should vote with our wallet. come on Mojang… fix this issue!!!!!

None of my “mojang” texture packs is working anymore, I want my money back!!!!!

I am also on v1.21.101 and my work around is also not working anymore after this update, I am really not going to pay for any pack now before this is solved but I believe Microsoft who owns this disaster is not interested in making money because this is going on for more than 1,5 year now.. I quit playing all together the last half year….so no spending money here either…

Also in 1.21.72

Oh by the way.. the Natural texture pack is now 68MB…. An edit button for editing ones own previous posts would be handy too…. saves the clutter in the thread…

Ok I got it working again by blocking the Nintendo Switch internet access in my router by use of parental controls instead of switching off the internet on the switch…and then go through my previous work around again…. not sure how long this will work though… Mojang / Microsoft…. FIX THIS!!!!! SOOOOOOOO annoying this.

There is mentioned at the beginning of this thread that it has to do with licensing, this could be but I have never used or bought the pack on another platform than the Nintendo switch therefore it is different from the suggested licensing problem as mentioned in this thread. It seems Mojang / Microsoft has no hurry solving this issue. Or maybe they can’t, that would be really bad!!!

It seems the texture pack has been updated and is now ±25MB instead of 66MB but now the package does permanently prevent the game to load by giving an error and the work around is no longer working (for me).

this really suck and I have not played the game anymore since, a shame because I intended to buy so many texture packs and upgrades but as long as this bug is not solved, (already for more than a year) I will not spend a dime extra on this game.

Especially now my work around is no longer working!!!! This is the nail in the coffin for Minekraft for me… played it since the very first version, and now with my kids on the Nintendo switch, I guess I will not be buying another Switch2 either…

Basically this bug prevents me from spending at least 1000$ on upgrades for my family, I cannot escape the idea that other people fell the same problem because the issue is still not solved after more than a year!!! unbelievable.. the loss of income for Mircosoft seems to be not a problem… there is no interest in fixing this issue..

I would advice people to do a credit card charge back for this issue when they bought stuff that does not work… The Natural texture pack was free for me but still, it is a shame this is not fixed by now.. other people were not so lucky and spent money on packs…

Platform

Nintendo Switch

Affects versions

1.21.72 Hotfix

Description: Games with texture pack(s) not loading due to trying to download the texture pack again and failing / reporting an error doing so.

This is an ongoing issue on which I posted the previous work-around(s) before the migration already, but I am astonished it is still not resolved.

Affects versions (on my switch tested) from 1.20.41 till now 1.21.72 (just updated and tested).

When Í click a previously stored game or (re)start a game:

1. it opens a download box to download the Natural-texture pack instead, however the texture pack is already downloaded.

2. Then a popup tells me the texture pack could not be downloaded and I should restart the game or re-download the texture pack.

3. Neither given suggestions work and I return to point 1

Simplified Work around:

1. Remove any texture pack in the resources of the chosen game to load (edit game settings of the world you wanted to load).

2. Go back to the start screen before the screen to choose a game to load (home screen)

3. Choose settings and navigate down to general resources and click it.

4. Remove any texture pack here activated in the General resources settings.

5. Return to the start screen (click B ) , wait for the popup telling you it is “loading (general) resources, this might take a while”

6. Now the standard texture (and color) home screen should be loaded with the grey buttons for play, settings and market place. Choose settings again.

7. Navigate to general resources again and add the desired texture pack, in my case the Minecraft Natural-texture pack, click activate

8. Click button B again to return to the home screen, a popup is telling you it is loading resources again, you will see the screen change according to the texture map chosen again (with a few glitches).

9. Without hitting any other button, now directly go to play and when the available worlds appear, directly choose the world you want to play and click A

10. Now the game will load directly,….. with your chosen texture pack,

11. or you will be prompted again with an attempt to download the texture pack and give the same error, if this is the case, go back to point 2 and try again.

12. If it still does not work after trying again, try it with internet switched off by erasing your Wifi connection (if you remember your password) or try to choose local network with button Y in the home screen (supposed to be for local multiplay over bluetooth network).

I sincerely hope this issue will be fixed soon because it is really annoying…and more than a year remaining unsolved, while people pay for this stuff (texture packs).

Still there at 1.21.50

Not on all switches, (I got 2 and only 1 is affected).

It might be related to the game trying to connect to the marketplace for checking on updates of the pack, when this takes too long or returns an error, the game thinks the pack is corrupted and suggests to redownload or restart the game.

I found some workaround for the time being, although it is pretty annoying to have to do this every time you have left the game / need to reload the game / world.

Step-by-Step Guide:

1) Deactivate the Texture Package in Game Settings

• • Open the game-specific settings for the world you’re trying to load.

  • Locate the resource packs or texture package settings.

  • Deactivate the Mojang Natural Textures package here.

2) Deactivate the Package in General Settings

• • Go back to the game’s main splash screen (where you see options like Play Game, Settings, and Marketplace).

  • Navigate to General Settings and find the Resources section.

  • Deactivate the Mojang Natural Textures package in this menu as well.

3) Let Resources Load

• • Return to the main splash screen. The game will display a message:
    "Loading resources, this might take a while."

  • Wait for the process to complete.

4) Reactivate the Texture Package in General Settings

• • Go back to General Settings and re-enable the Mojang Natural Textures package.

  • Return to the splash screen again. You’ll see the "Loading resources, this might take a while" message once more.

5) Start Your Game

• • Return to the Play Game menu and select your world.

  • The world should now load without the error message.

Important Notes:

• If you exit the game and encounter the error again, repeat the steps above.

• Always keep the game-specific settings for the world on basic/default resources when reactivating the package in General Settings. If the package is active in both places at the same time, the game will not open.

By carefully following these steps, you should be able to resolve the error and continue enjoying your game with the natural texture package.

At least... it does with mine.