I'm no #Minecraft server admin... but when my friends called, I did my best to provide and help them. In this particular instance, they asked me for a small Multiplayer server with the #Create modpack.

Running the Server

To begin this process, I decided to spin up an instance of Pterodactyl and use basic config options to create a minimal Forge server. Then, I configured my domain, and I was good to go! (Or so I thought)

Selecting Mods

This experience made me have a stronger dislike of Minecraft mods. In reality, this was my first time dealing with mods, let alone mods in a server environment. Previously, I had only used PaperMC with server plugins, so this was foreign to me.

I quickly figured out that version management was a real pain to work with... We were hoping to use 1.20- and we probably could've if I had put more effort in- but instead, after several hours of trial and error, I settled on using a selection of mods from the Create+ Forge modpack, selecting only the Create mods. At some point, we might try adding more in.

Since this modpack is based around 1.19, our Minecraft server is currently locked to this version. Perhaps if the modpack updates, we will try to migrate.

Getting the Client Right

After the previous trial-and-error, I falsely assumed that the worst had already passed. I was extremely wrong, because I was next surprised to learn that mods must also be installed on the client side as well!

Although I use Prism, my friend was previously using the normal launcher on Windows. I tried to let him use CurseForge, but, after I realized how hard it would be to explain how to install the mods to him, I created a new instance within Prism with all the mods. I was able to tweak settings in order to get it to work on my side, and then I simply exported the instance and sent the .zip to my friend.

After a bit of deliberation and a few screen recordings later, we finally had a running server! Now I was off to learn all about the Create ecosystem.