You found a great mod pack and you want to play it with your friends. That means you need to set up a server. Here are four different ways you can do that, ranging in cost, performance, and relative ease.
This will work for just about any mod pack. I’m using a few specific mod packs in my examples.
Table of contents
Watch the Video
Here’s a video version of this post. It’s a fast overview. Come back here to get the full steps!
Windows Manual Method
Overview
The first method is to download the mod pack’s server files and manually set up the server on the same PC that you’re playing Minecraft on.
It’s totally free and it can be a quick solution if you know what you’re doing , but it’s quite complicated with setting up Java, getting past Windows Security, Firewalls, and port-forwarding through routers. This is not an always on server. Your computer has to be on and running the server.
If your friends aren’t on your local network, you must open up your router with port forwarding. This exposes you a bit to bad people on the Internet to your own PC. Your computer is running the server and playing your game, which can cause performance issues if you don’t have a beefy computer. And if things go wrong, it’s all up to you.
Pros:
- It’s free
- It’s a quick solution if your friends are on your same network
Cons:
- It’s complicated, especially if things go wrong with Java, Windows Security, etc.
- It’s not always on. Your computer has to be on and running the server
- If your friends are outside of your local network, you must open your firewall. This exposes you to bad actors on the Internet
- Your computer is running as a server, which can cause performance issues
- If things go wrong, it’s on you to fix it
Did I mention this is complicated? Seriously, you probably want to skip this and move on to another option! But just so you know, here’s how to do it.
Instructions
1. Download the Server Pack for your mod pack. The most reliable way to get the exact file you want, for the version you want is to locate the mod pack on Curseforge. Here’s Valhelsia 6 as an example:
2. Don’t click the Download link on the right side. Instead, click the Files tab.
3. In there are a list of the mod pack versions. To get the server pack, click on the version you want to download. Then click Additional Files, the three-dot menu (web designers call this a sushi menu), and Download file
4. Once it’s downloaded, locate it in the Downloads folder and double click it. You may get a confirmation that you want to open the zip file. Say yes.
The file will open up with an Extract All button at the top. Click that.
5. You’ll be prompted for where you want the file to be extracted to. You can change this location here manually, or drag it somewhere using the Explorer. I’m just going to change “Downloads” to “Desktop” here and run it from my Desktop. Feel free to leave it in the Downloads folder, or move it anywhere you’d like.
Like this…
6. On your desktop (or wherever you extracted it to), right click on the folder you created and select “Open in Terminal…“. It should open a window like this below. Type java --version on the command line to see if Java is installed. You should see something like this. If you don’t, you’ll need to install a recent version of Java. I like to use the Adoptium Java which you can install here. After you have it successfully installed, you should be able to replicate what we have here in this screenshot.
Note: you can do most of these steps in the File explorer, but if something goes wrong, it’s difficult to see why. Running this in the PowerShell window will show you any errors and make it easier to resolve them.
7. Type “dir” and hit enter. You should see a list of all the files that were extracted.
The server start script for Windows in this case is ServerStart.bat. ServerStart.sh is for Linux.
Type .\ServerStart.bat and hit enter. It will start a long process of installing files. If you get a blue screen asking if you’re sure you want to run it, click the more info, and say yes to running it.
Here’s what it looks like, and lots of text will scroll by…
At the end, it will stop with the following error:
You need to edit eula.txt that was created in this folder and change false to true.
One easy way to do that is right here by running the notepad.exe eula.txt command (press a key to get the prompt back)
Change false to true and save it.
Now run .\ServerStart.bat again. This time your server should start!
This window will need to stay open and running for your server to remain available.
Share your IP with friends for them to connect to it. An easy way to get your IP address is by running the ipconfig.exe command in a new powershell window:
Anyone on your local network should be able to connect to that IP address. If they cannot, you may need to disable your firewall on your Private network.
You can connect to your own server from your own computer by using the address: localhost
Anyone outside your local network will need to connect to your external IP address, and you’ll need to set up port forwarding on your router. I’ll write a separate post about that in the future, but in the meantime, Google “How to set up port forwarding to a Minecraft Server”.
The .PS1 Startup Script won’t Load
Some mod packs, like those from Luna Pixel Studios have a startup script that ends with .ps1 rather than .bat. Windows 11 has added security measures against running these special batch files. For example, here’s Prominence II RPG which has start.ps1.
This is the error you may get if you try to run that:
Here’s how you can work around that.
You need to open up PowerShell as the Windows admin. Do that from the start menu, like here:
Now change to the directory where you have the server files extracted. If you don’t know the path, you can right click on the folder and select “Copy as path”. In the powershell window, type cd and paste the path.
Then use the following commands to change the Execution Policy to allow running a .ps1 script.
Get-ExecutionPolicy -List tells you the current policy
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned will set the policy for the LocalMachine so you can run it
You’ll need to say respond to the prompt with “A” for Yes to All.
Here I run these commands, and use Get-ExecutionPolicy -List to verify the changes
Now you should try to run the start script. If it still doesn’t work, the following command may be necessary:
Unblock-File -Path .\start.ps1
You can see that the script is now running. It doesn’t like that I gave the Folder name spaces, so I should probably change that!
But from here we should be good to go. If you want to change the Execution Policies back, you can do so with this command:
Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Undefined
but you won’t be able to start the server again later.
I can’t tell you what to do here, but it’s likely that these Windows 11 settings are a bit too aggressive for a home gaming PC!
You can read more about this here: Set-Execution Policy on learn.microsoft.com
ATLauncher
Overview
ATLauncher is a Minecraft launcher like CurseForge, Prism, etc. The benefit of using ATLauncher is that it actually has the option to run any mod pack as a server. This makes the process incredibly easy, however it still has the same limitations as the first method. Your computer has to be on and running the server for this to work, therefore it’s generally not always on.
Pros:
- It’s free
- It’s a quick solution if your friends are on your same network
- It’s very easy. ATLauncher takes care of most of the technical set up issues
Cons:
- It’s not always on. Your computer has to be on and running the server
- If your friends are outside of your local network, you must open your firewall. This exposes you to bad actors on the Internet
- Your computer is running as a server, which can cause performance issues
Instructions
2. Load ATLauncher and go to the Packs tab on the right side. Search for the pack you want to install and click the Create Server button
3. You’ll get a warning, click yes of course
4. Give it a name
5. Click Install and watch it install.
6. That’s it. Go to the Servers tab and Launch the server. You can have as many servers set up here as you want.
7. When you launch it, you’ll get the same EULA.txt warning.
8. Just click the “Open Folder” button, open eula.txt, and change false to true.
9. Save the file and Launch again!
Follow the same instructions as the manual method above for the IP address sharing.
Wasn’t that much easier? yeah.
USE VPS Server on Server Hosting Provider like Oracle Cloud
Overview
If you want the control of hosting your own Minecraft server yourself, you can run Minecraft on any server hosted by a hosting provider, like AWS, Google, Oracle, Hostinger, etc, that will eliminate all of the issues with running it on your local PC.
Pros:
- It’s always on 24/7
- It doesn’t run on your local network, so you don’t have to forward ports and expose your network to the outside world.
- It’s a computer that’s dedicated to running your server, not your local PC and will perform much better
Cons:
- If something goes wrong, you are on your own.
- Most hosting providers cost money
- This is a highly technical solution
- You have to do everything yourself, like start up and backup scripts
One exception to the cost factor is Oracle Cloud Free Tier. Oracle offers a free server as way to get people using their services, and hopefully become loyal customers who upgrade to their paid services. The free tier server is plenty to run a Minecraft server for most people’s purposes.
If you’re interested in hosting your own Minecraft server, I walk through the entire process in a separate post. While this post is specific to Oracle Free Tier and the Prominence II RPG modpack, this process will work on basically any Linux server hosted on any hosting provider. It will also apply to just about any mod pack.
Read that post here: How to Set Up a Free Prominence II RPG Server on Oracle Free Tier
Minecraft Hosting Provider
Overview
Finally, you can set up your Server on a managed Minecraft Hosting provider. I list several options on this page, a few of which I’ve used extensively. I’ll show you here how easy it is on Apex Hosting, who is a partner to my YouTube channel. If you do decide to purchase a server on Apex, please use my link jangro.com/apex which helps support my content creation at no additional cost to you.
Pros:
- Set up is very easy, often with one-click mod pack and server software installation
- It’s always on 24/7
- It doesn’t run on your local network, so you don’t have to forward ports and expose your network to the outside world.
- It’s a computer that’s dedicated to running your server, not your local PC and will perform much better
- You get technical support if anything goes wrong
- You get periodic automated backups
- You get high performing servers with DDOS protection
- You spend time playing, not running and managing servers
Cons:
- Most Minecraft hosting providers cost money
Instructions
This is so easy, it’s hardly worth documenting. But I’ll do that for the sake of showing how easy it is!
1. Go to a Minecraft Hosting provider. I’m using Apex. Click here to use my link and support me at no cost to you: jangro.com/apex
Note that there’s a discount code usually at the top. Click Get Started
2. Make sure Minecraft: Java Edition is selected as the game and click Order Now on whatever size server you want. Generally, mod packs require 6 to 8 GB depending on the size of the pack and how many people you’ll have on at once. A good rule of thumb is 1GB per person connected simultaneously. Don’t worry too much about it as you can always upgrade later.
3. Search for the mod pack you want to install, and choose a server location. Then click Continue. Here I’m selecting Valhelsia 6
Go through the checkout process. You’ll receive an email with log in information to your control panel. Your control panel will look like this.
Valhelsia is already running. Copy your subdomain and connect to it from your Minecraft client Multi Player servers. Share it with your friends.
Note that I’ve customized mine to be jangroex.mc.gg. Yours will be different!
What about Open to Lan?
While this is a good option for Vanilla Minecraft, generally mods aren’t tested with the Open to Lan feature and they’re often not compatible. Therefore it’s not a solution for any mod pack, and generally, I don’t recommend this.
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